I Wish....

 So many things: - 

• I wish we were not destroying our beautiful planet & so many of the living things in it, including ourselves.
• I wish people treated eachother with loving kindness & respect, regardless of their beliefs & cultural differences.
• I wish people were not so territorial & realised that we do not own the land on which we stand or anything within it or above it.
• I wish war, disaster & pestilence did not exist.
• I wish we welcomed change & understood that things simply cannot stay the same for ever.
• I wish we understood & valued the things that really matter.
• I wish everyone could have a generous helping of generosity & love for others. 
• I wish basic necessities like good food, clean water, shelter, security & love were available for everyone.
  
• I wish we didn't waste so much that we are given.

Mostly I wish I could believe in a supreme being who could make all these things true. But I can't. 

So, people - it's down to us. Each one of us individually.

 Make your choice. What sort of a world do you want for Christmas this year?

Truth Decay - Barak to Boris

I listened to Barak Obama being interviewed about his new book "A Promised Land"on Radio 4 this morning.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/barack-obama-book-live-reading-highlights-best-bits-b1724527.html

I've always thought he was a pretty good president - well informed, literate, thoughtful, a good communicator - what you need in a good leader. Such a contrast to both Boris & tRump. tRump seems to be the model Boris follows in so many ways, not least the tenuous hold he has on truth & the aggrandised, erroneous, image he has of himself.

So I think Obama's phrase "truth decay" is worryingly clever. We live in a world where communication is instant. I can find out what is happening anywhere from Venezuela to Kazakhstan. The difficulty I have is knowing whether what I'm reading, or even seeing is true. Truth has decayed to such an extent that conspiracy theories are rife. We trust nothing & no one.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/investigating-the-most-convincing-covid-19-conspiracy-theories

 

I do believe what I'm told by reputable websites like Kings College London. So if they produce this about conspiracy theories I have confidence in what I'm reading.

On the other hand there is the lengthy crowdfunded movie, Hold Up, which purports to uncover a conspiracy by global governments and pharmaceutical companies to use the pandemic to assert control over citizens.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/covid-conspiracy-theory-france-antivaxx-b1729249.html

If something is produced well there will always be people who are taken in by it. If someone in a position of supreme authority, like tRump or Boris, says something, people will believe it. People want to follow leaders. People are gullible & too lazy to fact check with reliable information. The media doesn't police what they publish, believing that everyone has the right to their opinions. They do. I believe that, but they also need to be told when something is a lie.

We can't afford Truth Decay. The Anti Vaxers will have a seriously detrimental effect on stopping virus transmission if they have their way & that affects us all. Politicians deliberately lying in order to achieve power & then hold on to it affects us all. tRump & Boris have made this into an art form & seriously damaged democracy in doing so.

Everyone has to fight against Truth Decay or Democracy & the Rule of Law has had it.

Black & White

Frankly I'm confused about a lot of things. Maybe it's age. When I took my family on holiday to Kenya I found it really difficult to adjust to the fact that the country is pronounced differently to the way I had always pronounced it - (with a long or short e). Yesterday I listened to the news about the FA chairman resigning because of his use of "unacceptable language".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54894864 

I believe all people are equal. I do not believe that some are more important or worth more than others. Everyone is a human being. I also think that you have to judge people on their merit, on their actions & behaviour. So there are people that I would choose not to associate with, because the way they behave or their beliefs are not in tune with mine. Nothing whatsoever to do with skin colour, religion or ethnicity.

Language is important & changes over time. New words arrive & old ones are discarded. My current confusion is because I didn't know that the word "coloured" was offensive. Quite the opposite. Having Googled I now know why it is.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30999175/warning-why-using-the-term-coloured-is-offensive

I do understand now & will try not to use the term, but I'm not sure that I agree. I would have hitherto felt fine about using words like black, brown, coloured, white, mixed race, African, Asian, Indian...as nouns, as descriptors. Simple as that - not perjorative at all. Just a way of naming, of describing who I was talking about. Definitely not with any connotations of slavery. Certainly not in any way condoning slavery.

I am content with being described as white, British, female, widowed....We need to use language to pin down our thoughts so that others can understand. I think the thing that matters most is how we treat other people, how we behave. How we talk to them. Whether we listen to them. Whether we respect them & their point of view. 

I wouldn't mind being described as half German, but I would mind being described as a Nazi.

So my confusion remains. I know that if I called someone coloured I would not mean anything derogatory or demeaning. But they might think I did. So I have to try to remember. 

  

Comment & Share

I'm quite intrigued by the number of people who read my Blog - The many different countries in the world in which my readers are based. I'm not sure how readers find my Blog, but I assume that the fact that I post on Facebook & Twitter is the main portal. 

Initially the Blog was only really read by friends & maybe family. I still have my stalwart followers, many who have been with me for years, but there are a surprising number of others. 

In the years I've been Blogging my purpose has changed. Initially it was simply personal a way of dealing with the traumatic events of 2009 in my life. I missed having my husband to discuss issues with & just talk to. Now I think I am a commentator on life - the things that annoy me, the things I value, philosophy, politics...anything that lights a spark of interest. Anything that inspires me to research & find out more.

So, the reason for this Post is that although friends do post a comment very occasionally & email me or actually tell me what they think, I would really like to know what other readers think of my Posts. I'm happy to have any comment or feedback - I would just be very interested in the opinions of anyone who reads Senile Sealion.

 

If you think what I say is interesting or useful, then do also please feel free to Share any Post.

Choice - America Decides

The USA has voted & Joe Biden as president elect. Americans have individually made a choice. 

65 million, almost half of voters who voted, voted by post.

100 million Americans voted early, either in-person or by mail, before polling stations opened on November 3.

It was the highest ever turnout, with over 155 million Americans casting a vote - 66.9% of the population 

Biden's margin of victory is more than 4 million votes & rising.

Biden is on track to win 42 counties that were won by Trump four years ago.

Biden has 290 college votes - Trump has 214

Biden has 75,198,127 votes (51.5%) - Trump has 70,804,457 votes (48.5%)

58% of white male voters voted for Trump. 1 in 3 Hispanic men voted for Trump.

Trumps vote was highest in counties where use of a facemask is lowest.

The Democrats still have a majority in the House 214 to 196 but it's close. They need 218 to win.

The Senate is even closer 48 to 48 needing 51 to win & 4 seats left to call.

It's all just fascinating. But the bottom line is that I am personally relieved not to have Trump in a position of power for 4 more years. However the completely split society voting reveals is really troubling. More so because we in the UK have so often followed on from what happens in the USA.

We too are a divided nation. We are polarised by Brexit & we are beginning to be split by Covid. We are divided geographically North & South. The divisions of rich & poor are clear.

We don't know how the divisions will play out in America. I was shocked to see premises being boarded up in preparation for rioting over the election. Civil unrest is just under the surface in America but also possibly in the UK.

Americans have to choose how they go forward from this point. But so do we. I hope we don't mirror the American way.

Doubt

To be uncertain about, consider questionable or unlikely. Lack of confidence - Distrust. Inclination not to believe or accept. A state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense which often interferes with decision making. 

Great! I know what it is. But it's a feeling I wasn't familiar with before. I am in many contexts nowadays. I thought I knew what is important, what is true, how I should behave, who to believe, who to trust. Almost all of those things have been tossed aside in so many areas of life today. 

I doubt that God exists, I doubt that politicians have my interests & the interests of the world I live in at heart. I doubt that many of my fellow humans care about anything other than self interest. I doubt that the very hard choices confronting us will be made in time to save the world as we know it. I doubt that my Grandsons will benefit from a life as secure as mine has been. I doubt that poverty, famine, inequality, injustice, war & pestilence will cease for millions of people. I doubt that the rich will suddely see that they have an  obligation to spread their wealth more equally & be truly philanthropic. I doubt that we will see the light & stop raping the planet of it's finite resources. I doubt that the unsustainability of the constant mantra of growth & consumerism will cease. I doubt that multinational companies will see the light & work to benefit anyone other than their shareholders & senior managers.

I doubt so many things. I also doubt my ability to solve any of this.

But I don't doubt that I should do my very best to do something. I should not just sit back & say the problems are too big. I alone can't make any difference.

I don't doubt that one voice & one action can become many voices & many actions. A voice in the wilderness can become a multitude fighting for what is right. Many hands make light work. 

We humans are clever, resourceful, beings. We have technology on our side. We can change our destructive patterns of behaviour.

But there really isn't much time.

Being Alive

There is a big difference between being alive & simply living. It's basically about quality of life. What makes your life worth living? What makes you happy? What gives your life meaning & purpose? Are you happy with just being here, breathing, not dead?

Well I'm not. We face another lockdown on Thursday. A month of basically staying at home for most of the time. People like me who live alone & were shielding can still see friends or family in our "support bubble" thank goodness. But we face hours & days of solitude - again. We are thrown back on our own resources - having already spent 3 months in our homes & done most of the things that occupied the time & distracted us from the reality of Covid.

I am perfectly capable of doing my own risk assessment for both my own & other people's continued health & well being. I am not convinced that we are on the correct course of action to deal with Covid. That conclusion is based on trying very hard to compare the UK trajectory to other more successful countries. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/10/continual-local-lockdowns-answer-covid-control

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32007-9/fulltext#seccestitle10

 

We are not learning from countries that have previously had Covid type epidemics. Countries which were far better prepared than we were. Countries which had invested time, effort & money to heed the warnings, years ago, that this pandemic was coming. Our government is stuck in an expensive rut which is killing people & possibly destroying our economy. 

Unless we get a prime minister & cabinet that is prepared to really listen to people who do know what they are talking about, accept that the present strategy is never going to work & change course, we are doomed for years to repeat this cycle. People like Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh.

I want to live, not to just exist in a vacuum of housework, paperwork, communicating via my computer, reading, watching TV, eating & sleeping. I would actually be prepared to risk getting Covid if necessary. I accept the fact that it might kill me. Dying is a natural part of living. The important thing is the quality of the living. I don't want to simply watch life going on through my window like I watch the TV.

I am unlikely to get Covid if I am extremely careful. Therefore, if I follow the rules, I am unlikely to pass it on to anyone else. Therefore I will not be a burden on the NHS. I am a responsible adult. I should be able to live my life in relative freedom whilst respecting the rights of others in my community.