My eldest daughter is writing on Substack which is cool. I finally got the app because I had been following Rick Holland the poet there. I also followed a suggested writer who does book reviews. When I think of the United States and writing in general I really rated ‘the poetry magazine podcast’. I went back to it again recently just to go through the archives. I am slowly working my way through it.

What gets me though with some of the US writers is I feel like they are always on edge. Like a writer will come out with some suicidal ideation and be like I wish a friend would just shoot me. Shootings in the US are common and the system is geared towards making money. People getting shot or injured keeps the guns sold and the hospitals making money off suffering.  

Suffering is big business, and there is some real history there too. I saw some posts recently saying that there is a school shooting every week in the US. If you had to live in that environment I am sure you would be on edge and drop into a victim ready mindframe. I am not trying to come across with my own opinion because I don’t live in the US. I am actually amazed at how well designed US society is.

I mean why would you build a high speed rail there? To get people from one homeless camp to the next homeless camp? There is no point and little in the way of making a profit. I know a bloke living in the US and he loves it. There is so much culture on show and the people are normally constructive and positive. Yet it isn’t really about the people but really it is about the people.

I mean does catharsis really stop bullets? Even people who think gun culture and gun deaths are not a problem can’t stop bullets. So whether you approach it from a creative slant or a freedom of speech slant the system keeps churning out victims. I mean isn’t that what it is designed to do? I can write some creative prose detailing how I am the most poetic victim or say I don’t care about the victims or whatever. Yet the show must go on.