Sunday Smiles

David Strom 2:00 PM | February 08, 2026
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It's easy to use a throwaway line like, "We live in absurd times." 

Not having lived in any other time, I really can't say whether this is an exceptionally absurd moment in history, or whether absurdity is a constant in human life. 

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It could be that all eras are absurd in their own way, although my intuition is that the level of absurdity waxes and wanes, likely related to the level of prosperity at any given time and place. When people are struggling to survive, absurdity retreats; when prosperity reigns, constraints imposed by reality recede, and absurdity flourishes. 

That's how it seems to me based on my experience and reading of history, but I wouldn't suggest that this is scientifically established or anything. Yet I am pretty sure that there is a connection between the level of absurdity in society and its wealth; in tougher times and places, people don't seem to invent things to worry about, or twist themselves into knots like this. 

Can you imagine, in 1932, anybody writing in a newspaper absurd stories like this? At the height of the Great Depression, people would likely watch football, at least when they had the chance, to escape life's troubles. Colin Kaepernick earned (?) around $60 million as an NFL player and was lionized for... kneeling. 

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Now, many people have so few actual troubles that they invent them, or twist reality up in a knot to make truly insignificant things seem very important. That could also be why working-class people are less likely to get caught up in absurd ideologies; they cannot afford to ruminate on the grand injustices of the world that are hidden behind "systems," they are too busy keeping things running and putting food on the table to worry about the woes of Colin Kaepernick.

Similarly, the "neighbors putting their bodies on the line" for child molesters are looking for meaning in life, and in doing so have gone absolutely mad. They are enraged but lack discernment of right and wrong or any sense of perspective. They revel in their rage about...stuff...and are enraged because their lives have no meaning, not because their lives are unbearable. 

"I care about our neighbors and their experience!" the woman virtue-signalled. 

The woman bragged about how good of a person she was before saying she and other white liberal women tossed all the weights in a pile to make the workers pick up.

These women are completely nuts.

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Everywhere we look, we see truly bizarre behavior, and people reveling in it. It is a reminder that the people who are most certain of themselves are the least self-aware, and the least aware of the way the world truly is. Their ignorance is vast, their certainty complete, and in the process, everything is becoming absurd. 

The misuse of Christianity has been especially bizarre, with the comparisons of illegal immigrants to Jesus, Joseph, and Mary going to Bethlehem. While the family was indeed poor and oppressed, they were hardly illegal immigrants. In fact, Joseph had to travel there because his heritage was rooted there. 

And of course, the image of Trump crucified is the height of absurdity, given the meaning they were trying to communicate. They seem not to understand that Jesus was the GOOD guy in that story. 

Absurd barely begins to describe it. 



ON TO THE MEMES...




























































BEST OF THE BABYLON BEE


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BEST OF THE REST


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AND FINALLY...


UPDATE: Just saw this. 


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