The political drama | columnist

So there’s this crazy thing with the brain and boundaries. Sometimes the limits to which the brain goes are as far as the brain believes it can go. So we limit ourselves to how far we can go and how far we think our limit is.

For example, until 1954 it was believed that the human body could not cover the distance of one mile (1.6 km) in less than four minutes. Everyone said: “It can’t be done, it’s the limit of the human body.” In 1954, 25-year-old British athlete Roger Bannister was able to cover the distance in 3.59.4 seconds. That was in May of this year. In June of the same year, Australian runner John Landy also ran under four minutes. In August they both completed the one mile again in under four minutes. The record now stands at 3.43 and was set in 1999 by Moroccan athlete Hicham El Guerrouj. The four-minute mile is now a normal standard for middle-distance runners. Once we realize it is doable, it becomes easier to achieve.

The same applies to fake news and the outlandish comments made by politicians and public figures. Before Donald Trump, the consensus was that politicians would exaggerate, omit and distract. However, Trump broke the barrier when he spread outright lies and completely false news at his rallies. At first people thought, ‘How could he say such inaccurate things without any repercussions?’ Things went wild in the last election. However, for this election, he broke the barrier and realized that no matter what lies he says, no matter how many criminal cases are pending and indicted, no matter how many goods he has for sale, no matter how many insurgents he convinces, people would follow him.

For this election he went into overdrive. And his election as vice president followed suit, recognizing that the limits he believed existed were not really absolute. This is how the story of dogs and cats came about. Vance eventually admitted that he had only told the media something to get their attention.

Trump recently went a step further by calling Kamala Harris mentally disabled. Referring to Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, he said, “Funny how differently blowjobs have affected both of their careers…” He has ignored political norms of decency and respect for your political opponent, especially at the presidential election level. And everyone played catch-up. “He can do that?” “He can say that?” He has crossed the four-minute mile in terms of political norms and boundaries.

To be fair to Trump, it must be said that he ignored the long-held traditional concepts and norms and it worked for him. People still come to his rallies. According to the polls, he is tied with Kamala and there is a chance he will win. So far it has managed to behave as if there were no limits to political decency and integrity. And if he doesn’t win the election, he would claim that, then he would probably organize another insurrection.

I was very confused by the lack of boundaries and dichotomy regarding Donald. In fact, he married a non-American woman and still has the idea of ​​getting rid of the immigrants so that America can become more American. He cheated on his wife with a porn star (one of many) and yet the Bible-bearing groups are his biggest fan base. He promotes and sells Bibles, coins, cryptocurrency, shoes, a picture book, and owns a large stake in the social media site Truth Social. He makes millions of dollars scamming his fan base and selling “merch,” and yet his fan base calls him honest and down to earth. Reality and virtual images are direct opposites.

However, if we dig deeper, his supporters don’t seem to care what or who Trump really is. The world is moving towards artificial intelligence, deep fakes, metaverse (virtual worlds) and fake news. At least half of what we see on social media and the internet is an illusion on some level. What secretly attracts Trump’s supporters is the virtual world of reality TV. What secretly gets her addicted is the drama. Trump is a pure caricature, a protagonist in a political drama on Big Brother reality TV. He’s extremely dangerous, but we can’t stop watching him. It seems we are less interested in issues, truth, reality and integrity. In fact, first and foremost we just want to be entertained, be it virtually, in illusion or in reality, it doesn’t matter what kind of world it is or how much it costs.

As we near the end of our own election cycle, it looks like we’re following the US in terms of outrageous comments and inaccuracies just to get the right tone and attention. We are a smaller nation. I wish that we do not follow this example as the USA moves towards limitless development with its political rules and regulations. There are things that always need boundaries and always need to be kept under control so that they don’t implode. Consecutive number. Children yes. Political integrity even more so.

Dr. Joanne F. Paul is a lecturer in emergency medicine at the UWI