US democracy drags on. But decorum is dead

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

Hubris. Melodrama. Scheming and screaming. Refusal to accept one's errors. Refusal to accept defeat.

Kamala Harris or Donald Trump: Which one is the greater threat to democracy? (Photos from X and Instagram.)

No, I'm not referring to South American football teams — although, all the above do apply to them. I'm referring to US presidential elections; those of recent vintage at least.

Fat chance

Watching the Democrats and Republicans battle it out is akin to two schoolyard bullies facing off. 'Yo momma's so fat' sort of stuff. OK, you're right, that might be a bit unfair to the inventiveness of some of those fat-momma quips.

It can make for compelling viewing for sure. Yet, it doesn't inspire confidence that the world's most powerful country has competent leadership.

The June debate between the now-retired candidate, President Joe Biden, and the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, was unedifying. Hey, a real axis of evil — China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — may be threatening the West but how well would their leaders do facing into a par five in inclement conditions? It's pointless having a good shot on the battlefield if you can't shoot your way around a golf course, you know?

At least Biden can focus more on his golf game — or simply just try to focus — now that he's no longer in the race to prolong his stay in the White House. Trump, though, will — or should, anyway — be spending less time on the tee and more time on the campaign trail.

'Whatever Harris decides to discuss, her big problem is that she's not an orator.'

His fiery rhetoric is, um, par for the course. He had promised a toned-down, more unifying style in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt on him. Trump saying this is one thing. Delivering it, quite another. A slightly milder speech than normal at the Republican National Convention aside, his tone remains more bellicose than benign.

Calm-ala Harris?

In such an atmosphere, adopting a less hostile approach when trying to win over those crucial swing voters makes more sense, one would think. It remains to be seen if Trump's new opponent, the presumptive Democratic Party candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, goes for such a strategy i.e. focusing on policies and plans rather than ad hominem attacks. The early signs are that she'll play the man more so than the ball.

One area where she might offer something different to both Biden and Trump is in the god talk, as in having less of it. At times I wonder what's the point in having these elections if it's all in the hands of the Almighty. Many of the USA's political heavyweights reference their Christian god more than the average Islamic fundamentalist mentions Allah.

This isn't necessarily a problem, particularly if it is accompanied by concrete proposals. However, the god talk rings hollow in the toxic political climate of today's USA.

Nonetheless, Harris is going to be on safer ground talking about gun control rather than god control. Jesus is still a big vote-winner in American politics.

Whatever she does decide to discuss, her big problem is that she's not a talented orator. Well, she's not an orator full stop. (Or period, as our US friends say.)

A dying democracy

Thus, the Harris handlers will most likely advise her to stick to the well-tried but not altogether trusted line that 'Trump is a threat to our democracy'. Keep it simple, stupid.

A fresher, smarter approach would pay greater dividends, but that's probably beyond Harris's ken. Or maybe she'll show us in the coming weeks some political acumen that has heretofore remained hidden. It has been a crazy election cycle after all.

Yet, the constant over these last few years has been the vitriolic nature of US politics. This isn't going to change anytime soon.

Some argue about just how democratic the USA is, but it's certainly no dictatorship. Its version of democracy is still alive. What is dead, or dying in any case, is decorum in political discourse.

And with the death of decorum, decline or dictatorship is not far behind. Or both.
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Apartments of pain, cafés (and panaderías) of creativity

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

For the second time this year, I find myself in the privileged position of looking after a fancy Bogotá apartment for a few weeks while its occupants are on holidays.

Work from home? No way! Work from a café is where it's at.

To give some idea of the apartment's opulence and, more tellingly, an indication of the scale of Colombia's inequality, the monthly rent here is roughly the same as the country's annual minimum salary. Its location in a high-stratum neighbourhood plays an important part in this inflated rent. Let's just say it's a bit beyond my means and that of most Colombians.

Home is where the backpack is

So in contrast to Garth Brooks, who felt the need to tell the world through song that he's got friends in low places, I'm letting it be known here that I've got friends in fairly high places. OK, I have written about my acquaintances in Bogotá's low places yet because I also usually reside in such barrios populares, I don't need to make as much of a song and dance about it as Mr Brooks has. My riff-raff credentials require little verification.

Now, a mixture of uncertainty about my future in the Colombian capital and the need to keep costs down as I go through — what's that it's called these days? — ah yes, an economically inactive period has meant that I haven't looked for anything close to permanent accommodation.

Through invites and a room deal reached with a friend who owed me money, Bogotá has been my main base without my having to find a new place since I returned to Colombia in February this year after a three-month visit to Ireland. I have been, quite literally, living out of my backpack.

Yet, once this apartment-sitting stint is done, I face that perennial headache: finding somewhere suitable to live.

The room with the friend who owed me money is an option but it's far from ideal. This is because, for one, the room is tiny. I also don't want to apartment-share anymore.

'In the place where I sleep, cook and clean, I find it hard to do other tasks that require concentration. It's why I've never liked the work-from-home concept.'

For sure, finding my own place in Bogotá isn't, ostensibly, that complicated. The problem is my aforementioned uncertainty about my being here coupled with the higher costs of solo living. Fully or even half-furnished apartments are hard to find. Taking an unfurnished one and making it liveable would only make sense if I were certain that I'd be in Bogotá for at least another year.

So this brings us back to renting a room in shared accommodation. What I hate the most about such arrangements are kitchen clashes. I want the kitchen to be unoccupied and clean when I need to use it. Living with others means this is far from a given. Sharing with those who like to booze at home is another risk.

Café concentration

My dislike of house-shares aside, I'm not one who enjoys spending a lot of time inside my residence anyway. I get cabin fever if I don't get out regularly. This is irrespective of where I am.

For example, my current temporary accommodation is close to ideal for me — the biggest snag is that the area is a bit too tame for my liking — yet I couldn't stay in it all day. (I just like that feeling of returning to the apartment and knowing that I have it all to myself.)

OK, there's nothing strange in wanting to get out and about. Yet, my issue is that in the place where I sleep, cook and clean I find it hard to do other tasks that require a bit of concentration, some deep thought. It's why I've never liked the work-from-home concept.

While I may be devoid of paid work right now, writing this blog still requires a bit of concentration. Honestly, it does. And even when it comes to reading, I find that I can focus better on text when I'm out as opposed to sitting at home.

That out place isn't just any random spot either. Cafés, coffee shops and, more commonly in a Colombian context, panaderías are my concentration hotspots. I find libraries a little too staid — unless I need a lot of silence — while the commercial air of shopping centres, or malls if you prefer, is off-putting; it's a bit too much.

There's something about cafés and their equivalents that hit the Goldilocks zone.

Creative commons

I'm not alone in feeling this. There's actually a term for it, the coffee shop effect, where many of us are seen to be more creative and have greater concentration in such places rather than working from home or in an office. For a more detailed background on that, see the BBC article Why you’re more creative in coffee shops.

In brief summation, it has to do with the mild background noise and constantly changing environment — in terms of people coming and going — of coffee shops that act as stimuli for creativity. The sameness of being at home or in an office can impinge upon our creativity and ability to focus. It certainly seems to be the case for me anyway.

So while the apartment I'm currently and temporarily looking after has pretty much everything I need, it simply can't replicate the coffee shop/panadería effect.

Thankfully, though, panaderías are ten-a-peso in Bogotá. What I consider satisfactory accommodation is far scarcer, particularly when one is on a tight-ish budget.

Thus, the panadería pondering is unlikely to cease just yet. The answers to one's problems may not be found at the bottom of a beer bottle but perhaps solutions may be forthcoming with a cup of coffee in a public setting.
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Shunning la Selección Colombia

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

Sports fans — as in those who faithfully support a team — and a balanced, unbiased stance rarely play well together.

Many of la Selección Colombia's supporters are insufferable. (Image from Facebook.)

'My team, good. The team we're playing against, bad.' That's generally how it goes. Facts get discarded or are at least explained away by some intricate, yet utterly ludicrous, verbal gymnastics.

Departing from the faithful

It is fanaticism after all. Displaying doubt or accepting criticism means one is not a true believer. Once one takes that leap of faith, the only way to stay suspended is to fully buy into the creed.

Of course, sport deals predominantly in the physical and the here and now, unlike religious faith, which is very much metaphysical and independent of time, until Judgement Day, that is.

What's more, facts, stats, and delivering something tangible and understandable in the moment play significant roles in sport.

Thus, being a 'see no evil, hear no evil' blind sports fanatic is more difficult to justify. Or at least it should be.

Many, though, enter into what I consider to be Faustian-esque fanaticism, particularly with football, or soccer if you prefer. It certainly has evil elements to it.

Insufferable Selección support

Now, while the uncritical mass support for the Colombian men's national football team, la Selección (or la Sele for short) as it's affectionately called, rarely results in acts of violence against non-believers, it does get rather nauseating all the same.

Rather than being something to be admired, it often comes across as immature. The media not only fans the flames of this football fawning but also engages in it itself.

OK, I've never been a, um, fan of the contrived impartiality some other national media outlets try to implement but refusing to see any faults or shortcomings in one's own team is a worse trait.

Such behaviour ensures many la Selección fanatics are both bad losers and bad winners. There's no sense of perspective.

For sure, this isn't exclusive to Colombia. I've unfortunately been in the presence of some Argentineans when their football team is playing and they're arguably more insufferable. And many of my fellow country folk can be the same, just not usually with soccer.

'I can more readily get behind Bogotá's Millonarios football club because I know not everyone in the vicinity will be backing my side.'

The thing with Colombia and most other South American countries is the intensity of fanaticism. I'd wager that about 95 per cent of Colombians enthusiastically support the national team and of that number, perhaps three out of every five are insufferable fanatics.

In the likes of Ireland, a range of sports vie for the nation's undivided attention, so there tends to be fewer insufferable fanatics of any one pursuit. In addition, in Ireland, cynicism and indifference are commonplace, particularly amongst the older generations.

Blind indifference

Thus, Colombia's all-behind-la-Selección approach is a little too much for me. OK, when the team advances in a competition the giddy excitement is understandable, but even in rather meaningless friendly games the enthusiasm is usually excessive. It's why I find it hard to support them.

Well, also at play is that I'm usually uncomfortable when I find myself siding with the majority. For example, I can more readily get behind Bogotá's Millonarios football club because I know not everyone in the vicinity will be backing my side.

It must also be noted that I can often be more critical of those who I want to see do well than those for whom I care little.

Plus, as I age, I question myself more as to why I waste my energy and time supporting individuals or teams who don't know or care about me, something I touched on in Making the bell toll for us while we still can.

The default mode for many foreigners who make Colombia their home is to mimic the masses and go all in for la Sele. I, too, have played that game. It's one of the quickest ways to win the favour of the locals, ephemeral and shallow as that will most likely be.

These days, however, I'm more comfortable declaring my indifference. This stance is made easier seeing how some of my more respected Colombian acquaintances are also quite indifferent to the team's fortunes.

Bet on Colombia

Now, I shouldn't need to refute here the idea that my indifference to la Selección means I dislike Colombia in general. Some more immature, myopic types will, however, draw that conclusion.

In Loving Colombia, Seventh heaven: Seven benefits of living in Colombia, and many other posts I've given various reasons why I like Colombia. My more than 12 years being based here also shows that I have much time for this country.

Also, I'm not completely immune to all the hype and carnival atmosphere that surrounds a Colombian football match, particularly the kind that comes when the team plays well and progresses in tournaments, as it is at Copa América 2024 as I write these lines. (And no, I'm not trying to jinx them.) One would have to live in solitude in some isolated outpost not to feel the fervour

It's just that I can't get that emotionally involved in the games without a blood connection or something to that effect. And nowadays I'm less inclined to feign fanaticism just to get along. I do, though, still like to watch the games in a public setting. Doing so with less intense, more learned Colombian supporters is a help. Such types do exist.

One way I could force myself to be a more enthusiastic fan is by betting money on the team. Become a fool and a fan in the one go, so to put it.

Although, I think it's best to stick to my intelligent indifference for now.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

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