DUMB INSOLENCE #24

 DUMB INSOLENCE #24

Karl Marx is often cited as the originator of the maxim , "Historical events repeat themselves,first as tragedy,then as farce".Sure,whatever.

It's a full week since the US presidential elections and the stench of invective and calumny emanating from its proceedings and outcome still linger in the very air itself.

It was only the broadcast of BBC Radio 4's "The Long View" the other day that shed some historical perspective on what we mistakenly view as an immediate and present political imbroglio,as if it is only contemporary forces and political actors that have contrived such an impossibly dire situation unique to our time.

"The Long View", exhumes events from the sub strata of history that exhibit more than just superficial resemblances to our own tribulations.And their canter thro' the events of the US Presidential contest of 1800 AD,Adams v.Jefferson was revelatory.

Slander and defamation have been the default ,go to,tools of popular political discourse and elections have been challenged as stolen or allegedly so since time immemorial.

History is neither moral nor immoral and whether the various political actors are deemed to have behaved one way or t'other,frankly History doesn't give a damn my dear.