The title is a direct Shakespearian quote. It is a line spoken by Marc Antony in the play Julius Caesar. It is chaotic times like these that make me turn philosophical and remember that we’ve all been here before. Many, many, many times. In a call back to the June 13’s dispatch about too numerous to count. I was referring to cultures at the time but pretend war also fits.
There is a moment in Hannah Gadsby’s 2020 comic special “Douglas” when they are explaining that we don’t hold men accountable for their hormonal actions, instead society holds women accountable.
The audience claps and cheers that sentiment and they snap to the audience “It’s bait, you fucking idiots. It’s bait, leave it.”
This part of the bit is particularly genius.
It is at once acknowledging that society does women dirty by making us shoulder the entire weight of the world while at the same time cooing at the men and praising them for the fucking bare minimum. It is telling women that there is nothing wrong with how things are and if the women feel like there absolutely is, gaslighting women into toeing the line.
In the comedy special they go on “It’s not for you. Fuck. It’s not a rally.” To me this brings to mind all the political rallies that a certain president was giving, trying desperately to hold on to the job that he very much did not want, but enjoyed the special treatments that he got because of this. Also this was released in 2020, bringing that chaotic time specifically to mind.
This time with the same president is also chaotic as fuck. On purpose. Again.
The truest thing they said during the special is that “Confidence makes (Americans) stupid”.
And it truly does.
Individually we are not stupid, but collectively some of us are. Some of us know that the bombing of “nuclear” sites in Iran was bait. And some of us hang on every word that the president utters.
Why is it bait?
Well there were the dramatic “No Kings” protests on June 14th. Millions of Americans (I have heard estimates from 4 million to over 10 million) took to the streets to declare that America is not a place for Kings. No matter how the president wants to be made a king.
Making spurious and curious bombing decisions. A tanking economy that had been the envy of the world less than 6 months ago. A federal bank that won’t cut interest rates. Thousands of research projects that had the potential to save lives and relieve suffering wiped out by disastrous policies. Leaning in to the echo chamber about vaccines, regardless of them being wrong. A beyond catastrophic bill in the Senate that the House of Representatives passed only because 2 Democratic reps had died in the month before and were not yet replaced. Not to mention the tanking, and I mean tanking, approval ratings.
That same day there was a fairly disastrous military parade through the streets of the nation’s capital. Low turnout, sloppy marching, miserably huddled guest of honor.
He had to distract from last weekend somehow.
And what is the best distraction?
Millions of Americans being forthright about hating you.
What’s a president have to do to get the heat off? Bomb a sovereign county that your own intelligence head said had no nuclear bombs or capabilities.
Which is what the asshole did.
Remember this is how the then president got us into the Iraq War II. Lying about weapons of mass destruction? Where trillions of dollars were spent and thousands of American lives were lost? It feels very much like that. We were lied to then too.
Because we do.
The American public has been very outspoken about not wanting war.
We are very tired of war.
But you had to do something to change the narrative.
Too bad it was getting you out of the boiling pot and putting the rest of us in the fire.
See also Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. I’ve written about this before. It is a poem about the atrocities of World War I and the agonies of the front line.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 