by Derek Meyer, 05/10/2020, Traverse City, MI

Adult Category

Attention to the bright, the ambitious, the movers and shakers of the American future.

I’m watching as I hope you do the same, knowing that at no point in the near future may these critical points of contention manifest themselves again so neatly, so starkly, so clearly.

I’m hearing more questions than answers. I see a collective consience starved for a reconciliation in its wildly inconsistent interpretations of social contract and civic duty as I see a young demographic for whom these points will matter greatly.

I see a polarized consensus on an ideal of the greater good that’s divided between the liberal autonomy of rugged individualism and the paternal macromanagement of collectivism in an age of progress.

I’m dizzy. I see counter protests protesting the protests and yet more protests to protest the counter protesters as fringe protesters form along the outskirts of the original proliferation of protests.

I see a narrative that reads like a dystopian work of fiction in a day and age of humanitarian extremes in which there’s never a shortage of crises.

I see tumescent campaign strategists on both ends of a spectrum and by extension yet another virus to which I will not be contributing.

I see a culture of corporate theater. A mass media with the luxury of handpicking from a bottomless barrel of best to worst case scenarios and then crafting from these an appropriately bleak narrative with which to render for the viewer in the absence of context whatever truth the proverbial dark matter of corporate and political interest sees fit.

I see catastophic crisis as a commodity of the mass media and an an erosion of the collective ability to think critically and independently. I hear the fatalistic drumbeat of a sensational mass media and a vulnerable demographic as they fall into step, as they fall into line.

I see a culture of lifetyle tutelage reinforced by a deferent demographic looking to the self anointed gurus of network television for direction in what to wear, what to eat, how to parent, how to speak and how to cope in a time of social distance with the first world troubles of domestic sanctuary and amenity.

Nevertheless I’m seeing an epic rebirth of American stoicism and its manifestations are already evident.

I see and I feel a new appreciation for the American proletariat. I see a refreshing climate of corporate benevolence – a rising to the occasion and a seizing upon the opportunity to give back.

I see that gaurded optimism is in order. Somewhere between the philanthropic works of charitable entities and the communal cooperative efforts at ensuring public health.

Between the resilient economic machinery and the innovative immortality of American ingenuity, something tells me we will ultimately be o.k.

Two mice fell into a bucket of cream…