Keeping Up Appearances

Over the years I’ve enjoyed a British comedy named Keeping Up Appearances. It’s from the early 1990’s, but reruns still show up on PBS. It’s the story of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced “Bouquet”) who is a lower middle-class woman who pretends to be high society. Her lower class family and their problems are a continual problem for her as she tries to keep up appearances of something she is not.

To this day I don’t understand why I enjoy her character. She’s an awful person. She desperately pushes her delusions of grandeur on everyone else and expects them to see them and behave as if they do too. No one wants to be around her.

Originally I watched it with my previous spouse. She couldn’t stand the show. Later someone pointed out that it was probably because she was a lot like Hyacinth in the way she tried to control everyone around her. That was a light bulb moment for me. I humorously started calling the show my weekly therapy. It helped me see how controlling she was, but also how accommodating I was.

Of course it was fictional, but it stood out to me just how much everyone bent to her will. Except for one older woman who wouldn’t be swayed. She wasn’t on many episodes, but she was a hero of the show. In one episode Hyacinth was directing traffic and the woman tried to run her down with her car! The show would have been so different if more than one person stood up to her fantasy.

Would I be out of line to draw out similarities with the progressives of today? They have an unrealistic Utopian view of life that they try to force on everyone else. They pretend to be better than they really are and demand that we think of them that way and act accordingly. They are horrible people who pretend to be our moral superiors.

Our situation is a little different in that there are a lot of people who enthusiastically join the progressive fantasy where Hyacinth was the only one in her world. There are a number of people who stand up against the delusion in our world, but only Trump was like that woman trying to run over the leftists in his car.

Bill Whittle said the election debacle last November was his fault. I see where he’s coming from, but I respectfully disagree. It was my fault. I’ve been like Hyacinth’s husband and neighbors. I’ve tried to get along, but that has meant keeping silent and playing along.

I cheered on Donald Trump. He could fight this in my place. He had the courage and tenacity to do what I would not. But that was never going to be enough. We desperately need more leaders like him to stand up against the leftist dream, but that’s not enough either. It depends on me. Not that I’m anything special, but if we don’t all take up the charge, we’ll all live under the thumbs of these people.

Maybe that’s why more people like me don’t stand up. I’m not anything close to perfect. If I ran for office I would be forced to keep up appearances of someone better than I really am and ask people to join me in that delusion. Of course it would be for a good cause that is real, but I will always fall short of it.

If I’m being honest with myself, I talk a good game here with my conservative friends. But I lack the courage necessary to take this message out to streets. I’m destined to be the compliant character in the show. For all of us, I need to find my voice and the courage to use it.