Messier and Messiest

I know, I really do know that most of my friends, as well as many people, have totally tuned out from barely listening to news, or from barely reading any news on any platform. I totally understand, because what we are dealing with on an hourly and daily basis is overwhelming, depressing, disgusting, infuriating and going from Messier to Messiest. But, unless we are aware of what Political and Corporate Leaders are thinking and doing how can anything ever change? 

The unrest that is being manifested across most of the world in various forms and for different reasons – whether these are connected to geo-politics, or local issues, or both – is in one sense ominous and scary, in another quite exhilarating in that Fundamental Changes are bound to happen, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, but they will, because there seems to be a loud and strong message being sent out by us, Ordinary People, across the Globe that things aren’t working for us anymore. And, whether we are under the rule of a Capitalist, Socialist or Communist form of government and whether we have the right to vote or not, we, Ordinary People, realize that Political Leaders, including Corporations of all kinds, are to varying degrees Oligarchs with our Fate in their corrupt hands.

“Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy.” (Oxford Language)

“Oligarchy is a form of government in which a small group of people hold most or all political power.” (National Geographic Society, 2022)

So in this game of roulette that is life will the Oligarchs Win, or will the People? Here, in this Republic of the United States we were founded by a group of White, Christian, Rich Men who designed our form of government to first and foremost serve their own privileged interests, and secondly with an idealistic and aspirational belief in Democracy. That is still the case, although this country is far from being a real Democracy, especially during these past several years. In fact, it is functioning as an Oligarchy and the extremism that this is fomenting, and that we are witnessing, is frightful.

Just as wars – all wars – have unforeseen consequences, so too are national and international events. Right now we are still experiencing the consequences of the Merciless and Criminal European Colonialism, because it is not over yet, since European countries and the United States – which is the late-comer of this evil enterprise, though definitely following in the footsteps and using the same tools-of-the-trade as the White, Christian Arrogant and Supremacist European Colonists – are still striving for World Dominance by Any Means Necessary, thus subjecting this Planet to being the War Zone that it is, while the Corrupt Corporate Media shamefully cheers them on instead of calling them out! We, Ordinary People, are feeling that we are pawns who are subjected to every ill that Wars and the strife for Dominance generate. Those ills are numerous, because wars are not only the direct fact of armies, or proxies, occupying and killing each other, but the consequences and after-effects of these evil doings that reverberate throughout societies for decades, if not centuries.

We are, at this point in time, fighting Russia in Ukraine, in Africa and goodness knows where else. Scary! The war in Ukraine if/when it is over will have consequences for decades to come that we cannot even begin to fathom at this juncture. It is the same as all wars, and the best that those who caused them will say is: “mistakes were made” as they said about Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc.. Yes, mistakes at the expense of the uprooted, the refugees, the trafficked, the raped, the hungry, the traumatized and all the human rights abuses! How much more unfair and unjust can it get?

These past two weeks our FBI in the United States has warned of the increasing threat of domestic terrorism, and Trump and his followers have been announcing all sorts of dire warnings should their Autocratic agenda be thwarted in any way. In Israel people have been protesting in the streets for weeks, while Netanyahu and his followers are hell-bent on continuing their efforts to turn Israel into an Autocracy, and to trample on the human and legal rights of the Israeli and Palestinian people. Yes, it is getting Messier and Messiest! It is also very dangerous for all of us, and the consequences of these behaviors will reverberate for a long time.

What will the future unfold? How will the United States and Israel conduct themselves? How will all those other Autocracies behave? How will all the gangs, mercenaries and warlords that all our wars begat be contained? How can Corrupt Political Leaders rethink their selfish desires and develop more peaceful and just policies going forward, including the damage and disasters that Climate Change is causing? Are they even capable of that? And, for how much longer will Political Leaders, Corporate CEOs and the Corporate Media continue to stand with the Oligarchs while they brazenly mislead us and mismanage our very existence?

Questions and many more that only the future can answer, for no one seems to know at this precarious moment. Meanwhile, yes, I understand how so many have tuned out and have chosen to conduct their lives ensconced in their own bubbles and cocoons. They feel safer that way, more at peace, less stressed, less confused, less worried. I understand that, even though, political junkie that I am, I have not been able to isolate myself in this manner, and by doing so it is not as if I am warding off the dangers or protecting the world from its Messier and Messiest situation! We just have to hold on and do the best that we can under these extenuating circumstances. What else is there to do other than to “be calm and carry on?”