Reader(s) of a certain vintage and geographical persuasion will remember a 1987 Midnight Oil song “Put Down that Weapon” which implored “Put down that weapon or we’ll all be gone.” And a couple of lines later

And it happens to be an emergency
Some things aren’t meant to be
Some things don’t come for free

It is an emergency, and we need all brain cells on deck. We need to make use of the past, so we don’t repeat it.

If we lobotomise ourselves, with those memory eraser wands from Men in Black

if we choose to ignore the long history of spasms of mobilisation (as distinct from movement-building), if we choose to wake up each morning as if it’s our first day in Punxsatawney, then we will continue to fail.

What brought this rant on?

This.