Here it is the morning after the general election and I didn’t listen to any of the coverage yesterday, haven’t turned on anything yet today. I voted weeks ago and have put it all behind me. Flashback to 2016 and I didn’t really want to know then either. There were two possibilities, bad and worse. By afternoon I finally learned that we were getting the worse and I’m putting it off now, prepared for a repeat. My confidence, for lack of a better word, in the voting public is not only weak but thin. I do have hope but it’s like thin ice, you don’t want to test it. If it comes to pass, I can breathe a little deeper and take some consolation.
I started watching a 4.5 hour Netflix program last night, ‘Barbarians’. The best review I could find gave it a thumbs up; set in the year 9 AD in Germania, the name Rome gave to the heavily forested region of northern Europe. I made it through the first half hour, will go back to it. What really registered was how arrogant and heavy handed the Romans were. Naturally, that’s how the movie’s producer wanted me to see them. Historically correct, the show revolves around the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, the turning point in a conflict between primitive, low tech Germans and the Romans. The greatest military machine of the time was pitted against a loosely aligned, tribal network. The Romans wanted tribute and their only means to that end was the point of a spear. Of course I made the connection, making Rome great again at the expense of lesser people and their cultures; sound familiar?
Unavoidably obvious, to me at least, is that progress is limited to tools, technology and weapons that satisfy human wants and needs. In the two thousand years since ‘Barbarians’ every generation rediscovers greed, deceit, intimidation and violence. Between then and now, people haven’t changed at all, only the trappings that accompany technical advance. Like being trapped in a revolving door; consolidation of power and accumulating wealth are what drives civilization and enough is never enough.
I know-I know, we also practice grace and gratitude, generosity and cooperation. That altruistic expression is usually manifest in small groups or at the individual’s level. Large groups tend to behave with a herd mentality, an ambitious, ‘self service’ model with little or no reservation about exercising the greed-deceit-intimidation-violence protocol.
I know the history; the conflict between Rome and the Germanic tribes can only end one way. The Germanic tribes ultimately outlasted the Roman Empire and pillaged the city. Whatever it is that makes privilege so intoxicating, it also turns people with shitty ass holes into shitty ass holes that pass for people.
Once this election has made landfall, I’ll know if the outcome has upgraded to bad or still stuck at worse. In either case, over three hundred million Americans will still be divided into two hostile camps. On the right, the low road is home to xenophobes, like Romans, who love white privilege, exclusive religion and military might. On the left, not quite so low, you find naive idealists who love diversity and want fervently to believe that human nature can be updated. In that fairytale, inclusive, egalitarian principles would be embraced, not altogether unlike the barbarians. The two trajectories converge on different coordinates but either way, you face a long stretch of bad road. I am just one, old, altruistic idealist and by myself, I can do that. I live close to the ground, with who ever comes my way. We need each other, we are all in this together. Mi casa, su casa.
I started watching a 4.5 hour Netflix program last night, ‘Barbarians’. The best review I could find gave it a thumbs up; set in the year 9 AD in Germania, the name Rome gave to the heavily forested region of northern Europe. I made it through the first half hour, will go back to it. What really registered was how arrogant and heavy handed the Romans were. Naturally, that’s how the movie’s producer wanted me to see them. Historically correct, the show revolves around the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, the turning point in a conflict between primitive, low tech Germans and the Romans. The greatest military machine of the time was pitted against a loosely aligned, tribal network. The Romans wanted tribute and their only means to that end was the point of a spear. Of course I made the connection, making Rome great again at the expense of lesser people and their cultures; sound familiar?
Unavoidably obvious, to me at least, is that progress is limited to tools, technology and weapons that satisfy human wants and needs. In the two thousand years since ‘Barbarians’ every generation rediscovers greed, deceit, intimidation and violence. Between then and now, people haven’t changed at all, only the trappings that accompany technical advance. Like being trapped in a revolving door; consolidation of power and accumulating wealth are what drives civilization and enough is never enough.
I know-I know, we also practice grace and gratitude, generosity and cooperation. That altruistic expression is usually manifest in small groups or at the individual’s level. Large groups tend to behave with a herd mentality, an ambitious, ‘self service’ model with little or no reservation about exercising the greed-deceit-intimidation-violence protocol.
I know the history; the conflict between Rome and the Germanic tribes can only end one way. The Germanic tribes ultimately outlasted the Roman Empire and pillaged the city. Whatever it is that makes privilege so intoxicating, it also turns people with shitty ass holes into shitty ass holes that pass for people.
Once this election has made landfall, I’ll know if the outcome has upgraded to bad or still stuck at worse. In either case, over three hundred million Americans will still be divided into two hostile camps. On the right, the low road is home to xenophobes, like Romans, who love white privilege, exclusive religion and military might. On the left, not quite so low, you find naive idealists who love diversity and want fervently to believe that human nature can be updated. In that fairytale, inclusive, egalitarian principles would be embraced, not altogether unlike the barbarians. The two trajectories converge on different coordinates but either way, you face a long stretch of bad road. I am just one, old, altruistic idealist and by myself, I can do that. I live close to the ground, with who ever comes my way. We need each other, we are all in this together. Mi casa, su casa.
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