The pictures of National guard troops in DC remind me forcibly of what I saw in Prague in the early1970s, not that long after Russian troops and tanks had rolled into the city to crush Prague Spring. There were armed troops everywhere, on almost every street corner,clearly meant to intimidate citizens and visitors alike. Not so coincidentally, this was shortly after my cousin and her family, including her journalist husband, were given 48 hours to leave Czechoslovakia because the regime didn’t like what he had written. Scary times, then and now
Too easy to become inured or desensitized to the abuse & aggression.
This is how bullies, despots & domestic abusers operate.
This isn’t just ‘absurd’ - it’s propaganda & incitement to ‘legitimized’ violence.
— buff young men strutting their stuff.
They aim to incite feelings of physical superiority & righteousness of cause.
— and throw in a few uniformed POC to imply that racism isn’t a large part of their motivation.
Face it — no caucasians are being rounded up & deported!
— and Trump is enticing/PAYING white Greenlanders/ S. Afrikaners to migrate here.
Meanwhile American farmers are seeing their crops wilt or die because their hardworking South American labourers have been rounded up & deported.
— and houses aren’t being built or repaired, patients in nursing homes properly cared for, children nannied, houses cleaned, meals served … because Trump hates colored people. 🔥
There are black and brown and female members of the National Guard. The real Army National Guard. DCMetro Police, wear their uniforms, are sometimes overweight. Their cars led the protesters on April 26. They use bicycles. What is critical, is to define as precisely as possible, who is ripping people off the streets and stuffing them into black vans. Not the metro police. Not the National Guard. Not a time to worry about normalizing military presence, the luxury of aesthetic analysis. It is time to get rid of “ice “ and all the other thugs. Remove the Guard, unless they can be used to keep people safe from the illegal no name thugs. That is more their traditional role.
I suggest all Americans should take time to watch the at-first-misunderstood but brilliant satire, "Starship Troopers", in which photogenic and perky fascist teens enlist in the army with great enthusiasm. The ultimate message is that the fascist society - which is alarmingly like our own at this point - is really good for nothing except killing bugs.
I live in Maine…A Mainer, working to thwart a BAD referendum here that would decimate Mainers’ voting rights. I lived in DC during Trump #1, through Covid. Taking care of grandbabies. I love DC, consider that city my home. So much courage in these protests. Stay strong.
I would love to see a compilation of such photographs of the military in our cities, prepared like a slideshow or reel that automatically plays, continuously, set to the music of Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." It would be a sad tribute to our once proud dreams of our country. And, have this easy to share.
I wonder about racial implications. By my count, there are two POC in the photos shown. One is a member of the army in Iraq, and the other is the arrestee being pulled through a window by three soldiers as one of them has a gun drawn.
You don't see 6 POC in the picture in front of Union Station? I'm pretty sure at least one, if not two, of the Guard Members in the Baltimore Sun, and at least one of the men in the truck in DC - the one not with the gun and not pulling - are also POC.
The pictures of National guard troops in DC remind me forcibly of what I saw in Prague in the early1970s, not that long after Russian troops and tanks had rolled into the city to crush Prague Spring. There were armed troops everywhere, on almost every street corner,clearly meant to intimidate citizens and visitors alike. Not so coincidentally, this was shortly after my cousin and her family, including her journalist husband, were given 48 hours to leave Czechoslovakia because the regime didn’t like what he had written. Scary times, then and now
Too easy to become inured or desensitized to the abuse & aggression.
This is how bullies, despots & domestic abusers operate.
This isn’t just ‘absurd’ - it’s propaganda & incitement to ‘legitimized’ violence.
— buff young men strutting their stuff.
They aim to incite feelings of physical superiority & righteousness of cause.
— and throw in a few uniformed POC to imply that racism isn’t a large part of their motivation.
Face it — no caucasians are being rounded up & deported!
— and Trump is enticing/PAYING white Greenlanders/ S. Afrikaners to migrate here.
Meanwhile American farmers are seeing their crops wilt or die because their hardworking South American labourers have been rounded up & deported.
— and houses aren’t being built or repaired, patients in nursing homes properly cared for, children nannied, houses cleaned, meals served … because Trump hates colored people. 🔥
There are black and brown and female members of the National Guard. The real Army National Guard. DCMetro Police, wear their uniforms, are sometimes overweight. Their cars led the protesters on April 26. They use bicycles. What is critical, is to define as precisely as possible, who is ripping people off the streets and stuffing them into black vans. Not the metro police. Not the National Guard. Not a time to worry about normalizing military presence, the luxury of aesthetic analysis. It is time to get rid of “ice “ and all the other thugs. Remove the Guard, unless they can be used to keep people safe from the illegal no name thugs. That is more their traditional role.
Should read August 26.
I suggest all Americans should take time to watch the at-first-misunderstood but brilliant satire, "Starship Troopers", in which photogenic and perky fascist teens enlist in the army with great enthusiasm. The ultimate message is that the fascist society - which is alarmingly like our own at this point - is really good for nothing except killing bugs.
I live in Maine…A Mainer, working to thwart a BAD referendum here that would decimate Mainers’ voting rights. I lived in DC during Trump #1, through Covid. Taking care of grandbabies. I love DC, consider that city my home. So much courage in these protests. Stay strong.
I would love to see a compilation of such photographs of the military in our cities, prepared like a slideshow or reel that automatically plays, continuously, set to the music of Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." It would be a sad tribute to our once proud dreams of our country. And, have this easy to share.
I wonder about racial implications. By my count, there are two POC in the photos shown. One is a member of the army in Iraq, and the other is the arrestee being pulled through a window by three soldiers as one of them has a gun drawn.
You don't see 6 POC in the picture in front of Union Station? I'm pretty sure at least one, if not two, of the Guard Members in the Baltimore Sun, and at least one of the men in the truck in DC - the one not with the gun and not pulling - are also POC.