What is giving me hope by Ruth Neuwald Falcon

A friend asked why I feel compelled to pay close attention to what’s going on. “I read the headlines,” they said, “so I have the idea of the drift of things. But I can’t watch the news these days. I can’t stand seeing that man and hearing about all the terrible things he’s doing. There’s nothing I can do. I don’t want my life consumed by this.”

It’s so automatic for me that I’m still feeling into the answer. Some of it is the epigenetic memory embedded inside me. “The Jewish community’s achievements and accomplishments are, in fact, trauma responses,” writes Lotem Raymond Coe in the first piece on her newly launched Substack. “On a visceral level, we believe that our existence depends on our success.” It also, to my mind, depends on our paying attention to what is going on around us. My grandparents might have survived if they’d read the signs earlier and emigrated from Germany while they still could. I’m not planning on going anywhere, but I am more uncomfortable when I’m not paying attention. It’s a powerful instinct. I’ve always been hyper-vigilant, always felt like there was a radar thingie spinning around my head, watching for signs that those I care about might be in danger.

Well, we’re all in danger now so, oddly enough, I’m calming down. I’ve been dreading this for so long that it’s almost a relief that it’s here. The game is on. The danger is right out there. No more wondering what he might do when he gets into power. He’s in power and he’s doing it. They’re doing it. As powerful as he is, he’s a pawn in a plan that has been developing for decades. I suspect he will outlive his usefulness to them. It will be interesting to see what happens then.

What’s happening now is an intellectual and journalistic response that is knocking my proverbial socks off every day. Increasingly, I feel like I’m part of a community being guided by awesomely intelligent, thoughtful, informed, analytical, pissed off and clear-eyed people who are stepping up wholeheartedly, completely committed to the task of making sure the rest of us have the information we need. And, for the most part, this information is not coming from mainstream media.

A new loose network of independent media is giving me hope. The technology was made for this moment. The communications paradigm shift is happening. It’s very exciting. The White House took away Jim Acosta’s press pass the first time Trump was president because he asked challenging questions. That time, CNN fought to get his credentials back. This time, CNN moved him to the graveyard shift, midnight. Acosta quit and has joined the ranks of independent journalists and historians and former Republicans who are blazing a new path, mostly on Substack. 

Democracy does indeed die in darkness and they are shining the light on the dastardly deeds that this regime is committing. When he got elected this time, I literally didn’t know if I could survive a second term. But rather than making me want to put my head in the oven (unfortunate but uncomfortably apt expression), I am finding watching and listening to this independent political coverage reassuring.

I’ve never had so many good things to read or so many fascinating podcasts to listen to. I don’t know yet what I will do with the knowledge I glean, other than share some things here with you. If you have any suggestions to add to the mix, please send them on. No one can take it all in, but I hope this blog can be instrumental in helping you find one or two who really resonate with you. I think it will make living through this more bearable. Knowing more can help quiet the noise.

I’m not saying that our government being run by what Robert Reich characterized as a “Star Wars cantina of fanatics, extremists, conspiracy theorists, sexual harassers, and disreputable no-goods,” isn’t absolutely appalling and terrifying. But it is also, as Cornell Brooks, civil rights attorney, minister and former NAACP president, said to Don Lemon yesterday, “a moment of tragic opportunity.” He knows whereof he speaks.

“It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant,” Acosta said on Tuesday in his final appearance on CNN. “Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth — and to hope.”