These Aren’t Normal Times. I’m Trying to Figure Out What That Means

“Shock”—by definition—is not a permanent state. We might feel waylaid now. But feelings of solidarity and courage can be awakened with small acts, especially when we act together.

By Eric Bonds
COLUMNIST

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

I’ve been feeling helpless and sad. I only admit this because I know that I am not alone, and because these feelings aren’t really about me. They are, in fact, symptomatic of our time and a rational response to current events.

It helps me to know that these feelings are an intended outcome of a political strategy.

The Trump Administration is very consciously working to “flood the zone” with as many disruptive initiatives and policies as possible in order to disorient the American public and overwhelm potential opposition. The author Naomi Klein has described this tactic as “the shock doctrine,” through which politicians take advantage of the confusion caused by a disaster (either natural or engineered) in order to diminish government and further enrich the very wealthy.

The feelings of helplessness and sadness we may be experiencing now are only intensified when we are asked to pretend that everything is normal. It’s an experience of profound cognitive dissonance, when we see cherished ideals put at risk but go on with our typical day as if this wasn’t the case.

These are anything but normal times. Our President is seeking to end birthright citizenship, a bedrock component of contemporary democracy. His administration is opening up an off-shore prison camp on a military base in Guantanamo Bay for undocumented persons. He is encouraging a billionaire supporter and his unqualified team to wreak havoc in the federal agencies that provide essential funding and services to the American public.

Certainly, we need to carry on with our lives and all of our usual professional and personal responsibilities. But in these unusual times, we can’t stop there.

The Advance and the Executive Order Project are examples of how local people are working to both report on the routine elements in our lives, and explore how the anything-but-routine flurry of executive orders from the Trump Administration is impacting residents in our region.

Following suit, the rest of us are trying to understand how we might also meet this moment in our own ways.

For one, all of us who are part of businesses or professional organizations can assert that diversity, equity, and inclusion aren’t bad words that should be scrubbed from our lexicon. Quite the contrary. We can affirm that they remain important principles that guide our work.

Each of us can make a financial contribution to the local nonprofit organizations like Empowerhouse that serve our community, but whose federal grant money is being currently withheld by the White House.

We can engage in dialogue with our elected officials and local nonprofits to find out how we can create local bulwarks against the mass deportation that threatens our neighbors and community members.

Those of us in the environmental movement might use this moment to recognize that its current structure and methods aren’t sufficient. More than a scattering of professionals and volunteers, we need to foster a broad-based and participatory grassroots movement in order to confront the climate crisis and the Trump Administration’s environmental rollbacks.

Though I’m still trying to orient myself and find out what these exceptional times require of me, I take heart knowing that none of us, including myself, can foresee how everything will turn out. While we are in for turbulent times that will upend lives, history is also full of surprises.

As Naomi Klein writes, “shock”—by definition—is not a permanent state. We might feel waylaid now. But feelings of solidarity and courage can be awakened with small acts, especially when we act together. Those small acts can multiply and collectively translate into larger changes that no one predicted.

While I can’t just yet shake this sense of sadness, I am open to those other feelings too. I am looking to my community for guidance. I still believe that we can make this world a better place.

Local Obituaries

To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.

Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism

The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:

• First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.

• First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.

• First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project

Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:

• Drew Gallagher — Humorist

• Dennis Wemm — Theatre Critic

• Hank Silverberg — Transportation

• Bruce Saller — Environment

• Loraine Paige — Food and Business

And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).

• For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.

Your contributions 100% support our journalists.

Help us as we continue to grow!

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”