There are lots of things to love about the country I currently find myself in. But then there are lots of things I could get quite anxious about as well. Our march of gammons following far-right adolescent Tommy Robinson was a concern. Our seeming inability to spot the problems with Islamophobia is another one. I thought I’d try to whittle it down, and here’s my conclusion; amongst the maelstrom of people’s rampant justification of hatred, it comes down to a basic refusal to ‘love our neighbour’, so what are the chances we learn to love an enemy?
I’m a huge admirer of this sort of approach – because it’s actually super kind! The guy in the nasty ‘patriot’ suit is treating people with respect, there’s no shame involved, he just gently talks about how certain political parties’ words do not align with their actions (here he is doing it last year as well 😂)- and the people who have been fooled by the grievance rhetoric are immediately challenged. Fantastic work! It seems if we really want to change people’s minds, we need to meet them where they are. The “Only equals can be friends” saying of Angelou comes into play here.
I honestly feel sorry for those countries where people are constantly scared for their own safety, where you have to drive in order to get anywhere ‘local’, where people are still grouped by race or financial means. It’s over-generalising, but having traveled there and seen segregation still in action (!); America is the obvious example (sorry readers from that country, and all states are quite different, but you’re painfully aware of the problems no doubt, especially if you’re non-white).
There are tons of positives about America; particularly the people, in my experience.
I’m often struck by US employment law though, which seems to have come straight out of Victorian Britain (sorry about that, ahem), and has somehow remained completely unchanged since the 1800s. It’s a sort of caricature of Capitalism, in which human safety and wellbeing is prioritised below accruing wealth. Extraordinary! There are more hopeful examples, obviously, it’s just the general trend is a touch … Dickensian.
Apparently a lot of people in the US have to use up vacation days when they’re ill?! WHAT?!!! What sort of holiday is that?! It’s no sort of holiday, that’s what. But I needn’t criticize the US; after all the UK seems intent on following that particular path as well, with “Hey let’s get rid of human rights” rhetoric being the clanging gong that heralds any slide deeper into the lukewarm turds of christofascism.
It does seem that here’s the inevitable symptom of the hate-your-neighbour logic;
… and yet globally there are lots of examples of cultures shifting away from the work-to-the-bone hellscape of late Capitalism, embodied so perfectly by the lonely child described above. So that’s good. Lots of hope about the place, and lots of well-modeled examples we can learn from when we’re ready.
It’s interesting the role of lying and inconsistency in the rise of a character like that, though. One of my current privileges is I seem to mingle with people throughout UK society, from all sorts of backgrounds, very different political beliefs and financial means, from the very top to the very very bottom. I won’t go into details, but I do seem to have quite the diversity of hang-outs. So it’s been interesting that despite my broad range of access to society, I have never, ever heard anyone speak positively about the President referenced above. Not five years ago, not fifteen years ago, never. And yes, I do spend lots of time with people I hugely disagree with; on politics, on economics, ethics, everything.
But despite all my travels, I have only ever come across broad-spectrum dislike of that particular man, that has seemingly been around since long before he appeared in Home Alone.
The one exception I’ve personally come across, is that I once overheard someone on an English street in about 2017 who said “Well sure, but America needs a strong leader. You’ll see”, but even that was a serious edge case that drew incredulity from the person’s acquaintances. And just as with Brexit; we have seen. Repeatedly. And the scraping-the-barrel-of-utter-fiascos outcome did happen, precisely as predicted. So if you’ve heard that Europeans in any way ‘respect’ that poorly man, I would suggest you have been lied to again.
Lying, inconsistency, lack of coherent thought … the symptoms are pretty obvious. No matter what someone says they’ll do about the economy or tax or ‘immigration’, perhaps we should learn to look at what they have actually done. Let’s look for those moments when someone’s words align with their actions; and if they are few and far between, then we need to learn to get them out of powerful positions.
And no, not all politicians are the same; that lazy cynical thinking is what gets people into concentration camp territory. Just ask the Germans; it does matter who you vote for. Lots of Euro discourse around for the last few years that mentions the term ‘Nazi’ is coming from the Germans – they’re pretty clear on what’s going on in America, and of all people, they’re well qualified to spot it.
Anyway, I’m only blogging to request that we are all very, very sure to make use of our votes. All of us, no matter what country we’re in, let us be careful to align our beliefs with our votes as closely as possible.
Vote for policies we agree with, rather than grievances. And let’s be brave in doing so, for our lives depend on it – beyond even the bullying of those who may turn up to the voting booths looking to intimidate, as if this is Russia. Eritrea. Somalia. Congo. If you need to intimidate people going to vote (or affect their opinions using big data and ad-targeted ragebait), then you should have no part in a democratic nation.
Clarity. Bravery. Consistency. It can’t be that hard.
Oh hold on, this is a sex comic blog …
*byoink byoink*
