2020 the Year of Clear Sight

It's New Year's Eve as I write this. I'm at home although I could be attending an unsanctioned swarey, but as with many of these New Year's events I've attended in the past, it means nothing more to me than getting really drunk until late (something I will be doing here at home anyway). Of course I can't find much to celebrate about 2020 and I refuse to do so this New Years to the point of not even watching the ball drop in empty NY streets.

I will not be watching the retrospective programs about 2020, they will likely be filled with more of the same BS I've endured the entire year. If this year of the COVID pandemic has done anything for me it has opened my myopic mind with some 2020 vision of how corrupt the world really is and how it is so full of horse hockey a fleet of a thousand bulldozers couldn't put a dent in it.

I'd like to quote some lyrics as I sometimes do.

“Both Sides Now”

Verse
Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way

Chorus
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud's illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

I've looked at 2020 from every angle as clearly as possible and yet it's just the illusions they would have me remember, that's 2020 for me.

The final chorus sums it up pretty well . . .

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

Knowing what the illusions are only leaves us with 2020 vision going forward with 2021, unless we embrace the illusions of course.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

2020 was the year reality stopped mattering entirely. Where reality became entirely fabricated by the media and the majority of people moved completely into this fabricated bubble world of fear and destruction and over the year, this has become reality. It's been a year full of pointless destruction fueled by fear.

Destruction of freedom, destruction of the middle class, destruction of small businesses, destruction from riots, destruction of social progress. All fueled by fear driven by the media.

2020 is the year of fabricated fear that's led to the destruction of all the good things around for the average person. The destruction of some of the very basic things that make us human.

This year was just the start of a new decade. The decade where reality itself will be under assault and we're already losing the war.

I'll just be happy to not see the year number on anything anymore. I ended up with a bad UTI for Christmas, and an ER visit after all manner of unpleasantry (chills/hot sweats, temp spikes, kidney pain, spewing, etc), subsequent shots of meds to the gluteus (swear to god, whoever played this year-end voodoo joke on me, I'm kicking their ass) and sent home with a strong antibiotic RX.

a reply to: dug88

Then you must have stop seeing those things they want you to and now see the clouds for what they are. You have 2020 vision, no need for the rose colored glasses.

This was a hard and painful year, but I can't call it a bad year because it showed us so much.

It was the year of the pandemic, that was not really a pandemic.

The protests, that were not really protests.

And the election that was not really an election.

I hope the vision of 2020 gives us a chance in 2021.

2020 S&F

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Joni subtly showed us how illusory much of this world is.

In that vision : perhaps we can concentrate on positive and pleasant thoughts, for now.

Happy New Year Swampy !

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
It's New Year's Eve as I write this. I'm at home although I could be attending an unsanctioned swarey, but as with many of these New Year's events I've attended in the past, it means nothing more to me than getting really drunk until late (something I will be doing here at home anyway). Of course I can't find much to celebrate about 2020 and I refuse to do so this New Years to the point of not even watching the ball drop in empty NY streets.

I will not be watching the retrospective programs about 2020, they will likely be filled with more of the same BS I've endured the entire year. If this year of the COVID pandemic has done anything for me it has opened my myopic mind with some 2020 vision of how corrupt the world really is and how it is so full of horse hockey a fleet of a thousand bulldozers couldn't put a dent in it.

I'd like to quote some lyrics as I sometimes do.

“Both Sides Now”

Verse
Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way

Chorus
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud's illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

I've looked at 2020 from every angle as clearly as possible and yet it's just the illusions they would have me remember, that's 2020 for me.

The final chorus sums it up pretty well . . .

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

Knowing what the illusions are only leaves us with 2020 vision going forward with 2021, unless we embrace the illusions of course.

Nice one, Funny thing for me though is, I do have 20/20 vision..adjusted, and I can see for miles and miles and miles. Anyway, happy new year, mate.

a reply to: dug88

I don’t agree that all the destruction was all fueled by fear. I agree that most of it was largely driven by the media and their owners, our politicians- and THEIR owners- but I don’t think it was mainly fear. I think the destruction was driven by laziness, irresponsibility, and hate.

The laziness and irresponsibility is all of these people who eat up everything MSNBC and the NY Times and Twitter tells them. They have become so incredibly lazy that they can’t even be bothered to THINK for themselves. Oh, so many of them believe that they are thinking for themselves, as they read all of the bullish!t “articles” the “media” pukes out and they watch the “smart” political shows on Sunday morning and Sunday night.

If these people could rouse themselves out of their smug and disgusting laziness, enough to turn on their brains for a second and a half, they would see themselves being pulled by the nose here and then there and then back over here and then up this way and then down that way and then back over here. They would see themselves as the dumb herd animals that they are imitating.

It is absolutely irresponsible to not even f#cking THINK for yourself. You cannot claim to be thinking for yourself when you don’t even ask the SLIGHTEST question about, for instance, all of this ridiculous covid-19 sh!t. All of the goal-post moving, the changing and reappearing of stories, and the many, many contradictions coming from, in word and in deed, the people who are dictating our behavior.

It’s not fear- these people like being angry and they like believing they have a moral superiority over others. You question the covid narrative? You don’t think we should be forced to wear masks? You’re a baby killer and a grandma killer, and you don’t believe in science. They LOVE having something about which to police others- total strangers, even. Don’t believe me? A cursory search will give you hundreds of videos of these herd animals, getting two inches from someone’s face and screaming at them to wear their mask.

The hate- these same herd animals allowed themselves to be talked into hating Trump and any of his supporters. Hate is ok, because Trump says things on Twitter and he got caught doing pussy talk a decade ago. Also, he is a tyrant and a racist and a misogynist and a dictator. None of the herd animals will give you a single specific example that shows he is any of these things, but CNN told them this, so it’s ok for them to repeat it all as if it is fact, and it’s doubly approved to absolutely hate Trump and anyone who supports him.

I am done with the herd animals. They will come crying to us that we were right when it is entirely too late and there is no recourse left.

a reply to: dug88
Heads up!

This year was just the start of a new decade. The decade where reality itself will be under assault and we're already losing the war.

Let go of the pessimism, the start of the new decade is an arbitrary moment we pin marked by the birth of Jesus. Wait, this aint religious drivel, I just wan't show you that this isn't a bad omen or sign but perception.

We all live in our own realities. Some are closer, some are far apart. What we make of it, is what nurtures the fire of change. Like how you shout into the forest, it echos back at you. Not only speech, it's ones mindset, too, what others pick up.

I don't know you though, I don't want to preach at you, just give you an idea about the concept. See, I constantly hear that I radiate something positive. Latest example on ATS. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a saint and I hurt or frustrated others too.

The reason other say that I think is that I had a lot of sorrow in my life and I try to make the best out of everyday. Because of that, I generally try to enjoy and live in the moment. Others pick that friendly, calmness up and I think that's what they notice. It's not forced, I have bad days too but I don't let it out on others (with some exceptions, nobody is without fault).

TLDR: It's your thoughts that make the most difference. That make up your reality. instead of dread, be happy you are gifted with a high functioning brain and have fun finding a solution. You only have one life, how uncomfortable it may seem, remember there are happy souls on this planet that very less, still they find happyness.

And with that knowledge, use it, as the positive thoughts will lead to better progress than negative.

originally posted by: Nothin
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Joni subtly showed us how illusory much of this world is.

In that vision : perhaps we can concentrate on positive and pleasant thoughts, for now.

Happy New Year Swampy !

Joni Mitchel and Judy Collins both did a version of the song and my notes indicate that it was written by Clannad & Paul Young, who ever they are. I remember Joni's version most, but Judy's was pretty good too from what I remember. The harpsichord was part of the signature sound of the song, but I'd bet an acoustic guitar version would work great.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
This was a hard and painful year, but I can't call it a bad year because it showed us so much.

It was the year of the pandemic, that was not really a pandemic.The protests, that were not really protests.And the election that was not really an election.I hope the vision of 2020 gives us a chance in 2021.

2020 S&F

I never saw as clearly the farce of TPTB, and the blatant manipulation of the peon masses, as I have in 2021.

They blatantly lied to us or omitted "real" news in the mainstream media owned mostly by rich and powerful elite Liberals.

They tried to crush any voices that they didn't want the masses to hear through the technology barons who are also elite Liberals.

They tried to lock us in our homes and kill small businesses leaving only mega corporations to thrive, all done by mainly elite Liberal socialist governors (who believe individuals don't matter, only the collective "good", as defined by them matters) . Notice where this was done with over the top harshness has the highest rates of infection and death caused by funneling the masses into a few elitist corporate owned stores to infect each other.

I clearly see the evil that has permeated the elite globalist socialists and what lengths they will go to in order to attempt to control the thinking of the masses and to subjugate the masses.

We were blind, but now we see.

We were deaf, but now we hear.

We were silent, but just wait for 2021 and the anger brewing under the surface from a year of being held in house arrest by elite socialist politicians erupts into an awakening the likes of which the world has never seen.

God will punish those who closed his synagogues and churches with harshness, He is slow to anger, but this, THIS has caused God great pain and even God reaches the end and acts to punish those who so openly hate/look down on/despise his people and have tried to silence their worship/fellowship/and gathering.

2021 will be a year where the truly oppressed (not the PC faux oppressed) will rise and be blessed to the utter astonishment and dismay of those who have worked so hard to end the joy of fellowship with other human beings, faith and morality in the nation in 2021.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Had heard of Clannad, but had to look it up : an Irish folk ensemble that launched the career of singer Enya.
Paul Young was recognized as the smooth-voiced British crooner, singer of 'Everytime you go-away', and 'Wherever I lay my hat'.

This source shows a whopping 343 different recordings of the song, with some different titles and languages, including Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, and even Leonard Nimoy !!
Second-Hand Songs.

Although Judy was the first to record it : it was indeed written by Joni Mitchell.
Here ( JoniMitchel.com ) : she shares the inspiration for the composition :

Joni: Let's see. What have we got here? "Night in the City," "Circle Game" -- oh, "From Both Sides, Now." I'm really glad somebody requested that, because that's a very new song, and I've been driving everybody crazy by playing it twice and three times a night. It's called "From Both Sides, Now."

Gene: I haven't heard that one.

Joni: I'll play that one first. It -- I should tell people a little bit about it. I was reading a book, and I haven't finished it yet, called "Henderson the Rain King." And there's a line in it that I especially got hung up on that was about when he was flying to Africa and searching for something, he said that in an age when people could look up and down at clouds, they shouldn't be afraid to die. And so I got this idea 'from both sides now.' There are a lot of sides to everything, and so the song is called "From Both Sides, Now."

originally posted by: AspasiasTwin

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
This was a hard and painful year, but I can't call it a bad year because it showed us so much.

It was the year of the pandemic, that was not really a pandemic.The protests, that were not really protests.And the election that was not really an election.I hope the vision of 2020 gives us a chance in 2021.

2020 S&F

I never saw as clearly the farce of TPTB, and the blatant manipulation of the peon masses, as I have in 2021.

They blatantly lied to us or omitted "real" news in the mainstream media owned mostly by rich and powerful elite Liberals.

They tried to crush any voices that they didn't want the masses to hear through the technology barons who are also elite Liberals.

They tried to lock us in our homes and kill small businesses leaving only mega corporations to thrive, all done by mainly elite Liberal socialist governors (who believe individuals don't matter, only the collective "good", as defined by them matters) . Notice where this was done with over the top harshness has the highest rates of infection and death caused by funneling the masses into a few elitist corporate owned stores to infect each other.

I clearly see the evil that has permeated the elite globalist socialists and what lengths they will go to in order to attempt to control the thinking of the masses and to subjugate the masses.

We were blind, but now we see.

We were deaf, but now we hear.

We were silent, but just wait for 2021 and the anger brewing under the surface from a year of being held in house arrest by elite socialist politicians erupts into an awakening the likes of which the world has never seen.

God will punish those who closed his synagogues and churches with harshness, He is slow to anger, but this, THIS has caused God great pain and even God reaches the end and acts to punish those who so openly hate/look down on/despise his people and have tried to silence their worship/fellowship/and gathering.

2021 will be a year where the truly oppressed (not the PC faux oppressed) will rise and be blessed to the utter astonishment and dismay of those who have worked so hard to end the joy of fellowship with other human beings, faith and morality in the nation in 2021.

Most of what you bring up is what I had been thinking. Basically it was so in your face, you'd have to be blind to not see it. They made it very apparent what was going on. Open corruption, propaganda, lies, and a treasonous disregard for the US constitution, the rule of law and the rights of our citizens. As for what's behind it, I'm still not seeing that clearly yet. A commie plot, the birth pains of a New World Order or Biblical prophecy coming to pass?

a reply to: Nothin

Good trivia on the song. Thanks.