Recent Posts
Admin
Nov
6
The Douglas Adams Effect
November 6, 2008 |
Obama-Biden won. Personally it is more of a relief than excitement. Amongst all the post-election press, I notice a strong theme revolving around how
- America has shown the rest of the world the strength of its democracy
- America has done what no other Western democracy has done
- real equality has been achieved in race relations because every kid can now dream of being President and find a living example.
Hyperbole, I say.
America certainly has come of age. This is certainly a defining moment. But folks let us not get carried away. The real threat to race relations and equality of opportunity that Americans so desire and define their dreams by, is not from the far right wing of the political spectrum, rather from the complacency of the center. It will be very easy for us to take this one event and peanut-butter it over the enter debate.
Humans like to feel good. That is just the way we are wired. To prove my point, I present an excerpt from “The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy“ related to the character Rob McKeena (who is the rain god but doesn’t know it!).
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a cult classic. Douglas Adams authored his “trilogy” in “four” parts based on his radio show in the ’70s. It really cracked me up when I first read it decades ago. The movie that came out a few years ago didn’t do a smidgen of justice to this monumental work in spoof science fiction. In any case, that’s besides the point… Douglas Adams provides insights into the human condition in his own inimitable way that makes us stand up and take notice.
Rob McKeena had two hundred and thirty-one different types of rain entered in his little book, and he didn’t like any of them.
He shifted down another gear and the lorry heaved its revs up. It grumbled in a comfortable sort of way about all the Danish thermostatic radiator controls it was carrying.
Since he had left Denmark the previous afternoon, he had been through types 33 (light pricking drizzle which made the roads slippery), 39 ( heavy spotting), 47 to 51 (vertical light drizzle through to sharply slanting light to moderate drizzle freshening), 87 and 88 (two finely distinguished varieties of vertical torrential downpour), 100 (post-downpour squalling, cold), all the seastorm types between 192 and 213 at once, 123, 124, 126, 127 (mild and intermediate cold gusting, regular and syncopated cab-drumming), 11 (breezy droplets), and now his least favourite of all, 17.
Rain type 17 was a dirty blatter battering against his windscreen so hard that it didn’t make much odds whether he had his wipers on or off.
He tested this theory by turning them off briefly, but as it turned out the visibility did get quite a lot worse. It just failed to get better again when he turned them back on.
In fact one of the wiper blades began to flap off.
Swish swish swish flop swish flop swish swish flop swish flop swish flop flop flop scrape.
He pounded his steering wheel, kicked the floor, thumped his cassette player till it suddenly started playing Barry Manilow, thumped it again till it stopped, and swore and swore and swore and swore and swore.
It was at the very moment that his fury was peaking that there loomed swimmingly in his headlights, hardly visible through the blatter, a figure by the roadside.
A poor bedraggled figure, strangely attired, wetter than an otter in a washing machine, and hitching.
“Poor miserable sod,” thought Rob McKeena to himself, realizing that here was somebody with a better right to feel hard done by than himself, “must be chilled to the bone. Stupid to be out hitching on a filthy night like this. All you get is cold, wet, and lorries driving through puddles at you.”
He shook his head grimly, heaved another sigh, gave the wheel a turn and hit a large sheet of water square on.
“See what I mean?” he thought to himself as he ploughed swiftly through it. “You get some right bastards on the road.”
Splattered in his rear mirror a couple of seconds later was the reflection of the hitch-hiker, drenched by the roadside.
For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night.
There is a real danger that we also feel good about feeling bad (Electing Obama to the Presidency, legal equality created after civil rights and the associated affirmative action programs) about feeling good (about slavery and segregation) and be satisfied and drive into the night.
-Jai
2008 Presidential Election, Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Politics, Race, Race Relations
[...] The Douglas Adams Effect Obama-Biden won. Personally it is more of a relief than excitement. Amongst all the post-election press, I notice a strong theme revolving around - how America has shown the rest of the world the strength of its democracy, how America has done what not modern western democracy has done, how real equality has [...] [...]
i voted for roland the rat.
- bee
Hey Jai,
I beg to differ with you. This attitude is too pessimistic in my opinion. There is a time to rejoice and a time to be sober and for me this is a time to rejoice. Just because grave challenges lie ahead of us we should restrain our excitement. I feel there is great pleasure in taking steps in the right direction, as well as in arriving at your final destination. We allow ourselves to be depressed by constant reminders about this poorly performing economy, then why should we not allow ourselves a few moments of joy over a remarkable triumph? Why not some momentary exaggeration of our accomplishments thus far? It’s like celebrating your birthday - for a moment you give caution to the wind and believe that life has been and is going to be perfect! In my opinions, such celebrations rejuvenate us to move forward with new resolutions for the next year.
I saw some of my students and African-American friends work very hard for the Obama campaign. I feel they want to hear these triumphant and overemotional messages before they are pulled back into reality again, to work hard towards another noble goal.
Please, keep challenging us with your thoughts!
Sorry, skipped a word - “Just because grave challenges lie ahead of us we should NOT restrain our excitement.”
Thats a very nice read and i agree that Obama has made a histroy and Americans has opted for a big change lets wait for the best.
Obama is a real charmer and i read few books of him he knows to impress and speak what he wants..
Jai i agree with u ,then i disagree and then i agree on my disagreement and finally i disagree on my agreeing!Did u got it?No?Well forget it coz even i didn’t get it…he he he…sorry just a sick joke!
Regarding Obama,i felt good,i don’t know how well he wud handle Economy crisis,India-Us Deals,Iran and Iraq issues,but there is surely some positive vibes flowing around him and all that we could do is hope for the best!
So will other western countries follow our example ? When was the last time any of them elected a person of color to the highest office in their land? I am jubilant that America has taken a step into the future
I tend to think that one should not vote for color. But rather vote on the candidate. Other countries have elected minorities (women in particular) decades before the US. So US has a bit of catching up to do, albeit this is a great step. -Jai
interesting post! I agree that some of the talk is as though this is the end of all race problems! i think that there is no problem with being proud to have a black man elected president of USA but to kid ourselves that this means life will suddenly be better for all those who are not anglo-american is naive. It is a long road, a long struggle. But I hope this is a good sign!
Hmmmm… Jai and Sonia - Its a matter of weather the glass is half-full or half-empty! We need both voices to keep the balance…
I dont know if its just me, but an overdose of American Politics is like Vogon Poetry …
Jai - Obama was my choice by default as his opponent was no choice at all. Considered casting a “green” vote, the party of my registration, for an intelligent, courageous candidate, Cynthia McKinney…but didn’t this time.
Your cautions against almost “drunken” elation are well founded. Believe it or not, Bill and I are even MORE cynical (ie. suspicious) than you seem here, which I won’t elaborate on here.
In 1963, within five months of arrivng in the States after my family returned here from a decade in Pakistan, John F. Kennedy - another US president the world admired - was shot. Followed in the next few years by Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy’s shooting deaths. Enough horror to crush the hopes out of a young, idealistic believer in American “democracy.” That was a long time ago.
Suffice it to say I chose not to listen to any of the TV and radio hoopla during this Presidential campaign. Or to read about it in the press. I am deeply tired of being emotionally manipulated - with hope OR fear - or being pitted against others simply because we each fit into “different social, racial, religious, economic, etc. categories.”
Tending to a critically ill family member, as I have been this year, puts everything into proper perspective. It’s our individual intimate relationships that have the most value…and where we have an opportunity to truly live up to our ideals.