MINORITY REPORT

“While the photo stands for a moment in time in and of itself, it is also a starting point for deep conversations on how we as ethical people can better share the resources that we’re able to develop through our talents, connections and hard work,” -Ted Landsmark, (The man being attacked in this Pulitzer prize winning photo) Landsmark is a  Northeastern Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.  Realizing how cold it will soon be, and how darkness falls earlier these days, I thought it appropriate to praise everyone who steeled themselves to brace against far more challenging times. It is also fair to mention those who have betrayed their party lately, and perhaps those who've out-stayed their welcome. 
One big take-away as we barrel toward Trumpian Armageddon is voter's brutal hindsight of a huge mistake, and my smug rebuke of them,  "I told you so". 

         The Loudest Sound Which We Can't Silence Today is Silence Itself. 

How is it; That this photo caused so much outrage, empathy, and corrective action, while there is nothing today but complicit silence? Are all of these events out of our control, and not worth toiling over. Perhaps we should work only on our self improvement? Is silence the problem, or a stoic sanctuary from madness? Megadonors wanted a toddler who they could bend to their will, while the Trumps bought access to a system which has always excluded them? Their job now is to tear that edifice down.

 Is the 'deep state' a chaos engine or just the internet?  When Hillary ran, many knew the  reality and pitfalls of feminine political opportunity. That Women out-vote men by a few percentage points and also for democratic candidates seemed (if not an assurance) a great lever to bring a woman into Office.  ...So, What Happened?  Well, women seem to face their worst opponent in their fellow women.  Women will not only NOT vote for a female president, but that they'd apparently prefer a racist narcissistic sexual predator seemed ludicrous. ...Or so it (had) seemed that way -- But truth is stranger than fiction. When the votes were counted last week, the truth revealed that yet again "A Woman cannot win", because Women indeed hate them.  Would a celebrity woman have won?  Here we'd witnessed the second chance for a woman to lead, and for a second time, those hopes were dashed by the (majority) electorate, made up of fellow women.  In fact Pew research historical data on The female electorate implicate men as the minority voter.  This "minority report" underscores a sea change to those historical statistics -- nee the talisman of imminent collapse of said democracy.  Pandering to so called "Undecided Latinos" was not only oxymoronic, but a waste of time, because apparently Latinos love a lunatic.  Electing an elderly criminal mad boy-king with a blind vendetta, and a blatant hatred for smart women and Latinos just happened. Electing an influencer over any other reasonable human, will bear it's own wreckage. Lawless cartels inked votes for tyrants on their arms and necks while incarcerated. Liberals may trade racists for immigrants, while immigrants trade El Chapo for Trump.   But, if we are now going backwards to a time where Women were not allowed to vote, because this is how they behave -- Then they get to watch once again while the maniac boys club take more of their rights away. Then THIS certainly is NOT America.   
Please enjoy this American Bandstand interlude before we toss America out the window and speed away.

Of course a few individuals are not the cause of Trumpism, rather the credibility of elite meritocracy has collapsed public confidence in "The System". 
                                 We are the Minority and Not At All Sexy
"Today, 59 percent of Americans believe that our country is in decline, 69 percent believe that the “political and economic elite don’t care about hard-working people,” 63 percent think experts don’t understand their lives, and 66 percent believe that America “needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful.” In short, under the leadership of our current meritocratic class, trust in institutions has plummeted to the point where, three times since 2016, a large mass of voters has shoved a big middle finger in the elites’ faces by voting for Donald Trump."   (How the Ivy League Broke America) by David Brooks

         We've  passed an elephant through the eye
​                        of a needle, Now what?

Epictetus was Born into slavery at Hierapolis, present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) Epictetus lived in Rome until his banishment. He travelled to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he spent the rest of his life. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; he argued that people should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. But that, all individuals are responsible for their own actions.  I'm ready to  give up and accept what I have neither the power, nor the agency to change, but this Stoic approach does leave the lunatics to run the asylum.  So is stoicism quite irresponsible, Knowing that Trumpists intend to tear down our fragile republic?  What can I do, and who should I blame? Well, I have no axe to grind, and no dog in this fight -- But I'll blame the internet.

We'd have to give a special nod to a very powerful woman who was strained through the elite pachinko machine.  RBG. A Lovely, inspirational intellectual, who broke the glass ceiling out-lived her own usefulness, all but guaranteeing that the Mad Men in charge would remain there.   She could have, afforded democrats the opportunity to appoint her replacement, and we'd have stood a fighting chance to keep things in check. But how long until RBG version 2 will be ready?  How long until Obama v2? The new system gives birth to and it raises celebrity replacements far faster than merit-based matriculants. Losing in the new economy is all but guaranteed when credentials need only be pretty, popular, or outlandish. And Democratic candidates take time, and education to cultivate.
​ The Internet is a factory farm, which makes celebrities far faster than qualified Democrats. Alas Biden also stuck it out far too long, and without a viable "Popular" candidate he all but guaranteed Trump's ascendence.  Merrick Garland should of course have indicted Trump, rather than pushing an 'Adult in the Room' eloquence. But all of the missteps matter nada.  Regardless of how the balls drop, we wont have have the opportunity to pick them back up, as we spiral down, and backwards into darkness. When a neighbor mentions that AI will replace you... as if vacation is imminent -- they've missed the mark.  The internet has already replaced you.  You are irrelevant in the new economy. Your virtual self is winning, sexy, and absurd, but the tangible you is now irrelevant. You are a Minority now, and they are keeping a list. Certainly all of those nameless "undecided's" didn't just decide to make up the electoral difference. And... Certainly it's not RBG, or Garland's fault that Trump is choosing to destroy America with his Boy-Toy Elon.  The Women, and the Minorities decided to bankrupt our country, by sorting for popularity rather than for skill.  But before we pull our rust-bucket motorhome into the out-lot of a Mod Dark Age  --We should think not about how, but why? Why do women not want a women leader? Why do minorities want a self avowed racist? Why Do the majority of the disadvantaged electorate want a criminally insane morally bankrupt monster to raise their children, taxes, and to demolish social welfare programs? Why do Americans want to go backwards to an era with less freedom, less opportunity, and less social security? Because Americans want easy access to the system which has traditionally excluded them. 
​                                             Because the internet said so.

---

The internet which connects us lightening fast,  just prior to segregating us, and silo'ing us, is to blame.  In fact if you'd lived without it, you wouldn't even know to be sickened with anxiety, and rage.  In this virtual world we can reinvent ourselves on a whim. We can get rich in our pajamas by exploiting obese charm, while wearing face-cream. We can gain status by pretending to matter, rather than  passing any test.  When someone says something hurtful, we merely bump from one pretend social circle to the next, while trolls do them in.  Filtering for and promoting the popular kids by charisma, over the ashes of a destroyed meritocracy.  Incoming freshmen game the old system, reshaping the way meritocracy once operated into 'LIKES'. By paying for and getting paid to be popular, or beautiful we shed the skin of performative advancement.  NOT for substantive intelligence or performance, but promotion by popularity. This is the new way. And thinkers are reportedly the minority. Your degree became far less valuable even a week ago. Your social currency cancels debts toward web ascendency. Distrust in the old system runs parallel to an express lane promise of get rich quick. This scheme seems accessible on the innerwebs. Why struggle to make it into that AP program, when you can bask in the glow of your web-cam, eating cereal for a living. Bloggers replace Pundits. Podcasters replace a Media empire. This kinetic gravity game allows meteoric ascendency, which falls just as quickly like pachinko balls through a series of apparently random filters to settle and rust. The odds are still astronomical to win the lottery, but the investment is appallingly cheap.  The choice is simple... Spend a few bucks on a Ring-light, WiFi, and Makeup... or try to squeeze through a convoluted racist ivy league bendy straw. Those who choose neither, should have voted Democratic, as they will soon discover.  We have successfully passed an elephant through the eye of a needle, Now what?   We have all settled along the bottom, doing nothing to better our chances, not because we are stoics, but because we are beaten.  Trump merely wants to break the same system which long excluded him, and the scorched earth he leaves behind won't require repair, because he will be dead by then.  The government exodus has begun, because qualified people can't swim up this filthy stream. In fairness, even Epictetus moved twice from his home and lived in peace in exile. Stoic Exile, is a sort of a cop-out, or perhaps a natural coping mechanism against defeatism.
                              Or perhaps Stoicism is Defeatism.
Were a tree to fall in the forest and a webcam not witness it's falling, Then it would remain standing. Were the internet not to host offensive idiots, they would cease to exist. Every Bully would be mute without social media, because the balance bends toward awful.
Very smart people are his highness' sworn enemy, and they are leaving in droves.  Trump cannot stand not being the smartest man in the room, or certainly the most annoying -- So his cabinet will be made up of marshmallows, and Wonder-Bread -- Soft & Tasty but devoid of substance.
I wonder what will happen when even Trump loyalists stop showing up for work.  We are all settling to the bottom of a huge pachinko machine built from random chaos and silicon. We are puddling into some absurd fossil record of our disposable, single serving one-nighters. Today 12 hours in the socials feels like a lifetime, the historic record written over by the day.
As Assholes ascend the web, their shit settles in the fish bowl, cementing  sedimentary  histories of our own collapse.
                           Democrats are a Quiet Stoic Minority