I was born there in the early 1980's (336), in what is in some ways 🇧🇪 its heart even. Might've been 🇲🇲 Burma or 🇨🇱 Chile, or 🇸🇸 South Sudan, say. 🫤 Or 🇦🇫 Afghanistan — and such a different life it would have been. I had no say in it! and have been checking my privilege as much as I could ever since as soon as I could.
Quite a believer in the idea of Europe, I recently was at Europe Day with two friends. Learned and saw some cool and interesting things (quite notably for me the interpreters' booths and jobs), took some pictures too – like this one, clumsily GIMP'd for clarity:
A brazen flaunting of the silly 2050 long-term strategy towards, yes, 🙌 climate neutrality. Was this written in genuine ignorance? Willingly tone-deaf? Cynically deceptive? Depressing in any case, but in any case ait, it's a binding obligation! 🥳 so yeah, we're really gonna make this work. Yes we can! and oh how obligatedly bound we will. (The dull sound of dozens upon dozens of pats on backs only drowned out by that of all the clinking glasses. 🥂 Because really, only rarely are we blessed with such a beautiful obligation. And so binding, too.)
If you couldn't tell, I was somewhat rather stumped to read those words – what even does “climate neutrality” mean? – but words work, I suppose. “Wir schaffen das” worked for Angela after all. But this pathetic flurry frenzy of words words words, all the words all over the place? I suppose Greta would say “bla bla bla”, or something to that effect, and oh so rightly so.
Tom, 31/8/23