Nightmare Mode

Mining Teachable Moments from Our Dance Along the Edge of Chaos

You know how when you start playing a new videogame, a screen will often appear that asks at what level of difficulty you’d like to play? The options are generally the basics of “Easy. Normal. Hard.” but then some games will offer up an additional choice that goes beyond “Hard.”, to the point of being designated with its own jacked up descriptor: “Nightmare.” is a common one. “Chaos.” is another. I’ve also seen “Insane.”

Supreme Overlord Netanyahu’s complete and total embrace of his role as over the top global villain is complete. Our elected house and senate representatives’ near total and unconditional support and defense of said Supreme Overlord has been made quite clear. Our President’s apparent embrace of and complicity in violence, not only violence overseas, but in the dispatch of swarms of law enforcement officers in full riot gear & hired thugs armed with weapons, to violently shut down the peaceful protest encampments at college campuses nationwide has been established. It could be the latest version of Grand Theft Auto but in real life. The thugs, the corruption, the gaslighting…not to mention the violence, being put into practice from the top of this country’s visible power structure on down.

In the United States, we’re at a point of uncertainty about our future that I don’t think most people who were born here and are alive right now have been required to navigate before. It’s certainly not “Easy.” and it stopped being objectively “Normal.” back around 2016. “Hard.” is relative, but I think it’s safe to say that’s where we’re at. Even though it often feels like “Nightmare.”, “Chaos.” or “Insanity.”, I think we all know we aren’t really there yet, our feelings about current events notwithstanding, because I’m pretty sure we all have a vague, disturbing idea of just how awful things could get.

One upside to all of this madness is that I’m learning things about this country, the world that I live in, and myself at an alarmingly fast rate. Things I never knew before that are changing my perspective on just about everything: on how this country works, on the media I consume, as well as on how I view elected officials and government, educational & financial institutions.

My first reaction to all of this newfound knowledge was an overwhelming mix of shock, disbelief, confusion and rage. But as I process this information and integrate it into my perception and understanding of reality, I find that, surprisingly, I can handle it.

A few things happened since late last week that provided me with up to date and ongoing education in how things are being run here.

For instance, Mike Johnson obviously thinks he’s HBIC of D.C. Characterizing Biden’s claim that he’d withhold munitions from Israel as a “senior moment,” and after consulting with Supreme Overlord Netanyahu, Johnson marched straight down to the White House and asked to speak to the manager. House Speaker Karen did not hold back. “What gives? Somebody’s going to have to explain this to me…” she complained, as White House staffers rolled their eyes and snickered.

I’ve been able to tell since the first time I saw and heard Johnson speak that he thinks he’s not only God’s gift to the United States, but that he’s a paragon of christian nationalist virtue. It’s in the smug self-satisfaction of his demeanor, which christian nationalists have mastered, and it can be spotted from a mile away. I have no doubt that he is, indeed, a paragon of christian nationalist virtue. But isn’t that the same as being a paragon of garbage? I mean, these people are openly planning to dismantle democratic institutions so they can install a christian nationalist theocracy as soon as a Republican gets elected as president. That christian nationalists are permitted to thrive in D.C. shows us how far gone this country already is at this point.

As bad as the right can appear to be, the Democrats manage to be worse. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for herself, MSNBC, and the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton decided to bestow her infinite wisdom upon viewers by expressing her belief that young U.S. citizens don’t support the genocide of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians because they’re just not educated enough in affairs of the region; in fact, they’re just not that educated, period. Morning Joe laid it on thick in his intro as he characterized the college campus encampment protesters as “radicalized,” setting the stage (after he finally STFU) for Hillary to unleash her torrent of B.S. on us all.

If there was any doubt remaining in my mind that all mainstream U.S. news media is propaganda, including MSNBC, this segment alone was enough to drive the point home. They sounded exactly like Republicans in that they blah-blah-blah’d a bunch of anti-Palestinian propaganda, giving a misleading recap of efforts in the 90s to bring about a two state solution, and behaving as if them saying the lies out loud makes them facts. End of discussion. The problem with her line of reasoning is that she’s saying the Palestinians deserve what’s happening to them because they didn’t accept a deal back in the 90s when her husband was president.

Ever since she ran her failed presidential campaign in 2015 (which should have been hers for the taking, but which she and the DNC managed to tank with their arrogance and an attitude that basically amounted to “Vote for Hillary because she’s entitled to be president of the United States, in spite of your deplorable failure to appreciate her.”), the only valid defense of her I have been able to offer was, “Well, she’s not as bad as Trump.” But now I listen to her and I wonder. She certainly isn’t as corrupt as Trump in the trashy way that he is (porn star escorts, bankrupt casinos, refusing to pay his contractors, etc.) but at the same time she’s corrupt enough to tow the Supreme Overlord line and tell the working class that the ongoing extermination of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians is justifiable for reasons that maybe we just aren’t intelligent or educated enough to understand.

I can’t say I’m surprised by this development; that both sides ask “How high?” each and every time Supreme Overlord Netanyahu (we may as well get used to saying it) demands that they jump, because now I can see them for the corrupt, self-serving, opportunistic garbage people that they are. They’re wearing different costumes and reciting different versions of the same script in order to keep the electorate divided, but both sides are working toward the same goal: to bleed the working class dry. Raising prices on rent, food, insurance, goods & services in order to continue redistributing the wealth generated by the working class and keeping us trapped in this monstrous incarnation of capitalism that they began to create with the election of Ronald Reagan. Refusing to raise wages to match the rising cost of living. Using hedge funds to buy up residential properties and price the working class out of the housing market. Stifling free speech and dissent whenever it threatens to reveal too much of the truth about what we are experiencing. We are literally engaged in a class war with the garbage elite. But the working class, for the first time in this country’s history, and if it looks hard enough, is able to see the ruling class for what they are.

This lifting of the veil is happening right now. We’ve never had the opportunity to see things this clearly before. The ruling class have lost control of the narrative, and even though they continue to double down, it’s too late. Even if they do regain some semblance of control. We have never seen the lies and corruption so clearly before, but make no mistake, we see it. Most elected officials have showed us they have no allegiance to the electorate. And while this is a seismic revelation with far reaching implications and probably some painful consequences that we’ve yet to see, I’ll take knowing what we’re dealing with so we can tackle it head on. Or go down trying to, thank you very much. My brain and my emotions can handle this. There is nothing from my life prior to figuring this out that would make it worth returning to that previous state of ignorance. Not one thing.

Which brings me to Gen Z. The other thing I keep learning is how big my love and admiration for Gen Z can grow, because every time it reaches what I think is its full capacity, I see something that makes it grow even more. They continue to impress the hell out of me with each passing day. They’ve put a movement into motion. They are exposing the financial ties between most of our colleges, including (and especially) those in the ivy league, and weapons manufacturers and other war profiteers. The thought that our institutions of higher learning have so many ties to mass murder never would have even occurred to me. This movement continues to pull back the veil so we can witness all of the deception (even if by omission) that we have been subjected to for our entire lives.

Gen Z is also galvanizing large numbers of people from the working class to flex their power in ways that the elite can see and feel. #Blockout2024, as reported at Mashable, is “a protest against celebrity culture: specifically, blocking people of influence who have not yet used their power or privilege to take a stance on the humanitarian crisis that has devastated millions.” Many public figures have lost and been blocked by hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of followers, which has a direct impact on their income streams. The Kellogg’s boycott has made a substantial impact on sales of Kellogg’s products, leaving aisles of unpurchased cereals, Pop Tarts, Pringles & Cheeze-Its being peddled at rock bottom prices with desperate BOGO enticements. This boycott has been so effective that Kellogg’s has actually removed its insignia from its product packaging. Supermarkets have also reduced their advance orders of Kellogg’s products by as much as 25% going into the next quarter. Operation Olive Branch facilitates direct contact between anyone around the world and individual families in Gaza who need help escaping the genocide. And meme stocks may be back, much to the chaigrin of Wall Street traders, who use algorithms to game the system for their own benefit but draw the line at anyone from the working class using the same games to benefit themselves.

Gen Z has utilized the internet to bring the working class together in a way that has never happened before; across racial, political and socioeconomic lines, and with the reach and scope that the internet provides. And this is not done happening yet. We’re living in it. I’ve lived long enough to see movements emerge only to disappear. I was a big fan of the Occupy movement, which occurred when I worked in downtown L.A. across the street from City Hall. There were encampments on every block. I was sad to see it peter out eventually. But this one feels different. It’s the most effective movement I’ve witnessed in my adult life, and it’s an inspiration. Of course, the government is working hard to try and stop it in its tracks, and we’ll have to see what happens next. But you can’t unring the bell.

Whatever information is, it simply is. But the ruling class has always had the ability and the power to distort information, to twist and reshape it until it appears to be something else, before disseminating it to the masses, who receive it as that bastardized something else. What they disseminate is usually bad information created to serve their own ends, and the working class has been force fed this bad info. It’s been this way for centuries. But now it’s not.

That’s why the House and the Senate voted unanimously to ban TikTok, and why Biden signed off on it: because they and their supreme overlords see what’s happening and they won’t be having any of that. Gen Z are bringing about a change in our perception of existing capitalist power structures at a shockingly fast rate. They’re also showing us how to be better humans with their empathy for marginalized groups, their willingness to stand up for what is right and just, and their savvy when it comes to utilizing social media and the internet to share facts and effect change. It’s a perfect storm of educating ourselves, using newfound knowledge, and getting stuff done.

What I’ve been witnessing this past month or so since the Columbia University protest started is fascinating, and I believe it’s also historic. How this plays out is anybody’s guess, and that makes it a terrifying and exciting time to be alive. Seeing what kind of behavior our government is capable of engaging in to protect the status quo, from its ongoing involvement in Gaza to its brutal behavior at college campuses nationwide, is enough to make anyone stop and think about what they might do here on U.S. soil to keep the working class under control. It’s possible that we’re about to find out.

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[Note: The featured image for this post satirizes GTA and was created by Microsoft Designer Image Creator 2024.]