“I’m coming to Boston, I’m bringing hell with me.” —Tom Homan, “border czar” and former acting director of ICE
Hell is not a lake of fire, nor is it composed of the circles Dante envisioned, like an infant’s stacking toy.
It’s not “The Bad Place” of sitcom fame, though it’s easy to imagine some in the current administration taking notes on hot dog torture and butthole spiders.
It’s not the Hellmouth, nor is it one of the dark parallel universes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as much as some of us want to believe we’ve shifted into an alternate reality.
Hell is as foundational as smallpox blankets and pedophile priests, as petty as a MAGA-festooned pickup that “rolls coal” on a passing Prius.
Hell is waking up one morning and feeling like your rights were stripped away overnight, only to realize it’s been happening gradually over your lifetime—and for much of that time, all you did to try to stop it was vote.
Hell is realizing that most of the people you voted for, even those you really admired, were not built for a crisis like this and are not coming to save you.
Hell is the hot pink WOMEN FOR TRUMP flag that appeared on a neighbor’s house five months ago, but it’s also the amount of time you spend fantasizing about ways you could deface it.
Hell has come for the scientists who stand helpless as the NIH and the CDC are dismantled, and hell has also come for anyone in need of a medical breakthrough. Hell is rushing to catch up on vaccinations for fear they will be eliminated in these new Dark Ages. Hell is a future where our broken medical system will seem like paradise compared to what awaits us.
Hell is realizing you are no longer that afraid of spiders, because there is so much more to fear.
Hell is for everyone as the wealthiest man in the world dismantles Social Security. Hell is simultaneously watching your 401(k) tank and realizing that you will have to work until you drop—or until AI replaces you.
Hell is wondering if you should try to leave the country, and realizing that nowhere will be safe in this new world order. Hell is understanding that, for all your fancy words and ideas, you are really just an animal caught in a trap.
Hell is loathing guns and wondering if you should learn how to shoot one.
Hell is understanding that they’re coming for women’s right to vote, and hell is also trying to figure out how to deal with the women you know who voted for this.
Hell is a new season of The Handmaid’s Tale dropping at this moment in time.
Hell has come for trans people who just wanted to live their best lives, but it will soon be here for everyone, including the cis women who bought the lie that trans folks were their greatest threats.
Hell is watching cat videos on YouTube for an hour after hearing the day’s grim news, just to bring your anxiety down. Hell is watching old videos of the Cure and wondering if you should have been running for office instead of dancing at Goth clubs.
Hell is here, in Boston, in the way a woman’s voice goes unnaturally high as she strangles a shriek when surrounded by six masked people in plainclothes who claim to be police. Hell inhabits the place in your heart where you feel her fear.
Hell is a virus infecting those just following orders, too ashamed or afraid to show their faces.
Hell is in the dystopian choreography that moves the six masked people in a circle around the woman, before they force her into an unmarked car. Hell is that circle.
Perhaps, after all, Dante wasn’t so far off.