Don’t Change the Picture, Change Reality

The catastrophes on your TV screen are the result, not the cause

Photo by Sam Pak on Unsplash

I’ll admit these last few weeks have been particularly destabilizing for a lot of us.

If my inbox is any indication, it’s been particularly destabilizing for anyone who believes women should have authority over the bodies, who support the idea that an Environmental Protection Agency should be able to regulate polluters, or who can’t shake the suspicion that America’s uniquely high rate of mass shootings might be correlated with America’s uniquely broad proliferation of military weapons among civilians. Combine that with the January 6 hearings, widespread belief in fake election conspiracies and the strong possibility that gerrymandering and the legal ability of state legislatures to overturn voting results may make democracy impossible for at least a few cycles, and it’s no wonder so many people want to shout, cry, fight, or run away.

It’s easy to catastrophize our situation. And true enough, our empire — our civilization — may be coming apart; our nation may be succumbing to authoritarianism, and our most organized activists and determined politicians seem to be succeeding in their quest for theocratic rule. It’s not pretty to watch: as real people suffer, most of us feel utterly helpless to change the pictures and…