2020 A.D. - What a year !

The Triboro Bridge was thick with traffic. In the distance the Manhattan skyline was sparkling. The spire on the Empire State building was red and green. Things seemed like they are supposed to, this time of the year.

Then to my right a driver pulled in with a mask on. He made sure I didn’t forget that things were far from the way they used to be.

The adjustment we have had to make to a virus, has forced us to take stock of who we are as a species and how we live with the planet.

Now with a vaccine, there is hope of a reset to the past as soon as possible - which is already celebrated as a distant blissful memory.

Many are looking forward to vacations in exotic places, the exhilaration of being in sports arenas and music concerts, the din of restaurants and for the less fortunate a return to a lost job. Whether we will resume those heady days, in a manner reminiscent of the past, is not very certain. Even though the end of 2020 is being seen as a first step towards that.

After 9/11 the world did not reset once Afghanistan was invaded, Iraq destroyed and Osama Bin Laden assassinated. The way we move about the planet intrinsically changed forever, and the human world fell in line with some irritation. Probably a similar fate awaits us once this virus is conquered and we get ready (or not) for the next one to come.

There are many ways one can approach the end of 2020. For many it is already being advertised as an end to a year from hell.

One’s calibration is based on one’s individual experience no doubt. For those who lost a loved one it is the darkest of times. For someone who recovered after a long fight, gratitude to those who helped along the way is in order. To those who have managed to stay clear despite the scare of the virus lurching on surfaces, in air and in the room next door, good fortune is to be thankful for. And to those who continue to be in denial, it is important to keep in mind fortune favors only those who are prepared.

No matter how you see it, the inconvenience faced by many, pales in comparison to those who went through far worse in history, even without the virus.

The generations before us that lived through wars, famine and deadlier plagues when medicine was primitive, saw and experienced dire unfathomable circumstances.

Even today there are millions of refugees who are displaced by war and conflict who have had to contend with more hardship than they would have with a virus running amuck.

 So when we say “to hell with 2020” or see it as a cursed year, one has to measure one’s level of inconvenience with those who have lost everything or are on the verge of destitution, and then have some perspective.

As I count myself among the lucky, 2020 has mainly been a massive adjustment. I have had enough food on my table, a roof over my head, a family to give me comfort, restricted freedom of movement and health to stay confident about the future that is to come. I am aware this could all change in a blink of an eye with or without a virus in our midst.

So I am grateful for 2020 for teaching me the true meaning of contentment and to help focus further on what is essential and valuable in the hardest of times.

As the planet spins and turns in the eternal churning of time, a year is but a speck in its trajectory. For us 2020 may feel like an eternity, but for the blue ball, it is just a blip. To see things in retrospect with perspective is the way to move forward, as there is no instant “reset switch” for the predicament we find ourselves in.

It is what it is.

Reset to Decency & Democracy

At 11:47 am on Saturday, November the 7th, I was clearing leaves in my front yard. It was an unusually warm day. I began to hear isolated howls and screams coming from down the street. My neighbor stepped on to his front porch with a frying pan and spoon and started banging and my wife came out running, jumping for joy.

It was over. The excruciating fives days had come to an end — for now. The knot in my stomach reseeded. The city that made Donald Trump, spontaneously erupted in celebration signaling an end to his divisive brand of politics and the corruption his family had come to stand for.

As I walked up the block the honking cars and people shouting at the top of their voices “F*** Donald Trump”, said it all.

An under-cover police car let off a throbbing siren. A city bus driver was all smiles as he honked. At the intersection there was drumming, clapping, howling, screaming and tears of joy. If there was no pandemic strangers would be embracing all day, like they did on 9/11.

On the next intersection a sea of people had gathered in jubilation. The collective relief that was being exhibited felt like a revolution had unseated a tyrant. The psychological tyranny inflicted had come to an end. A woman walked past me and said “ finally I can breathe.” A weight had been lifted that could only be expressed through ecstatic joy. I felt I was standing at a significant moment in time.

Even though the shock of realizing that the needle had barely moved and millions more had decided to support an abhorrent agenda than last time will never be completely overcome, watching my fellow city dwellers joyous helped lift my spirits.

This day was not the day to dwell on the past or the future. It was a day to be in the moment. To feel hopeful. To feel that there is a vast humanity out there that respects character and rewards all that is good and vital in a time of catastrophe.

Standing in Brooklyn I knew I was a part of a global sigh of relief. It felt as though a planetary hostage crisis had come to an end.

While a majority of America was relieved by the historic turn of events, there was a sizable number that was feeling the opposite.

Some quickly bought into the fast moving allegations that the election was stolen, rigged and fraudulent.

Conspiracy theories spread by the usual coterie of characters from the president down, began to gather steam in an already primed audience. Boorish men with guns and loud protesters with garish flags were quickly summoned to disturb the peace and scare the honest poll workers hard at work.

While I write this, those beliefs are still running strong fueled by a leader who refuses to accept the truth and is in denial. He will probably continue on this path to defile our sacred democratic process, that put him in a place of such immense power. As long as there are people enabling and applauding him to do so, Donald Trump will have no problem trampling over all that is considered sacrosanct.

If the Democrats would have lost, the mood would be grim and probably there would be some disdain for the system and anger in the streets. Especially after the kind of divisiveness and poison that has been sown into our psyche for years.

If the process would have been as transparent as it has been, Joe Biden in his decency would have been the first to concede and make the same speech he made in victory. Calling for unity, civility, reconciliation, humility and peace.

There lies the irrefutable difference between the one who should be leading and the one leaving.

Bill Maher in his wisdom, played on the phrase “civil war”, as the thought of one ensuing is still real, judging by the president’s rhetoric and behavior. He said Republicans do not know how to be “civil” and Democrats do not know how to go to “war” and therefore Americans need to resign to living with each other despite the rifts and divisions exploited by politicians hungry for power.

Despite all the olive branch offerings there will always be those who will call this a “stolen election” until the next one comes around. As they have nothing else left to go on. All the narratives they so deftly engineered to brainwash America, in the end did not bare fruit. They only left a deep and wide gash and galvanized the beholden to bring more to the tent.

The Republican campaign’s singular achievement will be the record crowd they were able to mine to the polls without a platform, policy manifesto or a menu of accomplishments for an incumbent leader.

“Make America Great Again” a rebranded hollow slogan from 2016, with little merit to back it, was enough for people to be energized. This is how populism works.

In desperation the enablers have signed on to go along with the president in his shameless behavior. The attorney general, his most loyal “man-Friday”, has announced investigations. The sycophant senators have refused to congratulate the winner. And the baseless legal battles are bound to go on putting the nation in peril.

The word “grace” does not exist in the mind of Donald Trump. Humility is a concept he does not grasp. He made it very apparent more than once and continues to by his conduct, that democracy is an idea he can endorse only if it favors him.

History will decide the fate of Donald Trump. It will determine whether he was an anomaly or an aberration. It will also cast a verdict on his voters and ardent supporters for this moment in time.

Joe Biden proclaimed often during the campaign that this election was a battle for America’s soul. It was clear on election night, that that battle was far from over. That battle will never be won as long as cancer permeates through the media distorting and destroying the truth.

In the meantime, for the moment a path to the restoration of America may have opened. At least that is the hope.

If not anything, civility will certainly return in 2021 to the highest office in the land. And if this election was just about a “reset” to empathy and decency, it was a battle worth fought and won.

It is what it is.

America at a Crossroads

Walking through my neighborhood in Brooklyn, I came upon a Halloween decoration which loudly proclaimed, END THIS NIGHTMARE, VOTE!

While I was taking a photo of the installation a black man walked by me and said

“Huh!! Vote to end this nightmare! I thought reparations would end this nightmare.”

For a moment I found what he said amusing. He did not wait to engage but kept walking.

What he said certainly raised questions, especially in the times we find ourselves in, and more so, at a juncture where America’s future hangs in the balance.

“Reparation” means to make amend for a wrong that was done. Often by monetary compensation or helping and apologizing to those who have been wronged.

In America, “Reparations” is often associated with slavery as providing legal compensation to the victims and/or their descendants.

Slavery officially ended in 1865 and reparations are a long time coming. They have been talked about since then and some attempts were made to act on them. But nothing substantial thus far. Many in America see slavery as an injustice that has never been fully acknowledged and addressed as a crime against humanity.

Making a case for reparations, well-known writer and thinker Ta-Nehisi Coates says, hundred fifty years of slavery, ninety years of Jim Crow, sixty years of separate but equal, thirty-five years of racist housing policy until America reckons with its compounding moral debts, it will never be whole.

Reparations became a major issue in 2020 when the Black Lives Matters movement named it as one of their policy goals.

This election almost all democratic presidential hopefuls pledged to look into the matter if elected president.

Andrew Yang said that he supported HR40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson.

Elizabeth Warren, Corey Booker, and Kamala Harris expressed support. Tulsi Gabbard and Berney Sanders co-sponsored the bill and were committed and vocal to its implementation.

The Republicans, the party of Lincoln as they proudly proclaim, have never been supportive of the idea of reparations. Coming from an argument, why should a nation pay for the sins of it’s forefathers? And that reparations would be another handout like food stamps and would not address race relations in this country in any meaningful way.

The current Republican party and it’s overlords do not even acknowledge that there might be systemic racism in America and hope to hold on to power by spreading and stoking white fear.

Many in America celebrate and consider Christopher Columbus to be the man who discovered “The New World”. What people seldom disregard, is that there were people living here for centuries before he ended up here searching for India. There was nothing really Columbus discovered other than a sea route for the conquering and pillaging of this land.

The genocide that followed of the native American people is still a contentious issue and their land is still desecrated on a regular basis.

In 1851, Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which created the Indian reservation system and provided funds to move tribes onto farming reservations and hopefully keep them under control. They were not allowed to leave the reservations without permission. Many were forced onto “reservations” with catastrophic results.

In 1934 it was replaced with the Indian Reorganization Act with the goals of restoring Indian culture and returning surplus land to tribes. It also encouraged them to self-govern and write their own constitutions and provided financial aid for infrastructure.

Indian reservations these days are knows for their casinos. But no native American would consider this as reparations rendered.

The question arises then, can and should the injustices of the past be rectified in the present? The reality is, injustices of the past cast a long shadow and influence the present and are ever present. The fact that race still forms an important part of American political and social discourse, is an indication that there is much needed work to be done.

Some nations around the world have symbolically apologized for the carnage they have ensued in pursuit of wealth, religious and civilizational expansion.

Some colonialists have apologized for their crimes without returning the loot. Some have tried to return it with varying success. The Germans feel extreme guilt for the Holocaust and make every effort possible to stamp out antisemitism and rising Nazi propaganda. Then there are others like Turkey who refuse to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. The Chinese continue to oppress native cultures in their land.

In a few days America will decide which way to turn. With the hope that they take a turn towards progress, I have been calling voters in North Carolina to make sure they vote early.

One such call was to a person who was not interested in voting, as he had no faith in the system. His reason was the same as those of a sizable number of voters in this country, who firmly believe that no matter who comes to power their plight never changes.

When I asked what was the one current issue bothering him, he said it was the pandemic. I responded, given that we have only two to choose from, should we not give the other team a chance to tackle the situation? He seemed to agree with me.

From his grievances and angst I was more than sure he was a black man. I am not sure if reparations would have improved his plight, but I am sure it would have instilled in him some credibility for the system.

A hope that his life actually matters.

It is what it is

The Emasculated Enablers

“Don’t they know evil when they see it? We are used to it now. Crime. No shame.”

This is a line spoken by an actor in the exquisitely poetic and heart wrenching film A Hidden Life, written and directed by the cinematic genius Terrence Malick.

The film is based on true events that took place in a small mountain hamlet in the early 1940s in Austria.

It is a love story between a husband and his wife, as they respond to a changing political climate that shatters peace and beauty in their idyllic village.

The husband is called upon to join the Nazi army to show his patriotism to the fatherland. While in basic training he realizes the evil that is being perpetrated in the name of nationalism and love of country.

When he returns he decides to take a stand. He becomes a “Conscientious Objector” refusing to accept Hitler as his overlord.

As we watch the protagonist sacrifice everything to stay true to himself and his steadfast belief, the film intercuts to footage of Hitler revealing how overwhelmingly popular he was in Germany. Old black and white archival footage shows the German public’s adulation and awe of his persona, vision and rhetoric.

The filmmaker also shows rare color footage of Hitler playing with a child, and being social with female companions, revealing a human side to the man.

Terrence Malick is reclusive and rarely gives interviews or talks in public about his work. To me it was clear that he was trying to say something about the times we live in, through this deeply intimate story set in the past.

We do not have mass murder and fear on the scale of Nazi Germany taking place anywhere in the world today. But there is no dearth of autocrats and dictators channeling aspects of “The Great Dictator” around the world.

In Russia Vladimir Putin remains popular while he poisons his dissenters and intends to rule until his dying day.

In China the “re-education” of Muslim Uighars in detention camps is underway under the watchful eye of the United Nations.

In Belarus an autocrat ignores the hordes protesting and orchestrates a sham inauguration for his return to power.

From North Korea, the Philippines, Burma, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India to Brazil authoritarianism in all its forms is on open display.

And in America, while speaking to reporters in the people’s house, a president refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power with audacity and casts doubt on an election already in progress.

What makes elected leaders turn into dictators are the enablers they surround themselves with. Power begets power and once the drug intoxicates, no leader relinquishes unless forced to.

In most cases the enablers have a vested interest in propping up a leader who would enrich them in every way. The enablers are engaged in a dance of quid pro quo, and as long as that equation stands the dictator enjoys glory and all that comes with it.

Autocrats also enjoy support from the general public who become beholden to their image and what they stand for and are willing to offer. All the while blatantly ignoring all that is considered civil, honorable, honest, trustworthy, democratic, respectful and humane.

The devotion Hitler enjoyed for a sense of patriotism and pride he instilled, is akin to what populist leaders command today from their base. Once on that path, many are willing to ignore all evil and follow their leader all the way no matter the cost.

In America today, we stand at a precipice. We are certainly not Germany of the 1940s. A comparison of any modern leader to Hitler is jarring. But it is also true that Hitler came to power using democratic means and then suspended them to stay in power forever. Only destruction on a mammoth scale could unseat him. If that is not a cautionary tale for this generation and the ones to come, then nothing is as history has an uncanny way of repeating itself.

When a democratically leader begins to call into question the very process of democracy and refuses to conform to its most basic tenet, then one wonders how deep the rabbit hole is and whether it has a bottom.

Those in the media, the public and in the party who are enabling this abhorrent and reckless behavior, must ask themselves if they are truly American and if so what does that mean.

We have passed the point where we cannot ignore anything that is said at a podium just because one has one, as “crazy talk”. When a leader casts doubt on the very essence of democracy should that not be considered treason?

It is clear that the enablers have been emasculated. The senators, congressmen and others have lost all credibility when they stood by and watched words of treason being uttered. Only a handful responded with words of muted criticism. Those who were elected to defend democracy, have defiled and desecrated it by staying silent.

Now it is up to us as individuals to take a stand and become “conscientious objectors” to something that is very insidious in the making.

A Hidden Life ends with the following quote by George Elliot

“..for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

The fate of American democracy now lies in the hands of “unhistoric acts” committed by us the people.

It is what it is. 

Year of High Anxiety

In February of this year, I was on a plane returning from India. In transit at the Dubai airport, I found myself caroled into a packed hallway, waiting to pass through security. I was literally breathing down the next person’s neck and the fear that crossed my mind was that of a stampede.

Chatter of a deadly virus spreading across China was in the air. Mild anxiety was palpable. Some people had masks on, most did not. I for one thought those wearing masks were overreacting.

In March, life as we knew it came to a grinding halt. The city I call home became the epicenter. People in me neighborhood were dying and the constant din of ambulances became a reminder of the carnage ensuing. High anxiety evaporated everyone from the streets. A pandemic had taken hold changing the city that never sleeps - forever.

A few months later, the gruesome murder of yet another black man by the police, brought throngs of people into the streets. Rioting, looting and mass protests took people’s anxieties to new heights.

For a moment the youthful non-violent protests signaled hope for change and optimism and reduced some anxiety. The stone cold response from the federal government all but extinguished that.

As November approaches an election looms. The anxiety I felt at the peak of the pandemic pales in comparison to the anxiety I feel now. As after an impeachment, a sex scandal, a conclusive corruption investigation, nepotism, a pandemic, record deaths, economy in taters, skyrocketing unemployment, the pardon of loyal felons, riots, mass protests, storms and fires, an alternative is not guaranteed.

Many in America still believe the president is a victim of a “Deep State” witch-hunt. Fringe conspiracy theories like Q-Anon gain mainstream support from the powerful, calling for unwavering devotion to “the leader”.

In my last piece I expressed grave concern on how the Republican party, which is now a certified Trump cult, is attempting to suppress the vote. Now it seems they are trying to suppress hope by peddling the only thing they have left, fear.

Those who detest the present administration and all it stands for, are anxious that fear will prevail and hope will be smothered.

Those who worship their great leader, are actually fearful of a fabricated lie that the suburbs will burn and be invaded by “colored” folks. The age old fear that enveloped the residents of Levittown, Long Island in the 1950s, the anxiety that resulted in “white flight”, is now being stoked again to win an election.

To pander to all those the president had in the past unabashedly vilified, political theater was on display.

Three Muslims, one Hindu and a Hispanic Christian were paraded in the “people’s house”, as citizenship was awarded by the president welcoming them to the “greatest country god hath created”. The same president who had never shied away from openly engaging in xenophobia, racism and bigotry was now welcoming “colored” people to the country he alone had made great. The optics of hypocrisy could not have been more jarring.

Some say if you disengage from politics you would not be polarized and suffer from anxiety. If all media went dark for a month the world would come together. If Trump were ignored you would not feel rage. And those who feel disenfranchised, discarded and excluded from American success, conclude elections are not for them, as no matter who comes to power, their destiny remains unchanged.

The reality is, if you disengage, you forego your solemn duty as a citizen to stay informed. A democracy only works when all its citizens engage. If you have children you have an obligation to their well being and future. If you don’t, you still have to be engaged as your rights could be trampled upon for being who you are and your air and water could be polluted as corruption favors the powerful. If you remain disengaged you are devoured by authoritarianism and greed.

Many Americans do not engage and therefore end up voting against their interests or not voting at all.

I know I speak from inside a bubble. My words will most certainly be read by those who largely agree with me. I would be deemed “liberal” as I oppose those presently in power. I would be considered “left” as I refuse to accept a worldview defined by fear and lies. I would be considered “secular” as I reject populism and blind nationalism that seeks to idolize flawed debauched leaders. All I hope for though, is that I be considered “reasonable” when I dissect what I see.

Aided by irresponsible social media, sycophant media bullhorns and so called self appointed “influencers”, alternate realities with distorted world-views have become the mainstay. The noise they create is deafening and the images they push are disturbing and disgusting. In a world where decency is no longer a virtue, deceit and distortion is what one constantly fights to find clarity. Not many seek clarity lost and engulfed in their social media smog.

Those who express disbelief of the support Trump still enjoys are asked to consider that his supporters are not all racists or “Deplorables”, as they were referred to as in 2016. They are good well meaning people who have the same daily struggles as anyone else. They work hard and only want what’s best for their families, the nation and its citizens, despite their political beliefs. They like everyone else also believe in concepts of justice, peace, virtue, empathy, love, decency, honor, honesty, grace and goodness.

If this is true, especially after the conclusion of the RNC, the choice is clear.

As four more years of high anxiety will decimate this nation, socially, economically and most importantly psychologically.

It is what it is.

A Constitutional Crisis

Seven months into a year ravaged by a pandemic, the future seems as uncertain as ever. Everyone is pinning their hopes on a vaccine as a miracle return to the “way it was”. A way back to the days of packed stadiums, award shows, movie theaters, parties, bars, planes and trains without a care.

Many in the US, the nation with the highest global death toll, are in denial, and the virus continues to find hosts unhindered. If the present trend continues, about 200,000 people are expected to succumb by the end of the year.

Even though hospitals and medical professionals have become better at managing outcomes, people continue to die. And the daily ticker climbs new heights.

After months of looking at the daily score card, a numbness has set in. People don’t seem to be fazed by the numbers and are settling to a new dark normal. Those who have lost loved ones are devastated and others who have been able to dodge the bullet are careful and are also beginning to get complacent.

The polarization and the politics around how to deal with the virus has almost made it impossible to implement a national methodical approach to deal with this crisis.

When daily mixed messaging from the top muddies a coherent consistent national response, and wearing of a mask becomes a matter of “freedom” one wonders how this crisis will stem. And so people are tuning off and going about their lives, taking risks as they would with anything else.

From denial, delusion to alarm, people in power have botched the response to this catastrophe.

In March the president was quick to label himself a “war time president”, but did little to act like one. With the most death of Americans recorded from a single event since the last big war on his hands, his erratic behavior and philistine actions have only made matters worse. And the people propping him up refuse to see that and are toeing the line defending the indefensible.

While this virus leaks and spreads unabated, there is another crisis emerging on the horizon. This one could be more damaging in its outcome.

A question that started as a rhetorical distant possibility is now becoming a plausibility.

On talk shows, newspapers and news programs, many have raised the question “what if” the November election were sullied, cancelled, postponed or indefinitely suspended by the current president? What if he refuses leave?

Many laugh it off as liberal delusional fantasy, but now three months away from the election, judging by the president’s words, it is seeming like a possibility.

Republicans have often used voter suppression as a skillful tactic to win elections. Low voter turnout has historically benefited the party and they have done everything possible to make this a consistent reality.

From gerrymandering districts, to forcing voter ID cards and raising the specter of fraud in elections when there is next to none, they have tried time and again to make voting difficult for mostly people on the lower rung of society. These maneuvers have disproportionately disenfranchised communities of color in southern states.

With the pandemic being a real impediment to voter turn out, they are making sure yet again it works in their favor. By casting doubt on mail in ballots, even though they are widely used in every election, they are attempting to suppress votes. Especially because recent polls show the president trailing.

When billions of dollars are moved everyday via computer screens, and highly sensitive data is shared through phones and other electronic devices, it is appalling that in the United States the voting process is as primitive as it is. Republicans have favored the status-quo in this regard for reasons that are to their advantage.

The election process remains a contentious issue in a democracy that prides itself as a beacon to the world. Being one the largest democracies in the world, American elections historically have had record low turnouts and little has been done to change this in any meaningful way. Other than celebrities aiding campaigns like “rock the vote”, nothing has been done to address this crucial problem in any systemic way.

When asked in a recent interview if he would concede defeat in the election, the sitting president of America was non-committal. When his Attorney General was asked during a congressional hearing by a sitting congressman, if mail in voting would lead to massive voter fraud, his response was that there was a high risk, if a blanket conversion for the upcoming general election were to take place.

With a pandemic raging since March very little has been done to make sure the elections in November will be certain, conducive and malleable to the crisis. It is now being made all but certain that there will be a low turn out.

Apart from internal threats, there is a continuing danger to the American elections being meddled with from the outside. The present administration continues to downplay this threat.

Acknowledging there is a threat, the Attorney General did not reveal if there was anything being done to combat it in any decisive manner.

The president has always referred to the Russian invasion as a “hoax” and has rarely brought it up in his numerous calls with Vladimir Putin Even if he did, he has casually accepted the denial offered.

The social unrest that started with the murder of George Floyd is still simmering in parts of the country. The president and his Attorney General have characterized it as “anarchy” and “terrorism”. 

They have refused to accept there is systemic racism in the nation’s police and have seen calls to de-fund or restructure it as an assault on the criminal justice system.

So they have dug in and with little else to fall back on, have decided to rebrand the president as the “law and order” leader who would make sure Americans are kept safe from rioting mobs tearing down statues with tough militarized measures. This might play well with the base and those afraid of a demographically changing America and a perceived erosion of entitlement and privilege.

As the president casts doubts on the election schedule and his inner coterie goes along with that assessment, some of his ardent supporters and prominent members of his party have politely broken ranks on this issue. Dismissing it by saying “it is just Trump being Trump” and the media is over sensationalizing his remarks.

Throughout history fascism and authoritarianism have sneaked in by quietly suspending democratic norms and institutions, citing internal and external threats.

If for any reason the integrity of the election is damaged by a delay or compromised by declaring it “rigged” or “sullied”, America would enter uncharted territory. The “banana republics” and “failed states” it tends to look down upon, from a position of rule of law and checks and balances, will be a thing of the past. America will not only have the dubious record of burying the largest number of civilians this year, but also will become the largest failed democracy on the planet.

What we know is a drop and what we don’t, is an ocean. From the virus to other mysteries and unexplained phenomenon, this has been the mantra that has defined human existence and constantly challenged us to reason, innovate and evolve.

Behind all the shocking statements and absurd UN-presidential and UN-American rhetoric that is spewed on a daily basis, there is a lot we do not know and probably never will, until may be it is too late.

It is what it is.

In America, Quiet is not Peace

Many moons ago on an intersection in Brooklyn, I was pulled over by a traffic cop. He was white. He was polite and we went through the drill — license, registration, insurance. He then let me go.

But before he did, he asked a harmless question.

“Is this car yours”?

I am a dark skinned person of Indian origin. I had been living long enough in America and in Brooklyn to have known, seen and experienced racism. As a documentary filmmaker I had worked on several films about America’s deep and abhorrent history since slavery.

When I arrived in the US in 1992, the barbaric flogging of Rodney King had gone “viral” shattering my mirage of America.

On a campus in Ohio, I had my customary “go back to where you come from” moment.

So when the policeman asked me if the car I was driving was in fact mine, the first thing that popped in my mind was, would he have asked this question to someone who looked different and maybe had a name he could pronounce. If I looked darker and had an Afro would my treatment be different? The answer was obvious then as it is now and has been so for decades.

My moment of unease, pales in comparison to those my black friends and compatriots have narrated in casual conversations.

The public lynching of George Floyd began in a similar fashion. A fake $20 bill prompted a visit from the police. What happened next has been seared into everyone’s being, just as Rodney King’s lashing and the countless others before and after have, since as long as I can remember.

The murder of George Floyd was more than just about racism. It was about a rot that has infected men in uniform, that has sullied their code to serve, respect and protect those who pay their salary. The militarization of America via the police has brought home a level of violence, especially against a certain group of people, which has never been acceptable, but has gone on unabated.

As Cornel West passionately put it, this has gone on for far too long even when we had “black faces in high places”. He frames America as a failed “social experiment” within which many have not had a chance to prosper and live decent lives. Where the inequities have become so stark, that as a society we have reached a tipping point.

The killing of George Floyd was certainly not the first to be caught on camera and it is not going to be the last.

The wheels of change move much too slow, and they move only when pushed with overwhelming peaceful resistance.

And so what got people of all shades to the streets across the nation, was shock mixed with empathy, exacerbated by an uneasy confinement the pandemic had imposed. People were glued to their social media feeds with no jobs, dates or bars to go to. And so their conscience was placed front and center, asking them, what are you going to do about this?

Disregarding all social distancing norms that were still in effect, they poured into the streets with purpose.

Having a president who has been spewing divisiveness and egging on his supremacist supporters added much needed fuel to the mostly young energized protesters of every hue.

Ten days into the protests with people across the nation chanting “black lives matter”, “no justice no peace” and “ I can’t breathe” people all over are having a moment of soul searching, on how to react to what they are seeing.

Protests have erupted from New York to New Zealand, as police misconduct is not just an American phenomenon.

Any soul searching moment exposes complexities and the limits of one’s good conscience. There are those who are religiously going down to rallies and literally pounding the pavement, braving

tear gas, shoving, kicking and wearing the white plastic cuffs.

There are others who are feeling guilt and are posting gratuitous images of themselves with their black friends/acquaintances on Facebook and are sending token “feel your pain” messages of support, while draping themselves in a kind of righteous indignation that feels misplaced.

Then there are those who are falling prey to a “victim complex”. Going as far as endorsing and supporting looting, making the argument that “looting” is not just the prerogative of the 1% tax evaders, bankers, politicians, and Wall Street speculators and that Target carries insurance to rebuild so it will just be fine.

Watching young men in hoodies loot and pillage high-end stores in Manhattan, it was not clear if the intent was to send a message to the 1% or act on an abhorrent kind of brand consumerism that has been insidiously promoted via a hip-hop culture, that has made many filthy rich riding off the backs of the poor.

Dr. King and his foot soldiers who fought for justice, equality and an end to racism, were very aware of this fact. They knew the dangers of consumerism, the militarization of America, internal and external, and most of all the dangers of victim hood. They came from a place of faith and pride and demanded only that which was just and deserving of all fellow human beings.

Dr. King also eloquently said, which sounds like it was said yesterday, “certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met".

The moment we are currently in, certainly feels significant. While I heard people make speeches at George Floyd’s funeral, I could not tell if this could be compared to what had happened after Emmett Till’s funeral. Whether this will bring about seismic change in the mindset of people, is something only time will tell when the dust settles.

Whether there is momentum to push Washington and local governments to act to reform those in uniform, will depend on what powerful people in good conscience decide to do. And most importantly, will people come out in large numbers to oust a regime that is antithetical to all decency and justice, is uncertain.

This moment is more than justice for George Floyd.

This is about addressing violence that has plagued America since its founding. The violence that kills children in classrooms, black men, women and children in streets, people in foreign lands, unarmed immigrants seeking refuge and the brutality of incarceration and a failed criminal justice system that is eating away at America’s soul.

What will truly honor all those who have died in vain under a knee, in a choke hold or a tree hanging, is when there is a shift in the culture of the land. Lulled by consumerism, we have gotten too used to the “quiet” for way too long, thinking it is “peace”.

There is no place in the world that is devoid of racism and the violence of tribalism. But the basic responsibility of a human being, in uniform or otherwise, is to feel empathy — that is all.

Only genuine empathy can eradicate and evaporate guilt. If you are feeling guilt then turn it into action and bring about a change in your mindset. The rest will follow.

It is what it is.

VIRAL FEAR

My quarantine routine involves me taking my dog for a walk at 6:30 PM everyday. As we make our way through the picturesque tree lined brownstone neighborhood of Clinton Hill, we avoid people by crossing the street to make sure “social distance” is maintained.

At 7 PM sharp, the city sound erupts in loud cheer. Faceless people join in unison, clapping and screaming, banging pots and pans, blasting loud music out of their windows, all in applause of the doctors, nurses, delivery people, the police and other “frontline” workers who have kept the city afloat in the midst of a pandemic.

Months have gone by now, and the inflow of patients in New York City hospitals has dropped to a trickle. The spread of the virus has been stymied to a degree and the curve has been flattened. But we are told we are still not out of the woods.

Everyone walks around in masks reminding you of this fact and the cheering still continues while hospital beds lie vacant and the city remains largely shut, out of fear of another peak.

The question of lives versus livelihoods is now at the center of the discussion as the country and the city plans to reopen. Small and large business are on the brink with many filing for bankruptcy. The rate of unemployment is at an all time high and the prospects of an uncertain future is making people even more edgy.

While Wall Street is riding high on optimism based on glimmers of a return to business, the damage done to the economy by some estimates, is expected to last a decade.

While the virus is still circulating and taking its toll there is another virus that is simultaneously gripping many. The virus of “fear”. And this one may prove even more deadly if not dealt with equal seriousness.

When it all started the fear was heightened and amplified. Watching the daily global Covid-19 death toll ticker website, had become an obsession. Every person, surface and space was suspect. News reports made you feel the virus was everywhere, on your door handle, in the sky and in the wind. I was wearing gloves all the time, had stopped using toilet paper and Purel and Clorox had become my lord and savior.

It felt as though the virus was lurking waiting for that careless moment to pounce. Paranoia was just round the corner even though my intelligence was asking me to be prudent.

For me much has changed in ten weeks. For others it seems to have gotten worse.

We are surrounded by bacteria and viruses in ways we seldom stop to think about. There is a close connection between microbes and humans. Experts believe about half of all human DNA originated from viruses that infected and embedded their nucleic acid in our ancestors’ egg and sperm cells.

Microbes occupy all of our body surfaces, including the skin, gut, and mucous membranes. In fact, our bodies contain at least 10 times more bacterial cells than human ones, blurring the line between where microbes end and humans begin.

Microbes in the human gastrointestinal tract alone comprise of at least 10 trillion, representing more than 1,000 species, which are thought to prevent the gut from being colonized by disease-causing organisms. Microbes synthesize vitamins, break down food and stimulate our immune systems.

In many cases, microbes derive benefits without harming us; in other cases, both host and microbe benefit. And though some microbes make us sick and even kill us, as in the case of Covid-19, in the long run they have a shared interest in our survival.

The human immune system is designed to keep us safe from foreign invaders. As in the case of Covid-19, a vast majority of people do recover as their immune system does what it is designed to do. But for others, like with any other disease, if the immune system is compromised by underlying factors, then the outcome can be dire.

Risk is an inherent and integral part of living. If “fear” of a sneeze or a delivered package makes us develop an obsessive compulsive disorder, partly fueled by a constant barrage of information and misinformation, then we might as well accept defeat.

In reality, we are in the early stages of learning about this virus and how it behaves. Yet a result from any new study alarms people in the way it is announced in the media, and in some instances gives hope.

But what everyone in the scientific community agree on, is that the only way we can possibly think of returning to a pre-Covid state of mind, is by developing a full proof vaccine - which despite all positive estimates is months if not years away. And then vaccinating planet earth, which will be a long, monumental and laborious task in itself.

Therefore the only viable solution in the short term is to develop herd immunity or hope and pray that the virus runs its course and becomes manageable like its predecessors SARS and MERS.

Everyone agrees that this virus will become endemic, and we will have to calibrate risk and learn to live with it, or stop living all together out of fear of contracting it.

The approach most nations took to deal with the virus was a blunt one. As the death toll began to overwhelm fragile healthcare systems and models projected deaths in astronomical numbers. It was the only option seen to contain the spread, as nothing else was planned or prepared for. Had there had been an early globally coordinated response, maybe shutdowns could have been avoided.

One nation, Sweden, sought to take a more nuanced path. They opted for a partial shutdown putting the mental health of their children front and center. They took a risk assessment as data showed children were least susceptible to the virus.

So they kept their lower grade schools open and protected the more vulnerable and asked the rest to practice social distancing and other preventative measures. Being a small and sparse nation they took a bet on herd immunity. They concluded, a lockdown was an easy thing to do, but coming out of it would prove much more challenging, as most nations are experiencing at this moment.

The lack of any unified approach, preparation and risk assessment has made America acquire the dubious distinction of a nation with the world’s most Covid-19 deaths.

With more than 100,000 dead and counting, one of the world’s wealthiest nation thoroughly botched its response to a pandemic that was predicted for years by experts in the private sector and within the establishment.

And then the worst crisis to hit America was met by the most inept administration in disarray.

Up until the virus, Donald Trump had only dealt with crises that he had engineered himself. But when confronted with an external one such as a pandemic, his inability to do what was necessary, before and during, based on scientific advise and sound strategy exposed his utter lack of leadership. Even though he was quick to frame a public health crisis as a “war against an invisible enemy”, he pretty much laid down his defenses even before the war began in earnest.

Further the death toll and the rate of infection in America exposed weaknesses in the American way of living. From a poor healthcare system, the lack of preparedness, inequality, poverty to the fragile health of its population, the virus laid bare all that is wrong with this country and that which has been debated election after election but never mended.

Now as America begins to open its economy state by state, the chaos is more blaring than ever. The lack of a unified approach sows doubt in a sustainable and safe recovery. Due to a lack of planning once again the pendulum continues to swing between extremes. A lack of consistent messaging coupled with alarmist media headlines makes people more fearful than they need to be.

Being an election year the pandemic has also become a flashpoint for politics, further exacerbating the situation causing lives to be lost and livelihoods decimated.

On a phone conversation with my 88 year old father who lives in India, I asked if he had ever witnessed a moment like this in his lifetime in a poor country like his. He could not recall an unconditional halt to life he was experiencing, even though quarantines were common during outbreaks.

But then I wondered, small pox, measles and polio were common when he was a child. Vaccines were a relatively new invention. Other kinds of waterborne seasonal tropical epidemics like cholera, jaundice, malaria etc. were and are common. People died like flies, from all sorts of endemic ailments. Sure Covid-19 is far more contagious and there is no undermining this fact, but what was different then?

What did not exist was the Internet, Smart Phones, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Cable Television and a non-stop barrage of information warping the whole world right in front of ones eyes day in and day out.

If we are to conquer Covid-19, we would have to conquer our fears first and then use our intelligence and civic sense to keep ourselves and others safe.

It is what it is.

A Manmade Catastrophe

I recently finished watching the Netlfix hit documentary series Tiger King, which has become a pop culture phenomenon in these quarantine times.

This seven part series at its core is about despicable people doing deplorable things. Even though Netflix calls it a documentary series, it is more a reality show about people who are bizarre train-wrecks. Like many who came before them, from Kardashians to Duck Dynasty, they are just the new flavor of the month.

Heck, we even elected one to lead the country.

The show mainly circles around a feud between Joe Exotic, a man who breeds “big cats”, mainly tigers, and operates a private zoo in Oklahoma and Carole Baskin who claims to rescue big cats from abuse from operators like Joe and is determined to shut him and his kind down.

While you watch these narcissistic characters over a period of five years, everything as the show tag line promises “murder, mayhem and madness” comes into focus.

The show in many ways is a perfect reflection of Trump’s America, as it embodies how far the culture has fallen in every manner possible.

The show ends with a jaw dropping statistic which to a certain degree speaks to the crisis we find ourselves in at this very moment.

There are more tigers in captivity in America than there are in the wild. Most of them bred by private zoos catering to a growing fetish of people taking pleasure in petting them and taking selfies for their Instagram posts and mantle displays. Joe in the show claims he has more than 200 tigers in his facility and keeps breeding more and more for money.

Private zoos big and small dot the nation and the USDA has issued more than two thousand licenses over the years. Watching animals in cages has become a sadistic kind of entertainment that has been normalized by wide social acceptability.

Wild animals have been a fixation of the west, since big game hunting decimated wildlife in Africa and India during colonialism.

Circuses used and abused animals till recently. Big fish are still made to perform for humans in aquariums all around the country to the delight of many. Most animals perform for humans only for food. This is a known fact.

By attaching a nature conservation and education agenda, animals are kept in enclosures for our pleasure. Some animals are justifiably rescued from the wild and cared for in these facilities, but the business of using animals for profit is ethically problematic no matter how you approach it.

The smaller private zoos are only in for the profit. In the show you see snakes, monkeys, big cats of every pedigree, exotic birds and some claim over two hundred species in cages.

On sprawling ranches in Texas today one can shoot big game for big money. You can hunt African wildlife in Texas, and it is legal. Some owners say the proceeds go for wildlife conservation in Africa.

In the present moment we are in the midst of a pandemic caused by messing with the wild. While we point a finger at China and its eating habits and focus on the barbarism of its meat markets, we conveniently ignore the barbarism we tolerate right here in America in the name of “freedom”.

“Zoonotic Spillover” or “Zoonosis” is the term used when a virus spills over from an animal to a human. This happens when humans come in close contact with wild animals in ways they should not.

Zoonosis is a common phenomenon and about two thirds of viruses circulating among humans are of this nature.

Zoonotic spillover has increased in the last 50 years, mainly due to environmental degradation, deforestation and shrinking wild habitats bringing humans closer and closer to the wild.

HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Anthrax, West Nile, Zika, SARS and MERS are just a few viruses that have made the jump into humans.

In the case of the new coronavirus, researchers believe the virus may have originated within horseshoe bats in China and then could have possibly spread to other animals — which people then ate.

This is still a theory, as conclusive evidence is still murky. But since this is not the first “coronavirus” known to mankind, the theory that this transfer may have happened in a Wuhan wet animal market, is more plausible than not.

David Quammen’s 2012 book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, traces the rise of different zoonoses around the world

Quammen noted in a February interview on NPR, when only 500 people had died in China, that the outbreak was a serious threat and a rapid global spread was imminent.

Quammen noted that humans are the common link in all zoonoses: “We humans are so abundant and so disruptive on this planet. … We’re cutting the tropical forests. We’re building work camps in those forests and villages. We’re eating the wildlife,” he says. “You go into a forest and you shake the trees — literally and figuratively — and viruses fall out.”

It is all but clear in this crisis, that there are too many of us on this planet taking up too much space. We are causing biodiversity to disappear at an alarming rate and have lost sight of our boundaries.

Interacting with wild animals in their natural habitat as an observer is one thing. To breed them, eat them, smuggle them and enclose them for our pleasure is not only barbaric but has proven lethal.

If we do not learn this lesson from this pandemic, then nature will scold us one way or another - over and over again.

It is what it is.