A few hours ago I made the following post to my Facebook page.

OK everybody, my Jerry Cornelius reality shift just happened. I am now in San Diego Comic-Con mode. The world of politics, current events and other ‘that world’ issues is going to be off the table for me for a week. Like the Star Trek TOS episode Return of the Archons, this is my festival week. (Yes I know the episode had it last for 12 hours but I do this once a year so I’m adding it up. Sue me!) I’m going to try real hard to keep everything I’m doing in a classic Comic-Con geek mode. You old Comic-Con attendees know what I’m talking about. I know some of my Comic-Con friends will be in town and I’m going to try and at least shake your hand and say ‘how do you do’ while I’m there.

BTW, my friends in San Diego who aren't Comic-Con geeks, I'd like to see you too. Contact me and let's try to make it work.

Wow, before I could even finish writing this up, some guy on Facebook, after I specifically said I was making one comment responding to his comment about the Zimmerman trial on a SF Facebook page and would not respond, sent me a direct message continuing what I considered toxic and non-productive comments. For a few seconds, I was ready to send a comment back but I knew it would end badly and what would be the point?

So in the words of William Shatner in the famous SNL skit – Live long and prosper, set your phasers on stun ‘cause this convention is going ahead Warp Factor 9.

I made the post because last weekend had been emotionally draining. From things going on at my job, dealing with personal issues with my health and being reminded of the loss of a few relatives by my parents, I needed to focus on something that reminded me of better times in the past and hopefulness of the future. The San Diego Comic-Con offers that to me. It’s going to be my emotional Vegas, and being the geek that I am I decided to make it festival, just like that episode from Star Trek.

My FB friends are really making it hard for me to keep ‘this world’ out of my Festival for Comic-Con. I keep getting links to articles about other murders that haven’t gotten as much attention as the Trayvon murder, where a white girl was killed by black kids, another where black kids saved a white girl from being abducted, a multitude of cases where it is questioned why the President didn’t comment on them and also the links to analysis of the issues of race in five easy steps. I’ve got other people showing me Stand Your Ground cases, reverse Zimmerman cases and general Fight the Man / Power events. I’ve had quotes thrown at me from Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and a multitude of pundits and quote makers from the right and left side of the political spectrum.

As one of many examples, about four years ago there was a racial incident at UCSD in San Diego. There was a Pimp Ball or something like that off campus. There were flyers put out and the event was held in February and was billed as some sort of celebration of Black History month. It was supposed to be ‘a joke.’ The people who threw the event even touted that a black man was the one who helped run the party. Well, after three weeks, the incident blew up on campus. Tensions grew, articles were written about the racial makeup of the campus, and other racial incidents occurred on the campus, from an ill-conceived racist broadcast on campus to a noose found in the library. A protest was mounted for one day and in the subsequent days, ‘community leaders’ got together with students and school officials and declared a new day was going to dawn on the campus as far as race relations were concerned.

Everything that is happening now with the Zimmerman case happened in the UCSD case. People at each other’s throats about who was more oppressed or who was more in the right. Both sides trying to one up each other with examples of oppression and slights. The most racists’ comments posted on social media and news commentary sites. Accusations of media bias, of media manipulation and talks by the peace makers about being calm and looking to a higher authority, be it God or Karma. Of course, the talk about getting involved and doing something was done in that case, as well as the warnings of the pattern repeating itself if people didn’t act. Yes, I shouted from the rooftops, trying to get people to care about the UCSD event. I preached, pleased, wrote and protested.

Occupy Wall Street, numerous shootings, numerous police incidents, KONY, a mid-term election, a general election and too many other events to count later and the same pattern comes up. We get upset for a minute, camp out on our opposing sides, sling mud at each other while supposed speaking ‘truth’ then repeat the process on the next big incident and forgetting the last one we were passionate for. We keep talking about media manipulation, political manipulation and individual manipulation yet for all the cynicism we throw up we don’t apply that critical eye to rooting out the facts of our immediate passion. Like I have said in all these social upheavals, all we do is sit at our computers, get on social media and hit a like button or link something to our page. We don’t even bother with writing down our heartfelt emotions in something personal. We can’t even be bothered with taking the time to send a check off to someone. No, we type in a text message which will remove a donation from our smartphone bill, so we don’t even get an acknowledgment in a bank statement of the charity we gave to.

We have become armchair protesters and blowing in the wind activist.

Do you know how you stop this cycle? Well, if I knew the answer I would be giving a seminar and would be appearing on informercials like Tom Vu, sitting on the boat with the vapid bevy of beauties pimping out the American dream. No, I’m more like the Blue Oyster Cult song Veteran of the Psychic Wars. I’m burned out by the repetition of the arguments, of the bile and hypocrisy on both sides. I’ve become numb to getting angry or upset because in a week from now, a month from now another issue will take over and the same accusations will fly. People will take sides and rip themselves apart.

So, this week, with all the crap going on that I’m too tired to fight about, preach about and rail against, I have decided it is time for a break. The San Diego Comic-Con is my week off. I think of this as my protest against reality. People from all sides talk about mounting boycotts and civil actions and this is mine. If you want to say I’m doing it for Trayvon, fine, but I’m doing this for a bigger reason. I’m doing this for me! Today I am cancelling reality! For the next week I will be in the geek multiverse and I will have fun with no regrets. I’m taking the Wendy O. Williams song to heart and I’m going to have fun. My biggest wish is that more people would do the same. I wish people, for a day or a week, just stop. Stop taking sides, stop trying to up one another, just for a brief moment stop with the accusations, the recriminations and the holier than thou attitudes and just relax and have fun.