So Done

I don’t even know how to write this politely anymore. So I won’t spend any energy trying to be polite. I’ll write this with the WTF energy that is coursing through my body right now, only I’ll spare you from actually writing the F word as many times as I’ve been saying it lately.

I am so done with money, power, and the machinery of cruelty.
​I am so done with:

• the smug press conferences.
• the “official statements” that insult our intelligence.
• the theatrical outrage from people who don’t actually care about human beings.
• the way money and power can rewrite reality in real time.

And I’m especially done with the new American ritual that goes like this:

• a person dies.
• a narrative is deployed.
• a character assassination follows.
• a portion of the public shrugs.
• a portion of the public justifies.
• a portion engages in whataboutism.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. We are living inside a machine that devalues humans, and then dares us to call it “politics.” It's time for freaking accountability.

When a Citizen Dies and the System Rushes to Control the Story
This week, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and VA employee, died after an encounter with federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis. Before his body was even cold, the labels arrived.

“Domestic terrorist.”
“Would-be assassin.”
“Violently resisted.”

The familiar playbook we heard just a few weeks ago.

And as if on cue, people began repeating it. Not because it’s true, but because people repeat whatever makes them feel safe. Whatever lets them believe the system is still “good.” Whatever makes them still believe that the man they voted for, and his administration, is doing good things for our country. Whatever makes it easier to swallow what can’t be humanely justified.

But there’s video. Verified video. And what it appears to show is not a “terrorist.” It appears to show a human being holding a cell phone as officers spray him and wrestle him to the ground. Gunshots follow. And then they walk away from a lifeless body. They walked away.

A life and a family’s entire world destroyed in minutes.

This is not a partisan issue. It’s a human issue.

The Algorithm Loves Power and Punishes People
And here’s the part that makes me feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin. If I post about it, with outrage, grief, and a demand for truth, the post is likely to be throttled. Suppressed. Buried. Labeled “sensitive,” “inflammatory,” or “political.” 

Perhaps I’ll even be put in social media jail for a while. Because social media platforms don’t prioritize truth. They prioritize stability. They prioritize what keeps users scrolling and clicking, and what keeps advertisers comfortable. They prioritize what keeps them out of the headlines. They prioritize the voices of institutions, officials, and power, while the rest of us are told to calm down.

So the White House can post whatever the hell it wants, including lies and propaganda, and it gets amplified. But a citizen posts verified video and calls for accountability? That’s too much heat. Too volatile. Too risky. So it doesn’t get circulated because of some algorithm.

This is propaganda-friendly by design. Not because everyone in Silicon Valley wakes up and decides to be evil, but because the system is built to protect itself. And the system protects power and the flow of money.

Devaluing Humans Is the Point
If you’ve been feeling sick to your stomach, it’s because you’re watching something spiritual happening underneath something political. We are deep in the midst of a moral collapse. We are experiencing the slow normalization of cruelty. We are experiencing a deliberate choice to devalue humans, divide communities, and silence voices, so that people are too busy fighting each other to challenge what’s being done in their name. And then, in case we start paying too much attention, we’re distracted by something shiny.

A scandal.
A headline.
A new outrage.
A flood of social media activity.
Yet another distraction from those in shadows working behind the scene who know that transparency will expose them and they will be held accountable for their role in what's happening right now.

Hey, what about those Epstein files?

It’s all part of the same machinery.

Look here, not there.
Hate them, not us.
Trust us, not your eyes. 

And forget about those files. There’s nothing in them worth seeing. Look over here instead…

I’m Done Pretending This Is Normal
I’m done with money and power being treated like moral authority. I’m done with people being labeled “dangerous” as a justification for their death, before evidence is reviewed and investigations are done. I’m done with the phrase “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”

Because detention is traumatic.
Interrogation is traumatic.
A child being pulled away from family and put on a plane by masked men is traumatic.
Being treated like a target is traumatic. 
Being erased and smeared after you die is traumatic.

And the people insisting it’s all fine are either:

• not paying attention, or
• insulated by privilege, or
• choosing comfort over conscience.

What Accountability Looks Like (If We Even Still Believe in It)
Accountability means:

• release all footage (not selectively, not later, not “after review”)
• identify the officers involved
• allow independent investigation
• stop the weaponized propaganda language
• stop calling people terrorists to pre-justify violence
• stop expecting the public to accept official statements that contradict what we can see.

In a democracy. institutions do not get to declare themselves innocent. They earn trust by telling the truth.

If You Feel Done Too …
If you are exhausted, you are not alone.
If you are angry, you are not wrong.
If you are grieving, you are paying attention.

But here is what I know. They don’t only win by taking lives. They win when they take our humanity. They win when we go numb. They win when we stop caring.

So I’m not going numb. I’m doing my best to stay connected to my heart. I am staying connected to my human experience. I’m not going silent. I’m demanding truth.

Human dignity is not partisan. Truth is not optional. And if you’re done too? Don’t look away. Look for ways to make a difference wherever you are, doing what you do.

Here are a few resources I am finding helpful during these challenging times:

These 3 Heart Reset Tools that you can get here for free:

1. Heart breathing to help me calm down, reconnect with my heart, deescalate, and get some sleep.
2. Heart hugs to help me connect more deeply with others.
3. Heart talks to support having difficult conversations about difficult topics and emotions. 

Daily updates by Heather Cox Richardson. She is a political historian who uses facts and history to put the news into some sort of context and does her best to provide a shimmer of hope. You can find her on Substack, facebook, youtube

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