“I Too Became a Dissident”

I'm 70 years old, and I've lived through various childhood diseases, a nuclear missile crisis, civil rights struggles, numerous misguided wars, economic crashes, a pandemic, and an insurrection. During the pandemic in 2020, I started watching music reaction videos on YouTube to pass the time and to try to keep my sanity. I enjoyed seeing the younger generations’ first-listen reactions to the soundtrack of my life.

One of these music reactors became especially intrigued by my favorite band, the English progressive rock group Yes. So I started following his channel a couple of years ago and, through his comments, learned a little about him. He’s a family man, a veteran, who lives in Texas and works for the government. My guess is that he is in his 30s.

Six months ago, he stopped posting new reaction videos to his YouTube channel. He explained that his subscriber base had stopped growing, and the channel was not bringing in enough income to justify the time he was spending producing content. So it was time to take a break.

Then, three months ago, he started posting videos again. However, these weren’t music reaction videos; he was giving political commentary on the state of our nation. He was disturbed and felt the need to speak out against lies and injustice. He said he knew he would lose subscribers and draw hateful comments, but he felt it would be worth the risk. 

Around the same time, I got a text from my daughter who commented on the flurry of presidential executive orders. It read, “I have said ‘well, that’s unconstitutional’ to myself this past week so many times.”  This inspired me to create a protest graphic in the calligraphic style of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. It states, “We The People Say That Is Unconstitutional!”

I continued watching the YouTuber’s political videos and learned he decided to take a buyout offer from the government and quit his job. He felt his job might be at risk from the DOGE cuts, and he said he didn’t feel comfortable working for this administration. That inspired me to create another protest graphic. 

In earlier videos, he said he grew up liking the band Rage Against the Machine. So I made a graphic in the style of RATM’s famous fist raised in the air, where I had the fist punching up through a MAGA cap. Then I reached out to him and offered both the We The People and Rage Against MAGA designs for him to use in his merch store as a way to support him and his channel.

In my lifetime, there has been steady progress in public health, prosperity, and liberty, until now. I never imagined I would live to see anything as shambolic, callous, and demented as the current president's first term, but I was spectacularly wrong. The plan was to enjoy my retirement years by playing tennis, creating art, and spending time with my wife, children, and grandchildren. However, I may also be forced to become a dissident.

So I've put my graphic design hat back on and joined the resistance. Feel free to copy these images on protest posters or flyers and push back on the administration that is not serving the people anymore.

“And in the eyes of the government
I fell from grace
I too became a dissident”

From the song “Dissident” by Thomas Dolby, 1984