General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWho are we?
Its been paining me to accurately define what we, as a nation, have been become and how we got here in the collective sense.
Is it a sort of mass PTSD? The fallout from Covid and all the machinations that left in its wake? The rise of a selfish latent racist sector of society that sees anything other than white leadership as bad? The sudden about face of our nations historic responsibilities upon the rest of the world because out of the bizzare desire for others to contribute their fair share? The gross emphasis upon tech as the solution to a world in turmoil because its perceived as an best (easy) fix? The ever expanding divide between rich and poor, completely ignored by a section that believe the rich know better? A complete disassociation from empathy because thats perceived as weak?
Yes to all
But why?
The only analogy I can use is, is when I used to work in film. The common belief is that the director sets the tone for how a shoot would go, but that is so far from the truth. The director, for the most part, deals with the actors and very little with the crew. The tone of the set was on the shoulders of the 1st assistant director. If he or she were an asshole; yelling a lot, no common sense, not a basic good person, cast blame on others for their own fault, etc: it was going to be a shitty hellish shoot.
If a director wasnt vein glorious and had a good competent 1st AD, the shoot could literally be magical, in that way one would dream of how filmmaking should be. It would reinvigorate a persons feeling as to why they got into film in the first place. They are rare but not impossible.
But there also is another type of movie set, the absolute very worse kind, its one where the director is a clueless control freak asshole that wont let anyone do their jobs without putting in their two cents. These are the types of shoots that drive people to drink, quite literally. (Oh the things Ive seen) You just want the shoot to be over, get your pay and tell everyone to fuck off and never see anyone one of them again. And the sad part is, the entire crew feels this way.
We are now experiencing, as a nation, one of those shoots
We, as a nation are now led by a vein glorious leadership out for a self imposed desire to get even. To show the world their latent brilliance.
And this, regardless of the shutdown, is what we have been experiencing: we are rudderless and continue to be so.
All discussions are based on greed, need for the monetary and momentary desires, the very base and ignorant wonton need for revenge and the very real belief that all respect is deserved simply because they are in power. And that any type of negotiation is a sign of unmanly weakness.
And as we all know, in the truer sense, respect is earned. And is earned by hard work, self-effacement, kindness, stick-to-itiveness, and firm thoughtful decisions. Decisions based on facts, all available information, close contacts with allies and not gut feelings based solely on selfishness.
We are a nation without leadership. We are a nation run by a haunting cruel 1st assist director: Miller.
Trump is now nothing more than a chaotic place holder to exercise all his warped and bizarre fantasies, on the world stage, which seem to change from week to week.
Every decision, every consideration, every choice is based solely on revenge, vanity and wonton need. Nothing is for the good or the noble. Nothing is based on betterment, improvement or hopes for the future. Its all for now and its mine because I deserve it mentality.
I grew upon in a house full of turmoil, to be polite, and I remember my sister once said to me, you know, we raised ourselves. I never forgot that.
Fight as our elected Dems will do, they are not in power and they only have so much leverage. And in a larger sense, we as a people, are in our own.
It is upon us to define who we are as a nation.
We are at an inflection point in our history.
Do we choose betterment or will we allow base emotions of a depraved few to define us as a people and as a nation?
NewHendoLib
(61,386 posts)It takes effort, education, understanding, empathy - to rise above our base instincts.
We are what happens in its absence.
PatSeg
(51,297 posts)I often wonder what kind of a species are we. So many are selfish, cruel, and combative, it is a wonder that as a species we have survived at all. What kind of species willfully destroys its habitat, poisons its air and water, and hoards more resources than they can ever use, even as people around them are sick and dying?
It is as if a large percentage of the population is suffering from some severe psychiatric disorder that is bent on self destruction.
Timeflyer
(3,498 posts)GiqueCee
(2,950 posts)... is the preferred clinical term for a phenomenon wherein a small number of people with a particular world view can exercise active influence over the rest of society. The Hell's Angels fancy themselves the "1%ers", that small number of people, in this case, a violent bunch with bad intentions, that can influence the behavior of that segment of society they are currently infesting, like so many ticks on choppers. But that segment of society has to be conducive to such a malign influence. We now know that Trump-humpers are VERY conducive.
Trump and his malevolent minions are the embodiment, on a much grander scale, of the mindless malice and pathological selfishness that drives that notorious bunch of bikers, but Trump has 'em all beat. The magnitude of his evil can only be measured in astronomical terms. And he WILL continue to escalate his horrific destruction of anything and everything that is good about America. If he isn't stopped, he will get us all killed, be it through a conflict with, say, Venezuela, that goes supernova, a civil war, or simply letting people die from previously treatable diseases because the shame of the Kennedy clan bans vaccines.
But I really like your film set analogy. I've been on a few sets, if only as an extra, and I've witnessed that dynamic in action.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,906 posts)CommonHumanity
(329 posts)I am sure I'll get an lot of condescending, sarcastic, know-it all, put me in my place replies to this, but I am absolutely SICK of people using the term "WE".
Our nation has been hijacked by a lack of guardrails on wealth, power and the rule of law and many of us have been objecting and/our fighting it our whole lives. Trump was not elected by a majority of us and I AM NOT PART OF THE GENERIC OVERSIMPLIFIED "WE" so commonly used in "who we have become", "who we are" etc. Fuck that! Excuse my rant and obscenity. It just makes me really mad.
dlk
(13,001 posts)Profits before people. Billionaires and corporations are running the show and have successfully distracted everyone from their enormous money grab, to fight over womens rights, LGBTQ rights, book bans, and vaccinations and science, to name a few.
Meanwhile, they are vacuuming up all of our resources and money.
For example, we have allowed the gun lobby to perpetrate the con that unlimited gun rights (and their unlimited profits) are more important than the lives of our children.
We have allowed our public schools, the foundation of democracy, to be gutted, so our children dont learn how to think critically and understand whats needed for a democracy to survive.
Americans have taken our democracy for granted. The largest voting bloc in America is non-voters, and Republicans make voting difficult for a reason.
And now we have a deranged, psychopath in the White House who has literally taken a bulldozer to the Peoples House, providing vivid picture, to the world, of what hes been doing to our democracy.
Im not discounting the many who have worked very hard for democratic values. We have a mainstream media who, in the name of their continued profits, generally yawns at it all.
We are in the midst of a five-alarm fire. I hope everything doesnt have to burn to the ground before significantly more Americans wake up.
myohmy2
(3,696 posts)...all things have a life span and change...order to disorder...
...we are becoming the 4th Reich and those who care don't know how to stop it...
...Merry Christmas...
NewHendoLib
(61,386 posts)myohmy2
(3,696 posts)...anytime the Republicans want to stop trump they can...
...they don't want to because they are trump...
...