⚙️ the town of Earling, Iowa is located near Panama, Westphalia, and Defiance. i had never heard of any of those towns.
ONE
we begin with the election in Bangladesh.
because, there is not much to be said about it. By all accounts, it is a farce. The main opposition party is in shambles, with most of its leaders arrested for "terrorism". The party in government is openly running a few "dummy candidates" so the results will only give them 95% of the vote instead of 100%.
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⚙️ note https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/6/vote-doesnt-count-bangladeshs-bizarre-election-tests-ties-with-west and https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240106-bangladesh-votes-in-election-without-opposition
Will anything happen as a result? No. Certainly not from America. The Americans have many things to worry about other than Bangladesh.
As far as an international ideal, "democracy" is dead. The forces of fake democracy are stronger.
🔥 as far as what this would mean as an allegory for democracy in America, no comment
TWO
we consider the so-called "split in darts".
💡 Wikipedia is no longer dying, Wikipedia is dead. So we shall save our breath on topics like << "Split in darts" is a terrible title for an encyclopedia article >>.
The first thing to note is: Why would anybody care? It is a hagiography of all sorts of darts superstars, none of whom I have ever heard of, and none of whom seem distinguishable from any other.
🔥 much like in professional wrestling, it is important to remember that every participant is a superstar. If you don't hype up even the most middling of your opponents, how will the television audience understand how great you are?
The playbook of a federation banning people for participating in a competing effort is very familiar. The PGA has been running a similar tactic recently. And, similarly, failing miserably at it.
🔥 never pick a fight with people who print money by the barrel
🌎 I have a different take on this. I view the 2017 "Trump-orb" incident as part of a secret treaty Mr. Trump made with the various Arab states as part of his peace-in-the-Middle-East effort. The terms included that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, etc. would be allowed to take over Qatar. (Of course, Mr. Trump didn't control Qatar.) In the event that failed, Mr. Trump gave them the sport of golf, as a forfeit. (Of course, Mr. Trump didn't control the sport of golf, either. Giving away other people's things as part of agreements has been his modus operandi for decades.)
💡 from a societal view, the question is: how much televised darts does society need? The answer is: not very much.
This is a very common failure pattern. The chess world saw something similar in the 1990s. Golf is seeing it now. There appear to be multiple backgammon world championships as well; although nobody cares about backgammon enough to make it a "split".
🌎 and, once again, as-to whether this is an allegory for American democracy, no comment.
THREE
the NFL is on. because it is an ever-expanding blob.
the AFC playoffs are settled. Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Kansas City. all in the playoffs. all AFC cities.
🔥 AFC is code for "second-rate". Chicago isn't in the AFC. New York ... well, New York has both.
i had not been watching. and i will go back to not watching soon.
but it seems that the Powers That Be have decreed that the NFL is the only thing one can watch on TV on Sundays. so I will leave it on for another ten minutes.
🔥 it is a rule of American society: anything that is good must expand and bloat until it is no longer good.
and they are back to openly talking about "most of the games this week don't matter; the only stars who are playing are the ones with contract bonuses on the line". so we're done here.
🌎 as far as whether this is an allegory for American democracy: no comment