DIVIDE AND RULE WHAT?
JANUARY 7th 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16423278
Shadow
Health
Minister Diane Abbott has apologised for any offence caused by
comments she made on Twitter, after claims they were racist.
She
said
she had not meant to generalise when she
wrote: ''White people love playing 'divide & rule'".
Perhaps a few more advemtures into the realms of absurdity might burst
the bubble of political correctness. Of course Diane Abbott got hauled
over the coals for her Divide and Rule remark because of her public
position, but nearly all those who rebuke or defend her are just as
off-target as she is. I only comment here in the hope of enlightening
both sides in the hope that we hear less from all of them.
If the word 'white' in that sentence had been replace by 'some' (i.e.
"Some people love playing 'divide and rule'") it just might be true,
though whether people love or even like what they find themselves doing
in order to hold down a job, be it at the summit of government, the
bottom layer or anywhere in between, is merely an assumption on the
part of an observer or commentator. As one who spent a year or two
tending the needs of refugees from black Africa I can tell you that
when it comes to using the technique of divide and rule, black rulers
put white ones in the shade in terms of pure brutality and ruthless,
unmitigated violence. I don't think they learned this more from white
rulers than black, if they learned it from anyone, though many refugees
cursed the colonisers for leaving monsters in charge.
When the principle of 'unite and govern' fails, there are not all that
many altenatives if government rather than anarchy is called for by
those defenceless against the ravages of unfettered opportunists.
However, the priority at this time if we are to avoid an absurd descent
into meaningless debate and discord is to realise that there is no RULE
in the sense that some of those who believe themselves to be oppressed
imagine it. Oppression even in the UK is more often the result from the
absence of rule and the abuse of rules, designed often for the
protection of the vulnerable. Such as those that now prevent doctors
from assisting a peaceful death.
Diane is not a racist. Let me use a few well known cliches to describe
her. She she is just a woman doing her best punching well above her
weight, and way out of her depth at the same time. She believes she has
experience that others do not have and cannot replace with their
imagination, intelligence and empathy. She is choc full of assumptions,
extrapolations and opinions and therefore although her acquired and
developed skills allow her to do her job (maybe very well) she will
inevitably put her
foot in it if asked a question that contrary to her own judgement goes
a bit beyond her box.
It is unimportant whether Diane's remark is considered racist by whites
or blacks as it couldn't matter less either way. Nor can she be praised
for 'telling the truth' as some have claimed since as I have pointed
out is not even a pretence at a statement of fact. It is the daft
opinion of a daffy, probably very nice, woman, as many of us know from
listening to her on the evening TV show this week with its equally
daffy white male presenter who suffers from an amazing excess of
self-esteem but whom I also would not like to be without. We need these
people.
As an after-thought, it would help if the words colour and race
were not used as if they were interchangeable in any given context..