Not Beyond Thunderdome

 

We aren't beyond it, are we?  Not that the show put on at the White House was comparable to that in the film, and it certainly wasn't comparable to the shows on which all such contests are based--those of the ancient arena, much as we may imagine them to be.  Nor was the man presiding over the affair comparable to a Roman Emperor, much as he want may to be one. Perhaps he resembles Tiberius in his dotage, though, in some respects.

I've always been a fan of boxing. The violence seen in mixed martial arts cage fights doesn't necessarily disgust me.  Its lack of artistry annoys me, however, as does the preposterous display which accompanies it.  It's not quite as silly a display as we see in professional wrestling, but a cage?  Really?

Holding such a spectacle at the White House is offensive for a number of reasons, but it is most of all spectacularly vulger.  There's no other way to describe it.  It's crass and tasteless in the same sense as the Oval Office, now, stuffed as it is with golden gewgaws.  Vulgarity typifies this regime.  Even its versions of the American Eagle adorning the lecterns it uses seem bloated, and resembles in the tilt if its head a dodo.  The arch it plans as well as its much desired ballroom are gargantuan, in the manner of the monuments of Nero or Hitler's plans for Germania.  One can only hope that the visit to Versailles doesn't inspire more in the way of crass imitation.

Does vulgarity explain everything?  It requires ignorance, and someone who doesn't read or want to read is ignorant by choice and nature.  Sophistication is clearly lacking, which is unsurprising as sophistication requires knowledge of other people and cultures.  Simply put, such people don't want to know such things.  The narcissist is a solipsist.  A sophisticated person wouldn't be so blatantly vulgar.

The vulgar lack any concern for consequences.  Their goal is immediate gratification.  Planning isn't a strong point.  There seems to have been little long term planning involved in either the war with Iran or even the proposed, or perhaps supposed, peace.

There's once sense in which Aging Orange or whatever one is to call the strange creature inhabiting an increasingly tasteless White House plans ahead, however.  And that is in causing harm to those he believed wronged or slighted him. It may be more appropriate, though, to say that given an opportunity he will take advantage of it.

Which brings us back to Thunderdome.  It's no surprise that this White House played host to such an event.  We're in a dystopia of our own courtesy of the grotesque players of the grotesque game which is the government of our Great Republic.