Made For Television: The Trumpets Come To Town
The Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass was quoted as saying, “It’s the way a city looks before a coup.”
I watched it unfold on the Internet. You could be forgiven for thinking you stumbled upon a movie set; after all it’s where a place called Hollywood creates never ending illusion, fantasy and myth, for the entire world some might proclaim.
Federal agents, masked and armed to the teeth wandered through a virtually empty MacArthur Park in L.A. (except for some school children playing). Other agents were on horseback! Military vehicles blocked streets and a helicopter flew overhead.
The movie Apocalypse Now had a lot more helicopters flying toward the beach, machine guns locked and loaded, and the Ride of the Valkyries playing on the helicopter loud speakers. Now that was a movie rush!
No answers were offered for the seemingly meaningless, obscene, banana republic freak show at MacArthur Park. Government officials were incommunicado. It was a secret, only for certain eyes and unclear minds. Clarity is never the goal of an intentional police state.
Of course it was performative in many ways. But we as a country are now performative in increasingly numerous ways. This sound and fury does signify something; it’s meant to instill fear, discomfort and to demonstrate that our experiment with establishing an American democratic republic is likely finished, from the point of view of some. Best remember who they are.
I have acquaintances I know that have told me they’re “not interested in politics.” This sentiment, among many of the middle class at least, is often the response of privilege, where the assumption is made that nothing significant will ultimately change that much, at least that which might be truly inconvenient or harmful to an individual or perhaps a certain class of individuals.
Remember, Hollywood, especially in America, is in the business of creating never ending illusion, fantasy and myth. Yes, and it is about the money. Certainly in the U.S. it’s always about the money.
As The Hollow Men continues:
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
The broken jaw of our lost kingdom
But I don’t believe:
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper (The Hollow Men)
We are now in a “civil” war, primarily perception altering for the majority of Americans for the time being. It is, however, our very own American civil war in the 21st century. We own it. Decisions will be required and like many decisions some could be difficult.
Melting glaciers and more volcanic eruptions
Trump hires scientists who doubt climate change
Democrats and climate groups too polite in fight against fossil fuel giants
Federal agents march through L.A. Park
Have you seen my hat?
What is a hat?
Thank you anyway (I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen, Canadian writer and illustrator of children’s books)
You Really Want To Go Back? (4) will probably be posted July 20
APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT, FINANCIAL AND OTHERWISE. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
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