When it comes to movie monsters, we are fully indoctrinated. If Godzilla is the big bad who wants to destroy the world, we will be on his side the whole way. I’m completely comfortable with our blind loyalty. Because these are just movies. And the world they can destroy is fictional. However, indoctrination and loyalty should not be reasons to support real world monsters.

Look at the way Tom Brady became the Greatest of All Time. He wasn’t a sure fire, number one overall draft pick, blessed with peak physical gifts. At the University of Michigan he shared time as a starter with Drew Henson, whom everyone considered a much better athlete. All Tom Brady did was outwork and outcompete Henson. Brady was drafted in the 6th round of the 2000 draft. 198 players were taken ahead of him, including 6 quarterbacks. Teams thought signal callers Giovanni Carmazzi (49ers), Tee Martin (Steelers) and Spergon Wynn (Browns) had more upside than Brady. The Patriots already had Drew Bledsoe, a number one overall draft choice in 1993, as their starter. Brady seemed destined for the bench, if he managed to stay in the league.

The most lasting effect may be that a country with a history of division has been cleaved more deeply than it has since the Civil War. People are turning in family members who attended the insurrection. In my family, there’s tension I’m not sure we’ll recover from. I’ve barely spoken to my Kraken quoting cousin in years. Another distant relative has gone from indoctrinated to radicalized. He’s convinced the election was stolen and taunts friends who disagree.

So how does the United States repair the Kraken’s damage? Trump’s American Carnage is substantial.

What’s the downside to transparency? There is none.

What’s the downside to unrestrained lying? It marched on the Capitol Building, killed five people and tried to stage a coup. Many of the angry people, incited by years of deception, are still out there. Who knows what they’ll do next?

The intruders were jubilant as they retreated from the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2020. They had come to right a wrong and felt they had. It didn’t matter that what they thought was right was completely wrong. They arrived on a path of lies much longer than the walk from the stage near Lafayette Square to the Capitol Building.

It can’t be easy having everyone mad at you. In fairness, there’s no way we can feel good about what happened this year, you know, with all the anger, hunger and death. But let me thank you for one thing, the legacy of one simple question you posed to each of us – what are you going to do?

The best day in sports in 2020 occurred without one meaningful game being played. Baseball was in the off season, hockey hadn’t agreed to start date yet, it was between weeks of the NFL, and the NBA was in pre-season. In fact, almost all of the games involved in the best day in sports of 2020 were played in the first half of the last century and one will be played in 2021.

On the last day of the Congress, I stop in on a Zoom coffee session and am put into a breakout room with enthusiastic young television producers. A filmmaker from New Dehli says “they don’t tell you how to work the markets in school. There should be a course for that.”

I say, “I can tell you all you need to know about the markets if you want.”

My breakout roommates say yes.

These experiences change us. They should. If you come out of 2020 the same person you were when you went in, all you’ll have is the memory of a bad year. You’ve wasted an opportunity.

“Charlie Brown” doesn’t want other people to think he’s a racist. In fact, he doesn’t want to be a racist at all. He’s ready to be an ally. He can become an anti-racist. Unfortunately, his defensiveness shuts down that opportunity.

People want to get together, and many will, recommendations be damned. They’re thinking about how inconvenient the restrictions are and how much we deserve some family time. They’re thinking about the wrong thing.

Every country has its faults. Like people, sometimes a country’s weakness is also its strength. Internationally, Americans are known for being loud and unapologetic. While that’s not always enjoyable to be around, today it’s essential to preserve the values baked into the United States of America.

Our society is built to give us what we want when we want it. We don’t even want to pay for music anymore, and when we do it’s not much. What’s lost in attachment is gained in entitlement.

Trump’s not discouraging violence, he’s directing it.

If this sounds shocking, consider this - Trump has destroyed all Presidential norms so far, chumming up to fascists, repelling allies, sending troops to attack American citizens, and turning a debate into obnoxious bullying. Every time we see these things happen; we’re shocked. We shouldn’t be. Normal is gone. We can no longer view the world through that lens.

We need to question anything that wields the power of indoctrination and emotional attachment over us, even if it means breaking traditions and straining friendships.

I’ve travelled to alternative realities. You can go there too.

“The media is biased!”

I hear this a lot, particularly from friends with a certain political bent. I keep an eye on the articles they share to see what meets their standards of impartiality. A trend has appeared. Not only do people have trouble reading the news, they have trouble identifying news in the first place.

When you fundamentally change what your subject is saying, editing an interview rises off the slab and starts stomping through town.