For a few years, we on Whidbey Island have been looking at what’s going on in the rest of the country, wringing our hands and feeling reassured that we live in a place surrounded by rational, well-meaning neighbors. But it’s getting harder to feel that way. Reading Nicholas Kristof in the NYT I am informed of seaside towns of 4,000 people in Oregon with military vehicles in their police fleet, encouraging armed civilians to come help them protect against invaders. Then, something closer to home:
This happened in Forks, WA. OK, they’re all a little nutty over there, that’s where the vampire TV show was shot. But the article makes reference to a gun-store owner protecting his shop with local militia – in Sequim, a quiet tourist town on the Olympic Peninsula that we visit often.
Then there’s this:
Police brutality in Tacoma.
Then, five miles up the road: a few years back, a gun shop opened with little or no comment from the locals. As I walked by the other day, I saw a notice on the door saying they were closed due to the benighted policies of our state governor.
And the giant pickup truck that barrelled by me on Holst Road the other day, flying both a giant “Trump 2020” flag and another I didn’t catch, which caused me to laugh coffee out through my nose at the cliché.
It’s starting to feel like wringing my hands isn’t really the appropriate response.
Update: browsing the comments on the NYT article, many have referenced the Norman Jewison film “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and speculated on a remake. Mel Brooks or Michael Mann production?