If my radio mentions the Mueller Report or Brexit I immediately change to another station. For TV I frequently opt for NHK Global the Japanese international station because they have a lot of documentaries on the continued handcrafting of classical wood, flower arranging and pottery and very little on western politics.
Over the years when I have exchanged views on this topic on line with our friend Abrao, Fox News and the WSJ. he assigns me the BBC and the Guardian, the role of the defender of the left. I have tried unsuccessfully to persuade him that my firm view is a” pox on both the politics of the right and the left.”
Years ago when I played left to his right my best friend of 50 + years, an ex USMC Gunnery Sergeant, he operated a team behind enemy lines in Vietnam and is somehow cynical about politicians, persuaded me that political systems are simply methods for the leadership and their friends to get to the financial trough.
Communism. Some years ago Rolls Royce opened a dealership in Hanoi so what was that war about. When I returned to my beautiful Vancouver last year I found it to be the city in N. America with the most high end expensive cars, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati etc. owned by many of the young children of highly placed Chinese Communist cadre. Thanks also to them the average price of a home in Vancouver is in excess of C$1M and the grandchildren of the earlier European immigrants can no longer afford to live in the city. On the other hand that same communist dictatorship lifted billions of Chinese people from poverty. I am confused.
Capitalism. A recent newspaper article states that after centuries 50% of the land in England is still owned by 1% of the population, mostly the aristocracy. They also own important swatches of their former colonies.
In the US 40% of the wealth is owned by 1% of the population.
In Russia it is estimated 3% of the richest citizens own 90% of the countries financial assets.
Then the Fox News audience applauds a millionaire social democrat, Bernie Sanders.
I have lost the plot.
The Gilets Jaunes are upset that three of the wealthiest French families immediately and competitively contributed €500,000,000 for the reconstruction of the recently fire damaged Notre Dame cathedral. Pointing out the very same families, often fiscally resident in Geneva or Liechtenstein, do the maximum to avoid paying taxes of any kind, will claim the donations as tax write offs and how did so few people end up owning so much. They continue protesting for a more egalitarian society.
I note that when I was in Paris last week Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité , the national motto is etched in large letters on the front of every government building. Who has the script here, certainly not Macron or the Gilets Jaunes.
The historical consequences of the United Fruit Company and the dictatorships they installed in Central America are walking up to the southern borders of the US. But who remembers what made Chiquita bananas so cheap.
The Iranians though still remember that the US/CIA, UK/MI6 CIA overthrew Mosaddegh their legally elected president when he tried to nationalise the western oil companies operating in Iran and installed the Shah. And when they got rid of him they got an Islamic dictatorship and now its the the Revolutionary Guard that loot the country.
The Egyptian public just “voted” the extension of their military dictator remaining in power until 2030. Annual US aid to Egypt estimated to be $1.5bn, and for that they get “cessation of hostilities against Israel”.
The citizens of the Ukraine are so disgusted with their political class today Sunday they are about to risk the joke being on themselves and elect a comedian as president. They evidently learned nothing from witnessing what happened in the US but still might have something of an advantage in that their comedian knows he is a comedian. Watch the evening news.
To quote Adlai Stevenson again ” the trouble with Americans is they haven’t read the minutes of the last meeting” but I think today we can also extend this to voting public in Europe. La plus ca change …
Today Sunday, Islamists bombed christian churches and tourist hotels in Sri Lanka. They were radicalised by extreme Wahhabism exported in a decades long global campaign created and funded by Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s, good friends of the Bush family, also brought us the 9/11 Twin Towers. But annually they purchase billions of $s worth weapons from the West’s military industrial complexes so they remain our friends and allies. Number of Christian churches in Saudi Arabia – none permitted.
Layer on all that Kate Raworth’s Donut Theory of Social and Planetary Boundaries, which she thinks could possibly save us from a very likely environmental extinction and you see how I have become thoroughly confused about where our world is headed.
Having children and grandchildren and trying to make sense of the above I despair how things are shifting so fast. I used to believe that a lot of my perceptions are due to my being old, tired and cynical and for the last few years I have been searching for any voice e.g. Simon Longstaff with any idea of how we can successfully move things in a reasonable direction. At the moment my position is “a pox on all of them.”
The same ex USMC friend has convinced me that if you divided the worlds assets equally between the worlds population about 100 years from now the distribution would be approximately as it is today. So why bother?
His personal answer has been to give up any interest in the world’s problems, he presumes that somewhere down the line nature will soon consider humankind a failed experiment and turn the place over to another species.
The end of John’s Sunday Rant, thank you for suffering through it.
Though I do like this quote. In individuals insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epocs it is the rule. Nietzsche
Please stay in touch I find your views penetrating and they often oblige me to rethink my own.
Best wishes as always,
John
PS I heard sad-populism defined as voting for something that damages your own interests as long as it hurts someone elses more.
“Then the Fox News audience applauds a millionaire social democrat, Bernie Sanders. ”
Just as a minor correction, though I get the main point, it is probably the MSNBC or CNN audience who applaudes Mr. Sanders; probably the Fox News audience disapproves of him for being a “socialist” but not for being a millionaire.