“You see, one does not see exactly where or how to move. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait [to take action] for the next and next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow… but that one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked. But of course this is not the way it happens. In between all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing for you not to be shocked by the next.”
Paraphrased from Milton Mayer’s They Thought They Were Free (1955; 169-172)
Nothing is more dishonorable than a civilized populace that freely gives away their own liberty, freedoms, and values to an oligarchical system of governance under the guise of nationalism, patriotism, and blind obedience. As we collectively grant unfettered power and moral authority towards a convicted felon and a sociopathic billionaire, we abandon our free will and our capacity to tolerate ambiguity. Our world is scary, our world is complex, and our world is tragic. Yet our diversity is our strength, our faith is our compass, and our love is unconditional. To protect the most vulnerable among us is to protect our most fundamental principles and our collective humanity.
Through the gradual, treacherous, and systematic violations of the current administration’s actions, we are consistently in a state of shock and immobilized by uncertainty. Our psyche is flooded with disinformation, horrors, and political discourse. We do not hear the cries and protests of our global citizens who see the path we have chosen for ourselves. We are being censored. The corporate-funded media will never promote a narrative that challenges their own status or power. We are prisoners within our own minds for we are chained to the lies we have been told.
We must be alarmist. We must work against the scourges of mankind, against fascism and any similar system of totalitarianism. We must see through the veil of the current administration and be willing to resist against their aims, however how small. Our system of governance uses checks and balances to limit the consolidation of power, but we can no longer rely on them to shield us against tyranny and corporate corruption. Every individual must be aware of their responsibilities as a member of a western democracy that is threatened by dark instincts.
Societal change is not linear nor does it happen in an instant. It is a gradual transition that habituates a citizen towards a new normal. For we are animals with the capacity to modulate ourselves to new environmental stimuli. This can work for or against us. It makes us incredibly resilient and adaptable to the human condition. Yet it can paralyze us to challenge the status quo or to stay engaged. Each of us strives for self-determination, purpose, and belongingness. If a political constitution prevents the development of these values, if it interferences with one’s capacity to be ourselves or to protect the rights of others, then it is reprehensible and injurious no matter how it is presented.
This is a call to resist. As quoted by Victor Frankl, the “forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation”. How will you respond to these atrocities? How will you respond to the gradual erosion of our inalienable rights? How will you respond when they ask you, “what did you do when they came for the immigrants? What did you do when they came for the members of the LGBTQ? What did you do when they came for you?”
Despite the bleakness of our world, we must manifest hope. As argued by Desmond Tutu, “hope is being able to see that there is a light despite all of the darkness”. Unbridled hope is blinding and aimless. We must ground our hope within individualistic and collectivist action. We hope for a better world through the decisions that we make everyday. We hope for a better world through our resilience and tenacity. We hope for a better world through our willingness to live above the fear of persecution. For fear is the mind-killer.
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