The most egregious example of course is the 'We're all in this together' mantra touted by our cabinet of millionaires. Thanks to the train wreck that is George Osborne, the phrase has become so laughable that it has become a cliché: like the Big Society, a policy which dare not speak its name. For that reason, I'm going to mention it again.
We're all in this together. It's part of a wider discourse which uses 'we' as a marginalising tool. Everybody works hard, don't they? A fair day's wage for a fair day's pay and all that. Benefit fraud is something everyone can get behind: don't let the scroungers get away with it. That's why disabled people are increasingly targets for vicious attacks, because they're obviously scrounging. Never mind that the actual level of fraudulent disability claims is estimated at 0.5%. We all think that a proper education is important, so we should model our schools on Eton and Harrow, regardless of the fact that there just aren't enough nice little earners around - even if every one of us benefitted from a public school upbringing. Health provision ought to be private, and care non-existent - unless you can afford it. Stand on your own two feet. Get two minutes break if you finish your factory task early. Sign away your rights as a worker for a share in the company. On and on it goes.
The clearest demonstration of where we're heading comes not from the usual suspects in Birmingham, Manchester, Westminster, or wherever else they choose to peddle their lies, but from across the pond. Mitt Romney, with his comments about 47% of his own potential electorate, is the beast unclothed. A man of (an admittedly even more dubious than the standard ones) religion, he really believes that people should not be given ANY KIND of state support, he really does; and - as if things weren't already bad enough in the Land of the Free - his ideas are this close to becoming official US policy. Not long before, under the cloak of the lates austerity crisis, these all-but eugenicist ideas drift over here in a noxious cloud.
So. Where are WE? That WE who put in 12 hour shifts day after day for minimum wage; that WE who cry at night because we can't feed our kids properly or maintain a roof over our heads; that WE who are scared to become sick because no-one will care for us; that WE who are dispossessed of the pitiful belongings we have somehow guarded in all the adversity; that WE who can only dream of a clean water supply, and not have to walk miles to get it; that WE for whom any kind of education for our kids will never happen. How can WE make any of this better, while THEY set us against each other?
WE must rise up, must take back the pride which is rightfully OURS, must stand against the hatred and divisiveness of THEM - the evil men (and women) who seek to push our faces in the midden, calling US lazy or undeserving, telling US that WE must work harder to line THEIR pockets with more filthy lucre. Stand for each other and demand the right to a decent home, food for OUR bellies, clothes for OUR backs, education for OUR children, doctors to cure OUR ills, and respect for US as human beings. WE deserve nothing less.
17 comments:
A couple of questions: How do you define "education"? And, when people rise up, how does that work? Cheers.
The two things are inextricably linked, I would say. 'Education' means developing the critical sense to see through the lies and propaganda of such statements and concepts as 'the flight of wealth' or the opportunity to read about the realities of World War I, so that it isn't viewed as a matter of national pride.
This will enable us all to rise up, with a unified voice and deny the lies. I'm not saying it's easy, and I don't profess to be one who could lead such a movement, but it's time we all took a long look at the world, saw through the short-termism of acquisitive capital and aimed for a world community. We MUST do this for the sake of generations yet to come.
Thanks. How do people develop a critical sense?
By answering your stupid questions?
But seriously folks... Critical sense is developed through... wait for it... Education! First we must be allowed to absorb as much information as we are able, and then we must be allowed to examine the information and question it. This can be a catalyst, synthesising existing ideas into new ones and enabling us to understand the world a little better.
First: How can we judge if we are understanding the world better?
You pointed roughly finicky subject matter. These tips are very beneficial.
It's always empirical. Look at the world around us; filter out the lies which are fed to us; draw conclusions based as best we can on what we see/experience. Read.
Could you give some examples of how we can filter out lies?
Filtering is done by reading. By examining a situation from more angles. Do not simply accept what you are told, but question the information.
Is there a summary of where you're trying to get to, or will you continue to ask me question after question?
First, it's worth noting how annoyed people get when you ask them questions. People are often suspicious of the question-askers motives. This, I think, is how we are generally encouraged to be by our culture and especially our education system. Instead of checking whether the questioner is serious or not people make their own assumptions. This is very poor communication, but it's how we are all encouraged to be.
If education is best explained as "helping people understand how things work", then it's clear that at the core of any decent education system ought to be an effort to help people understand how communication works, as this is the only thing we will ever do. At the moment this simply doesn't happen. To check this idea, just ask anybody to explain to you how communication works.
Would you agree with these thoughts?
Yes I agree. What further thoughts do you have? How do we strive for a better world?
1: The basic goal of education should be to help people understnd how things work.
2: The only thing we do, as human beings, is communicate. Therefore it is vital to education that people understand how communication works.
3: It is understood that there is no correct answer ever. I may be talking complete and utter bollocks. However, as communication=describing + explaining+ asking + checking, I think it's fair to ask people to EXPLAIN exactly why I'm talking bollocks.
4: If you have a better explanation of how communication works, for fuck's sake please tell me and put me out of my misery.
I'm not clear why you're miserable. I don't have a better explanation of how communication works, and I am interested in your thoughts as a professional communicator on the matter. Neither do I think you are talking even partial bollocks. So there
Cheers. It's rare to get feedback on this subject, the worst and most un-communicative people have generally been to University, which I think helps prove my point.
As an aside : Hitler spoke a lot of bollocks, yet suffered from partial bollocks. A cosmic irony.
Did he really only have one ball, then? And how did the other one get to South Kensington?
Post a Comment