Mainly staring at the news at this complete and utter debacle…
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As each one fails, they go to the discard pile. When the draw deck runs out, they shuffle them all up again.
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I think we have a thin deck though, as Boris may get drawn already
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A few years (2008) after 9/11, when I lived in Toronto, I was awoken by a huge explosion. Going to the window I could see flashes of fire to the north, a periodic rumbling.
“That’s it,” I said, “we’re under attack.”
I told my partner that it was just thunder, and then sat and watched the fires until morning, just in case.
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“We started a war. We filled our mouths with bullets…”
Ah, the West. The last decade has shown me how Democracy relies upon at least two things - dialogue and information.
Advances in psychology and marketing over the last fifty years have taught us how to monetize anger, inferiority and all its reactions, and fear. We institutionalized it when the internet subverted the laws of geography and allowed us to connect not with whoever was next to us (and therefore to at least some diversity from the random pathways that lead anyone anywhere) but to whoever felt most comfortable. This can be a gift (see: Tekeli) when supplementing everyday life. This can also be a curse (see: political discourse) when replacing it. The money to be made with this formula drove us to perfect it. And now it seems the dialogue is gone.
I also think we in the West thought the Information age was something scientific. That Information was objective and inert. The Russias and Chinas of the world thought differently and spent several decades learning how to shape and weaponize information. I used to laugh, or scratch my head, at how the targets of propaganda could ever believe it. Now that it is here, I can see - even those who can see that it’s wrong lose access to what is true. It is often easy to see the lie but no longer possible to find the truth obscured behind it, and you are made more powerless in the process. There is a certain naivete in the West’s reliance on objective information, a beautiful thing the way we used to trust. But we are vulnerable in that naivete until we learn to take a more jaded approach and protect ourselves.
Sermonizing (and theorizing, I’m sure much of this is incorrect). I like Capitalism and Democracy. I think they are good things. Oxygen and Water are good things but they can still kill you. I’d like to see social media and demonization die while Democracy survives. I’m not sure which way the game is going to go, though. There’s too much money and power in social media and demonization. And we, the electorate, keep flailing as we try (and fail) to productively talk to each other, organize ourselves, and separate the good from the bad actors.
There’s just so much fear and anger and ambition whipping us into a frenzy.
I’m sorry for the recent gyrations in the UK. I anticipate you can return the condolences across the pond in the next months as our own fear, anger, confusion, and ambition drive our national decisions.
(and a disclaimer: I’m not talking about any policy or party, specifically trying to focus on the process.)
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It could be argued that advances in psychology and marketing weaponised information and that the march to buy more is part and parcel of the lack of dialogue. Trouble is, I am not an accomplished debater and don’t want to start an anti capitalism thread.
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Just what you’ve written is already an interesting addition. We’re pretty good about not going off the rails around here 
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Judging by all the Rails and 18xx games played by people here, I’d say the forum certainly leans “pro-rails” to a degree.
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I’m in California for work stuff. Tonight we had a team building event, as we’re almost all in the same place, and went axe throwing, as one does.
I called my daughter to tell her good night, and told her what we were doing. “With real axes?” She asked. I told her yes, of course they were real axes. “Sounds dangerous!”
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She’s not wrong.
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Topical:
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I love the concept of these places that sell alcohol to people while they are throwing very real, very sharp axes.
Like… how do you get the insurance policy for that?
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Our local axe throwery shuttered after a month or so.
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Surely a cultural thing; they keep opening up new locations around here.
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Should have said ‘throwing up new places’
In the UK, they’re usually restricted to how much they can sell to a single customer/party if at all. Many have been refused alcohol licenses.
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Gawd it’s tyranny like that that led to the whole revolution thingy back in the day.
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There’s one near here (the same farm does paintballing and other things that benefit from having a lot of space), but when a friend tried to book we found it was groups of 10+ only.
And of course the home version, as seen at Essen.
(Look at the target board - that’s got one of the ones you actually throw in it, about 15cm long I think.)
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There’s two in York, one has a license the other doesn’t. I believe the one without appealed to the council on the basis the other did have one.
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Still dealing with the leftover symptoms from covid. I have tested negative Tuesday (a week and 2 days after testing positive). But I still have cold symptoms that are only slowly getting better and everything is so exhausting. I‘ve been back to work since Monday. Though Wednesday after a 2hour meeting I just fell over and had to lie down with nausea and a migraine.
During the week, I was really sick I was constantly on the phone talking to people for our renovation project. This week I have to fit 3 male egos into a solution for a fuckup that happened while I wasn‘t looking (Admittedly, I wouldn‘t have noticed, had I been looking). Nobody will be happy in the end. I am truly hoping this is the last of the big conflicts. From now on we‘ll be building up instead of tearing down.
Still, I wish people would argue their proposals from information (and admit when they do not have all the information) instead of the need to be right. And if they thought about shit before opening their mouths they would need to spend less time proving they were right in the first place.
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Incredibly tired, still not recovered from flu, so apologies for delays on stuff.
Feel better today, tempted to announce my candidacy for Prime Minister.
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