By Martin Brisland.
The social and political discourse in the UK has become so very toxic. How did this happen?
Things certainly got worse during the Brexit referendum in 2016. It quickly turned into two sides with entrenched views unable to reasonably debate the issues. People only listening to those who confirm their own opinions.
Starting with President Trump we saw the dismissal of facts as ‘fake news’ if they did not agree with your narrative. We have entered what has been described as a ‘post truth’ world.
At school, I was a member or the debating society team that took part in inter school competitions. We were to have a formal debate on hanging and I was to speak against the reintroduction of the death penalty. That seemed easy as this aligned with my own views on the subject. The day before our teacher said he had deliberately misled us, and we were to speak in favour of the death penalty. His logic was to make us see the other side of the subject.
That has stayed with throughout my lifetime.
I still try to walk a mile in another’s shoes before reaching a judgement. In the Bible, Paul says in Romans 12:15-16 that this is a step to learning to love the one you hate. Today that feels increasingly difficult to achieve.
Societal division is nothing new. Roman Emperors knew that to control you needed to divide and conquer. If ordinary people were pacified with ‘bread and circuses’ (meaning food and entertainment) and were moaning about each other, they were not unified enough to revolt against their powerful rulers.
At its worse the current societal division has led to violent and tragic consequences.
“We are far more united and have more in common than that which divides us” was a line from the 2015 maiden speech of Labour MP Jo Cox. Previously in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said, “What unites us is far greater than what divides us”. Jo lost her life in June 2016 when Thomas Mair, a holder of far right and white supremacist views, shot and stabbed her.
Why do some people embrace what others consider extreme views?
In 1929 the Wall Street Crash on the New York stock exchange led to the Great Depression in the USA and economic problems across Europe. In Germany it was said that if you left out a wheelbarrow full of Deutschmarks somebody would steal the barrow and discard the money. Deutschmarks had become worthless due to hyperinflation. This helped the rise of fascism as many were attracted to their alternative rather than to conventional politics.
In England, the British Union of Fascists (BUF), was founded by Sir Oswald Mosley in 1932. A notable early supporter was Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail.
On the 18 of July 1937, a Sunday evening, a huge crowd assembled on the Common. Estimates vary between 15 and 2 thousand.
Mosley spoke from the top of a loudspeaker van and was surrounded by his black shirted bodyguards from the East End.
Despite heckling, he spoke for about 45 minutes. As the mood became ugly missiles were thrown. Attempts were made to encircle the van and pull Mosley down.
The crowd surged and Mosley was hit in the face by a stone. The police ushered him toward a tram on The Avenue and with police protection it was able to move through the crowds towards Holy Rood. From there he was taken to the South Western Hotel then put on a train back to London.
Much responsibility for the current polarisation must lie with the social media companies who allow people to publish extreme comments online with little consequence.
Surely this is often just hate speech rather than the use of free speech?
In a previous era, people would send anonymous poison pen letters through the post, but technology has enabled the rise of the keyboard warrior.
So where does all this end?
Writer EM Forster gave one vision. He predicted globalisation, the Internet, video conferencing and other aspects of 21st-century reality.
Known for works such as A Passage to India and Howards End, his 1909 dystopian short story is called The Machine Stops. It is set in a world where, due to climate change, humanity lives underground. Each individual lives in isolation below in a standard room. All survival, comfort and entertainment needs are met by the omnipotent, global Machine.
The technology itself becomes the ultimate controlling force. People forget that humans created the Machine and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own.
Finally, the Machine collapses, bringing ‘civilization’ down with it.
Food for thought?
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