The Disconnected & Frayed America

Monday, July 15, 2024

I heard about the Number 45 shooting through an e-mail alert that I had set up with the New York Times. I clicked, looked, and then went back to my regular life of writing, thinking, eating, and not considering what happened last night. Logically, it has been hard to deal with the world for the entire 21st century so far. I can only say that it’s a good time to be an artist/writer. Because nothing makes sense, and only through writing or making art can one bring some version of logic into the mix. There is an ongoing massacre in Gaza, and we have on one side a President who is aged, and the other candidate is insane, as well as aged. It is shocking that this is the best that we can do. That we somehow reached a point of no return, and we did it without moaning against the mediocrity of those in power. It’s not easy to pinpoint or point a finger because, in truth, we desire to be at this place of disaster. We’re enjoying the burning down of a tree but not realizing that the forest will also burn down.

The more we hate the Donald, the more food he gets. Our hatred is the fuel that keeps him rockin’, and he’s rollin’ the customers and chumps. Like Capitalism, it’s a supply and demand, and it seems we desire to supply the monster and to be truly outraged by the thug’s actions. The truth is we condemn him to somehow feel we are better than him. And the truth is, the house plant in front of me is better than the Republican Candidate. This means we support any mediocre person or accept any ‘rock’ or piece of object against the monster. Which, in theory, is OK with me, but is it a healthy attitude? Especially when you think of the other issues that are sucking up our energy and resources, such as a war that is destroying the environment, causing economic and physical pain, as well being a war that will never end. Because it keeps bad people in power and, in essence, keeps the weapon industry producing and manufacturing instruments of death. Both sides of the bench/house/fence agree that the machinery of death is good for certain people drawn into the economy.

Personally, I don’t like weapons, borders, countries, passports, visas, and Governments not allowing endless amounts of currency in the arts. The military budget in the United States for 2024 is $886 Billion, so why not give the Arts $886 Billion? The country should invest in the imagination and skills to make those thoughts/dreams come true. The Military Complex can become a non-profit organization with a board of directors and raise its budget through donations and fundraising events. And I’m sure there would be artists donating money and art for the purpose of military hiring, raises, and new technology for weapons.

The above proposal is not unrealistic because, at this moment and time, the world is not realistic and, according to some, totally insane. For instance, is there any logic being produced by Mr. 45 or his followers, or is it logical to have both candidates in their 80s? Is it logical that a fellow with a rifle can shoot at a candidate that so easily? Is it logical that a specific candidate will more likely use the image of the attempted assassination as a fundraiser for his campaign? Logic is pretty much thrown out of the landscape, and to approach these issues with logic is pathetically sad. The tragedy is that there was a death in the crowd, and that is horrific.

In Andre Breton’s Second Manifesto of Surrealism, he wrote: The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down into the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd. With his comment above, Breton is commenting on dismantling social norms and behavior as a creative act or subverting our thoughts into the unexplained. Decades later, on January 23, 2016, Trump told a rally that I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible. Trump has made a shocking statement into a logical thought; in such a manner, he even turned himself into Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi. In Jarry’s subversive play, Ubu Roi is a vulgar, greedy, and vindictive pig who wants to overpower the King of Poland. The Ubu play is similar to the Marx Brothers attacking the political norm, and in real life, we have Trump. The big difference is that Trump is funny but real; therefore, it is now impossible to make fun of him. One of the successful things Trump has done, with respect to him being the subject matter, is to kill humor and parody.

As tragic as it is, even the assassination attempt will not be a real event but a spectacle to obtain funding for his campaign, if not for the grand propaganda aspect of it as well. Trump lowers the bar with every aspect of life, so why not even his assassination attempt? Trump is a brand, so why not this event, as well as the death and destruction that lurks with this modern-day Satan? As mentioned, one cannot make fun of him; look at the recent fall-outs with Johnny Depp and Alec Baldwin (both played Trump). He is the curse that destroys careers, whether they are for or against him.

Being fooled once is a learning process, but being fooled again (and again) is a sign of stupidity. I don’t have an answer for all of this, but I will vote for the Democratic ticket, whether it’s Biden, someone else, or even an actual Stone. But with regard to serious matters such as Gaza’s mistreatment by Israel and the Earth getting warmer (among other issues), we will all lose. Then again, maybe that is our national character. We Americans produced and made greatness (mostly in the arts, with great assistance from the World), but then we also, at the same time, caused misery and destruction. Harry Lime in The Third Man could have been a Trump if he was more stupid. Still, his quote in the film pretty much describes the direction of the world, perhaps seen by Trump and company. To quote Harry: "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." That could be a Trump-like answer or quotation.

The truth is Switzerland did not invent the cuckoo clock; it was Germany. But Switzerland produced watches and clocks of high quality, as did pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies such as Novartis and Roche, as well as the secretive banking system. Like Harry Lime selling diluted penicillin in the Black Market, Trump sells his useless brand of politics as a savior to a world that is insane. All he did was, without thinking and truly by instinct, went for the throat of the American consciousness and, like a dog who captured an animal, didn’t know what to do with it. It’s Fascism as practiced, not designed. That is for those who try to handle the beast that is No. 45, and eventually, they get chewed up or sent to prison. The funny thing is if Planned Parenthood came up to him in 2015 and offered to make a statue to honor him and his donation to the organization, I think he would have done it. That didn’t happen because the Right embraced him first, and he went with their love (and attention). There is poison out there, and I think all of us have been sharing that bottle of besmirched beverage. Democracy is fragile; tiptoe gently through it.