Thursday 11 August 2016

On the Social

Listen, you can hear the hum... it’s getting louder. That low whine, that hum, that meditative chorus of meemeemeemeemee permeates every space we inhabit these days and forms the sonic backdrop to all public life. The desperation not to offend, the eagerness to please and appease, the submission to a doctrine which says you must fight every instinct that made humans the planet’s top predator, its supreme survivor. The fittest will not forge ahead, it is writ, for the meek and feeble are more worthy and need an evolutionary assist to overcome the natural injustice which holds them back.

The unfortunately named Steve Rotheram (a constant reminder of the failure of the multicultural dream) is Labour’s candidate for the Mayor of Liverpool. He said “I will put social justice at the heart of my administration; something which I've been passionate about all of my political career.” Ah, I see, a fearless peddler of guilt and shame. How dare you not be female, gay, black, disabled or a bit slow? How dare you enjoy the undeserved advantages of your normality? How dare you even claim your numerical majority as evidence of your kind being winners in the game of genetic imperative? Make more copies of you? You sicken me.

Because, of course, even believing that you are ‘normal’ just because you fit the statistical definition of normativity is today considered to be a form of prejudice. You are a bigot without you having had to lift a finger. Think that fully-limbed athletes are ‘better’ at athletics? Bigot. Believe that the more usual pairing is one man, one woman? Homophobe! Notice that the suicide murders by people claiming allah for their own seem to be the exclusive preserve of those who identify as muslim? You sir, are an islamophobe and thus individually more dangerous for those fearful thoughts than the multitudes proposing death to the west.

How is it social justice to defend violent illegal immigrants, guilty of rape and assault and intent to kill, from deportation and insist they have more right to a decent life than those they have abused? How is it social justice to pillory christian bakers for refusal to bake a cake, yet defend the rights of others to demand the actual, bloody death of those denied that cake? One woman’s ‘justice’ is an affront to another woman’s belief system. The perpetrators of female genital mutilation are excused, even defended, on cultural grounds, yet wear a simple cross and the wrath of the system is visited on you. And why do black lives matter any more than any other?

Social Justice sounds like a noble desire. But where does it stop and more importantly, who pays for it? Because the punishment already falls on the shoulders of those deemed to be guilty; that is, keep your nose clean and dutifully pay your taxes into the public purse, year after year and then watch helplessly as those funds pour into the begging bowls of a thousand causes, each blind to the pettiness of their demands and the more urgent needs of others.


In a world with real social justice the simple libertarian principle of ‘do no harm’ should suffice. This, along with an acceptance that none of us is perfect might avoid the unedifying spectacle of the Olympic's ‘KisscamGate’ where people managed to be outraged by a simple, utterly harmless, off the cuff remark. As for the new push for 'equality' for women wearing a costume that tells the rest of us that they may want us dead, that can fuck off.  You call yourself a social justice warrior; why don’t you just grow up?

1 comment:

  1. How sad is it that your piece is so true?

    ReplyDelete