Cosplay

In the event you are unfamiliar with the term, cosplay, a contraction of costume and play acting, is typically a benign form of grown up Halloween. People of both genders dress up as characters from anime, comic books and popular action movies among other genres. Why do they do it? Well I am not a psychologist but I suspect it allows people to assume an idealized identity--a wannabe self, endowed with heroic or malevolent attributes --often super-powers --they wish to project about themselves. It is in a sense all about power--or at least the projection thereof, and perhaps its emergence in the present day says something about the degree to which so many feel the need to escape from their own reality or the need to regain some sense of power over the world in which they live, even if it is pretended.

If you observe the cast of characters assembled in the current administration, you can witness this at first hand. We might start with the Secretary of Homeland Security, aka Ice Barbie. In case you've missed her act, she has transformed her appearance since her appointment by donning various law enforcement costumes at any and every public event--together with a look of ferocity set amidst her carefully coiffed hair. She wishes to leave the impression she is a gun toting, take no prisoner type of gal and she dresses the part. Sadly that is the extent of her competence--the projection of force--of an avenging --yet still attractive tough as nails super girl. It's a show--for the people in the bleachers.

Like her boss, the Secretary is good at putting on menacing faces to show she is a big bad boss in charge like the ICE goons she has hired and put on American streets to harass, arrest and intimidate black, brown and poor people, legal or undocumented immigrants. They too are dressed up for the part, complete with bandanas and masks to hide their faces--even as the guy at the top of this costume party threatens anyone who wears masks with imprisonment. Only the goons are allowed to wear masks--we don't get to dress up too, just applaud when the sign lights up to tell us when to do our part.

Then we have a Secretary of Defense, a man who idolizes tough guys, and loves nothing more than to display his manly tattoos while he exercises with his troops and plays soldier. Unfortunately for our country playing this part leaves no time for actually overseeing our nation's defense. In fact all he has accomplished in the months this cowboy has been in office is to leak state and military secrets, fire competent senior officers and conduct a war--on women, transgender and minority members of the armed forces. The incompetence is breathtaking but he sure looks good in a set of fatigues.

The only costume our Secretary of State needs is a power suit and a red tie--to show he too is a member of the club. Actually he need do very little, all his lines are actually spoken by the ventriloquist in chief, but he looks the part even if his contribution is to simply sit on the lap of the puppet master and mouth his words.

I could go on, tell you about the head of Health and Human Services--you know--the heroin snorting guy who has been pretending to be a scion of a once powerful political dynasty and is now just playing scientist/doctor setting back the state of medicine in the US--already abysmally poor in comparison to the rest of the western world. Or perhaps you'd prefer to hear about the head of FEMA who was thunderstruck at the existence of hurricanes.

The sheer incompetence of this play-acting gang is apparent for all the world to see, but what should we have expected from a President who runs the country like a reality television show and regards the people as dumb viewers. He even has his form of late nite merchandising--self branded bibles, coins, golden sneakers, and crypto-currency among many other grifts he sells to his faithful audience. How much would you pay? But you must admit he does put on a good show--a $45 million dollar parade complete with marching soldiers, battle tanks and jets flying overhead with the Commander saluting like some tinpot martinet. Of course we are talking about a guy who salutes North Korean generals too--maybe he just likes saluting.

That parade was attended by fewer than 25,000, while across the country the largest turnout ever --over 12.5 million Americans gathered in over 2000 cities and towns to peacefully protest the actions and over reach of the man who would be king. His was just another bit of stage craft--the theater of a con man turned real estate developer, turned TV celebrity who now sits in the oval office scheming how to aggregate every last bit of power and money he can grab. This is our reality my friends--the gang that couldn't shoot straight, all dressed up and play acting like they know what they are doing while they run ramshackle over our courts and Constitution--the last few protections we have before total anarchy and dictatorship.

TV shows--even long running ones have seasons and eventually they come to the end of their run. Audiences lose interest, the plots grow increasingly flimsy, and the characters lose their glow. If we had all the time in the world to wait--this one too will reach the point where the sponsors and the public have lost interest. But we don't and if we hope to have any semblance of a once noble experiment in democracy, a one time symbol of freedom and opportunity it is time for us to stop watching this show. We do that by refusing to play the part assigned us. Right now the fan boys and girls are basking in the reflection of the flickering screen but as more and more of us protest, conduct peaceful push back and refuse to join the adoring audience the numbers will dwindle.

This isn't about Democrats vs Republicans, Conservatives versus Liberals, those labels are not useful or descriptive of what divides us. We have our differences to be sure but in the end they have nothing to do with the narcissistic socio-paths dressed up and play acting as responsible, moral and competent human beings, in this made for television circus. There was a time we found a way to unite around the principles and values that actually made our country one to be proud of, not jingoistic cult worship of a gang of cosplaying empty suits--its time that show was cancelled.