Cancer as a Metaphor
 
One way to parse life is via unicellular systems (such as bacteria) and multicellular systems (such as animals).  Animal cellular system consist of many cells working together providing specialization of function for the good of the whole.  In one sense (from the cellular vantage point), they are all equal.  They all provide specific, important functions.  Often, they are part of sub-systems, which in turn, may be part of other larger, organized systems within the organism.  For example, heart muscles have several layers of simpler systems that allow them to operate the way they do.  They, themselves, are a part of a functioning organ that is also essential to the animal that requires circulation of blood.
This model will be called the cooperative, telescoping systems model.  When it properly functions, it is a positive sign of life.
Another model works against the cooperative, telescoping systems model; it is built upon selfish behavior to the aggrandizement of an alternate, foreign system.  In this event, cells take more than they are due and they aggregate disproportionately according to a non-cooperative strategy.  These are the cancer cells.  They disrupt cooperative systems. They seek more and more to the ultimate destruction of the host and their own existence. Their potentiality exists within normal, functioning cells, but when they turn on, they disrupt everything.  They bring down the cooperative, telescoping systems model within the organism which brings about total destruction of the organism.
The interaction between cancer and the telescoping systems model can also be applied to other nested systems—such as human society.  Sometimes it is the case that a society might be structured so that it is stable and exhibits some features of fairness—such as differentiation of social functions that are valued by all as equally important for the existence of the whole.  It is rare that this goes very far as so many humans view social relations as a competitive, zero-sum game.  However, things become cancerous when some element within the society starts becoming selfish relative to the good of the whole.  Such behavior can lead to sickness of the social structure before possibly killing it (the society).  Entities such as big business, power-hungry politicians, and egoistic social figures can be stand-ins for social cancer.  Like biological cancer, they must be removed and remedial actions taken so that the cancer doesn’t grow back.
This is applicable to many societies in many historical times.  I ask you to think: what are the cancers that affect the United States today. What should we do about it?
Michael Boylan

The Damaged Roof
 
It wasn’t such a windy day that brought down
Twelve asphalt shingles from my roof.
But at twilight, I saw them there in a moment.
I saw them there as I took out my garbage.
 
            I was sitting in my car waiting
            The radio was on describing
            How domestic terrorists had overtaken the capitol.
 
It was a nice roof when they installed it
Twenty-years-ago.  Neighbors pointed and smiled.
And I was pleased to have one of the new
“Thirty-year-roofs.” It was guaranteed!
 
            They had been aroused by
            An orange-topped pretender
            Who lived for promoting destruction.
 
Now there were twelve shingles down.
A roof has hundreds of shingles.  Can this be so bad?
The man I called said they’d have to re-do the whole thing.
Apparently, even a few shingles down can lead to rot.
 
            We’d learned to live with it:
            The permission to use hateful speech openly;
            The cozying up to Nazis; the glorification of slavery
           
Do I now have to strip the whole thing down?
Must I start over from scratch? 
What about the guarantee?  That company is dead and gone.
Can’t we just patch it up?  Won’t that do to stop the rot?
 
            The putrefaction of truth, and the general debasement of us all.
            These aren’t easy to fix
            These don’t just appear in a moment.
 
My roof had been solid, and now it has to be fixed.
           
            Maybe there’s been rot there all along?
 
A good contractor can fix my roof, but it will be expensive.
 
            Is there any way to fix this?
 
 
Lines written in the days following January 6, 2021
Michael Boylan

The character of the Joker is part of the Batman saga from D.C. Comics (just before WWII).  The Joker is originally introduced in the story as a psychopath (which is also how Mary Trump characterized her uncle, Donald (she is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist)). She sets out her case in her book (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/01/mary-trump-book-the-reckoning-presidents-niece).  The Joker felt he was a loser when compared to the Wayne family where his mother worked. The head of that family was Thomas Wayne (Bruce Wayne’s (Batman’s) father). The Joker, Arthur Fleck, also believed that Thomas was his unacknowledged, illegitimate father.  For this reason (and perhaps others), the Joker (in one version) killed Thomas Wayne and his wife in the presence of their son, young Bruce (who later becomes Batman).  The Joker does not like to be thought of as a “loser,” so he takes action so that others “fear” him.
 
After that, Arthur Fleck (the Joker) tried various jobs that he despised and continued in a love-hate relationship with his mother, who he eventually kills. The Joker lives for himself.  He is the ultimate narcissist.  Anyone who stands in his way has to be destroyed.  The society in which he lives, does not adequately appreciate the brilliant worldview of the Joker so it must go down, as well. 
 
One of the signature scenes of the movie has The Joker dancing down a long outside, concrete stairway while two policemen watch at the top of the stairs trying to make sense of it all.  Finally, the police call him out. At that moment, the Joker and his vision of narcissism and his contradictory worldview “pops” like a soap bubble. The Joker runs away.
 
Q: What is The Joker’s goal in life?  A: To create chaos and destruction. To facilitate nihilism whenever he can.  And at the end he revels in the automobile accident that sets him free to confront his followers who also believe in him—like a mythical cult figure who stands against the established way things are done. This “established way” has proved to be a source of failure for the followers of Joker. They are “losers” just like he is. THIS ISN’T FAIR, or so they say.  It’s time to make things right and tear down the society that has not recognized their true worth. The Joker, and the “want-to-be jokers” (all in their joker masks), wreck chaos on the streets of Gotham City. The murder of Thomas Wayne and his wife is replayed in The Joker’s mind.  Everything the Joker has stood for comes together in a destructive, nihilistic composite during this final destructive mob scene.
 
This is similar to the endgame of Donald Trump.  He dreamed of his many dirty deeds in his life that sought to take everyone down: normal business practice, his alleged alliance with the Mafia, and his pact with Putin (enemy of the United States).  All that was left was his violent, nihilistic vision that he directed against Black people, Brown people, and the Congress of the United States as they were about to certify his election defeat.  His “Trump want-to-be” followers  stormed the Capitol in a riot that was inspired by their cult leader—the nihilist, narcissist, anarchist, loser: with one goal in life: to bring down the society that never gave him adequate due:  Donald J. Trump, The Joker.