The Plashing Vole: Reasons to be Cheerful, part 1 (in a series of 1)

Wednesday 4 November 2020

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 1 (in a series of 1)

Yet again I find myself posting around midnight - partly because it seems to be the only free time I have at the moment, and partly because if blogging isn't for solitary weirdos to bash out their reckons in the small hours, what is it for?

The other reason is – naturally – coronavirus. If this were a normal year I'd be at, or hosting, an election night party. Over recent years I've hosted bashes for all the worst events: multiple Conservative victories, the loss of the Scottish independence referendum, the EU vote and Trump's first victory. In my defence, I did call all these results correctly, but as it turns out, being right doesn't make you happy (every academic's motto). Maybe I'm going to break that run, but I think Biden is going to win handsomely this time - the popular vote is in the bag and even in the rotten electoral system they have, the new Democrats will be spread widely enough to tip the balance. I can't see the surgeon voters coming from new Trump supporters.

So the pandemic has at least prevented company-loving misery from drinking all my whiskey and vomiting in my orchids (you know who you are).

While I do enjoy the endless speculation and weirdness of a US election, I do resent the rest of the world's dependence on the outcomes: an egalitarian society wouldn't live in hope or fear of one local political event, and equally none of the rest of us should rely on the US for inspiration, support or anything else. it just encourages them. All the Scandinavian countries had their global moments and gracefully withdrew without throwing their toys out of the pram: it's about time the UK and the US did the same. All this stuff about being democratic examples to the world is pure hypocrisy: there isn't a dictatorship in the world that doesn't depend on American or British support, weapons or finance. It's craven and embarrassing to be so addicted to the ins and outs of a distant place which doesn't care a whit for the rest of the world and yet it's so important and so fascinating, albeit in the same way that a particularly big car crash is fascinating. One involving an oil tanker, a coach load of heavily-armed kids and convoy of clown cars.

The best election night I had was in 2008 - I went alone to see Sigur Ros play live in the local gig venue which was utterly wonderful, and bumped into that year's cohort of (much-missed) Dutch students who invited me to their election party – either they had different ideas of coolness or it was pity, but a good time was had by all. Or by me, anyway.

I won't be staying up tonight - I've a very full day of teaching and meetings, but I'm looking forward to talking to my several American friends and colleagues, to this year's students. including one or two Americans, and to my relatives in the Ozarks and California. I do think Trump will lose, but it worries me that he has three months of squatting in the White House and burning everything down, from the evidence to the forests. Will Biden be a radical, reforming president? Of course not - he's right of centre by European standards, but while civil, thoughtful and calm conduct in office should be a low bar, recent history across the world suggests that we shouldn't take it for granted. Don't get your hopes up – Obama's administration was surprisingly light on meaningful activity and did some terrible things – but at least we can look forwards to a few years of waking up and not experiencing a sense of dread when you look at your phone.

If you're still feeling nervous, here's a bit of the Sigur Ros magic to transport you back to that magical day when Hope was the order of the day, and some classic Americana to cheer and admonish. We've been starved of the stuff recently, after all. Normal Eeyoreish angst will resume on Friday.

The Plashing Vole

Wednesday 4 November 2020

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 1 (in a series of 1)

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