“Vox Populi, Vox Dei”. The Voice Of The People is The Voice of God?
That voice now almost always emerges as a feral snarl, a mindless angry roar, a vicious expression of hate — and in the ballot box, the single-finger salute to the world.
The Romans coined that piece of Latin wisdom, and wisdom it may have been at the time, and even, possibly truth of a kind, but those who continue to have faith in the voice of the people are a danger to themselves and everyone else.
What really worries me is that that voice now almost always emerges as a feral snarl, a mindless angry roar, a vicious expression of hate — and in the ballot box, the single-finger salute to the world. The “vox populi” is now so often the voice of open rebellion, of disaffection. Votes are cast against, not for. Democracy is now a tool for the mass expression of deep negativity, anger and even rage. This ought to worry all of us who care about the future. Not just the future of democracy — the future in general. Of course, not all protest is poisonous. Peaceful protesting is alive, but it seems, as a matter of obvious cultural norm, that in these manner-less times, the louder the voices, the greater the impact. If you shout, you are heard. If you observe silent protest, you are not.
And it is going to get worse, not better, because ambitious politicians (ambitious for themselves, not for anything else much) have realised that the route to power is now so visibly signposted: no point in appealing to the heads of the electorate. Go for their guts. Looking at the upcoming General Election in the USA, it looks like a straight fight between Trump and Harris, with Biden dancing attendance. Both Trump and Harris are gut-fighters, and they will knock themselves out in their appeals to voters, to see who can use the best of populist negatives to land the heaviest punches on the other side. Harris, with some mild assistance from Biden, will throw “Disaster, incompetence, stupidity, volatility” and a lot more. Trump will squeal, “Black, Hispanic, woman, Californian, Not American, Sleepy Joe,” and so on. Pence will say nothing much. The two attack-dogs will strive to out-do each other in the hurling of insults because they know that this is the way to, or back to, The White House.
While I am on the subject of the voice of the people, I find that I can no longer watch much news on TV or listen to radio. The producers of news programmes everywhere have decided that at least half of the time must be devoted to recording the opinions of the man, woman or child in the street or back-yard in what are known in those trades as “vox pops”. When I do, rarely, want to watch or listen to TV or radio news, I want to hear the known facts or even the tentatively expressed but educated professional opinions of presenters who are paid chokingly massive salaries to do that. I do not want to know what Jo Blow or Doris Morris thinks. Their views are usually couched in terms which border on the inane, inevitably banal and expressed in barely articulate language.
If the producers feel that some outside opinion is called for, and they interview an articulate expert on a given subject, that’s different and relevant. The voice of a (frequently random) member of the populace is not. I would rather have the relatively articulate talking head of the presenter than have to listen to those who really have no business in front of cameras or microphones. Elitist? Of course. Snob? That’s me. Do I suffer fools gladly? No.
But populist politicians take comfort from the vox pops, knowing that the populace’s voices they will hear are representative of the constituency they woo.
And now to the latest news. Donald Trump was not born in the USA. His parents were on a trip to the land of his fathers, family name Trumpfl, and in the German town of Unterschmeklenhausen, Donald was born. The happy parents did not even consider registering the birth with the nearest American Consulate and a week or so later, flew back to New York with Der Kleine Donald. Then, they registered his birth. He should never have been allowed to stand for the presidency. Also breaking: VP Pence was actually born in Austria under similar circumstances. Real name Pentz. So, if it was OK for those two to be pres and vice-pres, then it certainly OK for Kumala Harris, who, of course, was born on the back of the moon.
