politics – LeMaxim Speaks

The Tru(mp)man Show

I often turn to Star Trek for inspiration and guidance because in this world of human future Gene Roddenberry envisioned us maturing past the infantile state we are in today.
Looking at the latest development in politics across the pond I remember one episode from Star Trek we might want to take a page from.

In order to save themselves from a troublesome adversary, they created a holographic container for this person to roam free within. This allowed the crew to get rid of the problem while tricking the nuisance into believing it was unchallenged to take on the world. More or less, and there a few variations of this theme around.

Considering how distant the current far-too-white house madministration seem to be from anything outside their small sphere of puppets and puppeteers it shouldn’t be too difficult to take a page from the world of the future.

Simply construct a large set replica of the White House and hire actors to provide the inhabitants with a constant flow of real fake news and reactions to keep them happy and engaged (read: Happily enraged).

It could be like a 4-year 24/7 reality show and social experiment. I’m sure it would generate interest from many parties and it could, potentially, serve as a research project for political science in order to overcome our apparent shortcomings and to strengthen democracy.

It would, most likely, also make for an interesting testing ground for computer science fields such as VR, AR, and AI.

Consider it a mix between Big Brother, the Truman Show, and a large scale Monopoly game. The sponsorship deals alone could finance the entire enterprise. Not to mention the money saved by sand-boxing the related issues into this political zoo.

“But wouldn’t people want to get outside sometimes?” you ask.

Sure, but considering how much effort goes into every excursion already and how little they actually interact with the everyday-person I don’t think it would be very difficult to orchestrate. It would probably be an easy thing to let them think that the world is as hopelessly dangerous as they believe. We could feed them stories like Cuba annexing Florida and introducing universal healthcare and social tax reforms to keep them away from Mar-a-Lago and such places. They probably half believe that’s what’s going on as it is.

Anyway. Think of all the possibilities, not to mention the good it would do for peace and stability in the world.

I think it could be an international hit. All we have to do in order to pitch it to the networks is to come up with a catchy name.

Any suggestions?

Trumpencesteins Monster

Since his inauguration Trump and his lingering shadow Pence have continued to show that things probably won’t settle down and get more presidential any time soon. At least not presidential in any sense fitting this, still young, millennium. The Trumpet has been hard at work in his quest to alienate the media. Because who needs journalists when everyone should just read the daily bulletin the, now, far-too-White House. Journalism, and not to mention those pesky scientists, just gets in the way of alternative facts with their questions and “evidence”.

The mainstream media might have, somewhat, lost their touch in the ever growing business of click-baits, corporate agendas, and quarterly reports, but there’s still a need for investigative journalism and its quest for the truth, and there’s still a lot of good and hungry journalists out there. The media might get things wrong every now and then but I’m hoping that this barrage of alternative facts from the stool – probably more like a chair but I haven’t really paid attention – in the oval office will get the journalists corps back into the trenches of investigations and facts. We need the journalist to be at their best and to take on this oozing trumpster to find and expose whatever is causing this infectious wound.

Only a few days have passed and Trumpencestein have already started to build whatever monstrosity they have envisioned will put the Great back in Gre… wait.. that’s Brexit… right… put the great back into the decreasingly united nation built on immigration, hope, and dreams. We have already seen the first of the rollbacks being signed into effect and we will, no doubt, see many more in days to come.

While it might just have started I think it’s clear that whatever is starting to take shape in the dark corridors of power it is something ugly. Something that is pieced together with parts from the festering, and still very much foul smelling, corpses of ideologies that should have remained buried together with the ignorance, hate, and centuries that gave birth to them.

But things are not all dark. The many marches taking place around the USA shows a level of commitment to engage in politics that bodes well for the future because politics is not something we should leave to the few. Politics is something that should engage us daily and get us out of bed. Politics has very little to do with titles and chairs (or the occasional stool) but very much to do with the everyday lives of the everyday person.

When life gives you darkness and a big pile of dung you light a torch, roll up your sleeves, and start pitching. Or was it lemons and lemonade? Anyway.

Together is the only way forward.

trumpencestance

noun | trum-pen(t)s-stan(t)s

Defenition of TRUMPENCESTANCE

: something that happens against reason and with great negative impact

Full definition
: A circumstance, due to a large number of unsuccessful
fail-safes and against the best efforts of people and in the defiance of conventional logic and reason, with strong regressive and negative impact. Often associated with short term personal gain of a small number of people who orchestrate and/or facilitate the circumstances leading up to it and/or the compound ignorance of large groups failing to understand how things relate and affect each other.

Examples
– As a result of this trumpencestance we lost years of progress and social improvements.
– It was pure trumpencestance that lead to the breakdown in diplomacy and the subsequent termination of relations.
– The fire in the factory was the result of a trumpencestance after years of poor management and failure to adhere to basic safety instructions.

Thesaurus
Synonyms
– clusterfuck, fubar

Related words
– misfortune, regression

Antonyms
– serendipity, fortune, luck

Near antonyms
– happenstance

Origin and Etymology of TRUMPENCESTANCE

First Known Use: 2016