Lost in the Wilderness#
Featured Image by Nici Keil from Pixabay
CONTENT WARNING: There’s plenty of raw emotions and language some might find objectionable. If you cannot handle that, read no more
This past week we saw everything change. And nothing changed at all. The American general election came and went and the sun still rose in the morning and set in the evening the following day. We even had a beautiful weekend which my partner and I enjoyed walking through our local park.
Nevertheless, here we are. Lost in the wilderness. Americans are hurt bro, don’t ask us how we’re doing. Americans that voted by a large margin for Trump did so on purpose. They’re fuming mad because their lives are going nowhere fast. And it’s not their fault. They’re mad because they cannot afford to buy a house and the rent to live anywhere keeps getting jacked up. They’re mad because they fear lay-offs. They’re mad because grocery prices keep going up and it’s becoming impossible to afford the basic necessities. They’re mad because there aren’t jobs that are available and willing to hire and train people.They’re mad because the jobs that exist cannot pay the bills. They’re mad because the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. So they voted to say “Fuck you!” to all of it.
I get it. We did this. I didn’t vote for that fascist prick, but the Democrats party had already abandoned America when they abandoned middle and working class and poor Americans in the 1990’s. They keep doing this nonsense where they offer the political equivalent of being watered down Republicans. Who in their right mind goes for the half-assed version when they can have the real thing?!?
But it just so happens the only party that was listening to the pain of Americans are also fascists. And so now we all are. And thus even the meager things that our government once provided as social safety nets and provisions to help uplift or protect the vulnerable in society will be systematically dismantled. It probably won’t happen overnight, and they are still an incompetent bunch of nincompoops. Marj Greene for instance, got re-elected but she’s not going to be more charismatic, intelligent, or informed. And she’s also a woman, which means while she jockeys for power in the new administration she still lacks a Y chromosome. And that’s enough for your bigoted dear leader to permanently discard you, or at least until you’re useful to be a tool to him again.
I don’t know how this is going to play out but it’s going to be bad for everyone. So congrats to those who were already hurting and now have inflicted the hurt on everyone else. We may not have all united over night but we’re in this place of hurt together. Welcome to the desert.
So save your prayers For when we’re really gonna need ’em Throw out your cares and fly Wanna go for a ride?
Intoxicated with the madness I’m in love with my sadness Bullshit fakers, enchanted kingdoms The fashion victims chew their charcoal teeth
I never let on That I was on a sinkin’ ship I never let on that I was down
You blame yourself For what you can’t ignore You blame yourself for wanting more
Zero - The Smashing Pumpkins
We’ve been here before#
We’ve been here before. Well, maybe not you and I, but our country sure has. So has the world. I’ve heard human history is a catalog of people’s misery. And thus it is.
Adam Conover interviews journalist and historian Jamelle Bouie about how America under the next Trump administration will be different than what we are used to but actually more like what America always was.
Hello, darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence
And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sound of silence”
The interview there with Bouie is very helpful when you are in a sober headspace to be able to take it in. And it’s long so here’s a Too Long; Didn’t Read summary:
TL;DR Adam Conover interviews Jamelle Bouie about the upcoming American transformation under another Trump administration:#
- Many of us were taught in school that things like Brown v. Board of Education are the true America, but this election and our history shows that the Civil Rights Era is over and things like electing Barrack Obama are actually the outliers. We are returning to our Nativist Racist Individualist roots.
- When someone tells you who they are, believe them. I need not recap all the awful things that Trump has said and promised, but I’ll highlight a few now that he will have no real checks on his power in the Supreme court, federal courts, nor congress. Instead he will have plenty of support for his agenda.
- Ethnic cleansing/Genocidal level of mass deportation of people deemed to be “illegal immigrants.” Stated this way to emphasize that it does not matter if you are a citizen, or here legally, it only matters what the supreme leader thinks.
- Repealment of the Affordable Care Act ( This means that not only will you no longer have the ability to purchase health insurance at reasonable prices and with subsidies if qualifying, but they will likely remove the ban on “pre-existing condition” clauses which will result in hundreds of millions of Americans being unable to purchase health insurance at all due to discrimination )
- Gutting of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
- General rollbacks and gutting of government agencies that provide social benefits to people: welfare, education, subsidies
- 10% to 20% Tariff tax on all imported goods that will be passed on to regular Americans when shopping to the tune of an estimated $1,253 to $4,000 per year
- Mass firing/lay-offs of government civil service workers
- Effective National abortion and reporductive healthcare ban via the Comstock Act
- Ending of the Russian War in Ukraine by forcing Ukraine to cede around 20% of its territory to become a Russian controlled Demilitarized zone (DMZ)
- Courts will no longer be an effective way to seek to address compensations for one’s grievances
- The rich will get even more rich at the expense of the American taxpayers, the ruling class will extort as much money as possible from the government
- Racists and bigots will be even more emboldened to openly express hate-speech
- The court system and justices will be something we must fight against for progress for the remainder of our lives if you’re my age as a millennial. If you’re younger there’s a chance you may see real change in your twilight years of life, but you’ll also have to make sure you make it that long with the deck being stacked against you
- While many gains to help our climate may be far enough along to not be reversible, it’s hard to say that a Trump presidency would be anything other than a hinderance or setback to a world already wrecked by climate chaos.
Masks Off#
You see this is actually a masks off moment in our country. This is who we are. This revelation isn’t a surprise to many black and brown people who’ve been living with this kind of oppresion and neglect their entire lives and for centuries and generations prior. And you may have voted for the clown and didn’t realize that this will be ruining your life as well. But it will. Mark my words it will. And when it does, I’m not going to be saying I told you so. I’m fresh out of fucks to give. And I’ll have moved on then. But do take the time you need to grieve. It has been coming in and out in waves for me and seems likely to continue this way for the remainder of my time on this planet.
So forgive me if you feel like I’m abandoning you or neglecting you. But I cannot. I just can’t do it anymore. We’re moving into a new era where the government will provide little to no remedy for your life’s problems. And here you’ll need to chart a course on your own. This is part of the eponymous Desert Power that I’m referring to: the power gained by people that survive and then learn to thrive under oppression.
And if somebody hurts you, I wanna fight But my hand’s been broken one too many times So I’ll use my voice, I’ll be so fucking rude Words, they always win, but I know I’ll lose And I’d sing a song that’d be just ours But I sang ’em all to another heart
And I wanna cry, I wanna learn to love But all my tears have been used up
On another love, another love All my tears have been used up
Desert Power#
Mild Spoiler Alert for Denis Villenuve and Frank Herbert’s Dune
DUNE Relevant Plot Synopsis#
In the far future humans have mastered new technologies that have enabled space travel. They also created computers and AI that were too smart and rebellious for their own good, then banned and destroyed all of them. In the galactic empire they still require a way to navigate while traveling through space so they train people who dedicate their minds and lives to becoming “Mentats” or human calculators. Because this is very mentally strenous many rely on performance enhancing drug like substance know as “spice” to enhance their existing brainpower.
There’s just one catch - there’s only one planet in the universe that is known to have spice and it’s the brutal desert planet Arrakis. There, the political faction of House Harkonnen has controlled and ruled this land with an iron fist subjugating its native people, the Fremen, to enslavement and oppression at every turn. As if the planet itself weren’t already bad enough! It’s so dry that you cannot survive in the desert for longer than a few minutes without a stillsuit, which is a sort of space suit adapted to perserve your body’s moisture. On top of that there’s these giant wyrm creatures that will pop up out of the sand and devour battalions of people whole.
Who in their right minds would want to ever go there for any reason? Yet go there House Atriedes with Baron Leto and his son Paul they do. When the Galactic emperor decrees that the Harkonnens will no longer be allowed to setup their shop on Arrakis and Atriedes is compelled to take over. Leto is no fool, mind you, he knows full well they are going right into a trap. But he goes anyways. One, because he knows that he cannot politically turn down the emperor’s request. And two because he sees an opportunity to improve his family’s lives and legacy, even if it ends up costing many of their lives.
Leto:
“I need you by my side. When we get to Arrakis we will face enormous danger”
Paul:
“What danger? Fremen? The Desert?”
Leto:
“Political danger.”
Leto: (Paraphrased) The Emperor means to start a war by giving us Arrakis and inviting the other Houses to fight us to control it. But if we tap the true power of Arrakis we could be stronger than ever.
Paul:
“What does that mean? Mining spice, keeping the Fremen in their place? We’d be no better than the Harkonnens!”
Leto:
(Paraphrased) It means forming an alliance with the native people, the Fremen, becoming one of them and learning from how they survive and thrive in such a harsh environment where everything in and on the planet would seek to kill them at each opportunity. Desert Power. We go to Arrakis to cultivate Desert Power.
Leto:
“A great man doesn’t seek to lead. He’s called to it. And he answers.”
Answering the Call#
If this country, if this world seeks to destroy me, so be it. My home is not here. These are not my people. This was never my desire.
My home is with Jesus, and his people are my people. Cast your lot with this world if you want to. My calling is to first and foremost be loved by God, and then return that love to all his children. Just because you are wallowing in a pit of despair doesn’t mean you get to pull me in there with you. Instead, might I show you my God who found me a sinner not worthy of his love and still called me by name and said “My beloved son, I’m delighted by your presence, please come join me.” For now I am but a sojourner in this meat machine of flesh and bones, but I’m not from here and it’s not where I’m heading.
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40
Still Lost#
Another thing Duke Leto Atriedes said to his son was if you aren’t feeling called and you aren’t ready you still have fulfilled the only thing I ever need you to be: my son. Likewise I feel strongly that my primary purpose in life is to be loved by my heavenly father and would love to share that joy with you. It is true joy because no man can be elected or sieze power that could ever take that away. No climate chaos can separate us from that love of our heavenly father. No amount of oppression nor suffering can erase or separate us from that love. It doesn’t matter the magnitude of the challenges before us, we cannot be separated from a loving heavenly father that always invites us in.
The bible, like human history is a catalog of misery. But the bible is special not for that reason. That’s just matter of fact. Instead it’s more about the stories of redemption from a God who loves us anyways no matter how broken we become. It’s the greatest love story of all time because it is a love story of all time and beyond time. God’s spirit was there in the beginning hovering amidst the chaos breathing life into all its existence. When one day the second law of thermodynamics comes to pass and we all return to the chaos of entropy, God’s spirit will remain.
The Road to Redemption Goes Through the Desert#
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery None but ourselves can free our minds Have no fear for atomic energy ‘Cause none of them can stop the time How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand aside and look? Ooh, some say it’s just a part of it We’ve got to fulfill the book
Won’t you help to sing These songs of freedom? ‘Cause all I ever have Redemption songs Redemption songs Redemption songs
Redemption Song - Bob Marley & The Wailers
When Jesus found himself in the wilderness for 40 days and nights, he was fasting and praying. At that time the devil tempted him constantly, but Jesus knew that power was found in the wilderness. The kind of power that can only be found be trust and submission to a higher power of God the father. When finally Jesus banished the devil for good proclaiming to only worship God, angels came to tend to all of Jesus’s needs. Then something else curious happened: Jesus started his ministry.
You see not only had Jesus found his power, but he found his message in submitting to God’s will.
You may feel like I still do, lost, without someone you can trust, still hurting, but know that this too shall pass. You are not alone. God’s invitation of love is always there for you. And we have each other.
When this does eventually pass will you hear your call? Will you answer? Will you emerge with purpose and Desert Power?