A Tale Told By Idiots

Life's a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing ~ William Shakespeare

A few weeks ago I boldly asserted in a podcast with my friend Adam Stokes that the outcome of the US election in November would be of pivotal significance to the world. Since then I have not only revised my opinion but, unusually, done a complete about-turn. I now believe the election will be an irrelevance to most of us. An amusing diversion at best — unless it slides into chaos. Let me explain why…

I have never been interested in party political games or personality politics. When I am called upon to exercise my franchise every few years I examine the policies on offer, casting my vote as fittingly as I can, but acutely aware that my voice will drown in the crowd of delusional structures and platitudes that is the sham posing as politics today.

I am concerned with the mechanics of government, however, as well as the effectiveness and integrity of the models we use for governance and the shaping of public policy.

Given that the Centre for the Future’s proof-of-concept project was all about the reimagination of democracy, a theme that continues to resonate with me, it will not come as a surprise to learn that I have been closely monitoring the global outbreak of ultra-right political extremism and the consequent destabilization and erosion of egalitarian ideals in so-called democratic states.

Countries as diverse as India, Hungary, Brazil, Cambodia, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel exhibit authoritarian traits — as does Russia, China, and most countries in South East Asia of course, though from differing perspectives. Some commentators have referenced similarities between fascism in pre-war Germany and methods used by ultra-right-wing politicians to attack freedom of speech while trying to control what we see and manipulate how we think. Such comparisons are not naive, nor necessarily mistaken. Indeed, it is possible they do not go far enough. Slipping into fascism, as we know from past experience, will be gradual and barely detectable. Until it is too late.

However, since the early 1970’s a new level of authoritarianism has been launched with tacit acceptance from some, irritation by others, yet oblivious to most. This false prophet, a monster of self-righteous butchery that puts all other tyrannies to shame, has been stalking geopolitical endeavours for achieving peace for decades. Forged in the final years of the 2nd World War I am referring to the dogma, practice, and imposition of US hegemony on the rest of the world.

US supremacism has led to the widespread erosion of individual rights and a corresponding increase in state power — not just in the US but in countries like Britain, Canada, and Australia, for example, where US primacy, and the notion of moral superiority supporting it, is invariably assumed to be virtuous — along with frustrated bewilderment from countries like Russia, China and, increasingly, even the EU.

In assuming that no state can be morally superior to any other as long as it pursues policies at scale for the common good (all the while avoiding harm to others, the environment, and future generations) I am interpreting these power games as an existential threat to the entire human family. There are two main reasons for my concern:

1. Irrespective of where we reside or what political affiliations we harbour, with each small personal freedom we surrender — whether it is owning our personal data, assuring our privacy, calling out corruption and injustice, or exercising our right to surf online without being spied upon — we shift the scales in favour of the state to control (and ultimately dictate) the nature of most human activity at an increasingly granular level.

2. We know from history that civilizations are best advanced, and that possible collapse is often delayed, through the presence of a rich variety of perspectives and beliefs, rather than the relatively constrained views of a single entity — however influential economically and militarily — condescendingly deciding upon a common destiny for us all.

In spite of inherent tensions between individual autonomy and state control, these factors tend to invigorate each other. Furthermore, their interwoven trajectory seems to be gaining considerable pace today following the reflex responses introduced by governments in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. As I have pointed out in several online forums recently, authoritarian agendas are being inflicted on a compliant and gullible citizenry at an astonishing rate, many under the smokescreen of the pandemic.

If applied to the two most prevalent worldviews informing the modern world-system, the Sinic and the Occidental, these same tensions could so easily erupt in an end-game where catastrophe on a global scale becomes totally unavoidable.

It is generally acknowledged that US influence in international diplomacy, starting in the 1950s, was welcome and largely positive. That influence began to turn sour during the final days of the Vietnam War as people everywhere began to realise that the rationale for war was predicated on lies, greed, and selfishness. It was during this era that the US began to lose its moral authority to lead. Its mission to act as a beacon of light for the “free world” was also tarnished irreparably.

In that context, I find today’s unending criticism of Donald Trump bordering on the absurd. Trump is undoubtedly a pathetic President — a narcissistic sociopath and an incurable liar who will do almost anything to further his own interests. But, as was pointed out to me recently, he is not uniquely bad.

US exceptionalism took virtue by the throat and buried it with sanctimonious ceremony during the last years of the 20th century. Under successive administrations, American idealism morphed into distorted and pretentious views of the country’s role and importance. From Kennedy, Johnson, and Reagan, to Clinton, Bush, and Obama, American interests and lives were unfailingly assumed to be more important than those many millions of human beings who were slain or displaced by US military aspirations under the brazen panoply of global leadership.

What is different now is the amount of stress and discomfort Trump’s presidency is causing US citizens — sending an already fractured federation to the very edge of civil conflict. But the coming election is a sideshow: significant only to US citizens who want to eradicate their discomfort with this President so as to return to an era where bloodshed and brutality are out of sight and out of mind.

For the rest of us, it signifies nothing. Whether Biden or Trump wins the election in November is meaningless. As many times before, warmongering by the US state will prevail unabated, its cruel consequences transferred to those who are poor and less able to protect themselves. American atrocities will be concealed by a docile media only too happy to hide the truth from a populace that still believes in the myth of US supremacy. Indeed, while the risk of civil war may subside, for the time being, the situation for the rest of the world under President Biden is likely to be worse — with continuing drone attacks, military expansionism, bombings, starvation sanctions, and cold war escalations expected to continue.

Insane delusions of power never allow reality to intrude for too long. There is no rational reason the US could not function like any other country — playing its own unique role in the community of nations, minding its own business inside its own borders, and refraining from slaughtering those who eat different food, wear different clothes, worship a different god, think differently, or inhabit a land of rich resources that can be raided under the pretext of liberation.

But that is unlikely. The endless bloodshed benefits nobody. Americans acquiesce to unending funding of the war machine because they are either ill-informed or swayed by state propaganda. In fact, the only advantages accrue to the industrial-military complex and a few elite sociopaths. There is no justifiable reason why the US could not assume this level of parity — even as China assumes a more prominent role in world affairs. But that scenario does not match the glorious patriotic ending Hollywood might craft or the plutocrats desire. That requires the US to continue along its current path of mayhem and destruction.

It would not be an easy task of course. Humility is never easily acquired — the playground bully not easily distracted. Replacing propaganda and disinformation with the truth, and overtly valuing that, will be the hardest thing to achieve. Lying repetitively, deflecting lines of inquiry or avoiding direct questions, curtailing access to facts that might contradict official propaganda, threatening whistleblowers, curating internet content, invoking patriotism, using ambiguous catchphrases, stoking fear, and discrediting those who speak the truth, all seem to be imperatives for a career in politics these days. The result is a general public totally disengaged and desensitized to the lies and the spin.

In the final analysis, I am not especially concerned with the implosion of the US empire. Empires come and go after all. Right now it is time to turn our attention to the far East, helping China to shape conditions wherein its legitimate aspirations can be met while also benefitting humanity, and tempering the impulse to conquer all that will bring the US to its knees. That could well be an even more difficult task of course.

As always my concern is for the ordinary men, women and children who have been and continue to be misled by corrupt visions, self-aggrandisement, and the lure of heroic futures defending the indefensible — carefully crafted myths of guile and self-deception.

I am also worried about my own country. For the most part, Australia’s politicians are inordinately inept and naive — out of their depth in the nuanced complexity of today’s world. Living in relative comfort, in a country struggling to find its future bearing, they are hampered by blind allegiance to a 20th-century empire that has only fear, division, and declining dominion to offer.

That description fits other countries of course. But my greatest fear is that Australia is already on the verge of consigning its future to a conflict with China it cannot possibly win, in the wake of a US empire that is already in its death throes from a cancer from which it cannot hope to recover.