It’s Halloween. It’s Always Halloween.

Today we celebrate Halloween, a holiday that flips the world on its head. Children, who are taught to avoid strangers and respect their elders, go door to door demanding treats and threatening tricks for noncompliance. Adults, who typically drum through their dull responsible lives, have a day’s permission to act the fool and dress in silly, childish costumes. The scary, the ugly, and the monstrous take center stage, and chaos reigns. Tomorrow, the world returns to normal. Or at least, it should.

But for some time now, we’ve been living in a permanent Halloween. The temporary space once allotted for the anti-pattern that revealed the pattern has grown into a totalizing, ever-present, year-round reality. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And it is important to see it because an anti-pattern can’t hold forever.

The Trumpet Vase Curve

Imagine the bell curve. Imagine the vertical line that cuts the curve in half. For the longest time, the aim of our politics was to reach beyond that line and gather the approval of the majority. That aim shifted. Today, the aim is to force the squishy middle to pick a side and stay there. Build the biggest side and you win.

Now imagine what this does to the bell curve. Take something from the middle and push it to the right. Now take something and push it to the left. The center of the bell begins to shrink. The margins begin to swell. Keep pushing and what happens? The curve begins to invert. The vertical line, however, remains in place.

The majority, once concentrated around that line, held the power. It was there that elections were won. Today, the majority is marginalized. The curve swells strongly to the right and to the left, and the few — the formerly marginalized — have taken center stage. The quest for power, therefore, has become the quest to demonstrate oneself as the most unusual, most unidentifiable citizen in the land.

The Lord of Misrule

During medieval Christmas celebrations, a Lord of Misrule (ou Le Prince des Sots) was chosen by lot to lead and organize the festivities. Typically a peasant, the temporary lord would preside over events with a mock court, enforcing an atmosphere of festive disorder. Wild drunkenness accompanied feasts, parades, plays and other activities that mocked the normal order. It was essentially a period of controlled rebellion, releasing societal tension without true upheaval.

The Puritans were not keen on these chaotic, disrespectful festivities, and yadda, yadda, yadda… we don’t have exactly these traditions today. However, elements have continued on in celebrations like Halloween, Mardi Gras, Carnival and the like. There seems to be something essential in the human condition that needs to recognize and experience the anti-pattern. Perhaps to better understand the pattern.

A high society party is much more fun with the Three Stooges, but one can’t live with a pie fight after every meal.

Or can we? Some argue that the anti-pattern is as legitimate as the pattern. Which one we live in is a matter of choice and, therefore, dependent solely upon who has the power. The inverted society can hold if we agree to hold it.

There’s a trick, though. The Lord of Misrule will always be the one you don’t want ruling. A good Lord of Misrule is a lord of bad rule. The enforcement of disorder will inevitably result in something like a disordered order. Perhaps this is getting confusing. Think of it this way: Trump becomes the king of the No Kings.

Nov 10, 1969

Sesame Street premiered 56 years ago. In this program, monsters were not to be feared. They were lovable, funny, and great teachers. On Sesame Street, the human world and the monster world were one. Not just on Halloween but every day. In the trash cans and in Mr. Hooper’s store.

That world is now fully our world. Walmart is filled with outfits from trash cans. Hair of odd colors and tattoos galore. Uniquely the same in our disordered order. In costume today, in costume before.

Students roam the campus scaring professors. They demand good grades or threaten a trick. Good students once studied, but now they know better. Epstein’s mother writes letters declaring that he’s mentally sick.

It’s Halloween. It’s always Halloween.

But be afraid because it is about to get normal.

Because, you see, the power is in the middle. And the middle of the anti-pattern is reserved for the most unusual. The most unique. The most unique comportment right now is a normal one. The student who reads the book, avoids tattoos, and drinks too much on Saturday is now more unusual than the vegan, clean-living student with six tattoos who never reads the book and demands an A. Perhaps the most prominent voice of opposition in government is a left-leaning, right-sounding, hoodie-wearing, gentle giant senator who seems not to oppose. Pretty unusual. Hard to define. Expect more like him.

The reason I’ve said this is important to see is that it seems to me there are two ways this could shake out. The first is that we recognize the pattern and return the Lord of Misrule to his peasant cottage, gently restoring the proper bell curve. Or… it could get ugly. The waves on the margin could come crashing in as each side seeks to prove itself as the most anti-marginal.

The pattern will return, either intentionally or unintentionally.

My hope is for intention.

Enjoy your Halloween. It won’t always be Halloween.