Commentary
COMMENTARY: Autocracy, Democracy, And Brittney Griner
Given revelations during the Jan. 6 Select Committee hearings, election deniers are a troubling aspect in our American democracy. The truth is well known. But loyalty to the lie transforms into a modern definition of autocrat. In their world, autocrats always win because they dictate the truth. They never lose an election even when they do.
By Emil Guillermo
The thought of Brittney Griner, the WNBA star turned political hostage, should make every freedom-loving American weep.
It’s going to be a long wait before it’s all over.
The televised images of Griner behind bars were nothing like the glory images of Griner on the basketball court. There was no joy from her cell in a Russian court, where justice is a sham, and a guilty verdict was handed down for less than a gram of cannabis in a vape pen.
But then came the capper, a prison camp sentence of 9 1/2 years. It was almost too much to bear.
Although Griner has said she doesn’t want to talk about politics or being a pawn, that is exactly what she is. It’s a different game where the U.S. and Russia now discuss prisoner swaps the same way NBA teams try to figure out trades. But is Griner equal to an international arms dealer? An angel for a devil doesn’t make sense, which only means any agreement will take time. And Russia has nothing but time.
So, we should take this unique moment as a civics lesson to appreciate the system we have in our own country, as flawed and as imperfect as it is.
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan last week, she emphatically defended her visit, saying U.S. stands by democracies like Taiwan which is standing up to its bully, China. Said Pelosi, “We take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”
Democracy you know.
Autocracy? That isn’t being forced to drive a plug-in electric car.
No, autocracy in the starkest of terms is dictatorship. It’s total control. It’s what Putin has. Americans instinctively know the difference between autocracy and democracy.
It’s also a choice we face every day here in the U.S. and especially during any election in these unique times.
While Pelosi stood up for democracy in Taiwan, it’s been a mixed bag in America where Democracy triumphed recently in Kansas when a majority voted to keep abortion a constitutional right in that state.
But democracy remained befuddling in Arizona and Michigan in particular when voters chose candidates who believe in the “Big Lie,” that former President Donald Trump won in 2020.
Given revelations during the Jan. 6 Select Committee hearings, election deniers are a troubling aspect in our American democracy. The truth is well known. But loyalty to the lie transforms into a modern definition of autocrat. In their world, autocrats always win because they dictate the truth. They never lose an election even when they do.
Many Americans choose to believe the lie being pushed by Trump, who has publicly envied the idea of China’s Xi as “president for life.”
It also explains Trump’s reaction this week when the FBI raided his Florida home. The agents had probable cause and a judge’s signature. Only a failed president with autocratic dreams would question the legality of the raid.
And yet, the GOP remains in the grips of Trump.
But hope comes out of Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.
More than 20 Republicans came out in support of the speaker, including Sen. Mitch McConnell. And all despite the military “tests” and general saber-rattling from China. In standing up to China, there were some rational Republicans who had to publicly acknowledge we really are on the same team, in support of our enduring democracy. And all democracies. Everywhere.
It was a rare moment of partial American unity!
That’s why Pelosi’s trip will be one of her legacy moments, one that shows us the stark difference between Autocracy vs. Democracy. It’s the choice before us.
In an autocracy, Griner stays behind bars. In a democracy, she goes free. It’s a lesson worth contemplating as we wait for the swap politics in Russia to play out.
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. Twitter @emilamok. See him on www.amok.com
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
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Commentary
Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”
Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.
By Emil Guillermo
I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”
I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.
Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.
Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.
That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.
And it just doesn’t happen that often.
Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.
When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.
Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.
On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.
I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?
I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.
Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.
Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.
I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.
And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”
It was the night of the eclipse.
ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE
In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.
For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.
I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.
For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.
Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.
History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.
Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.
If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.
You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!
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