The Elephant

or the Circus Screams so we Must at the Very Least Speak
By: Alex Wright

I get it. I don’t want to be having this conversation either but things are getting bad and, despite the discomfort, it’s overdue and let’s be honest “discomfort” is the least we can deal with in comparison to what’s at stake.

People are being kidnapped off of the streets by masked men, families separated, people are being thrown into concentration camps – both on and off of American soil, people are being held without due process, our own country’s military is being used to intimidate our own non-violent citizens in an attempt to stir up violence, the president is threatening to revoke citizenship of those naturally born in the United States purely because they disagree with him (No one is illegal on stolen land) and a couple of months ago when asked if he had to uphold the constitution, Donald J. Trump said, “I don’t know.” ¹

I’ll save much of my anger and disdain for Donald Trump for another time because if you don’t already see who he is, what he has done and continues to do in order to increase his own power and name at the expense of anyone and everyone, then I’m not sure there’s anything new I can offer you here at this time.

There’s certainly a time and place for criticism against the 34 count felon² and adjudicated³ sexual predator⁴ that was elected president but if you are reading this, I believe that you’re likely pretty aware of the type of person he is even if you’re less aware of some of the sleazier and malicious backdoor dealings he has been a part of and the beliefs he and those he surrounds himself with hold.⁵

Instead, I am here to offer some encouragement in these bleak days. If you feel like things aren’t normal and like they’re getting more out of hand, you’re not alone.

It’s hard to know what exactly we’re supposed to do with the current state of things, but I know that the answer isn’t “nothing.” That’s what they want. That’s what causes us to walk further down the hall of fascism. Ever since Donald Trump took office for the second time, he and his team have been going for the shock and awe technique of throwing so much chaos at us, that we are too dizzy to be able to focus on any one thing so it is more difficult to get things accomplished.

So we stagger about depressed and weighted by the onslaught of terrible news coming in from all over the world – from the genocide happening in Gaza,⁶ that people refuse to call what it is, to natural disasters all over to daily shootings and so much other sorrow that we weren’t designed to process to the degree required of us in these times.

Thanks to cell phones and modern technology we are now, for better or worse, subject to see the terrors of war that were once reserved for those actively fighting in them.

The positive is not that we regularly have to see dead children on our feeds, but that we are no longer allowed to deny the death, destruction, and despair happening, much of which our tax dollars are funding. You can choose not to acknowledge it but at what point does denial become being complicit?

Last week I was invited out by a friend to his usual bar. I quit drinking a handful of years back but still like to be social on occasion even if it takes me a minute to get comfortable so I accepted his invitation and, as things go, found myself in a conversation with his pals about the current state of things in the US. My friend and I differ in our overarching political views but have enough respect for one another that we can have civilized conversations but his friends were strangers to me. While none of the men I was speaking with were Trump supporters – one considered himself a Liberal and the other two said they “lean more centrist” while I am a Socialist / Leftist / Humanist – I don’t believe that any of them were paying much attention to what’s going on in the country or world at large.

I say this because after I brought up multiple terrible things that were actively happening, in the US alone, like the ICE raids and “Alligator Alcatraz”, and the military being brought in for non-violent protests in LA, and one of the white men, without any irony, said, “I mean.. in the grand scheme of humanity, things aren’t that bad.”

I sat back in my chair in stunned confusion as I felt the mask I’d been wearing to meet new acquaintances and to try not to embarrass my friend who’d invited me, start to slip. I’m sure that my face began contorting into a baffled brut but it was like he’d not heard a thing.

“That’s quite the plot of privilege you’ve got there,” I said with an awkward laugh, furrowed brow and nod, “and easy for you to say as a white guy,” I continued before downing the bottom half of the Sprite I’d been nursing with a couple of quick gulps as to fast forward my exit. “We are just in the prologue,” I sighed shaking my head to the escalating anxious energy building throughout all of my limbs as I collected my things, and said my goodbyes.

I’d spelled out many of the things that were happening and on track to happen and they got shrugged off – even by the “liberal”, who spoke the least, only looking up from his phone only long enough to note that, “yeah, that may be happening but I’ve still got work tomorrow.”

Which.. I understand that we’re all dealing with our own stuff – but for fuck’s sake.. what callousness. What’s it going to take for people to start caring?

I have such a difficult time understanding how so many people can act like everything happening is typical and I’m not talking about “how can people just keep going to their jobs and living their daily lives?” I understand that we still live under capitalism and have jobs and bills and responsibilities and we’re allowed to pursue joy in our own lives. I’m just talking about how people can live day to day, knowing everything that we know, without considering how the lives of people outside of their bubble are being affected at all.

I feel like I’m being gaslit for having empathy and simply considering what has gotten us here or if there’s anything that can be done. Things should not have to directly happen to you to make you sit up and pay attention⁷. By the time it reaches that point, it will be too late and “that’s just the way it is” doesn’t hold weight. We make the fucking rules! Everything is made up and it baffles me that with all of the advancements we’ve made as a species, so few have been in growing our kindness and compassion toward one another.

When we are surrounded by so many like this who don’t seem affected or even actively tell us that there’s nothing out of the ordinary happening, it’s easy to tell ourselves that we’re just being dramatic or overreacting but then we get home or open our phones and once again we are shown the stock of sadness and there’s something inside of us that won’t settle. It’s not that we don’t know what’s happening but rather we don’t know what to do about it.

At least not yet.

One thing that we can do is talk about it. I understand that can be difficult and I’m not even saying that I did everything that I should have done in that situation I mentioned. I’ve kicked myself multiple times for not letting my mask fall. So these words are for myself as well. It can be difficult to speak up out of the fear of what those in our social circles or our families might think. There’s often that fear of being wrong or sounding unhinged or “too political”.

We get led to feel that it’s extreme to make comparisons to the Holocaust or suggest that the United States is sinking into fascism but the facts are all there. They say, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes.” I know when I was a kid learning about World War 2, we all liked to think that “if I’d had the chance, I would have helped. I would have done something!”

Now is our chance.

There are those who choose to say nothing, despite all of the evidence that we are in the midst of something similar, because we don’t want it to seem like we are “sounding the alarm” too early or, the more probable, we don’t want to admit that we are already at this point because it means the crashing down of comforts and the requirement to choose a side and stand up. We don’t want to alienate ourselves or our friends or families. We know the truth but don’t want to be the one who is always bringing up the heavy topics.

So we stay quiet or cut ourselves off, even when we’ve got a just flame in our chest aching to get out. We smile, nod, finish our beverage and retreat to our own fortresses of comforts.

That’s what Donald Trump, JD Vance, and all of those perpetrating evil throughout the world are hoping for. They are counting on us to stay scared, unsure, and passive. They want us questioning what we know to be true so they can continue to build up their own power and agenda. That’s why now is the time to speak. Now is the time to start sounding the alarm and trying to encourage others to wake up.

History remembers those that spoke up and stood up, not because those people were fearless, but because they acted in spite of their fear. May we summon their strength and bravery.

What if your voice is the one someone else is waiting for? What if the people around you are just as scared and your courage makes space for theirs? What if the flame you feel burning inside you is what is able to light someone else’s torch so the fire keeps burning and being passed on?

Stop gaslighting yourself into thinking that you are wrong for speaking up for those who are unable to, trust the truth you already feel, and speak up even if your voice shakes. You are not wrong for caring and having empathy for your fellow humans or for feeling like everything that is happening isn’t normal.

If you feel like you don’t have the answers that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. We’re all figuring this thing out as we go. I’m not saying you have to scream through a megaphone on a city street, or start a blog or TikTok but at the very least we have to be willing to talk about what’s happening and not let things become normalized because we’re afraid of who we might upset or how we might be perceived.

If you are willing to do more than talk, I’d encourage you to look at your gifts and talents and ponder about where you can use those things to give back to your communities and stand against injustice and discrimination – especially against the most vulnerable people – and how we can protect and encourage and love on one another through this.

Protest comes in a lot of forms and what we’re going through is going to take people from all backgrounds with all comfort levels. It’s important to have people in the streets and online and making art from your soul and having tough conversations in bars and in churches and city halls and fighting for what’s right and saying the things that people don’t necessarily want to hear in order to make this world a better and safer place for everyone and not just a few.

Speak and create from your heart knowing that you are not alone and, even if you don’t change anyone’s mind or if they roll their eyes, someone could be watching who feels just like you and your courage might be the first thing to make them feel less alone in a long time.

I have to have hope that we are going to come together and get through all of this but it’s not going to be easy and won’t happen overnight. We are already behind in the work that needs to be done and I’m afraid that it is likely to continue getting worse before it eventually gets better but I do believe that it can get better. However, for that to happen it takes us being willing to open up and have these difficult conversations, hold people accountable, and stand up for what we know to be right and true and just.

We don’t have to have all of the answers up front, but until we acknowledge the elephant in the room – the cancer that’s been growing in the heart of this nation since it was born – we can’t do anything about getting healthy.

recent posts

The Elephant