In 1979, the great political sage Jimmy Carter characterised the predominant psychological condition of those of us fortunate enough to live in the First World as malaise. As any student of history can tell you, this malaise continued more or less uninterrupted until 2001, when it was replaced with terror. Since then, however, the United States elected a rational president, the Arab Spring revolutionised the Middle East, and so forth. Generally speaking, we've been trying to do the right things. And yet the world has remained stubbornly, unyieldingly insane. Which leads me to my central thesis; today, the dominant emotion is one of bafflement. Confusion. Bewilderment. Dear reader, you may well be bewildered even now, and not know it.
We, of course, have a moral responsibility to fight this confusion, lest something terrible happen. With that in mind, I'm offering my services as a professional answerer. What makes me professional, you may ask. What are my qualifications? Broadly, I have none, apart from a great ability to invent titles for myself. But unlike certain people in public life today, I will at least answer questions posed to me. What kind of questions? Anything the twisted minds of E2 can come up with. Politics, relationships, the history of the Serbian national anthem. Ask and ye shall receive an answer. Probably a sarcastic, obscene and borderline abusive one. But that's more than you'll get from anyone else these days.
/msg Montag with your questions, and burning insights of truth or something that looks like it from a distance will appear on this node.
You Ask, Montag Answers: Part One
You Ask, Montag Answers: Part Two