Murky Press Blog

7/4/2022

Slouching Toward Hungary

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It’s our nation’s Independence Day, and yet, like many, I feel no desire to celebrate.

After the week that was, I’m not sure I recognize our country. Rights and protections we thought were secure, if precedent held, have been obliterated. Pregnant women and medical staff in some states worry they may be prosecuted. Gun safety laws in place for 100 years vanished overnight. The clear line separating church and state evaporated.

And the EPA no longer has the authority to regulate businesses that willfully pollute our air and water for profit.

This same week we learned that the President of the United States belligerently demanded to be taken to the Capitol during a violent assault on our nation’s governing body so he could confront his mortal enemy, his hand-picked Vice President.

What country is this? It’s not one I want to celebrate.

Two friends commented recently that they see hope in our youngest adults. Perhaps I need to find some Gen Z friends. I realized this weekend that I have no confidence that the direction this country is headed can be altered in my lifetime. The shift away from democracy toward one-party minority rule seems inexorable.

I’ve never wanted to live a particularly long life. I don’t want to be the last of my friends and family left on this earth. But it may take the years required for me to reach 100 before this country can heal. Assuming there is still a planet able to support us.

If you were looking here today for a sunny holiday post, I apologize. This weekend I spent time outdoors actively searching for a brighter outlook. On Sunday I found a beautiful Kentucky summer day—moderate temperatures, mild humidity, a bright blue sky, and a fresh breeze—but I did not find hope.

13 Comments

Tom Martin

7/4/2022 11:22:24 am

It's okay, Sallie. I'm hearing this from so many. And the most troublingly surreal aspect of it is that roughly half of the country will be celebrating this day without a care in the world and evidently with no comprehension of what has already been lost and how those losses are set to compound.

Robert Mcwilliams

7/4/2022 11:43:59 am

I share your feelings.

Joseph Anthony

7/4/2022 01:13:14 pm

I understand your feelings. But in the same way that I resist the flag being a right-wing symbol, I am determined that the 4th represents freedom, including the freedoms that are under attack. I went to watch the Lexington Parade. It is our holiday. Just as the original colonists fought the tyrant George 111, we must fight this reactionary Supreme Court and the tyrannous Kentucky Legislature. Wave our flag in support of our rights: celebrate the 4th as ours.

Sallie Showalter

7/4/2022 01:39:46 pm

Amen, Joe.

Charley Goodlett

7/4/2022 03:17:02 pm

Sallie,
One refuge from despair comes through the arts, but now we cannot escape the gravitational pull of historical apocalyptic visions and lamentations from our past great poets, artists, and musicians.

The hardest thing for me to reconcile is what has been lost from the generation of our parents, who made tangible and important strides over the 20th century to live up to the first line of the Preamble of the Constitution "to form a more perfect Union." We are now catapulted back to conditions of > 120 years ago, based on warped theories that casts an uncaring eye toward the advances since the Enlightenment that produced our modern understanding of science, technology, medicine, and climate systems (including the impact of those on military organizations and warfare), all lost under the guise of debate over state vs. federal authority regarding constitutional protections. Must we relive the 235 years of history, particularly its trajectory since 1877?

We are here through the unholy alliance of corrupt manipulators of power (in the fine tradition of oligarchs, plutocrats, autocrats, reactionaries, and gerrymanders); the tyranny of religious fundamentalists; and the unchecked power of media purveyors and communication platforms (hearkening back to Eric Schmidt's comment in 1999, “The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.”). The amoral echo chambers of cable networks and mostly unregulated mega-business of social media gives power and voice to the autocratic minority through the repetitive celebration of power exercised over the despised, while amplifying the dog whistles of racism, "us vs. them" protectionism, and the loss of "freedom and our way of life" due to the gain of freedom by the multicultural majority. The practitioners of that messaging and social manipulation have studied well the craft that traces back to Leni Riefenstahl.

The backlash of the new generation will occur, but I share your pessimism as to whether a just outcome will emerge in our lifetime.

The inexorable disaster of climate change is now front and center. It is accelerating and and on its way to becoming an existential threat to life on this planet. Maybe the Independence Day celebrators today might stop and take a look at a picture of Lake Mead from this week--on its way to becoming a "dead pool"--or to read about the "doomsday glacier" in Antarctica ("Antarctic glaciers losing ice at fastest rate for 5,500 years", Science Daily, June 9, 2022). Note that the 5,500-year time scale would ironically resonate with fundamentalist creationist beliefs. The current incarnations of "Future Shock" innovators may need to accelerate their timeline for space colonization. Still, the explosion of sociopolitical and geopolitical turmoil as the earth approaches the tipping point when human life is unsustainable will be a Darwinian challenge exceeding even that of the story of Genesis 6:11–9:19.

As Yeats surmised 103 years ago:
"The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;"

The hope may be that his next line does not come to fruition:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

HANNAH J HELM

7/4/2022 04:39:22 pm

I, too, am finding it difficult to find hope. Growing up in the 60s and 70s I was lulled into thinking our elected representatives would act in the best interest of the country, that they were obligated to follow the rules and precedents, that we could rely on our news to be factual, propaganda was something other countries experienced, and that supreme court justices would be well qualified and impartial. What is happening today was unthinkable. I can't start my day without Heather Cox Richardson and have come to realize we as a counrty have experienced some pretty dark days in our history with some surprising similarities. Thankfully in the past, good won out and I'm hoping maybe there's a silent majority out there that understands what is happening and with their help the values of the country I grew up in will prevail.

7/4/2022 06:55:01 pm

Heather Cox Richardson's daily Letter from an American tethers me to reality and schools me in our nation's history. She is an invaluable treasure.

Joan Cullen

7/4/2022 06:16:53 pm

I share your despair, more like disgust, at current events.

I don't think I'm alone in focusing on building upon the progress made by many other women and the men who supported them during my professional career. Many mistakes there. But recognizing gaslighting and subtle and not so subtle prejudice in institutions was a start, and still there when I retired.

Who could imagine that we might be called back into service to help with battles for dignity, financial security, autonomy, liberty, that I stupidly thought were behind us?

I agree with your friends about the younger generation. They are awesome.
I think they have known for some time that the whole system was broken. It was/will not work for them. They know they are just commodities for generation of profits. For-profit colleges, for-profit college loans, for-profit wars, and for-profit politicians.

So I think us gray hairs should help them in whatever way we can. First listen, and then be willing to share what worked and didn't work for us. As an old hippy and scientist, I'm still partial to tolerance, love, diversity.

But a clear view of the mathematics, tells us, per 'game theory' of what is really going on with forces that opted for winner take all. We must have to be willing to take a loss in the short term (no more compromises for little concessions), to persuade the forces for moving us back into the dark ages that they will also loose too.

Sallie, thanks for this forum on murky blog. I think I am not alone in experiencing a form of trauma associated with current events, with few ways of venting. I look forward to reading other comments, with more insights or thoughts than mine in a safe place. Thank you.

Cathy Eads

7/5/2022 12:04:05 pm

It feels like anyone with a conscience is burdened by the daily chaos of our world right now. I feel it too. We humans have created one helluva mess. I channel my angst by volunteering a bit for a couple of organizations and I donate to some groups that have proven to use those dollars wisely to affect real change for greater access, more equity and increased freedoms for us all. I also put it out on the page like you Sallie, although lately the page can't seem to contain it all. Writing gives me a temporary reprieve, until the next time I hear or read a news report, which I consciously have chosen to pull back from a bit. I agree that Heather Cox Richardson is a daily must-read though. She brings clarity into the chaos.

Despite the daily madness, I find hope in the people who make choices to show up and do the right thing each day - whether they make the news or not. I find hope in young people who are simply not buying into the consumerism and profiteering that got us here. Many are smart enough to envision how humankind will be better off by practicing moderation, in all things, and some are brilliant enough to be finding solutions to the problems their elders have brought upon us. If they can find hope, drive and creativity to work for a better world - when they have a life's work in these area's ahead of them - why shouldn't I have faith they can bring it about?

I try to remember "it's always darkest before the dawn." I do not mean to discount or ignore the plight before us, I fully acknowledge there are real and present dangers circling like sharks all around us right now. But when fear, doubt, hopeless and heartache start to creep in and try to take over my psyche, I grasp for gratitude in the small wonders of this chaotic world - laughing with friends, a newly opened fragrant rose bloom, the blessed cool breeze rustling the deep green leaves on a humid summer day, the kind smile of an unmasked (finally!) stranger on the sidewalk. When I can find the smallest of things to be grateful for, I can experience simple pleasures every day, and that allows the hope a space to grow, which moves me forward to do what I can to help.

7/5/2022 12:28:20 pm

Thank you for your wisdom, Cathy. We are relying on your generation--and your children's. Your message may have finally given me a small spark of hope.

7/5/2022 11:02:52 pm

Wow, you have certainly inspired some thoughtful and well written commentaries with this one. I, too, appreciate Cathy's remarks about the hope we might be able to place in the next generation and I might be seeing a glimmer myself.

Bob Patriock

7/9/2022 10:17:15 pm

Maybe Gen. Z will have the answers, but if they are reading the same newsletters as their Gen. Y cohort, progress may be slow. I’m referring to
Morning Brew (4 million subscribers, you think The Nation magazine has that many?) Emerging Tech Brew, Future Social, IT Brew, and Money Scoop. Each designed for young professionals featuring the latest in tech start ups, smart investing for retirement in a “no pension” work environment, how to succeed in the “gig” (SB reserved for jobs in the music industry, working as a financial analysis is Not hip) economy, etc. While certainly against hierarchical and siloed work environments, the focus is definitely on individual success on the job and in the markets, rather than on collective advancement.

7/9/2022 10:40:16 pm

That is really disheartening, Bob.

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Clearing the fog

Slouching Toward Hungary

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