THE BIG PICTURE?

Most of my adult life I've not had any interest in 'politicians' mainly because my father once expressed his contempt for the whole bunch of 'em and pointed out why, through his experiences in business, and probably also because he would have had to pay super tax anytime it looked like he might get ahead of the game.

However because Dad had fought in the war, he had an even lower opinion of the military (and once said he'd disown me if I ever decided to take that route!)

So its with some trepidation that I approach these topics but my interests in history have always made me aware of that old saw that "those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes".

On second thoughts perhaps that should be the title of this piece.

Okay, many years ago I began to notice certain parallels between past events/circumstances and the (then current) time.

My first clue was the sudden preponderance of very expensive playthings like personal jets, supercars, yachts and so forth. If these were being built then obviously it was to cater to an affluent minority and that begged the question, who?

Who on earth has millions to spend on such toys and how the hell did they manage to accumulate such wealth?

Back in the 20's between the two world wars and before the stock market crash that gave the Nazis their excuse to gain power in previously democratic Germany, a similar state of affairs existed hence the like of Duesenberg and similar luxury high end cars and personal aircraft such as the Lockheed Electra plus the usual flotilla of megayachts for the likes of Thomas Lipton but there were a plethora of similar luxury goods available to the fortunate few.

At the time I said to my somewhat sceptical wife, "mark my words there will be consequences from this sudden reappearance of toys for the super rich" and I pointed to the conditions extant in the Roaring Twenties.

At this juncture I began to look for and pay closer attention to possible clues that history might repeat itself.

Other small hints began to appear such as an article in The New York Times that I thought was rather extreme Right for what I thought had always represented a reasonably balanced flavour. (No, I cannot recall the topic, author or date)

I pointed this out to my wife who has always been a staunch Democrat and she remarked "oh so and so has always been a Republican" so I thought no more of it and didn't regard the newspaper with suspicion that the article might be a harbinger of things to come.

My wife then went on to tell me just how many examples there were of Republican attempts to subvert democracy and though I at first believed she was exaggerating their malfeasance, then I remembered the Nixon presidency and started to take more of an interest in political shenanigans and the subtle subversion of the fourth estate by the same bunch.

I was into personal computers long before the IBM clones began to appear and I used a Timex Sinclair 2068 to become involved with the BBS (Bulletin Board System) network which, by the way, may yet be our salvation, but on second thoughts probably not. That aside - the BBS - arose because of what comes next.

In my opinion the Internet is the root of the problem. What was originally seen as an unmitigated blessing has become a curse and, if you want a parallel, not dissimilar from what happened to CB radio. Most people don't remember CB (Citizens Band) radios but they were originally useful to truckers and long distance drivers who appreciated warnings about speed traps or advice on which truck stops had the best services.

All too soon the CB became the haunt of what we now call 'trolls' mainly kids who thought it was great fun to misinform or insult anyone else using the system. They ruined what had been a really useful service, so much so that CB is now virtually extinct.

Even primitive peer to peer telephone line connections such as the BBS network eventually had to deal with 'trolls' and indeed I got my first computer virus from a file I downloaded via my BBS.

So my main theme is, if you've followed this convoluted thread so far, that various parallels inevitably led me to see that the conditions that were extant in the 20's and 30's have their modern equivalents and therefore, I'm sorry to say, the inevitable corollary evident in the world today that leads me to the gloomy conclusion that rampant fascism may very well lead to another World War with nuclear weapons being used with dire consequences except perhaps for the faint hope that nuclear winter may offset global warming.