Fear that they got away with it

Last evening I watched the movie And Then We Danced. It was suggested by GLAAD media awards, so going in I knew it was an LGBT story. The story takes place in Georgia – not the one next to Alabama, the one next to Russia. Merab is a dancer training in the folk dance traditions (somewhat similar to the Cossack style of Ukraine). He’s been partnered with Mary since he was a pre-teen. They’re good friends, but it doesn’t go any further than that. The dance instructor complains that Merab’s dancing is too soft. It needs to be more masculine. Irakli joins the class and he is quite good. Soon after he arrives the instructor announces the professional showcase company has lost a male dancer and auditions would be held soon. We see a lot of Merab’s home life – he lives with his mother and grandmother, his father has his own place. His brother comes home drunk at dawn and misses dance rehearsals. With Mary and friends he has a good social life. At one of their away weekends he falls in love with Irakli. The brother seems to be doing all the wrong things, so a tender moment between him and Merab towards the end seems both a bit off and quite welcome. I enjoyed the film. While watching the film and seeing the quickness of the dance steps I wondered whether they director looked for dancers he hoped could act or actors he hoped could dance (though now that I write it that seems improbable). It seems he was able to find a few who could do both. Since this is Merab’s story the combination would be much more critical for that role than for the others. Spoiler alert (this paragraph): Both Irakli and Merab are among those invited to audition. When the day comes Irakli declines. Merab dons the traditional tunic (that nicely flares at the waist when he spins) for the audition. Once he works through the standard steps he ups the difficulty and intentionally does the “soft” had gestures, disgusting one of the judges. On his way to the exit he takes off the tunic. I read the transcript of another Gaslit Nation episode by Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa. This one is titled Texas Republican Massacre. Chalupa began by stressing in dark times – such as during a pandemic and after an insurrection – one should make art. Any kind of art. It doesn’t have to be good art. Just making art is therapeutic. Chalupa then recounted what Taylor Swift and an ancient Mesopotamian Goddess had to do with the making of her film Mr. Jones. Kendzior reminded us we’ve been through a lot as a nation and a world. There is a lot to grieve and we haven’t done it yet. People feel guilty about not feeling optimistic about the future. To many people want us to pretend to be optimistic and if we aren’t we might be replaced with a team player. The rest of the world is watching us plaster on a happy face in fear of not being happy. But why should we need that mask? Grieving is normal, even if it is for people you don’t know. Kendzior said:

And I think while everyone knows this—they see the senseless brutality of this, they know how many of these deaths could have been prevented—the gut reaction deep inside is just astounding fear; fear that people can be that cruel and that powerful at the same time; fear that they got away with it, which so far, they have; and fear, of course, that they're going to come back …

Even though Biden has shown his empathy, Kendzior is troubled. Will those in office now not punish the perpetrators? She again laments the two Georgia senators campaigned on $2000 relief checks, yet the checks coming out are only $1400 – yeah one is supposed to remember to add in the $600 checks authorized in December. Besides, these should be monthly relief checks. She said:

I'm sorry, $1,400 is not $2,000 any more than two plus two is five. This is gas lighting, and it's abusive, and it shows how disconnected our officials are from the reality of everyday life. … I'll just say, everyone will remember how they felt when they saw Democratic candidates come in and tell them that they were going to get a $2,000 check, and everyone is going to remember how they felt when that check did not come and then, assuming it does come, was actually for $1,400. They're going to remember that $600 and it's beyond just an election mistake or a partisan mistake. It's a moral mistake. It's breaking a promise.

As for the valued unity – that starts with trust. And this breaks that trust. Chalupa said that in a manner similar to Putin in Russia the GOP is trying to rewrite history. The half million dead was deliberate, as was turning masks into a culture war. The nasty guy incited mass murder. And the GOP is trying to say it was an amorphous phenomenon. Kendzior repeats a long list of people who should be prosecuted. People are going after Andrew Cuomo for some of his mistakes, such as policies contributing to deaths in nursing homes. If you can go after Cuomo, why aren’t you going after the pandemic prince and princess and all these other people? They are much worse than Cuomo. On to Texas. It’s understandable residents there haven’t insulated their homes or have few winter clothes. They’re not at fault. It is the fault of the government of Texas. Kendzior said Sen. Ted Cruz is trapped. He was a holdout in 2016 but has thoroughly joined the Trump train, fully contaminated. Perhaps he thought he would be rewarded. But he’s now tainted as an accomplice to the Capitol attack and to organized crime. Perhaps he’s now trying to implode? In contrast to Cruz, Beto O’Rourke, who lost to Cruz, worked to organize a variety of grassroots effort to help out Texans. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, even though she represents New York, also went to Texas, raising five million in aid. And she was attacked from all sides. However, helping each other is how we should view ourselves. Both Texas and New York are part of the same country. This is how we unite. The Sunday new shows had on a string of Republicans still pushing the Big Lie. They weren’t challenged. Kendzior concluded:

Those shows are just PR operations for organized crime and for white supremacy and white supremacist violent groups at this point. So you should absolutely not be watching them.

The reaction to suffering Texans was you voted for it, you deserve it. Kendzior said no. There was rampant voter suppression. And no one deserves to freeze to death, no matter who they voted for. That should not be a controversial view. Chalupa said there should be many lawsuits over every death. As a way to help, tackle the corruption in your own city and state. Because of climate change we’re entering a time of pandemics and increased deadly weather. We need good public servants to make government work for all of us. We need people who understand why we need government and why it is important to civilization. We need to flush out the people who keep creating humanitarian crises by destroying government from within. Kendzior said the younger generation of Democrats need more support. They and their ideas are not on the fringe. Their ideas are mainstream, ideas like Green New Deal and healthcare for all. Why are people like convicted felon Michael Cohen welcomed on TV to spew what they want and AOC is treated like the wild and crazy one? They’re treated that way because media sees it as a horse race. But this isn’t for our entertainment. Lives depend on what our leaders do (see Texas). Because media normalizes bad GOP behavior they are complicit in the humanitarian crises and in mass murder. One way to stop that is to diversify newsrooms. Kendzior has hope that Merrick Garland, in the approval process for Attorney General, will properly investigate the Capitol attack and the people (all the people) who were responsible for it. Her hope is tempered by the whole system that for over 40 years of attorney generals has turned a blind eye to organized crime and white supremacy. And now we have the collision of those things in the nasty guy. Cy Vance is Manhattan District Attorney and just got the nasty guy’s tax returns. Vance hired the prosecutor who brought down John Gotti, so a lot of people are hopeful. Chalupa says don’t expect much. Vance has a Democratic primary coming up in June. His campaign bank account is down, though he could refill it overnight by calling a select few people – such as people who want his investigation into the nasty guy to disappear. What Vance is doing now is teasing us with the prospect of justice to get reelected, even though he has an abysmal track record and is very much part of the problem. Kendzior adds details about their disappointment in Vance. He has failed to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (all sexual predators), and also the princess and Don Jr. Is Vance brave enough to take on a transnational crime syndicate? History says no. In addition, Vance is getting the tax returns since 2011 and the ones from his years in the Oval Office will be nicely doctored. The really interesting returns will be from the 1980s and ‘90s. One more disappointment is that Vance is showing no inclination to release those returns to the public. Vance isn’t going to save us. We’re going to save ourselves.