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We all deserve a break.

Chaos and consequences: The fall of Dumpty (sequel)

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A quick recap: Ronald Dumpty a.k.a. Dumpster, is now on his second term as President of the Unites States of Alternative Facts. It has yet to be established whether he is only a villain, or possibly also a victim in our story. By now, it is indisputable that he is no hero.

When Dumpty promised to make the USAF great again, he never specified clearly how. Everyone was free to interpret him according to their own wishes; and most people were happy to do so at first. But now things were looking downright scary.

No one expected Dumpty to be perfect. His supporters just hoped that something would get done. This goes to show how important it is to be careful what you wish for. More than some thing got done; things that few could have imagined. It was hard to sell soybeans and plan your life, when tariffs and prices kept going up and down. It was equally hard to feel safe, when Dumpty so clearly loved to stir unrest both inside and outside the USAF. Unwarranted, deadly shots fired at well-meaning US citizens was not how voters had envisaged illegal immigration being stopped.

The signs were there early on. Dumpty was always heading for a fall, even if his first presidency was more of a pilot episode of the real Dumpty show to come. A show that has been credited to Bad Steve and Mad Stephen also known as the Chaos Brothers. They are said to have come up with the show’s concept. Mad has gone on to lovingly nurture it from its budding success during Dumpty’s first term to its full bloom in his second one.

The Chaos Brothers’ concept was – in line with their nickname – built on the idea that chaos was the only way to make the USAF great again. Naturally, they meant great for themselves and their own agendas, but there was no need for Dumpty to know that. He could believe what he wanted as long as he followed the script.

When something doesn’t work as you wish, the Brothers argued, the best course is to blow it to smithereens and build something new. Boom, bang, bang, just like that. To the Chaos Brothers and their cohorts, Dumpty was a dream come true: Someone not too bright but street smart enough to star in their show. A man stuck in a perpetual negative age, who neither fully realised nor cared about the consequences of his actions. All Dumpty could see was the power and the money, not the big picture: the dismantling of the USAF as the world knew it.

Dumpty was a natural at creating chaos by overwhelming everyone with massive volumes of information, claims, and counterclaims to create confusion. It was impossible to discern, whether anything he said was true or truly meant. Dumpty didn’t do peaceful, polite or patient. He did deranged rather than decent. Truth to him was a social game, something fun to play around with.

Dumpty forgot that once everyone learned to mistrust him, nothing he truly meant would be believed either. Nothing lasting has ever been built on a foundation of mistrust.

Dumpty had no use for the ethics and morals of democracies. He was happy to create his own. The word democracy in itself was suspect. It was too close for comfort to the word Democrat. Democrats were bad, bad people, because they opposed Dumpty. Hence it made sense, Dumpty figured, that there was something wrong with the whole concept of democracy too.

Part of a successful chaos plan is the deconstruction of the established government. Dumpty promised something to all different anti-establishment groups, and happily left them to block the centre and fight it out among themselves. Even the Chaos Brothers ended up fighting for power. Bad lost and Mad won. “Things are coming together just fine”, Mad thought at the time.

For a chaos strategy to be viable, a lot of not too bright people have to be in the right places, ready to do their part: To wreak as much havoc as they can. This was where the plan went awry during Dumpty’s first term as President. The second time around, Mad and his cohorts made sure that the right (i.e. totally wrong) people were placed in the right places early on. No smarties would be allowed to obstruct chaos this time.

During Dumpty’s both presidencies the visions of the Chaos Brothers were lauded by the infamous rulers Xee and Pee as brilliant. Some argue that Pee actually helped formulate parts of the original chaos concept. Xee and Pee had long disapproved of the grip the USAF had on the rest of the world. They couldn’t wait to see the USAF dismantle itself. It was like watching a football game where the USAF team was being deliberately coached to shoot at its own goal. It made life so much easier for the competition. “Someone should really give Dumpty a prize for this”, Pee said to his buddy Infantino – and so the FIFA peace prize was born.

Chaos is not a winning strategy in the long run; not in terms of votes. Hence the plan was that no voting would be needed in the future. Sadly, it was starting to look as if that part of the plan was a little overambitious. In fact, the whole chaos concept seemed to be taking on a life of its own once Dumpty was on the roll.

Even Xee and Pee felt a little uncomfortable. Things were moving at such a pace and in so many different directions that the probability of unforeseen, disturbing consequences was rising close to certainty.

There tends to be too much collateral damage, when a leader opts for a strategy of deliberate use of disruption and conflict. People prefer feeling relatively safe. The Chaos Brothers did not bother with safety, except their own. No one else was safe in their vision; certainly not Dumpty.

Which brings us to the realisation that our villain may well be a victim too. A fool, who is being used as a tool. Good, old Dumpty; the Dumpster of all that came before him; the obvious fall guy. Then again, how bad could things really be with all that lovely cryptocurrency at hand?

There is winning, and there is winning at any cost. There is going after something aggressively, and there is undue violence and illegal actions. There is truthfulness, and there is lying. In some cases the line between each of the two may be a fine one, but it can always be found, if one cares to look for it. In Dumpty’s case there was no need to search for the line. Drunk on power, he overstepped so clearly and so often.

In one of those European countries Dumpty considered weak and decaying, there is a brutally realistic proverb: The greedy have a shitty ending. Once again this saying will be proven true. Leaders who abuse their power don’t fare well, when history is written. Dumpty has already had a great fall as far as history is concerned.

Unfortunately, as far as the Chaos Brothers are concerned, things are still on track.

We know that all the President’s horses and all the President’s men won’t be able to put Humpty together again. But can they do so with the United States of Alternative Facts, or will the Chaos Brothers and their cohorts win?

We will just have to wait for the next season to see. The clock is ticking; the time to save the day is running out. No one is safe. Not even those, who think they are.

Disclaimer: As is the way in the United States of Alternative Facts, all the above may or may not have happened. Who is to say, if it did or didn’t. You get to decide.

The story of Ronald Dumpty

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Once upon a time, in the United States of Alternative Facts, a little boy was born. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dumpty (no same-sex marriage here), christened him Ronald.

Ronald was not the brightest candle in his class, but he had motivation and tenacity. One day he would make his exacting parents proud, he swore. One day he would bully others instead of being the one bullied, he promised himself. One day he would be the killer and the king his father taught him to be, and meet the Queen of England to make his mother proud, he vowed.

He, the fourth child of five, would have it all: the money; the power; the wives and the children; and last but not least, the Holy Grail a.k.a. the Nobel-prize. Nothing and no one would stand in his way.

His father had taught him well. Rules, competitors and opponents were like eggs, Dumpty the elder used to say. One had to be ready to break a few to get what one wanted; be it success or an omelet. Money is power and power is money, he would continue. One could not have too much of either. The family money was a good start. But what was money without fame and recognition?

Ronald soon realized that it was all about perception. Being a real estate mogul with a promising career in reality TV might get you an invitation to Epstein’s villa, but it would not get you one to the Buckingham Palace. You could cover your homes with gold ten times over, but that would not make them palaces that beat the real thing.

Fame and money alone were not enough. Especially, when people like Obama were elected President and given the Nobel prize. A Dumpty would not take the success of someone so inferior (as Ronald saw it) lying down. It was not the way of a true Dumpty. Anything Obama could do, Dumpty, or Dumpster as all too many called Ronald in his youth, could and would do better!

So on Dumpster went to run for President. And wonder of all wonders; with the wildly unruly support of the Evil Magi, Ronald was elected not once, but twice. Voters all too often learn only when it is too late.

Not so, Ronald. He had learned his lessons well, both those of his father and of the wily Brooklonyx Rudy. Real winners took all they could get away with. There were opportunities galore, if you were unscrupulous enough to take advantage of them and ready to force the issue in your favour by any means available, fair or unfair. Isn’t that why a successful deal was called making a killing?

A totally new take on the presidential role was born. One where narcissism met up with antisocial behaviour and paranoia to create a unique Dumpster mix. A mix without boundaries, be they moral or legal, national or international. All of it richly peppered with wild mood swings.

Dumpty was on the roll: So many parcels of land from Gaza to Greenland, so much oil in Venezuela, such plentiful mineral rights in Ukraine; and all of them up for grabs, not to mention Cuba and Canada. The possibilities were almost limitless: so many sweet deals to be made, so much cryptocurrency to be had. If only the rest of the world would keep from interfering,

Dumpty was no Captain Picard. There was no talk of bettering ourselves and the rest of humanity on his watch. Ideals of selflessness and humanity’s enrichment were for sad losers and concepts such as friends and allies were a mystery as far as Ronald was concerned. What was in it for him, he pondered. Who needed enemies, with a friend like Dumpty, his  friends would learn the hard way.

But we live in a time of stories. And stories tend to have a morally upright and happy ending, unless they are scary nursery rhymes or told by the Brothers Grimm. Ronald, unfortunately, was clearly brought up on the latter, which is understandable given his father’s German antecedents. Not that the Dumpty family would ever dwell on that subject. Immigrants they were not, not at heart at least. If one could call it a heart, with so little compassion and human decency involved? This blood pumping organ might more aptly be called a Dumpty pump. A really, really great and beautiful one, naturally, as all things Ronald were, if Ronald was to be believed.

Dumpty could twist the truth with the best of truth twisters, and sell a story that no one in their right mind would buy, but people still did. He could even have himself immortalised by his minions with tailor made prizes and buildings renamed in his honor.

One thing was not in his power, however. No one would ever see him as the white knight of any story ; not after all that had been said and done. That happy ending was as far beyond his reach as the Holy Grail.

So Dumpty was left sitting on a wall, headed for a great fall. What goes around comes around – in stories and in real life. When Dumpty inevitably fell, all the President’s horses and all the President’s men couldn’t put him together again. That, however, is a story for another day.

What will happen? Who will the white knights be? The world is waiting with bated breath. To be continued…

Disclaimer: As is the way in the United States of Alternative Facts, all the above may or may not have happened. Who is to say, if it did or didn’t. You get to decide.

Dear America,

Would you marry someone, who has the mentality of a criminal? Someone you know to be a bully. Someone, who has been caught lying regularly. Someone, who breaks promises, agreements and laws as if they didn’t exist. Someone, who has no problem with outright blackmail or even violence, if that’s what it takes to reach the wanted results.

Would you hire such a person to work for you, or go into business with that person? Would you want someone like that as your boss or closest colleague? Would you want someone like that to befriend your children?

If you wouldn’t, why in heaven’s name would you elect a man, who fulfils all of the above criteria, your President? America, how did you let this happen?

This is just biased slander, you may say. Our President is a dealmaker, who will Make America Great Again. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, you might add.

Let’s take a step back. In fact, let’s go all the way back to April 4, 1949; to the day NATO was founded after World War II. The treaty itself was signed in Washington, and it has served your interests, America, from thereon. You entered the treaty because you recognised the threat posed by the Soviet Union to Western democracies. A threat that once again became evident as Russia unlawfully invaded Ukraine in 2022.

You do remember, don’t you, that Russia was the driving force of the Soviet Union and that Vladimir swore to Make Russia Great Again long before Donald entered the picture. Vladimir would love nothing more than to grab a bite of your NATO allies and preferably you too. Donald may see this as one of the many inconvenient details that he is a master at forgetting, but you shouldn’t.

It’s clear that Donald has fallen hard for Vladimir. Like attracts like. If it was only the two of them, I would wish them happy. They deserve each other. But Donald doesn’t represent only himself, he represents you too, America.

Everyone has the right to change their mind. Even in a marriage that has lasted 75 years as NATO has. But the parties still have a prenuptial agreement signed and sealed. Promises have been made, including the future aid promised to Ukraine.

Donald is now breaking your promises by the dozen. It is nauseating to watch as he withholds promised aid and intelligence support from a country that is fighting against an invader that NATO, with you in the forefront, has considered a common foe for the past 75 years.

Not to mention the way he harasses Greenland and the Danes. It is an example of bullying and greed at its purest: barely veiled threats and muscle-flexing to gain something that never belonged to you and that no one wants to give to you.

America, you have essentially elected your own Vladimir. Vladimir has invaded your thinking more successfully than he ever managed to do in Ukraine.

You may say that Russia is not something Americans should worry about anymore; it’s Europe’s problem. I disagree. Unless you are ready to give up on democracy? If so, who am I to stop you. But before you do, please ask yourself: Do I really want America to become like Russia?

Just as Vladimir has done before him, Donald is all set to extend his presidency past its present term and to remove the need for future elections. He is taking over the army, FBI and CIA as we speak; or at least making a determined effort to do so. He is making sure no one will investigate his or his friends’ doings. His “team” even ensured that bad cops are free from public scrutiny in the future. These are all facts. You can track the nominations and decisions online, if you don’t believe me.

The similarities between Donald bullying Canada financially and Vladimir attacking Ukraine physically are more than fleeting. Actually, Donald is taking it a step further; he is coveting land all the way from Greenland to Gaza.

The way he is going, he may even try to mess with the Fed, thus singlehandedly upending the world economy. Banking is based on trust. Seriously, who would dare trust a Fed guided by Donald’s capricious hand? The financial gain you seem to be focusing on is only a hairsbreadth away from turning into unimaginable losses.

I can understand that it is hard to face the facts. It is often hard to leave a spouse that treats you badly too. When bad things happen, you may tell yourself that this is just an aberration; that things will soon get better. Why would they? Does Donald look like a man ready to change? It’s time to face reality.

Is this what the Founding Fathers envisaged, when they signed the Declaration of Independence: Musk firing employees summarily, aid withdrawn without proper process, treaties and promises broken, allies bullied? Is this something they would have condoned? Were their ideals based on pure monetary gain – preferably their own?

You may say that America has paid enough. Europe has paid just as much as far as Ukraine is concerned. When one totals the military, financial and humanitarian aid given to Ukraine, the sums paid by both parties are close to equal. Assuming you are willing to use the real, documented numbers – not the ones dreamed up by Donald. The only difference is that Europe is still keeping the promises it made, while you are now breaking them.

Or maybe you just don’t care anymore? If so, that is your prerogative. I just wonder what life without trust looks like? I think you should too. Do you really want your children and grandchildren to grow up in an environment, where a criminal mentality is just fine as long as there is something to be gained financially?

America, when Ukraine finally sees peace, it will be at a cost higher than it should have been – all because of you. This became abundantly clear to the whole world, when JD and Donald bullied Zelenskyy in front of the media – demanding a thank you from him, while they were actively working with Russia against the Ukrainians’ rightful efforts to preserve their nation.

Just as they are working to get a real estate deal in Gaza. All in the name of peace.

America, it is time to update The Star-Spangled Banner. Let’s face it. You are not the “land of the free and the home of the brave” anymore. You are fast becoming the land of the greedy and the home of the bullies.

Who is to say?

The Internet caught us with our defences down. With AI in the mix, things will probably only get worse, whether we fully buy into Yuval Noah Harari’s doomsday predictions or not. We can make a mess of this world all on our own, with or without a sentient AI.

We are losing contact. Contact with real, live people and the non-virtual reality. We are also slowly but surely losing one of the most important building blocks of human progress – our trust in what we have learned, what we see and what we hear; in fact, our trust in almost everything and everyone.

The common denominator of the Internet generation is not a specific birth date. To me, all those who have experienced the commercialisation of the Internet from the 1990’s onwards are part of the Internet generation. Their lives have changed fundamentally as the services and technologies that rely on the Internet have woven themselves into virtually every aspect of modern life, especially in Western democracies.

Along with the good came the bad. While it became easier to spread and find substantiated information, it became just as easy to spread alternative “facts”. While it became easier to form bonds through shared hobbies and interests, it also became easier to band together to spread hate speech and to participate in illegal activities, including virtual warfare.

Somehow we have lost ourselves in this world wide environment. People google their way to “knowledge” indiscriminately. Everyone is becoming their own expert on all things. The way things look has become more important than the way they truly are.

Suddenly, one plus one doesn’t necessarily equal two. It only takes someone on the internet who professes to know that two is just a hoax – the real answer is three. Who can argue with that in a manner that those who choose to believe such a statement would understand?

New ideas travel fast over the Internet, but so does resistance to them too. While the Internet has provided new opportunities for many, it has also brought losses to many. Jobs have been lost, shared beliefs and values have been torn apart – the list is long.

In turbulent times people look for strong leaders. Saying you are strong does not make you strong. Strength is not about acting as if you have all the answers. Yet Donald Trump and J.D.Vance have once again proven that people confuse bullying with strength. Voters are ready to be swept away by a rhetoric that changes with the audience and often has little basis in substantiated facts. They don’t care whether the answers given are the same that were given a year or even a week ago. As long as people hear what they want to hear, they are happy. Even if they know that the promises made are not in line with earlier actions, or that some statements have already been proven to be outright lies.

This is actually very human. The less we trust, the more we trust blindly, because we still need to trust in something. It is easier to just close your eyes and hope for the best.

I am not into blind trust, but I do hope that reason will prevail: that the American people will not opt for a President, who has openly promised to act as a dictator.

However, the presidential election alone will not solve the basic problem: Substantiated facts are becoming irrelevant.

How is one to govern and build a good future, when well-researched facts are treated by a growing number of decision-makers and voters as just one more fact among an increasing number of unsubstantiated alternative facts. Many of which are freely offered on the Internet by disruptive players – both domestic and international.

On that note, I once again urge everyone to leave X and return their Teslas. Elon Musk personifies all that can go wrong, when you misuse technology and power.

How does a democracy that allows people to freely do that function? Maybe the answer is that it doesn’t. Maybe we won’t have to wait for a catastrophe wrought by climate change or nuclear weapons. Maybe we are living the catastrophe already without fully realising what is happening.

Can we truly even trust ourselves? There is so much conflicting information. Should we do something? What can we do? Is it too late to stop this – whatever it is? No one seems to be in charge. It would be so easy to let someone else decide.

Which is exactly how dictators are born. Be they Trump, AI or any other party to whom or which we surrender our decision-making rights. It is easier so – until it isn’t, but by then it is too late.

My take on all of this: If you are lucky enough to live in a country where voters still have some say in decision-making, focus on keeping your future right to vote safe from wannabe dictators. The rest can be dealt with later.

NOTE: The earlier version of this post contained a double paragraph, so I am reposting it.

Using our power to make a difference

If you are into the concept of democracy, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Those of us who might be in a position to make a difference, yours truly included, are too comfortable and lazy to do what it takes to safeguard democracy. Others have totally lost faith in their ability to affect political change.

Countries are up for grabs by leaders who are ruthless enough to ignore all rules as they forge on relentlessly towards absolute power.

The Russian people excel at outsourcing power. They have totally given up on the concept of making a difference. They do not see themselves as political actors. This “Putin has the power, makes the decisions, they have nothing to do with me” way of thinking allows ordinary Russians to go on with their daily lives without any concern for e.g. the war against Ukraine, the efforts to eradicate the Russian opposition and the discrimination of many minorities. According to the majority, it’s all Putin’s doing. They themselves have no say and therefore no responsibility.

Democracy is not dead in America – yet. However, unforgivably many politicians are too comfortable and too lazy to even try to make a difference although they could. The Republicans have all but outsourced their power to Donald Trump, who will grab it and twist it out of recognition. Despite this, many of them maintain that they have nothing to do with Trump’s outrageous behaviour. In addition, too many voters have lost faith in their ability to affect meaningful political change.

Will this laziness and loss of faith result in the loss of the unity, democracy and rule of law that their forefathers fought for?

Where is the EU, when all of this is taking place? It is slowly waking up to the fact that many of the world’s problems may spill over into its lap sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, EU members are no strangers to ignoring a problem until it gets out of hand. It’s the “too comfortable and lazy to react in a timely fashion” effect all over again.

At times, I feel like I am watching a political reality show that seems to be moving unstoppably towards a tragic ending.

The Chinese have always had an eye for playing the long game. I can’t help but admire the ingenuity of it, as I watch Xi Jinping meet key political players all over the world; creating expectations, hope, fear and overall confusion.

As the saying goes, when you realise you are in deep s…, don’t move. This is probably China’s goal: to ensure that as many players as possible stay put and just allow the long game to play out. By the end of the day, the rest of us will find ourselves in the position of bystanders. The force will not be with us anymore – we will have given it away.

Giving power away is not always bad. My first image above is of George Washington surrendering his resignation as wartime leader; and thereby ensuring that the country’s future leader was decided by democratic vote. Something that an increasing amount of key world leaders are keen to avoid these days.

I wish to end this blog on a positive note, so I include a few more pics from my latest trip to New York and Washington. It was a trip of farewell in many ways. However, hopefully not a farewell to the U.S. we used to know – a leading Western democracy.

This trio of pictures serves as a reminder that the angle we view things from changes the picture we see. It is also a reminder that what once was destroyed can be rebuilt with time and effort – even though it will never be the same.

My final picture is a reminder of the fact that, while man can strive towards the skies, nothing rivals the beauty of nature. The need to safeguard our environment is one more reason not to give away our power to make a difference.

My AI assistant (by courtesy of WordPress) kindly gave my feedback on this blog. It suggested that I should add some examples on how to make a positive difference. Sadly, I am still struggling with the how myself. My first step has been to admit to myself that I am part of the problem. I think we all need to find our own way from there. Where there is a will, there is always a way.

#democracy too

We all know there is no such thing as normal people or normal actions. No two normals look alike. Your normal looks different from mine.

Still, I feel confident in my statement: Normal is out. We are bombarded by so much information that it takes something beyond our own concept of normal to drag our attention away from our comfy interaction with like-minded people in our chosen information silos; the ones provided by courtesy of the Chinese, Elon Musk, international investors or local media providers.

All too often it takes something negative to catch our interest.

In a media overload world, a happy life is seldom interesting unless it involves a mind-boggling rags-to-riches story or is achieved after serious, preferably health-threatening, setbacks. Great grades and a stellar job record do not a good story make. Ruining your successful career spectacularly – now that is clickworthy. Genders are interesting mainly if there is an internal or external struggle or an equality issue involved. Faith is newsworthy if it involves celebrities or leads to violence or oppression rather than good deeds.

If you want to be heard, make sure you are not too normal, whatever that means in your target group. You can opt for a memorable hair style like Boris Johnson, an interesting age gap marriage like President Macron and his Finnish counterpart, Niinistö, or you can ride the minority van, with skin colour, gender or sexuality as your strength. Unusually good or bad looks never hurt either.

Actually, any of the above alone may not make the cut these days. The world is looking for something more – and more – whatever that is.

Even a fish has to be quite out of the ordinary to grab our attention. Hence my featured image, which also symbolises my take on the effects of social media. It’s an ugly picture.

No wonder everyone is out there riding their own “ism” be it fanaticism, racism, or some other ism. Even Putin and Trump have realised that plain old crazy is not enough; you need to spice it up with wars, conspiracy theories and isms.

Sadly, my favourite news media, Helsingin Sanomat, all too often falls into the trap of letting social media algorithms take the driver’s seat, while HS takes the backseat with its semi-analytical follow-ups on the latest “talk of the town”. It’s the easy way out in search of clicks: Tailgate social media regardless of whether the issues trending on it are truly worth the coverage journalistically. It’s also the way to get caught up in warped agendas driven by social media savvy parties instead of doing your own thinking and legwork.

I am aware that I am crying for journalism as we have known it – and still know it, when my favourite news media is at its best. Things change. Maybe traditional journalism is fated to take the backseat. But why seat yourself there voluntarily?

As far as the Chinese are concerned, the more mindless the TikTok content and its followers become, the better. In China itself, TikTok is not allowed. Elon Musk, in turn, makes no secret that X is now his – to do with as he pleases – and rules do not please him. Social media platforms do not care a jot about fact-checking, good journalistic practices or democracy. They pose as a way to become heard, but their algorithms make sure that not everyone is. Why help them?

Our view of what is to be considered a fact may change as we learn new things. That is as it should be. However, thanks to social media, more and more people seem to be buying into the thought that facts are only a matter of opinion; just pick your own alternative fact and go with it, no proof required. The same trend seems to apply to the rule of law; if it doesn’t “work” for you, just ignore it and do as you wish.

As like finds like by courtesy of social media algorithms, fiction becomes fact to so many that no fact-checking can halt the process. Western democracies are slowly being trained to a life of panem et circences (bread and circuses). With AI in the mix, the stories will only get wilder and wilder and so will probably the voters along with them.

As the lines between possible and impossible, true and false, and right and wrong become blurred, it becomes increasingly tempting to vote for someone, who – ably aided by algorithms- sells you an exciting story and promises you both bread and the full circus experience. It’s such an easy solution: Just jump on the circus wagon, forget your troubles and doubts and hope for the best.

How did billions of people end up being led by their noses without protest? What about free will and independent decision-making? When did we lose this War Over Minds to evil algorithms? Is the damage irreversible? How far are we gone? When all is said and done, will our sense of real and unreal, true and false, right and wrong be totally lost?

The way things are going, we will vote ourselves out of democracy before we know it. For all the wrong reasons – just because we can.

The fight to save Western democracies starts at home. You may not have to risk your life in the physical sense, but you must be ready to make sacrifices that may feel life-changing. Leave your social media accounts – at least the ones that are clearly led by parties beyond all control. You will not beat them by joining them.

Let the fight begin #democracy too!

Wait – I realise I am not on TikTok, X, Instagram or Facebook. No algorithms will push this message forward. Then again, even if I was, would they really push it? You can see where this is going. It is, indeed, an ugly picture.

Madrid and the silent stowaway

Sometimes you just get tired of being careful. Life passes by and you feel like an outsider – you are not participating. This is how two grandmothers – myself included – and their teenage granddaughters ended up in Madrid for three very full days when Fall leave began.

Of course, we knew that coronavirus case numbers were on the rise. But who has the time and inclination to worry about this when your plane lands in sunny Madrid?

Our group would have been fine with me walking around in a mask all day. Yet it felt weird to do so, when (almost) nobody else was wearing one. Masks were obligatory only when using public transportation.

Peer pressure is a funny thing. Even when there is no actual pressure, you can create it yourself. A mask tends to set you slightly aside if others are not wearing one too. You feel different whether others treat you as such or not. Unless you are into being aloof, it is not a fun feeling; which is why I chose to join the majority.

As always – this was not our first trip abroad as a group – our trip was a thoroughly positive experience. This time, however, it was a little too much so. Thanks to my silent stowaway, the coronavirus, I tested corona positive upon my return. Still, I have no regrets. I thoroughly enjoyed our maskless foray into Spanish culture at its richest.

However, looking back at our carefree days in Madrid, I can’t help wondering when I picked up my passenger. I guess we all do that once we test positive.

Was it at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum where we saw the great Picasso/Chanel exhibition?

Maybe it was when I was scolded by a museum guard for photographing Picasso’s Guernica in the Reina Sofia Museum?

Here I feel the need to defend myself. The museum’s “No photos” sign read as if it referred only to the room that Guernica was in, while I was taking my photo from the next room. In addition, photos are allowed in other areas of the Reina Sofia Museum as proven by the auditorium photo below, which we specifically asked permission for. Immersive art at its best.

Going back to my new companion, did the stowaway hop aboard as we were enjoying the views on the top floor of Riu Plaza Espana? We missed a visit to the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Prado Museum this time, but at least we got a glimpse of the former from the roof top.

Then again, my stowaway may have caught up with me when the girls were shopping through their shortlist of environmentally friendly brands – or on the hop on hop off bus, while I was commenting on the fact that even head post offices look like palaces in Madrid.

Many would consider the flamenco restaurant we visited the most probable breeding ground for stowaways. It was packed, and the tickets cost enough for people to disregard a slight cough or cold instead of foregoing the flamenco experience. An experience that was unanimously voted “best experience of our trip” by the teenagers.

The Picasso/Chanel exhibition and Guernica ended up tied for second position even though Retiro Park was close behind.

The downstairs delicatessen “made our day” each afternoon as we returned to our airbnb for a short recharge. There is no way the virus embedded itself in my cookie! Nothing would be right in this world if that could happen.

However, if I had to bet on where I picked up my silent stowaway, my bet would be on the waitress who managed to sneeze directly at me as we were having lunch in a well-known restaurant. Looking back, there is something so familiar about that sneeze. I found myself re-enacting it – albeit handkerchief at hand – a few days later.

This is how the virus travels. We have to work for a living, we get frustrated with tight rules and regulations, we want to live and experience things together as we used to with friends and family. The virus is betting on us acting as we do and adapting to our ways. The less deadly it is, the more probably we will allow it near us. Silent stowaways are all around us, just waiting for a ride.

The good thing about this pause in my life is that I have less time to worry about the world now that I have to worry about each new symptom. Is that the same headache my sister-in-law suffered from creeping up on me? Do I feel extra tired like many say they did? Definitely – at least, when it’s my turn to empty the dishwasher. Am I loosing my voice like my friend did? Why am I not feeling worse? Can this really be over in a few days? What about long Covid? Is the virus just sitting there, planning a new attack?

There are now two of us. My silent stowaway, who managed to disrupt the world together with its very extended family, and I. Life continues. We will both move on to business as usual, whatever that is, once our quarantine is over.

Trust, hope and wishful thinking

Trust is all too easily misplaced, often shattered, and very difficult to regain once lost. It is key to all successful relationships, be they romantic, working or political ones.

There is a fine line between trust and hope.

There are very few things any of us can truly trust will happen (death being one), even if we place our trust in some sources, people, or actions in the hope that we have not misplaced it.

Blind trust is nothing more than a disaster waiting to happen. Whether you trust that a violent spouse will stop hitting you, that an employer, who never gave you a raise, will finally see your value, or that democracy and human rights will soon thrive in Russia; you are  trusting and hoping against reason, which is just wishful thinking bordering on self-deception.

So much trust and hope has been lost lately in the Western world.

We may have trusted that adherence to the rule of law would remain a constant cornerstone of Western democracies –  but that was before Donald Trump.

We may have thought that the world stood a chance of agreeing globally on measures needed to solve climate change issues and promote peace on Earth – but that was before the pandemic taught us that borders could be closed as easily as they were opened, and the war in Ukraine taught us that wars could start and escalate out of control at our door step with little warning.

The loss of trust and hope is a global phenomenon. It is felt all over. African countries are left vulnerable as China, Africa’s largest creditor, tightens lending taps. Suddenly, we are back to “every country for itself”.

The outpour of solidarity and concrete help to countries that face aggressive wars or natural disasters may still give us some hope. But our trust in a brighter future and global co-operation has suffered severe set-backs as hard-fought agreements aimed at safeguarding human rights and peace are being ignored as if they never existed.

We tend to hope against hope, when the alternatives are too gruesome to be considered.

Many Floridians were reminded of this the hard way recently as they hoped that hurricane Ian would not make its way to their home or business; that if it did, it would not be too bad; that even if it was bad, they would be fine because they had survived hurricanes before and were well-prepared; and even if the worst was to happen, they would get the aid they needed. In all too many cases none of these hopes have come true.

I listen to my friends pondering the Russia-Ukraine war, hoping that the Russian people will soon realise  that Putin is not to be trusted. As if most Russians didn’t realise this already. They just aren’t prone to wishful thinking. They see no better alternative in the horizon, so they gravitate towards the known “evil”. It is what they have always done. The Russian people are not prone to rebellion, they are fatalistic. They have seen time and time again that little good comes out of trying to rebel. They do not trust the West anymore than they trust Putin.

I listen to the Western media celebrating the successes of the Ukrainian army and speculating on what a dreadful loss this and that is to the Russian army. Personally, I just see losses on both sides. In addition to the lives lost one both sides, the Russians (and those Ukrainians, who have ended up under Russian rule) are fast losing even the remnants of their human rights. There is no peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine war in sight.

The Chinese are credited with the understanding that even if you are aggressively furthering you own agenda, you should try to do it without actively provoking deep enmity in your counterparts. Cornered enemies are the worst possible enemies. They have little to lose. I find myself acting like the regularly battered wife in search of a why; wondering whether we (the West) did something to provoke the war in Ukraine. Let’s face it, the West has a tendency towards off-putting self-righteousness at times. Can the war really be attributed to a psychopath leader strong enough to convince millions of people that several wrongs make a right?

I opted for the latter explanation as I watched the reactions of the crowd that gathered in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate the (forced) annexation of four Ukrainian regions to Russia. Many in the crowd could be seen applauding in all seriousness as Russian Putinist actor Ivan Okhlobystin gave the performance of his life as MMFM  a.k.a. Mad Man Frothing at the Mouth. Some additional cheers may have been added when editing the Twitter clip, but the crowd was definitely not protesting.

Okhlobystin, who is famous for quotes like “I would happily put all the gays alive in an oven”, called for a “holy war”, whipping the crowd into action with pearls like: “Fear old world! Deprived of true beauty, true faith, true wisdom; operated by madmen, perverts, satanists! Be afraid, we are coming. Goyda (a cry for immediate action), goyda !!!”.

To be clear, the old world in this scenario is the Western world.

While most of me was appalled by the performance, there was a small part of me that was having a quiet laugh. To a Finn Okhlobystin’s “goyda, goyda” call sounded like someone with a severe head cold hollering “koita, koita” i.e. try, try. Which seems apt, as it’s what the Russians have ended up doing in Ukraine without much success.

Your guess is as good as my guess, when it comes to what happens next. If the Red Square celebrations represent the truth of Russia today, the country is careening towards total unreason. It is ironic that Putin has described the war in Ukraine as a fight against the Nazis. This is not a case of the pot calling the kettle black. It’s the black pot calling the kettle a black pot.

I am in mourning. I mourn a – presently  bygone – world that I had high hopes for; hopes that I am rapidly losing. Yet I recognise that this is not the time to lose hope –  if we do, more will be lost.

We need to continue to do what we can to ensure that the democratic values prove resilient and that global co-operation in key matters is not endangered because of mistrust and fear.

At the same time we need to recognise that each country has its own set of values and a right to build its own future as its people see fit as long as it doesn’t endanger others. I have some trouble buying into the idea that it is up to the West to plan the future of post-Putin Russia. It is up to the Russians to do so. The only thing others can do is aid them in ensuring that such decisions are freely made based on freely accessible true information, not guided by fear and misinformation.

Knots, knits and opinions

We all have opinions, whether we recognise them or voice them. They are there from the day of our birth. Some things we like, some things we don’t. Our opinions can be based on facts or feelings, but they are still opinions: our personal take on what those (perceived) facts or feelings mean.

Which is why it was a day for the history books, when I found myself in such a relaxed state during our summer holiday that I was unable to come up with a single opinion on anything.

My mind just decided to take a break. Not even the sunset (which was beautiful in hindsight) could move me to have an opinion. It was almost startling.

There we sat at our cosy dinner table, my partner in life and I, watching the sun set over “our” lake. We had bought, prepared and eaten early potatoes, all sorts of vegetables, and muikku (a.k.a. vendace, a species of freshwater whitefish); all straight from nearby farms and lakes. We had topped our meal off with delicious, just-picked strawberries. We were well-fed and well-rested.There was no need to think or speak. We just cherished the moment with our minds blank in the best possible way.

The war in Ukraine, climate change, Finland’s entry into Nato, the latest coronavirus news, the rising inflation numbers and interest rates, the promise of a cold winter with insufficient heating due to gas supply issues, recession speculations, rise of populism, not to mention the never-ending power struggle between the superpowers – nothing – not a single opinion on any of these was forthcoming.

Moments like this are as fleeting as butterfly stops. I hope you have had a chance to enjoy a few of them amidst all that is going on in the world.

Reality has a tendency to catch up with you, whether you wish it or not. My favourite newspaper made sure of that. It provided me with an in depth article on all the crises looming in the horizon. The list seemed endless: debt crisis, housing market crisis, commodity crisis (including but not limited to energy crisis), Euro-crisis, China- crisis (political and financial), and a recession for the history books. All of this on top of the war in Ukraine.

Reality even invaded our balcony as we returned to Helsinki from our holiday refuge. Instead of butterflies, we could count helicopters on the deck of USS Kearsage, a 257 m (843 ft) long, nuclear powered Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that slowly slipped past us into the port of Helsinki.

Talking about wasps: I sent one of the photos above to a friend. His answering text said it all: “Not half as scary as Nancy Pelosi”.

To a political outsider Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan looked like she was stirring up a hornet´s nest that might just create the butterfly effect that puts us en route to chaos. There is a time and place for everything. The whys of this particular trip remain obscure.

Pelosi has had an impressive career. Does she really need to top her CV with “Started World War III”? To paraphrase an old saying : With friends like this, who needs enemies to feel unsafe.

To continue with sayings: Life truly is like a box of chocolates. Over and over again you bite into something sugar/chocolate-coated without really knowing what you will find inside. My first taste of Nato tells me that I will probably not love it, but I will still keep it on the menu to ensure that I get enough sustenance to survive.

Chocolates come in many forms. Often the surprises they offer are delightful. While Pelosi was traipsing around Taiwan, we went to Fiskars; a picturesque village in Southern Finland known for combining design, art and architecture in a unique and inspiring way.

Pelosi and reality were once again forgotten, when we browsed the exhibition “U-joints: Knots&Knits”. U-joints is an ongoing research project and exhibition series by Andrea Caputo and Anniina Koivu. The exhibitions examine the functional and aesthetic relevance of this crucial design component.

Knots and Knits is the fourth chapter of the project. The exhibition was a piece of art in itself as well as in its details. It gave the viewer a new perspective on design.

I leave you with this thought: We may have managed to tie our world in knots, but hope still remains that we can continue to knit something beautiful out of it. Just look at all the ingenious things we have designed so far.

Please don’t let me be misunderstood

The futile hope expressed above is shared by many. Songs have been sung about it, most notably by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965.

Sadly, misunderstandings are not on a downward trend. The modern Western world, as we have come to know it, is becoming increasingly postmodern. The focus is more on values, rights, symbols and identities.

To better understand these changes, I googled my way through various “philosophy for dummies” articles and revisited some books I had read years ago.

I started with scepticism. Sceptics (too) come in many forms depending on the time and the culture. To make a long story short I will quote Wikipedia: “Philosophical sceptics are often classified in two general categories: Those who deny all possibility of knowledge, and those who advocate for the suspension of judgement due to the inadequacy of evidence.”

In theory, it could be said that Donald Trump’s former counselor Kellyanne Conway was just taking a philosophical approach to the matter, when she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s false statement about the attendance numbers of Donald Trump’s inauguration by stating that Spicer gave alternative facts.

Along those lines, we could even argue that she took philosophy to a higher level, when she later referred multiple times to a non-existent Bowling Green massacre. In terms of ultimate scepticism: Who is to say what is existent and non-existent?

Don’t get me wrong – despite my philosophical forays, I am still a firm believer in reason and knowledge. Kellyanne Conway’s untruths are still fiction not fact.

But the more we communicate, the more evident it becomes that philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein got it right, when he argued that the logical structure of language draws a limit to meaning and thereby to the the expression of thought. To simplify in the extreme: We will always be misunderstood and misunderstand because we each think in our own, subjective way. There is no language and use thereof that everyone would understand alike. Language and the use of it is always relative.

When we combine this limitation with an increasing focus on the individual and on values, rights, symbols and identities instead of more quantifiable issues, the possibilities for misunderstanding become almost limitless.

The more we discuss things that Wittgenstein considered undiscussable due to the limits of language, the more we venture away from sense to nonsense. The issues themselves are not nonsense, but any statement about them is, if Wittgenstein is to be believed.

No wonder we tend to exist in our own, Internet-facilitated bubbles these days. As we discuss the undiscussable, it helps that we at least start off on the same page whether in terms of religion, values, rights, symbols or identities.

At this point I have to stress that in many parts of the world people are either still fighting to survive in a material sense or fighting to get themselves and their opinions heard. Postmodernism is a luxury that is not affordable to all. No wonder Western ideals seem foreign and even naive to many – not only outside the Western world, but also within it, which should not be ignored.

I myself struggle at times to buy into broadly defined, high-flying programmes for the betterment of mankind, or demands for a wide range of services to meet the individual needs of all and sundry.

I am stuck back in the modern world; bemoaning the lack of reason, knowledge, practicality and cost-efficiency, and worrying about financing.

To avoid misunderstandings – programmes that aim to contain the negative effects of climate change are a necessity, not something I would consider high-flying.

The refrain of my theme song starts off with “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good.” It seems at times that our postmodern Western world is positively drowning in good intentions.

Maybe the nature of our intentions is the only thing that truly matters in the long run? Which would lead us into the nightmare of defining good and evil.

First we would have to decide, whether to approach the matter through religion, ethics, philosophy or psychology. The mind boggles – there are so many branches and trees that is impossible to see the whole forest.

Maybe I should go with Spinoza, and define good as something we certainly know is useful to us and evil as something we certainly know hinders us from possessing anything good. Or maybe not – I can just hear Putin defending his war in Ukraine to the Russian people in terms of Spinoza.

So maybe I will just go with the idea that evil actions consist of elements related to unbalanced behaviour involving e.g. expediency, selfishness, ignorance and neglect. Good intentions would in turn consist of elements like compassion, moderation and humility.

As you can see, I am making choices. There is no absolute as far as good and evil goes. There  is my choice and your choice. Which makes it easier to understand why Finland’s and Sweden’s good intentions may not always be considered good in Turkey. Compromises have to be made.

Unless we fully understand this, there is no way for alliances to work in an increasingly postmodern world: A world in which people in their respective bubbles are boosting each others belief that their own definition of good is the right one.

To take this a full circle. Was Kellyanne Conway, and by extension Trump,  just a philosopher with good intentions? Well, pigs may farm, if Orwell is to be believed, but they have yet to fly.

But Kellyanne was onto something. In an increasingly postmodern world everything is subjective. This inevitably affects politics too.

People find it harder and harder to get down from their high moral horses, and cope with the idea that there is a whole world out there that doesn’t see things their way. The question is, where will this fragmentation lead us?

Putin probably looked at the Western world and saw the fragmentation – a weakness as far as he understood. A costly misunderstanding. He never saw the underlying strength. In a postmodern world that focuses less on the material, independence and the right to chart your own path becomes the one thing people are ready to support and defend to the extreme. It is not about countries anymore, it is about each one of us personally.

To come back to my blog title – you will probably misunderstand this blog to some extent, but I have realised that this is not necessarily a bad thing. All thoughts are equal when we discuss the undiscussable.