The Endgame

Newsletter #35 - Debby Downer

Port Medway, Nova Scotia, August 19, 2023.

Debby Downer

A couple of friends have told me recently not to be a Debby Downer. What do they mean?

Debby Downer was a Saturday Night Live character in the early 2000s, full of gloom and doom. The name has crept into the language. The dictionary defines a Debby Downer as “a person who speaks only of the bad or depressing aspects of something …”

Okay, I get it, although, in my defense, there’s a lot to be depressed about.

In the foreword to my 2020 book Nothing Left to Lose I wrote “I’ve lived in a golden age, in a golden place.” But I added, “Things are changing, and changing fast. The golden age is coming to an end.” Nothing Left to Lose went on to explain how and why the golden age is ending and what we might do about it. These days it’s increasingly difficult not to dwell on what has gone wrong. Things go from bad to worse, so many things, in so many ways. I can’t resist mentioning, for example, the apocalyptic effects of climate change—extreme heat, drought, wildfires, violent storms, flooding…

But I must not be a Debby Downer. I still want to be invited to parties. So here goes, a little positivity and optimism.

I take comfort when I look at the current political scene in the United States and Israel. You may well ask, how is that possible? In the U.S. the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election is an ignorant, impulsive, child-like psychopath facing four criminal indictments. With every new indictment, his poll ratings improve among a substantial and obviously crazed part of the American population. This man could be president again. In Israel there has been what Tom Friedman of The New York Times calls a judicial power-grab by the prime minister that breaches “the core social contract that has held Israel together for the last 75 years — ‘live and let live.’” Israel could descend into chaos. Many Israelis are reportedly considering leaving.

But here’s the good news. In each country the response has been robust. In the United States, the justice system has pursued the mad ex-president with determination; politicians of all stripes have condemned his bizarre behaviour and absurd rhetoric; a bipartisan committee of the House of Representatives relentlessly investigated the calamitous events of January 6, 2021; and much of the media have been impartial and outspoken. In Israel, outraged by government actions and policies, huge crowds have taken to the streets to protest, and leading figures from many parts of society have volubly spoken out. In the United States and Israel, democracy and its institutions are resilient. Both countries remain vibrant free societies.

A wise friend of mine told me, when I was in full Debby Downer mode, “It’s a pendulum, Philip. Relax. The pendulum will swing back.” Will it?

Regardless, we should always look on the bright side of life.

P.S. I received some interesting comments about Newsletter #34 from a French reader of The Endgame who used to live in Toronto:

“I must confess a weakness for Costco where I used to go periodically in Toronto. Hard to believe maybe, but I liked the place. I thought that it felt real, with real people and one of the best examples of the North American “culture” (things have to be functional, first). Moreover, hard to compete with them for a lot of things… Recently, Costco opened one then a second store in the suburbs of Paris… My Canadian card was valid (functional!!). The store was a carbon copy of its North American counterparts, thus zero problem to find what you are looking for. And, in contrast to the stores in Canada but similar to the American ones, they sell alcohol at very competitive prices…”