I have been restless and uncomfortable, resisting the inclination to froth and rant.
It’s not time to make a change
Just relax, take it easy
You’re still young, that’s your fault
There’s so much you have to know
The sheer perversity, fickleness and senselessness of mankind is depressing; I am aghast at the polarisation of people of the western civilisation; let alone people of the Middle East and Far East who are apparently equally as dichotomised and dissatisfied.
How can I try to explain?
When I do he turns away again
It’s always been the same
Same old story
From the moment I could talk
I was ordered to listen, now there’s a way
And I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go
Is it all down to tribalism? That great big melting cup of mixed ethnicities and cultures which is the supposedly United States of America, seems to be disintegrating politically and socially at an alarming rate. Economically it appears to be thriving but with an economy funded by huge and growing debt.
We have become diffuse and directionless, without a Polestar to guide us towards the same destination with the same interests.
Our ethics and principles and freedoms have been eroded and clouded and remoulded into different things to accommodate diversity, equity and inclusion. The authorities of the past are decried and history is re-defined.
I was once like you are now
And I know that it’s not easy
To be calm when you’ve found
Something going on
But take your time, think a lot
Think of everything you’ve got
For you will still be here tomorrow
But your dreams may not
Academia has been seized by the new wave, persuaded or cowed by the volume of cries to change history to abide by the new future of glorification and recompense of minorities. Disempowerment and emasculation are the cries of the new age, change is their agenda. There is momentum but little coherent vision – no Nirvana or Jerusalem, just destruction.
The old Marxists must be rejoicing at this projection towards a state of chaos, from which a new world can be built. Of course it will require a tyrant to bind the movement together and enforce discipline.
All the times that I’ve cried
Keeping all the things I knew inside
It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it
If they were right I’d agree
But it’s them they know, not me
So how do we avert this disaster? Or do we just roll over and go with the flow, as many have done already?
If, or more likely, when Trump comes to power, there will be a radical ripple of change. Support for NATO and the Ukraine and Israel will shrivel. Trade with China will be tariffed and short shrift given to illegal immigrants. The impact on Europe will be huge and Russia will grow powerful and dangerous to its other neighbours. China may be emboldened to consume Taiwan.
Will it stop the erosion of our institutions and society? Should it? Some of them are certainly no longer fit for purpose.
Somehow the gap between the polarised needs to be bridged. Zero sum arguments of the left and right will not prevail. A new way forward is needed.
That must be the solution: the best of the old and the best of the new, best of the west and best of the east, which we might yet have to discover.
Communication is now instantaneous, nothing remains hidden, accurate information and the total wisdom of the past is all there. Sadly, I fear, like religion, we have to deal with Man who is capable of and prone to corruption and perversion, to serve his own narrow interests.
Somehow we need to distil and renew freedoms which allow the truth to prevail and prevent corruption. Are we back to God vs Satan?
First define what is good and then what is bad; or vice versa?
Then get everyone to agree ….. Yeah, right!
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
DYLAN THOMAS
Other verses from Father and Son by Cat Stevens/Yusuf
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