America the Hideous

A failed pandemic response. A capitalist system that has seen billionaires get $565B richer during said pandemic, as millions of everyday Americans lose their jobs (and subsequent healthcare). Civil unrest that mirrors the 1960s (because we haven’t made any significant racial progress since the 1960s). All of it, being overseen by the host of The Apprentice. 

But science denial, capitalist greed, systemic racism, dystopian “healthcare,” and celebrity worship are all as quintessentially American as hot dogs and fireworks. 

This July 4th weekend, as the country indulges in said hot dog consumption (via a gluttony fest of a contest to see how many of them is humanly possible to consume), and firework displays (seriously, what’s with the fireworks? Every night since May. Where are you buying all the fireworks, and don’t they get boring after the 27th night in a row?), many Americans will also not be wearing masks, because it’s “tyranny,” refusing to social distance, because “fake news,” and hell, a few of them might even attend a COVID party or two. 

Last night, The-Apprentice-host-turned-cult-leader held a COVID party of his own, on land considered to be sacred by many Native Americans.

This, against the backdrop of confederate statues finally starting to see their removals, and cosmetic yet ultimately meaningful changes like Washington’s professional football team facing increased pressure to change their name, it all serves as a reminder that America was built on a rotten foundation.

From Native American genocide to slavery, to our most recent form - anti-intellectualism and capitalism on steroids - it’s clear that the American Dream that we all grew up believing in, has always been, and always will be, a hoax. 

Not “hoax” in the sense of “things that actually exist,” such as the coronavirus, Russian interference in our elections, and a bounty operation created by those same Russians that was ignored by the host of The Apprentice because at best, he doesn’t read his briefings - but “hoax” in the literal definition of the word: “a humorous or malicious deception.”

You often hear about “American exceptionalism.” What’s exceptional about a country that doesn’t have affordable healthcare for its citizens? A country whose college students often graduate with crushing debt? A country with crumbling infrastructure? A country where the person with the most votes can lose an election? A country that militarizes its police force? A country that thinks losing 20-30 people in a mass shooting every couple of months is just one of those things you have to live with?

A country that’s politicized wearing a mask during a fucking pandemic, largely because a reality show host refuses to wear one - either because he’s taken the childlike approach of “If I don’t acknowledge the virus, maybe it’ll go away,” or because he’s so vain he doesn’t want to smear his clown makeup by wearing one, or both. 

America is quickly on its way to becoming a failed state. Not because NFL players are kneeling. Not because transgender people want to use public bathrooms. Not because immigrants fleeing from war, crime, and economic despair in their home countries come here in search of a better life. Not because racist, painful statues are being removed. Not because people are exercising their first amendment rights to peacefully assemble.

But because our country is filled with religious zealots still desperately trying to take away a woman’s right to choose, in 2020. Capitalists that steal from the poor and give to the rich. Anti-intellectuals who bask in their ignorance and wear it like a badge of honor, denying climate change and basic medical facts. 

130K Americans are dead from a virus whose damage could’ve been largely preventable if we had a competent government response, and a more informed, less tribal citizenry. 

We will not turn this around. The pandemic will get worse, destroying more lives and eliminating more jobs as we wait for a vaccine to help mercifully end one of our darkest moments. 

But even when the pandemic is in our rearview, we still have to grapple with our nation’s ugly history of white supremacy and capitalist greed. 

And if we’re balking at plans for universal healthcare and taxing the rich, if we’re seriously debating in 2020 whether a flag that represents white supremacy is racist, and if we have a political system where a reality show host can hold the highest office in the country, we’re lightyears away from where we need to be.

July 4, 2020 isn’t America’s 244th birthday. It’s America’s funeral. Consider this a eulogy.