Noise #197: Paralyzed by a paper tiger

Music reacting to the stunned silence of many Americans, and a path towards reanimation.

Opposition to the current administration feels somewhere between chaotic, limp, and nonexistent.

The New York Times’ recent interview with Sen. Chuck Schumer illustrates one example of an approach that’s as toothless as it is anachronistic.

A different article in the Times looks at why opposition efforts have been so hapless. Written by Ben Rhodes, the piece includes an interview with Ece Temulkuram, a Turkish journalist who was fired from her newspaper for writing columns that were critical of President Recip Tayyip Erdogan. Rhodes writes:

She left Turkey and watched it descend into autocracy; every crisis offered a pretext for power grabs against a “deep state,” opponents were harassed, the leader exalted, corruption normalized.

Given Temulkuram’s experiences, her perspective on the current moment in the U.S is intriguing.

When I asked her about Mr. Trump’s return to power, she said that America was in the “shame stage” of losing democracy. Not only is Mr. Trump shameless, but his opposition feels a paralyzing shame watching a once-unthinkable reality take hold.

Temulkuram explains further:

“As a citizen, you feel like this country was a paper tiger,” she told me. “All those institutions that we believed would stop this sense of insanity didn’t even exist. There is shame that comes from the defeat of a system that you’ve been living in.”

Rhodes offers the following advice to help concerned Americans stop being paralyzed and start moving:

Spotlight harms that will come to everyday people, not bureaucracies or the prerogatives of a loathed institution like Congress. Protest at shuttered facilities in communities, not agencies in the capital. Make noise however you can.

(I highly recommend reading the full article here.)

Noise #197 is my reaction to Rhodes’ common-sense advice—to broadcast just how much real and unnecessary suffering is landing on real, normal people. The music is also my small tribute to peace-minded noisemakers everywhere.

I hope you enjoy listening:

Wishing you peace,

Michael

(Noise #197 by Michael Gallant. Copyright 2025 Gallant Music LLC. All Rights Reserved.)