In the early 70s there has been a famous painter in Austria in the “School of Phantastic Realism” by the name of Arik Brauer.
He was a real Renaissance man, a painter, printmaker, poet, dancer,, stage designer, architect, and academic teacher.
He also was a formidable singer-songwriter.
I remember one song of him right to this day and it is quite relevant for the title of this article.
“Sein Köpferl im Sand” (“His Little Head in the Sand”) has been one of his most successful hits.
Unfortunately he sang in a very heavy Viennese accent that is hard to translate to English.
But I’ll try:
His Little Head in the Sand
This is a tough protest song.
However, the criticism isn’t directed against a specific group,
but against anyone who feels affected – including myself.
He has a small house in the green meadow.
He has a good job and a sweet, fat wife.
He doesn’t sprain his hands at work.
He can smoke a Virginia on every Sunday.
He says I am just fine,
About anybody else I don’t give a shit.
Chorus
Behind me, in front of me, to the left, to the right, there’s nothing.
Above me, below me, I see nothing.
I feel nothing, hear nothing, and smell nothing.
I think nothing, say nothing, and do nothing.
When a cold wind blows thru the gutter.
When the cruel wind blows thru the land.
When this wind blows, I put my head in the sand.
~~~
It was 1971 and a lot has been going on in the world since the 60s, political assassinations in the US, Vietnam War was raging, racial riots , Nixon was doing his mischief and the youth started to revolt worldwide.
In Austria though the general population did what Austrians do best:
Put their head in the sand.
Live their little cozy life.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
So Arik Brauer hit this attitude very well with his sarcastic protest song.
~~~
Now it’s 2015, I look around me and it’s a mess (again?).
The genocide of Palestinians, bombing, starving, herding around like animals of women, children and men by Israel with the full support of the USA is going on so long that it hardly figures anymore in the mainstream media. No matter how often Human Rights Institutions, International Criminal Court and the United Nations have tried to sound the alarm, the powers to be show no interest to find a solution for this glaring injustice.
The bloody invasion of Ukraine by Russia is a hot war in the middle of Europe and has already costed untold lives, injured even more and is mostly forgotten by the media.
Only lately when the Big Man From the USA started to play his cruel Dealmaking games with Ukraine, the media is interested again. Almost like a perverse wrangling who gets what in the end.
I don’t wish to go into details – though I could – but if you follow the News Media, you probably endure a bit of those depressing scenarios yourself every day.
Not to talk about the tragedy going on in South Sudan or in Yemen or in many other conflicts in less bloody ways.
But the most relevant events – in my eyes – are going on in the United States of America.
In the recent 100 days Trump has been proving that he was not kidding when he said:
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” -2016
“I will be dictator only on day one. I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” -2023
And now after 100 days in office Donald Trump has proved that he was not kidding.
Trump has wasted no time in trying to remake the US in his image – The Ugly American – with results that are sweeping, vengeful and chaotic, acting more like an emperor than a president of a democratic nation.
From igniting a global trade war that will have grave consequences in unforeseeable ways, to dismantling the US government, firing scores of workers that actually make his government run, to govern like a dictator by executive decree, to rounding up and sending migrants to San Salvador’s prisons without due process and basically treating other nations as opportunity for business deals …
Threatening, bullying, strong-arming, making deals, deny, distract, attack, spreading lies and falsehood every day.
Not to talk abut destroying single handedly the respect the the USA had in the world as a contender of Democratic Values.
I could go on and on and on, the list of lawless moves is long and shocking.
But what I want to actually say here, what is really making my hair stand up is the shadow of Authoritarianism that has descended over the richest and most powerful superpower on Earth.
That Authoritarians of the world are rubbing their hands. Erdogan and Orban and Putin and their ilk are having a party while the other Democratic nations are basically stunned and seem powerless to stop the madness.
Memories of 1932 onwards are coming to mind and I have been looking into Hitler’s raise to power, Germany’s descent into Dictatorship.
I am not really trained in history and not enough knowledgeable to make direct comparisons …
But I fear that something bad is coming to this beautiful land of North America.
And people there are more than disoriented, fearful and / or complicit with Trump and his cronies.
What I mean to say is not: Grassroot Revolution! Kill the Dictator!
I am not an agitator or a revolutionary.
I am simply sayin is: There are so many consequences of this unfolding chaos and the ones that are the victims are people like you and me. People’s life get disrupted, people’s livelihood destroyed, aid for the poorest withheld, legal rights of the most vulnerable canceled.
I am saying, lets not forget them, lets not look away!
Let’s not put our heads in the sand and go on with our little life as if nothing is happening.
I am sure in Hitler’s Third Reich many people in Germany were not bad people, they were just cowed people putting their head in the sand, playing the 3 monkey game.
Maybe this was the only way to survive then.
But we are not yet there in the USA. Still there is time.
I dont know myself how and what could be done but I know one thing:
Once we shut the doors of empathy, once we only look at our own private wellbeing or our dearest ones, once we dont voice our opinion, our opposition in some way, all is lost.
As for me, this is all I can do:
– Staying well informed of the global trends of the Great Geopolitical Poker Game.
– Staying informed of the hotspots as much as this is possible.
– Making efforts to create an educated opinion about things in this context.
– Speaking out and sharing this opinion with others.
– Having empathy with the suffering and disfranchised and vulnerable of our world.
– Feel the suffering of the planet itself, that is heating up more and more and mostly ignored.
– I allow my heart to bleed when I think about Nature being destroyed and species extinct in rapid speed.
– I allow myself to feel my own powerlessness to create a real impact on a bigger scale.
This is what I can do, what I do every day. Not just on Earth Day.
I believe that my educated opinion, my thinking about things, my consciousness has an effect.
Obviously not on the crisis itself but on the collective consciousness of humanity.
We humans are all part of a bigger consciousness that forms the collective consciousness.
This is the driving force that shapes the future.
Every one contributes instantly to that network of Us All.
The more people think Peace the more Peace has power.
I believe in that Power.
At this point of the state of our world we can not afford to retreat to pure self interest.
We have to move from ego-centric attitudes to world-centric actions.
Everything else would be short sighted since nobody is an island. We are all connected.
So please, don’t put your head in the sand, don’t live with your eyes closed.
Dont do the 3 monkey game.
Look
Listen
Feel
Talk
Even if it hurts!
