Category Archives: Unity

You Don’t Want To Go Down This Road Do You? (An Essay?)

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Up until recent years when it came to politics in all its senses and social issues in all their sense I could be pretty judgemental and unforgiving, some times from A Left perspective (there are dozens, upon dozens of them) I was journeying down a totalitarian state re-education of ‘offenders’ road. At the same time in that way Humans do I was being very worried about the extreme views of others. After a while an old saw ‘Well I know I am right’ just wasn’t sounding as solid as it used to. This post is not not so much one solid argument but a collection of musings based on recent evidence- although Truth Be Known I should have learnt this earlier. This will be a journey with Tricky Issues and ‘Questions’

Do Those Folk Realise How That Makes Them Sound?
Naturally it wouldn’t be a good old Warning Post if there wasn’t some censorious commentary, but be careful there will be a sting in the tail.
Anyway let’s consider some of the statements and sentiments I have encountered of late.
1. FaceBook
There was this post about a fellow being attacked and killed by a shark. What I couldn’t figure out were the Likes and Laughing emojis. I posted that up in Comments. To be told that it was because the event took place is Israel and the guy was either an Israeli or a visiting fellow religionist.
Oh for (bad word)’s sake! Was my reaction. Whichever way you look at their reaction apart from being cruelly insensitive it was racist. They knew nothing about the victim, and yet because they were currently horrified by the Israel Government they thought it fair sport to vilify and cheer when a person with a tenuous link died. That actually puts them in exactly the same mind set as that government and its supporters, and it is no use trying to wriggle out of the charge.
‘Don’t worry little starving traumatised Palestinian Orphan, for I have laughed about possibly Jewish man being eaten by a shark. There does that not make you feel better?’  -Yeah,..right.
2. FaceBook
One of the anti-theist sites. A place where folk whose knowledge of the Faith and the Bible is somewhat limited. I started visiting one because being bemused by their lack of understanding. The conversations are never an exchange of views, I ask a question about their statement, they make an accusation. Anyway in one brief exchange where the fellow was saying how bad the faith was and all of the priests and preachers were bad too. I asked him how did he feel about say Maximilian Klobe  who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in Auschwitz. His response was ‘even bad people do good sometimes’, and then he hurried on with more condemnations. That was one big wall of a statement, to have a view that unconditionally judges everyone on the other side as ‘bad’. A bit like racists who hurriedly say ‘Oh, I know there are some good ones’

Basically we have two examples there, originating from points of view, ie Against the excesses of Israel & questioning the unconditional belief in a God – broadly both of which are seen to be liberal and progressive. And yet amongst all the genuine people with constructive beliefs, who would take issue with Intolerance and Hatred there lurk a minority who embrace exactly those shortcomings in their own outlooks.
We have to ask ourselves. At some stage, at some time, on some subject ‘did I stray down similar paths?’ We can point a finger at FaceBook and other media sites and try to blame them and say ‘we’ don’t use them, anymore; then we have to ask ‘but have I espoused such comments elsewhere?’
It gets more complex.
In this first sub-heading you will note certain elements of condemnation and judgement. Now I can say in my defence, I chose my ground carefully and made my comments with elements of qualification. The trouble there is, we get a bit of a conundrum. In writing these words have I given some folk ammunition to take issue with all critics of Israel and all atheists? It was not my intention, but the tricky thing with writing ‘stuff’ in public is that you never know how the reader is going to react. Therefore dear reader, these words are an example of a door swinging both ways Writer and Reader – Reader and Writer. And sometimes the Writer’s time-honoured lament ‘That’s not what I meant’ sounds just a bit weedy to someone who was injured by the commentary.
In short – we should always be careful how we write what we write and how we read what we read.
That’s why this portion was so long. Arguably the qualifiers took up more time and space than the message. And yet? Did it wholly get across?
We all carry ‘baggage’ in these turbulent times. And it is not always easy to balance between ethically justifiable statements and downright vilification. They seem to be polar opposites, but amongst our many Human flaws we have adopted as a weapon ‘Justification’

 

The Whispering Which Leads to Shouting (What We Think, Not Always Saying)
Anger: There are times when most of us cringe as we go through a ‘What Was I Thinking?’ interlude. Where through a combination of circumstances maybe on one bad day, or which have been building up we just lose control, and either embarrass or scare ourselves. We do try to keep those times under wraps, but…..but.

Anyway we shall talk anymore about those; shall we? We move onto the other side of Anger, the part we institutionalise, within ourselves. A place which is not neatly boxed up but is a tangle, a sprawl of urban ruins or a jungle long left to grow of its own accord. Where we go to when something or someone who represents something comes to our attention and triggers a reaction. We might well sound off on some outlet and craft our opinion into a fairly reasonable comment in mature and restrained language, because we do not want to come across as one of ‘the ignorant, ill-informed masses’, we value our opinions and views too much. And that is laudable insofar as it goes.
Yet at this stage the question we need to ask ourselves is. Where does the motivation come from?
Have we checked our views just to make sure they are up to date? Is that quotation correct in word and attribution? Are those ‘facts’ we are quoting actually ‘facts’? What was the source? Do we feel that strongly about our point of view, or are we just so much against the other we’ll grab any ammunition?
For the challenge we face here is not so much the issue we are against or defending. It is how we view those on the opposite side of the fence. And who built that fence anyhow?
So coming this far. How do we feel about the opposition? Not just the vocal or the loud ones, or the ones who are in it for the material gain. I am referring to the vast majority of the opposition. The ones you would walk by the street and unless they were wearing something to advertise their allegiance, you wouldn’t know would you? Mercy forbid that you have actually formed in that place which is not neatly boxed  a profile of an opposition supporter. Well you stoutly deny that, you do not think that they all look or dress or sound like……What?. And yet another niggling question is, have you formed an idea of what type of person they are? And how does that work?
Well distance for starters. It is far easier to be suspicious of someone who you know nothing about apart from one casual label, than a person who is just an average member of the community, steady family person, employed, and well kind of likeable?
It kind of spoils the place where you secretly go, to know out there, there might actually be basically ‘Good People’ who just see the world differently to you. You can of course reason that their choices are threatening your way of Life; the problem there being they can say that to you too. Does that stop you banding together and asking what’s being done about those potholes in the main road into through and out of town?

A Resolution? Maybe?
The Divisions are once more even bigger and better these days. There is and always has been a whole industry built around making sure they stay that way. Its practitioners are either feasting on Hate and Division because it keep them sharp, or they are getting high on the Vanity Kick on account of the number of likes and followers they are harvesting, OR, they are just getting plain wealthy from the kickbacks they get through the Media Outlets in pursuit of subscribers and advertising revenues. Here is a question? How much come from our own strong beliefs or how much are we being used? That’s another tricky one. You might say it is an unfair one to ask- fair enough question my motivation, my first response will be ‘Now you are getting it’
Question, analyse, study, think, conclude. Position yourself by all means. Then when you meet someone of the opposite view, look for the common ground, both of you and place your feet firmly there and resolve to work this ground and harvest its richer crop.
It’ll be tough. But then the worthwhile always comes with that price.

 We still have some time folks.

Elections Beckon. A Series. Part I. The USA – Stark Reality

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Statue of Liberty

Foreword: Although the US and the UK elections are the main attractions on both sides of the Atlantic, it bears reminding that France is, this day, involved in the first part of a parliamentary election, the next taking place next Sunday. The style and nature of French politics does not lend itself to established parties of long histories; more a question of Right, Centre and Left forming groupings- and that I fear is an anglicised over-simplification. Suffice it to say, at the time of writing this UK morning time there is an indication that the Far Right under the name of Rassemblement National (National Rally) has a strong lead in the polls. French politics are a quite different matter from those you and I are used to so I elect to say no more on the subject. Just bear in mind as a backdrop what is going on on Europe’s mainland.

Oh and by the way, this will not be analytical. This is an unashamedly partisan post. I will not stand by and let my adopted nation be dragged into ruin.

My attention should be focused on the 4th July because there is a UK General Election, and yet there is the constant worry that whatever result comes to pass in the UK our stability and overall well being will be conditional on the result of the US Presidential Election. For to understand how this world works it is essential to be realistic, and the fact is that whatever comfort and stability we have grown used to has been because of the overall world stature of the USA. We are fortunate, us in the UK that through a combination of factors we are been able to indulge in our way of life, thanks to those dynamics.

At least that was how it was. US governments of various shades and intentions rose, stayed, declined and took their place in history, and yet the USA with its own myriad particular collection of flaws and abuses carried on while adhering to a set of conventions. Some seemed to outsiders a given. There might be odd laws in some states but they stayed in those states and anyway someone was always challenging them in either the state’s supreme court or the country’s version. There politicians who caused eyebrows to be raised, but if they were found out to be going too far, with their hand in the cookie jar, or ending up in court, their colleagues and public shied away from them, leaving them lost or humbled to re-invent. There were dangerous extremists, but like most they had a self-destruct button and the majority of the media could be guaranteed to take a condemnatory stance. And on the whole The USA was making it own stumbling, far from shortest route towards a more open and flexible society. The danger there was, those forces opposed to progress and flexibility never rest. Humanity’s flaws of Intolerance, Suspicions, Conflict, Greed and Ignorance never rest, these offer excuses for a person’s own shortcomings, inadequacies and guilty sectarianism and how many gratefully accept those toxic gifts.

The route and advancement taken by these corrosive factors ran parallel with those of progress and tolerance but since most folk prefer Sunny Stories with Happy Endings the grim alternatives were in general not noticed, or thought of as a minority or treated as a source of entertainment. All was well, you could see it in the media, in entertainment; after all there were plenty of folk of different races and different sexual identities in major roles and look at all those action-type women. Yes, the nation was getting better.

Except it wasn’t. The warnings had been there in the Culture Wars. The hysterical outrage at ‘one of those people’ winning the Presidential Election not just once but twice, with unarguable majorities, and all the Right could do was quibble over where he was born and his name. Then ferment conspiracies about the national army holding manoeuvres in various Republican strongholds.

And then came the direst warning, although most of us including professional shrugged it off at first. Trump had decided to play at politics. Despite the sight of mocking the disabled, Vietnam War veterans and encouraging his followers to attack demonstrators his progress continued, despite the fact that more voted for Clinton that him, he reached the Whitehouse. Despite the chaotic 4 years, the vote was still close. Despite his tantrum and incitement to a mob attack, despite a guilty verdict in an open court, he is still here, with a following urging him on the greater excesses.

And he should not. By all the conventions of politics his campaign should have floundered at the first attempt. Only by the fervour and fanatical urges of his followers to see all that has been accomplished swept away does he endure. He dances to their tunes. This is bad enough. But his presence has encouraged and emboldened those with more focused minds and agendas. The loss of Women’s Rights to Abortion and the attendant respectability of misogyny. The banning of books in schools and public libraries. The campaigns against LGBT+ communities. The complete halt of any progress on Race Equality. An unpromising imposition of Christian teachings up in public again in a stark intimidating way.  And all of these conducted against a backdrop of physical intimidation by mob or by gun, by hate mail on social media, by stalking and threats. What these folk who revel in all of this do not seems to realise is that for their actions there will be reactions, by folk who embrace the same mindset as them, who will decided that they can intimidate, attack and level their own guns as justifiable responses. Those who take away Rights, who would endeavour to limit or indoctrinate somehow expect the opposition to meek and servile to knuckle down because they say so. This situation is the principal concern. Trump one day will be gone, but the force that put him there unless challenged and exposed will not, and worse unless challenged by civil and legal means, consistently will in turn encourage that worse alternative.

This the fundamental issue. There is a movement stalking the USA which will demand more than attention, it will require adherence to a Right-Wing doctrine into the every aspect of Life. It will not be content to live alongside a freedom of movement or expression. It will expect acceptance, submission and dutiful obedience. It will withdraw in upon itself and enclose everyone into an isolationist mentality. It will try an achieve the impossible, complete domination over a five time zone 300,000,000+ population. It will face opposition and then will be frustrated and will seek more intimidation. And there will be conflict on many levels.

All the above have been discussed and written about. You all know what the alternatives are if this Extreme Right-Wing Agenda is allowed to continue. Not just you personally, but those you will hold dear by family or friendship will be under threat. Folk who are moderate conservatives, who are true to a solid but quiet Christian faith will feel the pressure too, for they will be expected to join ‘the ranks’. No one will be secure.

Now, in the past days there has been disruption in the ranks of the Democrats, the fear that Biden is not up to the task of dealing with the fury of the Republican Dis-Information Machine has brought into question confidence in him. There will be a debate, which I can understand. But

Let the debate be short, and precise

Once the decision is made, stand by it and without a second thought turn all your energies upon discrediting the Republican Machine. The time for the discussions on the niceties of Economics, Overseas, Health Care, to name but a few have passed. You know full well how The Red Machine currently works. It will lie and it will distort. Let that be your target. They are vulnerable. Go for their weaknesses. Highlight the hypocrisies, the inconsistencies, the downright law breaking, the danger to the Constitution, the threat to The Individual. Those are the issues of this campaign. There is no hope for a delicate and reasoned debate. This is a brutal contest. You will be fighting for the heart and soul of America. The true America which grows on variety, which is  not afraid of the Future, which rejects the failures of the Past.

Shake out those who feel there is no point in voting, alert those who say ‘it will all blow over’, demand of those who think not voting for Biden will save the life of one Palestinian. And once the decision has been made on who will be the Democrat Candidate, be loyal, be united and insist upon it with others who oppose Trump. Only in that Unity will there be strength.

The USA requires, you the true patriots to rescue the nation.

USA Flag