Sunday, January 10, 2021

Not meddling #2

 I think of myself - especially as I get older - as a rather Conservative

person in politics.  And I know that, professionally, I can be apolitical,

having worked as a federal civil servant. I read, and comment,  all across 

the spectrum. (The Turner Diaries is a boring book, which projects historical

events - the past - as a SciFi story with race as a protagonist - in the future.)


I have tended to view the Trump years in the US - and now the recent events 

in Washington - as being amplified by the omnipresence of media and the various

feedback loops being created. Media are extremely hungry for content, and will

create events where there aren't any. Many European commentators have noted this:

Donald Trump became an outlet even for the mainstream press, which finally

had something to be outraged about. What exactly, one never really found out.

Chunky dude, doesn't drink, likes girls...


But there is an another overlay as well: the creation of storylines, the White House

as a meme which one finds in movies. Where does the President of the Republic of

France live, does anyone have an image of the Elysee palace?! I don't. A French

newspaper noted that 'la démocratie americaine a perdu de sa superbe', American

democracy has lost some of it's shine. Actually, that happened some time ago, at the

movies. 


Really, the White House needs a makeover, a replacement. One of the protesters

was bare chested, with a bearskin hat, on a visit to Disneyland. A tragic one...


                                            *     *    *

A commentator in LaPresse, a Liberal-leaning publication, had an overview

of the politics underlying the current crisis in the US. Found it enlightening:

https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/opinions/2021-01-09/la-democratie-americaine-en-peril.php

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