Iocane Powder
Hopefully, you’ve seen The Princess Bride. If not, that’s your assignment.
Moving along.
More than once in life, I’ve learned that regular exposure does not make you immune to anything. Resilience is not the same as empowerment.
So, I’m experimenting with limited daily exposure to Trump & Co.
It seems potentially possible to know the overview of what is “going on” without getting down in the dumps over the nasty particulars…
Trump’s propaganda machine continues relentless ‘flood the zone’ tactics. Much of the goal here is to create FUD — Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Once you’ve instilled FUD in a populace, you don’t have to break them, they willingly relent.
Daily, we are seeing threats to Democracy that are very real and serious. Others less so. We need to do our best to stay clearheaded, so the lines do not blur.
As is commonly stated, you can only control what you can control… which, at the end of the day, is just me, myself, and I.
What’s your personal “need to know basis” right now when it comes to The Madness?
We all need to figure out our parameters so we can function as people without having serious mental and, in turn, physical health issues as a result of the ongoing turmoil. I say this, in part, because there may well be even more serious battles to come.
Right now, there are smart people in the room doing their thing. Heather Cox Richardson is an example of someone keeping a close watch on the situation. I’m sure you can think of a few other folks. I’m not saying this lets the rest of us off the hook; rather, it’s a reminder that we all have different roles to play in society, in resistance.
Democrats are partly being quiet right now because they know they are toothless. Lefty power players and progressive donors are being quiet right now, in part, because they are targets. Many of these folks know how the game is played even when it looks chaotic— they’re waiting until we get closer to the 2026 midterms to size up the state of play.
I have this sense that many people I know feel they need permission to live their lives. I feel this way. I don’t believe it’s a good way to move through the world. It doesn’t feel good and yet we have no choice but to find something workable while the ground under our feet continues to shift. -
What is working for you?
Continue to read NYT and New Yorker to keep abreast. Ended my nightly dose of Colbert, Seth Myers, and Jimmy Kimmel. Brave and darkly hilarious as they are, their anti-Trump comedy feels like lefty weakness against The Strongman. Keep my progressive friends close for comfort and camaraderie. Donate to the ACLU to keep the courts as strong as possible to respond to the "zone flooding" (or FUD as Mark has named it) in a measured and well-funded way. Maintain my writing practice and poetry circles. Cook and bake for my beloveds. Keep reminding myself this is a global takeover of the extreme right, so shake loose the self-satisfaction of American exceptionalism. Thanks for this posting, Mark
p.s. Can't wait for the mid-terms. Hitler took over in 53 days. We're on day 31.