August 9, 2025: White Washing History

 

It has been a busy week (aren't they all nowadays?). You know it's a busy week when each day seems like it's a week long all by itself. Much of the week has been centered on the ongoing Epstein affair, if you can call it an actual affair, or cisis, or scandal, or cover-up, or embarrassment. I call it a distraction. Even I am distracted. And, as they say on Ancient Aliens, you gotta wonder what else is going on that the powers that be don't want us noticing.

I have come to think of Donald Trump himself as a distraction, as a reality TV show, albeit a very dangerous one. Given that the American economic and political system as actually a Plutocracy—of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich—we should not be surprised to see Trump ripping down the curtain that's been hiding our true handlers. Who are these people, you might ask. Sociologist C. Wright Mills called them “the Power Elite” back in 1956. He suggested that a small, compact group of very wealthy and powerful, interconnected individuals shape public opinion, use their influence to help make policies, and work to enrich and entrench themselves. The Left call this group The One Percent. The Right call them the Deep State. But there is no reason to believe that these individuals have a specifically right wing or left wing agenda. They have one goal only, control over the rest of us. Donald Trump may be a member. He certainly services them.

They, it seems, along with the vast majority of the Republican Party, want to re-write the narrative of America's story to put themselves and their ancestors in a better light. They might call it revising. I call it white-washing. I can hear them now. “All those Black people back in the day came to America seeking a better life. We have them three square, a roof over their heads, and lifetime job security. We even encouraged a free sexual lifestyle. It was a good thing.”

Mills also talked about a “mass society.” The Power Elite thrives on creating an under-educated general population in which citizens feel powerless and disconnected. They begin to see the system as rigged and start to think, “My voice doesn't matter, why should I bother?” Changing our history to suit their narrative is a huge step forward for the Power Elite, and backward for the rest of us. We can't say we were not warned.