Absurdity of Humanity

I came across a friend at the corner store. I had not seen him in a while. Invariably my second question to him was,

“Did you get your vaccine?”

Other than the fact that he was deliberating on getting one, he was waiting to see which one would be ranked number one in the opinion poll. He said he could not make up his mind on which one to get. Of course he wanted to know which one I had gotten and if I had had any side effects.

I told him if he was afraid of pin pricks, he could walk down the street where the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was being given for free. And he would be done in one “shot.” He said he had heard unsettling things about the J&J vaccine and was not inclined to get it.

Immediately the absurdity of where we are in this battle against this scourge, became abundantly clear.

Even though the United States has seen more people die from the virus than any other nation in the world, many are still hesitant to get the vaccine. The mixed messaging and conspiracy theories strewn by social media, have warped people’s understanding and belief in facts and science. The slogan “we are all in it together” no longer holds true. I wonder if it ever did.

The low vaccination rates in so called “red states” in the south, is leading to infection spikes driven by the highly contagious Delta Variant. Dr. Anthony Fauci eluded that two Americas are being created due to vaccine hesitancy, putting the whole nation in peril.

While we are far from seeing an end to this epidemic, the sudden decline in infections in affluent nations, as a result of pockets being vaccinated beyond 50%, is certainly lifting spirits. Stadiums are again being allowed to pack, restaurants have lifted capacity limitations, travel restrictions are more relaxed and mask wearing has become voluntary.

The vaccines seem to be working and even though there is a threat of variants lurking, studies are showing that wearing a seat belt is better than flying blind.

While in the United States, a vaccine menu can be ordered at your local pharmacy, in other large nations vaccine shortages are acute. In India where the virus ravaged relentlessly, a third wave is is being braced for, as vaccine supplies struggle to meet the demand. With very low vaccination rates, Australia is still employing lock downs to combat the virus.

The lack of a unified global response from the start of the pandemic exacerbated the problem, leading to untold death and desperation.

The same approach is now creating a world of the vaccine “haves” and the “have-nots.”

I was in India in March, just before the second wave engulfed the nation in despair. While browsing through the news paper I came across a headline- “Vaccine Package Tours.”

The rich in India were being offered all inclusive trips to Dubai to get the Pfizer vaccine. The Louis Vuitton of vaccines.

For an exorbitant price, a packaged tour offered to fly you in a chartered jet to Dubai. After your first dose your accommodations for the requisite twenty eight day waiting period would be taken care in luxury. After the 2nd jab you would be returned home safe and sound.

This report exposed the disparity which now seems to have become the norm. While rich nations vaccinate even those who are least at risk, poorer nations wait in line to save their vulnerable, leaving large swathes open to outbreaks.

In the meantime the World Health Organization pleads for haste in delivering much needed doses to Africa, Asia and the Far East. As everyone knows the virus sees no borders and if let up will mutate making it harder to cap.

While party conversations in America begin with people identifying themselves as Pfizer or Moderna campers, like Beatles and Stones fans, China and Russia have been shipping their vaccines to eager buyers.

AstraZeneca from UK has deployed widely after some initial hiccups.

India has developed its own indigenous vaccine and Cuba is working on an array as well.

With all these vaccines at our disposal humanity still cannot come up with a decisive and collaborative strategy that would be beneficial to all equally.

The inability of the world to work as one to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, leaves us vulnerable to this one and to the others waiting in the wings to deploy.

The lack of transparency and sharing of information and know-how leaves humanity in a precarious position. The politicization and polarization of discourse around science, exposes the dangers brought about by non-cooperation, stubborn denial and ignorance.

The fracture caused in the belief in science and scientists, by a world fragmented by misinformation, only makes us regressive.

So the next time someone asks what shot did you get? The response should be, my favorite flavor of the month vanilla with a dash of chocolate.

It is what it is.

Religious Tribalism & War

I was born in a country that was ripped apart by the violence of religious tribalism. In 1947 the British ended their colonial carnage by drawing a line and dividing a people, leading to unimaginable slaughter and animosity.

Seven decades later, the wounds are still fresh, and the status quo feeds an arms race and incessantly widens the gulf between India and Pakistan. Peace between the two nations is fleeting and elusive as ever.

Around the same time the British withdrew from India they spawned a similar outcome in another part of the world. 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced from their homes to form the Jewish nation of Israel.

The conflict that ensued as a result of this mass displacement in 1948, continues to this day with periods of quiet, but never peace.

And so like clockwork war returned again in May, sparked by the age old land dispute, religious zealotry and militarized dominance.

By the time it simmered down, 68 children were added to the bottomless slaughter list, extinguished by shrapnel and concrete. Most of them died in one the world’s most impoverished and choked of places. They died because of where they lived. The virus of hate got them.

For the fourth time in 13 years, Israel had launched a major military offensive on the Gaza Strip in response to rockets launched by Hamas. In its latest assault that began on May 10, at least 242 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 13 in Israel.

Between 2008 and 2021, at least 5,739 Palestinians and 251 Israelis have died due to the war. 23 Palestinians for each Israeli, according to the United Nations. Over the same time period at least 121,438 Palestinians and 5,682 Israelis were injured. Many Palestinians have continued to be displaced over and over again in their own land.

As I watched buildings pulverized to rubble in Gaza on TV, it reminded me of the Twin Towers that came down in my city, in a heap of concrete and mangled steal.

Israel said these buildings were harboring Hamas leaders/terrorists who were endangering innocent civilians. Out of kindness they said they had given people fair warning before leveling their homes to dust. We only had the “trustworthy” words of Benjamin Natenyahu to take for it.

The “collateral damage” doctrine was at play. Much like their overlords who had killed thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of fighting terrorism, Israel saw itself well within its right to do the same.

Then in response to the shifting public opinion, pushing for an immediate ceasefire the American President spoke, stating “Israel had a right to defend itself.” Meaning Israel can commit war crimes until we say it is not acceptable.

The Palestinian right to defend its citizens is only an after thought, as in comparison they have no real power and Hamas that rules over Gaza is a terrorist organization. Gaza for all practical purposes is a large prison camp, whose life line is in Israel’s mighty grip.

As rockets took flight indiscriminately from Gaza over the walls and into the “Iron Dome”, a few managed to pierce through reciprocating the terror all too familiar in this region. So a democratic state saw itself well within its right to fight a terrorist group with overwhelming and disproportionate force with little consequence.

While there is a lull in the blood letting for the time being, nothing has changed. The deep seeded hatred on either side of the wall has only gotten worse.

The illegal occupation and usurping of Palestinian land continues unchallenged only because the US turns a blind eye and arms Israel to the teeth.

In direct violation of International Law and UN resolutions Israel and its army of zealot settlers are on a religious mission to take more and more of the land. Which they believe is unequivocally theirs as it is written in the Bible. If this continues unabated the two state solution will become untenable and that seems to be the ultimate goal.

The hardliners and religious zealots on both sides benefit from the violence. As does Iran, the US and other proxies that take advantage politically and financially from blood money generated from an endless conflict.

Being critical of theocracy in Saudi Arabia and Iran, white nationalism, authoritarianism, Trumpism is all kosher. But criticizing the oppressive tactics of Israel amounts to antisemitism. This double standard absolves Israel in the eyes of many of its supporters no matter how much destruction the armed forces unleash.

According to Human Rights Watch, Israel is “committing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution” against the Palestinians.

It is known that Israel faces formidable enemies that wish for it not to exist. But anyone who wishes to acknowledge reality, knows this is a fantasy. Israel possesses nuclear weapons and has one of the most well equipped and battle ready forces in the world and the unwavering support of the US.

Using this argument justifies the status quo and allows Israel to arm itself to no end and as a response emboldens Hamas and its backers to do the same. The more Israel unleashes terror the more justified the existence of Hamas becomes to those who live in its shadow.

In 1993, Yossi Beilin, the Israeli deputy minister of foreign affairs, recruited two college professors, Yair Hirschfeld and Ron Pundak, for back-channel negotiations with the Palestinians to find a viable path to peace. He specifically told them, “if you get caught you will be charged with treason and espionage and I cannot protect you.” They took the cue and decided to dream the unthinkable.

The 2018 HBO documentary “The Oslo Diaries” takes you an intimate journey revealing how close the negotiators came in achieving the impossible.

Told through the diaries of the chief negotiators and interviews of others involved, the documentary charts the journey to the Oslo Peace Accords and shows how Yitzak Rabin and Yaseer Arafat agreed to set aside their deep mistrust and hatred to bring an end to decades of bloodshed.

Through secretly filmed footage from the time, the film tells a gripping story of how peace was within grasp before it was wrecked by an assassin’s bullet. The hardliners won by killing Yitzak Rabin and quashing the dreams of millions of Israelis and Palestinians who wanted to live side by side in peace.

As ground realities shifted Benjamin Natenyahu came to power defeating Shimon Peres by a slender margin. The Oslo Accords were abandoned. Hamas became a formidable force and more than 16,000 people have lost their lives since.

The people who dreamed of peace are still around. But the audacity of hope seems to have vanished.

At the end of the documentary, Shimon Peres, who was one of the chief negotiators of the Oslo Accords and later became Prime Minister after Yitzak Rabin’s assassination and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, is asked if he is optimistic about peace. He says,

“I don’t think there is an alternative, neither for the Palestinians nor us. The only alternative is an ongoing war. In war there are no victors, only victims. No war is ever finished. Unless it is being replaced by peace.”

This was his last interview. Shimon Peres passed away in 2016.

In the end only truth and reconciliation can achieve peace. History shows us over and over again, that a system of Apartheid is untenable. If Israel wants to be a modern democracy, it cannot build walls and discriminate people based on their ethnicity. It is antithetical to its very origin.

It is what it is.

Has America really turned a page?

 “MSP (Minneapolis/St.Paul) people, stay safe” was a message that crossed my WhatsApp feed on April 20th. The concern was not for the virus, but because the George Floyd murder trial verdict was imminent.

Many were expecting a verdict that would enrage people enmasse. Minneapolis was boarded up and the police and national guard were on high alert. Cities across the country were bracing for violence.

Derek Chauvin, the policeman who snuffed out George Floyd’s life in full view of the public, was convicted of all charges. The nation breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing burned, and America seemed to have turned another page in it’s complicated history.

When I arrived in the US in the early 90s, another video had gone “viral”, this was probably the first of its kind. There was no social media then, but every television channel showed the grainy images over and over again until it was seared into everyone’s conscience.

The images were of Rodney King brutally being assaulted by a gang of Los Angeles policemen. When the story behind the video eventually emerged and the severely bruised and swollen face of Rodney King with a blood shot red eye was published, the horror of it all, shook America to its core.

Like George Floyd, Rodney King was not docile or compliant to the police, and so began his troubles.

It was March 2, 1991 after a night of watching basketball on TV and heavy drinking, Rodney King and his two friends left home. Around 12:30 AM a couple of Los Angeles policemen spotted them speeding down a highway. The officers pursued the car which turned into a high speed chase.
Rodney King had enough alcohol in his body to get arrested for drunk driving. He was out on parole for a prior theft and an arrest could send him back into prison and he did not want to risk that.

After approximately eight miles, with several police cars and a helicopter on his tail, he gave up. The police asked his two passengers to exit and face down on the ground. They complied. When Rodney King was asked to do the same, he acted strange, giggling and waving at the helicopter above.

King then grabbed his buttocks and the officers thought he was reaching for a gun. At this point one of the officers drew a pistol and King complied by lying face down. Four other officers proceeded to hand cuff him at which point he began to resist causing one of the officers to fall. The officers withdrew and King got back on his feet and an officer deployed a “Taser”.

The electric shock immobilized him but not completely. The officers then proceeded to pummel him with their batons, hitting him hard on his joints.

After 56 blows and 6 kicks and surrounded by seven officers he was subdued, cuffed and dragged on his stomach to the side of the road for an ambulance to arrive.

Unknown to the policemen the whole incident was captured on video by George Holiday from his apartment window. A video camera in a citizen’s hand for the first time had unlocked the doors to what was to come.

The trial that finally got underway had the nation gripped. The color line grew thicker and wider and the justice system was under a microscope to see if the officers would be prosecuted for their brutality. The graphic video to many seemed enough to condemn the white policemen.

A year later an all white jury acquitted the officers of assault and hours later an already simmering city burst into flames. The “LA Riots” as it came to be known ignited the “City of Angels”. It was certainly not the first race triggered incident, but the extent of it was wide.

By the time the US Army, Marines and the national guard controlled the violence it was six days and 53 people were dead and $1 billion dollars worth of property was damaged by looting and arson. Most of the violence took place in poor Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Smaller riots were reported in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta.

Why a jury convicted Derek Chauvin and not the LA policemen is the sign of the times we find ourselves in today. There has been a shift and the hope is that it is permanent.

Rodney King lived to tell his story. George Floyd’s story was captured in excruciating detail on crystal clear video.

But what makes their story similar are the circumstances in which they found themselves in, by who they were and how they behaved and looked.

What is abundantly clear, is that if a video did not exist of what transpired, then these assaults would have been checked off as routine police encounters with black men who are not considered “model citizens” and therefore deserve the treatment meted.

While the conviction of Derek Chauvin may give some policemen pause, what would not have changed is the basic nature of policing in America and the infestation of guns that plague this nation.

The militarized police will always be quick on the draw, whenever a black man or boy makes the slightest of moves, as it is assumed a gun will be pointing back at them. This equation is not going to change anytime soon.

Since George Floyd’s murder, there have been many police encounters where black men have ended up dead. Donald Trump has been relegated to the trash bin of history for the time being and the new president is trying to make some changes on the edges. He is speaking of “systemic racism” in speeches and has a bill in congress named after Gorge Floyd which promises to bring some change to policing in America. Whether the bill will pass in a divided government and in a climate that has significantly changed, is anyone’s guess.

While there is still some energy left in people to protest, the Covid induced pressure cooker is releasing and with it is the momentum and passion we saw last year when people poured into the streets.

Rodney King and George Floyd are no heroes. They were never meant to be. They were flawed like any of us. They had prior run ins with the law. They did not have Ivy League educated parents or grand parents to look up to. They were products of their circumstances.

But they did not deserve to be treated the way they were, especially by men in uniform. Even in their state of indignity they deserved dignity just for being citizens of this land.

The HBO documentary series “Exterminate all the Brutes” by Raoul Peck, is a powerful sweeping work that examines the origins of white supremacy and the horrific historic destructive nature of racism, colonialism and imperialism, whose impact is felt to this day.

In the series Peck re-enacts the slave trade by flipping it. A gang of chained white children are whipped and dragged through the African jungles by black slave masters. By asking the viewer to entertain an alternate history, he challenges our sense of morality.

Unless we are able to examine the narratives we have been conditioned to believe and sustain, change will only occur at the edges. To bring about systemic change the truth must first be confronted and acknowledged.

Many in power, find the truth threatening.

It is what it is.

Travels in a New Reality

February 2020, I was at the Dubai airport transiting. I was returning from India after visiting my aging parents. We were corralled like cattle down a corridor for a security check. Everyone was literally breathing into each other’s faces. A handful of people were wearing masks. A virus shutting down a city in China was headline news. But everyone seemed confident it was a crisis, taking place in a far off place, much like an earthquake or a violent storm. 

Four weeks later the whole human world came to a grinding halt. 

A year later it was time for me to make a trip back.

Having been vaccinated and hearing from friends who had made the journey, and infection rates reporting low in the region, it felt safe to travel. I had not heard of a single outbreak on an airplane since the pandemic began, which was encouraging. The air-filtration systems supposedly were doing the trick.

As I began to research Covid travel protocols and other restrictions, it seemed like a daunting and unpleasant undertaking. Only two airlines guaranteed arrival and departure of which one was the national airline, AirIndia. An airline I had vowed never to board after a prior miserable experience.

Only Indian citizens and non-citizens with OCI cards (Indian equivalent of a Greencard) were being allowed entry into the country.

 A negative PCR Covid test 72 hours before boarding was a requisite. Rapid tests were not acceptable. Copies of one’s passport and negative test result had to be uploaded to a government website which generated a form that had to be printed and presented at the airport.

Out of abundant caution I got my Covid test done early, so I would have my results in time to follow through with the procedures.

We arrived at JFK all prepared and confident, with paperwork neatly arranged in a folder for prompt retrieval. Terminal 4, which handles most international travel was practically empty, except for a long winding line of every shade of brown.

After an hour of inching along, we arrived at a checkpoint. A man in a suit and a badge asked me to show my Covid test report. I pulled out my folder with confidence and handed him a paper, which said in bold letters “Negative”. He said, “Sorry you cannot board. Your Covid sample was collected 80 hours ago. The rule says 72 hours.”

And so began an arduous and exasperating journey to the motherland.

My vaccination cards did not offer any relaxation to the rule. A small minority of passengers was in the same predicament as we were in. I was told if I had arrived early enough I could have taken a shuttle to Terminal 1, got a rapid PCR test for $370 and would have been allowed to board. I was beside myself.

The plane ascended without us. AirIndia’s agents did their job as mandated by the Indian government. There was no room for discretion. I thought to myself, if only Indian bureaucrats and law enforcement were so honest and diligent as these AirIndia agents, the nation would be far more orderly in so many ways.

The only option left was to take the pricey rapid PCR test at Terminal 1, and catch the next AirIndia flight out of Newark Airport. So that’s what we did paying a high price.

The barebones service one is accustomed to on AirIndia was even more stripped down. The flight attendants, in literal Hazmat suits seemed on edge and not very courteous. Passengers sitting in middle seats were asked to wear white lab coats and plastic face shields, for reasons I could not comprehend.

I put on the white synthetic coat, but refused to put on the face shield. There were some passengers who were paranoid enough to comply and some didn't. A 14 hour flight with a mask was about the discomfort I was willing to tolerate.

There was no beverage service. There were two meal breaks. Airline food which is most often an excuse for a meal, was even more watered down with two options, veg or non-veg with water, soda or wine. We were allowed to unmask for nourishment.

As the plane made its final descent into New Delhi, it felt like a “mission accomplished.” After three days, the sight of Indian soil from my window brought much needed relief.

As we exited the plane, there were men in uniform flanking the corridor. We were asked to show our boarding passes again and again, for reasons I still cannot fathom. A police officer rubber-stamped it. Passengers were guided to bins to discard the white coats and plastic shields. The plane littered with plastic water bottles now had face shields added, waiting to be added to a landfill somewhere on our ever-expanding plastic planet.

The Delhi airport was a ghost town. An army of airport employees was lounging with nothing to do, probably that’s why they were asked to repeatedly check boarding passes of exiting passengers. The floor salesmen at the Duty Free were advertising enticing discounts on perfumes and whiskey. The food court was sparse.

After a day’s layover at Delhi we arrived in Hyderabad. An hour and a half was spent filling out forms in triplicate and showing negative Covid reports again, and at the final window a man rubber stamped my hand, “Home Quarantine” and sent me along into the city of my birth.

As our taxi climbed the highway, from my window I noticed a wedding taking place at an opulent venue in the distance. The palatial structure was dressed in bright lights and fancy cars were dropping off guests in their flashy finery. A large crowd was partying with very little social distancing or masks. And here I was being asked to home quarantine after vaccinations and negative Covid tests. I had arrived in India.

Hyderabad seemed open for business. Restaurants and tea stalls were crowded, traffic was at its maximum and people were going about their life as though things were back to normal. A few people wore masks, and news continued to report of sporadic outbreaks around the country.

India’s astonishing low death rate was international news, with very little evidence to explain why. So theories were being floated that maybe the population is resilient having been exposed to countless viruses and vaccinations, the Indian demographic is largely young and probably inaccurate data was being collected as many Covid deaths were not being reported.

These were theories, but a clear sense of complacency and fatigue had definitely set in.

For a nation as dense and economically and socially diverse, physical distancing is a luxury afforded only to the rich. There is also a sense of fatalism that most Indians carry, prompting many to not be paranoid about yet another disease added to a long list of endemic viral killers.

I was concerned for my parents as they were in the high risk category by age. My 89 year old father was doing all he could to stay distanced. My mother on the other hand was far less concerned. Some of my relatives were extremely paranoid.

As I arrived, India was also beginning to roll out an impressive nation wide vaccine campaign. The Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine producer, with the help of the Gates Foundation had scaled up its capacity and was not only meeting India’s demand but was also exporting world wide. India is only a handful of nations manufacturing and exporting vaccines. At the same time there was widespread vaccine hesitancy fueled by rumors and misinformation spread on social media.

While developed nations like Canada and the EU are struggling to get vaccinations to their people, India is ahead of the curve. Within a day, I was able to get my mother vaccinated by filling out a quick form on the Internet. As soon as she was jabbed, a personalized PDF landed in her phone from Prime Minister Modi, thanking her for being a participant in the fight against Covid.

A day before I was to leave, I took my PCR Covid test. Unlike New York my result was delivered within 24 hours.

As I was leaving headlines were reporting about an alarming rise in cases around the country. A new mutated Covid variant was being blamed. Some experts were saying a third wave maybe sweeping the country. Mumbai was coming close to a lock down and the general trend seemed worrisome. The Serum Institute was asked to stop exports in order to make more vaccines available to Indians.

Meanwhile large election rallies were being held and Tweeted about by the Prime Minister and other politicians around the country, exposing the utter hypocrisy on how the pandemic was being confronted.

I touched down at JFK, collected my bags, filled out a single form stating I was tested before boarding and was home, with only the Brooklyn traffic irking my tired body along the way.

I fear this way of traveling is going to become the norm for sometime to come. It is going to take years to vaccinate the planet and until then there will be peaks and troughs and Covid will become endemic. There will be those who will not take the vaccine, putting forth the usual baseless selfish arguments and vaccine passports and tests will become the norm for travel.

After 9/11 we got accustomed to an invasive and uneasy security regimen. Going forward an additional layer of probing will be added to make everyone feel “safe”.

It is what it is.

 

America - OUT OF ORDER

If January 6th left me with PTSD, February 13th pretty much gutted me.

An insurrection didn’t do it. So what would it have taken for those in power to hold a president accountable?

Maybe the president explicitly calling his supporters to capture and burn down the House? Or the death of Senators instead of policemen and rioters? Mike Pence literally being hung at the gallows erected by the domestic terrorists? Probably even that would not have been enough. The president was no longer president, so as Mitch McConnell and his cohorts determined, a conviction was beyond the Senate’s jurisdiction and power.

So they made it clear that patriotism did not mean putting country first. It meant serving those who they think give them the best chance to hold on to power, when election time comes around.

Then they must forfeit the right to drape the flag, utter words such as “god bless America” and should be forbidden from visiting cemeteries where dead soldiers lie, as they would be desecrating all those they often frame as defenders of our nation, constitution and freedom.

It is not that the outcome of this impeachment was not pre-ordained. Like almost everything that goes on in congress votes are bought and sold in advance, so even before all the theatrics and exhibition of oratory powers, one always knows which way the chips are going to fall.

This one though, I thought was different. There was hope that we had entered uncharted territory and therefore spineless politicians would probably exhibit character and show courage. Watching on television the very benches on which they sit being defiled, one would expect them to vote with their conscience. But alas, this was wishful thinking.

What remains indisputable, unless you are delusional and refuse to take off your blinders — an insurrection would not have occurred if it was not called for. The day was chosen by the president with a very deliberate purpose in mind. The speech was spewed with a calculated agenda. The goal was to push buttons to achieve a desired outcome. To stop the ratification of a free and fair election was the mission.

This did not matter in the least bit to a large section of the very people, whose lives were endangered.

The failure to convict Donald Trump is probably the greatest atrocity committed by those elected to safeguard our democracy.

The oldest constitutional democracy showed to the world how emaciated and dysfunctional it actually is. The genius of the founders and framers that we are constantly reminded of, is not all that it is made out to be. This much now is abundantly clear.

Democracy in America is officially on shaky ground. The “big lie” has gotten even bigger and will continue to grow as long as it feeds on the divisions that have been sown.

During the impeachment the lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin quoted the famous French thinker Voltaire twice. The first quote was about free speech, where Voltaire famously said “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” But the second one is what defines the times we live in and sums up this moment.

“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

From Q-Anon, Fox News, Social Media to the president, the range of absurdities and conspiracy theories spoken and spread have successfully warped the minds of millions. A small percentage of them were called upon on January 6th to commit atrocities. An even smaller percentage who claim to represent voters/constituents, committed an even bigger abomination.

This I am afraid is the new normal. Not holding the inciter-in-chief accountable has sent a clear message, that the cancer of absurdities is only going to spread. Blocking Twitter feeds and suspending Facebook accounts is not going to stem this fire.

The singular chance America had to redeem itself in the eyes of the world was lost forever on February 13th. This nation can no longer call out other world leaders when they falter on their promise of democracy and trample over their people.

Henceforth, this nation foregoes its right to sit in judgement of other nations.

America is "Out of order". 

It is what it is.

American Carnage - Trump's Final Assault

The most jarring image that crossed my screen last week, was of a man holding a confederate flag inside the United States Capitol Hill building. While everything I saw this day left me with PTSD, this image sent a chill down my spine. It sent a clear message that the forces Abraham Lincoln fought all those years ago to keep the union from breaking - were alive and well and felt emboldened to rear their ugly head, to be heard and seen as starkly as possible.

What we witnessed on Jan 6th, 2021, was in the making for many years. The signs were always present, flourishing on the internet and right wing media, and I and others have been writing and warning about it, since America elected the most unsuitable candidate to the highest office in the land.

The greatest threat America faced I said on the day he was elected was the “Normalization of Donald Trump”. The normalization that ensued and continues, has brought us to this moment in time.

On January 6th everything that is ugly and abhorrent about this nation was on display. Racism, bigotry, white supremacy, violence, hatred, anti-semitism, guns, bombs, rage, misinformation and anger against the establishment were all visible in the faces and props of the domestic terrorists. All aspects Donald Trump had been stoking over the years, in the pursuit of support, adulation and intoxication.

Donald Trump has been assaulting American democracy and its norms in plain sight, since even before he walked into The White House. This was his final assault.

When he called Mexicans rapists, proclaimed he could shoot anyone on fifth avenue and have no consequences, paid off a porn star, built a wall, called racists and arsonists fine special people, withdrew from the climate accords, dismantled environment protections, threatened a foreign government to extort dirt on a rival, caged children, pardoned loyal criminals and more, he was engaging in a steady consistent assault, all the while being applauded, aided and abetted.

His assault escalated when he lost the election despite all his efforts to undermine it even before it began. He openly said many times he would honor the result of the election only if he won and a peaceful transfer of power was not a given.

When millions voted to replace him, he could not come to terms with it. So he decided to do what he knows best, become authoritarian.

First he got his enablers to go along, by dangling 74 million of his supporters as bait, so they would join him in calling a free and fair election fraudulent. He then sent his most loyal servants across the nation to file bogus lawsuits hoping his appointees in the judiciary would favor him as payback. When that didn’t work, he made phone calls and sent Tweets intimidating election officials, who had voted for him, asking them to openly engage in criminality. When all else failed he incited an insurrection and attempted a coup.

This is the story of Donald Trump. Those who had any intelligence and an iota of foresight, could have seen this coming all along. The one constant and consistent thing about him, is that he never minces words or tries to veil his thoughts. He always doubles down when exposed and never apologizes for anything, as in his mind he could never do or say anything wrong.

People call it sociopathic narcissistic behavior. It is just power giving someone a god complex. And those who attacked the Capitol, were his most sincere followers, who believed and swallowed whatever was fed to them without hesitation and doubt. They were willing to give up their freedom all the while chanting USA!, USA!, as in their mind they were patriots saving the nation from tyranny.

Those who did not see this attack coming were either complicit, delusional or appreciated Donald Trump’s behavior in the hope of some selfish gain in the form of tax cuts or having not to wear masks in a pandemic. Or yearned to a see a nation turn its back on all progress, and become an insular inward looking global pariah.

When this part of American history is recorded, all those who were responsible in creating a climate for this raid to happen, will have to reckon with what transpired. They will have to look in the mirror and ask themselves that introspective question, “what was I really thinking?”

Like the Germans of the 1930s and 40s and their descendants who struggle to find words to express how they could have gone so wrong, it is my hope that Americans engage in some soul searching, as that is the only way to seek the truth and reach reconciliation, to explain to future generations how they got it wrong.

What history and legend teaches us, is that feeding the beast has consequences. When you do not see or refuse to recognize “the beast”, even when it is in plain sight, it will eventually devour you.

It is what it is.

 

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.