Where
is the horse & the rider?
“Where is the
horse and the rider?” a line from the wonderfully scripted Helms Deep speech in
the film version of Lord of the Rings. Théoden is asking where is the leader,
the much needed hero. It came to mind as I considered whether the US and UK are
in some sort of weird competition to see who can promote the vilest character
to high office at this time of immense human need. Among the mind numbingly
moronic slop that passes for television entertainment these days, maybe someone
slipped in a new politics reality show called ‘How Low Can We Go?’
Trump trumps Theresa May because she is just stupid
and stubborn whereas he is a sociopathic, racist, crass, child-caging,
narcissistic, misogynistic idiot. But who would win if we pitched Brett the
frat brat Kavanaugh against Boris the blond blob with the runaway gob me, me,
me Johnson?
And this is all happening at a time when the film
industry is obsessed with onscreen heroes. Studios are spewing out clean cut,
moral-ish, muscular men and women with convenient super powers like a full
stomach with norovirus.
IN the US, it seems, Trump only wanted to drain the
swamp so he could get to a deeper sewer level. As the weeks and months and
years go on we seem (here in the UK at least) to be reaching lower and lower.
We have scrapped the bottom of the barrel in terms of ‘leaders’ and
‘commentators’ and those whose opinions we laud. Now we are through the bottom
of the barrel, below the slimy stuff you find under the barrel, below the floor
boards into the cold damp sun-deprived earth. Surely we’ll hit bedrock soon?
After decades of gutter press poison, the swivel eyed loons crawled out from under
their rocks with their bleached xenophobia, the xenophobes begat the bigots the
racists and the jingoists – they in turn released the lunatics who set free the
howling, rabid Brexit-at-any-costers. Whipping the mindless mob into a fury is
the hideous Boris beast with his flab and his loose morals and his slack
principles and flabby personality and mix and match ideals.
On the other side of the Atlantic it seems that the
only people Trump knows and promotes are the scum of the earth or just entirely
unsuited for any job he wants them for. Having watched Kavanaugh’s faux outrage
and gibberish at the Ford hearing you can only conclude that even if he is
innocent of ALL the accusations, he is the most unsuitable person for any high
office let alone a lifetime Supreme Court Judge.
Dear Lord!
Old aunty Theresa May us as wooden as a windmill and
just as immoveable. Corbyn – our opposition hope - is in permanent allotment
mode.
WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?
Where is our super hero, where are the leaders we
need?
Where is Brain Man – with the wit to work out how to
fix the mess?
Where is Charisma Woman to make us believe in the
future again?
Where is Captain Common Sense to counter suicidal
Brexitness, Anti-Batty-man to wake up those who are in fantasy 1950s, Irony man
to make us see the crass stupidity? Can Hulk use his green bulk to break down
the powerful invisible barrier growing exponentially and blocking our
children’s birth right?
Why is it seemingly all slimy villains and no
heroes?
To quote again from Théoden’s speech
“How did it come to this?”