The Watchers

The line that troubled me was at the end of the quote. “These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest.” It was of course Mr Trump speaking about Stallone, Voight and the racist homophobe Gibson, but it made me think to myself, “Ah yes, of course. The Watching has begun in Hollywood and will soon spread elsewhere.”

Here is the full quote from Trump:

“It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California … They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest.” ( Capital letters are from Mr Trump. The Bolding is mine for emphasis). 

I’m pretty much agnostic on Hollywood. I can’t remember the last time I actually watched a movie in a theatre. With streaming services and the rapid time movies arrive in the home market, I’m not sure there is much point. As for award shows, well they’ve never appealed to me and it has nothing to do with politics. They just aren’t my thing.

What I’m not agnostic about is Watchers. People keeping “eyes and ears” on others and then reporting them.

When we were kids, we had a word for those people – snitches. I’m sure most of us recall the neighborhood snitch. You know who I’m talking about. The one who would play with you and others, not say much, and then report on all of you to the teacher. Or the principal. Or the parents. 

The obsession the snitch-kids had with sucking up to authority isn’t all that different from what we are seeing now. 

Yes, it’s happening in Hollywood, but it’s already started in other places as well, particularly across the government. We know about the promised “Warrior Boards” reviewing General Officers in the military, the career state department diplomats asked to step down, the justice department personnel relocated, the immigration court firings, the middle of the night firing of 15 Inspector Generals for federal agencies (most previously appointed by Trump himself in his first term), government personnel asked to turn each other in for potential violations … the list goes on. The Watchers have been busy. 

It will continue in our communities as well, if it hasn’t already started. We will see the snitches in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and other large cities, but blue cities in red states such as New Orleans, Omaha, Houston, Austin and Jackson, MI are particularly vulnerable. 

Eventually it will filter down to the small towns and rural counties of America, such as Fauquier County where I live. 

Fauquier County is a red county. The Watchers are already here. You can see it in the posts and “warnings” on community social media pages. You can hear it in the dialog about immigrants (legal or not), particularly if they are people of color. Three of the five Wards in Warrenton voted blue in the election last November, the first time this has happened in forever. Some people aren’t too happy about that – you hear it in their discussions of the new people who have arrived in the county from no-good, Marxist liberal Northern Virginia. 

We’ve seen this before, most notably during Joe McCarthy’s witch hunt for communists during the ‘50s. McCarthy (and others) attacked Hollywood, the government, academics and teachers, left-wing politicians, and everyday people. Neighbors were encouraged to turn in neighbors. Thousands of people lost their jobs, careers and reputations often with no actual evidence. Hundreds were imprisoned, or held in jail.  As a part of McCarthy’s efforts, the hunt for “sexual perverts” (homosexuals), who were assumed subversive by nature, resulted in the firing of over 5,000 federal workers, and thousands more harassed or denied employment.

Does any of this sound familiar? It was ugly then and it is ugly now. 

Today, most people are horrified about Joe McCarthy, McCarthyism, and what happened in the ‘50s. They can’t understand how people did nothing. They talk about how they would have stood up to it. They would not have turned neighbors in on trumped up charges.  They would not have blacklisted people or businesses. They would have done something about it. 

Well ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have the chance for a do-over. People need to decide whether they are going to speak out, remain silent, or become one of The Watchers. These are pretty simple and straightforward choices. Seventy years from now, when people are looking back in history, will they shake their heads and say the same thing we currently say about people from the ‘50s during McCarthyism?

I’ve made my choice. People know where I live here in Fauquier County, which is fine by me. What about you? Where do you stand?

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Addendum:

• Thanks to my friend Irv Woods for reviewing the blog prior to publication.