The clock is ticking for who you choose to back in November. But there is only one choice and it isn’t Trump.
The this is fine dog. The canine that sits drinking from a cup of coffee in a cafe ablaze that is falling into a state of disrepair shows no disdain for his situation. Smitten with a hot beverage, surrounded by vines of flame lit collapsing architecture, he is ready to conform to rubble and ruin and relax into his situation, ready to absorb what he believes is an inescapable fate. The art of this morbidly satirical take on denial is highly tributing of the human psyche and our willingness to repudiate the inevitable. In spite of the harmonious options available, we are often lured by the dramatic.
Conservatives of America incessantly look to ideas of patriarchal ‘strength’ and various constructs of it, believing it will translate into national success and security. These pathways, often centred around strongman archetypes and propaganda, are governed by emotion and many believe choosing this political type will avoid presidential terms of tree hugging, socialist, free healthcare loving leaders. Whatever their flavour of the month is, conservatives aren’t stupid. They know who and what they’re voting for.
Over the past 4 years, this transformative selection of leadership has translated into little except for an animated populist president. The public’s desire and lust for fixes were answered in word only, and that’s what Trump supporters were banking on.
The election of the blonde haired, real estate flop is an interpretation of that quest for an overnight transformative political selection. Not only has little been achieved (if anything at all) under the Trump administration, but the country’s descent into anti-science led, bigoted forms of governance have tied the tubes of chance for a rebound from such chaos. I fear this long conditioning of a people has twisted cognitive function beyond repair. Social media manipulation has damaged the idea of a sane choice, and the opposite of conservativism will never take control again without playing dirty too.
Trump’s anti-science approach is not what we think it is. The administration’s belief in climate change is obvious – they just don’t care. By the time our skin begins to peel off, they will have lived their lives and the fruits of their climatic demolition will be beyond scope. For now, it’s about making as much money as they can and enjoying those gains. They know the science is clear and it is black and white. But this administration doesn’t care about their country or the people living in it. They care about their income and who inherits it.
The top three economies – the European Union, United States and China are the main culprits in this negative climate shift, but right now the climate battleground is in Washington and we all have a part to play. Much disaster we see in the world is a consequence of the consumerist habits we learned growing up. We have no other method of mitigating climate breakdown, except for our personal choices which include our persuasion on the ballot. So, if in your lifetime you’ve bought plastic, guzzled gas and wasted – it’s your responsibility to step up.
There are 51 days left to appeal to loved ones with children that will live to see the sequel of our terrible movie. The only vaccine for the future is a change of heart…or playing conservatives at their own game on social media.
If you vote Trump, you’ll also have to sip your coffee, in a world too that is ablaze. There is very little time left to plant seeds of change. How we act now, no matter where we live has consequences for the climate.
Photograph: Spencer Means
Stanisland Magazine 