Arrested for Playing Dominos

The militant lockdown of Portugal is reaching ever new heights of absurdities. Latest in from our diligent journalists, was the break up of a group of men playing dominos in the back office of a store. The journalist was audibly upset by the event, his voice almost breaking as he read it up for his TV audience.

I wouldn't have been made aware of this if it hadn't been for a rather charming feature of public discourse here in Portugal. For some reason, they've kept the medieval tradition of having a court jester. This comedian gets a full hour every week on prime time TV to do nothing but mocking the elite and their journalist minions, and he's doing a rather good job of it.

Needless to say, the domino raid caught his attention, and he used it to full effect. The way he put it was hilarious. However, the sad fact remains that hobby fascists still abound. Someone found it opportune to call the police in order to break up what must have been a rather unremarkable gathering. It brings up associations with Anne Frank and her diligent neighbour, only at a level that's comical rather than tragic.

Events like this serve to highlight several absurdities of our times. For one, the journalist, so eager to make this domino raid headline news, is the same kind of journalist who completely failed to notice anything even slightly odd about Boris Johnson's miraculous journey last Easter. The police is equally making themselves look foolish, stomping around with their masks on as if these socks on their faces have any effect on the spread of the virus. Less than half of my local neighbours are currently wearing their masks correctly when outside. The police, like their journalist friends, are going full retard just as everyone are waking up to the nonsense of it all.

There's a smell of desperation in the air. Everybody gets the sense that there's a loss of control. The narrative doesn't make sense to anyone but the most gullible. It seems to  me that we've reached an inflection point. All that's required at this point is to give the narrative a gentle push, and the whole thing will unravel. I've just messaged my brothers, lamenting the fact that the only thing still legal in Portugal is to sit at home and reminisce about the miraculous events of last Easter.

Let's see who of my brothers picks up on my reference to Boris Johnson. My hope is that once they realize that the intensive care story was a lie, they'll also start wondering about the truth in all the other propaganda that they've swallowed without question. Maybe the domino story was more than a little symbolic. Maybe it inadvertently set off a domino effect. We can certainly hope so and do our bit to put things in motion.

Domino effect

By Louise - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Link