Get ready for gaslighting

Unpolluted Los Angeles.

As soon as the country opens, we will be called on from all sides to return to normal life. (There was nothing. What is it all about?). Billions of dollars will be spent on advertising, messages, TV and media content to make you feel comfortable again. Everything will be as always - the billboard is here, hundreds of advertisements are there. Even memes will convince you that all you want is to return to normal. In fact, you want a sense of normality. We all want this. We really want to feel good again, return to our usual routine, do not lie in bed all night, thinking about how to pay bills and rents, do not wake up from endless reports of tragedies, drink a cup of perfectly prepared coffee and just leave home to work . We will be in great need of comfort. Every brand in America, dear customer,will try to help you out of the darkness and come back to life before the crisis. I want you to understand well what awaits you.

Over the past hundred years, the multi-billion dollar advertising business has been based on the principle of “find a buyer’s problem and solve it with your product.” When the problem is practical and tangible, you will see its solution on TV and in Home Depot (the American distribution network, which is the largest in the world selling repair tools and building materials, approx. Re). Bilateral self-adhesive strips will allow me not to repaint all the walls. A cleaning sponge will help Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Rack Elfa eliminates the mess in the closet. The smart doorbell Ring doorbell will let me know who is standing on the porch and still not break away from Netflix. When a problem is emotional, fixing it becomes the main product of your life. You will be devoted to this product all your life. Talented marketers know how to heal your heart. Rest assured,it is your heart that has suffered the most in the last few months. We, as a society, are now very vulnerable.

You cannot see what this tragedy has shown us. In Los Angeles, the sky is blue again, because pollution has stopped due to a lack of cars. In quiet New York you can hear birds chirping in the middle of Madison Avenue. The world now looks like images on postcards. This may look like a planet if we find a way to stop killing it day after day.
Some things would not fit into a beautiful photo card:

• a healthcare system that cannot provide employees with the necessary equipment,
• small and large businesses that do not have money to pay rent and pay salaries,
• over 16 million unemployed,
• a state that has undermined the authority of the media so much that 300 million people do not know who to listen to and avoid information about obvious things that could save their lives.

This is no longer a secret. We, as a nation, have big problems. Out came problems that we ignored every day. We did not pay attention to them, not because we are bad people or we do not care about their decisions, but because we are busy. Sorry, we are not up to it. The truth is that despite our gender, religion, race, political beliefs, and even socioeconomic status (the list goes on and on) we as Americans are united by one thing - we are busy. We wander around the city, constantly rushing somewhere, trying to arrange our own life. We have goals that we need to achieve, meetings that we need to attend, and mortgages that we need to pay. We do all this while our phone rings, and the laptop is torn from notifications. When we get home, Crate & Barrel,Louis Vuitton and Andy Cohen are trying to make us feel better so we do the same thing tomorrow. It's very easy to close your eyes to problems when you barely manage to close them for a couple of minutes to sleep. The biggest misconception that causes strong social and political tension is that people think that everyone does not care about each other. White doesn't care about Black's problems. Men do not care about women's rights. Cops don't care about the society they serve. People do not care about the environment. This is far from the case. We care. We just don’t have time to do something about it. Maybe that's just me. Perhaps this is your case too.which causes strong social and political tension in the fact that people think that everyone does not care about each other. White doesn't care about Black's problems. Men do not care about women's rights. Cops don't care about the society they serve. People do not care about the environment. This is far from the case. We care. We just don’t have time to do something about it. Maybe that's just me. Perhaps this is your case too.which causes strong social and political tension in the fact that people think that everyone does not care about each other. White doesn't care about Black's problems. Men do not care about women's rights. Cops don't care about the society they serve. People do not care about the environment. This is far from the case. We care. We just don’t have time to do something about it. Maybe that's just me. Perhaps this is your case too.

The treadmill you haven’t been tearing down for decades has just stopped. What you're experiencing right now is akin to the feeling you fell off your bike: What the hell just happened? I hope you can perceive the current situation as something inexplicably beautiful. This is the greatest gift to humanity. I am not talking about deaths, not about the virus, but about a big pause. This is hard to understand. Do not stray from the bright light breaking through the window. I know it hurts your eyes. Mine too. But the curtains are wide open. This crisis has given us the only chance in life to look at ourselves and at our country with a simple look. Never again in our life will we have the opportunity to see what will happen to the world if it suddenly stops. Here it is. We are living this moment right now. Shops are closed. The restaurants are empty. Streets and highways are deserted.The planet itself fell silent. This revealed the whole truth about how we live. And this is strange. The truth is strange. Because this ... never ... before ... never happened. If we want to make the country better, make the world better for our children, and make sure that we, as a nation and democracy, are stable, then we must pay attention to our feelings. I can’t speak for you, but I can say for myself: I am devastated, depressed and heartbroken.

The ideal time for Best Buy, H&M and Wal-Mart to help me feel normal again. If only I had a new iPhone in my hands, if only I was in new nike, if only I could drink vanilla latte or diet cola, this dark feeling would surely go away. You think I'm kidding, trying to be nice, or deny the obvious benefits of a vibrant economy. You're right. Our lifestyle always has a goal. The economy itself is not the root of evil. Brands and their products create millions of professions. Brands, like people, like everyone else in the world, may be responsible and ethical, but may not be. All of them are part of a system that helps us live happily ever after. No other civilization in history has had so many people who got out of poverty. All this is thanks to the economy. The American way of life isno doubt strength. He does not wreak havoc, and does not destroy the planet and our souls. I understand this and agree with that. The disadvantages of our lifestyle are now visible to the whole world. Such a lifestyle is not for everyone. He led to great destruction. Everything is distributed unevenly. Three people are richer than 150 million other people. The ideals of the American way of life were perverted. The protection that he offered disappeared. In fact, only one pangolin blew up this defenseonly one pangolin blew up this defenseonly one pangolin blew up this defense(mammals, which were called intermediate carriers of the coronavirus, approx. transl.) We need to try harder and come to a responsible free market.

Get ready, friends. American society will soon overtake the greatest ad campaign ever created. All in order to make us feel normal again. Advertising will come from brands, from the state, even from each other, from all sides. We will do anything, believe in anything and spend any amount of money, just to get rid of the unpleasant sensation. Not even that is the worst. The cherry on the cake will be a universal attempt to convince you that you have never seen what you saw. The air did not become cleaner. Hospitals were not like a military zone. All stories are exaggerated. You did not see masked people standing in the rain and risking their health to vote. Not in America. You have not seen how the country's leader promoted an unproven miracle cure like a drug dealer pushing drugs late at night.This is all a crisis. You have not seen the homeless dying in the street. You have not seen inequality. You have not seen indifference. You have not seen the complete failure of manuals and systems.

But you have seen. You are not crazy, friends. They will apply gaslighting to us in the most unprecedented way. It will all start with a check of $ 1,200 (don’t say that I didn’t give you anything), but it will only be flowers. Large corporations and the White House are now inextricably linked. And, fortunately for us, they are led by a marketer. Business and government will unite to knock us out. This operation will be funded like no other in the world. It will happen quickly. It will be merciless. It will be overwhelming. Get ready for the Great American Return to Normality.

As one citizen of another, I ask you: take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise and think carefully about what exactly you want to bring back into your life. This is our chance to determine a new version of the norm. We had a rare opportunity to abstract from everything superfluous and bring back to life only what we really need, what makes us richer, makes us proud, makes our children happier. We need to be Marie Kondo (a specialist in putting things in order at home, a consultant and the author of four books on organizing home life, approx. Transl.) Of our life. We are deeply concerned about the lives of other people. It is obvious. This can be seen in every supporting post on Facebook, in every dinner you brought to your neighbor, in every Zoom birthday party. We are good people.And how good people we want to determine - on our terms - how our country will look in 5, 10, 50 years. This is our chance to do it. Best of all that we will have.

We can do this at home, deciding how we will spend time with our family in the evenings and weekends, what we will watch, what to listen to, what we have and what to spend money on. We can do this within society by deciding which organizations we support, what events we attend, or whether we are telling the truth. We can do this within the state, deciding who to vote for and who to give power to. If we want clean air, we will do it. If we want to protect our doctors and nurses from another virus - and protect all Americans - we will do it. If we want our friends and neighbors to have a decent income, we will do it. If we want millions to have something to eat while schools are closed, we will. If we want to live easier, we will do it. But only if we can resist the upcoming gaslighting. He is on his way.Beware.

Translation: Diana Sheremyeva