Pessimistic Protesters Versus Optimistic Solutions

The Stage is Set

Try to see it my way
Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we might fall apart before too long

The Beatles, “We Can Work It Out”

Lately, I have been reading about Martin Niemöller (recall his poem “First They Came.”) The events described in yet another book on the history of the Third Reich’s rise to power, coupled with my constant observation of the corruption of our current failing media ecosystem, with its attempts to manufacture public opinion caused me to think about the citizens experiencing each of these crucial times in history.

It occurred to me that one must decide to be either a pessimist or an optimist.

Now, the good thing about pessimism is that a pessimist is never disappointed. Becoming sad and pessimistic is relatively easy. Consume a few headlines, repost a few memes, react emotionally and that is pretty much it.

Being an optimist is hard work. It requires actual research and striving for solutions. It means considering the source and content of information, deliberating about historical context, and maybe seeing past the hysteria of the day to help fashion a better future.

WE AREN’T THEM, THOSE AWFUL PEOPLE OVER THERE

Make no mistake, there are strong parallels between 1930s Germany and today’s Western World. In both cases, genuine grievances drove people to the fringes, to a rise in tribalism, and to a willingness to embrace the loss of rights to resolve the situation. The German Reich, commonly known as the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), and threats from rising Communism sent Germans searching for a different future. Ultimately, the world was plunged into war, and other horrors ensued.

The USA’s four-year capitulation cycle from one political extreme to the other creates a wide lane for the opposition party to push further to their extreme, with even fewer guardrails to protect our freedoms.

Lest anyone think there has been a sudden takeover by a rogue administration, please recall that just a few years ago, the same people now calling everyone a Nazi were insisting on papers to access parks, restricting the goods and services one could purchase, mandating experimental medication, denying employment and covering it all with mass censorship. And in the “free” countries of Canada and Australia, one would be tailed by law enforcement, forced into confinement, or rendered a non-person by a “government of the people.”

So, the pessimists have a point that the ultimate end for either a left-leaning authoritarian state or a like outcome emerging from opposition leads to the same horrific future—and vice versa.

That alone should be enough for the idiotic partisans to STFU. Let’s get on with where we go from here. Because in the noise of which cult is going to crush civil liberties and constitutional rights, the ultimate consequence looks the same. Thus, spending time yelling at one side or buying into either the Republicans or Democrats is the single worst thing one can do in support of their self-interest. The equally worse thing is buying the corporate media that keeps people engaged in that useless fight.

Meanwhile, there remains no reasonable resolution on firearms, education, affordability, healthcare payment, and reshoring manufacturing.

History emphatically states we need to pull back from the brink.

Due to the rise of the new media model, there is a glimmer of hope that perhaps the American people can motivate the partisans in Washington to start doing their job. As an optimist, it appears that more people are understanding the narratives delivered as news and are starting to question the material that nourishes the partisan view.

PROTESTING TESLAS AS A POLICY SOLUTION

The narrative found in the headlines today is about protests. Upon examination, most are small numbers, amplified via a media filter. Who is being comforted by 15 people in front of a Tesla dealership? Even if there were five thousand people intent on burning a Tesla dealership to the ground, it would be an impotent move.

Who is being convinced by these narratives?

If the public can be convinced that a dementia-stricken man was one of the greatest presidents in history, then it must seem easy to display headlines that Americans will protest because they want their taxes wasted, their border opened, their job prospects destroyed, and their country flooded with fake fentanyl.

ADVOCATING RECKLESS SPENDING SHOULD WORK THIS TIME

Can’t we all agree that spending tax receipts wisely makes sense? Especially since our country is spending not only today’s tax receipts but also the taxes of at least two future generations. Wouldn’t it make more sense to join in spending control and have a say in how to accomplish it than to key someone’s private car?

Similarly, if we have the goal of more manufacturing jobs in the USA that provide a middle-class wage, and it is obvious that our international competitors have a labor and tax advantage, would tariffs be a way to level the competitive landscape?

United Auto Worker’s (UAW) President Shawn Fain, a vocal Democrat who endorsed Kamala Harris, recently set out his opinion and some supporting facts. Fain characterizes tariffs as an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs in America that has occurred over the past 33 years. Fain cited a loss of 90,000 factories and calculated that was 1,800 manufacturing plants per state. Seems that Ross Perot was correct when he said NAFTA would create a “giant sucking sound” of jobs leaving the US.

So, there is one for the optimists: the plight of our fellow citizens without the ability to cover their expenses for shelter, food, transportation, healthcare, retirement and entertainment might have a remedy in a steady job with a competitive wage. If changes are made. Even if the changes come from one of them over there.

WHIPLASH!

For the pessimists, it seems that if you convince people they have to buy an electric vehicle or have your state ban the sale of gasoline cars to save the planet, then tell them to pivot 180 degrees and hate the vehicle they coveted yesterday, there is no bottom to the level which people can be manipulated. Not even the best advertising agency can motivate the brainwashed to commit arson, vandalism, and acts of terror.

Do those silently or overtly supporting this criminality think they are winning people to their side?

If you convince people they want Jews killed, desire Ukraine to be in a constant war, and the United States footing the defense bill for European states that are institutionalizing censorship and avoiding open elections, you can sell any protest. And apparently, one must not mention the irony of the Ukraine flags covering up the trans flag, the BLM banners, the little black squares and every other low-effort virtue signal? Since those issues are out of the headlines, were all the matters resolved?

The pessimist should know that the next triggering outrage will come as soon as whatever then-current calamity has run its course. The pessimist will close their eyes to the past talking points proven false and embrace the new ones. Thus, those trafficking in shallow fear keep producing it because people continue to buy it.

WHAT IF EUROPE GAVE A WAR AND NO ONE CAME?

The noise distracts us from the rising militarism across Europe. Following the drama of President Trump and Vice President Vance's meeting with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Europeans reportedly felt slighted. European Union president Ursula von der Leyen suggested that perhaps Europe should have its own war without inviting the USA. United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer responded to the Trump administration’s efforts to cease the Ukraine war by increasing the UK’s defense budget. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed that European countries raise their defense spending to 3%-3.5% of their respective economies. The list continues, as the USA is no longer the easy target it once was, relying on borrowed or printed dollars since the end of WWII. At least “Milo Minderbinder” left the Oval Office on January 20th of this year, which thankfully silenced the push for US-manufactured missiles as an economic advantage.

The optimist will see an end to the war and relief to the budget of the United States if all the pieces come together.

TIME TO CHOOSE – HELP OR FUEL THE NONSENSE?

Still, the pessimism embedded in virtue signaling, despite being an exhausting chore, is futile opposition. Seems it would be a lot easier to just look things up oneself. I’ve seen people work themselves into a state of indignation over Florida education policies based on a cartoon when they could just go on the state’s Department of Education website and see a full curriculum. Others post unrelated photos of Toronto’s airport to convince themselves that 41 million Canadians are united in their opposition to the current US administration. Maybe they don’t know that Prime Minister Trudeau just scurried from office as his approval rating scraped bottom. Other pessimists are so convinced that every single dollar spent from the Federal treasury is a bad decision and silently acquiesce to the gutting of important programs that happen to occupy the same agency as the abusive expenditures.

Is there a reason for optimism? Yes, if, and only if, we reason and find solutions. It will be difficult because it means compromise.

Pessimism seems easier. Consider pessimism the same as hopelessness. Capitulation. Surrender.

Aim your energies at asking for solutions. In effect, we hire those we elect to do a job. That job isn’t to defeat the other party. That job isn’t to create millions in personal wealth for themselves. That job isn’t to further bankrupt the country.

Yet, if viewed from a height, that’s what we are funding with our money, our attention, and our voices.

Cancel the media outlets that offer only lies and shifting narratives. If you find yourself consuming something that makes you want to hate something, move on—and don’t look back.

If more people from both tribes talk to each other, we can get more dialog and maybe some solutions. Conversely, if one embraces or silently supports the assaults, there will be reactions.

Let’s talk.

The only way we exit this madness is dialog.

We can work it out
We can work it out

Onward.