The Politics of ...

The Politics of ...

Thursday 19 October 2017

Hate! What is it Good For?

Hate is a bit of a vile word in certain contexts. I mean, I hate [insert vegetable name here] is a strong way of disliking something, but we've all said something similar and no one really bats an eyelid when someone says, 'I hate cabbage'. If however that person says, 'I hate Muslims' then the word takes on a different tone.

I heard someone on the radio this morning actually say, "I don't care about the Muslims who died at Grenfell, I only care about the people of other religions who died."

A little earlier this month, I heard Rio Ferdinand talking about the amount of on-line abuse and vile nastiness aimed at him after his wife died of breast cancer. It doesn't matter if you don't like the man, his career as a footballer or anything else about him; but to be nasty, hurtful and vile about his wife's untimely death makes me wonder what kind of human we're breeding now?

The right wing press has championed the hate of Islam, and has essentially picked a fight with an entire religion and wants you to tar them all with the same brush it paints nasty pictures about. Ironically, the right wing press turns a blind eye to Christian fundamentalism, which has probably accounted for more death and violence in the last five years than anyone else (Yes, USA, we're looking at you). But, the right wing press are essentially all Christians and we know how truly Christian Christians are, don't we? They are selectively Christian and will be decidedly unChristian if what they need to be Christian about is also something or someone they find morally reprehensible. Believing in 'our' God gives you the privilege of being a twat about others and their own gods.

Our right wing press pour over the Quran (a word which my US created spell checker doesn't recognise, by the way) as much as nutty Islamic fundamentalists, attempting to construe something from its texts to allow them some kind of justification in propagating their hate; yet they can conveniently forget the words of Jesus when they want to demonise the poor, the unemployed, single mothers or someone who says 'bum' on the telly... In a sensible world Jacob Rees-Mogg would have been vilified and castigated for any of his recent comments, instead he's being championed as a future leader of the Tory party. That is basically how mad the world has become.

I blame the Internet, which is quickly challenging Margaret Thatcher as the major blame of all ills. It appears whatever Thatcher didn't manage, the Internet has been used to achieve it. I've been writing an article about a hobby I had and was involved with the fan-promotion of during the 1970s, a thing which still exists in the 2010s but has more divisions and disparity than probably existed in the entire world in 1970. Of course, the 1970s were rife with racism, sexism, homophobia and bigotry but it somehow felt slightly safer for everyone, probably because vocal arseholes had very few platforms to spout their shite and skinheads were as rarely seen as examples of Trump integrity. Hate wasn't commercially viable back then so it was left to the actual nutters and not just anyone who lives on a British street or road who can log on to the hate machine.

I actually hate the fact that we've allowed our education system to ignore educating people in areas we probably need more education. I still see 18 months after the turkeys voted for Christmas idiots spouting utter bullshit about the EU and how our extrication will welcome a flood of rainbow-shitting unicorns to bring joy and happiness; a world where everything will be cheaper, easier to find and there won't be any foreign-speaking drains sucking the life out of our country. Even some right wing papers are admitting it isn't going quite as smoothly as many believed and others are hurriedly lining up people to blame for its failure.

If it isn't the EU, it's us Remoaners (for being soooo negative), or it's certain Conservative MPs (not Boris or JR-M), or it's experts (Ha!), or women (the next target?), or people with pugs dressed as Christmas elves... You do realise that because the right wing press is already looking for scapegoats, they're subconsciously admitting it is going to go to shit and it can't possibly be their fault, so someone needs to be blamed?

This week, I've seen examples of nasty ignorance that actually had no basis in reality. Attacks from rabid Brexiteers at Remoaners for proving their arguments are rooted in fantasy and getting verbally violent about it; another little bit of me dies inside whenever I see ignorance being worn so blatantly. If one thing has really boggled my mind in the last two years it has been the mistrust people over 40 have about 'experts'. The obstinate way which people are now dismissing actual fact in favour of how they 'feel' not only leads to madness, it will probably end in violence.

I really hoped that moving to Scotland - a considerably more tolerant society - would have helped me, even if it was just to ignore it more easily. The problem is... is it even a problem? I suppose, in a way, it is because it has actually polarised it for me. The fact I live in a remarkably tolerant area, despite years of neglect, just makes things that happen south of the border worse. When I see wilful ignorance, stupidity and hate spewing from the mouths of probably people of a similar age to me, I get almost as angry with these twats as they do with the lie they're allowing to ramp up their blood pressure. I want to point them towards all of the proof that blow their twattish words out of the arena; but it isn't about that. People hate being proved wrong, so proving them wrong will just make them more angry and if they get angrier then the desire for violence increases.

If we fail to educate people. If we do not encourage evenhanded freedom of thought. If we allow the media to lead us down a very unpalatable path without recourse. If we have politicians who won't condemn the acts of the hateful then what kind of future are we giving ourselves?

Ask yourselves some questions. Where do you see it all ending? Can you see a happy ending, anywhere? After Brexit, will you feel you are more or less isolated? What can we do if nothing works out well? And what will the uneducated bigots, racists and arseholes do when their arguments become ludicrous and meaningless words?

We need some sense or we're all fucked.

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