If I could think of a song to sum up the last two years it’d be Spaceman by Babylon Zoo

SO, we’re getting into the Autumn season now, basically past the half-way mark in 2019 and in terms of politics, social issues, security and other issues etc the only way I can describe it is one great, big messy scream-fest. By all means, feel free to disagree to any extent but I’m just calling the situations as I see them. Now you could say that all of this started as a result of Brexit, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to remember that much of this has been going on since way before then. If anything, Brexit either added voices to the tidal wave of screams or just re-ignited some rather loud voices.

If I was to think of a song that could sum up pretty much everything that’s been happening for the past two to three years it would be Spaceman by Babylon Zoo. Yes, it’s a weird choice. I mean why chose a song that was used back in the 90’s for a jeans advert? But hold on a second whilst I explain a supposed meaning behind the song. I remember reading an interview some years back about the song and how it is supposed to be about what an alien would possibly think if they were to visit earth and with everything that is currently going on. I saw the music video on TV the other night and as I paid particular attention to the lyrics I just remember thinking about the irony behind the meaning when you consider what’s been happening in the news lately.
For instance, let’s have a look at what has happened since 2016. We have had the vote on our membership with European Union, the presidential campaign in America, problems in Russia and other parts of Europe, members of the SNP continuously going on about Scottish Independence and the rise in hate-crime.
When the presidential election campaign happened, it was Hilary Clinton verses Donald Trump. Now the whole thing seemed to get not only ugly, but somewhat misogynistic as well from what I can recall seeing. I remember being somewhat disappointed by Trump, especially by the language he used when describing Hilary as some of it looked like character assassination. And she didn’t resort to such low tactics. But I can remember feeling disappointed by the people who voted for him as he just seemed to stirring up no end of rhetoric which many just seem to swallow.
In many ways it just seemed to be the same here in regards to issues surrounding Brexit, homophobia and Islamophobia. You had groups of both far-right and religious zealots who were semi-educated and protested against numerous social issues without knowing either the all the facts. For further examples look at what happened at the primary school in Birmingham. When the No Outsiders project was introduced many parents accused the school of trying to turn the children gay.
In the past couple of years alone one thing that has been brought into being was the surge in so-called ‘fake news’, which was a term mostly used by Trump. Particularly when he was being challenged to certain statements. Something that I have found myself asking every so often is that why this term, or excuse, is used. Is it because those who have been called into question have realised that things they’ve said, or reports that are linked to them are either fake, or is it because they’re genuine and they’re worried that they’ll be found out?
To me it’s almost like a spectrum. At one end you’ve got people who seem to say anything to get attention, haven’t a clue what to do and just shut down anyone who tells them differently. Whereas at the other end you’ve got those who actually know what’s going on and are trying to offer actual solutions but are just shouted down by those who remain clueless.