The other sort

You know who they are. The ones who don’t contribute anything. The ones who take up space and no one would miss if we culled them. The ones who are a veritable misuse of carbon atoms, and whose demise would improve the overall state of the planet. Who you are will determine who you define as being the other sort. And somewhere, there will be someone who would be very glad to put you on the ‘cut’ list.


Wouldn’t it be better if we got rid of the (insert name of hate object here)?


My prejudices include those who are wilfully stupid (not biologically disadvantaged) abusers, those parasites who make fortunes that cripple nations, and the politicians who let them get away with it and keep bleeding the poor. And there are days when, if someone suggested we line them up against a wall and shot the lot of them, or course I’d be tempted. I have the distinct impression this whole ‘them and us’ mentality is pretty much hardwired into how a lot of us think. It’s easy to play on and manipulate, as well.


It is the sure and certain knowledge that plenty of people would put me on their extermination list, that keeps me on my toes with this issue. It’s when you start getting smug and comfortable in your superiority, along with other people who support that sense of betterness, that the trouble starts. The people I hate most, do this. They sit around in their very plush ivory towers and condemn others by the thousands for being poor, under-educated, desperate. I will not get rid of them by emulating their methods. Even if there are days when I think that a hungry crocodile roaming the corridors of power might be a good thing.


What makes me endlessly frustrated is the people who participate in their own oppression. The whole system depends so heavily on this. The folks who get into debt buying overpriced Christmas presents. The folks who have so bought into the myth of consumption that they barely see their own offspring. The people who do not realise that identifying when you have enough is the most liberating thing. We do it to ourselves, aided and abetted by media, government and advertising. Not that there’s always much difference between the three.


The question that plagues me, has this sort of shape. How to reach out to the people who are, from my perspective, blithely oppressing themselves, damaging the planet and facilitating the crap? How to lure them over to this side of the fence. I know, when I blog here I’m mostly talking to people who think in the same way. Short of standing on street corners with placards, how do I reach out? Has anyone else had any luck trying to do outreach work?



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Published on September 16, 2012 05:03
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