America: Land of the Fear

“Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease.” ― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

It’s been a while since I wrote anything here and a lot has happened to the world since then. My musings tonight concentrate largely on America and events that have taken place there. What I’m about to say may be offensive to some of you. You might say that I, living thousands of miles away, have no idea what life’s like so far away, and you may be right. I could be completely mistaken about all this; but equally, you could be too enmeshed in it all to be able to see what’s happening all around you. This isn’t a smug post about how Brits are superior to Americans – hell, we’ve got Johnson and Brexit; we’re not in a position to be smug about anything – it’s simply my perspective on things.

America strikes me as a place full of fear. Everyone is afraid of something (and I don’t mean spiders or snakes or the number 13). Let’s look at a few examples – and please feel free to add more in the comments if I’ve missed any.

Let’s start with the most talked about: people whose skin isn’t white are terrified to leave their homes, to go birdwatching in parks, to sleep peacefully in their own beds. Being Black is not a safe thing to be over there. At this side of the pond, I can say ‘My grandfather was Black’ and the only reaction I get is one of mild interest or, if I show someone his photograph, ‘You’ve got his eyes.’ I’m not sure it’s something I’d dare mention in America. Chinese people are frightened because the president has deliberately planted the seed that it’s their fault (not his) that America’s in the middle of a pandemic.

Would-be immigrants are scared because they and their children are in cages and that pandemic is not known for its compassion. Philanthropists and even moderately selfish people who aren’t absolute monsters are, if not actually scared, at least horrified that they live in a country where that kind of thing is acceptable.

LGBTI+ people are also targets of prejudice and violence, and the current president seems determined to limit the few hard-won rights they’ve had for the last few years. And it’s one thing to be targeted by a few ignorant bigots; it’s entirely another to know that if you try and seek help from the police, you’ll likely end up arrested, brutalized, or dead.

But police officers are also terrified – because the next person they stop might pull a gun on them if they don’t strike first. And, more insidiously, because if they try to be decent human beings and object to what they see, they’ll be ostracized – or worse. In a culture of ‘If you’re not with us, you’re against us’, it takes a very strong and determined person to rock the boat (and that’s assuming they live long enough to be able to).

So why don’t they quit before it gets to that stage? I’m sure a lot do. But that only increases the percentage of violent, fearful bullies who use their badges and guns against the innocent. And others just suck it up because being a police officer carries with it certain benefits – like health insurance.

Which brings us to the next category: people who can’t afford medical insurance or medication. I’ve heard of people paying in excess of $3000 a month for medical insurance for a family of four, which, if you’re earning a quarter of a million a year might not faze you. But not many people are. I’ve also heard of people spending $500 a month on medication that would cost one percent of that in Europe, and of people losing their homes and savings because they receive a hospital bill for many thousands of dollars. Even something like having a baby costs something like $50,000.  ‘Medical bankruptcy’ isn’t a term you hear used at this side of the Atlantic. I read about someone who had exactly the same brain tumour I had; fortunately her insurance picked up most of the $200,000 tab for her treatment. The NHS paid for mine. It didn’t cost me anything (beyond the small contribution I’d made in taxes over the years). It’s hard for us to imagine being constantly fearful that you might die or become incapacitated or having to live in dreadful pain just because you can’t afford the treatment you need. And now, of course, ordinary people are scared of COVID-19; but what can they do? Even if they do show symptoms, many of them can’t afford to get tested. And if they do get tested and the test comes back positive, they’re often not in a position to take time off work so carry on infecting others.

Because if they do become ill, they might lose their job (and their home if that means they can’t afford to pay the mortgage or the rent). The internet is full of stories about people losing their jobs over the most trivial of matters. A server in a coffee shop fails to make a drink to a customer’s liking? The customer insists it be made three times more and then, because the server has the temerity to sigh, demands to see the manager and insists the server be sacked. And it happens! And the customer is rewarded for their shitty behaviour with free drinks and donuts. Over here, the customer would be asked to pay for all four drinks and then banned from the coffee shop for life. I’ve also come across tales of people being dismissed for being late, even though there’s been a much publicized terror attack and the city’s roads have been at a standstill or for taking time off work because they’re seriously ill in hospital. This might not be the case in all jobs, but it seems to happen often enough for me to conclude that many employed people also have something to be afraid of. And as for restaurant staff not being paid but being dependent on tips…!

Job security also seems to depend on having the ‘correct’ religious views. Atheists apparently are the last in the queue when it comes to getting good jobs or being elected to public office, so they lie and profess to believe in a god they know to be imaginary, and all the while live in fear that their deception will be uncovered. Christians, meanwhile, worry that they aren’t religious enough or that they’ll somehow be contaminated by associating with non-believers. Members of the Jewish faith can’t rest easy because anti-Semitism is rife, and followers of other religions are afraid of being accused of terrorism because of the food they do or don’t eat and the clothes they wear.

Then there are public servants: health workers and teachers. Now, more than ever, health workers are putting their lives at risk every day dealing with COVID-19, but even before that they seem to have been overworked, underpaid, and generally at risk from attack by the people they try to help. It’s understandable that you’re going to be just a little afraid if there’s a chance that if you try and stop someone from bleeding to death, their friend might pull a gun on you because they don’t think you’re working fast enough. Even among the less violent, there’s a mentality of ‘We pay your wages, so you have to do what we want’ – especially from anti-vaxxers and the like, who are themselves scared shitless of something they don’t understand.

And teachers, it seems, work in environments where resources are so scarce they have to spend their own money on books and pens for the children in their classes – all the time afraid that an armed gunman might break in and mow them all down. Even children in infants’ schools practise drills so they’re prepared for that eventuality. So let’s also add schoolchildren to the list of people who live in a permanent state of fear. Oh, and their parents, of course – because today could be the day they cheerfully wave goodbye to their son or daughter for the very last time.

Ah, guns. The gun-toting, Trump-voting, right wingers also lie awake scared at night: scared lest someone take away their right to bear arms, their right to be racist, their right to capitalism, and instead impose socialism which they don’t understand but fear might be the same as communism which they don’t understand either. And the more rational and reasonable left wingers and socialists have equally troubled nights fearing that the divide between the crazy and the sane, the haves and have-nots, the intolerant and the tolerant will grow ever more irreparably wider.

Republicans are scared that Trump won’t be re-elected; Democrats are scared he will; Greens and Libertarians are scared of both those scenarios.

Even Donald Trump, who has fomented much of this fear, is terrified – of Hillary Clinton, of the news media, of losing his base, of wearing a mask, of walking down ramps…

And when people are scared, they make poor decisions. Don’t worry, though; you’re not alone. Look at the UK: Johnson and his cronies demonized the EU to such an extent that a majority of British voters were so scared they made some really really poor decisions: voting for Brexit in 2016 and re-electing the Conservative party in December of last year.

The Endarkenment

Around 330 years ago, and for the next 130 years or so, people began to broaden their view of the world and embrace concepts such as reason, liberty, and the scientific method. Human intellect and culture were valued; nationalism, warfare, and the traditional Judeo-Christian understanding of the universe were viewed through a critical lens. Each new scientific discovery opened the human race’s eyes to the possibility of yet more discoveries. Reason and logic were seen as the means of breaking free from ignorance and irrationality. Blind faith was questioned and challenged.

This period was called the Enlightenment.

Nowadays, it seems to be the vogue to reject reason (‘Britain will be better off leaving the EU with no trade deals in place because we used to have an Empire and every nation on the planet will be clamouring to do business with us, even though we no longer produce anything they want’), liberty (‘Can’t have these Catalan politicians wanting Independence – best put them in jail for sedition; oh and let’s forget due process and all that nonsense’), and the scientific method (‘Well, my aunt’s friend’s neighbour’s colleague’s nephew’s boyfriend got the flu vaccination and he grew hair on the palms of his hands’). Experts are derided and culture disrespected. In America especially (but also in Britain since the Brexit mess reared its ugly head), white supremacists and xenophobes are on the increase; the American president seems more than a tad enamoured with the notion of starting wars with various perceived enemies; and, in that country, people who don’t claim to be card-carrying, gun-toting Christians can find themselves in very hot water. New scientific discoveries are pooh-poohed as lies told by Big Pharma and ridiculous home remedies and woo are seen as somehow better options. Ignorance and Irrationality are seen as the means of breaking free from reason and logic. Blind faith is back with a vengeance.

Welcome to the Endarkenment, folks. It looks like it could be here to stay.

A lot of hot air?

In British English, ‘trump’ means ‘fart’ — an explosion of hot air that leaves a bad smell behind it…

I once had a cleaner who, although a lovely person, was not the most intelligent of individuals (but, wow! could she clean!). One day she asked me if my husband and I ever had rows. I said not often but, like any couple, we sometimes had our disagreements. She said ‘And do you shout a lot?’ I said ‘Oh, no. No, we never shout.’

She looked at me in puzzlement before asking, ‘So how do you know who’s won?’

All the sane, sensible people and all the sane, sensible media reflecting the views of the sane, sensible people know Hillary won the debate on Monday. But there are others who don’t listen to what’s actually being said and, like my former cleaner, think the victor is simply the one who shouts the longest and the loudest… Oh dear.