The Dream is the Nightmare
This event that happened yesterday has everything to do with economic inequality, and ill treatment of a segment of the population.
So this is gong to be a bit off brand for me. Instead of my normal hammering of the “conservative” belief system or the evil of the current GOP leadership, or dopey remark about something I noticed. I’m going to apply what I’ve learned in my life to what happened yesterday.
I started to ask myself the questions I would ask a character I would be so lucky to play or a character I was writing. So I looked at the people yesterday who stormed the capitol and asked myself “how did that character get there”, “what caused them to react in such a way?”
I came to two possibilities:
1. This segment of the population has realized they were sold a bill of goods that turned out to be a falsehood, and they can’t accept it.
2. They have nowhere to turn.
I’ll address the second one first. I believe violence stems from a frustration that a being is not getting what they want so they will apply pressure. It has to do with expectation. It’s like dating someone not best suited to a persons growth or overall well being. Deep down I feel those decisions are made based on a punishment, and a desire to not want to be alone. Example… You dated someone great, they moved on, you couldn’t figure out why, someone else shows up who likes you as the broken mess that you are, and into the storm you go. For these people Trump, and Fox News was the ill-suited match. He said in a matter of speaking “ I will protect you and your way of life.” They grappled on. Yesterday, he said “my ex is in town, will you kick his ass? I’ll love you forever” and the rest is turmoil, and calamity. I will just briefly add, that group of people are so lucky that they were white, because had they been black and brown, they would have been cut down by automatic weapons. But that leads to my next point.
This group of people were sold a bill of goods that they have believed in for 244 years. Let’s be very honest here. This belief that the US is the good guy is insane. This whole section of land currently occupied had people living here already. Whether it was indigenous tribes or parts of Mexico. The lands were taken with force and occupied. It was then deemed property and divided up to those who had money. Now I’m sure if anyone is still reading this your question is, “why the history lesson?” I feel it’s important to look at an accurate portrayal of history. This country started with evil intent. The colonists saw something they wanted and they took it. The indigenous people were never included in the adopting of a government.
With that being stated, this segment of people last night are being told that everything they believe is wrong. They ideas of the ancestors were incorrect. They are learning that the information in the history class was false. They are raising kids who now with the wealth of knowledge on their phones are challenging the ideals they grew up with. I used to joke that I loved google because I could prove people wrong immediately instead of the next time I saw them, if I remembered. This is happening in a lot of homes. I asked myself how I would react if my entire belief system was being proven wrong? If I knew deep down inside that I was the child of people who were self serving, and more to it, that I have been wrong my whole life. Also as this is happening, there is a whole swell of people who believe you to be stupid, backward, and greedy. Of course this was the result. They tried a last ditch effort born of heartbreak, bitterness and desperation. I don’t agree with it but I’m beginning to get an inkling of the mindset.
Most people were sold this economic system of inequality hiding behind words like freedom, justice, happiness. Look at the result. Are there answers? Maybe, I have some possible solutions. I’m not going to write about it here but I believe it starts with realizing that this isn’t only about color. This is also about color. This is about the fact that most of the citizens in this country were led astray. I think this is a good moment to realize that we can empathize with the people who chose to chase folly. After all most of us have been chasing the “American Dream” for years. The founding fathers weren’t great men. They were men with ideas, we can also be people with ideas. Let’s build on those ideas.