Want to feel depressed?

So, do you want to feel really, really depressed about the state of America these days?

I'm not kidding. Do you want to feel soul-crushing despair? If not, then don't click on this link (from PZ Myers' Pharyngula).

It's a compilation of Facebook entries responding to the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, and yes, it will destroy any last hope you have for America. Don't say I didn't warn you!

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OK, if you did look, despite my warnings, I've also got something which might make you feel a little better.

After all, what cure for despair is better than a big belly laugh? And this will make you laugh out loud if anything will. It's Calvin and Hobbes, the best comic strip ever, freely available online.

This link is to the introductory comic - the very first, where Calvin and Hobbes find each other. Read a few of them. I guarantee you'll be laughing out loud before you get very far.

We can't, after all, change much about the world we live in. And for us Americans, it often seems like our countrymen are getting stupider by the day. Certainly, the Republican Party just gets crazier and crazier without, apparently, losing any support. And then there's the bigotry, the racism, the... cowardice in refusing to face the real world (which I think might bother me most of all).

But we can still laugh. In fact, I think ridicule is one of the best weapons we rational Americans have. But even if it's not a matter of fighting back, even when it's just about keeping ourselves sane, and reasonably free of complete hopelessness, laughter is good medicine.

So give Calvin and Hobbes a try. I don't know about you, but it's been a big help for me.