Wolf Vostell: TV-Oxen II, from the portfolio "Weekend"
[TV-Ochsen II, from the portfolio "Weekend"] (1972)
Published by Galerie René Block, Berlin

I Quietly Pray As I Wonder
I often wonder whether what I write will hold any future significance. Moments slip past all of us, and it might be that all writers attempt to stem that slippage by chronicling time's passing. As I reported last week, I've been spending more time considering before setting fingers to keys since I started this series. This time has seemed almost pregnant with significance. I write in ignorance, if not total ignorance, at most the usual volume of it. I anticipate here and also reflect; neither acts perfect reflections. Imperfections might best represent this time later, this period when NextWorld started manifesting without anyone controlling it. Our fresh incumbent seems to have honed his self-sabotage skills since his last time in office, and he already possessed perhaps the very best such skills ever seen in any incumbent. He's far surpassing even his prior incompetence. Our democracy struggles to compensate for his utter incivility. Most days, it seems as if he never noticed that other people are here, many utterly dependent upon his decisions. Fortunately, our attorneys general and judiciary remain steadfastly standing between us and his ineptency. I quietly pray as I wonder what to describe in my writing each morning.

——

Weekly Writing Summary

This NextWorld Story finds me settling for an unexpected. Like everyone, I expect to find some rational explanation for the events appearing before me. It's almost inhuman to conclude that I'm witnessing randomness and put the explanation-seeking to rest. What if all we've been witnessing originated as Whim?

Johann Wilhelm Baur: The Ordering of Chaos (c. 1639)
" … an undisciplined eight-year-old ruled by Whim."
—
This NextWorld Story complains about the utter Unnecessity of this whole exercise. The a priori notion that all government spending is somehow evil and that, therefore, goodness can only come from its total eradication defines the problem. The common delusion is almost always the underlying problem.

Printed for and sold by W. Bingley, Newgate Street London: The Fruits of Arbitrary Power: or The Bloody Massacre (1770) Massachusetts Historical Society Online Collection
"Not a lick of any of this was ever necessary for a second."
—
This NextWorld Story finds the silver lining nobody expected. What if our self-dealing chief executive focused his considerable insider trading skills on making all of his constituents rich beyond their imagining? I make A_Modest_Proposal here for him to focus his greatest skill on finally resolving the human condition. This might be peanuts for him, but mean the world for ... the world.

Frans Everbag: Spaarvarken en spaarbankboekje [Piggy bank and savings bank book] (1915)
"( … can we actually achieve greater before we've even achieved great?)"
—
This NextWorld Story finds me discontentedly parsing through Nonsense.

Unidentified Artist: The Nonsense Seller (1814) Published by Aaron Martinet
"We will doubtless continue feeling disoriented … "
—
This NextWorld Story recalls how we have always identified as a country of laws and due process. It reports that Undue actions have become common since the incumbent took his oath of office, which he immediately began violating. A country of laws requires upstanding leaders, not self-dealers.

Lucas Cranach the Younger: page from the book: The Art of Wrestling: Eighty-Five Pieces[Ringer Kunst: Fünff und Achtzig Stücke] (1539) written by Fabian von Auerswald printed by Hans Lufft
"I suspect this might be you and fear it will be me."
—
This NextWorld Story introduces a common paradox, The Lake Woebegone Syndrome. This might explain the Department of Government Efficiency's purpose. The pursuit of paradox produces parodies of operations.

Claude Monet: Sandvika, Norway (1895)
"I expect they'll continue trying, anyway.
—

What can I do besides carefully observe? I notice or imagine patterns and apparent preferences in action. He appears to act on Whim without strategic focus. If I expect an underlying strategy, so much the worse for me. Other than the eventually conspicuous absence of patterns, there are few patterns to see. So much of what I see seems utterly unnecessary. The Unnecessity appears like a form of futility, with much drama and little evident purpose. I proposed this week that if these billionaires are so damned brilliant, how is it that they haven't resolved the human condition? Evidence strongly suggests that they succeeded due to randomness but can't bring themselves to admit it. Maybe we're each the victim and also the benefactor of the same damned forces. I no longer envy the wealthy and secretly wonder why they aren't clever enough to envy me.

Much of what I see our incumbent attempting parses to Nonsense. I should probably not expect different. I remain shocked at the lawlessness and unfairness of our incumbent's every pronouncement. I ended my hankie-wringing writing week recounting the futility of attempting to create a crew where every member reliably performs above average. I concluded this writing week declaring that the pursuit of paradox produces parody. This explains why this administration seems like an I Love Lucy rerun fused to one of the original Apprentice episodes. He does have a talent for saying, "You're fired." Nobody ever succeeded at anything by dismissing everybody around them. This episode won't be any different.

Thank you for following along!

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #NextWorld, #PureSchmaltz