June is busting out all over, no matter where you are, today being June 8. “June is busting out all over” is one of the songs from the 1943 musical Oklahoma! 1943 also included the U.S. as an Allied member of nations fighting in WWII. I wonder about movies and plays set during WWII that had nothing to do with the global conflict taking place that would determine the future of the U.S. and its Allied forces. Not to mention the fate of Germany, Japan and Italy. Some people not involved directly with that conflagration could still just go see a play. Escapism,

To say the least, the outcome of the war, which ultimately took the lives of over 70 million people, was a very high stakes conflict pitting Fascism against Democracy. But on Broadway, while those many millions of combatants and civilian casualties increased, it was all about Oklahoma! and its “romance between a stubborn farm girl, Laurey and a confident cowboy, Curly”. Innocent escapism, of the boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-boy-get girl variety.

That play offered an evening of escapism alright, from the ongoing horrors of war. Thankfully, the Allies defeated Fascism to save the world for Democracy. For a system of government where supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or through elected representatives. Oklahoma today may have a Laurey and Curly scenario going on somewhere in that state today– as June keeps busting out evermore–but Laurey becomes pregnant and medical complications set-in. In that case she might need to flee to Illinos! or California! or New Jersey!, Washington!, New York!, Hawaii!, Massachusetts!, Maryland! or Maine!, among several other states that still respect a woman’s right to complete reproductive healthcare. Sadly, there are 30 other states besides Oklahoma with restrictive environments that actively oppress or fail to provide adequate reproductive or sexual health services for women.

Ttoday, here in the U.S., while women are in the crosshairs of those 31 states, Brown and Black and working class Whites are also targeted by those rightwing legislative bodies. It’s gotten pretty ugly for a lot of people here in the United States. Our current administration in Washington, D.C. has been described as ignorant, arrogant, unfit, incompetent, racist, xenophobic, and clearly un-democratic. Remember how Democracy is described as being supremely vested in the people? Well, in those 31 states, the people have gotten the government they wanted and deserved. They voted for it! How can such choices be made that are so anti-democratic? So regressive and oppressive? Votes that likely harm many people who voted for what they thought was going to improve their lives. The question of why people ironically vote against their own best interest is open for debate. Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas are among the states ranked lowest in education. Could there be a cause/effect in regards to the quality of one’s education and their voting (or not voting) preferences? Perhaps it has to do with literacy. I assume most people in any U.S. state can read and write on at least a basic level. The literacy I allude to relates to media literacy. Political literacy. Literacy of history.

Media literacy is my first choice, with critical thinking always framing any form of media. Okay, sure, go see Oklahoma! It’s empty calories pop-culture, back then and now. More empty, no critical thinking required, escapism is dominated by movies and streaming services. Screens very small to IMAX immersive offer the movie version of ultra-proccessed food. Especially if horror, supernatural, comic book heroes or bloody cops and robber action whets your appetite. Or maybe obsess over a sports team. Cheer or jeer at players paid obscene amounts of money to help distract from our current political malignancy.

It is 1943 all over again, as I see it. Not quite as dire a matter than between 1939 and 1945. But it’s ratcheting up. Bread and circuses served daily along with an outrage du jour. It’s both local and global. And while not quite as extreme as WWII levels of Fascism, today it is cleary creating a body count brought about by a betrayal of those fighting Allied forces that literally did save the world for Democracy. Here and abroad, history is repeating itself. A lesson not learned. A lesson taught in the years leading to the defeat of the Axis forces, even during those many showings of Okalahoma! in 1943. Eventually, it was Democracy is busting out all over. Temporarily, at least.

Time will eventually render all of history into cosmic dust, billions of years from this June day, unless in our common proclivity to keep trying to kill one another, we let mushroom clouds hasten Earth becoming a global pile of radioactive ash. There have been plenty of movies depicting that outcome, now evermore becoming much less complete science fiction rather than looming, latent science fact, now with A.I. cautionary tales becoming a clear and present danger. Oklahoma! like you’ve never seen it before. Or maybe like you’ll never see it again.

But again, one way or another, this too shall pass, right? In the meantime, it’s Dr. Strangelove meets Waiting for Godot, meets Beach Blanket Bingo meets Gidget meets All the Predident’s Men.

Now streaming on Short Attention Span Theater. $25.99 a month for the no ads version.

Good night and good luck.