Cults, the fallacy of bear hibernation, and the fundamental brokenness of America

Just because 0 is not the exact same as 2, it does not mean that 100 is the correct answer

I’ve been sitting on this essay for nearly two years now.

Part of it is because there’s just so much I want to explore, and I’m slowly adding or subtracting bits of writing like a fastidious painter painstakingly putting down a layer of color, stroke by stroke, over the course of their entire lifetime. But if I’m being completely honest, I think I’ve probably been procrastinating on hitting publish—not because I’m don’t think the piece is ready, but because I don’t know if it will do any good. I’m not aiming to change the world or anything with it, but I also don’t know if the act of making this essay public will materially help or harm.

I do know that this subject has been on my mind for a very long time, longer even than the writing of the essay. I started writing this essay in the fall of 2020. There comes a moment where you gotta shit or get off the pot, as my grandfather would say. And for me, that moment came on May 25, 2022 when 19 babies and 2 teachers were massacred at an elem…