The world has a penchant for looking away from the readily achievable, to focus on what we cannot achieve and we continue to waste resources as others suffer:
Achievable: condemning hate and intolerance in all formats (be it clever tailored formats by some news channels or less subtle abuse on our streets) and standing up for human decency
Unachievable: a wonderful world where we all love each other, re-write history, undo past evils such as slavery, genocide etc., remove every statue relating to past evils etc.
Majority of human endeavour start with a noble intention before it either gets hijacked by others with less noble intent or gets exploited. A good example is FACEBOOK. I am sure that when the idea popped up, it would have been with the intention of providing people with a tool to stay in touch, share photos etc. as opposed to creating a behemoth that has now become a tool that people seek to use to spread disinformation, impact elections etc. That is the sad reality of humankind. People say: what do you need nuclear deterrent for? Well, it is because there are people out there who will hurt others in their quest to rule the world or force their own ideas or religion or ideology on everyone else, if they are not deterred. And that leads to the word I dread most: VALUES.
VALUES
Few days ago, I wrote an article about the Olympics and how some athletes or nations see the use of enhancement drugs simply as a part of competing and they do not see it as cheating. Given the fact that there are so many other forms of advantages that some athletes and some nations have over others e.g. access to funding, training facilities etc., those are conveniently ignored, but when Russians are allegedly caught out using drugs, that is supposedly an advantage they cannot be allowed to utilise. But when athletes from wealthy countries who do not have to keep full-time jobs on the side, who can concentrate solely on their sport and practice round the clock, step out to compete against athletes from poor countries who have to work full-time jobs and hardly get opportunities to practice, we believe that is fair competition? I am not in support of cheating nor the use of performance enhancing drugs, but how do you redress the years of fame, publicity and positivity that Lance Armstrong for instance, generated for the United States? Can we take all that back?
Whenever people who say they are CONSERVATIVES talk about VALUES, they get shut down by those who say they are PROGRESSIVES, but do any of us think we can survive in a society taken over by rules we cannot relate to?
The problem is alway down to where I began above: good intentions of those who say they are right-leaning, hijacked by the Marjorie Taylor Greens of this world, who are ill-equipped to be the face of any sane movement. Take religious tolerance as an example. We have our laws in the west and it is not based on what a holy book states. But there are countries that practice religious laws and we must not condemn them, but that is not what we want to do here in the western world. If we briefly look at the matter of the Windrush generation in the UK: West Indians/Afro Caribbean folks who moved over to the UK in the 50s and 60s, seeking a better life, but arriving to find a very hostile environment, where they are only offered menial jobs, where their children – already afraid to go to school as they are suddenly in an unfamiliar environment- got to school only to be told by the teachers they are no good and will never do well – so, they drop out and largely turned to crime, we’re exploited and fulfilled those predictions and we now wonder why our prisons are filled with children and grandchildren of that generation? The intention was noble, but the result is two to three generations now, of suffering, intolerance and few opportunities to break that vicious cycle. Since the recent Black Lives Matter protests in the UK, every time a black person commits a crime, society say: well, see what we mean? they are criminals. They are no good. Well, who ever said there are no black criminals?
It would be interesting to see what the reaction would be, if every non-white person in the UK was offered £5million to leave the country. Afterall, the generation of black people who moved to the UK seeking a better life and rarely finding it, can surely head back to their ancestor’s country of origin, with the funds to perhaps start a better life? The problem with that, is of course the appearance of promoting segregation – afterall, all children born in the UK, white and non-whites alike, just happened to be born there and did not have a say in the matter, and as such, should be treated equally right? But when a set head to school and are treated differently, and perhaps also behave differently (not to just lay the blame on teachers) due to the harsh environment they grow up in, instead of going the extra step to help them, we give up on them and many fall into the hands of criminals and end up in jail. It really is a vicious cycle, and one that some now protest as being very deliberate. You lift the lid and you can’t find conservatism nor values, what you find is one race trying to exert dominance and superiority over the other (and this applies to all, be it white, black, brown etc.) as it is never an issue for a Helen Mirenovsky to blend in, become Helen Mirren (no disrespect to her; she is a wonderful lady), play the Queen on telly acceptably, but an Iris Elba must only play Mandela ofcourse and even a fictional character such as James Bond, cannot possibly be an Idris Elba, as we cannot lift that mental block and will table every excuse possible. The problem remains a complex one because society lack the courage and conviction to separate true values from personal hatred and biases. At some point, it may be well worth trying something different. It is near on impossible to reverse some of the issues but there has to be a way. If some people do not wish to live we live I never the west, no point trying to force them is there? But are we to blame for trucking people in, in their time of need, without preparing them for how they will need to live, helping them integrate; the simple answer is YES. Part of that process has to involve educating the local population to understand that when we bring people in, they need more help and support (and urgently) or the consequences down the road, will be for all to bear.
This is why the notion of migration and just carting people around when they flee wars or persecution is NOT the right thing to do. I would love to see a world with no borders, no races except a single human race etc. BUT our values are not the same across the board are they? This is what conservatives go on and on about, and the dismissal of those concerns, is what has led to the recent rise of populism and intolerance. Those on the left will say: yeah, bring all those refugees in, we have to me kind and human. BUT they do not ensure there are facilities in place, to ensure those people come in, into an environment they are not familiar with (with crowds of angry people who do not want them there) are not then turned into a breeding-ground of hate themselves, seeking to harm their host. Again, another vicious cycle.
The world needs to come together to find a better way.
Is there ever going to be an era of NO WARS, NO DISPLACEMENT, NO PERSECUTION or no economic migrants seeking to exploit the charity put in place to help those in distress? I don’t think so. So, why don’t we try to rewrite the rules and make things clear, so that the needless loss of lives (a society desperate people try to get to the west by all means, falling prey to people-traffickers along the way) can end? If we must have borders, then make them secure! To deter people getting on rotten boxes to cross oceans and lose their lives. Avoid wars at all cost! Help as many parts of the world as possible, to create safe havens, to avoid having to ship people enmass to countries where they are not wanted and will only face hatred and intolerance, which then ends in them being angry themselves and hating and seeking to harm their hosts.
The current view-point is too narrow, but unfortunately, those who have tried to widen the discussion have largely done so in a hateful manner, leading to the current stalemate we have today, with neither side standing to gain. We bring people in, have no facilities ready to help them, pitch them up where they are seen as resource-sappers by poor locals, leading to intolerance and it goes on from there, to lack of opportunities, with many turning to crime and the rest is history
Neither side or neither position (left or right) is helping and those that suffer and will continue to suffer, are the people caught in this vicious cycle
The UK is a wonderful country (well, people won’t be prepared to die to get here if it wasn’t) and we get a fair bit right, but we also get a fair bit wrong too. The world needs change. Sorting the climate is urgent, but so is sorting the current mess of lack of humanity: we are no longer in the 1950s, we need to be better!!!
Knowledge can improve the world we live in 