Tag: Tweet

Adios Muthafucka

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

It’s about bloody time but according to various news outlets Biden has finally been declared the winner. It has only been about an hour but the internet has gone wild in celebration; memes flying out left, right and centre. The laughter has begun. After four years of jokes tinged with an air of war about them they already feel more fun. People need to let off steam after four years of political bewilderment and horror. The war goes on though. Not only with Trump in the short term as he contests the election but when he refuses to concede. Trump will never concede. He might walk out but he’ll never concede, and likely there will be subtle elements of force at play when he does finally vacate the building. Even then the fight goes on. His legions of fanboys hanging on his every tweet. Waiting on the order to go out and embarrass themselves further in public. It will be interesting to see how quickly people start deserting him though. He’s going to die an embittered lonely old man.

Yet the fight goes on. In America, you now have to deal with the tyranny of centrism. The empty beliefs of people who like everything very much as it is and will withstand any attempts at change. Those foolish enough to not learn the lessons of Trump and what led to him coming to power in the first place. In Britain we won’t stop Brexit but we have to somehow deal with our own version of a government that just does as it feels, one never really held to account despite the glaringly obvious. We have to deal with an entire media incapable of upholding even the most basic tenets of journalism. And we have to deal with an opposition in the image of a centrist like Biden, one also likely unwilling or incapable of dealing with the issues which have allowed for events like Brexit and the extreme fringe wing of a political party now running a country.

This same situation seems to be repeated across the western world. When Emmanuel Macron came to power in France at the expense of the far-right Marie Le Pen, it felt like another short term sticky plaster with nothing to offer but empty charm and words. The sticky plaster can never heal the wounds of a people being left behind by an economic and social ideology that relies on them being behind. All bubbles must burst. Trump was no fluke. Brexit is no accident. Marie Le Pen will return. And then what? More sticky plasters? We celebrate tonight but the evidence will be in what comes next. That’s what it comes down to. With all that in mind though let’s enjoy this moment, that orange prick is finally gone or at least he’s not in power anymore. You know how it goes; “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap…”.

Challenging Our Beliefs

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

Today was a day of soul searching. Soul searching in the sense of trying to decide whether I should buy a book which is written by someone who I think holds a different ideological belief to me. For a rather complicated reason I found myself searching through my ebay basket deciding which book out of the ridiculous amount I’ve saved I would buy. I finally settled on one called “Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche For Our Time”. Now while I’m not entirely ignorant of the great mans beliefs I would struggle to sit down and roll many off in much depth and as he is someone who I would like to learn more of I thought this book looked like an interesting read. Quite often we learn better from things we can relate to so the concept of this book seemed ideal for me, and in some ways still does. I decided to do a little research on it though, check out the reviews as much as anything and there aren’t many but I did start to get the impression the author Patrick West was of a more right leaning perspective politically and I won’t deny that this concerned me somewhat. Hence the soul searching.

The thing is I want to hear different perspectives, I think it will help me to create a more well rounded set of beliefs and values. I am more likely to read an article from a left wing news source but I don’t refuse to read something from other sources, unless it’s YouTube of course which I draw the line on. I admit though that I unconsciously and consciously am more critical and demanding of something that potentially challenges my ideals. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t read this book, I might just agree with him and he might explain it from a perspective that opens my eyes to a new understanding of the world. My problem is that a book that is described as challenging “identity politics, therapy culture, ‘safe spaces’, religious fundamentalism, virtue-signalling, Twitterstorms, public emoting, ‘dumbing-down’, digital addiction and the politics of envy” can easily fall into the realm of alt-right internet trolling bullshit. I would love to read about them from a Nietzschean perspective but Nietzsche’s words have been corrupted so much over the years by all sides that there’s every chance it has happened here again. That’s the problem, I would love to read this perspective and this approach to understanding contemporary issues, but it has to be credible, the arguments can be agreeable or disagreeable but they can’t be flawed through inherent bias.

I went on this Patrick West’s Twitter and it’s not clear from any news articles he posts where he really stands. He’s written for The Spectator which is a respectable conservative magazine, and The New Statesman which is a respectable left wing magazine. What concerns me though is that in each of his Tweets he starts off ‘The latest The New Poujadist’ and it turns out there was a chap called Pierre Poujade in France in the 1950s who led a right wing populist movement. This doesn’t fill me with confidence that someone who is that willing to pick a side, although I don’t discount I misunderstand this cultural reference, could in anyway write a balanced sociopolitical book on contemporary society. And it’s so frustrating because in a way I actively want to read things I disagree with but I also don’t want to waste my time on crap and a book that could have had such potential may just be a load of crap. We live in such polarised times that stepping out of bubbles has never been more important, but coincidently, it feels like it’s never been so hard either when people are so intent on making noise in some vain and inglorious desire for attention. Back to the drawing board.

How To Be Human In The Zombie Apocalypse

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

Coronavirus panic seems to have ramped up to zombie apocalypse levels. I have not been able to resist keeping an eye on the latest news updates online and we seem to just be seeing photo’s of empty shelves and pandemonium everywhere. Apparently everyone is being selfish and one Tweet from some politician told of some guy buying the last of the pasta and refusing to share even one with some old lady. This would seem to prove the existence of widespread selfish behaviour, or at least prove examples of it exist and therefore the selfish narrative if you’re attempting to push one. I of course wasn’t there and haven’t been to a big supermarket in about ten days when I went to buy some goats milk butter, I’m so middle class, because they don’t have it in my local shop. Unsurprisingly there had not been a rush on it although I can confirm there wasn’t a great deal of toilet paper left, it does appear people think they can eat it. Seriously though of all the things to rush to buy, the one thing people think they can’t survive without is loo roll? In times of emergency I reckon you’ll get used to Indian style pretty quickly.

But back to this arsehole hoarding the pasta. If true I would love to know the bigger picture. Did he finally give her some? Did someone step in and persuade him to share? Or even force him to share? There are videos online of people fighting over toilet roll, imagine how it’ll be when it’s over the last tin of baked beans. I wonder what I would do in that situation, would I be a coward or would I stand up for the old lady, and would I give up or persevere. I doubt people really know beyond the fantasy of their imagination but I’m sure we all hope we would one way or another have managed to get the old lady her pasta.

Other updates in the ensuing apocalypse are that a raft of rather disagreeable world leaders seem to be getting tested. It’s a tricky one and I wonder how our public sentiments on these issues vary from our inner thoughts. Scumbags like Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton have tested positive, do we respond joyfully, neutrally or compassionately for him as a human being (supposedly). The Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested negative, do we admit to a little disappointment? And then there’s the big one, The Donald has taken his test and will find out in a day or two. We are only human, are we at sainthood levels when we can react equally to everyone in the public eye getting tested? At what point do we just admit our response to hearing Tom Hanks and his wife tested positive was not the same as when we heard Donald Trump is being tested. Does that make us bad? They are still humans, they are still someones mother or father despite how disconnected from any concept of an emotional bond we imagine they have. But we’re also human so we’re fallible. That also means if we want to be excused for our own fallibility we may just have to try understand and excuse theirs. Or just continue being fallible, and proving how human we are.

Saying all of this, it won’t matter anyway soon. We’re all going to be deep in a zombie apocalypse as people prove the fragility of society. Proving they have no sense at all of the so called community they think they’re fighting for with guns or the ballot box. It’s depressing when you realise just how shit people not are but can be. I really hope that old lady got her pasta and whoever reported the moment didn’t just stand there and take a video of it on their phone. To miss the point of ones very own judgemental reporting. Ah to be human.