Being anti

In a conversation I had recently, I was accused of being anti Jewish. It could have been anti Muslim, anti Establishment, anti Authoritarian, anti Elitism, anti Women, anti Gay, anti Drugs, anti Security, anti the Educational Establishment but this time it was anti Jewish.  The list of anti's is fairly long because at some time or other I have criticised certain aspects of all these groups largely driven by what I see as their over reaction to criticism.

We all have flaws, we all are guilty at some time or another of following our stereotype, reverting to norm, being what we are accused of.
But it seems in this age of infinite attention and none stop communication we begin to build a fortress mentality behind which we fester with a false image that we feel we must provide ourselves with to continue to establish who we are. Criticism is seen as hurtful even hateful rather than just someone's observation based on what they believe they have discovered over time. 

Truth as we mentioned in recent blog is relative. Our own perspective is often fractured by our involvement and our own proximity and whilst it's important to preserve our loyalty we mustn't be blinded by facts if they present a different conclusion regarding whoever we wish to reserve our loyalty for.
All of history is full of things which people should perhaps not feel too proud about but sometimes that very history is the problem since it is often the bedrock on which 'exceptionality' builds a smokescreen and we begin to judge others as inferior or simply different. The difference becomes a way of defining our exceptionalism, of making us not only feel different, but superior.
Defining oneself as special with all the protection that is implicit in maintaining ones speciality drives our understanding of others and the way we appear to others, into a dark place. A questioning voice raised in asking perfectly reasonable questions of your exceptionality becomes hurtful especially if the questioning comes from someone outside the group.

The task of every mind is to comprehend "reality" accurately. If we 'deny' ourselves this task, not only to comprehend but on comprehending, criticise, (if there is need to criticise), if we deny for the sake of harmony then we land ourselves in the situation many people in this country and across the world find themselves, scared to opinion for fear of up-settling, or worse, being branded as one of those chronic undesirables, a seeker of truth.