Anna Starcke comments on Facebook: "Having read your Star articles dear Denis, I say it's a crying shame that u don't do this regularly anymore. Not only do u do it superbly well, but with the exception of the occasional Daily Maverick piece, nobody does it at all. And - now comes heresy for u - I do think such articles about real people struggling in the Now are more valuable than endless navelgazing about utopia. And that they have to be repeated. Often. And - more heresy - I can't applaud your leaving Sci-Bono before the debate. Okay I'm selfish. But u know I write this with love, hein? :-)"
Anna dear Anna, sense is on your side. So is desire. I love writing Real People. It's always gripping, usually fun, mainly heartening. On despondent days I can go somewhere that Real People live Real Lives, and come home with a six-week immuno-boost against news and analysis. Often (thank you) I do find a valuable story of bright-eyed lovely people struggling touchingly against the ills that inadequate politics causes.
Just that... I've spent a life amid the ills that inadequate politics causes. Too many stomachs are empty, too many walls are high, too many tempers are taut, too few souls are whole. In my perspective we are in a pit that our political system has no potential to lift us from. Whereas political science's self-evident next step – upgrading the rule of the people from a pretence to a reality – makes the lifting a doddle.
I must choose. To navelgaze about utopia means boring you, depressing myself and aggrieving my wife [who reckons your comment is genius] in the long-shot cause of bypassing the era of inadequate politics. I'd live easier and eat better (and be considered saner) by thanking inadequate politics for giving me touching struggles to write about. Do I understand this to be the swap that you recommend?
Schone danke kakhulu, dear Anna, for being honest and straight and outright and bold and Annalike.
Real People come first
Now you've almost made me cry, dear Denis. Actually you never bore me, what I too harshly called the navelgazing included. It's just that the latter reaches a relatively small audience, whereas the Real People articles reach a mass audience & importantly reach it regularly. And, especially, as I said before, nobody does it like you & THIS writing is totally accessible to anybody who can read. I really want both, but if it's a matter of having to choose, I believe [damn it - how do you manage to have paras in your copy, as above?] that Real People is more urgently important to have out there than an endless continuation about utopia. You have enough on that subject out there already. Biglove, Anna.
No Game, no Utopia, but terrific Echo
Yoy, Anna, if a popularity contest was held around my household you’d smash all records. Especially for the line “you have enough [endless continuation of utopia] out there already”. I’m the only one who wouldn’t cheer, and even I don’t disagree (much. “Utopia” is a bit pejorative.)
The main thing is “enough”, where you are entirely right. There is enough. Anyone dissecting the endless continuation that already exists would say “yep, clearly the way to go” and would start adding and subtracting and veering and generating a body of thought.
Which hasn’t happened. People get jammed by Step 2, if not 1. (“Utopia, tsk.”) Which is why I have to keep developing, refining, clarifying, simplifying, until there’s enough stimulus for people to get open-mindedly into the enough content.
It ain’t no game for me, hey. I have had enough of living among beautiful people scarred by inadequate politics.
It ain’t no Utopia either: just one notch up on where we are, a notch that as soon as it gets recognised will be branded overdue.
I get paras in Facebook by writing in Word and pasting the post. Thanks again, Anna. Forgive me if I endlessly continue to restate that Echo is Invaluable.
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