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Have you ever stopped to wonder why so many Trump-esque figures are dominating the world political scene these days? With Trump himself appearing to have a fairly free hand in ruining the United States, Britain has recently acquired the Trump lookalike, Boris Johnson, himself equally hellbent on destroying his own country.

Then, of course, there are the other dictatorial-type leaders or would-be’s, Bolsanaro of Brazil, Salvini of Italy, Orbán of Hungary, and others presently too numerous to mention, but all voted into office via so-called ‘democratic’ systems. Nor does this unsavoury group consist solely of men. Australia has perhaps more so-called ‘populist’ politicians than any other nation. One who stands out from the rest is Pauline Hanson. An ex-fish and chip shop owner, Hanson fronts One Nation, a populist far right-wing party dedicated to drastic anti-immigration policies and spawning hatred of both foreigners and native Australians.

Writing in the Guardian today, Richard Seymour, succinctly encapsulates that aspect of the human consciousness which allows these Trump-esque figures to flourish. What is it about ourselves as human beings that makes these dangerous, power-hungry,  individuals so alluring, persuading us to vote them into power, when logic dictates more amenable choices?

According to Seymour,it is our, “…dark appetite for adventure…” that draws us to these people. He uses the example of one British pseudo-politician, Nigel Farage, a man who has never held a UK parliamentary seat, but who is seen to hold the power to alter political history purely by the support he can engender from those who see him as the next Messiah of British politics.

Farage is often called a populist. The main sense in which this is true is that he is not afraid of the dark side of public feeling, whether it is the collective hate of outsiders or the whoosh of excitement as the currency slides, parliament slowly implodes and chaos beckons. To the contrary, he is keenly attuned to the prejudices of middle England, its anguished resentment and its yearning for adventure. He advocates for it and fuses it to his project of creative destruction. It was, after all, Farage and his allies who spotted[…]that people unruffled by European fisheries or subsidy rules would harken to the language of race war. It wasn’t enough just to link the EU to immigration. An atmosphere of national crisis, of “invasion”, of a “breaking point”, had to be invoked, and linked to folk memories of the second world war, Dunkirk and the blitz. ¹

If we care to admit it to ourselves, we all possess to a greater or lesser extent, a dark side of our consciousness that longs for the adventure of chaos and disaster. We’ve been fed such desires throughout our lives, via radio and television, cinema, and of late by the even more potent tools of the internet and social media.

We love disasters, we’re fed them every day as entertainment. Admit to that self-righteous thrill when you read of the latest mass shooting in America (‘their attitude to guns is crazy, it serves them right’), the slight sense of disappointment if Hurricane Dorian misses Florida (‘who likes Florida anyway?’), or the secret hope that Brexit no-deal will happen and Britain will sink into the Atlantic under the devastating effects of economic and political chaos (‘serves them right for voting to leave’).

It’s not that we’re immune to the dreadful suffering of victims and their families from any of these disasters, we’ve simply been brainwashed into demanding more and more entertainment, in any form, to alleviate the intense boredom of our humdrum lives.

It’s this ‘dark side’ of ourselves that leads us to vote Trump-esque characters into political office on the basis that they’re simply more entertaining. Take another look at the image above of Nigel Farage descending the steps of a church, like Nero adorning the Roman Senate. He’s only lacking the laurel wreath on his head. Note the adoration in the faces of the gathering.

If you study the faces of the multitudes at Nuremberg during one of Hitler’s mass rallies, you’ll see the exact same expressions:

^{Nuremberg 1933}

Hitler promised them the world and blamed the Jews for their woes. It’s a favourite of dictators to blame others. Foreigners, or those of different religious doctrines, are usually the first in line for the firing squad. Trump utilises similar dark visions of immigrants as rapists, murderers, and drug dealers; Farage and Johnson attack Muslims and foreigners stealing jobs from the British people. It’s a ‘them or us’ philosophy that dredges the very depths of the human psyche and drags up the worst of our darker fears, coupled with an equally dark desire for change and adventure.

All of this is condensed and intensified by our addiction to social media. We were told it would link us together but the reality is it drives us apart, brings out the worst of our tribalistic instincts, and destroys our sense of sociability.

American adults spend more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media, according to a new study by market-research group Nielsen. That’s up from nine hours, 32 minutes just four years ago.²

All of which makes us rich fodder for those who would anoint us disciples of their self-centred and power-crazed ideologies.

 

^{1. “A dark appetite for adventure is driving Britain’s hardline Brexit folly” Guardian, September 2nd 2019}

^{2. “People spend most of their waking hours staring at screens” MarketWatch, August 4th 2018}

There’s one question concerning Brexit that is seldom asked of those vehement in their opposition to the UK remaining a member of the European Union. When broached, only vague responses are forthcoming, like “take back our sovereignty,” or, “control immigration,” or, “stop those bloody foreigners from taking all our bleeding jobs.” Of course, that’s from the rank and file, ordinary folk who simply re-mouth what they’ve heard on the internet, or from media owned and controlled by the Murdoch’s News Corp (the Sun), Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere (Daily Mail), Evgeny Levedev, one of those rich ‘bloody foreigners'(The Independent & Evening Standard). Then there’s the Daily Telegraph owned by the billionaire Barclay brothers, the UK’s equivalent of America’s Koch brothers, who also owned ‘The European’, (you gotta larf!) and ‘The Scotsman’.

They are, of course, just sound-bites lacking true substance. Facebook’s vast database coupled to Cambridge Analytica’s expertise with algorithms churned them out en masse prior to the 2016 referendum; catchy ads and videos that castigated the EU and cleverly assaulted the deep, often subconscious, fears of ordinary people in what could only rightly be described as mass brainwashing.

The problem with sophisticated brainwashing is that the victims don’t know it’s happening. Often they’re not even aware their fears have become heightened to a point that a) pushes them to get out and vote, when otherwise they may have not bothered, or, b) alters their mindset so they switch how they vote.

Fear has been the weapon of dictatorial leaders throughout history. That, plus a promise to the masses of a Utopia to come. Throughout the whole sordid Brexit saga we’ve witnessed both an elevated fear of remaining in the EU, and the promise of Utopia once the UK leaves. Only recently, after being undemocratically chosen as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson prophesied, “a new golden age dawning.” It hardly seems likely, now does it?^[1]

The one question that should constantly be fired at the Brexiteers, and with concrete answers stipulated, is seldom if ever asked by those in the media responsible for demanding answers on behalf of the British, and European, public.

Why, and how, will the United Kingdom be a better country for ALL its people by leaving the European Union?

Every survey; CEOs of virtually all the companies located in the UK; the Bank of England; even the government’s own economic departments, have issued dire warnings of the consequences of leaving – and especially leaving with no deal in place. Yet the politicians presently in power all disagree. The billionaires who make their money in the markets, disagree.

Why? Why, when asked to explain their reasons do they flounder and flutter and talk bullshit, using those same old soundbites uttered by the rank and file?They add a little more decorum to their answers. Oxford and Cambridge universities taught them how to do that. “Stopping those bloody foreigners from taking all our bleeding jobs,”. becomes, “…we need to manage our own immigration policies,”  and “taking back our sovereignty,” becomes, “we will govern ourselves, not be governed by Brussels…” (‘Brussels’, incidentally, is a democratically elected parliament in which the UK participates via its MEPs. There is nothing undemocratic about it).

There’s a mountain of evidence to confirm the foolishness of exiting the EU, even with an agreement, but scarcely a smidgen’s worth to discount the aforesaid mountain, or offer evidence to favour getting out despite said mountain.

There are two types of individual who are enthusiastic about Brexit: a) the relatively poor, who have suffered harshly under austerity measures imposed by successive British governments since the turn of the millennium. They find the EU a convenient scapegoat, helped on by dishonest politicians anxious to avert responsibility from themselves, and b) the obscenely wealthy who are gambling on Brexit and stand to profit hugely once the UK leaves.

This man, Jacob Rees-Mogg…

…is just one of them. He’s an ardent Brexiteer, is head of the so-called European Research Group – a bunch of hard-headed ‘Get out of Europe’ fanatics who exist within the Houses of Parliament.  Rees-Mogg’s business interests,  Somerset Capital Management, have just set up two investment funds in Eire (an EU member) to circumvent the negative effects of Brexit.

This from the Guardian:

A City firm co-founded by the influential Conservative backbencher, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has set up an investment fund in Ireland and is warning prospective clients about the financial dangers of the sort of hard Brexit favoured by the Tory MP.

London-based Somerset Capital Management (SCM) described Brexit as a risk in a prospectus to a new fund it launched in March, which has been marketed to international investors who want to keep their money in the EU long-term.^[2]

Of course, only Rees-Mogg knows how much he’ll make from Brexit, but rumour has it it’ll be in the millions. And he’s not alone.

Boris Johnson has just awarded Rees-Mogg the powerful political position of Leader of the House of Commons. The smell of corruption is overpowering.

The true answer to the ‘why’ question is painfully obvious. It’s not just that the wealthy will make vast fortunes from the Brexit event, that’s just a sideshow of profit. The European Union makes regulations governing money and goods, and other things. It irks the wealthy that they are subject to the regulation of people they see as ‘foreigners’. Also, they wish to do away with those regulations because they’re designed to keep people safe, help ordinary citizens to live less frugally, and hamper those who would profit unfairly.

Leaving the EU, with a UK government in place prepared to deregulate in areas advantageous to wealthy businessmen, opens up a whole new arena of possibility for those in a position to benefit. Needless to say, they will not be from within the rank and file of ordinary British citizens. The proportion of those  who scream out loudly for Brexit,  on the streets or on social media, have been hoodwinked and manipulated by the ruthless and powerful.

It’s comforting to believe our politicians are there looking after our interests. Sadly, that’s rarely the case. Mostly they just look after their own, short-term, interests and to hell with the rest of us.

That’s why it’s so important to not always believe what they tell us, at least until we’ve asked ‘Why?’ and not settled for a soundbite.

^{[1] “Boris Johnson: Premiership will be the start of a golden age” BBC July 25th 2019}

^{[2] “Brexit warning from investment firm co-founded by Rees-Mogg” The Guardian, June 14th 2018}

I’ve been using Twitter and Facebook for almost a month. I’ve always had strong reservations about both platforms and my experiences over the last few weeks have done nothing to quell them.

Facebook, as evidence has shown, is at the forefront of data mining. Its involvement, whether through direct access or just being irresponsible in securing its users’ data, has become common knowledge thanks to journalists like Carole Cadwalladr of the Observer exposing the company Cambridge Analytica, billionaire financier Robert Mercer, and CA’s once Vice-President Steve Bannon.

In fact, I find the Facebook platform rather disappointing. It’s somewhat clunky and confusing, with posted items frequently disappearing. One gets bombarded with potential ‘friends’ one’s never heard of, and can seldom find anyone known to you in the past, though there are myriad ‘possibles’ one would never, ever, want to befriend.

Given that  its original intention was to keep people in touch with family and friends I guess the idea was worthwhile. Sadly, thanks to the world’s total obsession with advertising and materialism, it’s now become little more than a very efficient tool in the service of large corporations, and those who would use it for the sole purpose of perverting democracy.

Twitter is a totally different internet animal. In just a few weeks hatred, racism, nationalistic fervour, and left-wing/right-wing tribal feuding has dominated much of the content passing as ‘likes’ or ‘retweets’, or those I should ‘follow’, on my Twitter feed. I’ve found it nigh on impossible to permeate this mass of political and racist detritus and discover the sanity one assumes is struggling to survive somewhere deep in the forest of poison ivy that obscures it.

Violent emotionalism pervades Twitter. There is little rational thought to be had when all is right-wing or left-wing, fascist or white supremacist. When did we acquire ‘wings’ anyway? We act like cold-blooded, reptilian, pterodactyls…

… swooping in and annihilating without mercy, egos humming to the thrill of conquest over yet another enemy.

Have we forgotten we are all human beings? Even Margaret Thatcher quoted, “Where there is hatred let us sow love,” though she didn’t exactly follow it through.

Migrants are prime victims of these trolls, and not just in America. The hate-swell against migrants is growing exponentially. In France it’s still fairly muted compared to Germany (the far-right has never forgiven Merkel for allowing one million migrants into their country), and of course British racism is alive and well thanks to that reptilian toad masquerading under the name of Nigel Farage, along with his cohort, prime minister Boris Johnson.

Migration will undoubtedly get worse due to climate change. It’s already a major cause of people forced to leave their homes and countries. The powerful and wealthy will continue to raise the nationalistic fervour of the masses against the poor and destitute. The ‘KEEP OUT’ signs…

…guarded by guns and soldiers, will multiply. The rhetoric of the Trumps, Johnsons, Farages, and many others of the politically powerful, will continue to foment bitterness and hatred among ordinary folk, setting them at each others’ throats without them even knowing how they’re being used.

Twitter and Facebook are the tools in the hands of the bad guys.