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‘Safe’: The Infinitesimal Life
There are so many things these days that bring the plot of a 1995 movie, Safe, to mind. The story is about a housewife, played by Julianne Moore, who experiences some unknown illness —
Following the renovation of the family’s home, Carol suddenly starts experiencing physical symptoms when she is around certain everyday chemicals: she coughs uncontrollably when breathing exhaust fumes from a nearby truck while driving, has breathing difficulties at a baby shower, and suffers from a nosebleed while getting a perm at a hair salon. As her symptoms worsen, the chemicals that are triggering them seem ubiquitous. Finally, she has a complete collapse while at her dry cleaners that is being fumigated with pesticides.
Doctors have no idea how to cure or help Carol. She attends some psychotherapy sessions, but her symptoms are not alleviated. She finds that she is very alone with her disease when her community behaves indifferently towards her. Accepting that she can no longer function in her current life, she leaves her home, possessions, and life behind. Without her husband, she moves to Wrenwood, an eerie new-age desert community for people with environmental illnesses. Wrenwood, which has cult-like aspects, is led by a man whose relentless motivational talks amount to “psychological fascism”.[7]
Even in a community of people with similar health issues, Carol seems to become more isolated. She moves into an igloo separated from the rest of the community. The film ends with Carol looking into the mirror saying “I love you” to herself.
Although the plot is centered around an initially plausible environmentally-based harm, the steps to protect oneself become increasingly extreme. In the end, “Carol” lives a life that can best be described in science fiction terms as a “brain-in-a-jar”; a life cut off and disconnected from everything that makes life meaningful.
Taken as a metaphor, this story can be applied to a lot of recent events where fear is being used as a tool to control us. But that tool is not simply coming from one place. If we are to keep balance, if we are to maintain what it means to be human, we have to reject the psychological power of fear.
We have to be brave, but not stupid. Think of the protestors in China right now. They are holding up white sheets of paper. There is no explicit challenge to Xi and the CCP. There are no words to condemn them. This is a smart strategy informed by reasonable fear. Nevertheless, they are brave, refusing to be silenced even as their expression is ambiguous.
Think about what’s happening to the economy. Inflation is going to impoverish many. The fix to inflation is economic hardship. The solution to economic hardship is maintaining connections, not severing them.
Think about what’s happening to the culture. People are being gaslighted and harmed by progressive ideology. Division and discord are being sewn in service to political control. Withdrawing from “others” — no matter how tempting — is not the answer. Speak and live your truth so that others will be emboldened to do so and not feel isolated and alone. It will not always be pleasant, but it is better than the alternative. Do not shout or bully. But persist.
Humans require connection. Do not deprive yourself of it in a vain search for safety. No one gets out alive, so make your time joyful — or at least as joyful as possible in the face of circumstances as they develop.
Change is coming, because change is always coming. Fear of the coming change is not a psychosis, but isolating oneself is. Silencing oneself is isolation and deprives you of knowledge about who might connect with you to make it through what’s coming.
Published in General
In a book I read a while ago, the author talked about the “stress paradox”: it is your family and friends who cause stress in your life, but your life would be meaningless without them, and you’d be dealing with the intense stress of isolation. You would miss those people. :)
Sigh.
A beautiful post, Rodin. Full of wisdom. :)
Sounds like a 1980s tv movie.
Beautifully said. And it makes me so sad.
This touches on some thoughts that I’ve been playing around with for years and never sat down to write out and clarify. Communication is a medium to convey an idea or emotion. I can really go down a rabbit hole here but what is clever about the blank piece of paper is the plausible deniability. If I write “sh&t” we all know what I meant to write and even though I didn’t write it as expected I communicated the idea I wanted to communicate. Did I then in fact just write it? Havel’s greengrocer had a sign that conveyed a meaning other than what it said. There are plenty of examples.
I find it really interesting that it’s unspoken (no pun intended) that if we skirt a common way of saying something but substitute another way that in the end conveys the same information we are absolved in a sense. In polite conversation I think you are credited with acknowledging that the words “as8^5le” or “n-word” is rude or crass and pretending to sidestep the word while being certain to express that same sentiment the word would in the first place. You make a collection of letters a scapegoat. In protests like with the white paper I think you dare the target of your disguised speech to call you on it and by playing dumb force them to spell out the sin you are/are not calling them on.
Sorry about the tangent, but that interests me – has for some time.
Great post, by the way.
@rodin, I always find your posts to be edifying, but this one was particularly helpful to me. Thanks for getting me out of a rut.
Man, having a family can go a long way in fulfilling this requirement. My son is a performance musician so he has a fan base but he has never married so no children of his own. This time of year he has much positive to say about his visits and interactions with his nieces and nephews.
Why is our government doing everything possible to defeat all of this?
This reminded me of an old and haunting SF short story, ‘Mariana’ by Fritz Leiber:
https://sfshortstories.com/?p=706
Let’s go Brandon!
Depends on the family.
This is why we have language with words where we can identify universal good and isolated evil, communicate such, and act. Family falls on the good side.