It is tricky to behave in a rational way when you are feeling confused, angry and hurt. Do I mean Trump supporters or Biden Supporters - Brexeteers, Europeans, or British Remainers? Or any number of groups of people around the world. It takes a certain maturity of mind and experience to quell the amygdala hijack - to get a grip on our emotions and return to a frame of mind that uses logic, reason, and some deep listening. There is a case for all of us on all sides to step back and do our very best to view our current predicament in a more honest and empathetic way.
There is, I believe, an extremely dangerous undercurrent flowing through society at the moment and we need to change its direction. Not that I was alive in the 1930s but something akin to that era - particularly coming out of this pandemic and the trail of financial hardship it will induce; we need to guard against the darker instincts of humanity. Our society has become complacent, soft and greedy. We cannot allow our hard-earned civilisation and freedoms to break down into anarchy, particularly as we have so many more critical fights on our urgent and important to-do list, not least the welfare and future of our whole planet.
We have to fight for facing up to reality and be against people who try and fit reality to their lies. As if continually repeating all the lies turns them into facts. As most of us are aware - there is a large body of people around the world, but worryingly and unusually prevalent - in the States and Europe, who seem to have an extreme contempt for the facts.
And dangerously, many people who hold power and should know better are the culprits here. These people are meant to be leaders - leading us to a better, safer and kinder world. But instead, by either perpetrating or supporting all the disinformation, they are doing precisely the opposite. All the people in power who stay silent are just as guilty as the people who spread all the exaggerations, untruths and lies. You may recall the adage - all it takes for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing.
We must stand up and insist, and if necessary fight for the facts, for the truth, which is ultimately - Freedom.
It is fine to disagree on any number of things, to hold different opinions, to make arguments for causes or adjustments to rules and laws. But it is definitely not ok to exaggerate and twist facts into lies and present false truths, any more than it is ok for leaders and representatives to stay silent and not call out the perpetrators of untruth.
What is really frightening is that there is a fight going on in the USA, not dissimilar to what is going on in Belarus. There is an uncanny similarity between Trump's character and that of Alexander Lukashenko, which does not bode well for anyone. Hopefully, it will not get to that, but there is a very real fight going on for the hearts and minds of our western civilisation.
Many people from around the world, particularly in the United States and Europe, have fought and died for the values that Trump and his enablers are putting at risk. These values are worth fighting for, and our forefathers thought dying for also, as many did. Being so complacent about our civilisation is a mistake. Our way of life is a fragile gift that has a considerable cost attached to it and a massive responsibility on our shoulders to guard it for the future. To squander it through our own ignorance, and irreverence would be disastrous.
Rick - Suffolk - UK - 7th December 2020
www.ricknotesfromengland.com
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