A classic movie full of dark images of lives destroyed by mental torment and illness. The story centers on a Vietnam veteran, DeNiro’s character, who is having difficulty reassimilating to life outside the military while dealing with a descent into mental illness probably exacerbated by PTSD.

He clings to a semblance of military discipline by rigorously exercising and toning his body. This, however, cannot ease his mind. He turns to pornography and frequents sex clubs. He is a soul lost but searching. Anger becomes his greatest motivator.

In the midst of his personal anguish another character emerges, a child prostitute, Foster’s role. He both wants her and wants to save her. Confusing, no?

So how is this relevant to current affairs.

We are a country consumed with anger, but more importantly, we are lost. Of the many ways humans can cope with anguish, anger can be a strong aphrodisiac. It can also cloud one’s mind to rational thought and perhaps lead one to search for solutions that allow blame to be focused outside oneself, so that the anger can be legitimized. It is also a way to remove personal responsibility rendering a person willing to listen and be guided by narratives that feed a need to regain control over the uncontrollable. So there can be no satisfactory outcome, only a desperate journey.

Throw in a healthy dose of sexual titillation and that’s a great movie. But it’s a crap way to live.

Cue the messiah. It’s not a religious metaphor. It’s more the 12 step AA approach of turning over one’s problems to a higher power. No need for guilt or taking responsibility. It’s a recipe for recovery that works. For addicts and drunks.

The nation is in need of a good slap to snap out of it. What a great and fertile environment for the entrepreneurs of the sex trade to flourish. Pimps are now savvy businessmen. We are simultaneously being pimped and punked and somehow that’s okay with a once fringe segment of the population. Not only is it okay, it’s being embraced like the last lifeline to make America great. Again.

“Are you talking to me?”