Rock 'n' Rollerball A Go-Go

In honor of the late James Caan, I recently rewatched the 1970s cult classic Rollerball. Largely panned upon its initial release, it nonetheless offers an intriguing and evocative story with themes never realized when first viewed way back in my youth. Multinational corporate state vs. individuality - no one is above the former, under the auspices of the titular game, and anyone attempting to upend that status quo must be eliminated. Elitists manipulate the mass populace by presenting and supporting a false utopia, using distractions in the form of violent entertainment to reinforce that illusion for their own gain. Controlled, centralized knowledge that has been altered and skewed in favor of the corporate agenda, and routinely inaccessible to the masses - particularly to those individuals who might cause trouble.

 

Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? While the fictional story may take place in an alternate “futuristic” 2018, it easily could be placed in our current present-day 2020s. Who truly runs the world, and, as such, society as a whole? Corporations like Apple, Google, Microsoft, to name a few, whose services are used on a regular basis. Who has manipulated and distracted the masses these past few years, especially during the pandemic? Elitists - from business leaders in board rooms to politicos in halls of government - in their delusional utopian bubbles, far away from the daily realities of average citizens. Who has attempted to control and withhold valuable knowledge from the masses? Social justice activists like historical revisionists, media censors and anyone else involved in the ongoing cancel culture onslaught.

Millions of people throughout the world have lost everything and suffered greatly because of these circumstances. A vicious cycle that has and will continue if nothing is done to further thwart it. Are you awake yet? Or, are you still waiting, in vain hope, for someone else like Jonathan E. to agitate and challenge this real-life Huxley/Orwellian nightmare?

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Rashômon 2: Election Bogeyman

Despite the melodramatic grandstanding and hyperventilating rhetoric from Democrats and other leftists, the so-called January 6th “insurrection” barely merits any mention other than to highlight the political charade and lunacy represented by the subsequent witch hunt. The partisan-led Congressional inquest to “restore our values” and “save our democracy” is nothing more than a distraction; characterized as a judicious review of events and participants, the wasteful investigation is the fleeting gasp of a political party assuredly facing electorate backlash not only this year but two years hence. Rational voters in “flyover country” understand this and, as typical, have more pressing concerns than what politicos attempting to cling to power deem priority in the D.C. swamp. Yet, if a claim, especially an accusatory one, is sufficiently repeated and supported by any convincing assertion, with even only a minority of people believing, then it morphs into a kind of self-fulfilling truth - whether or not based on any substantive certainty or validity.

That is what Democrats are counting on, a tactic they continually use when it serves their narrative - from proper pronouns to gun control, and everything in between.

At present, the Biden administration and its disastrous record on every issue and policy - from the economy to international relations - increasingly represents a more legitimate threat to our constitutional republic than anything concerning its predecessor. With this in mind, I offer a list of events - while not exhaustive or limited - that indisputably represent some of the “darkest days” in American history:

1)  U.S. Civil War
2)  Abraham Lincoln assassination
3)  Pearl Harbor attack
4)  September 11th attack
5)  John F. Kennedy assassination
6)  Martin Luther King Jr. assassination
7)  The Great Depression
8)  War of 1812
9)  James Garfield assassination
10) William McKinley assassination

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth” and “repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” are two maxims attributed, respectively, to Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Ironically, there is no concrete evidence that either actually ever expressed these exact sentiments - although both undoubtedly would agree and take credit in the scope of their own fanatical ideologies. Read into that however you wish concerning the events and participants of January 6th, as well as for the hypocritical purveyors of supposed moral indignation and righteousness charged with investigating it. In the D.C. swamp, the truth often gets drowned out by the lies in order to preserve an agenda - a feature, not a glitch.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

A Tolerable Measure of Inconvenient Free Expression

“When men exercise their reason coolly and freely on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions on some of them. When they are governed by a common passion, their opinions, if they are to be called, will be the same.”
-Alexander Hamilton

Anyone else tired of having to have an opinion about everyone and everything under the sun? An especially contradictory proposition for a (former) opinion columnist, it nonetheless is ridiculous if not exhausting - frankly, even more so during the last few years. Simply attempting to stay informed among the ever-changing landscape of the news cycle, let alone forming and then expressing one's opinion concerning it, can be enough of a multiverse of madness at times. Seemingly no topic is off limits or goes unscathed in this post-rationality era of perpetual hyperventilation and outrage.

Naturally, engagement and discourse are central elements to actively participating in modern society. Such activity only serves to cultivate and advance civilization, with any abandonment of it equally decimating and a hindrance to progress. Of course, one will more than likely opine anyway even when consciously attempting to avoid doing so. Human nature dictates casting our personal beliefs and thoughts into the void, listening either for the echo chamber of acceptance or the deafening chorus of repudiation. Therein lies the current problem with the system, and the consequential devolution of this dynamic - engagement has become enragement, while discourse has become disregard.

Furthermore, censorship and silencing are rampant given the ease with which to do so through the medium of social media. No longer must one produce a counter pamphlet tacked up in the town square or shout down another in the salon. Instead, an online complaint at the click of a button - whether buoyed by any worthy gravitas - with self-anointed arbitrators of “truth” dictates what is allowed in these modern digital squares and salons. Even the most foresighted dystopian prognosticators could not have predicted such a circumstance, nor the propagandists who could only dream of having such means at their disposal.

At the heart of the issue, trustworthiness is key. Without trust, legitimate engagement and discourse by those on opposite sides is futile; no matter how fervent the debate, bipartisanship is hollow if it is not based in honest understanding. Likewise, suppressive tactics allow for only a singular truth, rather than a melded composite agreed upon by such bipartisanship. Believing that all voices should be heard, no matter your own particular viewpoint, is recognized as a necessary component to a healthy and prosperous society. Those who believe otherwise see this as a hindrance to their clearly underhanded agenda, which undoubtedly cannot endure scrutiny.

This is only my opinion, though - you very well, and rightfully so, may have a different one.

©2022 Steve Sagarra