Here’s To The Magic…
It’s not pretty. None of it seems appealing in the least. My country is currently falling ill to a fascist oligarchy, and the first signs of its failing tenure are already showing. I live in America, a born-and-raised New Yorker, and I’m ashamed to be a citizen of a country that just voted to re-elect a man whose administration deliberately undermined our collective response to a pandemic that killed more than 1.2 million Americans citizens. This, on top of the fact that he’s a convicted fraudster who has also been found liable by a judge to have sexually assaulted a well-known journalist, as well as illegally used campaign funds to pay off a porn star he had an illicit affair with. And, thanks to the millions of people who were too stupid to do their research and keep from having to only recently google ways to undo their votes, we now have this dickhead back in the White House.
Do I believe we will get through this? I’m not psychic, although I won’t say “no”. My mind isn’t as immersed in political discussions to inject with any thoughts forecasting where we and things will be come 2028. All I know is the “now” of things, and how I feel, and how – and maybe where – I can take those feelings going into the following year ahead. I would like to say that 2025 would be another promising year for me in which I get to do what I do on here now, as hard as it is most days without the consistent help of an actual team, save for a few contributors who volunteer to publish something every now and then, and the willing contributors of my Buy Me A Coffee page who gave a few bucks to help my work feel a little more reciprocal than Google AdSense does for me…
Sigh.
Yeah, I know what you might be thinking. “Why is this guy writing and ranting about politics on a movie blog?” If that’s the question burning holes in the prefrontal cortex of your brains, do know that – at the very least – what you’re seeing now is only a smidgen of what I actually discuss on my personal Facebook page, and share in retweets via Blue Sky or to friends on TikTok. I’m left of center, pro-intersectional advocacy, and for all intents and purposes, “woke” in the eyes of most right-wingers whose balls are uncomfortably tickled at the mere mention of the word. I blame Donald Trump and his first administration for every American who died from the pandemic – including my sister in 2021, and for causing relentless racial unrest and upheaval toward Asian Americans, resulting in the rise of hate crimes as a result. To that extent, I also blame Trump for the rise in white nationalist sentiment that’s long escalated ever since bigots in middle America started wearing teabags on their hats and accused then-President Obama of “killing grandma”.
None of this, of course, is to say that I’m unaware of this country’s role in genocide in 2024. I’m especially disappointed in so many of the failings of the current lame duck Presidency of Joe Biden, particularly with the billions of dollars we’ve spent giving to Israel in the past year to wipe out Gaza as Benjamin Netanyahu stares down an arrest warrant accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity. And, with Trump back in the Oval Office, Gaza’s fate is all but sealed. It is shameful, disgusting, and it does bother me a great deal that a handful of my mutuals aren’t at all concerned with the generational impact this year will have, even long after 2025. I honestly wish I had words that were more comforting and affirming other than “I’m sorry my President was a complete fuck up, and that the incumbent Presidency will persist in said fuck-uppery.” “I’m sorry” won’t take back all the white supremacist gaslighting I’ve seen first-hand in the media, as well as my own inbox. “I’m sorry” won’t undo the more than fifty-thousand dead (or the near two hundred-thousand dead if you consider The Lancet’s figures). To that end, all the “I’m sorries” in the world won’t bring us back to Election Week when America had a chance to elect someone better suited to keep us all on the right track and like every politician we cynically jeer in our tweets, Facebook posts and comments, WE, the voters dropped the fucking ball.
It does bother me a little though, that I didn’t say anything directly to one person I considerably disagree with on any and all matters of politics. He actually doesn’t live in this country, and it’s also crazy that he’s the loudest Trump supporter I’d ever known personally. I did call him a friend prior to this whole godawful circus, and that was during the post-pandemic recovery era when he used to contribute to my site. As much as he credited me for being there for him when he needed an outlet to help keep him sane, he also did me a huge plus in terms of helping keep me and my family on our feet when we needed it. I won’t lie though – who he was in his politics always did bother me, as his politics – like mine or anyone else’s – were an extension of who he is. Typically, he is not someone I would have liked, and as of this past election, that hasn’t really changed much. My only regret is that the magical thinking I had of him possibly becoming a better person would have worked, and then maybe we would still be friends. Alas, not so much. You can’t advocate for people and things that threaten to harm me, the people I love, my friends, their friends and all their respective communities, and still expect me to call you my friend. For you, and the like who might be reading, no, I won’t try and motivate you to share my ideals, and I won’t try and pitch to you to become a better version of yourself than you were before I met you. That is your job. A matter of growth, learning, and evolution for you to mitigate. And, if your only reasoning for not doing so behooves you to adhere to a set of outdated and antiquated beliefs that have you likening yourself to the teachings of Ayn Rand, Nick Fuentes, and the viral blitherings of Charlie Kirk and that one dickhead who recently said “I don’t know about you all, but I think we need a lot more Daniel Penny’s in this country, because we have far too many Jordan Neely’s,” then that is a moral failing I will leave you to contend with.
The last week of this past February was the first major highlight of my year, getting to go and see a really great movie that’s still getting its share of flowers. It was there that I met a friend and filmmaker for the first time, and whose screening I actually just attended last week. Both of these are events I wish I had the chance to attend every month provided I didn’t financially struggle as much as I have. Otherwise, this whole article might have been way more different in tone and delivery. I would sound less peeved and maybe more optimistic; Perhaps, if we didn’t help contribute to a genocidal campaign to a region whose historical conflict between countries is less black-and-white than the average Zionist would have us believe. Perhaps, if my country actually voted for someone who could help propel us forward into the direction of the “Change” we were once told to believe in. Perhaps, if it didn’t take the assassination of a billionaire CEO to shake up the corporate world and getting us talking about how screwed so many Americans have been, and are, when it comes to healthcare. And, on a more personal note, perhaps if I stayed the course and didn’t let a certain person back into my life who had no business messaging me when they did… Then maybe, just maybe, this whole piece would read much different.
Then again, I can’t sugar coat much of everything in my life and in my head, particularly when in print. I’ve stared censorship in the face before, and knowing full well that what I say here will definitely shape some opinions of me for those not in the know, I know it’s only a matter of time before I get more messages in my DMs accusing me of being a terrorist sympathizer of some kind, or comments akin to “bro this could’ve been a facebook post or an email”. Quite frankly, I can’t afford to care about appeasing people who are comfortable with things like fascism, slavery, white supremacy, and genocide going into 2025. Because when the movie’s over, and the credits start rolling, all of the issues I’ve mentioned in this post – and more – are things that weigh heavily on my mind.
As a person of color, as someone who has tussled with racism and homophobia from his peers ever since the playground, as the youngest and last of a once four-member family who is resigned to taking care of his parents, as someone whose health still remains an ongoing battlefield at times, and as someone who is still working to better himself just a little more each day, one pants-size at a time, I’d like to think that looking ahead, I have plenty of reason to feel better about the future. Nonetheless, I cannot say so without the cautious cosign of knowing that as of last month, so much remains uncertain for so many people who are probably contending with way more than I am. It can’t be stated enough how important it is for us to not forget this fact from now through the next several election cycles. “Do better” should be more than a manipulable hashtag or bumper sticker. I’m just saying.
Lead photo: Lam Ching-Ying in “Magic Cop” (1990), image via Media Asia.
