The lot of the modern writer is, at times, challenging. Soothingly, we shall soon be put out of our misery by the all-conquering power of AI.
For now, however, the sheer deluge of contemporary madness makes it hard to focus one's energies on a topic for longer than thirty milliseconds. This is, in no uncertain terms, the method by which the civilisation-destroying forces of modernity bombard the decaying cadaver of the West; it is the sociological equivalent of a mass bombing campaign.
Sitting down to write on Wednesday 8 February, I am dazzled by an overload of topics to target. Firstly, we have embodiment of the American gerontocracy, Corn Pop Biden, delivering a delusional State of Union address in which he claimed to have reduced government spending and lowered illegal immigration. Such statements are about as credible as one of Neil Ferguson's pandemic-era models and the brouhaha they cause another risible media-fuelled distraction from things that actually matter.
Biden, being more coherent than usual.
Closer to home, a concerted effort is being made to rehabilitate Shamima Begum, formerly of Bethnal Green but more latter of Isis-land. A 90 minute documentary plus 10-part podcast, all paid for the by taxpayer, seeks to give a human side to this eager joiner of a brutal death cult. No doubt similar efforts would be made for similar social detritus who find themselves unable to resist the allure of neo-Nazi groups. Skip the beheadings, burning-in-cages and rape of Yazidi women; Begum was just a teen who made a mistake, as we all were. Poor lamb.
Elsewhere, it is reported that Mr Zelensky (Slava! Slava! Slava! I hear you cry in unison) is donning his fatigues once more to visit and address our very own parliament before stopping off at Buckingham Palace to chat with the King. Inevitably a glut of UK taxpayer cash (the government always seems to find it when it needs to, eh?) and the last few rounds of ammunition from our much-depleted arsenals will be making their way to the death mills of eastern Ukraine, which we will fight for until we run out of willing Slavs. As the head of a charmingly corrupt government with a predilection for banning opponent parties, no doubt the wise minds of Westminster will be studiously taking notes between their dutiful obsequiousness.
Up in Jockistan the debate rumbles on as to whether a man is actually a woman, with Police Scotland shockingly referring to a man as a man. Yes, this is how low the bar has been set for what is deemed newsworthy in 2023. Who knows, perhaps it's the beginning of a trend when criminals are described without use of euphemism, but I suspect this luxury will be reserved for miscreants of the white male variety.
Back down inside the M25 discussion rages as to whether Dominic Raab is naughty or nice, with the allegation of such naughtiness enough to threaten one's career. With the bar for misbehaviour set so low of late (job-ending sexual harassment accusations now a mere knee-touch away), I have my doubts about the whole thing. Supposedly he 'raised his voice' and called Gina Miller 'stupid'; the astuteness of the latter observation surely merits some kind of praise. I, for one, cannot help but feel that our highly obstructive and idle civil servants could benefit from more of this tough love.
Yet in a feminised society where any display of aggression or assertiveness results in one's immediate emotional collapse (we having been trained to have the robustness of an already-dunked Rich Tea biscuit), such necessary medicine is strictly off the table.
It all has the sense of irrelevance like medieval debates on how many angels can dance on the tip of a pin. Perhaps a modern equivalent could be how many Ukrainian ministers you can fit into an offshore bank account.
Anyway, try not to let it all overwhelm you.
Great article Frederick. I just can’t quite get my head around your description of our “feminised society”. It’s not a good description really. Surely it’s an emasculated society or a castrated society neither of which leads to the true feminine.
Very true. It has made my life immeasurably better switching from consuming a wide variety of hysterical mainstream editorial content to refining my media consumption to a limited number of trusted commentators on a select number of issues that are directly relevant to my life and work, and that ideally I have some power to change.
Being bombarded with terrible commentary about terrible developments that you have no way to influence anyway is exhausting and pointless - you just live in a low-level state of impotent rage.