I’m not one to compare a movie to life, but I remember one movie that seemed to foreshadow what we’re seeing today. The story is about a man who is accused of a crime without knowing what crime he has been accused of committing.
The Trial (1962)
Another movie that seems to pre shadow what we may be heading into is a sci-fi fantasy about the final splitting up of the United States.
The Postman
The Trial immediately reminded me of the January 6 protesters who trespassed into the Capitol building and were arrested for “insurrection”. Although none were carrying firearms and most had no other weapons, they were arrested and now languish in jail for crimes that have not yet been defined: they did not commit “insurrection” according to the letter of the law, and almost none have been put on trial for trespassing on federal property… in a building where the doors were open and the guards permitted them to enter.
The Postman was a scarcely believable sci-fi fantasy about the destruction of the “old order” and one man’s fight to restore the country. Based on David Brin’s book, the full collapse of the United States is never described in the movie except for a brief reference that “a war” took out the central government and the remainder of the country has Balkanized into local areas of control. I’ll ignore the “one man rebuilds the country” nonsense for now.
Look around. People are being imprisoned without recourse, and we’re already seeing a possible precursor to the splintering of the United States into provinces.
Cities with deep-blue populations are unable to control crime while heavily regulating and restricting their residents’ ability to defend themselves. Justice is meted out according to arbitrary and capricious means: the rich set their own rules (as they always do), the poor and victims of crime are ignored, and racial divisions determine if prosecution is warranted. In some cases, killings by one segment of the population are excused with the wave of a hand, while simple trespassing by another segment is punished by endless months of pre-trial imprisonment in jail with no pending trial date. The law seems to be subordinate to the whims of those charged with its enforcement.
Other areas without deep-blue populations are reducing restrictions and regulations on their residents. Yes, there is still a multi-tiered justice system, but prosecution is proportionally more often based on the severity of the crime than the makeup of those who commit the crime. More often than not, the law is supreme to the will of those who would abuse it. And those who do abuse it are eventually prosecuted for abusing it.
Meanwhile, the media is replete with stories of high-level government operatives who lie with abandon but are not prosecuted, and who willingly violate the law to bring about their personal ideological ideals – regardless of the consequences to the public at large.
But that’s only when the media does any reporting at all. More often, the crimes and malfeasance of government operatives is ignored or forgiven by the media because the media agrees with the purpose behind the violations. And when the media does cover any violations of the public trust, it is – more often than not – a government operative with whom the media disagrees.
It is becoming harder and harder to find the truth behind the lies being fostered on the public by a media more interested in being right than in doing right. And when the media is finally proven to be wrong, no admission or apology is offered. Instead, lame excuses are proffered and the media distracts and misdirects attention to some other issue. The public remains uninformed.
But lately, the number of issues that the media has refused to cover has reached critical mass. Corruption in the political process can no longer be hidden. The President of the United States may soon be dragged into a scandal of his own making. Multiple organs of the US government are now either under investigation or are revealing their long-term incompetence. There are too many high-placed people in too many high positions, and their crimes against the country are too great to be ignored.
The question is no longer whether it is sufficient to prosecute this many people for their crimes, or whether they will be charged. The question is a simple one: What can be done to “clean up” the mess we find ourselves in.
So we’re back to first principles. Can the United States survive intact, or will the level of dissatisfaction between existing ideological factions cause the United States to splinter into separately administered regions? Will the United States continue on the path toward Balkanization, where cities evolve to become “city-states” and the outlying regions arm themselves to defend against raids from “outsiders”?
Or does the “will” exist to push back on those who, for whatever reason, find a need to divide us by whatever means – and into whatever divisions – they see fit?
