A Voice From Russia Speaks To Us-- Do We Want To Hear It?

 

Written On The One Year Anniversary Of Putin's Jailing Of Alexey Navalny-- Why Americans Are Vulnerable To Trump And Putin's "Big Lies"

A main reason I rarely become demoralized or shocked into incredulity by daily political developments is that I dig into areas which most people avoid. It bears repeating that in analyzing the behavior of world leaders, governments, large organizations, criminal syndicates, terrorists of all persuasions, and what they do or are likely to do, the context and timing of such actions are as significant as the action itself. I would say that it is advisable for us to take "the big picture" in making sense of the world we live in. But one might then ask,  "what about our people, where do we fit in"? 

When something politically tragic happens of great significance, Americans tend to fixate on it, as we are prone to do because we are in the majority entertainment addicted virtual spectators living within a high-tech Roman arena. We want the "hot take," a sound bite or a pointed Meme to explain things, because we are observers. Do we do as the Romans, give a "thumbs up", or click on an angry face emoji to say "thumbs down? You could call this Democracy in action.. Unfortunately our culture of violence, gambling, bacchanalia and leisure is barely distinguishable from that internally rotten Roman Empire, which took a thousand years to finally collapse.. Then, like the cheering crowd in the Coliseum, when the show is over, we flick the switch, knowing it is not our business, not personal, and we are powerless after all to change it, even if we are sad about it.  Like the bloodthirsty or morally deadened "Vox Populi" of old Rome, far too many of our people have acclimated to the culture of lies and violence.

We rail against Donald Trump's calls to his supporters to launch January 6th type violent attacks on three US Cities where he faces indictment. "Why isn't he arrested"?  When we are done venting, we relax by turning on our Netflix to rewatch the  "Squid Games", then lie to ourselves aggressively that there is a redeeming message to be taken from this modern fascist snuff film experience. Oh, Squid Games are too much?  "How about a little Halloween Horror film then, some mild "splatter"  I can handle". Yes, we liberals are so committed to non-violence, except for in our living rooms. 

Lies are a psychological comfort zone which provide not only a cover for crimes and offenses by evil doers. They provide solace to the spiritually guilty cowards who watch great crimes committed before their eyes, then rationalize their inaction in the face of it. If that were not true, Fox News would neither exist nor be tolerated. And the leaders we elect feed off of our desire to be lied to, which they actually know better than we ourselves. That's why they conduct opinion polls, to ascertain which lies their voters want to believe in. 

So yes, Vladimir Putin is a terrific liar, which is the point of commonality with his compromised protégé, Donald Trump. Both of them have attained enormous power within their respective nations precisely because of their talent for spewing lies, and the willingness of the people to accept them. 

One person who refused to live a lie, accept lies, or tolerate that acceptance in others is Alexey Navalny, who still to the best of our knowledge lives. He is a prisoner of conscience who has willingly given up his life for the principles of justice and democracy, not only for Russians but for Americans and peoples of all nations. After all, he is fighting the two-headed monster, giving us the living example of how to resist Tyranny. And for that noble cause, he is likely to die in jail, another murder victim of Vladimir The Terrible.

Have you thought about him today? This week? At all, and if so when? If not, why not? And here you have the answer to the questions which perplex you, as to how we got here. How does Trump get away with it, or Tucker Carlson, or Mitch McConnell, or Putin, or any of them for that matter? "Why aren't they in jail", you ask again. 

Maybe because you haven't thought much at all about the guy who is giving up his life in order to give you a future. "It's not my business, I can't empathize with the suffering of everybody, right"? 

It is the moral numbness and resignation of our modern American Romans, who can turn off our thoughts on the fate of Navalny at will, which is the actual source of power that the enemies of Democracy depend upon, and exploit. It is how they get away with it, because it is so much more comfortable to state with the authority of experience that there is nothing we can do about it. And we tell ourselves that lie again and again,, as we reach for the TV remote, and hope that "somebody" does something about this. 

I'm here to serve as a reminder that there are people fighting and dying for our future rights as human beings. A day that goes by without thinking about them is a day in which we decide to ignore our own future, because we would prefer all too often to be entertained. The biggest lies of all are the lies we tell ourselves.