Michael Henrik Wynns skrivedagbok

[Michaelhe]

At the top

Conditions are rough for those at the top of society, there are gale force winds, and media storms. Politicians therefore develop thicker skin. In addition, there is a considerable draft caused by flatulence.

Endret 22. mars av Michaelhe

[Michaelhe]

The enduring legacy of Charles Chestnut (1858-1938)

“In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp
The hunted Negro lay;
He saw the fire of the midnight camp,
And heard at times a horse's tramp
And a bloodhound's distant bay.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There once lived a terrific African American short story writer called Charles Chestnut (1858-1938). In a very vivid way, he managed to describe the absurdity of racism. He was a handsome man, who could walk down a street and pass for a white person, but due to the society in which he lived, he lived in utter fear of having a few black ancestors revealed, as this might result in shunning, the KKK and no work for him as a writer. And these themes you will find in his stories.
Megan Markle is gorgeous woman of African American ancestry, who is -like Chestnut- fair skinned, and she is also a successful actress. However, at the moment when she spoke about this same issue, her approach was different. She was not afraid of being exposed, and then hunted down like the slave in the dismal swamp, she is afraid of losing her connection to a culture to which she always thought she belonged. And this is something noone else can take away from her. But she is not alone. Some symbols are so powerful they have universal appeal. Some of the people I grew up with - in a culture that is predominantly white - walked around in hooded sweaters and identified with black rappers, and their racial and even family claims (unlike Markle’s) were nil. Like the rappers they felt like urban outcasts. And black culture is immensely powerful because through the oratory of MLK, Mandela and Obama etc negro spirituals rise from those past cottons fields - the most powerful musical expression in history. And then the world falls silent. But if you are a white obese and balding man in Manchester, no such sounds will echo your sentiments. Then the options are vulgar skinheads and hooligans.
In South Africa, the center of power shifted after apartheid. Even if whites still are economically strong, the culture created by Mandela looms over society. In his shadow, poor whites face some of the issues I have mentioned. And I was very pleased to discover that some writers like Marlene Van Nierkirk, are in fact able to address some of those issues with humor and irony. This little text is not about Chestnut or Markle, but how society has shifted, and in some ways progressed. Chestnut has shown us how “race” is an irrational fear imposed on us. According to “the human genome project” it does not even exist. The environmental conditions that created these variations in skin color are overlapping, and predate modern culture by millennia. Race is culture, that is, race is James Brown.

Note: Even if Markle was not afraid of becoming a slave in a dismal swamp at the moment she spoke, this is in fact what the tabloids made her, which just goes to show what hold culture has upon our minds.

(This may seem controversial, but it is not. What I am saying is that racism is an irrational fear of non-existent biological mechanisms, and that it is imposed by society.)

[Michaelhe]

"Good Morning"
Honking horns and squabbling seagulls
kill my slumber,
the glare of bathroom lights,
cold water and a toothbrush
make me sick.
The cacophony of dawn
has conspired against my ailing back,
while a fat neighbor yells at his wife
somewhere in the distance,
and high-pitched pupils giggle,
as roads are crossed,
pulling hair
while I munch dry bread by the window.
I then tune-in to bulletins announcing
the end of the world by global warming,
and military vehicles have been observed,
and pathogens
are brewing in cows and dense jungles.
Humanity arrives by a ring at my door,
followed by my shuffles in slippers
to that obvious intrusion,
steaming java in hand.

«I am not buying!» I shout
at some grinning bearded stranger.
Then he says:
«I am from the CIA, and I just wish to inform you
that we are NOT involved in any conspiracy»

by Michael Henrik Wynn

Endret 12. april av Michaelhe

[Michaelhe]

There is a persistent rumor online that - following the strain of the pandemic in which the elderly were isolated for a whole year - Europe has experienced a significant swing in the direction of more transparency and more democracy. We can also expect this trend will continue in years to come, given the onslaught of evil Russians and the threatening hegemony of totalitarian China. Democracy will rise from its assumed ashes, exile those flawed systems of government to the dustbin of history. At journey's end, a solution to global warming will found by a common brotherhood, which will reach even beyond this planet to worlds not yet discovered.