Maybe we never really debated like adults. Maybe we never actually had a grasp of sitting down and discussing our differences with open minds and open ears, not only getting across our own points but listening to and considering the views we may oppose. But as a component of the Digital Age, it’s hard not to blame the technology for the way things are.
To be fair to the technology, it’s not the technology’s fault. It didn’t ask to be created. It didn’t mean to be used so frivolously, becoming an enabler of the flippant thoughts and often erratic nature of a society of people whose preferred method of establishing dominance is shouting over each other, and whose individual egos must be preserved at all costs.
A couple of days ago, the two people who are in contention for the five-year long job role of Country Runner (that’s one who runs the ministerial activities of a country, not one who goes for a light jog across a field) got skewered by a studio audience before getting grilled by a shouty man famous. Well, I suppose it is getting to barbecue season.
To my mind, each applicant held their own whilst simultaneously coming across slightly unnerved. Each one delivered decent overviews of their proposals alongside having their proposals sneered at. If anything, there was nothing exactly new or ground-breaking or monumental or catastrophic about either performance in the overall grand narrative of the election campaign. And yet…
The pundits, the parliamentarians and the people showed us their colours using that ever-faithful global mouthpiece, the Internet. Those colours, of course, were either blue or red. In the blue corner, they hailed Theresa May, lambasted Jeremy Corbyn and went to bed feeling pretty proud of themselves. Meanwhile over in the red corner, Jeremy Corbyn was the hero of the night, Theresa May was utterly hopeless and they all went to bed with a confident smile.
It’s extremely difficult to gauge who “won” that night because the only real accounts of anybody winning will come from those who already had a strong favourite. They praised their chosen one’s positives, overlooked any shortcomings and focussed on taking advantage of their opponent’s slip-ups while conveniently forgetting any valid points they made. And it’s the same on both sides. Let me just do that once more for clarity.
(clears throat)
(A little louder and slower): “And it’s the same on both sides.”
I’m not saying you should agree with your opponent, or that you shouldn’t praise the successes of the one you support, but surely we’re adult enough to realise there’s light and shade to everything, aren’t we? One isn’t exactly the spawn of Satan and the sun doesn’t shine out of the other one’s arse. I know it may feel that way to many, but deep down isn’t there a part of us that wants to explore further?
We all seem to be trapped inside our echo chamber bubbles where we say: “Ooh, isn’t X wonderful? Way better than that terrible Y character!” to each other in the same group, and yet nobody seems to make any effort to understand why the other group is saying the exact same thing to each other in reverse.
Maybe I’m just weird in thinking that – while I’ve picked a side and I’m comfortable with that choice – the sky isn’t completely clear with them and I can sort of wrap my head around aspects of the other party, even though I may not agree. Maybe we as a society just like being spoon-fed what we want to hear and stick our fingers in our ears for what we don’t. Maybe we never really debated like adults before, and maybe we never really will.
Not much has really taken my interest music-wise, and as we head through heat and rain towards whatever constitutes a British summertime, I can only hope this thought decides to change. More upbeat tunes are what’s needed now – you know, something that can be blasted out at high volume during periods spent outdoors without fear or shame.
For the time being, think of this as a transition between whatever spring was and whatever we hope summer to be. Chances are both will involve rain though. Sorry, this ramble is more about the weather then the song. The weather’s outside, the song’s below, you know how this works.
Perfume Genius – Slip Away
Jamie Walsh 
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