HAVE WE GIVEN OUR HEARTS AWAY?

The world is too much with us, complained William Wordsworth in 1802, just after the turn of the 18th and 19th century. The French New Republic, formed after their own revolution,  were having problems over the Haitian Revolution, and putting down Toussaint Louverture. The Treaty of Amiens had brought an end to hostilities between the United Kingdom and France. Napoleon Bonaparte was made First Consul for life. In the United Kingdom, Lord Elgin had begun removal of, what is now referred to as, the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens. The Rosetta Stone was brought to England. Marie Tussaud first exhibits her wax sculptures. First accounts of Wedgwood’s experiments in photography. The Tories had won the 1802 General Election and the newly elected Prime Minister Henry Addington, finding fault and breach of the Treaty of Amiens, declared war again on France in 1803. On top of all that the Industrial Revolution was in full swing  and Britain had become the leading commercial nation. The first of the Factories Acts began in 1802 to improve conditions of industrial employment. That is still going on. 

In the arts, Beethoven had published his Moonlight Sonata. The first Burns Night was held on 29th January 1802, which was thought to have been his birthday, but this was corrected the following year to the 25th January and has been held on that day since then. Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas were both born in 1802. 

In effect much was going on then as now. There certainly was a continuous level of violence going on, and the recognition of human rights was being determined all over the globe. Revolutions and hypocrisies were rife, nonetheless we have established, in more than one area, a human rights convention and an International Criminal Court to oversea flagrant breaches of a rule of law that we are all meant to observe. So as Wordsworth cried out in 1802 against a disappearance of decency, so we cry out now that the world is indeed too much with us. Relief from this insanity of nationalist imperialism and violent religious bigotry, would not come amiss. Must leaders of democracies be tyrants in the making? Is arrogance and narcissism a prerequisite to governance? Why do so many cling to people of such colossal ego with extravagant and amoral prejudice? Is it necessary to create a bogeyman on whom to heap vile insults, such as Hitler on the Jews and Trump on all immigrants? Is it essential to so obviously twist the truth? 

For goodness sake, there are pictures and recordings of events, clearly illustrative of appalling actions and criminality, which are turned on their head. Why is that accepted? Are the populace so totally mesmerised as to be made deaf, dumb and blind? I presume we all saw the disgusting attack on Senator Alex Padilla, to prevent him from daring to enter an open press conference. It was filmed. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security,  told obvious lies in the face of the recorded evidence,  and Mike Johnson, speaker of the House Of Representatives,  called for Mr Padilla to be censured for barging into a “press conference” as if it was a private meeting.  When will the congress of the United States step up and reassert its powers to uphold the rule of law? When will this Orwellian horror show be over?

One should normally be respectful of other people’s views, no matter how difficult they may be. To have divergent opinions is a healthy thing. We are individuals and not all alike. We may seethe inwardly, but honest opinion is to be respected. Honest opinion, not one founded on mendacity, bigotry and ignorance. With the likes of Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, Lukashenko, Orban et al, it is a calculated and pernicious obsession to retain power. Any lie and appeal to ignorance is acceptable. It is strategic condescension, as defined by Pierre Bourdieu, used to maintain that power. Is it any wonder Trump claims to “love the poorly educated”? 

I sometimes feel at wits end and deeply troubled by an inability to act. It is all very well to rant at my MacBook Air screen, but it changes nothing. I know I am not alone in my point of view. It is irrational, but I loath the poorly educated. I do not speak of the ignorant, or the intellectually challenged,  as they are for the most part able to distinguish truth from lies. I loath the people who claim education and knowledge when it is, in effect, based on deceit, duplicity, lies and fabrications. Believing in myths and ghosts is harmless, but calling on people to obliterate those with whom we do not agree, and calling them scum, is a crime against humanity. This is what our current leaders seem to do, and want to do. It is who we have elected. How sad is that?

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!