To This We’ve Come

“Have you ever seen the Consul?

Does he speak, does he breathe? Have you spoken to him?”

Magda Sorel in The Consul, by Menotti

In the harrowing aria "To This We’ve Come", Magda, the protagonist of Menotti’s The Consul, protests the dehumanizing effects of bureaucracy. And we can certainly understand Magda. Who has not dealt with the red tape of the medical establishment, with insurance bureaucracy, or with this or the other agency or service? Yesterday I went into a Verizon store to ask for an explanation for bogus charges. I waited for hours as a kind store representative spoke on my behalf to another representative that for all practical purposes could have been an android placed in New York, India, or in another galaxy.

Everywhere I turn, I end up asking myself if I am not perhaps living in a parallel world- having been switched during the night by a malignant force. Yes, no one is exempt from the quickmire of “customer service”, an endless roundabout of “advocates”, extensions, and transfers that include being put on hold at every turn. This we’ve become: clueless slaves to the corporations of this information age- to whom we have turned in the keys to all aspects of our lives and then some- through no fault of our or own. Luckily, the planets, stars, and galaxies have no need for customer service and keep moving right along- to our benefit.

In government, lip service is often paid to words such a “service” and empty phrases such as” “being open to communication” “being there (where? -may I ask?)- for our constituents” and all manner of silly platitudes. But let us not be fooled- important government officials surround themselves with aides and gatekeepers that effectively impede communication. The lofty figures suddenly manifest themselves in golden chariots, surrounded by zealous aides. After a rousing speech, they throw a few breadcrumbs here and there, show up in the evening to charity affairs, from where, after shaking a few hands and doing selfies with key attendees, they are whisked away by their solicitous staff, supposedly to a late meeting. The politician then retires for the evening, perhaps with a drink, to crown another day of monumental achievements, convinced that that is all that there is to it.

Recently, I have had several awakening experiences when attempting to contact government figures on behalf of myself, this organization or another. And I remembered Magda, she never got to see the Consul. Allow me to elaborate: a member of the team of a political figure who agreed to speak to me promised the world and delivered nothing. In a recent instance, after having left several messages on the contact phone number listed on the website for an important personage, a member of the staff whom we contacted another way stated verbatim: “I do not know that phone number”, as if we had just happened to conjure it out of thin air.

In another instance, an important project that expressly aligns with the expressed priorities of a particular region and benefits a vulnerable population in great need was summarily turned down by an important politician -who most likely did not bother to read it- because- as was relayed- it did not align with “their priorities”. (This same figure had proposed preposterous legislation that went against any priorities).

In another case still, after writing a letter to another important political official asking to address a situation affecting numerous organizations, I found out that the contents of my letter had been perfunctorily extracted and put into a form. The form ended up being cycled back to the same department that had opted to be silent instead of offering clarity on the situation- the very reason that had prompted me to write the letter about the concern in the first place! Talk about direct communication channels with government figures….

And yes, to this we’ve come: to reduction. To reduce human experience, suffering and serious concerns to forms and surveys, to trivialize maladies and psychic suffering to classifications expressed in numbers, to reduce feelings and emotions to emoticons, and finally to reduce persons to numbers, to trends, to nothing. 

And I am then reduced to asking with Magda:

“Have you ever seen the Consul?

Does he speak, does he breathe? Have you spoken to him?” ...