Of all the days, this is it. When the media will fawn over a certain individual, hang on their every word: how are you doing? Yes, there will be those who can disassociate themselves from doomscrolling the news, and not quite link what is going on across the pond with those in Europe; but many may find that hard to do today. The anecdotal phrase “when this country sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold?”1 suggests that we are not as isolated as some in this country may feel we are.
With the Scottish mist swirling in the valleys, there’s little sunshine on offer today. I have tried to find some Threads to discover a BlueSky but the birdsong isn’t audible these days, perhaps the days of Twitter have gone. The threats of Version 2.0 are now be signed off in the guise of a flurry of Executive Orders. Communities trying to find a way to move forward in life may now be suddenly disturbed by hordes of federal agents who want to start their deportation back ‘to whence they came’. The echoes of the past, nigh on 90 years past, are eerily reminiscent. What sort of greatness are they promising?
When we speak of partisan politics in some countries, they certainly now how to push this to extremes. When they say ‘Go Large’, they certainly do here. What I struggle to grapple with is not how the politicians can huff and puff, bluster with all their worth, to promote their understanding of the ‘truth’, but how the population is so cleanly divided. There are those who swallow each and every soundbite, not critiquing what is said, relating to their own home truths, and then not seeing the other side, doing exactly the same with their party’s utterances. In that country, news media is intrinsically tied to what you can afford. Cable channels have a single themed message; there’s little of the striving to understand the wider picture, such as with Channel 4. Think of the ‘entertainment channel’ GB News, and you may well understand. Akin to the sectarian issues with some areas of the UK, party politics is deeply divided: you may well feel sorry if families are also divided by such political understandings – again, like sectarian issues have severed connections within families.
The election was fought over the price of eggs, the consumption of dogs and cats, and the pointed personal criticism of particular individuals – well, according to the soundbites. War also was a factor. How the politician can entwine the safety of another people with the seemingly endless sale of munitions might keep them awake at night, although I doubt it. On one hand, fighting for the banning of a social media app, to then swivel to seek its continuance is one thing, but not to limit the use of weaponry such as the AR-15, so prominently used across the country to mindlessly kill folk, is just disconcerting in the extreme. Supporting a movement to be annihilated , with nigh on 100,000 people killed because of a decades-long confrontation over land, where one side takes on the persona of the victim, and other countries come to its aid. The failure to consider the overall societal perspective of lives being needlessly lost, buildings, even whole towns, razed to the floor under the assumption that terrorists are lurking under the ground without publishing any evidence whatsoever to confirm this, suggests that there was an alternative motive on under the table. Is it to accelerate the concept of Armageddon?
The now leader, with a personalised copy of the Bible on offer to whoever can afford it, even an inauguration version, now seeks revenge upon their enemy, solely defined by themselves. I thought politicians were to do the will of the people? When the majority of voters did not opt for that person, perhaps a consideration to work for all may be appropriate – not for your own personal gain. They do claim to be one to unify people…
I’m not a fan of the popular understanding of the word for ‘sin’. But it was Amy-Jill Levine, a prominent Jewish theologian, who suggested that sin was a ‘violation of community welfare for personal gain‘2. If we seek to bring together community, removing:
- a proportion of the population as they are ‘undocumented aliens’, regardless of what it may mean to that community, but for your popularity, may be questionable;
- the gender affirming care plans for an incredibly small percentage of the population because the evangelical religious base has been fed a purely literal understanding of the KJV of the Bible, is awful;
- Medicare and any related healthcare for veterans and the elderly, promoting healthcare which the individual must pay for themselves, only emboldens those with a deeply capitalist heart.
As the world pivots once again, spiralling in towards a more extreme version of self-entitlement for those who are already rich, where existing privilege is amplified :
may we seek to take a moment to reflect on what can we do to be the change?
Whether not to scroll through the myriad of political possibilities that could arise over the next few years but pop outside, despite the cold, to be with the ever changing tide of nature; or to look for that Blue Sky amidst the grey clouds depositing yet more rain/snow etc; or see that the cracks in our world are really so, so close to us – and we can continue to be the difference there.
There’s a story of someone who found a pearl which was so valuable that they sold everything to have it. They sold all of their possessions, their house, their wife and children!, those servants (slaves) who helped the functioning of that house (it’s a story from the 1st C), so that they could have that pearl. So, today, pause a while, and reflect on what is so important to us today.
What might we theoretically sell, giveaway, or discard to obtain all that we desire?
Would that be solely for our personal gain, or to benefit the community overall?
Look for the light!