Comparative storytelling.
Listening to the radio this morning one is struck by the gulf between stories depicting different societies, living their day to day lives on the same planet and yet different as chalk and cheese.
In one the harrowing stories once more emerging from the DRC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of terrified women with nowhere to hide, fearful of the young men in gangs armed with automatic weapons, willing and keen in their lust for blood, to slaughter whole families for no apparent reason.
In the other news event, Kyle Jenner youngest member of the Kardashian/Jenner family has become a billionaire at age 21.
Her success bolstered by the remarkable marketing, on TV of this family of four sister and their mother who's exotic lifestyle, streamed to American audiences became the 'must aspire to image' in this weirdly banal society.
Billionaires on the one hand, desperation and terror on the other.
People decry the juxtaposition of the west and Africa because of a whole range of reasons but it could be argued that economic disparity lies at the bottom of most of the difference. The personal disharmony, caused by the dismemberment of tribal discipline and tribal allegiance when young men move into urban surroundings was dealt with beautifully by Alan Payton in 'Cry the Beloved Country'. but there seems to be another level of disharmony amongst young black men these days.
There should be no difference between the hardship young white men encounter or the effect that that hardship has on them, and the ethnic affiliation and mutual recognition by colour which draws attention to the colour and makes colour the focal point of the story of so much of the recent spate of knife killings.
The disadvantaged do not only draw from the African domain of course. Any historical reading of the pre Windrush period would see deprivation in most Northern towns as well as the large urban sprawl of Glasgow. The book 'Angela's Ashes' depicts the horror of Limerick in Ireland, of hovels and sickness as bad as anywhere.
It seems that where and when the rule of law breaks down in a society, with parts of society ignoring or being encouraged to ignore the law on the assumption that law is determined by others for others and doesn't fit the self image of the disadvantaged, then the rules of behavior break down. The dislocation of identity in the 1930s between the Germans and the Jewish/Slavic races, or between the Protestant and Catholic segments of Irish society in the 1970s and now, between the disadvantaged black youth in our inner cities or the youth in Kinshasa, both who seem to randomise their targets, and all reflect that fine balance between acceptance and the need to destroy.
Billionaires on the one hand, desperation and terror on the other.
People decry the juxtaposition of the west and Africa because of a whole range of reasons but it could be argued that economic disparity lies at the bottom of most of the difference. The personal disharmony, caused by the dismemberment of tribal discipline and tribal allegiance when young men move into urban surroundings was dealt with beautifully by Alan Payton in 'Cry the Beloved Country'. but there seems to be another level of disharmony amongst young black men these days.
There should be no difference between the hardship young white men encounter or the effect that that hardship has on them, and the ethnic affiliation and mutual recognition by colour which draws attention to the colour and makes colour the focal point of the story of so much of the recent spate of knife killings.
The disadvantaged do not only draw from the African domain of course. Any historical reading of the pre Windrush period would see deprivation in most Northern towns as well as the large urban sprawl of Glasgow. The book 'Angela's Ashes' depicts the horror of Limerick in Ireland, of hovels and sickness as bad as anywhere.
It seems that where and when the rule of law breaks down in a society, with parts of society ignoring or being encouraged to ignore the law on the assumption that law is determined by others for others and doesn't fit the self image of the disadvantaged, then the rules of behavior break down. The dislocation of identity in the 1930s between the Germans and the Jewish/Slavic races, or between the Protestant and Catholic segments of Irish society in the 1970s and now, between the disadvantaged black youth in our inner cities or the youth in Kinshasa, both who seem to randomise their targets, and all reflect that fine balance between acceptance and the need to destroy.
Drugs and gangs make up part of the problem, feeling disenfranchised and out of control is another because many of the young people getting killed do not belong to gangs or drugs and seem collateral damage in this urge for blood letting.
We are a long way away from the mayhem in the streets of the Congo but the willingness to kill on command, or because of a self driven desire to do so, seems to have some sort of similarity.
In the 50s a single policeman could control 50 youngsters because of his status within society at large, a status parents passed down to their children. The uniform and what it represented and the implications of state power if you kicked against it were absorbed at an early stage. Well within my lifetime that control is gone and now we have 'the brothers' laughing as they film the violence of a white policewomen punched repeatedly by a black man trying to escape arrest. The video went viral and was seen, in some quarters as a kickback to authority, particularly white authority.
We are a long way away from the mayhem in the streets of the Congo but the willingness to kill on command, or because of a self driven desire to do so, seems to have some sort of similarity.
In the 50s a single policeman could control 50 youngsters because of his status within society at large, a status parents passed down to their children. The uniform and what it represented and the implications of state power if you kicked against it were absorbed at an early stage. Well within my lifetime that control is gone and now we have 'the brothers' laughing as they film the violence of a white policewomen punched repeatedly by a black man trying to escape arrest. The video went viral and was seen, in some quarters as a kickback to authority, particularly white authority.
In a rapidly expanding them and us environment, black on white, Muslim on non Muslim, Jew versus non Jew, feminist versus non feminist, gay versus straight, the list goes on, disadvantaged versus advantaged, rich and poor, educated and non educated the schisms in society are laid bare and amplified by 24 hour news and a torrid stream of related vitriol pumped though the artery of of social media.
There is no end to this comparative storytelling and no healing either.
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