The Myth of Normal

 “...positioned there to make me and others aware of our country’s tragic history -- a reminder that we must never regress to a traumatic past.” Ariel Dorfman

I have a one inch tear in the rotator cuff muscle in my left shoulder. It bothers me when I sleep, but otherwise I can work and do my training. I see an orthopedist next week. Looks like surgery. 

So, it’s essentially over, Covid and its variants, known and unknown, as a society we have decided to live with it. Wear a mask or not, get vaccinated or not, it’s entirely up to you. At the market where I work part-time, customers have the option as of two days ago; if they enter the store unmasked it’s assumed they have been vaccinated. I’d say the majority of people are still wearing masks, but as the days pass the number will decrease. I continue to wear a mask, even though it’s hot and uncomfortable. At this point it feels weird not to be masked, but it’s also weird to see the faces of people I’ve been working with for almost 6 months. Ah, so that’s what you really look like!

My wife and I have been watching Inventing Anna on Netflix and with every episode I am reminded of Donald J. Trump, who must be ranked with the greatest grifters of all time. More about Donald in a moment as it has been a bad week for the Moron of Mar-A-Lago. Before I saw the first episode of Inventing Anna, I had never heard of Anna Delvey or Anna Sorokina or the bodacious fraud she pulled off. What astonishes me is that people swallowed her obviously concocted story of being a German heiress, victim of a miserly and vindictive father who demands that she earn her own fortune. He gives her a taste now and again, but it’s up to her to make her way in the cold, hard world. This preposterous young woman convinced otherwise reasonable, intelligent people that not only was she worth millions, but that she was worthy of being loaned millions, for a business idea that struck me as absurd. Grifters need the gullible. 

Trump’s long time accounting firm gave him the sack in what may turn out to be the proverbial straw so many, myself included, have waited for. Trump’s financial statements can’t be trusted and the accounting firm is washing its hands before the hammer falls. Trump searches feverishly in his toolbox for a solution, but all he can come up with is Hillary Clinton, the Bogeywoman for all seasons -- veteran Trump watchers will recognize the usual diversionary tactic; don’t look at me, look at her, she’s the real criminal. Forget logic or commonsense. Forget the fact that Hillary has been off the public stage for nearly 5 years. Along with Hillary, attack the African-American DA, accuse her of racism. Again, put logic and commonsense aside, they don’t apply in the Trump Playbook. Claim that being dumped by the firm is an exoneration and a clean bill of health. Claim that there is a gold-plated Trump Hotel on the moon. The judge saw through the blizzard of BS and castigated Trump’s lawyers for presenting a ridiculous argument. Basically laughed them out of the courtroom. It must be plain hell to be a lawyer for a belligerent moron like Trump. Watch Trump become more unhinged as the walls close in. Not fast enough for my liking, but it’s happening. With a decade of financial statements now deemed worthless, Trump’s creditors could call in their loans. Surely Trump’s dreams are disturbed by the sound of clanking iron chains and screeching metal doors banging closed as the lights dim.  

The caregivers of our society are leaving their professions in droves, and why not? This profit-obsessed country has neglected them for decades, underfunding public education and public health so that millionaires and billionaires are not inconvenienced by tax bills. But when the Covid crisis came, who did we turn to? Teachers, nurses, medical technicians, and others who provide care. They’re exhausted and sick of being ignored, vilified, and neglected so the CEO-class can live large and be spared the minor inconveniences of life. Blame American-style capitalism. Blame a generation of politicians for sucking at the corporate trough. Blame lobbyists and lawyers, bankers, and hedge fund managers. Blame university presidents and overpaid NCAA football coaches. Blame Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tech. Blame monopolies in almost every damn industry. And don’t neglect to point an accusing finger at the political operatives in black robes who sit on the US Supreme Court. But don’t blame working Americans, we didn’t light this fire as the Billy Joel song goes. The “system” fucked us, lied to us, made us interchangeable and disposable. We’re on the wrong side of 50 years of class warfare. In case you missed it, we lost. We went down with barely a whimper.

Yes, grifters need the gullible. 

Searching for a Counterweight

“The hour is late; the clock of destiny is ticking out.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I will not watch the Trump inauguration later this week, not even out of morbid curiosity, but I do wonder how many times during his address Trump will refer to himself, his greatness, his intelligence, his manliness, etc. How many times will Trump bring up his ridiculous promise to make America great again? Will he talk about his Wall along our southern border? Will he threaten China? Who knows? As Chris Hedges said in a recent interview, Trump is protean, malleable, lacking in core convictions; all Trump understands is the power that money confers.

Every year on this day I think about Martin Luther King’s short life and the treasure trove of writings and speeches he left us; the words are as relevant today as they ever were. The arguments King made against militarism, racism and poverty still resonate, because America abounds in all those evils. The progress earned in the 1950’s and 1960’s with sweat and blood and broken bones has been systematically eroded by the owners of the corporate state and their political enablers. Income inequality is off the charts, civil liberties dangle by a slim thread, and for almost two decades this misguided nation has been engaged in continuous warfare. We’ve made the abnormal, normal.

King recognized class warfare when he saw it. Americans are conditioned by propaganda to deny the existence of class, but there’s no denying that the last 40 years have been a full on assault by the wealthy and well-to-do against the poor and working class; as a result, a staggering amount of wealth has flowed from the bottom and middle to the top. Ordinary Americans, most invisible and ignored and without voice in the halls of power, are understandably angry at the decline in their prospects. Donald Trump rode that anger, used it to manipulate voters into thinking he was their savior.  

Yes, Dr. King, the hour is late and the clock is winding down. In less than a week a fatally flawed man will become president and usher in a frightening era of kleptocracy. Trump will start his reign of terror with a dismal approval rating. Not that this matters because Trump simply ignores truths he doesn’t like. He’ll claim, “No president has ever been as popular as me. People are saying I’m very, very popular,” and the corporate media will report it without challenge. There is no counterweight to balance Trump’s madness or that of the stooges he is bringing with him.

I’m going to read some of Dr. King’s words today, find solace in the thoughts of a man who was taken from his country way before his time.