Ta-ta Trump

President Donald Trump has not been “the problem”. Yes, unstable denier Trump is a dangerous person to have in such a powerful office. But he is a symbol and symptom of a deeper and wider malaise

We are in the “post-truth era” in which denial has become mainstream. Now, decades on since it became known, the reality of climate change has reached mainstream consciousness to the extent that the massive and fundamental changes required to create a new sustainable, survivable world have sunk in.

So far, the visceral terror arising from this recognition has led to a not uncommon human response of trying to find reasons to disbelieve reality. Hence, we have climate deniers holding on to their exploitative world view (similar to the colonial attitudes of white supremacists), even those who are being exploited themselves.

The US is known as “the leader of the free world”, which most deeply should be seen as “freedom to exploit”, as embodied in the consumer society and more recently the enabling of a billionaire class. This is mainstream and neither Trump with his evangelical followers nor Joe Biden and his corporate Democrats would seriously challenge this source of denial. Richard Keller (Wellington)

Contemplating Joe Biden’s inauguration as president brings a sigh of hope to most people, but more than 70 million others, 47.5% of (Kerikeri)