Swans, Geese, the Media, and the Middle Way
It started with a joke about tickling geese. And somehow, 30 minutes later, The QR Poet and The Cyber Gypsy had tackled the Enlightenment, fascism, Farage, media conditioning, Buddhists middle ways, breathing, monkey-based behavioural experiments, bolitics and stroking swans and geese.
And while it may sound like a ramble, what emerges is something rare: a grounded, inquisitive conversation that doesn’t try to sell a narrative. No one’s pushing certainty. They’re exploring what it means to be wise in a world that profits from chaos.
How to Influence a System Without Being Eaten by It
Clive brings up Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, how a chant can spark division and dialogue in equal measure. He’s fascinated by the comment sections that follow. How the word “dickhead” rises to the top, but a reasoned comment gets buried like subtext in a Murdoch op-ed.
So, what do we do? Opt out entirely? Unplug and breathe through our bellies forever? Or do we stay in the mess and try to turn comment threads into corridors of thought?
Dominic invokes the old idea: educate before you act. Don’t play the game without seeing who set the board. And maybe don’t trust the glove puppet until you’ve met the hand inside it.
Clive wonders aloud: is it even a prison we’re trying to escape? Or just a particularly well-decorated theatre set?
Politics, Propaganda, and Why Your Cat is Probably Right
The two talk about politics like it’s a dead language. They discuss Trump, Farage, the theatre of nationalism, and how the real agenda might just be to break people’s faith in institutions until they’ll accept anything, or anyone, as long as it promises order.
Dominic compares it to an inevitable cycle. Clive then explores the monkey psychology of management and how we police ourselves as groups. And then, just when things feel bleak, they both laugh and talk about Gandhi and gratitude. They remember the power of kindness in chaos. And Clive’s cat, who has absolutely no opinions about any of this, just a very consistent sense of presence.
Final Note: A Gentle Kind of Resistance
In the end, they settle not on answers, but on practice. Self-growth. Community. Connection. Breathing.
Maybe the middle way isn’t about compromise, it’s about clarity. It’s seeing the trap and choosing not to spring it. It’s liking a thoughtful comment instead of arguing with a troll. It’s realising that maybe the ladder was never off limits, we just forgot how to climb it. Because someone told us not to.
Dominic shares a moment of peace: a dove on a city street that wouldn’t move. It didn’t panic, didn’t flinch. It just spread one wing and soaked in the sun. “That animal was communicating with us,” he said. And it was. Because unlike politicians and platforms, animals don’t need PR teams. They don’t weaponise trauma or sell algorithms disguised as outrage. They just exist, a reminder that clarity often comes in the pauses, not the noise.
And maybe it starts with stroking a swan and sorting your shit out rather than trying to fight the media machine until you understand it and are ready.
