When the Struggle Seems Impossible
…remember your beauteous paper clips
Canceled Disney+ a few days ago. Won’t take effect until next February. Drat. We are a people who are first in line for Marvel movies and Star Wars shows. I adore Pixel cartoons. Guess any plans to head to Disneyland can wait for the next life. Hey, Emperor Palpatine — er, sorry — meant to say minions of Dear Emperor, Brendan Carr1/Andre Alford2/Bob Iger3/Christopher Ripley4,,let us know if you change your minds about that pesky First Amendment thingie.
Have these highly-paid, besuited executives even watched Andor? Did they skip out of the room for another Arctic Ale when Karis Nemik posthumously streamed his manifesto to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, for people who desperately needed to hear his words of hope?
“There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy.
Remember this: Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrections are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
And then remember this: The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that.
And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this: Try."
Our subscription cost us about $120 a year. Bob Iger was paid $41 million last year. My contribution to Disney’s bottom line equates to 2.9 millionths of Iger’s pay, if I’m doing my math correctly. Our cancellation is my “smallest act of insurrection.” Take that, Bob!
So that’s Disney+, Amazon Prime and Paramount down for the count in our household. PBS and some of those British streaming services survive. I need to find something else to do with my time and money. Oh, wait! I do have something else to do: read George Orwell and experience the same sense of world-tilting one feels getting sh*t-faced on a Friday night.
This was a guy who did more than write; he served five miserable years as a policeman in Burma, which was then under the thumb of Britain-ruled India; he fought in the Spanish Civil War; he experienced poverty and ill health. Beginning in 1936 he dedicated all his serious work to writing against authoritarianism and for democratic socialism. He died before he turned 50.
Right now, I’m working through Why I Write. The cover tagline reads: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” If ever there was a theme for our times, here it is! (I’m amazed Dear Leader didn’t spontaneously combust when he praised George among others during his recent Windsor Castle visit.)
These lines from the book struck me:
“The totalitarian idea that there is no such thing as law, there is only power…”
“Why is the goose-step not used in England?...It is not used because the people in the street would laugh. Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army.”
“Patriotism has nothing to do with conservatism. It is actually the opposite of conservatism, since it is devotion to something that is always changing and yet is felt to be mystically the same. It is the bridge between the future and the past.”
Write on, George! And readers, remember to laugh!
And joys aplenty.
To test out her new hip, Ms Wife and I took a five-mile walk on a beautiful day, heading downtown to the library and the farmer’s market and passing a wedding party in prep along the way.
I worked with my San Diego pal B- on a cool little project: scripts and characters for a series of cartoons featuring the “Dogs of Fiesta Island,” promoting an amazing dog park and its clean-up days.
And, as a “beauteous reader,” I have begun to wear a paperclip. Thank you, E. Jean Carroll.
1 Head of the Federal Communications Commission
2 Head of Nexstar Media, which owns a bunch of TV stations in the United States
3 CEO of Disney
4 CEO of Sinclair Broadcast, the largest owner of ABC stations
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Right?!
"The totalitarian idea that there is no such thing as law, there is only power…” - This is the current GOP mantra.