(SUBSTACK) — Growing up through the 1980’s one became accustomed to the Hollywood tactical employment of laser beams in movies and television to signal that a character was under the gun – a long gun, to be specific. This red dot would be noticed by the afflicted actor, and the behavior would change accordingly to signify defeat, often with a melodramatic flare.
These days the operators of cinematic gunplay have transitioned to the hyper-realistic use of infrared lasers and Night Observation Device Systems (NODS). The action is fast paced – the violence of action is palpable. The laser, however, is invisible to those so afflicted. There is no change of behavior with the presence of the green dot. Just a dampened 120 decibels, suppressed flash, impact thud, and a confirmed “tango down.”
This transition through cinematic history provides an adept analogy for where we find ourselves today in America. Look downward to your center chest. See the dot? No? That’s because you’re not looking through the correct lens.
The dot is there, but too many people in America deny the dot is there because they expect it to glow red, and there is obviously no red dot present on their chests. That’s normalcy bias, and the expectation that the current war will be fought in the same manner as the last.
