So a video of an airport quaking in Venezuela goes viral, and mighty Britain puts its aid teams on standby. How very Victorian of us. The Empire is dead, but the reflex to organise, to tut, and to prepare for intervention remains hardwired.
Meanwhile, Caracas descends into chaos. But whose chaos? Ours to pity or theirs to understand?
The sight of a trembling terminal is a metaphor for a failing state, but viral videos are the new opium of the masses. We watch. We click.
We feel righteous. And then we wait for the next tremor, the next collapse, the next chance to perform our moral superiority. The historical cycle spins: Rome watched barbarians, Britain watched colonies, now we watch Venezuela.
We never learn, only reshuffle the deckchairs of our attention.
