Random Rabbit Holes, Past And Present, Before Dawn

Discussion in 'Personal Diaries' started by Janice Lynne, Nov 11, 2021.

  1. Janice Lynne

    Janice Lynne Well-Known Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2021
    Messages:
    250
    Likes Received:
    218
    THURSDAY 11 NOVEMBER

    While drinking coffee a few hours ago, it suddenly occurred to me that my memory of the 2016 election is sort of murky. Which makes sense, since at that time my deceased partner, David, was in the process of succumbing to congestive heart failure, and still stubbornly resisting a trip to the doctor, due to his extreme distrust of the Medical Establishment. (Which is another story, and a long one, for another day.)

    Then all of a sudden the term 'scourge' as applied to the astounding rise of Donald Trump to the role of Presidential candidate popped into mind. Remembered there had been a discussion during that endless campaign, maybe online or from a book David was reading, asserting that both the Democrats and Republicans --- by dint of their mutual obsession with 'counting coup' on each other instead of actually governing the country --- had made the emergence of this sort status-quo-disrupting figure inevitable.

    So just for fun I tossed the words 'Scourge' and 'Trump' into the the readily-available Google search engine and immediately unearthed this scholarly article.

    Was disappointed to find that the article is hidden mostly behind a paywall of some sort, or else you have prove you're an actual 'scholar' before you can read the whole thing. But here's a little crumb from the 'teaser,' written before the election of Trump, and well before the pandemic and all the current chaos now ensuing ---

    "During times of economic stress and cultural change, populism often becomes a popular means of communication, and has been used by aspirants for the presidency ranging from William Jennings Bryan to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. It is particularly potent when conditions exist that refute historian John Crozier’s description of the American polity as resting on a “gently graded prosperity.” The lack of any “gently graded prosperity” in 2016 fueled the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. This article focuses on Trump, noting his penchant for action, not adherence to conservative principles or Republican party orthodoxy . The “scourge” of Donald Trump’s populism, like his predecessors is that he blames the “other” for the failures of American government and the inability of those who aspire to achieve the American Dream from achieving their goals. This is the scourge of populist candidates who have led their respective parties to ultimate defeat and repudiation. In Trump’s case, blaming Hispanics and immigrants for the country’s problems is a scourge that will take the Republican party years to recover from once the 2016 election is over and the ballots counted."

    (emphasis mine)

    Not quite conclusive yet, since so many unforeseen events and exploding issues have and are still unfolding since this forecast was made.

    Seems clear that Rabid Populism is what's currently polarizing this country, setting near-fifty-percent of the people in increasingly violent opposition to the other near-fifty-percent --- threatening to knock what's left of 'democracy' right off that cliff over there! And it's clear enough in the text that Bernie Sanders is the other half of this catastrophic dynamic.

    And it's not just the US, it's the entire world, with Trump-emboldened autocrats emerging globally to undermine any governance that's effectively 'for the People.'

    Civilization is as fragile a construct as 'Democracy.' and once it topples there won't be any way back. The pandemic is showing a preview of what can happen if/when a final tipping point is reached. The only 'rescue' will be through One-World Globalization --- and that's if the Climate Change really is a hoax. Because if it's not a hoax, the whole question is moot.

    But, probably, Humanity --- via its own need to be enraged and in active combat with some enemy about something --- is unwittingly dooming itself to severe decimation. This deadly Human trait could well be due to inherent glitches in brain-wiring that likely afflicts any 'sentient, self-aware species,' whether on this planet or elsewhere.

    Yeah, that's a real Theory!

    The possible 'good news' in all this is that after the decimation is complete, the million or so ground-level survivors might naturally return to 'democracy' in its most effective version, which is consensus-reaching within small, widely-scattered bands of 100 people or less.

    But of course that cheery outcome would be possible only if those pesky Corporate Overlords don't emerge from their underground-and-out-in-space Sanctuaries, and gleefully put near-half of the remaining population in charge of oppressing the other near-half of whoever's left.
     
    #1
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2021
  2. Janice Lynne

    Janice Lynne Well-Known Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2021
    Messages:
    250
    Likes Received:
    218
    FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER

    Got up before three, which is way too early even for me Really would like to still be asleep!

    Also I wouldn't mind a 'managed retreat' to some previous decade, back before this Horrible New Century began. What a nice thing to imagine --- completing my allotted lifespan in a world before the internet, and before enraged identity politics dominated everything!

    But I don't have time to walk around in a haze. Since I'll soon need to move out of this house, which the owner is wanting to sell, I need to stay more focused and active for most of the day. The unfamiliar process of apartment hunting via online listings has me stymied!

    Used to be you could pick up a Thrifty Nickel and Sunday paper and compile a list of numbers to call and/or addresses to visit in person. But now, here in this Metro Area, no one is even answering the phone.

    If you go to a place in person, there's a folder of rental applications stuck to the locked door, or a note to go home and fill out the online PDF application. From what I gather you're supposed to fill out numerous applications and pay numerous fees, just to get put on waiting lists that may or may not eventually result in an apartment viewing? Sorry, that just doesn't make sense!

    But enough whining and griping. Better to spend these short pre-dawn hours improving my mood with thoughts of better days. One of the things I liked about the 80's were the really good travel memoirs that were still being written. You could 'go' to Bhutan or Nepal without mention of Maoist rebels roaming around. You could 'go' to Pakistan and travel north to Sufi country without encountering any Wahhabis. You could read Paul Theroux's tales of riding trains everywhere, especially down the east coast of Africa and through China. There was a book by a woman who crossed the Australian Outback on camels. There was a guy who went to Ladakh and got all mystical.


    So many titles! I need to go look them all up and find more!

    But the best thing about the 80's was the walkable old ungentrified neighborhood I lived in at the time. Library just down the hill, and the food co-op, and a shabby little downtown with diners that have since disappeared. Lots of sidewalks cracked and buckled by ancient magnolia trees and live oaks! And breezes straight off the sea!

    I admit I was totally ignoring politics at that time, and knew nothing of the corporate-and-banking-friendly deregulation Reagan was enabling, which Clinton quietly furthered in the nineties. I was cluelessly enjoying the peace and quiet in my head, without realizing how rare that was to become.

    Never imagined that the landline phone I mostly left unplugged from the wall would soon be replaced by an infernal mobile device that nagged at you wherever you went! I remember first hearing people talking out loud in stores, as if to themselves, and how unsettling that was. Didn't personally get a cell phone until after an especially bad hurricane, when nothing normal worked for a month.

    So, short version, if I'd love to go back to about 1982, and live through the twenty years after that. Not to be young again, or revisit the dramas, but just to be who and what I am now, until whenever that ends.
     
    #2
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2021
    Nancy Hart likes this.
  3. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2018
    Messages:
    10,667
    Likes Received:
    20,009
    That was an interesting article on managed retreats, Janice. Thanks.
     
    #3

Share This Page