Lessons From U.S. Mid Terms

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree roughly means some kids behave like their parents. It’s not complimentary. It usually means bad behaviour.

The proverb is about similarity, which doesn’t exist in nature. An apple tree produces many apples but they don’t look the same, even apples that get tired and drop on the ground to rot. We have identical twins but their parents can tell them apart. There are no identical clouds. A corn stalk does not produce identical corn-on-the-cob.

That is nature, man made things are identical. It’s called quality control. We complain if a packet of spaghetti looks smaller than the one sitting next to it on the shelf. Unlike you, store managers have a life, so they give you a discount.

An apple tree does not produce apples with the same colour, size and physical attributes. Some have scars, others spots. Which brings us to human beings and the 2022 U.S. Midterm election in particular.  

People who control what we think predicted a ‘red wave’ that will lead to Republicans’ control of the House and Senate. Based on what? The perception that most of them supported former president Donald Trump and his lie about the ‘stolen election.’

That was then. What we have now is the proverb, you can’t paint voters with the same brush.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.