Prompt 40: August 1, 2024
The Prompt:
I’ve been hearing lately, from people confidently stating, that we were an inch away from civil war. This project has always recognized the legitimacy of such national turmoil, but this was too close.
There is a game. History is typically understood as the record of the game. The game is in the world, but has no consideration of it. We can play the game, but it won’t do us any favors. Democracy had its chance in the last century, but the game will always be King of the Hill. The hill has expanded to Earth’s orbit, and the king(s) have the power of gods, but the game is the same.
I’m not sure what life looks like after a coup, or a sustained power outage, or a nuclear war, but I’m sure there is life outside the game. Let us take this prompt to relish that life, and think of ways to insulate ourselves when the game gets exciting.
Context:
The first OTC Prompt (Extending the Conversation) was released five days before the capitol security threat on January 6th, 2021. In it, we addressed the use of rhetoric to escalate political tension. Forty prompts later and we’re left speechless at the collapse of the security apparatus allegedly protecting our leaders.
I was completely surprised by the news that President Trump was shot. To clarify, I have no doubt there are people who wish him, as with any world leader, harm, but I was shocked that such a shot could be pulled off. Fate has its way of accomplishing the impossible, and this was certainly an inch away from replicating the Gavrilo Princip moment.
On June 28th, 1914, the Black Hand, a Serbian terror group, launched a failed assassination attempt on the Archduke of Austria at a parade. When the driver departed from the parade route, he broke down near a meat shop, where a nineteen-year-old member of the Black Hand, Gavrilo Princip, was sulking about the failed attempt. Princip seized the opportunity to gun down the Archduke and his wife. The incident led to escalating political maneuvers throughout the Austro-Hungarian empire and eventually, throughout Europe, leading to the war to end all wars. Who can say what trouble is brewing for us in moments such as these.