such a title will hopefully bring in at least three more people than who read my last blog…thus doubling my readership in one foul swoop - up your bum and suck my wang, clickbait! (genuinely, i have no idea who reads this stuff, it’s just a necessary brain fart that’s better out than in).
so here we are, then. didn’t see this coming? really? no, neither did i. but after this and brexit it’s becoming increasingly clear that no-one knows a fuuuuuckin’ thing. we’re in the upside-down, if you want a crap and trite-but-topical analogy. it’s easy to say now in hindsight, and there were enough warnings at the time, but someone like bernie sanders probably could have given trump a much closer run, or perhaps even trumped the fucker. the elites have been misbehaving for way too long, and in trying to serve themselves, again, by putting forward such a lame and flawed duck as clinton, they were gambling in a very big way. people are pissed off with a system that has done nothing but consistently and deliberately increase hideous levels of inequality, and with people so angry, unbelievably misinformed, and their frustration heartbreakingly channeled in the wrong direction(s), we now find ourselves ‘racing toward the precipice’ just a little bit faster.
(keep going, there’s an easily-digestible list coming up)
the excellent, intelligent and very reasonable sam harris has spoken many times at length and better than most at just how bad trump is, but this argument has fallen on deaf and angry ears. noam chomsky has warned since last year that trump’s success in the election would be a ‘death knell for the human species’. strong words, and here’s why. despite the deeply worrying trend towards nativism, an inability to be able to openly discuss the need for reform of a certain religion without fear of reprisals (ranging from immediately being labelled a bigot or racist to receiving death threats if you’re prominent enough), and a ton of other issues like nuclear weapons, isis etc (wow, ‘isis etc’) to click on and read about scroll through quickly, we are now about to welcome to the stage a man who not only denies that climate change exists (“it’s a bullshit hoax”), but openly says that he is going to do nothing about it, and worse promises to cut all federal spending on the issue (that’s worth reading twice, good people). in fact, the republican party (and all of its presidential candidates) share that view, vetoing deal after international deal to reduce carbon emissions and keep the temperature below end-of-species levels. so you’d think, wouldn’t you, that this issue would have been top of the pops in the election, but mind-blowingly it hardly got raised. and now the republicans have a majority in the senate and the house (i just did a bit of sick).
but hang on. now that the all-consuming and frankly ludicrous spectacle of an election ‘rollercoaster’ has finally come to an end (and gone off the rails completely, that’s no hyperbole or exaggeration), we find ourselves with a nice chance to take a much-needed giant step back from it all before he’s confirmed to office and we see what he really means and does, instead of continuing to scream in our own wee echo chambers to no avail.
here is your handy guide to the next few weeks and months before he takes the reins.
- stay strong. be present. look out of your window - nothing has changed yet
- write a list of your favourite 20 things you like doing, and the last time you did them
- (big one) turn off social media and stop reading news for one week. there is nothing you will miss that won’t get through to you anyway if it’s important enough
- use the free time to do something from your list
- still be friendly to everyone. really. it’s the only way. even the prick on the bus who smells
- watch eddie izzard shows from back in the 90’s when he was funny
- (deep breath now) all those people who voted brexit and trump? let it go. the world is divided into people who think they are right, and strength of conviction doesn’t make a difference. on a very basic level, most people want the same things….
- watch hypernormalisation by adam curtis, and point your (metaphorical) guns in the right direction
- stop being angry. as annoyingly platitudinous as all of this is no doubt sounding, i mean it sincerely and deeply. i spent way too long being angry at things, without understanding where it all came from each time
- look into the wim hof method, of which i will soon be an instructor (ahem), it’s a game-changer for health, strength and happiness
- tell me to go fuck myself with this patronising list of bullshit, and then realise that that’s an angry reaction made of poo and from a bad place, and that my intentions are pure and good (the opposite of poo)
finally: don’t mistake any of this as a plea for apathy. organise, vote, discuss and listen! just try and get offline and take a step back from it all more and know that it’s just a ride, to paraphrase bill hicks, one that you can step off at any time. the most valuable things in life are physical and mental health, creativity, and friendships/family. thankfully they’re pretty strong in most that i know, last time i checked. so, #getofftheride, if you will.
as usual, some nice quotes to finish and ponder on…
“the opposite of consuming is connecting” - eve ensler
“irony and cynicism are the killers of possibility” that bloke from swans
“we always do the best we can by the light we have to see by” - unknown (appeared on another blog post, but really worth saying again in the current climate)
