Information : pronouns Mal/Mis & Dis
I’ve noticed for some time that the politicians of today do not appear to have quite the same amount of stuff up top as the politicians of yesterday. It may be no more than the typical “things were better in my day” perspective that afflicts humanity as we merrily advance into our elder years - otherwise known as the Grumpy Old Git syndrome.
This is evident in my musical taste too. It is, of course, my own fault for not being able to recognize that the following two lyrics are of equal artistic merit and both profoundly eloquent on the subject of sexual intimacy
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove she was moving too
And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah
and the equally beautiful and moving
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, you fucking with some wet ass pussy
Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet ass pussy
Give me everything you got for this wet ass pussy
You can see it’s just my encroaching Old Gittiness that would draw any kind of judgemental conclusion and any objective assessment would conclude that both artists represent the great heights we can aim for in our endeavours.
I am, of course, being a little disingenuous and somewhat selective in my choice of musical examples here. It’s not too hard to find truly asinine lyrics from decades ago and also sublimely eloquent lyrics in the music of today. It’s not fair of me to compare a Cohen and a Cardi B - their music caters for entirely different sensibilities. A simple Google search for the respective complete lyrics here will emphasize that difference (Cohen Hallelujah lyrics and Cardi B WAP lyrics will be sufficient search terms).
The style and language of the speeches made by politicians also changes over time. But I can’t help thinking that most of our modern politicians would struggle to even understand the speeches of yesteryear, much less write something as powerful.
In every other sphere of life, you believe that the right of free speech ought to be so universally shared by all who are in the city, that you have extended it both to foreigners and to slaves; and one may see many a servant in Athens speaking his mind with greater liberty than is granted to citizens in some other states: but from the sphere of political counsel you have utterly banished this liberty.
The result is that in your meetings you give yourselves airs and enjoy their flattery, listening to nothing but what is meant to please you, while in the world of facts and events, you are in the last extremity of peril.
said Demosthenes in 341 BC.
I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm: To which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.
This one’s from Lizzie the first, stirring up the English troops in 1588 just before the Spanish Armada tried to get all colonialist on us. If Lizzie had been alive today she’d have jumped into battle knocking out any number of hulking great special forces men with one punch or well-judged spin kick - at least if Netflix is to be believed.
Because the wisdom of your forefathers placed the prize of supreme power without the sphere of human passions. Whatever the struggle of parties, whatever the strife of factions, whatever the excitement and exaltation of the public mind, there has always been something in this country round which all classes and parties could rally, representing the majesty of the law, the administration of justice, and involving, at the same time, the security for every man's rights and the fountain of honour. Now, gentlemen, it is well clearly to comprehend what is meant by a country not having a revolution for two centuries. It means, for that space, the unbroken exercise and enjoyment of the ingenuity of man. It means, for that space, the continuous application of the discoveries of science to his comfort and convenience. It means the accumulation of capital, the elevation of labour, the establishment of those admirable factories which cover your district; the unwearied improvement of the cultivation of the land, which has extracted from a somewhat churlish soil harvests more exuberant than those furnished by lands nearer to the sun.
I included this from Disraeli in 1872 because the speech was delivered in my hometown of Manchester. He argues in this speech for the importance of the monarchy and the establishment. Not really my cup of tea - but he certainly had a way with words.
Or what about these powerful and moving words from Washington in 1789?
I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my Country can inspire: since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity: since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
And who could possibly forget the great, great “I Have a Dream” speech? It still gives me a spine tingle every time I read those words.
Things are different today. Anyone who aspires to be anyone in the sphere of political influence is on Twitter. Speeches, and gaffes, get transmitted instantly across the world and reach millions of people. Even normal plebby types can get in on the act. The problem is that the great seething mass of ill-informed plebs (like me) now have a platform - and that, it is supposed, is a major problem.
We might want the extreme eloquence and rapid-fire intellectual delivery of a Biden to be the only thing we see, but it is not so. Any Tom, Dick or Harriet can now have a platform that is potentially as big as the President of the US.
How are our leaders to cope? Perhaps with finely-crafted words of such power and eloquence that they will still be read over 2,000 years from now? Probably not. But one thing they can do is to make sure that the plebs are rigorously brought into line - they have to be made to be “on message”. And that’s why we must have Ministries of Truth like the one recently established in the US.
What a joy it is then that the person chosen to head up this new ministry is a shining example of the best we have to offer. Her eloquence and power and passion straddle both the musical and political spheres. At last we’ve found someone who can justifiably stand alongside the Demosthenes’, the Washingtons, the Lizzies, the Disraelis and the Kings of this world - whilst reaching the heights of a Cohen or a Cardi B.
It's really the ultimate consequence, I suspect, of the death of adulthood.
And no, I don't mean "adulting," a made-up word whose existence seems a testament to the general lack of expectations around grown-up people.
Cardi B and her friends are just the toddlers shouting "poopy!" Nina J. is just part of the generation that never got beyond "watch me! watch me! look at me!" The advertisers have won. The only thing we call undignified as a culture is the physical deterioration that comes with illness and old age (to wit, "death with dignity"). Nowhere else do we call for people to comport themselves with dignity except when they become old or infirm. And now we are left with the tween girl who, finally, just covers her ears and yells, "Shut UP! SHUT UP!" Except we seem to have decided that she is qualified to steer this ship.
I knew it would come to this. Remember all the “dancing” videos that our desperately overworked doctors and nurses somehow had time to make in the hospitals that were so overwhelmed that they had empty halls and rooms that could accommodate producing choreographed videos with dozens of people?
That’s when I realized that the whole “Covid” thing was the triumph of the infantile.
The new Truth Minister is a continuation of that theme.