The Strawberry Blond Clowns

So, with these clowns ruling over us, what could possibly go wrong?

We have three hideous narcissists who don't give a hoot for common folk that we, the people, have collectively chosen to lead and represent us. You couldn't get more buffoonish than President Donald Trump, newly party-endorsed-only Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Premier Doug Ford. They seem crude caricatures in an absurdist play of politically motivated megalomaniacs. Strawberry blond, chubby, and nutty as fruitcakes, none of them show a shred of empathy, besotted as they are with their own image and standing. Like spoiled brats throwing a tantrum in a private nursery, they are all ripping up the playbook, decimating social institutions, promoting the corporatocracy, ripping up the regulatory framework, defiling the ecosystem. They are out of control with those crooked appointees beholden to them abdicating all responsibility to keep them in check. Pence, Bolton and Pompeo are loose cannons themselves. The whole lot of them are allowing the military, law enforcement, financial, pharmaceutical, agriculture, extractive, food industries to ride roughshod over the health and safety of people and planet. With utter impunity, these vested elite interests line their pockets with obscene profits and income at the expense of the "other" 90 - 99 per cent. (Settle on the number meeting your measure of extreme inequality).

I assume we have got here - the democratic election of these autocratic posers - by having got suckered in. They have, after all, dealt us a hand based on a pack of lies, lies which they trot off freely and only meekly opposed with every word, tweet, and interview. Truth is a victim tossed out of the window, thrown under the bus, just as George Orwell predicted it would be all those years ago in "1984". Propaganda, doublethink, Big Brother rule.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.” 

In the autocrat's world, in his feeble little mind

“War is peace. 

Freedom is slavery. 

Ignorance is strength.” 

We were suckered in by a political system that rewards the wealthy and empowered, suckered in by base values of fear, insecurity, intolerance, prejudice, religiosity, ignorance. Misogyny, nationalism, racism, privilege all played their part and these leaders have certainly played on these foibles in their vicious scorched-earth, divide-and-conquer diatribes. They have rallied the troops of tyranny. The opposition is in disarray, fragmented, bewildered, and disenfranchised.

These leaders lord over us from on high. And yet, they will not prevail for ever. They will foist misery upon their fiefdoms only until the day the pendulum swings back from chaos and calamity towards sanity and awakening. History is replete with cycles and change. The time this process will take is hard to gauge but we have to be in it for the long haul. Otherwise they have us. "We won't get fooled again, no, no... "

The Mexican Fisherman

This joke is as old as the hills, but the truism behind it is truly timeless.

"The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while." The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs." 

The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life." The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise." 

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years." 

"But what then?" asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." 

"Millions?...Then what?" The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

Keep it simple. Take your time. Money doesn't necessarily buy happiness. Trade with your community. Look after your family. Love your life.

Evolution

Over millions of years our bodies have evolved until very recently with foods exclusively from nature as nutrition. Why on earth, then, would we choose to feed them de-natured dross?