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what can be done about tomorrow?
the authorities are alarmed
they are making noises already
one has to admit
if tomorrow comes
there will be certain risks
that is perhaps an understatement
(made, albeit, in the interests of calm)
as it is
the day progresses
and it seems likely
that the sun will set
some may have hedged against it
but nobody voted for this
who could have seen it coming?
this could be the end
of things as they've been
as things, for instance,
are today
if tomorrow comes
how can we be protected?
who's to take responsibility?
will there be a way back?
there's never been terror
on this scale before
we truly are at the abyss
it's an ever-present threat
just look at the world already
who can say it's not the case
all hell has broken loose?
what is to be done?
a minute to midnight
stopping the clocks was tried
at best a limited success
so much coordination required
even smashed clocks
leave the tides to run
stars and planets turn through the night
it's as if unstoppable
this day-away
that's bearing down
still we must trust
our best interests at heart
what are you going to do?
I think it's too late to get away
they're conducting
a sweep through the streets
the sirens are finished
it's the loudspeakers
we're being told
to stay where we are
stay focussed
keep heads down
tails up
don't speak to anyone
hold your breath
just be in
the here-and-now
if tomorrow comes/ there will be certain risks - the second part sums up Trumpland for me and the first sums up what I was reading yesterday, a review by Nathaniel Rich of Arlie Russell Hochschild's 'Strangers in Their Own Land Anger and Mourning on the American Right'
ReplyDeleteThe more conservative you are, the worse off you are likely to be and the sooner you are likely to die. This holds even on the county level, Hochschild finds, after an analysis of EPA data shows a correlation between political views and exposure to pollution. Yet the very people most damaged by conservative policies are most likely to vote for them.
The paradox that most baffles Hochschild is the question of environmental pollution. Even the most ideologically driven zealots don’t want to drink poisoned water, inhale toxic gas, or become susceptible to record flooding. Yet southwestern Louisiana combines some of the nation’s most fervently antiregulatory voters with its most toxic environmental conditions. It is a center of climate change denial despite the fact that its coast faces the highest rate of sea-level rise on the planet.
When confronted with the contradictions in their political logic, Hochschild’s subjects fall into “long pauses.” Cognitive dissonance reduces them to childlike inanity. When asked about catastrophic oil spills that result from lax regulation, one woman says, “It’s not in the company’s own interest to have a spill or an accident…. So if there’s a spill, it’s probably the best the company could do.” Madonna Massey says: “Sure, I want clean air and water, but I trust our system to assure it.” Jackie Tabor, whom Hochschild describes as “an obedient Christian wife,” says: “You have to put up with things the way they are…. Pollution is the sacrifice we make for capitalism.”
There's an old Carry On Movie on the box, perhaps I should sit down and watch it.
I refer you to my Trump-rant of a few days ago, John --
ReplyDeletehttp://project365plus.blogspot.com/2016/10/kit-kelen-303-trump.html
a true rant!
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