We're All Mad Here

There's a method of coping with anxiety which suggests thinking of the worst thing that could possibly happen, then telling yourself that it probably won't. There's another method called Reductio ad Absurdum, which reduces an argument or scenario to ridiculous conclusions.

Neither of these are particularly helpful at the moment.

Politics, and society, is operating so illogically at the moment that even denigrating a scenario to absolutely ridiculous proportions, making it the worst thing that I could think of happening; I wouldn't put it past the realms of possibility.

Image Source: Pinterest.com
Quote: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

I recently watched an interview with Armando Iannucci, one of the creators of the television show The Thick of It, which spoofs the inner workings of a political party. He stated that there was an episode where the politicians and civil servants had to pull a major policy announcement and replace it, at the last minute, with policies which were created on their way to the press conference. Iannucci said that the writers sat around a table and came up with the most outlandish suggestions that they could think of.  Since that episode aired in 2012, several of those policies are now law.

You couldn't make it up. Except Iannucci and the writers of The Thick Of It did. Maybe the ruling elite thought that the show was a documentary rather than a satire?

Gif Source: giphy.com

I am anxious at the moment. There is tension in the air, and I worry that during the simmering summer it will all boil over. Westminster Bridge, Manchester, London Bridge, the General Election, Grenfell Tower, Finsbury Park, the DUP, Brexit negotiations... the list of tragedies goes on. We have a lot to be angry about.

And in the past twenty-four hours we have been informed that the government is paying an obscene amount of money in order to secure the occasional support of a party that denies climate change, is against LGBTQ+ Rights and anti-Women's Rights; and the deal itself may be illegal, while public services across the UK are cut to the bone and those most in need suffer the ongoing effects of Tory slash and burn austerity.

The offer that was given on the rights of EU Citizens in the UK after Brexit is laughable, raises more questions than it answers, and may actually remove rights and freedoms that EU Nationals have had in this country for years. (But I'll write another blog about this soon as it's something that is personal to me!)

It's madness. It's maddening. We're all mad here.