Let’s not talk about Trump

Leye - Every other Wednesday

Photo by Michael Vadon

Let’s not talk about Donald Trump. What’s the point? And while we’re at it, let’s not talk about global warming. What’s there to say about that, that’s not been already said, anyway? Most especially, let’s not talk about that fact that most climate change deniers have a vested interest in not accepting that human activity is what’s causing the Earth to warm up.

It’s not like they don’t believe it’s happening, they just refuse to accept that we cause it and as such, we can and should do something about it. Let’s not talk about the possibility that they, the climate change deniers, are not really so stupid as to truly believe their position, but are simply selfish enough not to care what happens to the world years after they are gone.

Yes, they know it’s a problem, but they don’t care because it’s not their problem. They, the conglomerates they work for and the businesses they own, will lose money now, if forced to change the way they do business, and for what? So that the Earth does not go underwater years from now? What do they care? They’ll be dead and gone by then, and their children too, and their children’s children. But wait. What do they care about relatives they’ve never met and will never meet? Climate change? That’s fake news.

What else should we not talk about? Russia. Let’s not talk about that. Moving right on, North Korea. Moving on, Syria. Next. Boko Haram. Next. ISIS. Next. BREXIT. Next. EBOLA. Next. Trump. No. We already agreed not to talk about that. No Donald Trump. No investigation into alleged collision with Russia during the US presidential election. No sacking of the FBI boss investigating the Russia affair. No. We shall not talk about Trump. No.

What then shall we talk about? What about this? How are you? Yes, you. How are you doing? They world is crazy right now and a lot of people are really struggling with all the crazy, so I ask, how are you doing? Are you coping? Are you fine? I mean, I know it’s going to be difficult to be fine-fine, not with all the crazy in the world right now, but are you fine?

Ok. So, I’m going to share with you a piece of random stuff. Today, after many years of believing that a lot of women carry a condom in their jeans back pocket, I finally realised I’ve been wrong. You know that ring shape of a condom that’s still in it’s packet? Now imagine keeping a packet in your back pocket. You’d see the ring through the jeans, wouldn’t you? I would see this ring on the bums of many women and think, wow, do they know it shows? Because I always thought it was a condom. But today, while starring out the window of a café, a woman was standing just outside, waiting for the light at the pedestrian crossing, and my eyes were drawn to the condom ring in her back pocket. Then, strands of blonde hair wrapped across her neck, and I suspect her face, and she gathered her hair into a ponytail in one hand, and put the other hand into her back pocket and fetched the ring and tied her hair with it. So that’s what it is. Not a condom, just a hair tying thingy. So, all those women I’d thought didn’t realise or didn’t care (and why should they care?) that their condom ring was visible in their back pockets all had their hair thingies in the pocket. Who knew? Women. That’s who knew. Women.

Such a pointless observation. But it got me thinking of the things we never talk about. The questions we never ask. The assumptions we make to fill the gaps in our knowledge. The conclusions we arrive at with nothing more illuminating than the limitations and biases of our own reasoning. Trump? He’s a buffoon. Russia? They hacked the US elections. Hillary? She’s not that clean. Kim Jong-un? He’s mad. But is he? How do we know? Perhaps because the news tells us he is, in not so many words. But, fake news.

Right about now I’m rambling, but I’ve run out of things to not talk about and I’m fresh out of ‘not wanting to talk about stuff’, because the less we talk, the more we assume, and the more we assume, the more we accept our positions and reject theirs.

So, how are you? How are you doing today? What would you like to talk about?