New Netflix anime "Blame!" Contains Anti-Trump/Anti-Fascist Message Everyone Should Hear
Don't get me wrong. "Blame!" the classic, cult manga by Tsutomu Nihei is much more than a political treatise. It is the best dystopian science fiction manga ever and possibly the best manga ever.
The premise is simple--though it takes a bit to get the whole story if you plunge head first into the manga. Tens of thousands of years in the future, the Builders--machines programmed by humans to add to the City----have gone rogue, creating a nightmare world in which the architecture is absolutely bat-shit crazy. These machines that were supposed to create a human paradise are out of control. Seems that some type of plague--or maybe just random mutation--altered the human genome and now no one has the "Net Terminal gene" needed to access the computer system that controls the Builders.
And it gets worse. The original humans, obviously as frightened of immigrants as Trump and his Fascist Base are frightened of immigrants, created the Protectors, cyborgs programed to rid the city of anyone who did not have the "right" DNA, i.e. "aliens."
Meaning that the world of "Blame!"'s future is a massive City that has engulfed the world--and the world has no place for the descendants of the original human, all of whom register as "aliens."
While the manga is huge and sprawling (like the City), the two hour anime movie is a short story with the basic plot of "Shane." I won't give away any more than that.
When we target "immigrants" i.e "the other" for exile and death, we kill ourselves. Literally, in "Blame!" and just as literally (though not in quite as dramatic a fashion) in the real world. Every mother who is "sent back" for the crime of having a Hispanic surname and no Visa, every Indian who is shot after being mistaken for Muslim, every Muslim who is hauled off a plane for being correctly identified as a Muslim--every act of violence against those who have come to this country for the same reason our ancestors came to this country---to succeed, to create a better life for their children, to practice their religion as they choose, to speak as they choose---is another coffin nail in the death of our country.
Trump is not making America "great" again. Trump has lead our country to a cliff edge and is demanding that we commit mass suicide. Each wave of immigrant has brought new strengths, new ideas, new vigor to this country. But, in the Fascist world view, anything "new" is dangerous. It threatens the status quo. It must be stopped. It must be excised. It must be killed--even if that violence kills us along with it--
Of course, to Trump's Russian handlers, the death of the American Dream probably seems like a good idea. Because, if there is no world model for what open borders, cultural diversity and tolerance can achieve economically, Fascists like Putin will have a much easier time convincing their own huddle, frightened masses that they had better not rock the boat. And the 1% will not have to look over their shoulders wondering when the next French Revolution will come their way.
Keep in mind that no one accumulates vast wealth for the fun of it. The people who desperately try to steal and then protect more gold than they can ever spend in a lifetime do it because they are afraid. Afraid of Daddy who did not love them enough. Afraid that they never measured up the the ridiculous standards of what they were taught a man (or a woman) should be. Afraid of being alone and convinced that only money can buy them companionship. The Hollow Men attempt to fill their inner void with wealth--and when the money does not ease the pain, they tell themselves "I must be unhappy because someone is trying to steal my wealth. I must protect my wealth at all costs." And what a cost! When they kill another person for being a threat or "other" they kill a part of themselves, because it is human nature to see ourselves in the faces of others and the only way we can kill is by telling ourselves "That is not me. That is a threat to me." Meaning that being ourselves is suddenly a threat to our own identity. And if someone of the wrong color or religion or surname happens to achieve a little economic success, watch out! When we who define ourselves by our "privilege" realize that our color, our religion, our surnames mean nothing, we feel our own sense of self crumbling--and that is when we turn into a lynch mob. Or program a bunch of cyborgs to eliminate everything that frightens us.
Who's to blame for Trump? We are. Who can undo the harm that Trump has done? We can. We will do it by recognizing the part of Trump's twisted message that appealed to too many Americans (not a majority but still too many)---"I am frightened. That must mean that someone is threatening me. That must mean that I must kill"---that fear is a basic part of the human psyche which can and must be controlled if we are ever to have a snowball's chance in Hell of getting along in an increasingly crowded world.
Namaste. Now go watch "Blame!" It's lots of fun and not nearly as didactic as I am making it our to be.
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