trump

The new American Era

I’m becoming increasingly aware that we’re now entering a kind of American era. I was of course glad to see Artemis had splashed down safely on Friday night. I know I have been rather critical of it, but the fact remains the prospect of humanity returning to the moon is very exciting indeed. The thing is, alongside the coming Artemis missions, the US will host the world cup later this year, followed by the Olympics in LA in ’28. It thus seems that the world’s attention will be on America for some time.

I still remember what it was like living in London in 2012: the city seemed to have a unique buzz about it, as though it had suddenly become the centre of human existence. I doubt we’ll see another summer like that here again for a very long time; but I suspect Americans are now starting to feel something similar, not just in LA but across the country. As they gear up for the world cup this summer the sense that they are the focus of the entire world will only increase. To be fair, the arrogant tossers have always felt that way, but the coming events are only going to deepen it.

The problem is, this American Era couldn’t have come at a worse time. Under Trump, America has lost the worlds respect entirely; the country is seen as little more than a laughing stock and a bully. I can’t see it recovering the esteem it once held any time soon, casting a very dark shadow over the coming events. What should have been joyous and magnificent will now be seen as the arrogant spewings of a fascist country ruled by a megalomaniac charlatan; a bully who thinks he can trample over international law. Frankly, the prospect of the Americans, Trump foremost among them, soon boasting about walking on the moon again and hosting the ‘greatest olympics ever’, as though only they could do such things, really is unedifying. As I’ve said before, that is something nobody wants to see, but unfortunately it’s what is coming over the next few years.

These Cowboy Hats Don’t Fit

Fascism is one of those things which is notoriously difficult for define. The term is bandied about all too easily, often used as an insult, to the extent that it loses any real meaning. I think, though, that in the broadest terms, fascism is a form of ultra right wing, discriminatory culture; a form of reactionary intolerance where you are right and everyone else is wrong, and one’s culture is inherently superior to all others. Under those terms, however, that is precisely the culture we now see emanating from the United States.

Since the second election of Donald Trump, America has become ever more brash and arrogant: its attack on Iran was unprovoked and criminal. To be honest such actions give American culture in its entirety a far darker, more reactionary feel. Americans now have the aspect of those who feel they have the right to do whatever they want, no matter what suffering it causes. Of course, I know not all Americans approve of what their government is doing, but you could have said the same about Germans under the Nazis. For me at least, American culture now has a vile, repugnant undercurrent to it.

That makes what I am experiencing today far more disquieting than it would have been not long ago. I am writing this sat in the corner of the O2. The Country To Country festival is on this weekend: country music is being played through the speaker system; thousands of people are walking around in cowboy hats and jeans. I frankly doubt many of them would ever have actually been to the Midwest, and I thus can’t help feeling a deep sense of charade to what I’m watching. More to the point, the fact remains that this event is essentially a celebration of a culture which is slipping further and further to the right. Like it or not, American culture is now a fascistic, intolerant one; a culture which is becoming increasingly violent and discriminatory; a country now lead by a vainglorious megalomaniac who thinks he can do anything he pleases. A culture underpinned not by freedom and liberty, but by guns, fury and gut-wrenching arrogance. To see that culture being celebrated here in London today, however lightheartedly, feels profoundly disconcerting. At any previous point in time I would not have had any issue, but here and now, with a needless catastrophe unfolding in the Middle East, I cannot divorce this event from the culture and nation it supposedly celebrates.

Bullies Deserve To Be Treated As Such

When you look at it, it’s fairly unnerving just how much our culture – especially popular culture – is dominated by America: from fast food restraints on our high streets, to crappy sit coms on TV, to the websites we use daily on the web, American culture is everywhere. Of course, no cinephile can possibly ignore the fact that the vast majority of the films we go to watch are American. Here in the UK I suppose we tend to think of Americans as our jovial friends across the Atlantic, and there’s no denying that we now have a long history together. Yet there’s also no denying that, this week, America launched an entirely unprovoked attack on Iran. I’m obviously no fan of autocratic theocracies, but surely there is no justification for what the US is currently doing or for what is now happening in the Middle East.

The actions of America this week have made the situation there far worse. In attacking Iran out of the blue, America has set a very nasty, dangerous precedent. There is no denying that these are the actions of a bully, and frankly bullies deserve to be treated as such. To be honest over the last couple of days I’ve began to notice just how ubiquitous American culture is, and whereas that may previously have been met with jocular acceptance, it is now tinged with revulsion. Naturally I know that not all Americans will approve of what their government is doing, but I’m afraid what has unfolded this week has given the facets of their culture I encounter so regularly a jarring taint which I can no longer ignore. Due to their President, Americans no longer seem like amicable burger eaters, but arrogant loud mouths who think their opinions outweigh all others, and who think they have a right to do whatever they like simply because they are American. Their entire culture has now been tinged with an unnerving, unsettling darkness. Even Star Trek, a television program which I’ve always loved, now seems like a brash, arrogant vision of an Americanised future: a future not of a united humanity exploring space, but one where the yanks simply got to dominate and bully over everyone else.

I really, really hope this doesn’t last. Americans should be our friends, and their culture should be as welcome and as entertaining as any other.After all, where would we be without The Simpsons or the occasional Cheeseburger? Yet because of what Donald Trump embarked upon this week, the US no longer seems like the friendly, outward looking place it once did. A nation which recently seemed like a benign fraternal superpower welcome to sit at the world’s head, now looks more like an arrogant upstart too used to getting it’s own way and imposing it’s will, economy and culture onto everyone else’s. What the United States is now doing is totally unacceptable, and a dark blight on their nation’s history. I suppose we can only hope that they soon come to their senses; but I’m afraid for now their entire culture has been tinged with an unnerving darkness I cannot ignore. It has lost my respect, and I can’t see it being restored any time soon.

The Disgusting Words of a Coward

I think it’s fair to say that I’m not a military kind of person. I believe, quite firmly, that armed conflict is folly and must be avoided whenever at all possible. What on earth is the point of sending young men to brutally kill one another, when a conflict can more efficiently be resolved if people just get around a table and talk to one another? Yet I also know that there are times when physical conflict is unavoidable, and necessary to protect one’s community or friends. In the room behind me right now there are three Polish guys; they might not be here if Britain had not gone to war in 1939. Thus, as much as I detest conflict, I know the military deserves my respect.

War is famously hell: it is brutal, bloody and barbarous. Frankly, I can barely imagine what it must be like when you’re about to go into a conflict zone, knowing there is a good chance that you or your comrades will shortly be ripped apart by a bullet or shell. I know this comparison might be a bit stretched, but to be honest the closest I’ve come to it is looking into the eyes of my classmates. They knew they didn’t have long to live; they knew their Muscular Dystrophy would sap away their strength and rob them of their lives far sooner than they deserved, yet they carried on nonetheless. I see my friends as soldiers, on a par with those who fight to defend their communities.

Thus like many others I was disgusted by what Donald Trump said yesterday. I may not like war, and can certainly see that there were huge problems with the fact that British soldiers were in Afghanistan in the first place. But that is no reason to allow him to degrade or belittle their contribution or sacrifice. 457 British personnel died in Afghanistan, alongside many others from a diverse array of countries. Pacifist though I may be, to hear that draft-dodging piece of shit state yesterday that they somehow held back from the front line, so that only Americans did the fighting, was beyond the pale. To hear Trump utter such bile as though he were some kind of great military historian or commander, when he was famously too cowardly, arrogant and self-important to defend his country himself, made me want to rip his head off. Thus, as much as I don’t want to get caught up in any kind of patriotic furore, but Trump now owes them and this country a grovelling apology.