Watching the Washington Capitals this year has been a lot of fun. The reasons are simple. The Caps now have a better record than the other 31 teams in the NHL (actually tied with Winnipeg). And Alex Ovechkin is on his way to becoming the highest goal scorer in NHL history, now only about 20 goals behind Wayne Gretzky.

Digression: I saw that, with his overtime winning goal last night, Ovechkin now has become the leader in another category. He has scored goals against more different goalies than anyone else in NHL history. This led me to think about statistics. Whoever thought to keep this particular statistic? Does it mean that, from the day the NHL came into existence in 1917, this record has been kept? Every goal scorer, and every goalie scored against? That is pretty extraordinary. Of course, computers have been statistics easier to record. And imagine what AI will do.

Back to the subject. Professional hockey has another facet that, to my knowledge, no other professional (much less college) sport has – the allowance of fighting between players. Now, it is true that fighting in professional hockey rarely leads to serious injury (it is more likely that someone will be hurt when slammed into a wall, when a puck happens to meet a player’s face, or there is some other type of accident in the game itself). But still, it seems to me that it is absurd, just as it is absurd that not only the player who starts the fight gets time in the penalty box, but the attacked player does as well. It makes a hockey fight more like what you see in a WWE smack down than a real source of uncontrollable emotion.

But that’s not my point. My point is that so many hockey fans pray for a fight. They would rather see a fight than a clean game. This of course says something about humanity in general.

And it is not only hockey. It is one of the reasons why Donald Trump was elected president. While he is not involved in fake physical fights, he is continually involved in fake verbal fights, with his constant insults to and attacks on foes and friends. This is how he revs up his base, just like a fight seems to rev up the fans of a hockey team.

From time to time, I do watch Congressional hearings on C-Span. And if you do the same, you have seen how members of Congress have become so efficient in badmouthing their opposition, and attacking witnesses who are connected to the other party. There is no subtlety, for the most part, in Congressional questioning. Yet, this type of questioning does not lead to more information. All it does is give members the opportunity to show themselves to be bullies. And many people seem to like bullies, as long as they are bullying others and not themselves.

I have felt this to be a problem for a long time. I would much rather see debates on policy, and not ad hominem attacks. But I am afraid that many people must feel otherwise.

With the next four years being the years of Trump Two, we will have a president whose bullying will set the tone of the country, and unfortunately Congress will simply mirror his ways. Probably nothing that can be done about that, unfortunately.

I have been listening to many of the hearings on the Trump nominations to cabinet and sub-cabinet positions. While I have found some of what I have heard to be respectful, much has not been. This is by and large not because the Democrats on the various committees have been attacking the witnesses, but because many of the Republicans have spent their time not asking the nominees about their particular ideas or plans, but to attack the Biden administration, even though the Biden administration has nothing to do with these hearings.

Government is not trusted by the general public, whether it be the administration, the Congress or the courts. Why is this? Of course, part of it is due to performance. But much of it is due to the type of bullying I have described above, and to what people hear or see through various types of media, whether it be talk radio, right wing news services (I do believe this is a right wing, not a center or left of center problem), or perhaps even C-Span, which makes it so easy for politicians to get on their high horse and to have their intemperate words spread widely.

I don’t think much can be done about this over the next four years. But I also don’t see many voices campaigning against this unfortunate situation. I wish that would change.