Letter to my (former) biographer; sacked without furlough from that position on https://www.youtube.com/user/Toothpaste007 after the start of the #PandemicEra in 2020:
13th May 2020
Dear Chris
What’s optimal for our developing our political perspective is talking in your kitchen IMHO so how about a conversation sometime to unfold what the different political approaches are, rather than just Facebook?
I’ll put forward that a major shortcoming of the Tories is they believe in what the Local Treasure of St Leonards & food bank co-ordinator,Natalie Williams, has written about in her book “The Myth Of The Undeserving Poor - A Christian Response to poverty in Britain today”
The mirror shortcoming of Labour I provisionally label “The Myth of The Evil Tory; our compassion doesn’t extend to hearing any one of them; we have our ‘enemy image’ to maintain”
There is a secondary problem in trying to change the government by backing the left. NB - an outdated paradigm the left-right one needing to be superseded by the interconnectedness perspective that I believe is the only way to turn around ecological doomsdays on the horizon.
The “baggage” that comes with the left these days doesn’t cut it on the estates; the example I give being this tweet from @LonsdaleKeith replying to @Keir_Starmer: "Thank goodness you lot didn't win in December. We'd have no PPE, no Nightingale hospitals but, diversity managers on every ward."
( http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com/2020/04/gaps-in-provision-of-kinderpolitics.html )
I really don’t want you (& all those you symbolise to me) to put great effort into Tory-hating and achieve so little in electoral terms all over again!
There is a way that saves more lives by practising what is so poorly labelled #NVC - nonviolent communication. With roots including the Indian Cultural Inheritance exemplified by Gandhi of ahimsa (non-harm) and the masterly recognition and development of the emotional intelligence of “needs consciousness”, please don’t mistake nonviolence for “being nice”. (On request I’ll send you the link to 180(?) ways to protest nonviolently). So, now we’ve established that nonviolent communication (often called “compassionate communication” or similar) is not the “nice”, in the pejorative sense of that word, thing you imagine it to be, please invest an hour at least in finding what has been one of the two most valuable discoveries of my life. As I continue to attempt to channel Marshall Rosenberg (who founded cnvc.org) I gain in confidence to truly hold anyone (& especially myself on the political stage) to account. What opens up, especially once others come on board, is the transformative possibilities of creating solutions where there were apparently incompatible agendas:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07q87sm
P.S. I’m working on bringing into being a book called “The Myth of The Evil Tory”.Chapter 1 has this provisional title!: How the BBC ran with the Hastings Labour Candidate’s misrepresentation of what the Conservative Candidate had said on disability and the minimum wage.
1 comment:
I think it is is HIGH time someone in academia said something like this!
I feel you are both correct and brave to highlight the wghat I call 'traditional weaknesses' of The Labour and Conservative Parties.
I do not for a moment think that Tory party members are evil nor do I think them uncaring. With Tories it os more about failing to understand that not everyone in the world is cut out for either 'making their own way in the world' or 'running a business'. Those who fall into either category appear to them to be lazy or 'workshy' but in reality it is simoply a case of round peg - square hole! Entreprenuers always take the attitude 'If I can do it so can you!' But this is to underestimate their talents and overestimate others!
We are all good at some things and LOUSY at others - try putting Boris on stage at The Albert Hall and getting him to sing Nessun Dorma, for example! What Boris? You don't want to do that! well, I CAN so you just can't be bothered!
See what I mean?
Equally, The Labour Party always seem to think that those who do well for themselves should support all and sundry - regardless of whether they are deserving or not. It is a fact, sadly that many people make bad choices and some - not all- do end up at the bottom because of those choices. Of course we should all try to help people like that to re-build their lives and get back on the right track but any support we give HAS to come with a commitment from that person to make an effort to change. It simply is not fair to expect people who are rich to just keep on 'bailing everyone out'. If (as many of these people have) they have worked 80plus hours a week for years to get where they are and become better off because of that then why shouldn't they be better off than most?
What I am trying to say is that there has to be a balance that takes in caring/sharing and the carrot of hard work/ and life advancement. No-one can do everything, which is why we all need each other - we as a society just need to find ways of appreciating what it is each one of us does more and not always thinking of a persons contribution in terms of money.
The only way forward to achieve this is by the 'kinder politics' you put forward Paul. Honest communication designed to resolve issues for the benefit of all and not just the political aims of one party or another.
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