The Difference between Trump and Clinton (or I'm a Human Being, Get Me Out of This Web of Lies)
This fascination and obsession with the US presidential election is rather obscene: the outrage at Trump's "shocking" behaviour and remarks as if he is somehow an anomaly, as if our society isn’t full of Donald Trumps, full of men walking around assaulting women just because they can - at work, at home, in school, in the street, in bars and clubs, everywhere. Full of over-privileged entitled White Men who defend their privilege with racism and violence. Men who treat anyone who is not a cis-gendered White Man as a second class human. But the worst thing abut this preoccupation with Trump’s misogyny is that it distracts us from seeing what Trump and Clinton have in common (which is far more than what sets them apart), i.e, the massive meta-system of inequality that isn’t just about gender: neoliberalism. And what’s most obscene is not this outrage at Trump, it’s the illusion of choice. Here’s a little analogy to explain what I mean.
The Difference between Trump and Clinton (or I'm a Human Being, Get Me Out of This Web of Lies)
A One-Act Play by The Unpractical Scheme
*trigger warning - physical assault*
You've been arrested. Perhaps you had to "steal" some medicine or food in order to survive, or maybe you participated in a political protest, or an act of nonviolent civil disobedience, whatever. So you've been arrested and detained for an unknown number of hours or days in a small windowless room, light on 24/7, no phone calls, no lawyer, no food, etc.
Two guards come and take you away for questioning. You're mentally and physically exhausted, at the point of breaking. You're brought to an interrogation room and made to sit down across a table from two police officers. One of them, who you soon come to think of as Bad Cop, starts shouting at you, calling you a terrorist, a cockroach, a whore. We know what you've done, you will disappear into a dark hole somewhere, you'll never see your family again, they'll never know what happened to you. And we'll go after your family too, your parents will lose their jobs, and who knows, your sister might disappear one day on her way home from school. He pauses to laugh at this. Then he punches you in the face, pushes you to the ground, kicks you around a bit, sits on you and grabs your throat. He threatens to rape you if don't confess and give up the names of the others who were with you. And maybe he'll rape you anyway, just because he can.
The other officer has been sitting quietly, watching the scene play out. Until eventually he tells Bad Cop to stand down. Stop it, leave her alone. We're not savages for god's sake, we don't rape people. (Not with the cameras on anyway, he whispers under his breath) Good Cop kneels down beside you, asks if you're ok, gives you some water, helps you sit up. Apologizes for Bad Cop, says he loses his temper sometimes, but me, I just want to help you, I'm on your side, just let me help you, but I can't help you if you don't confess.
You start to warm to Good Cop, he seems like a decent guy. And he hasn't tried to rape you, so there's that.
Then he says, are you hungry, bet you haven't eaten in a while, how about we get you a sandwich and a nice cup of tea, would you like that? I'll get you some food, but if you want me to help you, you have to help me in return. All we want is your confession and the names of your associates. Help me here, I'm just an honest person doing my job. I'm just trying to protect Society.
In your exhausted state, disoriented and in pain from the assault, you start to think, hey, maybe I can trust this Good Cop, maybe he really is on my side, he seems a lot different to the other one, who's clearly just a misogynist brute. Maybe this guy really does just want to help me. Maybe it's best to just confess to whatever they want me to confess to, just so they’ll leave my family alone, just so I can get some rest, and get out of this awful room, maybe to a room with a bed and a window.
Cast (in order of appearance)
You: everyone whose lives have been destroyed by the global neoliberal project
Good Cop: Hillary Clinton
Society: the global neoliberal project
One big happy family :) :)