The elephant in the room

By Paul Clifton. After the US election result, the majority of my academic friends seemed to cycle through Kubler Ross’s seven stages of grief in rapid succession. Shock and disbelief was quickly replaced by Anger. In the period before the inauguration the lefty, academic side of the Internet seemed to indulge in Bargaining (“maybe the electoral college won’t accept him?”) then guilt (“what about all the poor/white/rural/factory workers whom we ignored or laughed at”). After the brief high of the women’s march, like many of my academic friends I slid right into stage four Depression. The feeling has deepened, as many Australian politicians seem to be falling over themselves to line up behind the whole Trumpapoolza thing. More...