WHAT GOES THROUGH THE MIND?

Unease, anxiety and disquiet, symptoms of the present.  A condition of concern in the current consciousness of every citizen. This has been revealed by the pandemic. It has become more openly apparent as a result of nations around the world attempting to avoid the covid virus and variants. The strategies adopted by the various nations of the world have exposed the weaknesses and failures of good government. In order to achieve some degree of separation between individuals, so as to contain the spread of the virus, traditionally democratic governments have had to impose and enforce restrictions on the liberty of the subject, which subjects have reluctantly but, so far, willingly accepted. Traditionally hard-line governments have merely become more so, and used the opportunity to become even more dictatorial. The dissidents within these nations have equally had to accept certain restrictions even more reluctantly than citizens in the so called free democratic societies.

 

Not that demonstrations and attempts at standing up to dictatorial powers have ceased, but they have been less effective in the absence of concerted efforts from other countries having to deal primarily with the health and safety of their own population in the face of the pandemic.  Dictators, as a result, have felt free to exercise their powers, even outside their own borders, and have felt freer to bear down even harder on the objectors within their own population. In this, they also seem have the support of other hard line governments.

 

In order to stem the tide of the epidemic, there has been a significant move towards the right in most countries, and the right has sought to take advantage of the situation to entrench itself in the affairs of men. It is all very subtle but hardly surprising. There had been a shift towards the right even before the pandemic, but there were still greater numbers of citizens reluctant to go along.

 

One saw that in the 2017 French Presidential elections. After the first round of the election, it boiled down to Emmanuel Macron (24% of vote) and Marine Le Pen (21.3% of vote). Not much in it. The final result was 66.1% for Macron and 33.9% for Le Pen. It may seem that Macron’s victory was a foregone conclusion, given the two to one result; however, the mere fact that Le Pen was the second most popular candidate says something, and indicates a much greater level of support on the right that one imagines. That support now seems to be growing as the next general election draws near in 2022. A presidency but two years old at the start of the pandemic, and one engulfed in the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ protests of 2018, a class conflict, calling for an end to austerity, increase in minimum wages and a variety of French, and indeed global, ills. It is yet to be fully resolved and could easily tip the National Front movement into power. There is, whether we like it or not, a growing Nationalist movement in the French Republic.

 

Udo Voigt and David Duke

The influx of refugees in Germany has caused no end of difficulties for the German Government. Although they have no seats in the German or European Parliaments, the National Democratic Party of Germany, a far right political group, has developed links, with David Dukes, White Supremacist, far right parties in Croatia, a Youth Defence group in Ireland and the National Party of Ireland. There have been associations with Forza Nuova in Italy and previous links with the National Front in Britain.  So, the NPD it is not without its global admirers.

 

As to the United States, it has a very worrying push to the right going on at present. There is a continuing refrain, emanating from ex-President Trump, that he will be reinstated as President in the fall, after the latest recounts have been conducted. This will of course not happen; however, there has been growing and more outlandish support from his followers. They continue to repeat his rhetoric and the more he repeats his theme the more they accept whatever he says as true. They have no filter. They open their minds, such as they are, and swallow the lot. The republican party and its officials do nothing to disabuse the troops of what he says. Indeed, in states where they have some say, legislation is being past to limit the scope of voting rights and impose extraordinary conditions to limit the numbers able to vote, particularly aimed at limiting the numbers who might vote for democratic candidates. As to the recovery legislation being sought by President Biden, the Republican party has set itself the task of holding back any attempt to improve the situation of the average American by the democratic party.  The claim is that the Republican Party wants to prevent left wing socialism from overtaking the country. The general public, too stupid to see the sham this claim is, will then blame President Biden for their sorry lot rather than the Republican stalwarts who are preventing them from obtaining the benefits they would receive under the Biden plan. In addition, the pent up violence that makes, those of us watching from abroad, shudder, will no doubt continue to flow across the American landscape. Gun violence will be on the increase and repressive rules and regulations will be aimed, not at the perpetrators of the gun violence, but at those seeking reform.   

 

What is sad, is that dictators can only survive if there is a group of people willing to give support, and accept wholeheartedly the premiss that the dictator has the right to rule. Crowds of demonstrators are dispersed by people following orders. Can they not see that what they are doing is wrong? Do the individual official uniformed crowd controllers, not realize the batons, tasers and rubber bullets they wield and launch, are protecting evil?  What goes through the mind of the individual soldier in the ranks of the Myanmar military who carry out the orders to shoot unarmed civilians? What gives cause for concern to the officials who diverted a domestic flight and arrested Roman Protasevich? What thoughts give pause to the judges and lawyers who enforce the dictator’s rules, completely at odds with any civilised rule of law?

 

Does Donald Trump’s base not realise how he has corrupted the meaning of the Constitution of the United States? Do they not realise that what they are doing is completely contrary to preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution?

 

Dictators and would be dictators can only rule if allowed to do so. They can only do what they do with the support of others of the same mind. How do their minds get that way? How does a Ted Cruz or Kaleigh McEnany, who once vilified Trump, now lick his behind? How do Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy directly condemn Mr Trump for inciting the insurrection of the 6^th January, on the very day, and a few days later accept the it was a jolly walk through the Capitol?

 

Are these people so charismatic that they make people deaf, dumb and blind, and ready to do their bidding no matter what the consequences?   I don’t get it.

 

There is a 1957 melodrama, “The Story of Esther Costello”, starring Joan Crawford, Heather Sears and Rossano Brazzi. It was Samuel Fuller’s first produced screenplay, based on a Nicholas Monsarrat novel. In it, Heather Sears plays Esther Costello who is deaf and blind. She becomes a symbol of a movement to help the unfortunate and is part of an evangelistic promotion, with the help of Joan Crawford. At a late stage in the film, she is raped by Rossano and afterwards, as if by some miracle, she is able to see and hear again. Hallelujah!

 

Does this mean that Trump supporters have to be truly fucked by the Donald to be able to see and hear again? Does that apply to all would be dictatorial leaders and their constituents? I’m just saying.