Y'all

Come on

Did you forget that the main global warming talking point and from any view the most important global warming talking point is that it's man-made?

Like, please have the intellectual honesty to admit there is also an extremely reasonable explanation: that this is precisely the kind of first-draft bargain-basement symbolism you would get from the kind of libarts college graduates that never faced any real artistic pressures or serious-minded critique and then naturally failed upwards into working graphic design for a "reputable" rag staffed by managers and "content leads" with even less creative bones in their body.

The undeniably most important global warming talking point is the idea that it has been wrought by man's hand. Since the globe is warming, heat, flames, and "the fucking world is on fire!!1!1!1" are the obvious no-thought symbols you turn to when making a punchy single image on such a subject. This is precisely the kind of art school assignment that earns rapturous praise and a hanging outside the door from the teacher for "important themes" and "a bold voice" meanwhile the kid with actual craftsmanship who spent days on an obsessively detailed chiaroscuro gets the equivalent of a gold star and a pat on the head.

I'm not even saying that 100% no way that the graphic design department of Time magazine was leaned on to produce this image. I'm saying that they didn't need to for precisely this result to happen. This is a larger discussion, but I really think people generally imagine that the level of control on minute world events is much finer than it actually is. TPTB are not meddling with every headline and cover - not because they don't have the means or inclination, but purely because they don't have to.

Human beings instinctively try to buck off shackles (even as we instinctively seek community - it's a tricky path we have been given). Control of this scale for this long requires a subtlety that, if successful, can lead to a self-perpetuating paradigm that requires little manual maintenance.

Because Trump is the chess player it is a popular conception to imagine him making all these specific concrete moves we see him make against an opponent making equally specific and concrete countermoves. But that's the thing - it's called the shadow government for a reason. That's what makes what Trump is doing so spectacular. Despite favorite memes and gifs, he's not WWF wrestling the deep state into submission holds that make them squawk "Uncle!"

He's shadowboxing. He's not fighting a bad guy named Mr. Shadows, he's literally attempting to punch the ephemeral concept of the absence of light into yielding. He's not playing chess against a great player or even a player with twice as many starting pieces or an AI. He's playing chess against the fucking time clock itself.

And he's winning.