I’ve just been doing my semi-regular roundup of what’s new in the world of woo-woo, so let me fill you in. Grazia has a “$15k an hour intuition coach” teaching A-listers to tap into their sixth sense, which is a little tame, but I struck gold with the Atlantic, which has introduced me to the concept of “subliminals.”
This is properly out there: TikToks or YouTube videos that, the claim goes, can work magic, giving you a smaller nose, making you smell of vanilla (?) or getting your crush to call you “IMMEDIATELY.” They remind me of the slips of paper that used to arrive in our letterbox when I lived in Brussels from local marabouts (sorcerers), promising sexual potency, the removal of curses, weight loss, guaranteed parking spots and more.
It’s another iteration of a wave of magical thinking that shows no sign of weakening. I’ve ticked off manifesting (willing what you want into being), lucky girl syndrome (erm, believing you’re lucky?), ghost, psychics and #witchtok. There are people all over Instagram drawing tarot and offering blessings, spells, virtual aura readings and “cures.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Astrology never went away, but it’s in rude health: “Chaos awaits as Mercury retrograde spins into Venus,” reads my latest unsolicited e-mail. What next? Perhaps alchemy is due a reboot? God knows we could all do with some free gold.
I’m gripped, for various reasons. First, it’s just deeply, fascinatingly odd. There is also something perverse about how the Internet has become the delivery mechanism for so much that is anti-rational: we took this creation forged from the steeliest rigorous science, sage smudged it and popped a crystal on the top. It’s interesting — perhaps inevitable — that this is happening now Upheaval (violence, plague, a growing sense the world is spinning awry) leads this stuff to re-emerge; when reality is hard to face, people find alternatives.
The current age of superstition feels a bit fin de siecle (the end of the 19th century was convulsed with interest in the occult, magic and mysticism), except this time I suppose it’s more a fin-du-monde vibe. We are drawn to spooky signs and portents — does the reappearance of the giant oarfish signal catastrophe? — when it’s the graphs and climate science that are telling the scariest story.
On an individual level, it’s interesting, too. Is “delulu the solulu” (yes, another TikTokism — damn, it’s catchy, I’ve been muttering it for days) — particularly if you are gen Z? I don’t think people are necessarily taking this stuff seriously. I hope not. Surely no one thinks you can straighten your teeth or get an A-list lifestyle by watching a TikTok or following an Instagram recipe for a positivity potion? In my experience that age group are pretty clear about the grim limitations of life in 2023, so I assume it’s mainly a playful, absurdist refusal of a fairly unpalatable reality.
“In this generation I believe that being delusional is one of the key factors to being happy,” as one TikToker says, before superimposing a cartoon Mario hat and moustache on his face and shouting: “Think positive, mamma mia!”
But are there real believers? Maybe it’s not that unlikely. Even if we leave the small matter of continued survival on this planet aside and confine ourselves to the nearer future, the life young people would like is probably utterly out of reach. A US magazine costed the not especially ridiculous aspirations of young New Yorkers recently (a nice flat, kids, travel), showing just how impossible they were. If what you want doesn’t look accessible through the conventional channels (studying, saving, striving, self-improvement), some will turn to the unconventional, I suppose. Take a bit of life coaching from a rabble of latter-day Madame Arcatis, look for signs that you are on the right path from a random string of “angel” numbers or your train ticket or till receipt; see if you can believe your dreams into existence.
When you feel ordinary stuff — a fulfilling, decently paid job, owning a home, having a family or even a belief in a reasonably secure future — is only accessible through magic, that is properly spooky.
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
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