NOTES FROM AN OCCUPATION

Thursday, April 24, 2025

I rewatched "A Tale of Two Cities" the other night and it was chilling to realize how close we are in this country to the events of July 14, 1789.

Marquis St. Evremonde, the loathsome creep played so marvelously by Basil Rathbone, could easily represent any of the hundreds of petty tyrant billionaires who treat the rest of us like pestilent annoyances. Evremonde's murder at the hands of French peasant Gaspard reminded me of Brian Thompson's timely removal by Luigi Mangione: the idea that these rich, untouchable elites can in fact be gotten to, a realization that buoyed the spirits of the pre-revolutionary oppressed.

Right now, in this country, we are taunted daily with the callous removal of the things we hold dear: Truth, security, autonomy, the pursuit of happiness. And what used to feel like empty threats to erode our peace of mind are now being made into visceral reality. The rampant lion strides unchecked; power demands more power; the dog that was fed scraps from the table is now dancing and shitting happily among the serving plates. And we watch, helpless, as the forces of tyranny walk us to the slaughter.

There's a scene early in the film where a barrel falls from a wagon and explodes in the middle of the street, pouring gallons of wine into a gutter. In moments, every peasant within earshot is down on their knees sucking up the liquid and feeding it to their starving children.

Today, the spilled wine is "truth" and we're all crawling desperately in the dirt, hoping (and dying) to get a taste of it.

I used to think of Madame DeFarge as a villain. But I was wrong. This time, as I watched her behind-the-scenes machinations, building her forces of retribution while knitting a shroud for her oppressors, I found myself cheering her on. And when the starving peasants, after following a wagonload of meat through the streets, only to discover it was being used to feed the King's dogs, decided enough was enough and stormed the Bastille, I applauded their actions.

Now, I'm not advocating violence. Of course not. Civility above all else, right?

But given the snowballing effect of the last 100 days and the inevitability of where this is all headed, I don't think I could stop what's coming if I tried. We've moved past the point where reason and thoughtfulness are possibilities anymore.

When the idle rich are taking pleasure trips into space and expecting us all to applaud their bravery; when elected officials are eliminating the checks and balances AND all our avenues of recourse; when a brainwashed mob of puppets smiles as their rights are taken away, thinking they'll somehow "own the libs" by doing so; when no hero steps into the vacuum of leadership to offer us a crumb of hope, we must realize the only way to save what we hold dear is to wrestle back control, no matter what it takes.

Of course I don't mean any of this. I'm just being silly.

But it was exciting to watch a movie about the power of the people. It was some delicious food for thought

.