Aaron Sorkins curiously blunted drama is an autopsy of frustration.
Near the beginning of The Trial of the Chicago 7, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman walk the gauntlet of court steps, surrounded by an extravagance of anger and mutual hostility: Culture and counter-culture in two seething blobs of mutual loathing amidst the ricochet of crossfire invective.
Once inside the courthouse Hoffman turns to the apparently stunned Rubin. “Ah you aaright?” He asks.
“I was until I saw that,” Rubin replies. (Rubin, in fact, stalks the entire movie with that stunned look.)
The pair continue walking through the grand lobby of the Chicago courthouse until they approach another, smaller gauntlet. It is press and citizens and assorted others. Suddenly, from the back of the crowd a projectile arcs right at the two. Deftly, Jerry Rubin catches it. …
Racism and slavery were the training wheel lies for todays schizo-frenetic Right wing
It is not just that Donald Trump lies. It is not just that any particular member of the GOP lies.
It is, also, that the lies are so readily accepted by some voters.
The lies are either believed, wholesale, in an immoral credulity, or wielded in an amoral ruthlessness — Narrative as blunt force trauma. It is this particular and malignant symbiosis between the liars and those willing to accept the lie in service to their goals, that is the damage. …
Was it a coup? An insurrection? Sedition? A lark? Some suggestions.
Wednesday, as the joint House and Senate was about to meet in congress to tally and to certify the votes of the several states, a Trump rally turned into, first a march, then a protest, then a melee and, finally, a rout of the DC police. For the first time ever, the Confederate Flag was openly taken into the Capitol Building of the Union. Windows were broken. People were injured and some died.
A foolhardy band of, mostly, men — acting on the loosest of conspiracies — broke windows, faced off against police, looted various office buildings, defecated on the floor and then calmly filed out to plan hijinks for the inauguration. …
The party of contempt and spite has itself a rampage.
“Tis a passion that is pleased with and flatters itself. How often, being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good defence and presents us with a just excuse, are we angry against truth and innocence itself?” — Michel de Montaigne, from his essay, entitled ‘of anger’.
The building that houses Congress, including the hallowed chamber of the Senate, was breached by a rampaging mob, yesterday. The chamber was empty, having been evacuated after a Trump rally went pear-shaped and whose members would not obey DC police orders to disperse. The intruder into the Senate chamber, a man wearing a black jacket, black gloves, a long checked scarf, and a black hat with incongruously bright red stripes seemed to be half-amused and somewhat scared under a sneering blush of anger and resentment. He was also wearing what looked like some sort of protective knee and shin guards. He reached the dais and mounted it. …
The human part of being lied to.
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.Macbeth Act III, Scene 4.
Reality always wins. That’s, in fact, what makes it reality. You may fight against it for a while. You may defy it and deny it, and for a time you may succeed, but reality will always win in the end.
Now, I think, Trump voters — and the GOP in general — have been put in opposition to reality. They have been lied to, taken for the proverbial ride, used, conned, bamboozled, swindled, hornswaggled, and have gotten the flim-flam to a fare-thee-well. …
Two speeches that refute the simplemindedness that is originalism
When we think of the ‘founding fathers’ we think of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and many others. These men, who fought the Revolutionary war, contributed to the Declaration of Independence, crafted the Constitution, and who were part of the early Congresses that voted to adopt these documents as the root and foundation of our Republic, are the image we call to mind when we say ‘founding fathers.’
And when conservatives speak of originalism, it is largely in reference to these original founding fathers. The words of the Constitution, they say, only have the meaning they had when written. …
Some ideas for making the writing and the experience even better.
Medium is a good thing. I’ve been on Medium for over a year and half now and have enjoyed reading about a vast array of experiences, each from a unique perspective. I’ve enjoyed writing and getting feedback on my writing.
Like with all things, that which is good can be made better. I’ve been doing some thinking on my experience so far with Medium and have a couple of itches that need scratching. So, with that in mind, I submit some ideas for improving the experience and the writing:
Editing
I’m a writer with a lot of ideas and some notion of how to present them. This takes my writing all over the place. I like to think that I’m steadily improving all the time, but the best I’ve done is often under the watchful eye of an editor. Indeed, the history of all my submissions to all the places I’ve ever done so are just attempts to get the attention of editors, in the hopes that they’ll help me polish and get better quicker. …
Cervantes in America.
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, is the immortal tragi-comic narrative of narratives, by Miguel de Cervantes. Often known as just Don Quixote, the story concerns a man — His name is Alonso Quexano — alone in his library, forgoing sleep and meals to read and re-read fantastic tales of knighthood, chivalry and adventure of a bygone age. His mind is, ultimately, cracked by loneliness, loss of sleep, hunger, and repeated readings of these stories. He begins to believe in the stories and, in his mad, feverish, credulity, fashions a new persona for himself: he will become Don Quixote, a knight-errant seeking to right wrongs and duel evil in the hope of become the help for the helpless, in a fallen world. …
On the language, imagery, and narratives of elections.
Polls and pundits predicted a 2020 ‘blue wave’ for Joe Biden like the wave that appeared to occur in 2018 and which recaptured the House of Representatives for the Democrats.
Well, the election has come and gone and, like in 2016, the polls appear to have been missing something. What that something is, remains to be determined. Democrats outperformed on almost all metrics, which is near as no never mind a good definition of a ‘blue wave.’ Republicans outperformed also in a way that can only be described as a competing and contradictory red wave.
Democrats still retain the house and, pending run-off elections in Georgia, they may yet take the Senate to a Vice-Presidential tie-breaking victory-of-sorts. …
Just what is the will of the people?
Here we sit, watching — on the edge of our seats — as a coup is being attempted. Donald Trump is trying to talk himself into staying in power, or staying out of legal trouble, as he’s done countless times before. He has simply declared, without even the slightest evidence or support, a fraudalent election. The lines are being drawn and various Republicans have allied themselves with him in his attempted coup.
That’s not the problem. The problem is that citizens — perhaps otherwise earnest and honest citizens — either actually believe Trump or say they believe him. If he pulls this off, it will be with an implicit threat of physical violence, in the embrace of violent actors, and with a long history of violence towards the truth, and reality in which fellow citizens are complicit. …
