Politics in turmoil

The current chaos around world politics at the moment can be very disturbing to a lot of people in different countries. Especially when it involves dismantling  trade and other alliances the West has built up over many decades. While I acknowledge it may not  be politically correct commenting on offshore politics however when some of these crazy choices start to  impact globally then  of course it’s going to invite comment from other countries  affected.  It would not matter so much if these choices were factual based because then it would have a course to run where tangible benefits could be realised.  Only these are emotional decisions that are made,  devoid from reality. A decision based on how you feel which is tribalism at best or plain bigotry at worse wanting to play victim status.  A good example of this in Britain during a recent  interview with a BBC journalist putting a leading wealthy campaigner for Brexit on the spot. Not before highlighting the fact that he had made all his wealth by being part of the Euro.  Then asked him just how does he know Brexit will be good for Britain and the best answer he could give was, he “just knows” and nothing else. In other words he feels good about it emotionally only the reality tells an entirely different story.  It doesn’t matter if its Brexit in Britain or Trump in America, running on empty doesn’t get you far.  Conjuring up wild conspiracy theories  may be what some people take comfort in order to satisfy their mindset.  It’s also one of the downsides of technology, facts can stand alongside fiction in the online world and both seem to carry equal weight. It’s what science and journalism fight every day. So trying to rationalise how people like Trump or Johnson still have support from anything greater than 10% of the voting population is not easy as many factors come into play.  That includes very well educated political people still exhibiting this deliberate stifling of truth in order to keep promoting tribalism. Even if it means giving up long standing moral principles, breaking the law or just flat out lying. To any normal person not caught up in this cult like behaviour its betrayal to your own country, your community as well as yourself.  In summing up my little soap box rant I was trying to think of a sentence that would encapsulate it all. Then I came across an article reviewing the Broadway play “To kill a mocking bird”  and a line was quoted , it reads something like this.   “A conscience can be exhausting. It’ll keep you up at night. A mob is a place where people go to take a break from their conscience”.   This resonated with me as a powerful statement into what is going on in the world right now in some places.  So I didn’t want to post a link to some news room rant on the rights & wrongs of anyone in political office. But rather short excepts from the eulogy spoken by former Presidents Obama and Bush at John McCain’s memorial service in 2018. As this was someone who always put country first above party or anything else. Yes he may have had flaws like all of us but stood up for those fundamental principles. It’s what I hope all countries will find their way back to in the very near future. Tribalism should stop at your family, your community and favourite sports team then not go much further than that or it becomes a destructive force. Forget the swamp, the world is still waiting for “all the best people”