Washington

In 2017, Seattleites nearly elected a slam poet as mayor. The 31-year-old biracial, queer, poetry artist and community organizer named Nikkita Oliver came in a close third to be the city’s top executive. While on the campaign trail at a slam poetry club, Oliver said the best way to push back against the Trump administration and to achieve a ‘real sanctuary city that is about equity,’ voters in Seattle must cast their ballot for her genitalia. ‘When you go into a community that is struggling and you put the money in a woman’s hands it’s more likely to benefit the community as a whole. This is science, y’all,’ she said being interviewed on a dimly-lit stage by a Gargantua of indeterminate sex or ethnicity sporting a bowtie and trucker hat.

Measles, a disease considered eliminated in 2000, is now rampaging through the country. The causes of this latest outbreak are symptomatic of what ails our society: a slavish devotion to celebrity, the elevation of emotion over facts, the failure of science and math education, the rejection of evidence, and the inability to discern authoritative sources from a crackpot behind a keyboard. Our national health relies on Americans understanding the difference between peer-reviewed research and a discredited study, just as our political health demands that we distinguish between fake news and reliable sources with attributed quotes, between research and facts and garbage.