A social dichotomy

 

Subject: A social dichotomy

One of the thing which has struck me since the Megan and Harry interview is how much hurt there is out there. People ringing in to say how alike they feel about being a mixed race couple living in this country, the mental anguish of somehow being judged for marrying someone you love.

I know that phone-ins distort reality since they attract people who either have an axe to grind or people who are vulnerable for other reasons. It gives a platform not only to have a gripe but one in which they are stimulated to share their deepest fears. The internet has provided everyone with a platform, a soap box which when I was growing up only attracted the strong minded who had something to say. Mental issues were locked away in the Institution. “Out of sight out of mind” was the motto for many things, Children with ‘learning difficulties’ were deemed stupid, hypersensitive kids were naughty, and kids who looked different were shunned. 

In today’s world human complexity is acknowledged and  welcomed in so far as its a challenge, not an obstacle but with the freedom to know and speak out, it seems that everyone has something to point at, to explain a condition which for most of us we had never heard of, it’s as if we assume  everyone can be judged the same whilst still keen to point out, my child is different. Mothers parade their child's medical and mental history to describe any variation or anomaly, they quote chapter and verse derails of their Google research and parade this newly found knowledge to all who will listen. Medical science and the psychoanalytical assumptions made by a shrink continually churn out new definitions, new parameters to describe and encapsulate our children, it's as if the unpronounceable condition was a badge of honour.

The airwaves have also been alive with a great deal of caustic comment towards those who dared disagree with the Royal couples version of events, the latest and most high profile casualty has been Piers Morgan, the combative ITV morning show presenter who on suggesting that he didn't believe that Megan had sort help from the Palace regarding her mental condition was then attacked by another guest on his show, and in a fit of pique Morgan stormed out and resigned.

This highlights that tempers and feelings are running high. Piers Morgans comments made on the show immediately drew a stinging rebuke from 41.000 people who complained through Ofcoms complaints procedure. Who were these 41.000 and what segment of the population do they represent. Were they a collective like 'Me Too' the feminist group, or were they part of that increasingly vocal BME group (Black and Minority Ethnic), maybe the LGBT community, who knows we only count the numbers who protest not their bias's. This process of identifying yourself with a group is becoming common, except of course if you identify with a white group because then you become racist. 

The ramifications for driving new and deeper wedges into an already disintegrating society will only lead to Populist Parties seizing the opportunity to make race an issue to vote on. We are in danger of becoming unstable, creating ghettos in many of the towns and cities. Obsessed with issues which illustrate the inherent pressure of a multicultural society, becoming tokenised by group think, the them and us claims which mount daily on our media platforms. Any actions taken, no matter how well meaning, only underscores the dichotomy already at work in our society.