Let’s say you lived in a small farming village ~2K years ago. There’s maybe about 200-300 people in the local area. You grow up there. You never leave. To the point you get sick of watching that ugly looking tree on one of your village’s dirt roads as it grows old over 50 years. It haunts your dreams for decades. You imagine the wildlife that are forever on that tree are going to break down your door. At any time. They’re there to rob you of your firewood.

And after 50 years as you become an old person, you’ve just had it. You no longer give a shit. You just want to stop looking at that horrible tree. You want to cut it down in the dark of night. Because it’s not on your property. A bird flies by and promises you that in fact, in true fact, you’re making the right decision. If you cut down the tree, the bird will give you a free jug of swill. Honest.

But eventually, as much as you really, really want to?

You don’t do it.

After all, after 50 years? Whatever. You’ve got grandchildren to protect. So essentially you just do nothing. Whether it’s wise or not. And on your deathbed the tree comically laughs at you, knowing it will be alive for several more centuries while you become bones and dust.

The village is basically just left alone to do its thing. 97% of people born there never leave, not even for one day. And it’s a relatively peaceful village (aside from the basic crimes of all awfulness that humanity has done to each other since sand was created). As long as the large, but still somewhat reasonable taxes are paid to the local lord the village is left alone.

Then, every once in a while, the lord works a levy on the local young men for [insert any stupid and pointless war here]. But it’s okay. Because the lord is only asking for like twelve guys. And surely, there are enough stupid young guys who seek adventure and glory instead of a calm, happy life. So it’s all good.

The town doesn’t really have a mayor, or a town council, or anything. People just generally govern themselves and work out disputes with their neighbors. Despite what movies will tell you, almost all neighbor disputes in human history were resolved without violence.

Then, after centuries of this construct, one of two things happens. The third option (3) is the status quo, which is awesome and generally works pretty well. Then these things can happen (I have to leave the complicated details out of my scenarios, or we’d be here all day; please bear with me):

1) Normal guy in village (they all know him from birth) gains absolute power over the entire village. Everyone knew he was a little weird as a kid, but just generally a guy, he was just there. They were wrong. When he takes power, he orders the throats of all his supposed enemies slit. He rules with total authority for life. When he dies, maybe his son becomes the new “mayor”. But more than likely the village devolves into a village gang fight (aka village civil war) as people slaughter each other to claim power.

2) Some average guy with good intentions (he thinks so; but maybe he’s wrong) gains power. He establishes a town council and a series of local agents and appoints them to be the voice of the various parts of the village to him. He’s not the best, but when he needs to, he makes decisions and for the most part governs wisely. Most people don’t really like him because he’s aloof, and after so many decades in power, he’s become quite haughty. But everyone goes along with it because he does things that help the village. Even when he makes mistakes, they’re mostly still behind him. The village appreciates the stability.

These two can happen. Or, as mentioned above, the third option is the status quo. But, … what if this happens:

(4) A person is made mayor for any reason. But they don’t have the skills or confidence to do it. Instead of making decisive decisions, or getting out there and talking with people, or constructing a village organization? The person does very minor things, some of which might help, but are just a rounding error. After decades in power the “mayor” dies. The village is pretty much exactly the same. It’s as if this person never existed.

Why did I do this post? How did I not stop typing earlier?

I do get carried away here. There is no doubt. If you want to see total stream of thought nonsense? See my last Iran post.

I got carried away with this particular post. [shrugs] But basically my point is what one of my best bosses once taught me (it’s a short list). The worst thing you can decide to do: Is Nothing.

I read the BBC every day for general information. At least it’s not behind a paywall. It’s more clickbait than a normal human brain can absorb, but I don’t click on that. I think I wrote about the BBC and clickbait on this degenerate blog like a decade ago. But a lot of the BBC quite obviously focuses on Britain. As they should since they take the License Fee. The British taxpayer has to deal with this, whether they like it or not.

But it can devolve into things which are just strange or utterly pointless. Iran has been their number one topic for a month. And as such, internal British politics and the actions of the Prime Minister regarding this war are reported. License Fee.

It means nothing. Starmer and the BBC are the little boys and girls, hand in air, begging for attention. The Royal Navy sent one destroyer to do nothing. A small amount of fighters have shot down a handful of drones. I think Ukraine shoots down ten times more drones in only one night.

But there’s Starmer, and the BBC, hand in air. Pretending to be a crucial part of a world conflict that they aren’t part of. And plus, Starmer has reputedly said is not a British war.

I got no problem with Starmer and the general scope of the British elite to not want to be a part of this. I get it. They might be mostly right. But then there’s the hand in the air: LOOK AT ME!!!

Starmer and the UK are my (4) above. They’re just there. It’s kind of pathetic. This was the British Empire. Yet as is well known, the NHS is a problematic, absolute medical disaster at home. The Empire is over. Maybe instead of focusing on Iran, in any way, is less of a priority than making sure people can get medical attention at a rate that is reasonable?

They won’t. Starmer and the UK are the (4) above. [shrugs] Become the (1) or (2) above. Or, acknowledge that you’re a failure and irrelevant. It’s a shame. France leads Europe now. The British are just there. I hope for much better, I love the country, but if you look at the litany of about two decades of Prime Ministers? I think they will be (4) forever.

The worst thing you can do in life is to be pathetic. I should know, it’s been a significant portion of my life. In the end, make a decision. Any decision. Even if you’re wrong, at least you’re doing something.

If I could put this in nautical terms, imagine this situation:

You are driving your sailboat and you’re (somehow) about to collide with a speedboat. You have five seconds to decide what to do. But based on the visual information available to your eyes at that exact moment, you don’t know what to do because you don’t have enough data or time to evaluate your options. So in those few seconds, you have to choose your immediate turn: Port or Starboard? You don’t know if you’ll be right or wrong. You have five seconds. But making no decision at all means you’ll collide.

We all have to make decisions. So we are not pathetic. Apathy is a curse. I don’t know what Britain is anymore.

In general, despite the beyond comprehension complexity, please let the killing stop somehow.

…

Damn, this post is like 17 longer than I intended. Uh, …, so, … Love Your Neighbor