America is building The Wall
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A fb friend of mine who emmigrated from Poland as a teen and lived through the martial law of 1981-83, wrote this magnificent prose recently that i identified with and made me tear up. I add one of my favorite songs from the greatest rock albums ever made. I dont think Roger Waters had any inkling of the truth he wrote to that is currently coming to realization in my good ole USA.
“We Don’t Need No Fascist Nation: Watching The Wall With My Daughter in 2025.
I saw Pink Floyd’s The Wall at 13. Now I’ve watched it again—through the eyes of my 13-year-old daughter. And the dystopia I once feared is the one she’s growing up inside.
I watched The Wall today with my daughter, Scarlett. She’s 13.
I was the same age when I first saw it. Back then, it haunted me—but in an abstract way. The marching hammers, the faceless schoolchildren, the descent into fascist fantasy—all of it felt like surrealist warning art, like something that happened elsewhere, or maybe could happen someday, but not here. Not really.But when I looked at her watching it—really watching it—and nodding in quiet understanding, I felt something twist inside me.
She got it. Too easily. Too early.
And I don’t know what wrecks me more:
That she understood it at 13.
Or that she had to.All in All, We’re Just Another Brick
Pink Floyd’s The Wall is about alienation, grief, indoctrination, and authoritarian rot. It’s the story of a boy named Pink who builds a mental wall around himself to survive a world that dehumanizes him. Every trauma—his father’s death, abusive school, smothering home, exploitative fame—is another brick.
Eventually, the wall becomes a prison. And inside it, Pink becomes unrecognizable—even to himself.
That’s not just art anymore. That’s us. That’s America.
This Country Is Building Its Own Wall—And We’re the Mortar
Every day brings another brick:
• Book bans and surveillance in classrooms
• Fear-stoked hatred toward immigrants and refugees
• Manufactured panic about “wokeness,” “globalists,” and “groomers”
• A normalization of cruelty that would’ve once sparked revoltAnd those of us who came here believing in this place—immigrants, idealists, even cautious optimists—are watching the wall rise around us. Fast. Brutal. I may be white and European, but the message is loud and clear: we were only welcome when it was convenient.
Now? Over half the country doesn’t want us here. Doesn’t want them here. Doesn’t want anyone who dares to dream of something bigger, messier, freer.
There’s a scene in The Wall where Pink, fully gone, imagines himself a dictator. On stage, barking orders. Pointing out the “others” for removal. It’s absurd. Exaggerated. Grotesque.
Unless you’ve been paying attention in America lately.
Then it just feels like Tuesday.
We’ve got political figures quoting fascist rhetoric verbatim—unapologetically. We’ve got school boards banning books about Rosa Parks. We’ve got governors turning immigrants into political props and crowds cheering cruelty like it’s patriotism. And most terrifying of all? It’s working. Because fear sells. Because hate energizes. Because division wins.
Pink wasn’t evil. He was broken.
So is America.Scarlett asked me afterward, “Why does it feel so much like now?”
And I didn’t know what to say. Because she wasn’t wrong. And because I remember asking the same thing at her age—but back then it was just a feeling.
Now it’s real. Measurable. Enshrined in law and policy and rhetoric.
At 13, I was afraid of what might happen.
At 13, she’s afraid of what already is.We’re raising kids fluent in trauma, aware of climate collapse, school shootings, bans on their books and their bodies, and the slow suffocation of democratic ideals. And they don’t even blink at dystopia anymore. They expect it.
That should terrify us. But most people are just… laying more bricks.
I’m Out. Not Out of Anger—Out of Clarity.
I’m not staying to see how this wall ends. I already know. History doesn’t whisper anymore—it screams.
I’m planning my family’s exit. We’re moving to a country that may be messy and bureaucratic and imperfect—but at least it hasn’t yet decided that empathy is weakness. At least my daughter can grow up where the wall is still metaphorical.
I’m not fleeing. I’m choosing something else. Because I still believe in building—just not this.
If you’re here, reading this, and feeling the same weight pressing down, know this:
You are not imagining things.
You are not overreacting.
And you are not alone.You’re just seeing the wall for what it is.
And maybe, like me, you’re ready to find the door out.[Caesar Sedek | CaesarTheDay]
Link to video
Immigrant. Father. Not another brick.” -
I did respond to Caesar’s post with this.:
Caesar, you should be a writer.
Amazing prose. The Wall is the best rock album ever created imo. I spent two years as a teen playing the 8 track in my car singing along not really taking into consideration it’s meaning. The movie made things clearer but it was the early eighties where something like this happening today would be scoffed at back then. We were the shining city on the hill. Reagan had brought back that metaphor from the 1600 puritans to make us all feel like we were exceptional, a beacon of freedom and opportunity, an example for the rest of the world to live by. As you know, I am joining you on the same path to a kinder, gentler society, steeped in tradition and culture. It was a vivid dream I had months before the 2024 election that foretold my destiny in retirement, but now I wonder if my subconscious created the dream, feeling the divide and hostility our country was and still is going through. Telling me to get out while the getting is good. Sigh……
I spend many moments rueing my children and their children’s future in a much harsher America, a more expensive America. A land slowly decaying into two classes, the haves and the have nots. I wonder if Reagan had any idea of the consequences of what he started with the trickle down economic model. Greed has taken a firm hold of our society and it is already a dog eat dog reality. Cruelty and lies have replaced empathy and truth. I had to finally let dozens of friends go as I cannot abide anyone who believes in him still and his methods. And these were good decent people who I loved and cared for. I have tried my best show them their beliefs are flat out wrong but their tribalism is so strong, and their information bubble only repeats and repeats the lies to make them inured to a different view. It is a disease far worse than Covid and I do not know what the cure will be. I fear it will get much worse here before the tide of truth and justice ever has a chance of prevailing. -
A fb friend of mine who emmigrated from Poland as a teen and lived through the martial law of 1981-83, wrote this magnificent prose recently that i identified with and made me tear up. I add one of my favorite songs from the greatest rock albums ever made. I dont think Roger Waters had any inkling of the truth he wrote to that is currently coming to realization in my good ole USA.
“We Don’t Need No Fascist Nation: Watching The Wall With My Daughter in 2025.
I saw Pink Floyd’s The Wall at 13. Now I’ve watched it again—through the eyes of my 13-year-old daughter. And the dystopia I once feared is the one she’s growing up inside.
I watched The Wall today with my daughter, Scarlett. She’s 13.
I was the same age when I first saw it. Back then, it haunted me—but in an abstract way. The marching hammers, the faceless schoolchildren, the descent into fascist fantasy—all of it felt like surrealist warning art, like something that happened elsewhere, or maybe could happen someday, but not here. Not really.But when I looked at her watching it—really watching it—and nodding in quiet understanding, I felt something twist inside me.
She got it. Too easily. Too early.
And I don’t know what wrecks me more:
That she understood it at 13.
Or that she had to.All in All, We’re Just Another Brick
Pink Floyd’s The Wall is about alienation, grief, indoctrination, and authoritarian rot. It’s the story of a boy named Pink who builds a mental wall around himself to survive a world that dehumanizes him. Every trauma—his father’s death, abusive school, smothering home, exploitative fame—is another brick.
Eventually, the wall becomes a prison. And inside it, Pink becomes unrecognizable—even to himself.
That’s not just art anymore. That’s us. That’s America.
This Country Is Building Its Own Wall—And We’re the Mortar
Every day brings another brick:
• Book bans and surveillance in classrooms
• Fear-stoked hatred toward immigrants and refugees
• Manufactured panic about “wokeness,” “globalists,” and “groomers”
• A normalization of cruelty that would’ve once sparked revoltAnd those of us who came here believing in this place—immigrants, idealists, even cautious optimists—are watching the wall rise around us. Fast. Brutal. I may be white and European, but the message is loud and clear: we were only welcome when it was convenient.
Now? Over half the country doesn’t want us here. Doesn’t want them here. Doesn’t want anyone who dares to dream of something bigger, messier, freer.
There’s a scene in The Wall where Pink, fully gone, imagines himself a dictator. On stage, barking orders. Pointing out the “others” for removal. It’s absurd. Exaggerated. Grotesque.
Unless you’ve been paying attention in America lately.
Then it just feels like Tuesday.
We’ve got political figures quoting fascist rhetoric verbatim—unapologetically. We’ve got school boards banning books about Rosa Parks. We’ve got governors turning immigrants into political props and crowds cheering cruelty like it’s patriotism. And most terrifying of all? It’s working. Because fear sells. Because hate energizes. Because division wins.
Pink wasn’t evil. He was broken.
So is America.Scarlett asked me afterward, “Why does it feel so much like now?”
And I didn’t know what to say. Because she wasn’t wrong. And because I remember asking the same thing at her age—but back then it was just a feeling.
Now it’s real. Measurable. Enshrined in law and policy and rhetoric.
At 13, I was afraid of what might happen.
At 13, she’s afraid of what already is.We’re raising kids fluent in trauma, aware of climate collapse, school shootings, bans on their books and their bodies, and the slow suffocation of democratic ideals. And they don’t even blink at dystopia anymore. They expect it.
That should terrify us. But most people are just… laying more bricks.
I’m Out. Not Out of Anger—Out of Clarity.
I’m not staying to see how this wall ends. I already know. History doesn’t whisper anymore—it screams.
I’m planning my family’s exit. We’re moving to a country that may be messy and bureaucratic and imperfect—but at least it hasn’t yet decided that empathy is weakness. At least my daughter can grow up where the wall is still metaphorical.
I’m not fleeing. I’m choosing something else. Because I still believe in building—just not this.
If you’re here, reading this, and feeling the same weight pressing down, know this:
You are not imagining things.
You are not overreacting.
And you are not alone.You’re just seeing the wall for what it is.
And maybe, like me, you’re ready to find the door out.[Caesar Sedek | CaesarTheDay]
Link to video
Immigrant. Father. Not another brick.”@NobodySock said in America is building The Wall:
A fb friend of mine who emmigrated from Poland as a teen and lived through the martial law of 1981-83, wrote this magnificent prose recently that i identified with and made me tear up
Same. Made me want to tear it up, too. Kidding. I'm non-violent, and I tear no things, regardless of how sophomoric or propagandistic or sanctimonious or cheaply sentimental they are.
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@NobodySock said in America is building The Wall:
A fb friend of mine who emmigrated from Poland as a teen and lived through the martial law of 1981-83, wrote this magnificent prose recently that i identified with and made me tear up
Same. Made me want to tear it up, too. Kidding. I'm non-violent, and I tear no things, regardless of how sophomoric or propagandistic or sanctimonious or cheaply sentimental they are.
@Horace i appreciate your identifying me with my preferred pronouns. The 3 S’s I call them. You are a good man Signore Horace.
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Do you have children Horace? I dont recall you mentioning any.
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Do you have children Horace? I dont recall you mentioning any.
@NobodySock said in America is building The Wall:
Do you have children Horace? I dont recall you mentioning any.
None that I have any legal responsibility for.
Now stop interrupting me while I try to find a synonym for "propagandistic" that begins with S.
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@Horace said in America is building The Wall:
Sloganeering.
Shhh, let me find the word for Bravissimo that starts with S. Hmmmmm
