The End is Nigh?
I woke up this morning at 9.20 to a flurry of messages from my friends in Singapore about the end of the world. Groggy and confused, I replied, 'What happened?!' before opening Facebook, upon which time I discovered that Donald Trump is the new president of the United States.
I remember thinking what a joke it was when he announced that he was running for president. Nobody would vote for this clown, I thought. Nobody would take him seriously. He's such a joke, I thought. Did he even go to university? He had a reality show, for crying out loud; how can anyone vote for this guy?
And then he started being racist, sexist and xenophobic. Obviously he was doomed to falling flat on his face. Watching him campaign and the shitstorm that he frequently stirred up was like being unable to tear your eyes away from a trainwreck: so disturbing and shocking, but a perverse part of you felt perversely entertained by the tragedy.
The perverse part of me wanted to see the fallout from a Trump victory, and so this part of me is rather enjoying is. The realist part of me did not entirely rule out a Trump victory because there are people who value material goods over ideals, and so this part of me is not entirely surprised.
But the eternal (and eternally disappointed) idealist in me is shocked that someone who spewed xenophobic, racist and sexist diatribe has just been elected the US president - that people actually voted for him, which means on some level that they agreed with, or endorsed, or did not oppose, his hatred and narrow-mindedness. Surely someone who says racist things cannot be elected, I thought. How cute.
I don't care about politics all that much, if I'm being honest. I like principles and theories and I would prefer to remain unsullied by the real world. And so I don't write about political issues all that much. But this...wow, just wow. Just wow.
*
On another note, working out in the gym to Britney Spears' Womanizer on repeat was seriously therapeutic.
I shall post this and then meet John for dinner.
I remember thinking what a joke it was when he announced that he was running for president. Nobody would vote for this clown, I thought. Nobody would take him seriously. He's such a joke, I thought. Did he even go to university? He had a reality show, for crying out loud; how can anyone vote for this guy?
And then he started being racist, sexist and xenophobic. Obviously he was doomed to falling flat on his face. Watching him campaign and the shitstorm that he frequently stirred up was like being unable to tear your eyes away from a trainwreck: so disturbing and shocking, but a perverse part of you felt perversely entertained by the tragedy.
The perverse part of me wanted to see the fallout from a Trump victory, and so this part of me is rather enjoying is. The realist part of me did not entirely rule out a Trump victory because there are people who value material goods over ideals, and so this part of me is not entirely surprised.
But the eternal (and eternally disappointed) idealist in me is shocked that someone who spewed xenophobic, racist and sexist diatribe has just been elected the US president - that people actually voted for him, which means on some level that they agreed with, or endorsed, or did not oppose, his hatred and narrow-mindedness. Surely someone who says racist things cannot be elected, I thought. How cute.
I don't care about politics all that much, if I'm being honest. I like principles and theories and I would prefer to remain unsullied by the real world. And so I don't write about political issues all that much. But this...wow, just wow. Just wow.
*
On another note, working out in the gym to Britney Spears' Womanizer on repeat was seriously therapeutic.
I shall post this and then meet John for dinner.