Captain Miller: We're looking for a paranoid personality. Someone driven by fear and frustration. He's insecure. He thinks he's being persecuted by authority. He's obsessed with a hatred of government.
Yemana: That could be anybody.
This little exchange is from the second episode of the first season of Barney Miller. I think about it often, particularly during trying times. It's a good reminder that the next revolutionary could be us. Or me, more specifically.
Captain Miller: We're looking for a paranoid personality. Someone driven by fear, frustration. Who's insecure. Who thinks he's being persecuted by authority. He's obsessed with a hatred of government.
Sergeant Yemana: That could be anybody.
From this episode.
And yes, at times, it could be anybody. I know that's tossed in there as a joke, but what makes it funny is that grain of truth that lies therein. These days, though, gotta be careful even joking about things like that. Because the whole *country* is paranoid and driven by fear and frustration . . .
The more you think politics and society have changed, the more you realize they're actually the same.
Maybe this is a warning, from way back in 1975. Yes, I know it's fiction. But it's fiction that drew a lot from contemporary society to maybe get people talking about things since they saw them on a comedy show.
The question remains, as you or I rail against the failings of politics, politicians, "the media," social networks, or whatever El Guapo you feel like fighting or whatever particular windmills you're tilting at: What are we, as individuals, willing to do about it?
And, when we figure out what we're willing to do, step back for a moment: Is the thing we're willing to do sensible? Will it add to the solution or add to the problem?
Those are heavy questions to answer.
But they ought to be asked, and answered sincerely, before any one of us straps on a belt of metaphorical dynamite.
