I have watched one presidential inauguration in my life, and that was Obama's in 2008. It doesn't matter who I voted for in previous elections nor their outcome, public ceremonies and rituals doused in tradition generally fill me with a combination of ennui and coldness. I don't care whether we agree or not on his record, or how you feel about him as a person, I was onboard with Obama in a way that I hadn't been in years and I genuinely felt that for the first time in my reachable memory that mankind was finally figuring a way out of the dark ages.
So, the fact that I will not be watching one second – nor even a multitude of seconds – of the inauguration today is unremarkable in itself. I don't normally watch or even care about these rituals. I understand they seem to be important to show all Americans "the peaceful transition of power" and the strength of our Constitutional grounds and all that. I know they are happening and I don't need to bear witness to the event in a live aspect.
The only thing that I will do today to mark the inauguration in my mind is to watch Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. You can take that however you would like, but partly it's because watching Idiocracy again at this particular moment is a little bit too on the nose for me. With Dr. Strangelove, what appeared like a worst case scenario once upon a time may now at least look a little bit like blessed relief.
And remember the immortal words of President Merkin Muffley: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"
