The Influencers

And hopefully I'm back in the blogging game. It's not that I haven't been thinking.  I have all sorts of post ideas buzzing around.  It's just the habit/confidence to get them down.

Anyhow.  One thing I have been considering a lot is the concept of influence.  I have still been posting regularly on Instagram and on that, to be an 'influencer' is this whole career idea.  There are many people paid (or wanting to be paid) for posting pictures of clothes, travel, beauty and homewares on their social media and blogs.  They want the #freeshit (as one particularly grasping Instagrammer puts it).  They say they're 'real'.  And of course they all start 'real' because they start small.  But as they get more followers (influence), more opportunities present themselves.  So it all becomes less and less real.  Their chats about family, work and life in general are in themselves influenced by their new positions.  They are regularly photographed in cheaper brands they would now never wear in their own time or they post 'paid for' (not #freeshit) outfits which are way beyond the budget of most.  (£1500 Loewe handbag, anyone?) They moan about being busy but in actual interviews it transpires that they can now afford PAs and nannies.  It's the way of the world.  It's a new social media world but it's old world social climbing.  Personally, I have come to the conclusion that it isn't healthy for the rest of us to be constantly looking at what we 'ought' to have/dress like/look like.  Therein lies dissatisfaction (to say nothing of the credit card bill).

But the term 'influencer' is very interesting in these weird and worrying times.  'Influence' is claimed to be responsible for election results, Brexit, teen angst, male suicide rates, you name it.  Of course, influencing people is nothing new.  It runs the spectrum from basic advertising, through PR and social media to propaganda.  Electioneering.  Canvassing.  Manipulating.  Prompting.  Guiding.  Pressuring.  

Except it's not the same as before.  Because the influence is 24/7.  In our pockets or handbags, on our watches.  As we work, 'appropriate' ads pop up on our laptops.  And the lines are increasingly blurred.  Is that Instagram post an ad or isn't it?  Is that tweet real news or not?  And there are often global implications turning on one tweet or one post.

I recently read Travellers in the Third Reich.  An account of visiting foreigners' experiences in Germany prior to the Second World War.  It is fascinating and disturbing in equal measure.  The Nazis excelled at sowing doubt in people's minds.  In influencing.  'Fake news' at the top of its game.

And recent tweets by Donald Trump really got me thinking about the fascism parallels again.  He was ranting about 'bias' by Google.  He and other ultra right wingers claim that Google's search engines prioritise 'left-wing' material.  (Click here to see an article about this.)

What Trump did with this series of tweets was to water the massive seeds of doubt already carried by his main support.  But also to chip away at the minds of others unfortunately.  Not many people seem to know how these big tech companies really work but millions of us get our information from them.  Alongside Trump's attacks on the traditional media, he is now telling people that they cannot trust their main online sources of information.  Massive influence.  Immediate impact.  Fascism has previously been established with 40% support. His true believers will not check the sources he claims to use for his 'facts'.  But more importantly, the middle ground of undecideds will start to question their use of Google. 

So it's time we started to make better use of OUR influence.  Unfollow social media people who don't make you feel good or whose motives you questions is a small way to do this.  Without us, they are nothing after all.  But more importantly, start questioning the news.  Use fact checkers.  Read a broad base of media.  And check out The Perils of Perception: Why We're Wrong about Nearly Everything by Bobby Duffy.  You will be shocked.  And that's a true fact.

Happy Holidays

Not blogged for a few weeks (apologies to my regular reader!).  Been trying to write a satire based on Brexit but since the situation daily becomes more farcical ‘in real life’, this has proved to be rather difficult (as I write, I think we are up to £57 billion for the ‘privilege’ of leaving).  I also wrote a ‘tall tale’ for my writing group - about Melania Trump being a robot.  Only to find, two days later, that it was not so tall - the press were speculating on her use of a body double.  What the hell is happening to the world?!!

Anyway…  just over twenty years ago, I was working for an American investment bank.  My first Christmas there, I received a package from the partner in charge of our department.  As did everyone else.  The label said ‘Happy Holidays’.  I remember commenting on it to my boss.  She and the partner were both American and she explained that he was Jewish and that in the US, this was the more inclusive way to wish people ‘Merry Christmas’.  

[I also remember being told to take down a small picture of Chandler from Friends from the wall of my cubicle.  She said if I was allowed to have that, it would encourage men to have scantily clad women on their walls.  Still not sure what I think about this.  The feminist me agrees.  The me which had to live with the awful things she said and did to me thinks ‘you always were a mad cow’.  Sorry.]

But in the last week, Trump has begun to make a big deal out of not using ‘Happy Holidays’.  He claims to be be restoring Christmas.  It was apparently a campaign pledge - a defiance of politically correct language.

And I think, in essence, this action sums up what we are dealing with in the White House.  It is petty in the extreme.  It immediately announces a complete lack of inclusivity for anyone who does not celebrate the proscribed Christian festival.  And it is designed to appeal to the section of the electorate who gave him the presidency.  Trump believes that as long as he keeps his core supporters happy, he can disregard the opinions of everyone else.

In the UK, we haven't adopted ‘Happy Holidays’ in the twenty years since it first puzzled me.  But maybe we should.  Maybe we should all be tweeting it to @realDonaldTrump  It is not a new phrase.  It is a well-established part of US inclusivity.  And it may seem like a little thing but as I have discussed before, the Nazis started with the little things and look where that led...

It Could Happen

Did you see Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC1 last week?  Fans of the series have been waiting for this last episode for a while but it was worth it.  Unbelievably moving.  Very stark.  None of the happy chat with relations before or after the search.  But it was perfectly pitched in this respect.  Ruby Wax has suffered from mental health issues for twenty years and her search was very much to look for answers about the parental behaviour which she knows damaged her.

Ruby had never been told anything about her parents' history or their families.  She admitted during the programme that only her continuing medication was at that point keeping her calm about what she was finding out.  If you haven't seen the programme, please do click on the link above.  I don't want to spoil it by saying much more except to say that there are both Holocaust and mental health links.

And on a connected note, last week my daughter came home from school in quite a state.  They had been reading The Boy In Striped Pyjamas in English at school and her teacher had decided to show them a film about Auschwitz.  My girl was terribly affected by it and said she had cried in the lesson.  She is only eleven.

If you have read this blog before, you will know that I try to link history to current events and trends.  I am very much in favour of learning the lessons of history, of not turning away from difficult subjects, of fighting back against inequality and so on.  However, the tearful questions which arose from my daughter's experience last week really tested me.  Let me give you a taster:

1)  'The really skinny people were smiling in the film.'

'Well, I think those people were probably being filmed by the American and British liberators.  It sounds like survivor photos.'

'But why didn't we do anything sooner?  Did they know?  How could they not help?'

Can open, worms everywhere.

2)  'Why do I need to know this, to see this stuff?'

I'm sorry you got such a shock and I don't agree it was the right time to show you a film, but it is important that everyone knows about what happened.  It mustn't ever happen again.

'But this wouldn't ever happen again!'

We don't know that.  That's why we should stand up for what we believe in, for what's right.

'Is this to do with Donald Trump? Could he do this?'

What the hell do you say to this, other than try to be comforting whilst worrying about Trump, Putin and the rest.

And so on and so forth.

I do not agree with how this teacher has handled the subject matter and I have told the school so.  However, in some ways I was glad to see the connections being made.  I wrote the other week about not just looking forward in our own lives and the Holocaust is probably the most horrendous example in history of something which should never be forgotten.  The Nazis manipulated public thoughts and feelings in ways which should provide a terrible lesson to us all.  If they could achieve such control using relatively primitive methods of propaganda, what could  - are - those in power doing today?  With all the modern communication methods available to them?

The world is becoming a nastier place for all sorts of people and all sorts of reasons.  And the gaps between the haves and have nots are becoming larger.  A world like that is not why we fought the Nazis.  It will soon be Remembrance Sunday.  Remember those who fought and died but also the reasons why.

Share, share, share

So what to write about in the face of seemingly endless new political crises?  And endless awards ceremonies too.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good look at the frocks for the Oscars but the build-up to that seems to be longer every year.  As do the arguments over the bias/winners/losers/participants.

Cinema is something I love.  One of the few things to survive parenthood too.  Initially, the cinema seemed a dreadful luxury - paying a sitter to go and see a film cost more than the actual tickets.  But then one of my pre-natal buddies and I struck a deal.  Take out membership of the local independent cinema (it serves alcohol - what's not to love).  Make a pact to go whenever possible.  All George Clooney and Brad Pitt films would be seen, regardless of reviews - this condition has since been amended to include Jamie Dornan and Ryan Gosling.

Once the children were old enough to go to the cinema, it was (eventually) bliss.  There were a few false starts ('Oh no! Dark, Mummy!  Really dark!').  But mainly, film has been something to share with both of them.  New films to look forward to.  Details to pick over afterwards.  (Although I have been known to nap during some of the more obscure Disney epics.)

And don't we all need things to bond over?  Whether it be a viral video from YouTube, a set of jokes, a book or a shared meal, film or outing.  I do always wonder what it must have been like in, say, Regency times.  when news travelled so slowly and books were not easy to come by.  I always love the Back In Time programmes which explore ordinary life in different ages.  I have posted about them before, in fact.

However, in these darkening times, commonalities are more important than ever.  The more people who see, for example, the US Saturday Night Live sketches of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, the better.  Ridicule is a powerful weapon.  On Twitter, Right wing commentators are saying that such satire is simply being performed because 'the liberals' are angry at having lost the election.

But here's a thought.  Maybe if more people had laughed at Hitler's posturing, poked fun at Mussolini, been able to share videos of the ridiculous rallies with added comedic commentaries, possibly their vile messages would have been diffused.  If not diffused then at least had a light shone upon them sooner.

[And by the way, with reference to my post last week, I have just rematched another episode of The Nazis: A Warning From History.  It talked about Hitler's refusal to deal with paperwork, his lack of concentration or interest in policy and his indolent approach to government...]

A Warning From History

I am starting to rewatch a series which I first saw a while ago.  Called The Nazis: A Warning from History, it is an excellent, if horrifying survey of the roots of Nazism and its terrible consequences.  It was first shown twenty years ago.  I don't think it is any coincidence that it is back on BBC iPlayer but I am grateful it is, however it got there.  Frankly, it should be required viewing for all adults on the planet.  Do watch it if you can.  (It used to be available on DVD too, if you cannot access iPlayer.)

There have been many mentions of Hitler and Nazism in relation to what is happening in America and Europe at the moment.  And obviously, the exact conditions which led to the rise of the Nazi party were unique and could not be repeated action for action.  But the polarisation of politics is being repeated.    Just ask the French.  Scapegoats are once again being found - immigrants, immigrants and more immigrants.  Appeasement is hovering around.  Holding  hands with Trump, Theresa May.  Really???  Bad for our country and appalling for feminism.  And our judiciaries and democratic institutions are under attack - don't get me started on examples for this.

This blog is often about lessons to be learnt from our history.  Fifty four million people died as a result of the Second World War.  Scariest lesson ever, surely.  What about the following, if you need more:

• The Nazis, in their early days, promised to strip the Jews of their German citizenships and possibly expel them from the country.  Ringing any bells with 'it is not a ban'? 
• Their slogan included 'Germany First' and 'Germany Awake!'  
• Hitler Youth members talk, during the programme, of 'World Jewry' which wanted to 'rule the world'.  The message pumped at ordinary Germans was that it was morally okay to remove the Jews from public life because they were not innocent of any wrong doing.  They were part of a worldwide conspiracy.  Anyone thinking about the terror claims of the Trump government?

I have felt bizarrely proud to see the continuing protests at what is going on.  I can't help worrying though that things are going to have to escalate a whole lot more before any real changes can come about.  The quote below refers to America but is just as true when it comes to Brexit or to the ambitions of someone like Marine Le Pen.

Keep up the pressure.  Protest as much as possible in as many ways as possible.

A Life like Melania

After a weekend of more turmoil caused by Donald Trump' administration, I wondered if I should find something else to write about today.  I actually have an idea for a different post.  But I strongly feel that in the current world political situation, numbers of voices are everything.  We must stand up and be counted or watch our nations slide back to the Thirties.  If we get bored with talking about it all, we will fall into a lethargy which will perpetuate Trump's regime and allow Europe to slide too.

So here is a voice, a thought.  Yesterday I saw a photo of a protester in New York.  Her sign said 'Without immigration, Trump would have no wives'.  Strictly speaking, he would have had Marla Maples and one child but you get the point.

Nothing has really been said about the fact that the new First Lady is an immigrant though, has it?  Not nasty stuff in the mainstream media.  (That I can find anyway. ) And this, it seems to me, is because in a civilised multi-cultural society, we don't comment on such things.  A person's background does not define them.  My children have acquaintances with parents from various countries.  Some of these children themselves were not born in the UK.  My husband and I both have immigrants in our family histories.   No Western country is 'pure bred' despite the Nazis' best efforts.

Melania Trump only became a permanent US resident in 2001.  Probably less time than a lot of the people currently fearing for their residencies simply because of their religion.  She is the first foreign-born First Lady since 1825.  But in normal circumstances, who cares?  She went to the US to make a home and a new life.  Without commenting on who she chose to make that life with (!), we can definitely say that she was entitled to do so.  But so are others, regardless of religion or colour or sex.  Those things shape us and contribute to our identities but should never be a factor in where we can go, who we can see or what we can do with our lives. 

As I said last week, we need momentum now.  Keep protesting, keeping sharing the petitions and the latest news, keep fighting back.  Our ancestors knew right from wrong and they fought the Nazis.  It is a short step from banning people and curtailing their rights to imprisonment or worse.  It has happened before and must not happen again.