Hidden Pictures
Does anyone else feel it? I know that some do. The pervasive, malignant dread building every day? The seemingly inexorable march towards a shadowy oblivion, a dystopia where the Cult of Mammon has hegemonic control over the vast majority of the population, as they are forced to scratch and scrape, tooth and nail, to get by? A society reminiscent of the Hobbesian natural world, envisaged as “nasty, brutish and short?” I feel it deep in my very being. And I loathe it.
Yes, this does sound rather cynical and dark and morose, but with good reason. I have long been a student of history and political science, of societal frameworks and the ramifications of policy making and policy enaction. Being a witness to the current administration’s utter contempt and disdain for the majority of the world that resides outside of its bubble and the shattering of the long-standing social contract that has guided, for better or worse, the interactions between the government and its citizens, I can’t help but fear where what they are inflicting upon us will lead. Much of it is being welcomed and cheered on by the very people whom it will be the most deleterious. I find it incredibly difficult to fathom. Difficult, but not impossible.
As the days and weeks of the Trump Administration have flowed into months and now nearly years, the wide swath of destruction visited upon this country and the world will take years and possibly decades to remediate and reconcile. With the rapid-fire, staccato rhythm of pronouncements, tweets, edicts, regulation rollbacks, etc. of Mr. Trump and the denizens of D.C. corruption and corporate control, the concerned citizenry can’t keep up, let alone process, what is transpiring.
Take a moment to reminisce. Remember several years ago the incredibly popular books and posters of hidden 3D images that you had to stare at until the hidden picture finally jumped out at you in that glorious ‘aha’ moment? I feel that this is what we are dealing with now, except that we only get a couple of seconds to try to focus on the hidden picture before a new one is flashed in front of us, all the while being told that the hidden picture we are looking for is a train when the actual hidden picture is a shark or a flower when the hidden picture is really a dinosaur, thus leaving us bewildered, perplexed, confused and probably with a big headache and aching eyes.
How long would something like this be fun? How long until we just threw our hands in the air and said, “I’m not playing anymore!”? Precisely. We are being deluged (swamped?) with a veritable flood of substantive changes, affecting the very underpinnings of our daily interactions and societal connections. It’s hard to perceive, to put together the gestalt, but piece by piece, image by image, that big, hidden picture continues to take shape. And it is that quickly-resolving, unveiling picture that makes me fear the very near future.
On a seemingly daily basis, Mr. Trump’s Executive Branch and the McConnell/Ryan Legislative Branch visit yet more attacks against the common good, the social safety net, the forces for progress, low-paid workers and unions, affordable healthcare and education, a free press and free speech, among many others, and further promote the growing political and economic inequality by loosening regulations and cutting taxes for the wealthy and their corporations. This is happening so fast that we don’t have the capacity to perceive it. The hidden picture escapes us to our growing detriment.
Focus hard, my friends. Squint and stare at the pictures being flashed in front of us. Don’t listen to what we are being told we should look for. It is up to each of us to determine for ourselves what we see when we pause to ponder all that is being rapidly displayed. Please don’t throw in the towel and just hope that it all resolves itself, for it never will. It is up to us, We the People, to determine what we are about. The more that give up and give in are the fewer who will stand up and demand accountability and a society that is systemically fair for all.
