Recently a couple of us were talking about the American elections and the dramas unfolding almost everywhere. One asks me “Who would you elect?”
“Sorry…”
“I mean if you were an American who would you elect?”
What! What kind of a question is that! Now that’s not only a bizarre question to ask it might even be termed as “stupid.” I mean how could you think as ‘an American’ when you don’t have any idea what being an American means! I asked the guy how in the hell is it possible for me to go as far as imagining myself as an American or whatever.
Look I know generalizations are not nice as most of the time they put you on the wrong trail probably to some dead-end. But some things have to be said. Say someone asks me, “What have you learned from the election campaigns so far on all sides?” Of course, I’d rather prefer if I had the question asked as, “What do you realize about the election campaigns from what you’ve witnessed so far?” Thank you very much!
Hate! Sorry to say it, but that is the overwhelming feeling I have. And my “Hate!” I mean ‘Big Time Hate!’ Come to think about it and it’s simply astounding. So many slogans fly around on the importance of fighting ‘hate’ as societies overtaken by hate are doomed to fail miserably and the aftershocks would be with no bounds and borders on land and sea. Now simply put it’s a little uncomfortable to think a society as advanced as we think the sons and daughters of George Washington are being embroiled by some concept as ugly as hate. But following what has been transpiring since the several weeks or even months back we can’t say we’re impressed by the love and affection we see all round. No, not at all. Things have been anything but hate-free; you know hate-free with everybody playing the nice boy or girl on the block. Sometimes it appears like everybody on this side was going to go for the throats of everybody on that side!
Look there is so much character assassination and hate mongering around you are forced to ask “Now this is supposed to be an election the outcome of which would probably affect the fates of not only America but much of the world too where there are the debates about the policies and other crucial issues.
Yes there are the “Ah!” and “What!” moments. Giving the benefit of the doubt where deserved I feel no one in that countries recent politics have been subjected to floods of all sorts of insults, verbal abuses and the like the former president Donald trump has gone through. He has been called a dictator, a fascist and even “Hitler!” the mainstream media as complicit as it has ever been didn’t give it the attention it deserves. Now Trump being Trump expecting him to take things lying down which would be rather illogical even unnatural! So when he hits back in his own ways the mainstream media is up in arms. Look, I’m not playing the cheerleader/denouncer for any side as it is none of my concern.
Some comments could be so absurd, so bizarre, so unbecoming you’re left speechless. When the AOC lady, as passionate as she ever is, said something like “If the former president returns to the Oval Office he’d sell America for a dollar!” certainly that’s more than a blow to the belt. Aren’t we talking here about a billionaire! I’m not sure if there was any political profit/ loss spreadsheet here. I don’t think the most grotesque and horrible recession would take things that down! A dollar! Give us a break! Of course it probably wasn’t meant to be taken literally. But, it still gives you an idea how heated the atmosphere over there. Trump addressing Mrs. Harris as “Comrade Kamala,” might be a political uppercut. But the accusations that if the woman who is making history in all its meanings wins America would be a communist country. And when former president Obama called Trump “Dangerous!” maybe he meant it; or maybe he is upping the narrative.
Pardon me for feeling that once the election is over and the Oval Office gets a new occupant the dust might not settle anytime soon, if it ever settles at all. All indications are this is an election campaign which would, if things go smoothly at least as far as things are kept in line with the predetermined schedule, wind up on Nov. 5 and maybe some innocent souls might think everyone would go back home singing Yankee Doodle Dandy! With each side saying a win for the other side would mean the end of America as they know it believing the main agenda would once again turn to Taylor Swift would be wishful thinking. Some in fact have evoked the End Times narrative!
You know what I realized? The politicians seem to be one species who as long as it serves their interests could pummel you into oblivion over all kinds of stories even though you’ve been serving your country all your life. The speed at which the hammers are drawn and the blows start falling leaves you gasping for air. Why is there so much hate? Why so much divisive narratives? Have things always been like this for long are have new, and mostly unwelcome, trends been added to this four-year event!
Look, for long America has been setting election rules other countries especially the Third World ones, should respect. “Cut down on the negative rhetoric. Keep away from divisive language.” Nice words, very nice. Would such statements come out from those usual places once a campaign so filled with hate speech, divisive language, character assassinations and the like ends. And even more importantly would anyone be impressed?
And there is the talk of the Deep State managing the remote controls! In fact media outlets which don’t even try to hide their wish for the former president’s team to make it all the way to the White House are accusing Mrs. Harris of being a plant of the Deep State. And they say she was being the chance of being the next strongwoman because she was the perfect yes-woman who would do as she was told! Now that’s not very nice, is it? I mean the accusations not her allegedly being a yes-woman! Politics! Politics! Politics!
Some fellow called Will Rogers said, “Politics is the only profession where you can lie, cheat, and steal and still be respected.” Would that fit into the 2024 presidential elections? Just curios! I read somewhere on the social media that given the nature of the election campaigns underway American politics was on steroids!
Rude or Smart! It isn’t Even a Choice!
A week or so back a friend takes relatives home from abroad for the New Ethiopian Year. Given all the unpredictability of things in this world being messed up beyond recognition they decided to come early if only to protect from flight disruptions which might occur for a hundred and one reasons. So that night they go to this place which was fairly popular with people who look for quality treatment. Of course, this friend of mine was not your high-earning guy willing to throw more than enough bucks around. NO, he’s that rare budget guy who tries to live within his means. But these relatives were special and they’re back home having stayed away since the Covid days. He was willing to break the bank at least this one time.
Well, all went nice and smooth until the orders are served. The food (I don’t want to go into details and say what it was; after all what it was wouldn’t have made any different; the actual problem or indifferent to details does;) that was served to one of his relatives seemed to have some foreign things. They summon the waiter who served the asked him what the hell those foreign things were. The waiter was visibly shaken and said he’d tell the chefs. But the visiting guys had other ideas and told him to call the night manager for them, which he does. Now here was where the real problems began. This night manager had this air of riding on Cloud Nine and the way he talked to them didn’t live to the professional standards they were used to where they came from. Surprise, surprise; the only woman in the group had her own restaurant and knew everything there is to know running a restaurant in Addis or D.C.!
They show the night manager the problem and demanded an explanation. He said the master chef of the restaurants a highly respected professional. No one asked him about the chef’s professional standing. The only thing they were trying to say was such a problem shouldn’t have occurred in the first place and it would give the restaurant bad reputation. Here was where the night manager goes ballistic. In the most unprofessional and far from civilized language he tells them no one can give the restaurant a bad name as it was one of the best in town. The undertone was that he was accusing them of thinking about spoiling the restaurant’s name. They tried to play down things because the attention they were drawing didn’t give the comfort. The guy took that as a sign of defeat on their part and he comes out with all the guns in his possession blazing. In fact, as my friend narrates it, he enjoyed the attention of the other customers’ relishing in their dinners and he greatly miscalculated. He called them names. That does it.
There were five of them, my friend and his four guests. The one who didn’t utter a word all this time jumps up and takes huge strides towards the night manager; the others afraid he was about to start physical altercations try to hold him back. He calms them down with signs that he wasn’t up for a punching match. He demanded that thy and the night manger go to the nearest police station still, open at that time of the night. The four of them had no idea what he was trying to do. The police station for some foreign things in your food! The demand practically blew out all the oxygen from the night manager’s lungs! The self-crowned king shrank into some serf tightly chained and bound. The guy from abroad said that since they were insulted and verbally abused he wanted the police to register his complaints. The night manager didn’t go into introductions, prefaces and even numbered chapters. He went to the last page and pleaded with the guy that he was in the wrong and he wasn’t aware what he was saying and didn’t mean to insult or verbally accuse them. He also said he had a family to take care of and was a father of two. That last one won him supporters from among the other customers who pleaded with my friend’s relative to let things go; he did. Later he said that he was highly offended by the rude treatment which had it been in where came from the night manger would have been kicked all the way over the curb and across the nearest blocks.
Rude treatment, and rude behaviors are becoming too common happenings much to the discomfort and unease of many. These days rudeness comes in all its ugly manifestations and most of the time suddenly even form the most unexpected sources like close friends, colleagues or even from people you know casually and you thought were the earthly equals of the real angels. And believe me rudeness from such sources could be so nasty you’re forced to lose all hope with humanity. “What did I do to them for them to treat me like I was some bag of trash?” Yes, being rude is not the smartest thing to do; in fact being and acting rude is the manifestation of someone who was left far behind by the speeding times.
Rudeness unfortunately is becoming some rule of the game. Some people are rude, very rude. And the problem here is they think they are being smart and rude. Now and then we see in the media largely younger and fresher journalists trying to make their marks by trying to be the no-nonsense guy who isn’t to let go any interviewee without giving him some bad memories. And the so-called questions sometimes slide to people’s private lives and beliefs. After all we used to have some social rules which we never compromise like not dipping our hands into the private lives of others.
Rude is not smart; wisdom comes in telling rudeness from smartness. The problem is the line between rudeness and smartness, two concepts on the opposite corners, seems to have been erased close to being completely wiped out.
Rude or smart! It isn’t even a choice!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 25 AUGUST 2024