End of the free world as we know it or 4 more years of the same? A period of growth and recovery or continuing adversity?
At last, the US elections are over and we can get back to normal life, it was an interesting exercise to watch the traffic in social media this morning. From the euphoria of fairy story believing liberals who think Obama is the re-incarnation of Super Man to the disbelief of conservatives who think President Obama only got re-elected because of the manipulations of the (mainly) biased media.
As a non-American, I find the USA electoral system to be nastily antagonistic, wickedly expensive and horribly divisive. I would like to think that the outcome of the election is only of academic interest to the rest of the world, but the USA is still the only real world power and when it sneezes the rest of us catch cold.
The rational side of my brain suggested that logic would prevail and that a good manager with a successful track record would be elected as the next president. But my other side recognised that most people don’t want to be told that they will no longer be able to expect handouts and will vote for the man that makes promises to rob the evil rich and re-distribute their wealth to the have-nots.
Where I tend to agree with the charge that the media have been extremely biased is over the Benghazi issue. The murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and 4 other US citizens, the deliberate attempt to cloud the issue by blaming a You Tube video and the lies and evasions on many levels. President Nixon was impeached for Watergate which was minor compared to Benghazi and did not cost any lives, American or other.
Social media has had a huge multiplier effect in this election, adding to the distorted reporting in the “old” media and with even less regard for the facts, spreading everything from rumour, to blatant untruths further and faster than was possible before. An important lesson for marketers, it doesn’t matter whether the message is accurate, fair or true, if it starts trending in social media, it can spread like wildfire.
One saving grace is that a Republican controlled house of Representatives will be a block to some of the more irresponsible attempts to hamper business viability and job creation. The downside to that is it could make it extremely difficult to get anything moving in government, good or bad. American voters have made their choices and will have to live with the consequences.
That’s one big world shaping event out-of-the-way this week, it looks like another 4 years of the same for the USA. Now we wait for the Chinese equivalent tomorrow, is this the week that China chooses a more effective leader than the USA? What will the relationship between the world’s two biggest economies look like in 4 years time? Time will tell.
There are a lot of disappointed conservatives in the USA and elsewhere today, many will be wondering what is in store for them in the weeks and years ahead. Being disappointed or depressed does not help. It’s what we do with our own lives that counts.
Now more than ever we need to work on our businesses or careers and stop worrying about what might have been. Worrying about things over which we have no control is a terrible waste of energy and cause of unnecessary heartache. We can either let it affect our lives or acknowledge it, find whatever advantages we can in the new situation and move on.
A reader, Tyler Jeffries, put together this “Guide to Building your Business through Social Networks”. You don’t have to subscribe or provide an email address, just click on the link and you can read it. – I do not have any financial interest in promoting the article, I included it as it has some useful information, ideas and tips.
One of the temptations of publishing a blog is to create posts that interest me as a writer without continually checking whether they are useful, entertaining or interesting to you the readers. I have been guilty of that. I realise that this blog has posts on subjects ranging from marketing and social media to motivation and overcoming adversity with detours into politics, health and my life in Africa. The blog has become something of a hybrid animal, neither fish nor fowl. It is time to address that.
I am tightening the focus a little, this blog will concentrate on the major categories of motivation, self-esteem, personal growth and overcoming adversity. Subjects in those categories will include, purpose, flow, productivity and discernment. I will also be investigating the “Pendulum Effect” and other societal changes that affect our lives. Detailed research of other blogs, posts and readers comments, indicates that by applying my contrarian, politically incorrect and sometimes eccentric thinking to these areas might provide readers with the benefit of a different perspective. My motivation is to provide readers with a service and a forum to stimulate debate.
The world is changing too quickly to accept that the conventional wisdom on any subject is correct for any length of time. The more we can look at things from different angles, the more chance of finding the best paths for our own lives.
Don’t be surprised if on your next visit this blog looks quite different, after nearly 4 years, I have decided to change the theme. Some of the links to other programmes in the resources pages will be removed, some of the ads will go, the content of the sidebar will be modified.
All my new social media, marketing and business related content will move to the blog on my Business site Focused Prosperity.
What do you think? Are you ready for a change in your life or are you looking forward to 4 more years of the same?
Leave a comment.
Wishing you success.
I often do not have time to read your posts in a timely fashion due to all sorts of reasons from laziness to time constraints. So I am just now getting round to this post on the recent U.S. elections.
I am still shell-shocked by the resuts of the 2012 elections. I think you made an excellent summary of what happened while expressing concern over the result. I am just plain depressed. Obama ran the most cynical campaign in my life time. And this was my 11th election.
I have always had a strong belief and faith that no matter what the U.S.A, would survive all. My faith has been badly shaken. I hope my fears are misplaced.
On my blog I try to stay out of politics. Food and hunger after all should be a-political. So I have said nothing to no one. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to express my thoughts.
Thanks for your thoughts Roberta, and your refreshing honesty. I am glad this gave you the opportunity to express them and I appreciate you sharing them. My late father – born in 1914, used to tell me how society, politics, morals and levels of tolerance shifted up and down, right to left over the years, he likened it to a pendulum. I am reading a book about the pendulum effect, it puts forward a convincing argument that the pendulum effect can be traced back 2000 years. Cycles from a “We” to a “Me” zenith take 40 years. We are heading toward the “We” zenith right now. Stay positive and remember “This too shall pass”.