Skip to main content

What Has Happened



Others will say it better - but, here goes my small part in this - I stayed up last night, as the horror dawned on me, literally and otherwise, that VP Harris was losing. I was wrong, thinking she'd win in a landslide possibly, see the other post.

Separate from the deep concern for the world, especially with regards to Ukraine, and global warming, and American democracy (which is robust but about to be dismantled) is the deeper wounding realisation that a majority of humans would choose such a person, rather than actually vote for a woman.
 
It feels like misogyny and racism was on display. Concern for the economy should not mean exemption from moral or ethical concerns.
 
The digital online world has clearly contributed to a new unreality in America and beyond, where so many millions could not see the truth of the man they elevated, and bestowed such triumph and power onto.
 
And, what makes it worse, we are all now in this with him, because we have to live in his terrible worldview.
 
It raises a question: is there no longer any good reason to be good? What inspiring example is now set for our daughters, and sons, nephews and nieces, when this sort of personality - this character assemblage of flaws - is rewarded.
  
Regarding the post-election pointing of fingers, of blaming Biden, or Harris... well, that seems needlessly cruel. But there is some blame to be apportioned perhaps. Her main error was expecting people to be basically good, reasonable, and wanting the best for their fellow human beings.
 
Harris's campaign was based on the idea that most Americans wanted to elect a stable, decent, intelligent, hard-working person who was not a traitorous convicted felon with many serious allegations against them.
 
Terribly, we have seen a majority of Americans vote for the lowest form of life - of a selection of lowest common denominator traits and values, that celebrate brash bravura and billionaire bling over decency, tolerance, kindness and being law-abiding.
  
Biden should have stepped down and let Harris become president, this summer. He would have made history and set her up as a stronger candidate.

Trump's story - Return of the Wronged King - generated an emotional wave that let everyone who supported him become part of the story - a self-fulfilling prophecy where the more the mass gathered and embraced their hero, the more powerful, impressive and yet beloved he became.
 
Harris, who may be normally flawed, could never imagine that her opponent could really win, once the facts were known - but she could not recognise the horrific reality that reality itself has been warped sufficiently in America so now, powerful thought brokers on podcasts and the alt-media, could claim her as the Villain.
 
I feel great empathy and sorrow for Harris. Less for Biden, as he has utterly failed to stop his opponent, mostly because like some sad Shakespearean King, he could not step down, could not see himself in the mirror.
 
But America has today and yesterday shown its true majority's face - has shown us its painting hidden in the attic - leering brutal, cruel, mocking, selfish, and full of hate. America has gone back to the hateful roots we thought had been torn out and destroyed - that were actually growing widely and wildly all along.
 
It is all a waste land, and it is not too extreme to say, how does one carry on with hope and dignity in such knowledge of one's fellow men and women? I suppose the answer is, carry on, with hope and dignity. It is a Beckettian dilemma - one cannot go on, one must go on.

What is next? How bad will it truly be? For the idea of responsible government and society governed by a science-informed humane consensus - it will be game over. For rule of law, and reason, it will be game over. For tolerance of difference, it will be game over, insofar as the levers of US government, mostly in Trump's hands, will flick to his whims.

It will, at the least, be wildly erratic, because that is this person's superpower, apparently - that he is so erratic, world leaders fear him. So, the future, by definition unknowable, is doubly so now we have a world leader bent on disrupting the very basis of world order. Disorder is the rule now, and so we are right to be uncertain, anxious, and even afraid.

Kamala Harris's long to arrive concession speech was lofty inspiring rhetoric, but it was aimed over the heads of the voters who have created this debacle, and oddly confusing with its images of fighting; what was her plan or longer aim? Not to give up, to hope the time of darkness was not as bad as it appeared, and to hold the constitution as the highest ideal. All worthy - but perhaps a more practical and less noble sentiment could also have been uttered: something wicked won the day, and we need to be on guard for every damn thing coming down the pike in the next few months and years.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart?  A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional.  Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were.  For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ?  Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets.  But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ?  How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular.  John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and  Silence of the Lambs .  I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

THE SWIFT REPORT 2023

I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise...