In the 2016 poker game of ‘who are the
biggest political idiots?’ democracies across the world have been pointing at Britain
since June 23rd. But on November 9th America trumped us.
Thank you for diverting a painfully revealing spotlight.
And it will be ok. Not for a while but eventually.
I’m talking to the KaTs - Kind and Thoughtful people. Here in the UK we’ve just been through it.
Spiritually ugly, egotistical bigots successfully drowned out common-sense because
fear, spite and self-interest already made many listeners partially deaf. We’ll
call them the KJs – knee Jerks – (reactionaries).
In Britain, those who supported the UK Independence Party
are UKIPers – led by frothy Nigel Farage; think Trump lite without the tan, the
orange sweep-over or the sexual assaults but with all the malice and intolerance.
Frothy Farage, teamed up with other deplorables including
the racist ex-mayor of London - Boris Johnson, and UK tabloid newspapers, owned
by men who don’t even pay their taxes in the UK. In the absence of real opposition they pushed sanity towards the
Exit sign.
Across the Atlantic you also have YaKs – You are Kidding. YaKs have been chewing
on the envy stick since an admirable, successful black family entered the White
House. They had to sit on their racism for 8 years and they were not
(especially, it seems, white women) going to let a female president disturb
their internalised misogyny.
On both sides of the pond don’t forget the SWIOKs – So What, I’m OK. These comfy cliques are
so insulated from life’s realities they don’t care. They may not have favoured
Brexit / Trump but now blow with the new wind. Their lives have expensive
foundations and they can afford the roof repairs in a political storm.
K.a.Ts are hurting. People who take time to check facts,
read information, make informed decisions and don’t spend their waking hours blaming
convenient scapegoats for their problems, are just ill right now.
The KJs, like the UKIPers, feast on the false diet of a delicious
past. Mmmm – the McCarthy witch hunts, segregation (US), rationing (UK),
rickets, TB, the establishment turning a blind eye to child abuse and the
degradation of minorities, women and indigenous peoples – truly it was a Utopian
banquet.
But the SWIOKs are the most morally aberrant in my view. These
people are now saying – you know, Dump isn’t that bad. They’re also berating
the KaTs for being distraught at the way the Hate volume has ratcheted up. Like
Boris Johnson. Although – to be fair – being a racist he fits other categories.
In ancient times, humans tried to fashion themselves in the
image of their God. They would look upwards and aspire to be better, hence the
reaching architecture of churches, synagogues and mosques.
With mass addiction to ‘talent’
programmes and reality TV and in an atmosphere where politics is run like a
game show, increasingly the public seem to want someone who reflects them on a
bad day. Peering down into the gutter, they embrace what they see. Like
a grim version of X-factor – it’s now acceptable to be preening, gurning and strutting
in public if you are stupid, thuggish, talent-less.
Talking of talent-less – wasn’t the fake ‘scare’ at the
Trump rally, where security hustled him off stage, the worst acting you ever
saw? For a better version of that watch Colombo – Candidate for Crime.
However, here in the UK we have a useful saying - ‘what goes
around comes around’. There is a similar Arabic adage which is ‘if you sit by
the river long enough the body of the wrong-doer will float by’.
We sense that things are not right (check last
week’s blog to see where I think this could go). We know deep down that many
privileged communities have failed to act generously. Somewhere even deeper, we
know there is always a price to pay – whether it be displaced people on our
borders because their countries are broken or strange diseases erupting from parts
of the world few cared about before (see blog 105 Ebola – What’s really gruesome) or just a general sense of insecurity.
Across the globe the insanely rich have siphoned off so many
resources to fund their yachts, gold houses and daughter-aged wives, that we’re now
staring at the socio-economic equivalent of locust denuded fields. What better
than a vindictive, macho gob-shite who screams loudly enough to convince millions
it’s the fault of the already downtrodden?
Fear is driving people to the old ‘the strong man’ fantasy.
Notice Hollywood is vomiting up super hero movies like a kid with the
nora virus who won’t stop eating fudge sundaes?
Trump is a distorted version of King Canute. Whatever he
hollers and however loudly he shrieks violence and bigotry in our faces, the
tide of decency will flow back in. The people who do ok in the end will be the
ones who build boats of friendship and kindness and community – not the ones on
the shoreline screaming and ranting at the waves. The only question is, how
many will these nutters drown in the process.
(Why not check out blog 152. Could the Nice People Speak Up Please)
And remember if you like a post
to follow/share/tweet/ or whatever you young folk do. THANK you.