We seem to be in the throes of the grieving process in the United States of America. Each of us is at a different stage, but I think we all feel this seismic shift in society happening. We are processing it according to the 5 stages of grief.
We are grieving an end to American superiority. Some perceive this as being the America they know as losing something that made them great. Others are becoming aware of the number of untruths that have fostered a false and inflated perception of what America actually is.
It really doesn’t matter which of the above statements you think is true – either we have lost something or that something we thought we had was a lie. What seems evident is that we are all experiencing grief and it seems that everyone is in one of the 5 stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
Those in the denial stage can be seen in quite literally the deniers of science and experts. These are the people that are going about life as if they were living in 1950s America. Believing that any criticism of American superiority is blasphemous. Any mention of change is a personal attack on American liberty. Some even deciding to double-down on our worst ideas of the past such as racial, religious, or cultural superiority. These folks have a long way to go and the truth is that many will pass-on before they reach any further stage.
The next phase is anger. A lot of us are angry, but the embodiment of anger in current America is the ‘White American Terrorist Organizations’. These are the young men and women (mostly men) that carried torches in Charlottesville, stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, or are often the perpetrators of mass gun violence. These individuals don’t have a monopoly on anger in America, as I believe many of us are angry, but their anger has been coopted and manipulated to be projected outward. These folks feel they’ve been cheated out of their birthright, and there are a myriad of mass manipulators eager to exploit that anger.
We then have those in the bargaining stage. I see these as being the establishment Democrats in office and the staunch Democratic voter. These folks are stuck in the mentality that all of this can be fixed through small legislative measures. They think the same incremental changes and compromises that have worked through time will also prevail in this era. Unfortunately this is a very unique time in that we are quickly running up against climate limitations and an increasingly extremist opposition in the GOP. The capacity for compromise isn’t what it was in previous eras and we don’t have the luxury of time that was afforded in the past.
Depression is the next phase of grief. These are the defeated Left. Those that saw the novel ideas of the Bernie campaign as something worth putting effort towards. It was a true Leftist movement in America that seemed to have traction. The ideas and policies championed by the movement were in stark contrast to anything proposed by the political establishment in their lifetimes. It aligned with their values and at times seemed to be on the tipping point of taking over the collective ethos of the country. That movement was sufficiently squashed by the Democratic party in the primaries of late-winter and early-spring of 2020. It left most of that energized progressive movement devoid of hope that such a chance would come around again in their lifetime.
Finally we reach the acceptance stage of grief. Those that have accepted that things are over and are ready to move on. The only ones to move on to this final stage are establishment Republicans. I think they know that what most people think of as America is gone. The values and ideals we’ve been taught have largely been exaggerated at best and propaganda at worst. They are simply picking over the carcass like vultures. Never letting a tragedy go to waste, they are taking every opportunity to enrich themselves on whatever is left before everyone reaches this final stage of acceptance.
In this final stage these establishment Republicans are also using the power of persuasion to keep the lie going for those in the denial and anger stage. They are using those pre-existing sentiments of what America used to be to keep sowing discord and chaos. All in an attempt to prevent anyone from making any sense of it so they can continue to benefit from the devolution of the society.
The actions of this final group may not even be all that nefarious. Perhaps they are so convinced that there is no hope that they are just logically going to this point. If everything is going to end and there is nothing that we can do then why not ensure that you and yours are comfortable for the end. I mean, if there is a chance that we can save ourselves then these people are pure evil, but if there is no hope then this strategy makes sense.
I don’t know if any of this is true. This was just an idea that popped into my head and I thought worth writing about to see what came from it. I do believe that we are all in a state of grief and we are seeing that grief expressed. The ideas above are nothing more than a silly thought experiment and/or writing exercise. In writing it I do believe there are some solid thought-provoking points, but I am not sure what we do with that information.
As with most of my other writings I think a little compassion and empathy could go a long way. Perhaps this is my way of trying to relate to those that I disagree with or don’t understand. It is a big weird world and these are big weird times. No one has it figured out, but we are all trying in some way to understand it. Likely this is just how time and history march forward. I suppose we shall see how this all plays out.
I appreciate your attention and hope you’ve found this valuable or entertaining.
Thanks for reading and please take care of each other.
Billy's Briefs 