Land Fill
CoVID-19 Day 34
Two days ago I deviated from my usual format and gave a straight account of my day without political comment or takeaway. Yesterday my entry was pure satire. It was a reaction to a Facebook post complaining about journalists taking issue with the government on the basis that they were being negative when what we need is cheering up. A friend made reference to ‘the left’ typically following this trend and that annoyed me. The truth is that the government have only done what is right because of pressure from the public and the opposition.
It doesn’t really matter what the truth is, so long as the narrative can be successfully defended.
I took a walk before publishing the satirical piece and was seriously considering deleting it and writing something softer but met friends who reminded me that we are in a precarious position, with truth telling being particularly important at this time. When I got back I re-read what I’d written and concluded it was appropriate and not unnecessarily negative.
Then checking out Twitter and Facebook this morning it occured to me that much of what is being written at the moment is contributing little and only adding to an overcrowded information overflow. There is always space for articles that fit the inevitable gaps and remind us of forgotten gems that are pertinent to the current situation. But repetition and duplication ends up polluting the message and creating information land fill.
That prompted me to write another article entitled "Don't Unite - Resolve" (its an earlier article in the blog). Its around twice as long as my diary entries and questions the calls for unity (because they generally come from the right) but advocates keeping to the ideals that unify the left more organically. Its truth versus the narrative. We can’t beat the system by disapproving of it or joining forces with what are conservative (small C) factions or beaurocrats because that only replaces one corruptable beaurocracy with another.
So I’ve been more sanguine today. Less angry, less anxious and more thoughtful (as in thinking outside of myself). We are now in an information stalemate where new data merely replaces the old without materially adding to the pile. Its like a ledge on the side of the mountain where the past and future steeply fall away and rise respectively but we sleep on level ground. So long as the government cause us to forget or trivialise the incline and focus on the level staging posts they will have achieved their objective.
It doesn’t really matter what the truth is, so long as the narrative can be successfully defended.
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