No one likes listening to or watching the news anymore. The neighbours that I have spoken to all feel the same. There is too much atrocity in the world and no one knows where to begin.
Once again one is drawn to Shakespeare:
(A slight change to the text)
(They) should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets (their) hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I had this going through my head all through the night, but could not remember the whole text in the correct order. Lines stuck in my head, out of place and out of sorts.
‘there would have been time for such a word’ ‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’ ‘t’ll the last syllable of recorded time’ ‘a player that frets and struts upon the stage’ ‘a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing’ ’full of sound and fury’
All a bit of an annoying jumble that I had to look it up and take in the whole of the text at 3 o’clock in the morning. Indeed what dreams do come in the middle of the night to disturb one’s sleep.
I ask myself why I should be so upset and discombobulated by world events that are tragically so predictable. There are more personal problems to cope with, which, of necessity or proximity, are of far more importance in my daily life, and amble through steadily day to day. They may be more subdued and gentler in comparison to what is going on in Middle Europe and the Middle East, and most assuredly elsewhere; but, they are personal to me and contribute to the unease of the mind.
At present I feel akin to a curmudgeon. It is all complaint, angry criticism, bad temper and intolerance, ready to apportion blame from a very one sided prejudiced point of view. I do not like the current British Government. They are, in my view, a complete disaster. I do not like Donald Trump and the millions of his Maga supporters, in particular certain disgustingly right wing conservative representatives in the Congress of the United States. Equally there are various people, who preside over the government of a number of countries throughout the world, who are very much to blame for the death and destruction of people and places that are entitled to so much more than their present lot. As an individual citizen, I am powerless to do anything about it. I believe many people may feel the same.
I live with someone who has a much more caring and forgiving perspective on the world and is often fed up with my never-ending complaint. She points out that being a public servant in a democracy is not an easy proposition. She points out that, although one disagrees with what they say and fail to do, they have at least put themselves forward to be elected to office. They have at least made an attempt to do something to improve the lot of their constituents, and given all the difficulties involved, must at least have felt the desire to be responsible representatives. They have, one has to accept, been elected to be representatives. It is not credible to assume that they all have ulterior selfish evil motives in seeking office. Should you not seek office if you feel so strongly, or take a more active part in some sort of public service? As a matter of fact, we know very few people, personally, who have been in or sought pubic service.
Two of our friends have been
local councillors. One Labour and one Liberal Democrat. I have known an MP and
have had dealings with a couple of other MPs. I had occasion to meet with a
prospective MP running in Camberwell and discuss her views and situation. She
lost in Camberwell, but subsequently became MP for Vauxhall. Much to my later
distress, although she was a much loved constituency MP, she supported the
Brexit referendum. She left the Labour Party in December 2019 and was made a
peer as an independent in the Dissolution Honours List of July 2020 after the
General Election of 2019 and the assent of Boris Johnson. She is now a
Baroness. That Honours List created 10 Conservative Life Peers, 2 Labour, 1 Democratic
Unionist and 5 Non-affiliated (former Labour MPs) Life Peers. After 30 years in
Parliament she probably gets quite a decent pension as well as her daily fees
for sitting in the Lords. I have no
doubt that up until 2016 she was a very good constituency representative. Her
views on hunting and Brexit were something else again. There is also one American State Congresswoman who features large in the mind.
Be that as it may, I have never sought public office and have not put myself forward for public election of any kind. This does not mean that I am not allowed to offer criticism, nor does it mean I must temper my complaints. I am a citizen and as such I have a right to vote and have exercised that right on numerous occasions. I have, on rare occasions, written to my MP expressing views and requesting action. I have received polite replies from staff, or automated replies, to emails. Indeed, in 1977 I sent a stinging 5 page letter to Albert Booth MP Secretary of State for Employment, David Ennals MP, Secretary of state for Social Services and 3 other Civil Servants, which I know was actually read and, sort of, acted upon.
So, as a citizen, I have exercised my right to complain and make suggestions. Is that enough? I do recall seeing a bit of graffiti on a wall at the Place de la Sorbonne in Paris “Qu’attendez-vous pour changer le monde”. There was no question mark. It was, I would guess, implied or perhaps rhetorical, which, being written, would still require a question mark, would it not? In any event is it enough, as a citizen, to exercise one’s right to complain, or must one do more, by taking an active role in the scheme of things? Might it depend on the frequency and seriousness of one’s complaints?
A problem arises from my questions about questioning. In August of 1953. Martin Heidegger, gave a lecture entitled Wissenschaft und Besinnung (Science/Knowledge and Reflection). He proposed a distinction between matters which he called fraglich ‘questionable’ and those which are fragwürdig ‘worthy of being questioned’. ‘Questionable’ is used in the sense of capable of being the subject of a question rather than something suspect, and is also a question for which there is a clear or definitive answer (e.g. Whose yacht is that?). As to that which is worthy of being questioned, the subject can be inexhaustible, one comes to no specific conclusion. The fragwürdig apparently “dignifies the question and the questioner by making of the process of interrogation and response an ever renewed dialogue and counterpoint.”
I am not at all comfortable with the notion that certain questions are more worthy than others merely because they have no conclusion. The idea that posing such questions is more dignified or intellectually uplifting is questionable. In addition one could ask Mr Heidegger why was he antisemitic and why did he support the Nazi Party, if that’s no too fragwürdig?
So on the matter of politics and modus vivendi, where are we? Is it absolutely necessary to seek office if one is to severely criticise a public servant or elected representative put in charge of a government department, no matter how useless they appear to be? If one does not like things as they are, are we not entitled to complain? I am perfectly prepared to vote for and support someone who can demonstrate a certain degree of capability to be an effective, reliable and honest public servant. But does that mean that I must go out and campaign for said person? Am I obliged to get the vote out and actively participate in the electoral process in addition to just casting my own vote? Does that single act of participation in the process give me full licence to complain as much as I want?
Numbers of people in the democratic world have put themselves forward as representatives and public servants, or have been delegated by elected public servants, to deal with domestic and international problems. They are our world leaders and convene as necessary, and have meetings and conferences, in order to resolve international problems. World peace has yet to be achieved, even though a Nobel Peace prize has been awarded every year since 1968 when René Cassin was awarded the prize for his struggle to ensure the rights of man as stipulated in the UN Declaration.
Since I have been alive (81 years) only one Englishman has received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1949, Lord John Boyd Orr of Brechin “for his lifelong effort to conquer hunger and want, thereby helping to remove a major cause of military conflict and war’. The next British recipient was a Scot in 1959 Philip Noel-Baker “for his lifelong contribution to the cause of disarmament and peace”. Thereafter four people from Northern Ireland for efforts to find a peaceful solution in the Northern Ireland conflict, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan in 1976 and 22 years later, John Hume and David Trimble in 1998. A conflict that continued for over 30 years, `and may still smoulder.
As to the Middle East and Palestine, we’ve had over 75 years of conflict; however, in 1950 the Peace Prize went to Ralph Bunche “for his work as mediator in Palestine in 1948-1949”, and in 1994, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin were awarded the Peace Prize “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”. That clearly has not gone well.
All in all, not a great success at achieving peace although lots of recognition for effort. There were no prizes awarded in 1942, 1943, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1967 and 1972. If you think about what was going on during those years, you will know why.
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I have not put myself out there.
I accept that, but I do still feel that I have a right to complain and if
nothing else, write a futile blog in the hope that maybe somebody in a position
of influence will find it fragwürdig,
and at least start finding some answers. Can we not get Narges out of jail?
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