Life = Art = Life?

Today I'm wearing my media commentator hat. Don't let that stop you. The post is germane to our topic, I promise.

I'm not a great fan of television, but I do enjoy good acting and effective drama. In those categories the medium has come a long way from the "vast wasteland" that Newton Minow called it.

The debate whether art imitates life or the other way around has entertained philosophers for more than a century. I've been asking the question a lot lately while watching a couple of Netflix political dramas. 

"House of Cards" (2013-2018) stars Kevin Spacey in a brilliant portrayal of Frank Underwood, a narcissistic politician who, when denied a Cabinet post, vows revenge on everyone. With lies, double crosses, and various crimes, he selects and removes his victims one by one, clawing his way to the presidency over their broken careers.

Underwood is aided and abetted by his wife Claire (Robin Wright), who is no less ruthless than he. She uses guile when she can and sex when she must. Her only allegiance is to Frank and their partnership, and even that is tenuous. Claire is hard as granite.

The series is based on a BBC miniseries that debuted shortly after the Thatcher era. It was always intended as a close look at political intrigue and dirty tricks. The advent of the Trump presidency struck the cast and producers as an eerie déjà vu. Several episodes have Trumpesque story lines, and Robin Wright has complained that Trump pre-empted much of their sixth season material. Who's imitating whom?

It's impossible to watch the last two seasons and not be struck by the similarity to reality. It's not that any character resembles a specific person, but the spirit of corruption, vindictiveness, betrayal and disdain for the public that pervades every episode, that brings the series into accord with the World of Trump. 

The final seasons, which include a sabotaged election, should be required viewing material for the Biden-Warren campaign and the Democratic National Committee as a cautionary tale.

I've mentioned "Madam Secretary" (2014-2018) a few times here. Basically a family drama in a political setting, the series follows the life of the Secretary of State, with Téa Leoni in the title role. 

The series wouldn't have held my interest past the second season if not for the election of DJTrump. Starting with season 3 the series began presenting stories that indirectly criticized White House policies, e.g. the plight of immigrant children, climate change denial, and Russian mischief. The series usually pulls its punches, but Season 5 Episode 1 featured Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, and Colin Powell in cameo roles discussing the threat of white nationalists in a clear reference to a part of Trump's base.

There are other similar series. These just happen to be the two I've followed. "House of Cards" is a distinctly noir view of what goes on at the top, but we've seen so many examples of the same kind of behavior actually taking place in the White House that it might provide some insights into the underlying psychology of the Trump administration.

"Madam Secretary" is light by comparison, but it is important for the instructive way it presents and explains legal, constitutional and statecraft processes, including a forced invocation of the 15th Amendment. These are things the public should know.

Newton Minow would be pleased to see the wasteland blooming.

 

--- Diogenes, 9/12/2020

 

 

   

         

Who Should We Fear? Part 1

"It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it."* 

There are times when I'm not sure who frightens me more, DJTrump or those who follow him slavishly.

The above quote is one of the most infamous sound bites from the Vietnam War, and is frequently held up as an ideal example of the absurdity of war and a censure of the "military mind." Laying waste the town of Ben Tre cost the lives of as many as 1,000 civilians and had virtually no effect on the ultimate outcome of the conflict.

I can easily imagine the Destroyer-in-Chief saying something similar about Chicago, or California, or the entire country for that matter. There is only one image in DJTrump's excuse for a mind right now, and it is of him as absolute ruler of this nation, with neither laws nor term limits to restrain him.

I genuinely believe he would start a war if he thought it would be to his advantage, destroying the country even if it would mean presiding over a lawless wasteland. He is that ruthless. It is not hyperbole when I say I have an existential fear of his lust for power, which is driven by his extreme narcissism.

As I and many others have pointed out, the unpresident can't abide the thought of someone being greater than he. When he began hobnobbing with tyrants who rule absolutely he knew he had to join their club. On their part, the tyrants of the world saw him coming a mile away and set their sights on his vanity. He is so delusional he thinks Kim Jong-un, perhaps his equal in megalomania, likes him, when in fact the North Korean leader mocks him, calling him "Excellency."

He makes no secret that he believes he can be elected to more than the two allowed terms. When he first mentioned the idea most commentators agree he was joking; but in 2020 he's turned serious. He believes he is entitled to more than two terms because--are you ready? This is out-of-the-ballpark bonkers--Barack Obama and Joe Biden "spied" on his first term, thereby "robbing" him of quality time he could have spent doing his usual presidential activity, which is to say, nothing.

As ludicrous as the idea is, he seems to have begun to believe it, and given his penchant for magical thinking that means it must be so. The 22nd Amendment sets a strict limit of two terms on the presidency, but the Traitor-in-Chief has repeatedly demonstrated that he holds the Constitution in contempt. Its only use to him is to fire up his trigger happy supporters by mentioning the Second Amendment from time to time.

He has used the courts to make several unsuccessful attempts to override parts of the Constitution, including a multi-pronged attack on Congressional oversight of the executive branch. He has completely disregarded the First Amendment a number of times, most egregiously by unilaterally sending federal troops to confront protesters in Portland, Oregon and other cities. 

Most dastardly, he has blatantly caused the degradation of the Postal Service's capacity to carry and deliver mail in an open attempt to suppress mail-in voting. As a favor to his buddy Vlad he has further quashed reports about Russia's attempts to disrupt our electoral process and begun highlighting the same kinds of attempts by Iran.

Finally, it has recently been disclosed that the Liar-in-Chief knew a great deal about COVID-19 from very early in the pandemic. He claims he downplayed the virus because he didn't want to create a panic. That is precisely the thinking that caused the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 to be so deadly: governments kept the public in the dark rather than informing them about safety procedures, which might have saved thousands of lives. It is more likely Trump held the information close with the thought of somehow turning it to his advantage, perhaps as a bargaining chip.

I don't fear Trump as a man. He is rather a pathetic specimen, after all. I do fear his madness and the power he wields, because the former could cause him to use the latter recklessly. He could blithely unleash nuclear Armageddon without a second thought if he believed it could keep him in power. 

As long as one person follows the Lunatic-in-Chief's orders we are all in danger.

 
--- Diogenes, 9/10/2020


*The statement from an anonymous U.S. Army officer has been misquoted so many times it's unlikely anyone remembers the actual text. It appears here in the most common version. 

We're silent today in respect of 9/11 victims

Seeking Freedom

Way back in my deep history I dabbled in the Dark Arts: sorcery, ceremonial magic, witchcraft, etc. A friend who was having some problems with a would-be stalker once asked me if it might be possible to put a spell on him. Now, this friend happened to be a deeply religious person on the verge of taking Holy Orders, so I asked the obvious question, "Why don't you pray for help?" Her response was, "It doesn't work that way."

I've long since forsworn and renounced the dark world. Now, notwithstanding my friend's disclaimer, I spend a lot of time praying for some kind of supernatural help that would rid us of the Great Pretender.

At first I thought COVID-19 might be our deliverance, and I've not given up on that thought. It has certainly caused indirect damage to his tyrannical agenda and to his re-election campaign. It has come at the cost of 180,000 American lives, which is Biblical in its scope, but strikes me as excessive collateral damage. It is beyond me and my understanding of statistics why he hasn't contracted the plague, given his tendency to eschew medical advice and safe practices.

My prayer requests are generally of the Old Testament variety. I wish for the unpresident to be attacked by swarms of biting insects, covered with boils, caught in a fiery hailstorm, assailed by an army of skeletons, and faced with water that becomes blood. Occasionally I shift into Revelation and call down the Four Horsemen on him.

I know it was presumptuous, but I've even asked the Almighty to appear to him in all His glory and blast DJTrump into tiny bits.

I think I'm in this apocalyptic mood because I've just read Riot Baby* by Tochi Onyebuchi. The book follows the struggles of a Black family--mother, son, and daughter--to survive life in ghettos, through riots, surrounded by gangs, in an America that is steadily becoming a police state where every Black face is perceived as a threat.

Ella, the daughter, has a Power of destruction that rises with her anger--and she has a lot of anger. Her brother Kev is brilliant and hopes for a future in some technical field, but winds up in jail from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their mother, spoken of only as Mama, is one of those indefatigable women whose exceptional strength and strong religious faith keep the family together spiritually, even when they're geographically separated.

This is a gripping book with well-developed characters and a realistic mise en scène. Anyone who seeks to better understand the Black experience in America could profit from reading it.

At the end, when Kev finally says, "I see freedom," Onyebuchi's magic realism lets us see it, too.


--- Diogenes, 9/8/2020


* Tochi Onyebuchi, Riot Baby, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2019.


 

On Hold

Yesterday I spent two hours staring at a blank screen and was able to come up with only a 5th-grade level screed on the Constitution. Maybe I was thinking the Great Pretender could read it.

I finally took the advice of a former mentor: "If you can't write, don't try." It's excellent advice. If it were universally taken the crap on the Internet would probably decrease by about 80%.

I'll be back when my brain decides to work.


--- Diogenes, 9/6/2020