Author: R J Adams

As I’ve grown older I’ve become more aware of what I can best describe as the ‘unrealities of life’. These are the things that we convince ourselves have some real value, whether moral, financial, or intellectual, when the truth is they either have no value at all, or they actually propagate negative values.

There have been many examples of these over time, the latest being what’s become known as the ‘6.2 million dollar banana’. If I take a 40 cent banana and duct tape it to my wall, does that make my house worth $6.2M? No, of course it doesn’t. The idea is ludicrous. It’s equally ludicrous for some egotistical billionaire to spend $6.2M on purchasing this idiocy at an art auction. It’s a good example of an unreality of life, and one with negative value.

Why is this an example of negative value? Because the only person who benefited from this lunacy is the ‘artist’ who had the idea. Maurizio Cattelan, is now millions of dollars better off, but he was hardly poverty-stricken before.

I’m not suggesting Cattelan lacks talent, merely that he uses his name rather than his talent, to make money. Think about it, if an old person with dementia had been persuaded to part with all their cash after being told a banana stuck to their wall with duct tape was worth a fortune, the fraudster would be just that, a criminal con artist.

Perhaps the true perpetrator of this ‘negative value’ is the purchaser of one banana and a piece of duct tape for an obscene sum of money. $6.2M can buy a lot of good in the world, help the homeless, heal sick people, further solutions to climate change.

The purchaser also receives a Certificate of Authenticity from the artist that grants the owner the permission and authority to reproduce the banana and duct tape on their wall as an original artwork by Maurizio Cattelan.

So, if I go out and buy a bunch of bananas and a large roll of duct tape and stick bananas all over the walls of my house, can Maurizio Cattelan then sue me? A wholly ludicrous idea!

The whole concept is just another example of how we human beings create such ‘unrealities of life’, in an attempt to avoid the often less palatable true reality.

It’s been five days of grind and search to find the problem that caused Sparrow Chat to crash, but finally we’re back up and running, hopefully better than ever.

There’s been so much said about the upcoming ascension of Donald Trump to the US Presidency that it’s hardly worth mentioning anything more about it. I will say one thing: those folk, (you know the determinably optimistic types), who say it won’t be that bad and could be the best thing to happen to Ukraine and the Palestinians, should escape their dreamworld and take a hard look at reality.

Trump is a monster of the worst sort. His ego is so far out of control that nothing good is going to come from the next four years. He is quite likely to go down in history (if anyone’s left alive to write it) as the destroyer of everything living on the planet. He’s decided there is no man-made climate change and all the scientists are wrong, or working for the mythical Deep State who are responsible for spreading the lies. Quite what reason this mythical cabal has for such actions is never made clear. For Trump acolytes the words “Deep State” alone are sufficient to rouse their adrenalin levels and pump up the ire ready for a fight.

“Locked and Loaded!” Yet another phrase guaranteed to get the adrenalin squirting. It’s been echoing across America much more frequently of late. It makes the little boys feel like they’re men.

I would like to offer my congratulations to all those stupid, ignorant Americans who voted for Donald Trump. The arrogance and selfishness of many Americans has always stood out. I drove a school bus in Illinois for six years. I was appalled at the indoctrination of young children, some of them only five or six years old, who began school each morning with the “Star Spangled Banner,” to be sung with hand on heart. They were taught they were citizens of the finest nation on earth. The denizens of democracy. Well, democracy has truly shown what it’s capable of when in the hands of the ignorant, selfish, arrogant, gun-loving, misogynistic citizens of this “greatest nation on earth.”

The writer lived in the ‘greatest nation on earth’ for thirteen years. I met a few nice people. Frankly, the vast majority I came across were grossly obese, arrogant, and ignorant. It was impossible to walk into a supermarket or a school and not wonder if this was the day some lunatic with an AK47 was going to come calling.

When my late wife retired we lived four years in the backwaters of the Upper Peninsular of Michigan, between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. We owned forty acres of virgin forest and lived in an old farmhouse I renovated, in a clearing of the forest. It was an idyllic spot. Except on a Sunday. Black bears, deer, coyotes abounded. Birds of many hues would come to our feeders. But not on a Sunday afternoon.

Roughly a half kilometer further down the lane was a small church of Christian denomination serving the local community. About a similar distance across the lane was a neighbour’s property. It was a quiet, peaceful area all week, but not on a Sunday afternoon.

Every Sunday morning in the distance one heard the toll of the church bell calling the faithful to worship. Everyone from the local community would gather to give praise to their god. Around midday they would disgorge from their pews and head home for Sunday lunch. At 3pm they would return. In the trunk of their vehicles was enough artillery to start a small war. They would cross the lane and head into the forest just beyond our boundary. Then it would start.

For two hours or more we suffered the noise and stench of cordite from multi automatic weapons as they blazed away at only their god knows what. Across the lane the neighbour would join in on his land as he slaughtered targets with his AK47 machine gun.

This is Christian America. This is now Donald Trump’s America. American hypocrisy is alive and well and dwells throughout that land. It will get worse, much worse in the next four years. Any hope of averting the climate crisis will be shattered.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world’s leaders, who have been busy shitting their pants at the thought of a Trump presidency, are climbing over each other to pour praise and adulation on his head. The new British prime minister among them.

Isn’t it time world politicians made a stance against what we all know to be tyranny? These world leaders are supposed to represent the interests of their people. Given the choice, I think many Europeans would be very happy to say, “Fuck Trump, we believe in democracy and the rule of law, not tyranny and oppression.”

Trump is not the evil in America. The evil resides in the majority of Americans who, come January, will have put him back in the White House. It’s time for the rest of us to tell those Americans we will not be cowed by you and your criminal president. We who are human beings believe in tolerance and respect towards our fellow beings, whether they be straight, gay, black, Muslim or whatever. We respect all womanhood and their equality with their male counterparts. We believe in justice and the rule of law and denounce the Netanyahu’s, the Putin’s and all other power-crazed dictators who oppress their fellow countrymen and neighbours.

It is this that our political leaders should be telling Trump, not grovelling at his feet and whining for the crumbs off his table.