On this Electoralgeddon evening, I think, to my own surprise, of an exchange I had here during the Brexit referendum.
I was transfixed here by the arguments during Brexit, the distress of the Remain camp, the snapping back by the Europeans. When the results came out, there was despondency on Quora, and a lot of Remain voters saying a lot about how angry they were.
Shane Dhury was one. I’m going to quote from memory, but he was saying stuff like the North of England was dead to him now.
And all of a sudden, some Australian busybody from out of nowhere starts pestering him in comments, saying that wasn’t the responsible thing to say as a citizen, and one’s fellow citizens must have their grievances heard if things are not to come to this, and how it is nobler to rebuild than to curse, and blah blah blah.
To Shane’s credit, rightly fucked off though he was at some Australian busybody’s unsolicited platitudes, he conceded grudgingly that the busybody was right, and yes, Shane did in fact have some ideas about how to rebuild from here.
But couldn’t I fucking allow him ONE NIGHT of wallowing in his sorrow?
And of course, I could, and I apologised.
Electoralgeddon evening has somehow hit me worse than Brexit. This probably tells you a lot about how Australia has reoriented itself since the days of Empire.
I have good American friends here, and I have American acquaintances whose voices I cherish. They will be distressed in the days and months and years ahead.
Electoralgeddon evening has somehow hit me worse than Brexit, so I know now that I really should have left Shane alone that night.
I stand by what I said. But tonight, I’m not volunteering my opinion to Americans, of how they should rebuild, and reunify their country. I’m in fact hiding this post in a blog, with only one American follower, who’s too polite to tell me to fuck off. 🙂
Tonight instead, I’m apologising to Shane, again.
