There is no shortage of Ed Anger on the web, for sure. But nobody takes it seriously and not enough people marvel at the SNAFU of our everyday lives. Despite the attempts of the US and UK governments of the past few years, we haven’t yet succumbed to global Jihad, though disruption of energy supplies, ‘fighting’ two or three unwinnable wars, one conducted on a scale that dwarfed Vietnam and the other against an ‘enemy’ that bankrupted the Soviets, has changed the world balance of power, at least on a financial level.
The planet is definitely in trouble. Science has improved the standards of living and longevity of the fortunate minority whilst wrecking the ecology for a lot more. A growing number of other folk do what they’ve done since humans learned how to hit each other: fight, misappropriate, steal, die of natural and unnatural causes and deplete resources. The difference is that in the past, these horrrors were localised or hidden. Nowadays, we have global access to widespread or narrowcast misery: a child is murdered in Rio, a million Tutsis displaced, a parrot learns to skateboard, a pop star enters rehab or adopts a wide-eyed orphan. There’s too much to think about. It’s all o’ a muddle. The big ideas merge with the trivia, perhaps deliberately so.
‘Moan, moan, moan, that’s all you ever do.’ And you’re right. THUS will attempt to spotlight people and organisations that are trying to propose sensible or even outlandish solutions to problems that nearly all of us admit cannot be allowed to pass uncommented upon. The project will be partly open-source, but mostly moderated and edited. THUS will not attempt to be impartial but neither will it be knowingly influenced by anything other than a sense of describing and discussing what is right and decent, in a spirit of optimism.
I personally despise elites whilst acknowleding that they exist and that all men are not created equal. I honestly can’t believe that people are racist and religiously bigoted, but can understand why they are and empathise with their feelings. I have had a lifelong problem with authority figures, but have been grateful to the police on more than one occasion (and dismayed on a lot more, it has to be said). ‘I don’t know much about history, don’t know much biology, don’t know much about algebra, don’t know what a slide rule is for’ (actually I do, but it’s completely irrelevant in the age of calculators).
But I do know one and one is two, despite the attempts of many in the media, and those who they seek to please, to pretend otherwise. THUS is about outcomes and consequences. And about the way things are and the way things might be. That’s why we’re telling you this.
John Kelly, THUS Media