Reflections 30th October

Photo by Seema Miah on Unsplash

On my Mind

The illusion of helplessness

I feel a sense of calm this weekend. The embarrassment of our politics here has, for now at least, settled down as the reality settles in that whatever party might be in power, it is the Bond markets that will determine policy for the next several years.

The calm feels like the one we get when receiving a speeding fine - we can't do anything about it other than pay up and learn to be more attentive. Getting angry, or feeling unfairly treated is a waste of energy. We have allowed this to happen to us; a sin of omission rather than commission maybe, but there it is. We should take our democracy, and our responsibility for it more seriously.

As the noise has receded, I've been thinking about agency, and in particular the issue of "learned helplessness" - the way in which, when we continuously face a negative, uncontrollable situation and we stop trying to change our circumstances, even when we have the ability to do so. T…