He Doth Bestride the Narrow World Like a Colossus: LMAC #235
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare
I take my inspiration for this collage from current events and from the words of Shakespeare. Julius Caesar, the play from which the above excerpt is taken, is based on the historical figure, Julius Caesar. In the history of Rome, Julius Caesar's rise to power marked the end of the Roman republic. After Caesar there was a series of Roman emperors--even tyrants--who ruled Rome and its vast territory.
The transition to authoritarian rule in Rome was marked by the leader's gradual assumption of powers that had formerly been wielded by the senate. While the senate continued as an institution in name after Caesar, it existed as a formality and had no effective function in government. The consuls who governed Rome's provinces in its far-flung empire had answered to the Senate in the days of the republic. After the rise of Caesar they increasingly answered to the ruler of Rome. The senate rubber stamped decrees issued by the ruler.
Shakespeare found historical figures to be rich subjects for development of his plays. One consistent theme he explored was ambition. I guess kings and tyrants are fertile ground for exploiting that human weakness. Other Shakespearean dramas feature the contest for power and the thirst to rule. Most of us have heard the famous "out damned spot" line from "Macbeth". Lady Macbeth, originally consumed with ambition, is racked by guilt at the end of the play because of the deed her ambition led her to commit.
The lines at the beginning of the verse excerpted for this blog,
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves
capture for me a great political truth...not just for our time, but for every time when democracy has yielded to the rise of an autocrat. As I look at modern history, I see that a pattern emerges: in cases where an autocrat rose to power, that power was often seized in stages. At the beginning the autocrat had a persuasive message that reached the hearts of many people, enough people to support the power grab. The autocrat rode a wave of public support, garnered the loyalty of the military/police, and then in the last stage, usurped traditional checks on power.
Once in control, the ruler cemented his position by eliminating enemies and throttling those voices (ex, the press) that might foment popular unrest.
What does my collage say? My collage reflects some dark intimations of what a future could be if people in my country, in any country, allow one person to assume untrammeled power.
The starting point for the collage was the template for the 235th round of the LMAC collage contest (I'm on the jury so I don't compete). This late summer round of the contest ends on 9/1/2025 so there is still plenty of time to enter. Make a collage. Have fun, and maybe win a prize.
The template this week is from one of my favorite Hive people, @muelli, a great guy and an amazing collagist. Here is that template:
@muelli's picture came from the LIL gallery, which is a dedicated image gallery for LMAC creators and for all of Hive. Anyone may contribute a picture to the gallery (I've contributed hundreds), and anyone on Hive may borrow from the gallery. All images are in the public domain.
I began the collage by placing @muelli's figure in an image from Pixabay. I wanted a view of something that suggested the heartland of the USA. Then, as Shakespeare's verse states, I wanted to suggest dominance, as @muelli's figure bestrides the landscape like a colossus.
I began to add symbols that represent tyrannical power. People fleeing.
Then I added a prison compound.
I needed barbed wire to emphasis the coercive nature of the prison.
I thought freedom of speech was an important element to include. I had to figure out how to show that speech, under they tyrant, would not be free. Dissent would not be allowed. So I placed piles of newspapers at the ruler's feet, and I burned them.
I had to back up all these coercive elements with a show of force, so I placed bombers overhead.
Finally, I wanted to the collage to present a sinister impression so I added a smoke filter from Lunapic.
Elements to help make this picture were taken from several sources. Thank you to each of them. These elements were:
PublicDomainPictures
Pixabay
refugees
GDG
Pixabay
refugees
kalhh
pixabay
Prison tower
PublicDomainPictures
Pixabay
Prison Blocks
Cliker-free-vector Image
Pixabay
Barbed Wire
dimitrisvetsikas1969
Pixabay
Newspaper piles
fas
Pixabay
Fire
@redheadpei
LIL Bombers
Artower
Pixabay
I hope you have found my collage to be interesting. Making the collage was certainly an interesting exercise, and a bit cathartic.
Thank you for reading.
Health and peace to all.
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 25/65) Liquid rewards.
Thank you for the tip, and thank you very much for seeing value in my blog 🌷
Power corrupts weak and ambitious minds, and the saddest thing is that in many cases we are the ones who choose to give power to those people.
I haven't made a collage for a long time, something that relaxes me as well as taking pictures, tomorrow I will try to create something if inspiration is with me!
Good work my dear friend. ✨
There is little understanding among many that once we turn power over, there is no way to get it back. We have placed our fate in the hands of one person. Their morality, their sense of justice, their idea of equity--our destiny rests completely on this uncertain foundation.
I do hope so. You are an amazing artist.
Thank you for your kind comments. Be well my friend.
I love your explanation of how you came to make this. So much goes into these collages. I think you nailed your intent with this one.
Here in the US, I believe the stages span a number of administrations, each gathering more power than the last, adding adding, eroding our freedoms considerably, until today we have the climate (this is the real climate change) where an actual tyrant will be tolerated by nearly everyone, both sides of the political stage. And I mean "stage," as in entertainment for the masses. The outcry will be feeble, because the tyrannical actions will have already been tolerated by us once, or more often, before. Trump (if you're alluding to him) hasn't done a dang thing presidents before him haven't already done before now.
Hello @owasco,
Yes, a lot goes into the collages, at least the way I make them. Most of the people in the community are artists and they may not have a message that is so literal. I come from the world of storytelling and exposition, so I tell a story. Thanks for saying I hit my target :)
As for the rise of autocracy in stages...absolutely. The development of the imperial presidency has been constant, and growing for a long time. The loss of freedom for citizens has also been growing, and validated by Congress and the courts. All those national security regulations that I can't even keep track of... I'm afraid to use the phone!
However, I think the current administration is determined to reap the benefits accrued from those tendencies of earlier years. It's true that presidents have sent the military into cities in the past, to 'keep order'. However, no president has threatened to do this as a matter of policy, across the country.
It is true that presidents have fired leaders of our military in the past, but no president has fired virtually the top layer of military leadership. This president has fired more than a dozen. It is concerning when the military loses its independence so dramatically and so quickly. We do like our military to be separate from civilian rule. That has been a hallmark of our democracy. Having the military conspicuously subservient to one leader--that is concerning.
I looked for precedents where presidents have sued law firms. If you find any, please let me know. But the practice of suing law firms that oppose you or represent those that oppose you is chilling. People can no longer go to the courts to sue for address of grievances, if there is no law firm willing to represent them. The independence of law firms is a significant tool in protecting individual rights.
There is so much more.
I'm trying to be positive. Every time I sit down to write a political blog my dinner turns sour, so then I write a blog about nature, or past memories. That is my way to good mental health.
I'm sure I could find other grievances, perhaps not exactly those of the current doofus in chief, but related and just as bad. I don't want to though!!! It's depressing, tiring and a waste of time. Presidents have all been very bad for at least 70 years now. It is good to know many of us can now put some of the pieces together and see the big puzzle picture of our being reduced to, essentially, slaves to the deeply corrupt government, which is a collection of mobs. We are taxed on our money both coming in and going out. If we fix up our own homes using our own money, our real estate taxes go up forever. In this administration, we could lose everything, or be deported, just for speaking out about genocide in certain areas of the world. During the last administration, I was also afraid to use my phone, lest I be tracked, traced and forced into quarantine. For a while there, I was afraid of much worse, and from my former good friends. We were not allowed to speak out about the dangers of preposterously experimental medical procedures that had not gone through any safety studies. I hope folks remember how easily it was to turn them hateful. I am not sure they do.