The old saying ‘It’s just not cricket’ expresses the survival of old chivalric norms of fair play, which survived into the sporting realm of more recent times. England and the UK, of course, can be credited with the Queensbury rules, even if the old Marquis himself fought dirty enough with poor Oscar. But sometimes, it seems we are not seeing enough of that spirit today. Especially when it comes to election in the UK; or indeed the USA, or elsewhere.
Let’s not forget that being able to win with dignity is one of the things that makes human beings creatures of fire and light, and not of dusty clay alone.
It’s time for people to remember that without discrimination, no true civic virtue is possible.
Nobody likes a sore loser, but I think we have a bit of a problem with sore winners too: in both the UK and the USA. There is a gradually escalating risk we will lose one of the only things that puts us above the animals: a profound and comprehensive power to discriminate. Not everyone who voted Labour is a ‘KKKorbyn KKKultist,’ but I am not convinced everyone in the UK is able to distinguish from ‘Jihadi Jez’ and his creepy friends (the top and bottom dregs of society alike), versus desperate, disillusioned and vulnerable people who just wanted hope.
PRO TIPS FOR THE MORALLY CONFUSED CITIZEN & VOTER
#1 Humility
If you’re against moral superiority, then maybe don’t be morally superior? Hope this helps.
#2 Discrimination
If you lose the power to discriminate between the elite media figures who used to stereotype you, versus people who simply voted different from you, how are you any better than the mainstream media themselves?
#3 Courage
If you’re worried about privileged activists who’ve never made any real sacrifice, then so be it, but this is a moral high ground of yours that needs to be defended, and not merely presumed upon. Winners can be cowards too, when they misdirect their rage against other people who, not unlike them, are also suffering from the corruption of the elected and unelected elites.
#4 Piety
You may not like Blair or Clinton’s professions of ‘faith.’ Their allegiance to God may well ring hollow to you. But don’t forget that if there is a ‘loony left’ of religion, there is also a ‘rabid right’ of religion, and everyone should be aware of thinking that God (by whatever name you or I may call him) is somehow indulgent towards one party or worldly ideology, and stricter towards another.
#5 Critical Thinking
If certain shallow talking points like diversity or tolerance are ‘superficial,’ then so be it. This doesn’t give you a licence to merely invert them. If ostentatious tolerance is the mark of an unfeeling, unthinking hypocrite, no less so is ostentatious intolerance. Instead of merely reversing the values of the elites, sometimes you need to think about asking new questions, and posing new dilemmas, instead of merely answering the same question but giving a different answer. Just as Communism is no alternative to wild west markets, the mere opposite of ‘diversity,’ ‘tolerance,’ ‘inclusion,’ ‘choice’ is no panacea. If you really want to move beyond neoliberalism and postmodernism, you need to be thinking outside of the box, and not paying homage to the thought or feel patterns you profess to despise.
#6 Compassion
‘So much for the Compassionate Left!’ Fair enough, but don’t forget that not everyone who voted for Labour or Democrats are from the ‘Compassionate Left.’ Some of them are genuinely compassionate, and didn’t particularly like feeling compelled to hold their noses for what, for better or worse, they perceived to be the least bad notion. The elite left may appear an unshakeable bloc of deluded, sycophantic, narcissistic ideologues (not unlike the elite right, dare I say it); but at the grassroots, ‘the left’ are a lot more complex and varied than people think. There is no shortage of working class people who are sick of the Wokies.
#7 Virtue Signalling
Many beautiful things have been eroded by recent economic tendencies. The fact there has been a longstanding refusal of the elites to laugh at the religious, the patriotic, and those with traditional family values, does not mean that reaffirming such values is itself a mark of virtue. Talk is cheap, and in order to really renew certain moral insights and motivations, it is necessary to live the truth, and not only speak it.
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