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So guys, the British elections. I don't know if any of you are odd and/or bored enough to have watched the returns come in, but I was. And it turned out to be a pretty great use of my Friday night. I don't know much of anything about British politics, and I think all I knew about this election was 1) it happened to be going on and 2) apparently the Doctor, in at least two of his incarnations, supports Labour.
Important part being, I had no idea that all the candidates have to stand up on a little stage in front of their constituency while the vote count is read out. I'm used to there being crazy candidates on ballots, but I never get to put faces with the names and the parties. Then the coverage switched to Gordon Brown's victory speech (most relevant at about the 1-minute mark), where in the background you can see one of the Elite Beat Agents (actually from the "Land is Power" party) and an actual Scottish Highlander (kilt and tie. I didn't think that combination ever existed). And behind David Cameron was a fine gentleman from the Monster Raving Loony Party, among others whose pictures I can't find (one of whom appeared to be dressed like Jesus, and was holding a sign). And I got to thinking, man, how much more interesting would our elections be if we could do this? Sure, it'd take a while for us to cement a proper tradition of electoral irreverence (and I don't think we'd ever involve Marmite in things), but elections would be much more entertaining, in a properly surreal way, rather than the horrific reality TV way. I'm generally jealous of people with parliamentary governments because they seem to erupt into fisticuffs and/or japery far more often, but this is just unfair. Darn our whole "Being America Is Serious Business"...ness.
And then one of my friends linked this bit by Nick Clegg today, about his literary hero. Taking the whole electoral surreality thing to another level, his hero? Samuel Beckett. He says, and I quote: "The unsettling idea, most explicit in Godot, that life is habit – that it is all just a series of motions devoid of meaning – never gets any easier. [...] If the traditions and meanings we hold so dear turn out to be false, what do we do then?" Could a politician, much less a leader of a party (pretending we had an even remotely viable third-party option), ever say this here? Ever? I mean... One: Pretentious French literature? Two: A reasonably thoughtful interpretation of pretentious literature? Three: Existentialism right before an election! I could just see the news reports here. "Elitist MP reads French and has existential crisis, says traditions are false. Is he fit to govern?! More at eleven, but first: here is a cat eating spaghetti."
Brb, guys, moving to the UK.
Important part being, I had no idea that all the candidates have to stand up on a little stage in front of their constituency while the vote count is read out. I'm used to there being crazy candidates on ballots, but I never get to put faces with the names and the parties. Then the coverage switched to Gordon Brown's victory speech (most relevant at about the 1-minute mark), where in the background you can see one of the Elite Beat Agents (actually from the "Land is Power" party) and an actual Scottish Highlander (kilt and tie. I didn't think that combination ever existed). And behind David Cameron was a fine gentleman from the Monster Raving Loony Party, among others whose pictures I can't find (one of whom appeared to be dressed like Jesus, and was holding a sign). And I got to thinking, man, how much more interesting would our elections be if we could do this? Sure, it'd take a while for us to cement a proper tradition of electoral irreverence (and I don't think we'd ever involve Marmite in things), but elections would be much more entertaining, in a properly surreal way, rather than the horrific reality TV way. I'm generally jealous of people with parliamentary governments because they seem to erupt into fisticuffs and/or japery far more often, but this is just unfair. Darn our whole "Being America Is Serious Business"...ness.
And then one of my friends linked this bit by Nick Clegg today, about his literary hero. Taking the whole electoral surreality thing to another level, his hero? Samuel Beckett. He says, and I quote: "The unsettling idea, most explicit in Godot, that life is habit – that it is all just a series of motions devoid of meaning – never gets any easier. [...] If the traditions and meanings we hold so dear turn out to be false, what do we do then?" Could a politician, much less a leader of a party (pretending we had an even remotely viable third-party option), ever say this here? Ever? I mean... One: Pretentious French literature? Two: A reasonably thoughtful interpretation of pretentious literature? Three: Existentialism right before an election! I could just see the news reports here. "Elitist MP reads French and has existential crisis, says traditions are false. Is he fit to govern?! More at eleven, but first: here is a cat eating spaghetti."
Brb, guys, moving to the UK.
