Another New Year

Submitted by Lindsay
Melbourne Australia!

Sport that wrinkled care derides,
And laughter holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastic toe
- John Milton, 1645

(1/2022) Well, what a year it was. Pandemics, riots, storms, threats an stand-offs. Fake news, conspiracies, both theoretical and real; amazing discoveries and new goals. And let’s not talk about the weather – it’s almost too much to take in.

I had hoped you’d fare as well as we did here in Australia, but know you didn’t. We have one huge advantage over you: We are an isolated, large, underpopulated country. Your expertise, your industry and resources are way beyond ours, and your current government is so far ahead of ours that we envy you, and you have enough people who know the truth and are not afraid to tell it.

But from space it looks as though there is no light anywhere, just doom and gloom, but oh my! That it so wrong. Technology is exploring so many ways of dealing with at least one big problem: that of greenhouse gas emission. The virus has been brought to its knees, largely because of your strength in the Pharma group. This is leading to a society that can continue on its way with a little confidence, maybe even a smile or two. For some. For those who have enough money to pay for it.

Things are so different here. We have a weapon that we have always had, and will continue to use in all situations of national stress and trauma, and even in personal misfortune. It is one you do not, and cannot have, yet it is simple: The ability to laugh at yourself. To find relief in irony. The slogan ‘She’ll be right, mate’ is no fiction, but one that came with our pioneers who faced an inhospitable country, often unfriendly aboriginal people, and extremes in weather.

Our settlers were British, Irish and Scottish, who brought their own values and customs, which have survived and flourished. We now have people from every country in the world, and they have become part of the fabric, (regretfully, that stopped during COVID, as no one could come), and, except in a very few cases, are happy to share and join in.

Whatever happened to this self-depreciation attitude in the States is a puzzle. Sure, the pilgrims – I cannot bring myself to say ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ – contributed a studied dourness, a puritan straight-jacket, but the rest – the Europeans who came and opened up the country – were the opposite, with their own brash ways and over-the-top customs.

Yet they too didn’t bring the idea of laughing at themselves, or if they did they lost it under the weight of conformity. And when Hollywood got going it reflected societal norms. Romance, westerns, and adventure – they were the themes, always ideaslised, always with the real grit removed. Bedroom scenes were as daring as flower shows; the goodies always won, the baddies always got their come-uppance. Abbot and Costello held the laughter machine; Buster Keaston and slapstick were the way the English music hall was interpreted.

Great stories, such as Gone with the Wind, became pretty, romantic - and so far removed from reality that such an idea was buried once and for all.

Laughter came from a can, and all real life was suppressed. Even the word ‘Damn’ was said softly, bedroom scenes were so stupid that they could only produce smirks, and all because Hollywood knew that anything else would not attract audiences.

Anger and revulsion were deleted, and in their place came such things as ‘The Roast’. This was surely the most demeaning and cringe-worthy practice ever introduced to decent people.

If only you had been able to appreciate a subtle joke, hilarity at a play on words, the sideways glance that says it all. And that is a great pity, because you need it more than ever in the present world. A world that is heading down one of the highway to hell. No, don’t stop reading, this is not doom and gloom, it’s a solution.

The reality is that no leader of any country can tell the truth: That climate change is here to stay. Not all the technology in the world or the future can change that. The tipping point, the last time things could be reversed, was passed about thirty years ago. This was not understood then, and is now ignored. But wow, has it produced new heights in spin, unique diversions and blamings. It has made those versed in word-making quite scarce, introduced pseudo-science and the queer statistic brigade to the media, and we all feel so relieved. Carbon-capture; Carbon-credits; greenhouse gas-trading, cattle burbs. The list that has been created to cover reality is amazing, and does the job of lulling the populace into knowing smiles of acceptance. The horse, however, has bolted, and will finish the race in the foreseeable future.

At that point no one will be able to summon up even a chuckle.

Apart from that, you have a different kind of problem, one of your own inadvertent making: Hyper-capitalism. If ever anything killed laughter, it was this. The serious business of making money is no forum for merriment except when the oligarchs laugh their way to the bank. But us, poor schmuks as we are, stay infected and an antidote is both useless and not available.

Can anything be done? Of course it can, but not if our sources of information are part of the problem. Things like Brietbart news, all of Rupert Murdoch’s outlets, and all the far right’s spin doctors have one common aim: To make money, to get their own name in the headlines, and disguise anarchy – it’s so much fun to play with.

But responsible journalism does exist, and, wonder of wonders, it is alive and well in the United States. This journal is, of course, one of them.

Yes, that is something we can all laugh about. Laughs of delight and relief. Let the vaccines against the infections of madness do their work.

Have a wonderful and, dare I say, truthful year – ha ha.

From a parallel universe,

Lindsay.