Why Things Are Different This Time
It is complex but emotionally simple
by Mike Meyer ~ Honolulu ~ June 12, 2020
The majority seem to have, at least in America, concluded that things related to race are different now. At the same time, the minority that has stolen control of the country politically is determined to make everything a lie so nothing can change.
If everything is a lie, nothing can be right. That worked so well for the Russian KGB in the old days that the lunatic fringe of the US political system decided to give it a try in 2016. The fear only surpassed the amazement of the planet at the US electing a mentally incompetent fascist asshole at the intellectual and moral bankruptcy that prevented any effective response to that insult.
By December 2016, it was evident that we were all screwed. By February 2017, the nature of the disaster was already in full form with massive corruption domestically and internationally, endless confusion, a roster of officials straight from an old fashioned police lineup, and a commitment to stupidity. That commitment to ignorance contained elements of the old Three Stooges comedies but without the underlying harmless innocence and zero humor.
The US and the entire human population will soon have spent four years in a bizarre mashup of slapstick comedy and Greek tragedy, Antigone and the Three Stooges. The result has not been Antigone as that part is missing, so it is the Three Stooges tragedy with a pandemic end. The fools cannot even generate enough empathy to achieve drama.
Everyone just wants them to go away, but they won’t. The only thing the starring stooges can do to end this is dying, but that is no longer morally acceptable. Another level of tragedy is the cult mentality of the manipulated minority, the managers of which would welcome a martyr or two, as the idiots would not keep making ignorant and incompetent statements if they were dead.
The ultimate puzzle, the real tragedy, then is our moral refusal to wish for the only release because we would lower ourselves to their level there, and that is the only goal that fascist psychosis desires. So there can be no catharsis. Our confusion is so complete we cannot allow ourselves to learn from the tragedy because we are the failed heroes. If we allowed ourselves to learn, we would act and become heroic, but we are unable — what a mess.
That is what is different now in the tremendous planetary reaction to the relentless police murder of ordinary black citizens everywhere. Before at least in America, we thought we were learning so we would figure it out, and everything would be ok. But we didn’t. We only fooled ourselves by thinking good thoughts but ignoring the institutions that were allowed to grow in our names but with a wink and a nod to the racists who held control.
The difference now is that the majority of white people who ignored everything for generations have realized that it has made us powerless and morally bankrupt. We cannot act, and we cannot continue to ignore our responsibility. Our enlightenment ideals and the great American Experiment have fallen to those who we always saw ourselves fighting to protect equality and democracy.
We were so helpless that we allowed stupidity to rule. In the end, that great evil that we were taught we would heroically subdue was not some other people but our madness. It has taken four years of incompetent fascist authoritarianism blossoming before our eyes to see that we are now too weak to save ourselves from the disasters that we created.
Our exceptionalism was a myth, and now we must learn and accept our role in the supporting cast in which we once starred. History evolves, and our planet turns, the West declines, the East rises, and the South will become the future.
That slowly growing realization is why this fight for Black Lives Matter feels so different. The wrong people were still trying to star but couldn’t lead or even act. The cast that spent centuries as understudies and abused servants has stepped to the front.
The establishment power and its militarized police run by fools and stooges but with vast, looted, wealth, and a merged imperial military to prevent change, is what our black and brown populations are now acting to subdue. At least this part of us has learned from decades and centuries of domination and oppression. The youth that we now have at the head of all of these massive changes understand the direction that the new paradigm must evolve. They, we, are diverse and hopeful but not naive at the repulsive forces of hatred, fear, and anger that we must overcome.
It’s a cultural relief after decades of failure for the white population not to have to be in the lead. We tried it and failed. Maybe we can find some catharsis in giving all we can in our new supporting roles. Perhaps we can succeed at that.
