Connections

I'm starting to see a common thread in my on-line observations on Facebook, eGroups and comments on daily newspaper stories.

Those who are attacking Harry and Meghan have a massive overlap with the constituency that is set on a War With Woke, ending lockdown immediately (against all scientific advice) in favour of getting the economy going and unerring and fanatical support for Brexit, ignoring the evidence of their own eyes. It's by no means a total overlap, but very large.

Let's start with the Harry and Meghan story, where hypocrisy raises its head. Now the anti-lockdowners use the argument that national mental health is suffering as part of their armoury, yet when Meghan says she was suffering mental health problems and had suicidal thoughts because of press attacks on her, she's accused of lying, demonstrating they don't actually give a fig about mental health and are using it tactically. When you think about it, there's only one way of testing whether someone is lying about suicidal thoughts - criticise them or call them a liar; that's bound to get you a result.

To the American eye (if you've kept a lookout on the American press, which I do), with the exception of the Trump supporters, it's inconceivable to them that we're having a conversation about whether a discussion about a mixed heritage child's skin colour is racist or not. To Americans it most definitely is.

To divert for a second, Prince William may say the Royal Family is not racist, but the Royal Family is wider than the direct offspring of the Queen. Princess Michael of Kent has previous in this area.

Woke entered the lexicon from the American black community and is defined as an awareness of social injustice and racism. The War on Woke brigade attempt to bring all manner of other issues into the definition, from chest milk instead of breast milk and birth-giver instead of parent. What these issues have to do with social injustice and racism is beyond me, but again it's a tactic to redefine Woke to suit their purpose; a straw man to attack antiracism and the left, but under the cloak of their redefinition of the term Woke - it's an old lawyer's trick. What they're dragging into the debate as a diversion is another of their shibboleths - Political Correctness Gone Mad. No doubt Health and Safety Gone Mad will also come under the umbrella of Woke before much longer.

When all is said and done, none of what they complain about affects them one iota; they're not forced to use what they consider crackpot terms and are free to use whatever terminology they desire. They just feel the need to huff and puff with self-righteous indignation that someone they've never met has the temerity to raise a subject for debate. Their ilk is typified by the likes of  Piers Morgan who is professionally outraged on behalf of perennial Colonel Blimps.

Unless you lacked basic humanity and empathy, or are utterly devoid of a moral compass and refuse to accept evidence-based observation, why would you not support an awareness of social injustice and racism? Why do you get angry when a footballer takes the knee in support of anti-racism?

Let's turn to the 'rewriting history' trope. History is historical fact, not some whitewashed version that attempts to hide the more worrisome bits. The Germans heroically faced up to the horrors of the Nazi era, yet a huge swathe of Brits on the right of the political spectrum try to hide Britain's involvement in slavery and systemic racism, portraying it as some benign and philanthropic gesture that financially benefitted the poor and uneducated in Britain, as well as the architecture. A eulogised statue of some slave trader is not necessarily the best method of teaching history; instead it's a continuing public validation of someone who did some terrible things. 

Their obsession with pickling a mythical view of Britain in aspic, and accusing those not sharing that view of hating their country, is borne of not love for their country, but an infatuation with it. There is a very big difference between infatuation and true love. Infatuation is when you first see something and idealise it, ignoring any faults or flaws, whereas love is knowing the good and bad of something and still loving it all the same.

The best way of defecting attention from those who have their boot on your neck is to focus on statues, the BBC, race, Wokeness and, inexplicably, equating BLM with Marxism. As someone once said; "History is not there for you to like or dislike, it's there for you to learn from and, if it offends you, so much the better because then you are less likely to repeat it. It's not yours to erase; it belongs to all of us."

"What do we want in our National Trust properties?"

"More history!"

"What do we call more history?" 

"Censorship and rewriting history!"

Unbelievable...

Marcus Rashford was attacked mercilessly in the tabloids for attempting to get disadvantaged kids fed during school holidays. Why? I don't actually believe this was anything to do with racism (although there were overtones from some), but the right wing press not wanting anyone to highlight government indifference and yet another diversionary tactic.

The War on Woke presses emotional buttons - the very same buttons that brought us the delights of Brexit. It's nothing more than a re-election strategy that has worked previously and diverts attention from government incompetence. Why focus on the multiple disasters this government has been responsible for when there's a footballer over there on one knee and he's telling you you're a racist. Who wouldn't get angry if that was whispered into their ear by the gutter press? I'm being told by apologists for the gutter press that seeing footballers taking the knee is creating racists - quite what logic is being used there is obtuse. However, there's a truth to it when you consider the press' role in gas lighting its readers. We are all susceptible to it to a greater or lesser degree. 

What does make someone a racist is a privileged, Eton educated white guy telling you that a bunch of black people over there are calling you a racist. Start Behaving like a racist and you're a self-fulfilling prophecy. Get it?

Anyone who believes they're not racist is fooling him or herself. We may not be consciously racist and may struggle to overcome racist tendencies, but our cultural programming is unconscious and leaks out occasionally - who can honestly say they haven't embarrassingly sniggered at a racist joke? It can be a constant struggle to repress your racism, but a struggle that must go on for it to eventually become culturally unacceptable.

Under the initial tutelage of Dominic Cummings, the forces of psychological manipulation are being used by the governing class to turn us into squinty eyed, misogynistic xenophobes, which will benefit no one but the wealthy. Bottom, which used to be an excellent Conservative code word for gravitas and competence from the days when the Conservative party actually possessed it, has been replaced by charisma, allowing the holder of that magical attribute to wreak whatever havoc they wish on the country and the body politic in the pursuit of profit.

The American Republican party has been using emotional hot buttons for decades to win elections. I advise you to read The Political Brain (the role of emotion in deciding the fate of the nation) by Drew Westen, an American political strategist and experimental psychologist. It was published in 2008 and thus predates the Trump era, but forecasts it accurately. The strategy is now embedded within the political right in the UK and, without some careful thinking, the left is powerless against it, as truth simply doesn't cut the mustard when your emotional buttons are pressed, as we can see on a daily basis from those who deny factual observation.