Joan and I recently started to watch \u201cPLUR1BUS\u201d on Apple tv, a new series by Vince Gilligan, the mind behind both \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d and \u201cBetter Call Saul.” Its lead is portrayed by Rhea Seehorn, who played Bob Odenkirk\u2019s companion in \u201cSaul.\u201d<\/p>\n
The premise is basic post-apocalyptic dystopia: an extra-terrestrial virus takes over all but 11 people on the planet, killing more than 800 million folks in the process. The show leans heavily on the feelings we all experienced during the pandemic: isolation, fear, wariness of \u201cother people.\u201d Joan wondered out loud if the pandemic set the stage for the current president\u2019s re-election and I couldn\u2019t actually find a reason to disagree with her. More later.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m pretty sure we are entering a decade of post-pandemic art, shows like \u201cSeverance\u201d and films like \u201cOne Battle After Another,” in much the same way as novels were written after the plague, or films released following 9\/11. Those feelings I listed are universal, regardless of circumstances. We all feel them.<\/p>\n
The title \u201cPLUR1BUS\u201d is derived from the Latin saying meaning \u201cOut of the many, one.\u201d Aside from the 11 unaffected people, the rest of the world acts with a \u201chive mind,\u201d able to share information by thought. Young women fly cargo planes. Nine year olds comment on gynecological issues. It\u2019s a frightening world.<\/p>\n
The hive mind reacts very badly to anger. Seehorn\u2019s character regularly explodes and folks around her seem to experience seizure-like behavior, shaking and falling to the ground. Because anger, among other things, often frees you to speak your mind and rattle somebody else\u2019s cage in the process.<\/p>\n
Which brings me to the \u201cmore later\u201d portion of this column. I promised to explain to a reader what BBS stands for. <\/p>\n
No\u2026not that! Get your mind out of the gutter! BBS is the opposite of TDS. TDS stands for \u201cTrump Derangement Syndrome,\u201d the perception that somebody will blame everything wrong with the world on our latest president. BBS stands for \u201cBlame Biden Syndrome.\u201d This is the belief that a person will automatically blame our former POTUS for anything that happens now. Neither are classified officially as mental disorders, but you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell that from the way they\u2019re used. Each one seems an easy out for folks that don\u2019t want to continue to prove their points to someone who disagrees with them. Advocates on both sides swear they\u2019re right and that the other side is deluded.<\/p>\n
But, are they? One can seriously question why somebody would advocate for a man (because no woman has been elected president yet) who has been found guilty of multiple crimes, a man who recently stated that he could \u201cjust kill\u201d certain people without the approval of Congress. But, one could also question the validity of voting for a man who had a dalliance with an intern while in office, or a person from a different culture who was or nearly was elected to that same office, or a man of questionable morals or varying ethics. How could we possibly vote for somebody like that?<\/p>\n
Party loyalty often is a deciding factor. If your family votes a certain way, sometimes you do too, until you\u2019re old enough to make an informed decision. Some folks forget that, prior to Nixon\u2019s second election, the voting age was 21, not 18. Many kids who couldn\u2019t vote yet were sent to die in Vietnam. And Nixon still won in a landslide, only to step down later due to his involvement in Watergate. Those times seem almost innocent now.<\/p>\n
Another factor is beliefs. If you seriously believe that \u201cimmigrant hoards\u201d who eat cats and dogs are coming for your job, your daughter, your family, I guess you would vote for a strongman type who vowed that only he could protect you from them.<\/p>\n
And the old saying is true\u2026 even paranoids have enemies. Even if you think \u201cthey\u2019re\u201d out to get you, somebody may actually be out to get you. It just might not be who you think.<\/p>\n
After 9\/11, this country pulled together in a way I had never seen before. We all stood behind George W. Bush\u2019s efforts, no matter how wrong (weapons of mass destruction) or wrong-headed (attacking a country that had nothing to do with the bombings) they were, because we needed to stand united or fall for anything. We were actually focused on the survival of our country for once instead of our individual goals.<\/p>\n
In the \u201cOuter Limits\u201d episode \u201cThe Architects Of Fear,\u201d Robert Culp is transformed into a monster in an effort to give the world a \u201ccommon enemy\u201d to fear and hate. Things go sideways and the plan fails, costing Culp\u2019s character his life. In a similar way, in the recent \u201cWicked\u201d series, the Wizard opines that Oz needs a \u201ccommon enemy\u201d to unite it.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help but wonder, and feel free to call me naive, if we need that. Why, exactly, can\u2019t we seem to find a happy medium and focus on what we share in common rather than what tears us apart? Are we incapable of seeing each other, truly, as brothers and sisters, or have we allowed the media, our political leaders, algorithms and technology to decide our side for us?<\/p>\n
It seems to me we can do better. So let\u2019s try. Maybe take politics out of the discussion and focus on commonalities. Winter is coming. Time to hibernate. But, while our bodies remain indoors, perhaps our hearts and minds can wander. It\u2019s worth a shot.<\/p>\n
Hold those magnificent grey heads high. Love one another.<\/p>\n
Comments may be submitted to \u201cTalk To The Old Guy\u201d on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joan and I recently started to watch \u201cPLUR1BUS\u201d on Apple tv, a new series by Vince Gilligan, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-69845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}