I hate you, because of the colour of your skin, because of your political beliefs, sexual identity, height, weight, and because you are reading this essay. You disgust me for all of these reasons and you should be ashamed of yourself.
None of that statement was fair, and yet every day, people are judged not for who they are as individuals, but for labels that are placed upon them. It is horrible when people do that. We are all, each our own individual selves. Not the colour of our skin, our gender, our sexual orientation or food preferences.
It’s very easy to label people, I myself do it all the time, and it is likely that you too do it, even if you do not really recognise it within your normal day to day life. I have been labelled as many things, and oftentimes, I do not fit the blanket statement that covers those things. This is without doubt infuriatingly annoying.
Are You How You Appear?
An example of my being labelled and despised for it would be my political ideology. I see myself as a conservative. I do not support the conservative party of the UK. Because of the things I have said being maligned, sometimes purposefully and wilfully by others for their own political means, this has been used as a weapon to turn people who do not like the conservative party against me. Because I am conservative, I like the conservatives, they say. Well, no, I like to have a conservative ideology, but I might well think the entire party are a bunch of corrupt weasels. Something these people most likely believe themselves.
So where do I line up politically? I am right wing in that I believe in the inevitabilities of social hierarchies, and what’s more I think they are necessary. We can see this in governments, the idea of democracy, the fact that most people would rather happily work for an employer who will pay them less than they themselves earn.
I started my own business, and so do many others, but it is a rare thing where people are paid the same as their boss… If you run a business, do you take home equal wages to those who work for you? It is unlikely. I think it is nice we have a right wing structure that helps pay benefits in this country and supports the unemployed, the disabled and the people others refuse to help. A left wing society would instead state that it is society’s job as a whole to look after these people, but society doesn’t care enough to ensure that this would happen. As much as we would like to say we as human beings care, we do not. Otherwise these problems would not exist. It is only under a right wing hierarchy that these people can be looked after and protected.
Are these reasons to hate me? Of course! Because I am right wing, I am a fascist, socialist, racist, far right nazi with the urge to destroy society and everyone within it. All I yearn for is to watch the world burn… – Or so people would have others believe. This, of course, is not true. I can be a belligerent asshole at times though.
The left wing, according to every definition I have read, supports social equality and the idea that people are all equal morally and in terms of worth. It is in competition with the ideas of natural hierarchy, and I see it as being incredibly dangerous. This is because I see no evidence that anyone aspires for true social equality, because most that claim to engage in conflict with those that value social hierarchy, and you can bet your last dollar safely that they sure as hell won’t respect the opinions of others who have a different world view. Social equality also means social responsibility and most of those who claim to be left wing in their posts and arguments do little to support the needy, graciously relying on the right wing societal structures that help them so they don’t have to, whilst attacking them consistently. It is disappointing more than anything to see through the facade of these people who claim to care, yet do nothing to help their fellow man, attacking the very structures in place to protect them.
The issue is the muddiness of the water in the way both doctrines are perceived by the majority of people that espouse them. The majority of people on the vocal left will demean the right, for example, and claim moral superiority to them. This is an act of social hierarchy and would more typically fit the right wing ideology, which means that doing this is very hypocritical and not the kind of action one should generally expect of the left wing, at least according to its definition. I could comfortably say that most of the people who vocally assume their identity is left wing, or use the terminology to preach social justice are on the political right. Usually much further along than me to the point where I classify the, as far right extremists. The ones who want to change the world and alter the thought patterns of others and dominate through authoritarian means are the far right they fear so much. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.
But what about the social justice we fight for? You might say… I shall quote the great Thomas Sowell: “Since this is an era when many people are concerned about ‘fairness’ and ‘social justice,’ what is your ‘fair share’ of what someone else has worked for.
Let the left work that out, as the right have already found the solution.
Let’s work out a mathematical equation:
Take the amount of money you give to charity per month, supporting anything from friends to organizations.
Then take the amount you spend on yourself for luxuries, new shoes, socks, holidays, wine, meals out, takeaways, tattoos, hair dye, hair gel, caramel lattes, or sweets and treats from the shops. Things you don’t need to survive.
Which of these numbers is ultimately greater? In most cases, it will be the second one. I have several vices myself. I am an avid lover of Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper. Now if I take the amount I drink per month, I’m looking at about £80.00 – £90.00 which I’m not spending on helping other people. I don’t really have many other vices. Overall they equate to around £125.00 per month according to my workings out.
This is less than I give to helping others and supporting charities. I work on average around 60-70 hours a week, sometimes doing as many as 80 hours. I support organizations like Greenpeace, the PDSA and similar charities. Outside of this, I provide free services for small businesses, and spend hours supporting them and helping them grow for no financial gain. I write music for people’s films and ask nothing in return, not because my music is without value, but because I want people to be able to use it for anything they like. I have worked on taking down the websites of white supremacists who incited violence against people of colour and who doxed them. Some of the money that I get in ad revenue on this site will be going to charity, so by reading this, and enduring the ads, I would like to thank you for helping me help people.
Does this mean I’m a good person? Not really. These are just some of the actions that I take that most would associate with the left wing. I support charities because it is the right thing to do and help businesses and film makers because I know how hard it is to start out in these areas. I help fight racism where it exists because I believe that we as a species should not fight each other based around petty differences.
Morality… Let’s Pretend.
Let’s look at things morally. I’ll start with a horrifying statement: “I do not care about the homeless.” Do I give money to the homeless? Absolutely! I also give recommendations for them to contact Emmaus, or advice if they want it. But do I actually care? No. I’ve never asked a homeless person to stay with me or tried to directly help them or try to personally fix anything in their life. That would be the action of someone who truly cared. So, with this in mind, I cannot pretend I truly care. Making a big racket about how I care all over social media would be pretty ridiculous if it is simply not the case. But I see this every day. “I’ve given a homeless person this! Look at me, I’m a good person.” Is it really you who has helped the person or has the homeless person helped you gain social favour. You have used your ‘charity’ to make yourself look good, ergo it’s not charity at all. That person has helped you look good and you have exploited them for public acclaim.
Every day, I see people who screamed Black Lives Matter when George Floyd died, yet not only did they not care about the death of David Dorn, but they were quick to drop Floyd the moment it was discovered he had a criminal past. He no longer fit the role that was needed, and quickly more names were brought forth that people could believe in and have something to be outraged about. I am still upset that George Floyd was murdered, regardless of who he was before it happened. He was still a human being, and it angers me how quickly people swept him under the rug. Even now, just a few months later as I write this, people have already forgotten.
When George Floyd was murdered, I was upset to learn a police officer had taken the life of someone. It didn’t make a difference to me what colour his skin was, nor, as I later found out, that he had been a criminal. What upset me was the unjust killing of someone at the hands of someone who should have been there as a protector.
The people who were quick to abandon George Floyd and cheer for the riots in the United States showed not a shred of care for David Dorn who lost his life in them, or the others who died. They endorsed the riots and supported them on social media, caring not a hoot for the lives the riots destroyed. Businesses of people of many different nationalities and skin colours utterly destroyed in sheer acts of incomprehensible hatred. So many people were part of it. So many people died because of it. So many people kept cheering through the bloodshed and had the gall to claim that these riots were peaceful protests. These people are idiots. Human beings lost their lives, businesses, friends and family, it’s not something to celebrate. Nothing good came out of it at all, other than more hate. The N word was trending higher than normal had on Google trends racial attacks and hatred were up. This situation did more damage than good and drove people apart.
What does this mean when insofar as social media is concerned?
It’s simple. George Floyd’s life was something to post about, something to get angry about, a reason to scream and argue and shout. Learning more about him, people no longer considered him a martyr, that would be unsafe. So they didn’t really care about him, his family, the situation or anything else. They looked for more “black” people who had been killed by police. They found Breonna Taylor. They used her for their own self grandeurization on social media as they had with George Floyd. They don’t care about her either.
Hate is Easy, Love is Hard
It’s very easy to be angry and it’s very easy to hate. To hate me for being a conservative, to hate the policeman that killed George Floyd for what he did, to hate George Floyd for being a criminal. For hating him because of his colour or his gender, for anything.
When someone says: This person is a “Label” it’s easy to think of the label as being the only thing that person can be. There are people I dislike because of the labels they have marred themselves with. As a father I am very opposed to pedophilia, as I think most sane people are. But in the normal context of day to day life, if you learn someone has a specific label, it doesn’t mean they fit the mould. Often people,not assume they understand the labels as we often see when it comes to left and right.
If someone has a belief, they can also be wrong and learn later on in life that they were wrong. I used to be a communist, believe it or not. Many might have hated me for that, but hatred only creates a bad reaction which can further spur someone down a dark path. It’s only by showing compassion to people and trying to show a different way of life that we can ever really find out what lies beneath a label. Now I would never say that communism is a good thing and I have had several hard arguments with friends about it. When we learn and study, we grow up and I’m glad I’m not the person I was 10 to 15 years ago.
In care work, we are taught to see the person first. This is part of dementia training and I think it is a very valuable lesson to teach. You see a person, they might be your friend, someone you’ve known for years, and they have a different thought – maybe something you might be opposed to. It doesn’t change who they are, and it is something that should be discussed with them. The next time you see someone with a different world view, try to understand where they are coming from. It’s only by trying to understand and being on the level with people that we can ever teach them and build a better world.
Just your average space adventurer turned blogger. Prematurely balding. Egad, no! Forsooth!
