We’re enjoying the perfect fall weather with sunny days and cool nights. It’s the time of year when you have to lock your car otherwise people will put zucchinis in them. It’s the season of plenty if you have a garden or friends who have one. Nature at its best. I want to rejoice but this fleeting moment passes when my friend Camp leans back in his chair with a pint in one hand and his silly phone in the other.
‘I’ve just got a book in by David van Reybrouk called The World and the Earth. It deals with climate change and the wrong focus of the world’s nations. The climate and laws of nature – the earth – doesn’t care if we humans care but the world is currently run by a group of old, ruthless men.’
‘I presume you’re talking about Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping, Modi, Erdogan and Netanyahu, to name a few that come to mind.’
‘Yes, they are currently building a new world order that is not focused on the future because they don’t have one themselves. They are bullies who colonize the future and rob and exploit the next generations even before they are born.’
‘Wasn’t the world always ruled by old men? I seem to have had the same complaint when I was young.’
Fall has arrived with cool mornings and dropping leaves. It has been a good summer. Not too hot, not smoky and with the occasional rainy day. All is well in paradise. Until I read or watch the news.
‘Remember Tim O’Leary’s mantra from the 60ies?’ I asked Camp who was already nursing his first pint.
‘Turn on, tune in, drop out?’
‘Yes, that’s it. What different times we live in. Just last week, Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox pleaded with people to log off, turn off, touch grass, go hug a family member, go out and do good in the community and not to view videos on social media showing the moment Charlie Kirk was shot. “This is not good for us, this is not good to consume,” he said and then doubled down. “Social media is a cancer in our society right now.”
‘The current generation was in diapers when the towers were brought down,’ Camp pointed out. They have no memory or point of reference to the Woodstock generation, to the civil rights movement, never mind to holocaust or the 2nd or even 1st world war. Did they learn anything in school about the the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Spartaor the Roman wars? Does history mean anything to the present generation who get their information from sound bites and influencers on social media?’
‘I don’t know but there are no social protests, no sit-ins, no demonstrations, no organized opposition against the current administration. Part of this is fear of retribution but there seems to be a large portion of lethargy mixed in with defeatism and helplessness.’
‘All marinating in a toxic stew of misinformation, militant Christianity and racism.’
‘Add to all that the cancellation of cancer and environmental research and health policies, the firing of scores of scientists, the deployment of federal military to cities governed by democratic mayors and legislatures, all sanctioned by the supreme court and you have the making of a totalitarian state.’
‘You can add media censorship and control to that.’
‘Hard to feel positive about the future when the current ‘regime’ is promoting end-times and convinced that Armageddon is just around the corner.’
‘My hope lies in the children of tomorrow who will inherit this world with all the tools to fix it. Our generation had its day and while we’re bitching and complaining, we’re not willing to sacrifice our comfy pensions, investments and life styles.’
‘We’re sounding like a classic rock station reduced to elevator music. Where are the anthem songs of today, the poets of the masses, the chroniclers of the truth? We built a world of successes over nature, a web of instant communication and have unraveled many mysteries, answered many questions and found many cures but to what end? Just to smash it all on the altar of righteousness and religious superstition?’
‘No point fretting about what was and could be. We’re still living in the best place at the right time and as long as we can watch and observe from the side lines and drink our beer in peace, we’re happy and content.’
‘I heard that last part, gentlemen,’ Vicky said while serving us up a new round.
Summer is almost over and I have yet to see a day without Trump at the forefront of any news outlet, newspaper, social media and TV alike. No day goes by without the latest executive order or presidential decree or policy changing Truth Social post. He is bulldozing the political, social and economic landscape at a dizzying pace. None of it is friendly or rewarding, encouraging or supportive. They are all restrictions, cancellations and firings; casting thousands of people and organisations adrift.
I couldn’t help myself and quoted this outtake to Camp. ‘There is one thing that is not a puzzle as Trump continues to govern by executive order: the failure of the Supreme Court to seriously address the constitutionality of Trump’s actions. The court’s decision to lift the restraining orders of lower courts and to put off conclusive decisions has the effect of allowing Trump to inflict irreparable harm. The victims include the people Trump accuses of criminality, universities going without funds, medical researchers and their patients suffering from vanished grants, law firms unwilling to take on controversial pro bono cases, not to mention the tens of thousands of federal employees thrown out of work and the billions of dollars cut in foreign aid. Trump’s use of the government to condemn adversaries and reward allies will leave an ugly scar, even in the unlikely event that sometime in the future the court reverses course and recognizes the depredation that Trump has left in his wake.’
Bruno's point of view 