THE election of Donald Trump has heralded a new era of American politics.
Never before has a less “politicised” candidate been voted into the White House.
His election is a timely reminder of the language and lifestyles that pave the way for power and success in this world, driven by an economic rationalist worldview, and is reflective of the culture of fear that now permeates our social malaise.
The fact that a man such as Trump could be elected with no political or military experience to an office of such global strategic importance sends a strong message to the political establishment about the representative relevance they now hold.
I discussed the result of the election with my Year 10 English class.
While most of the students expressed concern and distrust at the prospect of President Trump, a number spoke of how they admired him for "saying it like it is” and “speaking his mind”.
This quality is much admired, especially among those who feel left out: the poor, the powerless, the marginalised.
It is not enough for those of us on the political left to merely dismiss this as white supremacist nonsense or right-wing conservative antagonism toward political correctness.
This is now the dangerous reality where tolerance and speaking out against systemic injustice is labelled “left wing” and overt racism and misogyny is being brought back out of the shunned cultural backwater where it belongs and into the mainstream.
The election of Donald Trump heralds a shift in the political spectrum, where money and chauvinism is confused with strength by those who feel disenfranchised by the political system and who feel as though their voices are never heard by the wealthy powerbrokers.
God bless America – God help America.
Holly Wright
Wagga
Tragedy of dating sites
LITTLE chance of “dating sites” disappearing from the internet any time soon, I suppose.
Treating other people as random, anonymous, disposable sex-commodities is a big industry. But isn’t it intrinsically unsustainable?
Think of poor Warriena Wright. Dead in her twenties. A life seemingly wasted. It’s too sad.
Arnold Jago
Nichols Point
Lacking credibility
I believe that it is a misconception for the greyhound industry to laud Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson as a saviour of their industry who has made a great personal sacrifice by crossing the floor and voting against the greyhound ban.
She could have crossed the floor a dozen times and it would have made no difference because the government still had the numbers to carry the legislation.
Her token act of bravado has apparently endeared her to the greyhound industry. And as for her losing her job as parliamentary secretary, maybe she just wasn’t up to the task.
So how genuine is Katrina Hodgkinson? As the old saying goes: “you can fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”.
Therefore, my advice to anyone who is gullible enough to still believe that councils have her full support against the forced mergers, should immediately book an appointment with a psychiatrist.
Geoff Field, Gundagai
