The Cleansing – 48 – Chapter 26

Posted on by Opher

The Cleansing – (The Sequel to Judgement) eBook : Forsythe, Ron: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

In the aftermath of the march with all its violence and bloodshed, the human President and alien Commander are gloomily discussing if there is anything they could have done. The alien judge points out that the violence was orchestrated by the populist politicians. It had been deliberate.

Chapter 26 – Grim Reality

The mood was gloomy as showers of rain swept the London streets clean of gore. The clean-up crews were out in force, boarding up windows, dousing smoking embers and sweeping up the glass and debris. Burnt out cars were being towed away and the police and stewards were licking their wounds.

Fifty-eight dead – mainly from crushing. It could have been a lot worse.

Ron and Chameakegra were morosely reviewing the aftermath. It was no use pretending that it was not too bad, that it could have been worse. This was every bit as bad as they could have imagined in their worst nightmares – the sight of such hate-filled faces, open mouths and unleashed fury – the blood and death – the hate and pillaging. It could not have been worse.

‘Where do we go from here?’ Ron asked, looking for guidance from the large Giforian Commander.

Chameakegra seemed to have slumped into a swamp of despair, her scutes a dark black. She shook her head. This outburst of violence had undone all the good they had worked so hard on. Just as the infrastructure projects were beginning to bear fruit, the education changes were bedding in and the first batches of abducted were returning with positive outcomes, this had to happen. It was no good looking to throw any blame on Grrndakegra for the heavy-handed ending of the riots; the riots should never have happened in the first place.

Both Ron and Chameakegra were full of recriminations. Could they have stopped it? Should the march have been banned?

Chameakegra racked her brain. Grrndakegra had been adamant – a safety valve. Well that safety valve had failed to prevent a full-blooded explosion. This had gone nuclear and it was out there for all to see. Plain as a supernova, these Hydrans could not be trusted; they were every bit as bad as Beheggakegri made them out to be – crazy, psychotic apes, completely incapable of being fully civilised, not worthy of being admitted into the Federation. Even she had to finally admit that.

The experiment was over.

‘I never even got to speak.’

‘You stupid great fucking lunk!’ Charlene raged. ‘Look at what you’ve fucking done!’

‘It’s not my fault,’ Billy protested irritably. ‘We had to make our voices heard.’ He was adamant.

Charlene was distraught. What if Ron was right? What if they decided that this was the end and decided to wipe everyone off the face of the planet?

What had Billy gone and done?

Judge Booghramakegra stomped through the portal into the atrium on Neff. Commander Chameakegra had been summoned. Ron stood crestfallen to one side. This was it. He could tell from Chameakegra’s sunken crest and ebony black scutes that it was over. This judge was coming to wrap things up. They had failed.

Judge Booghramakegra stood fuming within the great H-craft and haughtily ignored the welcoming committee. Her entire integument was white with anger. Not a word came out. She glared at Commander Chameakegra and Ron, who visibly shrank into himself at the ferocity of her glare, wanting to melt into the wall. A white Giforian with fully raised crest was a terrifying sight for anyone to witness. Ron wanted this fiasco over as quickly as possible but it looked as if they were both going to have to pay. Judge Booghramakegra was here to deliver vengeance in person. Who could blame her? She’d been badly let down. Ron felt distraught as if he was personally to blame. He should never have sanctioned that protest march on the capital.

With barely a glance at anyone the judge strode purposefully past the senior crew gathered there to greet her.

Ron threw Chameakegra a frightened distressed glance before the two of them trailed in her wake.

Judge Booghramakegra knew exactly where she was heading and they had to scurry to keep up. Arriving at Commander Chameakegra’s private quarters she stormed in without waiting to be asked, the portal barely having time to dilate. Chameakegra followed her in and Ron took a deep breath before plunging through the portal. This was it – the final reckoning.

Inside the judge had already ensconced herself at Chameakegra’s mense and was busy concentrating on engaging the comulator. Only when she had linked in the tridee and brought up the files she was after did she finally turn to face the two of them. They stood like naughty schoolchildren in front of the Headteacher waiting for the inevitable.

‘What the drangling hell are you playing at?’ She directed her fire on Chameakegra. The anger in her voice was hot enough to melt lead.

Ron took up a position behind the Giforian Commander. ‘We did our best,’ Chameakegra explained lamely. ‘It appeared to be going well.’ Her multi-coloured scutes clearly displayed her anguish. ‘We thought it was bearing fruit. The infrastructure, the education programme, the rehabilitation. It was all proceeding nicely. We underestimated the depth of Hydran flaws. They are intrinsically violent. It was probably a mistake from the very start. Beheggakegri was right.’

Judge Booghramakegra turned bright green in disgust and outrage. She waggled her crest in impotent frustration.

Ron was just glad that he had the large body of the Giforian Commander between him and the incandescent Judge. His body felt like jelly.

‘I thought you were meant to be a highly competent commander!’

There was nothing that could be said. Ron watched as the ebony colour in Chameakegra’s scutes impossibly deepened. Chameakegra was suffering a unique embarrassment. Everything she had bet her career on had crumbled before her eyes. This was the ultimate humiliation. The Hydrans had proved themselves unworthy. Grrndakegra would shortly be engaged to finish the job. She had let Judge Booghramakegra down. Her career was in ruins. Her reputation impossibly tarnished. She lamely waited for the sword to descend.

Ron watched in horror. In his head he could see the whole scenario playing out. Grrndakegra and her Giforian troops would soon swoop down and that was it. Humanity was doomed. The judgement was over. The brief reprieve had come to a premature end. He had only himself to blame. He should have found a way to deal with Billy Smythe and ban that stupid ‘Freedom March’. He had known it would end in disaster. That was obvious to a fool. All that talk of safety valves was bollocks. He was personally to blame. Judge Booghramakegra was right. He felt embarrassed to be human. They were a disaster of a race.

Judge Booghramakegra was here to deliver the coup de grace. It was over.

The judge cast a withering glare in Ron’s direction before returning her attention to the Giforian Commander. ‘You are an utter fool!’ she snarled. ‘Watch this.’

We stood there like prize idiots as the judge brought up the excruciating images of the terrible rioting. We watched the horrific scenes unfurl with sinking hearts. This was really rubbing it in. Why couldn’t she just make the pronouncement and get it over with? Why put us through this? They both knew the extent of the horror. They’d watched it a hundred times.

‘What do you see?’ she demanded angrily, scutes flaring green. She glared at Ron first.

‘I see the terrible rioting,’ Ron stammered.

Judge Booghramakegra shook her head in despair and turned her vitriolic gaze back to Chameakegra. Ron felt sorry for the chastened Commander. He had let her down. She had gone out on a limb for them, now she was being eviscerated in front of him.

‘I know,’ Chameakegra said firmly, pulling herself into an upright stance with defiant crest and as much decorum as she could muster, her scutes an apologetic yellow. ‘I should have been more objective. I should have realised what their true nature was. I had enough warnings. The flaws run too deep. They are beyond redemption.’

Judge Booghramakegra snorted with deep displeasure and glared. ‘Idiot – look again! Don’t you see what I see?’

They watched again as the horrendous rioting took place. The familiar violent scenes were utterly depressing.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ Chameakegra mumbled, staring at the images above the tridee set. ‘It’s just terrible.’

Judge Booghramakegra expelled a lungful of air. ‘I despair of the two of you. Can’t you see? Are you both utter imbeciles?’

The pair of them studied the images of violence and fury completely at a loss to understand what else they could possibly be expected to see. It was awful. Full stop.

‘You fools,’ Judge Booghramakegra muttered, grim-faced, scutes bright yellow. ‘It is obvious, as plain as can be. Look here.’ She indicated a group of balaclavaed youths hurling rocks at the heads of people in the crush. ‘And here,’ more balaclavaed youths smashing in windows. ‘And here,’ another group of balaclavaed youths attacking a line of police. ‘Now what do you see?’

Chameakegra glanced at Ron. ‘I see Hydrans venting their rage in horrendous acts of violence.’

Judge Booghramakegra turned green with disgust. ‘You are both idiots? Look again.’ She flicked through scene after scene. ‘Now what do you see?’

Chameakegra was as totally befuddled as Ron. ‘I see gratuitous violence.’

‘No,’ Judge Booghramakegra replied with an air of exasperation, ‘what you are seeing is an orchestrated campaign. Those violent thugs, the ones with the similar face masks, have been hired to do the dirty work. You have been set up, taken for fools. Someone has deliberately used that demonstration to create a violent disorder. Someone wants the Hydrans disposed of and wants to bring you down. Isn’t that obvious?’

Chameakegra turned to Ron an expression of realisation lighting up their faces as if the sun had just emerged from behind a cloud.

Immigration and Fascism.

Posted on by Opher

The rise of right-wing fascism is due to mass immigration and muslim extremism.

People find the presence of large numbers of foreigners extremely threatening.

People find the usurping of their endemic customs and ways threatening.

In general I don’t think they mind seeing a few people in ethnic garb. It’s when this becomes a mass and they start taking over areas and displacing the locals. They resent the situation. They do not want to see mosques springing up all over the place. They do not want to see their culture displaced in their own country.

Couple this with terrorism, hate speech and fire-brand extremists spouting about taking over and we have a recipe for disaster. It fuels thugs like Tommy Robinson and right-wing parties.

Populists like Trump and Farage have been quick to jump on this bandwagon and inflame the fears. The extreme right has been painting a vivid picture of immigrants being scroungers, rapists, murderers and criminals. They stir up the fear to create hate.

This results in knee-jerk responses. All across the Western world right-wing politicians are whipping up fear and hate, proposing mass deportations and building walls. It gets them elected.

We don’t need fear and we don’t need hate. We don’t need populist right-wingers creating isolationist policies.

We do need understanding, intelligence, compassion and solutions.

We have to end mass immigration.

We have to end muslim terrorism.

We have to integrate immigrants into our culture. If they want to live in our country they live by our rules. That isn’t to say they have to abandon their own culture and religion but we have to find ways to live together in peace without fear, suspicion and hatred.

To end mass immigration I believe we have to look at the causes of mass immigration (not build walls). The causes are war, political chaos, extreme poverty and climate change.

Until these are addressed we will have mass immigration.

The cause of muslim terrorism is war, poverty and chaos. Muslims perceive that the West is attacking them, their culture and religion.

It is obvious that we cannot take all the millions in need from impoverished countries. We do not have the room or facilities.

In my opinion the problem with the world is that far too much wealth and power is in the hands of a handful of billionaires. We need to help solve the Third World problems so that there isn’t this disparity. We need to stop the wars.

We need to solve climate change.

Mass immigration, in my opinion, is the product of greed. We need a fairer world.

The War on Truth.

Posted on by Opher

Once upon a time we knew where we stood. The mainstream media had a bias (and sometimes made genuine mistakes) but we could read between the lines and had a good idea of what was going on. The money for that army of reporters has dried up. We moaned and griped about the bias of the media but we had a good picture of what was happening. They had highly trained, experienced journalists on the ground investigating and reporting.

Not anymore.

For the past ten years Trump and other populists have been waging a war against experts, science and rational thought. It’s been relentless. They have successfully convinced people that all experts and scientists lie; that they are all in the pockets of either Big Business (Big Pharma) or some shady body they call ‘Deep State’. The only source of ‘truth’ are Trump and the populists.

These populists have one aim – to make money. Nothing else matters. To this end they look after the interests of their paymasters – the billionaires. They want a quick buck out of oil. To hell with global warming or the environment. We can’t allow that to get in the way of making money. Open up the wilderness, remove pollution laws and environmental restrictions. MONEY MONEY MONEY.

They’ve exploited terrorism, Muslim extremism and mass immigration to create fear, hate and division as a vehicle to get them elected.

They use targeted social media to reinforce conspiracy theories and sow the seeds of distrust and fear.

They cunningly exploit the publics own fears and doubts.

Conspiracies are endorsed – Global Warming is somehow a global scam, Covid is a scam, the CIA blew up the towers, we never landed on the moon, the holocaust never happened, all predictions are wrong, scientists can’t be trusted, the election was stolen, Trump’s convictions were all manufactured – a witch hunt. It’s calculated. We are taught to distrust the evidence of our own eyes. Trump’s crowds are bigger than ever before in history. We are living in the age of Orwellian double-think. This time it’s real. We are being orchestrated with a real ‘two minute hate’.

First Musk came out from the shadows to openly embrace the limelight. He used the MAGA movement and is making billions more. He banished fact checking from Twitter. Who needs facts? Under the banner of ‘Free Speech’ you can say what you like, put out lies and blatant propaganda and nobody can question it. The barriers have gone.

Zuckerberg could see which way the wind was blowing and quickly jumped on board.

The rule of law has been bypassed. We are now living in the Wild West where anything goes. It’s a scary place. A handful of billionaires now call all the shots. They manipulate us through their media platforms and, as we’ve seen with Trump, use their money to escape the law. They are effectively above the law.

There is nothing subtle about this. We see with Musk. He has become so brazen that he operates in the open. He seeks a future without any restrictions, where he, and his fellow billionaires, can operate without restriction. Forget workers’ rights, unions, environment or safety regs. This is the Wild West. To this end he is now taking on governments. He doesn’t like any government that has a left tinge. He wants the world governed by right-wing greed. They have their sights on the Labour government, NATO and the UN – anything that might interfere with unrestricted gluttony. Everyone is running scared because they can see the immense power these people have. They control the media. They control minds. They control elections. That power is very real and Musk knows it.

The truth is now what they say it is.

Trump, Musk and Zuckerberg have declared war on facts and truth. The pushback must start now

This is the new world.

The billionaires call all the shots.

The only question really is how far will they go?

How much money does one man need? When is enough enough?

(PS – despite the romantic representation of the Wild West in the films, it was a fearful, ugly, brutal time of death, prostitution, fear and violence. Laws were brought in for a good reason!)

The Grave Dangers of Conspiracy.

Posted on by Opher

One Man’s View:

Over the course of time I have been one of the biggest critics of the establishment. We live in a system created by the rich for the benefit of the rich. They run the show. I am in no doubt that they control the politicians either directly or indirectly. They own the media and manipulate. They are even more manipulative through the internet using algorithms to target people. With lobbying and torrents of propaganda, control of the money markets and bribes they direct operations.

We live in their world.

I have no doubt that they affect markets for their own benefit and even control wars. Anything for a profit. This cabal of billionaires and multimillionaires have the power.

I have railed against this all my life but cannot see a way around it. It is no coincidence that our politicians walk straight into lucrative roles in business or the media. They have been bought off.

It is also why we can never manage to elect a government that really has the interests of ordinary people at heart. The propaganda machine prevents it. The money markets would ensure that it would not work.

However, and this is a big however, we must not forget that we (particularly in Europe and the USA) live in a highly organised, complex, civilised society. It is ordered, structured and has a basis in law and order (even if that law and order is heavily skewed in favour of the rich. We cannot underestimate the luxury of a regulated life. We are (relatively) safe and have orderly lives.

Having travelled the world and witnessed first-hand real poverty, deprivation, starvation, lawlessness and discrimination I would not wish to swap.

So, our society is warped. The rich get richer and the poor get by. Everyone knows their place. It used to be a class structure – now it is more an income gulf. The wealthy give just enough to prevent the poor rebelling. We are controlled.

In the USA they dangle the American Dream – an impossible dream but it keeps the ignorant on board.

We are told we are privileged because we are westerners. We could be living in extreme poverty like much of the world. We are meant to feel superior. Patriotism and nationalism are key tools.

Following the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and the rest, following the rise of Muslim extremism, terrorism and climate change, all leading to mass migrations, there was a mass disillusionment with the system. People felt threatened.

Then we had the internet and social media to spread disinformation and magnify it through their algorithms.

Then came the wave of right-wing popularists – Trump, Johnson, Modi, Bolsonaro, Meloni, Le Penne, Oban and the Whole MAGA movement. They offered black and white solutions, promised to drain the swamp, represent the people, make everything right.

They had a simple series of tactics:

a. Harness discontent

b. Spread fear

c. Undermine experts and science

d. Provide simplistic solutions.

e. Identify scapegoats

It was easy. The war in Ukraine, Covid and the collapse of the money markets had caused prices to rise, energy prices soared, then global warming provided the need to ditch old technologies and develop new technologies (putting people out of work and costing money to change). People were poor, angry and felt threatened. So…

a. Undermine all experts and scientists (they always get it wrong and are in the pay of big business)

b. Declare that all these issues are scams thought up by the controlling elite (Covid is a scam, Global Warming is a scam – they were used to control us). Make an issue out of it – no masks, no vaccination, return of coal, steel, gas and oil – they are lying to us!

c. Spread conspiracy theories via internet so that nobody can believe a single word that comes out of the media or politicians, even history is fabricated (paved the way for Holocaust deniers, flat-earthers, CIA blowing up twin towers, Covid conspirators, Sandy Hook, moon landings and the rest). Sow doubt and confusion. Become the only source of information. All reporting of their own lying and criminal actions is Fake News. The establishment is trying to bring them down!

d. Identify scapegoats – first we had the Muslim terrorists and then the immigrants. They are all terrorists, rapists, murderers, religious extremists, criminals and drug dealers who are raping your women, beating up your men, eating your pets and looking to take over. Immigration is a plot to get votes and take control.

e. Drum up hate with simple slogans (a la Orwell) – lock her up, build a wall, and unify your base.

f. Provide simplistic answers – build a wall, drill drill drill, Putin’s a friend, disband education, enemy within, the opposition are lying, are criminal, are evil – drain the swamp.

To get back to my point:

Once you have completely undermined the tenets of society so that people are confused, conspiracy rules, they no longer know what to believe or who to trust, all they know is that the establishment is corrupt and evil, we have anarchy.

Some people look forward to anarchy. I don’t. Anarchy is when law and order breaks down. That is when the nutcases with the gig guns take over the streets. It’s lawlessness. We see it in places like Libya, Somalia, Haiti and many other countries broken by war, where the establishment was overthrown giving rise to warlords and extreme religious groups. Rape, murder and criminality become the order. Violence rules. It is impossible to lead any normal life.

When the fabric of society crumbles what emerges is not something better; it’s something frightening.

Back before all this, prior to social media, prior to Trump, I knew where I stood. The government was controlled by the establishment. Politicians were corrupt. The rich ran the show. We were shat on but it wasn’t too bad. We could moan but could get by.

Now I fear that we are on the edge of collapse. The basic tenets of our society are coming apart, the social cohesion is dissolving. Conspiracy rules. Profiteering populists are sowing the seeds for their own benefit and they do not care what happens.

If society does crumble it is not going to be at all pleasant and I do not believe we will build something better the other side of it.

Who prospers from this?

Populist Fascists harness fear of Immigrants!

Posted on by Opher

Straight out of the Fascist playbook. Trump, Johnson, Yaxley, Farage and all the other populists have been playing up this crisis for their own advantage. As if there are any easy solutions.

People are being driven out of their homeland by war, persecution, drought, famine, starvation, poverty and climate change.

What should they do? Starve and die?

No. But the fascists want to build walls, drown them, sent them back to be tortured or starve. They portray them as rapists, Jihadists, murderers, drug runners and thugs. They tell us that they are taking our jobs, building mosques, refusing to integrate and threatening to take over. They tell us that they are terrorists.

Well, I say, process them, lock up any rapists, murderers, drug-runners, terrorists and Jihadists, kick out those Jihadists spreading hate and division and integrate the rest who really want to be here. Ensure there are British values. Check out the Sharia courts and those brainwashing schools – integrate! Ban burqas.

If people want to live here then they accept our values.

And while we’re at it we can shut down all those British Pubs in Spain and make sure our ex-pats integrate into the countries they have chosen to live in!

Germany has taken in many immigrants and then they have that East German racist fascism to contend with.

I can No Longer Sing

Posted on by Opher

I can No Longer Sing

I can no longer sing.

                The clouds fill my dreams

                                With wet clammy fingers.

I can no longer play.

                The darkness fills my days

                                With inky swirling pools.

I can no longer vote.

                The deceit poisons my wells

                                With tendrils of greed.

In these clammy, dark days

                We have to hang on to our dreams

                                Before the deceit of others

                                                Poisons our life-giving wells.

Opher – 27.11.2022

There are days when you look at the world around you and despair. The political landscape is populated with fascist, populists who are busy drumming up hate and division while shunting shedloads of cash into off-shore accounts.

The people see moronic and despite all the obvious, blatant self-serving behaviour continue to support these conmen and conwomen.

You lose your faith in human beings.

Trump, Johnson, Oban, Bolsonaro, Modi, Netanyahu, Meloni, Farage, Erdogan, Putin, Xi and a host of others. Why do we humans become attracted to these  blatant narcissists and psychopaths, intent on grasping power and robbing us?

Poetry – Cynical Leadership

Posted on by Opher

Cynical Leadership

Inciting, infiltrating and spinning

Deviously

To prey upon the gullible.

Threatening, posturing and jeering

Arrogantly

To enrage the peaceable.

Cajoling, lying and frightening

Blatantly

To scare the fallible.

Any tactic will do

To gain their power.

Illegal, immoral or insane

Turning the future sour.

Opher – 31.8.2020

I was thinking of Trump, Johnson, Cummings and Bolsonaro when I wrote this. I was thinking about the way they manipulate people with simplistic slogans; the way they drum up fear; the way they incite division and tribalism.

We’ve had the obnoxious reign of Trump and we’ve got the disaster of Brexit that will hit us in January 2021. All conjured up with blatant lies and duplicitous statements.

Spin, fake news, conspiracy and outright untruths.

That’s politics.

It stinks.

Populists looking for scapegoats – Pepa the pig looking for a trough. Brrrrm Brrrrm.

Posted on by Opher

When things are bad, you’re slumping in the polls, you’ve just made a terribly embarrassing speech, blunders over care, tax rises and things couldn’t get worse – a populist looks for some foreigner to blame. What better distraction? Blame the French!! Pick a fight! Copy Trump and TWEET!!

The Actions of a Tiny Extreme Minority – Martin Rowson

Posted on by Opher

Who seem intent on wrecking the place and causing chaos – and it’s not Extinction Rebellion!!