In the misinformation age, it’s tempting to say ‘I told you so’

If there is a sentence that defines smugness, “I told you so” would have to take the prize. When it has been levelled at me in the past, let’s just say I haven’t taken to it too kindly. At all.

In fact, there are few things I would rather never hear uttered again, rendering this particular irritation up there with “you are missing the best part of the day” (go away early risers, you are interrupting the best part of my sleep); the disingenuous “with all due respect”, which usually implies anything but; and the condescension that is “I am telling you this for your own good”, again usually offered by someone whose high opinion of themself is not reciprocated.

Aware of just how white-knuckle-annoying “I told you so” is, I make a habit of never saying it. But damn, sometimes I want to. Recently, I’ve had to grit my teeth until they are bloody stumps to stop said words from leaving my lips, and have wanted to scream them from the rooftops in a venting of rage and frustration. You see, over these past few years of madness on a global scale, I’ve seen and heard so much craziness passing as absolute wisdom I feel as if the world has been gaslighting me into senile submission. However, submission and I are not friends.

So, to those who have opined that I am most certainly wrong about my views of late, that certain predictions of mine could or would “never happen”, I will not be so arrogant as to say I told you so. Nope, I’ll write it instead.

So, to those who assured me that Roe v Wade couldn’t or wouldn’t ever be revoked in the US – how you feeling now? Yes, I was furious when Trump loaded up the Supreme Court with three religious, conservative justices during his tenure, tipping the power balance within to the right. And yes, that was me warning all and sundry that the goal was to revoke the federal law preserving the right of women to receive safe abortions. Now it has cruelly happened, setting women’s rights back 50 years to a very dark age.

I’ve seen and heard so much craziness passing as absolute wisdom I feel as if the world has been gaslighting me.

While I am not saying “I told you so”, can I take a moment to tap every young woman on the shoulder who has told me they are not a feminist because they feel the term is redundant, the fight for equality has been won, and that their rights are ensured?

After what has happened in the US, are you so sure complacency is warranted now? “But it hasn’t happened here,” I hear you counter. Well, the 13.8 per cent gender pay gap in this country isn’t going away, is it? Nor is the fact that a woman is still being murdered by a former or current partner every week in Australia. Still believe feminism is an unnecessary force for equality, ladies?

Okay, this is one I shouldn’t be too boastful about, as it could have cost a friend her life. However, when an outspoken anti-vaxxer, COVID-denying girlfriend of mine contracted the virus, there was a part of me that wanted to remind her of her folly.