[Transcript edited for flow and clarity.]
Hey everybody. I was working on my post for tonight and then I thought that making a video to catch us up might be a better idea. As you know, I read all of your comments, and I read all of your emails, far too many to respond to, but it's very important to me to know what you're thinking and how you're responding to what's going in the world and to what I have to say about it.
We are heading into week five of the fascist Trump regime that has overtaken the United States of America. And a lot of you understandably have been wanting to know what we should do. How do we move forward? How do we get out of this? Who are our leaders?
As I’ve said, I’m working on some posts that will address all of those issues. I think I posted the first one a couple of weeks ago, and it was the first in the series called “How to Fight Monsters.” Why haven't I posted any more since then? I absolutely plan to. I've drafted several posts and I have a lot of ideas. The degree to which the earth is shifting beneath our feet, however, is shocking, even for those of us who knew this was going to happen. And it’s shocking because it is happening everywhere, all at once and with a rapidity and a comprehensiveness that was very difficult to be prepared for—and, prepared or not, it’s still destabilizing.
I wanted to take a step back while also, to be fair, having to keep up with everything, in order to get a better sense of where we are vis-a-vis what's happening in the country; where we are in terms of what's happening with the world order. What are Democrats doing or not doing? What Congressional Republicans doing or not doing.
There's a decision-making framework called OODALoop, which was designed by an Air Force colonel called John Boyd. The acronym stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. I'm in the orient phase, although obviously we also have to be continually observing. I’m still in the orienting phase because there are so many people and agencies and systems that are being impacted—harmed, changed, dismantled—and all with a comprehensiveness and cruelty that are difficult to process. This regime has taken a destructive stance toward every aspect of what we thought it meant to be American or to be a citizen in a world that values liberal democracy. That takes a little getting used to it. It's a lot to take in.
And then, of course, we all have a personal stake in this, right? It isn't as if we're watching this from afar and worried about what's happening over there to that agency or to those employees or to the people in some other state who aren't going to be able to afford food. Every single one of us is impacted. Certainly, anybody who cares about American democracy being negatively impacted. Anybody who has empathy is going being negatively impacted. And that's enough to knock us back on our heels.
A lot of what I've been trying to focus on is stabilization. What do we do for ourselves to keep us grounded, to keep us in the moment, to keep us from feeling overwhelmed? My solution for me, and I assume for other people is art. It may be something else for you. I try to share art that matters to me in the hopes that that helps. That's not the only reason, of course. I think the arts are what will save us ultimately, but right now they vital to help us with our day-to-day lives. We also need to remember that the arts and artists are two things we need to protect in every way we can right now.
Then, of course, there's the personal, personal. Not just, “How are we going to be affected by social security cuts or higher prices or increasing inflation?” As we've seen, the FBI is now being run by a deviant whose only goal is to serve Donald Trump's interest. The FBI has, essentially, been turned into the Gestapo, and will exercise absolutely no restraint when it comes to making their way down Donald's enemies list. That may be more personal to some of us than others. But the point is that there are a lot of things to be concerned about right now, and they run the gamut from the personal to the global.
There is a lot of observing to do, and a lot of orienting. How do we position ourselves in such a way as to understand in the most clear way what is unfolding around us so that we can make appropriate decisions about how to act? That's where I am. I wanted to share that with you. I'm very close to heading into decision time. So look for more of those articles about how to fight these monsters this week.
I know all of you have a lot of concerns. Your comments have been phenomenal as always, but there have been some that have been a little troubling. I think that it's extraordinarily important that we keep perspective to the extent we can—even though I know it's hard. I know it's hard. It's very hard when your world is purposefully being dismantled around you by the most vicious people there are because an ignorant, also vicious, cruel, plurality of American voters just decided they didn't care anymore. It's not going to end well for them either, but I'm not entirely sure they're ever going to recognize that.
This is all the more reason for us to stand up, but before we do that, we need to make sure that we're taking care of ourselves, staying grounded, and staying safe. I can understand that it would be quite easy to be overwhelmed at this time, and I'm hearing from some of you that that's how you’re feeling. This community is extremely important to me. If it feels, however, like it costs too much to stay engaged, if it feels like too much to stay on top of everything or to read what people are saying about it, please take a break. Take a break. It's okay. We're all going to be here when you get back.
It's just not worth it to force the issue because this is a long road we have ahead of us. I've also had comments suggesting some of my posts lately are negative. But we really do need to know; we need to know in detail what's going on around us; who's doing what to whom and why, to the extent that we can intuit that. It is not the time to couch things in euphemisms, it's not the time to pull punches, or to pretend that things are better than they are. Things are quite bad. I know that. And I am sorry. I am deeply, deeply sorry that that is the case, but it's impossible to figure out how to fight if we don't take a very clear-eyed and unblinking look at what we're fighting.
Thank you as always for being here. I look forward to your comments. You'll be hearing from me more tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening, and please everybody stay safe and be kind.
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