Tuesday 11 February 2020

armchair quarterback

Though it is sometimes difficult to confront one’s own shortcomings and gladiatorial instincts that we hope to dress-up as and therefore translate to political engagement, there’s a danger in political hobbyism and its self-curatorial overreach that compels one to share and to share passionately with expertise and insight but then fails many of us when it comes to follow-through.
The social media, network news takedown that Hidden Brain accompanies us on is harsh but fair and we ought to aspire to dislodge this trend that dilutes political engagement (surely by design) into something akin to collecting crafts, recipes and destinations, the allotment thereof cultivating our own image. Those efforts are important too and real labour but also proves taxing and leaves many of us too exhausted to act on our platforms. We find ourselves tantalized with the apex of politics to the neglect of the nadir—those issues that we can impact (also obfuscated and shoved off as dull or irrelevant by those who would wield power rather than be spectators) and multiply the impact of our individual votes and restores democracy by dint of participation.