The articulation of a persons 'dissent' within a society is often labelled, by that society, as their being an 'extremist'. One of the reasons for this is that, 'what the dissenters say' hits at our comfortable assumption of life within that society.
The politics of our time, seems predicated teaching us to avoid many of our actual and quite realistic fears and appears to only listen to a middle class echo of their own experience. The tendency to claim that views held outside the mainstream centrist fold are extremist, be it from the left or the right, is to misunderstand the actual makeup and complexity of society at large.
Extremism, other than religious extremism is often born of people being ignored, of not being listened to, of being labelled and criticised for speaking out particularly when the actuality of what is said makes the mainstream uncomfortable.
Every man and woman has their own truth. We are educated to think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions and yet there is a strong force which seeks conformity through the minimisation of any discord. Which seeks to demonise people who's views are not in accord with the perceived wisdom of those in the controlling centre.
The whole, raison d'etre of Political Correctness is to differentiate and label what is thought acceptable and what is not. The use of 'words' to demonise whole spectres of thought has produced a cowed population which makes the articulation of a un-PC opinion sound so discordant and we have few analytical tools in our mental tool box to distinguish reason from unreasonableness in what is being said.
Passion for a non mainstream way of thinking is deemed anti social, even when the dissent is all about the disruption of our social affairs by the callous disinterested nature of our elected representatives, or that huge swathe of Middle England who have been indoctrinated by a political culture which places them, not only first and foremost but has a tendency to despise everyone else.
The likes of Tommy Robinson described by the media as a creature of the right wing would see themselves much more the representative of the 'social left' in their articulation of the disadvantages of being poor and homeless. Their underlying concern, that the distortion that other cultures and religions can bring to a settled society and their claim that economic hardship, lack of housing and jobs is made much worse by the pressure of immigration is an argument only articulated by the likes of Robinson and contrasts with an almost stony silence from our elected representative.
The political Left would apologise for, in their eyes, such a crass set of assumptions but never the less the economic disadvantages where the migrant population have settled, in the inner cities of many of our old industrial towns is part an indicator of what happens when when the economy dies or moves away and the workforce, distorted by an unnatural growth of people, due to an influx of migrants, puts a strain on the established society, now made redundant.
The political class have been craven in not articulating the problem of failed urban centres, either because the system of elite schooling for the well off makes them blind to life outside their comfort zone, or the equally craven inability of the so called political Left to dare criticise the make up of these 'left behind' cities in which the migrant section of the population often live. The situation is made worse by the lack of assimilation by the migrant group into an English culture and way of life and the poverty of opportunity in these areas highlight the struggle for a future. This struggle is of course shared by the indigenous people who see their own values thrust aside in favour of the migrant a more dominant , often religiously motivated new comer who's recent past in the countries they left behind was infinitely more precarious and they can therefore weather any economic downturn with an apparent natural fortitude.
The 'extremist' seems to be the last person standing who will represent that frustrated societal underbelly, "the indigenous left behind", who's values, such as they are have almost been extinguished as they become part of antiquity, part of a time when their collective identity was acknowledged and heard.
The politics of our time, seems predicated teaching us to avoid many of our actual and quite realistic fears and appears to only listen to a middle class echo of their own experience. The tendency to claim that views held outside the mainstream centrist fold are extremist, be it from the left or the right, is to misunderstand the actual makeup and complexity of society at large.
Extremism, other than religious extremism is often born of people being ignored, of not being listened to, of being labelled and criticised for speaking out particularly when the actuality of what is said makes the mainstream uncomfortable.
Every man and woman has their own truth. We are educated to think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions and yet there is a strong force which seeks conformity through the minimisation of any discord. Which seeks to demonise people who's views are not in accord with the perceived wisdom of those in the controlling centre.
The whole, raison d'etre of Political Correctness is to differentiate and label what is thought acceptable and what is not. The use of 'words' to demonise whole spectres of thought has produced a cowed population which makes the articulation of a un-PC opinion sound so discordant and we have few analytical tools in our mental tool box to distinguish reason from unreasonableness in what is being said.
Passion for a non mainstream way of thinking is deemed anti social, even when the dissent is all about the disruption of our social affairs by the callous disinterested nature of our elected representatives, or that huge swathe of Middle England who have been indoctrinated by a political culture which places them, not only first and foremost but has a tendency to despise everyone else.
The likes of Tommy Robinson described by the media as a creature of the right wing would see themselves much more the representative of the 'social left' in their articulation of the disadvantages of being poor and homeless. Their underlying concern, that the distortion that other cultures and religions can bring to a settled society and their claim that economic hardship, lack of housing and jobs is made much worse by the pressure of immigration is an argument only articulated by the likes of Robinson and contrasts with an almost stony silence from our elected representative.
The political Left would apologise for, in their eyes, such a crass set of assumptions but never the less the economic disadvantages where the migrant population have settled, in the inner cities of many of our old industrial towns is part an indicator of what happens when when the economy dies or moves away and the workforce, distorted by an unnatural growth of people, due to an influx of migrants, puts a strain on the established society, now made redundant.
The political class have been craven in not articulating the problem of failed urban centres, either because the system of elite schooling for the well off makes them blind to life outside their comfort zone, or the equally craven inability of the so called political Left to dare criticise the make up of these 'left behind' cities in which the migrant section of the population often live. The situation is made worse by the lack of assimilation by the migrant group into an English culture and way of life and the poverty of opportunity in these areas highlight the struggle for a future. This struggle is of course shared by the indigenous people who see their own values thrust aside in favour of the migrant a more dominant , often religiously motivated new comer who's recent past in the countries they left behind was infinitely more precarious and they can therefore weather any economic downturn with an apparent natural fortitude.
The 'extremist' seems to be the last person standing who will represent that frustrated societal underbelly, "the indigenous left behind", who's values, such as they are have almost been extinguished as they become part of antiquity, part of a time when their collective identity was acknowledged and heard.
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