Fear

I had drinks with someone the other night and they asked me “what will we say when we look back at this time of political upheaval”?  I thought about it and said, “we had to go there to get here”.   Now of course what here will be is unclear but we move forward and we inevitably move forward into something else because of this upheaval.

What is most disturbing around the seemingly constant chaos in this Administration is their use of fear.  Fear makes us numb.  You read about people who have been brought up in abusive homes that are scary and they become used to that normal by shutting down from trauma.  Remember those color alerts after 9/11 that came daily from the Bush administration?  It was a way to manage their power by creating fear so perhaps we did not see the they were really trying to do.

I am not so sure any of us really know what shifts have happening inside this Administration.  Major offices, such as cyber-security, is being run by people who have been working there though many Administrations, without someone being appointed to run it.  Many ongoing research projects have been halted such as looking into health problems in certain states and what environmental issues are connected to them.  I am sure there are too many undisclosed changes and cutbacks to site.

More than anything between Mother Nature wreaking havoc on our country right now from Hurricanes to Fires, the under-lying Mueller investigation, to the tweets, to the fear for many possibly being deported that could take billions out of the economy, it is this crazy fear that makes us numb to reality.

Perhaps I put too much expectation on our leaders.  Perhaps the system really doesn’t shift much because if we are lucky each leader just gets one thing major accomplished.  But I just can’t help believe that one true leader can really make us go down a much brighter path.  These days the path just seems like a constant torrent of black clouds, rain and wind. It is making me start to ignore it all and look for sunny spots elsewhere.  It is dangerous to be immune to everything that is going on around us right now.  Perhaps that is their point.

 

 

Comments (Archived):

  1. CCjudy

    thank you. Joanne Im coming to NYC with the death of my cousin there from 23-27. Maybe we can have lunch or a coffee and bagel? Im staying with friends few days then Jane Hotel

  2. Pointsandfigures

    All politicians use fear. Democrats use it as well. Fear creates irrationality. It’s possible to move people to action using false fear.