blamebrampton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blamebrampton) wrote2009-01-02 11:34 pm
blamebrampton) wrote2009-01-02 11:34 pm
On the ninth day of Christmas, blamebrampton gave to me ...
A moment of seriousness, and a little life history.
This year looks as though it will be an economically difficult year. People of my age have seen things this bad twice before, in the late 80s and in the 70s. Both times, there were good things that came with the economic crunches, and the very very bad.
The good things were multiple. People helped each other. Skills were valued and used, and we stopped acting as though everything was throw-away. Coming from a family of rabid environmentalists who used saddles until they fell apart and would trot out clothes from any point in the last century when the grandkids whined they wanted dress-ups, this was perfectly fine by us!
The bad things were summed up by the National Front. All of a sudden, anyone 'outside' was unwelcome. This seemed absurd to me then and seems absurd to me now. And yet the patterns of insularity and closure that were comparatively understandable when they led to a 'buy local' campaign became horrific when they were the basis for campaigns of radical racism.
I never knew anyone who joined the National Front, I'd have stopped talking to them if I had. But I did know people who said 'Well, I don't hold with their violence, but I understand it ...' To which I responded every time: 'Bullshit.' Because it was. And if anyone was going to argue that white was right around me, I was going to put my inner arm against theirs and argue that I was whiter and therefore righter (this argument once worked a treat for me, sadly.)
This time the racism is quieter, but looking at the US, I strongly feel that the Anti-GLBT sentiment that has bubbled up again having the same source. And I can't talk about any part of the Middle East without frothing, so I won't.
The thing that we forget when times are hard is that all of us are responsible for each other. Those economic refugees coming to Europe are coming from countries that we have locked into contracts that skew their economies away form local production and distribution. Those drug addicts stealing our laptops and bikes are the natural consequence of campaigns against injecting rooms and medically prescribed heroin
This year, look out for what you can do to make your community a community for every member, not just the ones who are like you. Find ways of including its newest members, see if you can help the oldest. The National Front didn't become popular the last two times because most people are evil, it was because most people feel powerless, and that leads to anger. If you and those around you work to empower each other, even if it's just with community gardens and local bartering of services, then you will gain the benefits of cooperation, and not go down the paths that lead to futility and anger.
Sorry this one is a bit of a downer, I've been reading online papers from around the world and I am ever so slightly nervous. And I am just about to go and finish yesterday's list!
This year looks as though it will be an economically difficult year. People of my age have seen things this bad twice before, in the late 80s and in the 70s. Both times, there were good things that came with the economic crunches, and the very very bad.
The good things were multiple. People helped each other. Skills were valued and used, and we stopped acting as though everything was throw-away. Coming from a family of rabid environmentalists who used saddles until they fell apart and would trot out clothes from any point in the last century when the grandkids whined they wanted dress-ups, this was perfectly fine by us!
The bad things were summed up by the National Front. All of a sudden, anyone 'outside' was unwelcome. This seemed absurd to me then and seems absurd to me now. And yet the patterns of insularity and closure that were comparatively understandable when they led to a 'buy local' campaign became horrific when they were the basis for campaigns of radical racism.
I never knew anyone who joined the National Front, I'd have stopped talking to them if I had. But I did know people who said 'Well, I don't hold with their violence, but I understand it ...' To which I responded every time: 'Bullshit.' Because it was. And if anyone was going to argue that white was right around me, I was going to put my inner arm against theirs and argue that I was whiter and therefore righter (this argument once worked a treat for me, sadly.)
This time the racism is quieter, but looking at the US, I strongly feel that the Anti-GLBT sentiment that has bubbled up again having the same source. And I can't talk about any part of the Middle East without frothing, so I won't.
The thing that we forget when times are hard is that all of us are responsible for each other. Those economic refugees coming to Europe are coming from countries that we have locked into contracts that skew their economies away form local production and distribution. Those drug addicts stealing our laptops and bikes are the natural consequence of campaigns against injecting rooms and medically prescribed heroin
This year, look out for what you can do to make your community a community for every member, not just the ones who are like you. Find ways of including its newest members, see if you can help the oldest. The National Front didn't become popular the last two times because most people are evil, it was because most people feel powerless, and that leads to anger. If you and those around you work to empower each other, even if it's just with community gardens and local bartering of services, then you will gain the benefits of cooperation, and not go down the paths that lead to futility and anger.
Sorry this one is a bit of a downer, I've been reading online papers from around the world and I am ever so slightly nervous. And I am just about to go and finish yesterday's list!
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I absolutely understand why people turn to extremism. Not, I hasten to add, because they're my own views, but because the root is always the same: fear, and a lack of knowledge, and selfishness. I can't think of any extremist behaviour that doesn't somehow boil down to fear - of change, or of the lack of change - combined with feeling hard done by somehow. And often people HAVE got the short end of the stick. They just don't see that they're not alone in that.
What, was I supposed to have a point? :p
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2009 will apparently not be my year for increased sensitivity.
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