A friend and I were recently talking about why nothing has changed with all the “activism” happening in response to all the political violence and destruction throughout the empire. My thoughts were around how there are so many people getting richer by taking even more or hoarding their wealth, and how none of them wanted any different circumstances. In fact, people are happier with everyone else restoring the status quo, even if it means the destruction of the ones who have already endured. We both concluded that nothing will really change until the beneficiaries and the sycophants understand that they are in the wrong, and that would take more self awareness than most of them will grasp.
My friend noted a Shakespearean moment when Claudius is confessing the sin of murdering his brother and taken his widow, but remarking that he would rather keep the assets he acquired instead of full repentance. Being contrary, I dislike Shakespeare because he seems to be worshipped like the “Founding Fathers,” but I looked it up, and sure enough, it was located in Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 3. The entire scene was an excellent metaphor for people who have climbed the corporate ladder at the expense of their coworkers, and for anyone who has stepped over the bodies of their competitors to validate their own misdeeds. This is the United States in a nutshell: full of people who understand that their “success” is wrong, but refusing to take the necessary steps to repair the damage.
Someone else close to me stated that there was a quote stating that a new life will cost the old one. It is somewhat humorous to me that a beneficiary of the dominant narrative coined this phrase, not knowing that a new way of life in the United States meant that it would ultimately have to be destroyed. Restoration means refunding ill-gotten gains, and without relinquishing their statuses as beneficiaries and sycophants, imperial residents are merely looking for some way to, once again, avoid accountability and return to the status quo. All the votes and redistricting in the world will not amount to socioeconomic equality and environmental improvement, and clinging to terrible behavior “just because” is conditioning, not progress.
There is one way that I know beneficiaries and sycophants understand that what they are doing is wrong and it is the ever-present demand that we all “push past” indescribable harm. Saying “get over it” is already an admission that one knows the actions are wrong, but wants to continue doing them anyway. Until people acknowledge that the status quo under the empire results in harm, they are no better than the armed guards in DC or the creepy vigilantes throwing migrants into the backs of their vehicles. The walls need to come down, the castles need to be destroyed, and Claudius needs to get the poisoned goblet he created for others. There is no other way to “move forward” without addressing the wrongs of the imperial past.
Chasing A Dying Empire 