Will Palmer ‘21
You know that feeling you get when you get onto a roller coaster at an old theme park in Eastern Europe, and the tracks look real rickety and the seatbelts are made out of rope, but Yuri the ride operator says it’s fine to ride, so you get on and it starts up the hill, and you look back and realize that Yuri is blackout drunk on cheap vodka, and also never worked at the theme park in the first place, but it’s too late to get off the roller coaster? My friend Dennis sure does.[1]
Let me back up a bit. I feel like this analogy went a little off the rails.[2] I was in the process of writing a hilarious article poking fun at President Trump–seriously, it was great, I even managed to get a Marvin Gaye reference in there–but, well, this situation calls for something a bit more well-crafted than put-downs about daddy issues.
Let’s begin with a quote. I believe it encapsulates the philosophy of Trumpism’s most ardent and aggressive supporters[3] pretty accurately:
Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them in new shapes of your own choosing . . . The old civilizations claimed to be founded upon love and justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world, there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy. Everything . . . There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent, we will have no more need of science . . . But always . . . always at every moment there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is hopeless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face–forever.
-1984, George Orwell (O’Brien speaking to Winston)
I reject this vision of the world. I like people. I like art, literature, and science. What I don’t like is inflicting pain and humiliation on other people, especially when it is done solely to inflict pain. I feel like these are easy things to agree with. Here’s another premise: A victory for the sole sake of trampling upon others is no victory at all; it is a monstrosity. Looking at life as a zero-sum game is a good way to hamstring us all. Cooperation is the way to move forward, not internecine brawling. So to that world of power and hate and trampling, I say no. I will always say no, and I trust that you shall as well. (In a more literal sense, getting stomped in the face sounds like a bad time, and boots taste like crap anyway.)
The extremists who agitate for violence in support of President Trump are not people for us to be afraid of. They are afraid themselves but cannot point to what, specifically, they truly fear–and so their fear, their rage, their hate, is directed outwards, always outwards. They represent a challenge for our nation to overcome, not a group for us to loathe or run from. What they dream of, what they want, is fire and death, bodies in the streets, shell casings on the pavement. What we will show them is something they are not prepared for: reason, and understanding, and unity among people like you, and me, and our friends and family; a mutual desire to bring our great, ugly, beautiful country into a brighter, better tomorrow. And hopefully, those same people who live in such fear of life can see that it is a much more beautiful thing when you live it without distrust and hate toward fellow human beings.
Now is not a time for violence, or unmitigated rage, or destruction of property. It is time for us to rise up in defense of our country’s values and institutions, yes, and rise we shall, but we must not permit ourselves to stoop to the level of the hateful, myopic individuals we are facing.
Trust in each other. Help each other. Avoid paramilitary folks looking for trouble, no matter what side they’re on (although, let’s be real, one side might try and fail to burn down the local Starbucks while the other side stands around looking for a reason to machine gun unarmed minorities, so it’s not like they’re exactly on the same level of messed up). Keep an eye out for police looking for an excuse to hurt people (I’m not saying all police are looking for an excuse to hurt people. I’m also not saying some of them aren’t). Stock up on canned goods. Do not practice violence or vandalism. The basics are pretty simple.
Here are a couple of quick recommendations if you’d like to get involved. Protect the Results is a joint project organized by Indivisible and Stand Up America intended to coordinate nationwide efforts to protect the legitimacy of the democratic process from interference. You can look them up at protecttheresults.com. If you’re looking for further reading, I recommend obtaining a copy of the Training Manual for Nonviolent Defense Against the Coup d’État.[4]
We’ve had tough times before, and we’ll have them again. That’s part of being human, and it’s part of being American–but only part. The other part is getting through those hard times. Have faith–faith in the ideals you believe in, and the future you want for our country–and we can work together to make all of our Americas closer to reality.
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wtp7bq@virginia.edu
[1] R.I.P. Dennis. I told you not to go to theme parks in Yugoslavia.
[2] Just like Dennis did.
[3] Being politically conservative doesn’t make someone a bad person. Neither does being a registered Republican. Conservatives, liberals, independents and all other voters have the most important things in common: We care for America, and we are human beings with innate worth.
[4] Available for free at https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/training-manual-for-nonviolent-defense-against-the-coup-detat/.