I only allow myself a few minutes of CNN each day and an occasional few minutes of Tik Tok, Facebook and Twitter every few days. The anger and angst fomented by President Trump and his supporters frustrates me and empowers Trumpians. It makes sense that nefarious characters are behind a scheme to destroy our country using the greed of social media companies, news outlets, and politicians as vehicles to spread division and chaos. I recently re-watched the Netflix dramatized documentary, “The Social Dilemma” and realized that we are in fact under attack by actors who want to undermine our entire system of government. And so fighting over America has commenced in earnest but the underlying conflict is between a few wealthy individuals who use the rest of us a pons in their war. However, the outcome of this war will determine the kind of nation we live in.
It should come as no surprise that America, past and present, is a country where individuals can amass a great amount of wealth and power through personal ingenuity or talent mixed with connections or luck. Of course, it also helps a lot to be a white male. And attending the “right” schools is also an advantage. But sadly, history has shown the ruthless tactics employed by many who desire to preserve and increase their wealth. The system America created allows wealth to be passed on to posterity, making for a powerful upper class possibly absent any of the talent or ingenuity of their ancestors. And yet their massive amounts of money can buy or influence media companies and politicians, thereby controlling the policies and narratives we encounter. Trump is a product of this system. He has inherited both the wealth and the ruthless nature of his father along with a white supremacist mindset that was unfortunately given a very loud platform.
I’m convinced that the force standing between Trump and authoritarianism are wealthy liberals who oppose him. I feel like we as Americans are mere pons in a fight among the gods. The Trump side is fighting for continued white male dominance and the opposition is fighting to open the windows of opportunities to others, trying to end generational poverty and oppression. However, our wealthy benefactors are really only talking about crumbs compared to their wealth. For whatever reason, they are disturbed by the massive inequality and blatant discrimination they see. I suppose I should be grateful.
However, in a fight for oneself versus a fight for others, the fight for oneself seems to have the most passion and energy. At the same time it is true that the fight for others has a moral basis and can garner the support and collective energy of the masses, us pons. This is what happened in the election. More Americans showed up to vote for Biden or against Trump than showed up for Trump. Thankfully. However, the Trumpians haven’t conceded and are using their misinformation machines in the media and social media to spread lies about a stolen or fraudulent election while the truth is that they are the only ones actively trying to steal the election.
Even as Trump loses court battle after court battle and fails to provide evidence of widespread voter fraud, Trumpians are putting forth theories that judges, even the Supreme Court judges, have been threatened if they support Trump. They are prime to believe the lies because at stake is an America they cannot fathom: an America where white “Christian” heterosexual males are not on top simply because of their whiteness. Their delusion threatens us all because of the lengths they are willing to go to in order to protect what they believe is rightfully theirs. So, a number Republican senators and congressmen now feel they have to pander to this nonsense by opposing the election results on January 6th. They are cowards and should be branded as such forever. Shame on them!
On January 20th, we should have a new president. But what will January 21st look like? I couldn’t wait for 2020 to be over, but my greatest fear is that 2021 may be even worse if we don’t get a handle on how, and what, information can be spread through news outlets and on social media. We need to move back to actual journalism and newsreaders and push the pundits aside. We need to be careful in our consumption of social media and must push for regulations that limit algorithms so we don’t remain in echo chambers.
The months ahead will be tough. I believe I’ll gear up for it with a third viewing of “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix.