The Path Of Least "Resistance"

What do you do when you really hate the president but have no desire to change the conditions that made his presidency possible? What do you do when you yourself are relatively comfortable—or at least too afraid of losing what you have to contemplate meaningful change—to signal your dislike of the clearly unlikeable Trump? How do you demonstrate your resistance to President Trump without any personal sacrifice or risk? How can you find a way to show you’re a critical thinker and a rebel while still clinging to the safety of the herd?

There is a way, and a lot of people are doing it. It’s called resisting by taking the path of least resistance. See, it’s just like actual resisting without any of the unpleasant short-term consequences. You don’t have to think because the answers will be provided for you by talking heads and think tanks. You won’t have to contribute to or volunteer to campaign for an honest candidate because all of the heavy lifting will be done by corporate PACs. The only expense you may incur is if you choose to purchase a pussy hat to show you’re part of the flock resistance. Just imagine floating gently downstream on an inner tube while virtue signaling on Twitter with your iPhone. 

Once one has decided on the path of least resistance, one feels pulled along by a power greater than oneself. Like flotsam carried by a might current. You will experience a force that carries you onward without any conscious choice on your part.

Now it could be tempting to question what the force is that propels us, whether there are powerful forces that are attempting to propel us in a direction of their own choosing, but such disquieting thoughts might lead us astray from the effortless path of resistance that feels so good and comforting (the water is the perfect temperature, though you may find it slowly getting warmer). Questioning will only roil the waters. Don’t rock the boat.

The path of passive resistance is one of faith. Indeed, many aspects of religious belief can be found in this sort of resistance. Not unlike an unseen god whose words are taken as law, those within the resistance take on faith the statements of unknown agents (angels) within the intelligence agencies. Where would Russiagate be without it? Also, like the priesthood of any organized religion, the clerics in the media not only interpret the words of the unknown and unseen gods, they help to direct us away from the false paths the heretics might steer you down. They interpret the signs for us and make their pronouncements which cannot be questioned but merely rabidly accepted. And like any good religion, those who do not believe are agents of the devil (Putin).

But while I am enough of a Christian to appreciate faith, just as I am enough of a Taoist to appreciate going with the flow, I cannot help but doubt that the spirit that moves within those who call themselves the “resistance” flows from any divine source, but rather from worldly power and filthy lucre. I see an amazing lack of spirituality within the resistance, and an unnerving lack of any uniting spirit other than a hatred for both our president and for huge segments of the population who may dissent from the required orthodoxy.

To those who find themselves more driven by hatred than love, I say to you: beware the cult that seeks to isolate you from non-believers, that separates you from family and friends. Exercise caution towards any belief system that develops derogatory terms for those who believe differently than you, that permits you to see others as less than fully human. One sure sign of a cult is when they get you to live your life according to some grand prophesy (Mueller Report will damn Trump), offer a doomsday scenario (Trump will be impeached, but the faithful shall be set free), and then reshape the narrative when their pronouncements have been proven false (it never was about collusion).

Like a cult, a strong current is hard to break free from once you are in its grasp. Once you’ve surrendered your self-determination to some power that has its own designs, it is hard to get it back. The flood of propaganda that has flowed from our media is powerful indeed, so much so that it is difficult to keep one’s head above water, difficult to find any steady rock on which we can catch hold and steady ourselves. But such unyielding, solid forms of resistance can still be found, journalists, politicians and artists whose messages have been unwavering and enduring (Chris Hedges, CaitlinJohnstone, Greg Palast, Black Agenda Report, and Jimmy Dore are good starting points). The past, too, offers us points of reference, timeless milestones that have for centuries guided humanity through turbulent times. If you feel yourself being buffeted by the currents of the present so that you no longer know which way is up, let that which has stood the test of time guide you.

There is a powerful current that hopes to sweep us all along. Its promise is that it will wipe clean the stain that is the Trump era, lead us to tranquil waters. But the smell of factory farm runoff from the water cannot be denied, and I trust not where this river leads. However easy it may seem to go with the flow, I see rocky times ahead whether or not Trump wins a second term. This won’t be easy. We will have to drop our oars in the water and row like hell. And we’ll have to do it in conjunction with those on the other side of the boat, the left and the right together. And rather than trusting to the current, we need to look downriver with discerning and watchful eyes, for it only us who can hope to navigate what lay ahead. Because this is no lazy river, we’re not at Disney World, and the falls are right around the next bend.