Oh well, there dies another article on the altar of censorship

We are all very familiar with the axiom of Murphy’s or Sod’s law, if something can go wrong, it will. I was 750 words into my latest article on the horrific political assassination of Sir David Amess which I intended finishing tonight after watching the UK Column. It is just as well that I did, for the government has widely issued a press release “Reminding” publishers and editors of the strict rules surrounding the Contempt of Court Act and any potential upcoming trial. Rather than make Swiss Bob sweat even more than usual as website owner, I have decided that discretion is the better part of valour and keep my fingers off my very clicky keyboard on this particular topic, for the time being at least.

Part of this reason is down to my natural insecurity as a writer. While I do not have a problem causing offence, it would deeply upset me if I did indeed cause offence to any individual that didn’t deserve to have their nose put out of joint. Damn it, there I go again. Hate speech, potential misogynistic violence threat alert. What I meant to say was “I encourage a robust exchange of polarised views”. Satisfied now?

God gave us two ears and one mouth so we really should listen twice as much as we talk. Sadly, there is no equivalent perfect ratio or metric when it comes to writing. I am always conscious when sitting at my lowly word processor (Open Office, none of that Bill Gates junk), that being an ebullient, verbose and opinionated Scotsman (Scotch is a drink), that I have great potential to go over the top. Apologies. Short people. I have done it again. See what I mean? I have probably already insulted the Irish and those anally retentive individuals who would consider “Sod” a swear word rather than a clod of earth. It is very easy to take offence, even easier to unconsciously be offensive without any deliberate motive. How many of us have said things in anger or after a few glasses of vino and regretted it as the tongue has been loosened somewhat under such circumstances? How much more difficult is it to be critical, fair and robust whilst avoiding such pitfalls as “Accidental offence” when all you really want to do is to get directly the nub of the matter, rather than being waylaid with all these distractions? Or to put another way, we first have to negotiate the treacherous and mined waters of gender, skin colour, nationality, physical capability and religious belief etc. before addressing any significant issue. For we can no longer call a spade a spade, irrespective if we deliberately wanted to use it as a racial slur or indeed in all innocence.

For the record, I don’t have a racist bone in my body, contrary to anything any (potentially) mentally ill diversity officer may tell me. You have to be bordering on the insane to promote and believe that positive discrimination is a good thing. I don’t have any difficulty with equal opportunities, and that is a perfectly rational and acceptable standpoint when it is based purely on merit and capability. The problem comes when we start slipping in “Allowances” for all these pesky differences we humans inevitably have. Two things then happen, those under the positive discrimination umbrella will quickly develop a form of elitism, and those outside of it will, just as rapidly, start considering themselves second class citizens. The overall outcome will be a corporate fall in morale, the esprit de corps, an essential component of a cohesive and healthy organisation, will then fall off a cliff unless it is pinned together with even more restrictive rules. So it then rapidly descends into bedlam. We then wonder why creativity and self motivation is withering on the vine. People are not allowed to be themselves. I am more than happy to be called a “White honky” (other insults available upon request, including gammon), if I can freely retort that you are a “Black bastard” (irrespective of your parenthood). Personally, I am generally not into trading such childish insults (except with the closest of friends), but if you start it, I might join in, if I consider you someone I could trust not to drop me in it. Hopefully, we can share a beer together and sort out our differences, if any in reality exist. If you are so superficial as to judge me by the colour of my skin, my beliefs or regional accent rather than my character and my actions, it is your loss. I fully expect the other fellow to think likewise.

I have brought my daughter up on this key principle. Character, and what people bring to the table, is far more important than any superficial label or social category. Another level down, and we start to look at lifestyle choices, and this is where the Left wing have successfully tapped a rich deep seam of resentment. Class war, social standing and wealth have been successfully used to drive divisions between people for far too long now. I will never forget the hurt I felt at the rebuke by a senior partner of the company I worked at when he realised I had “Romantic” inclinations towards his redhead daughter. I was told on no uncertain terms that she was off limits, and if I wanted to keep my job I had better stay well clear. He wasn’t very nice or pleasant about it either.  All I did was ask her out, and she, very gracefully replied that she would think about it, then promptly got daddy to go do her dirty work for her. I missed two bullets there I think, one from the wife and one from the father-in-law. I wonder what the response would have been if one of his low paid, West Indian employees had made an identical approach? Such snobbery, exploitation and machinations are not my style at all. I fully realise that we shit the same colour shit, bleed the same colour blood. It all comes down to the man or woman inside, and that value can only be assessed by interacting with them. That takes time and patience. Labels are quite often, meaningless.

For it is not until you start digging beneath the surface that you start discovering what is truly going on. All this political correct bullshit is just that – bullshit. However, it is very dangerous bullshit. Radioactive, toxic waste level bullshit. It infects everything, from insurance adverts to police uniforms. Rather than genuinely bringing us together of our own free will, it creates an artificial ambience of “Normality” when in truth, it is anything but that. As parents, we all know the worst behaved kids at the birthday party are those who were dragged there under duress. When you start governing what people think, what people say, you are going to get a lot of very compliant individuals with a rising, internalised resentment. This is especially true when the State starts interfering with what is said around the privacy of the dinner table, as is now the case in Scotland. Their latest foray into PC (Political Contemptuousness) via a piece of recent legislation (I can’t be arsed to look up the title as it sickens me so much), will allow a visitor to your home make an official complaint of “Hate speech” etc. should it be uttered inside the walls of your house. Think about it. You invite George Xyghlighamt for dinner, make a ribald or offensive remark after a few shared glasses of port, and plod will kick down your door and drag you away the next day. This it not civilisation, this is the Fascist state in action. I was considering moving back to Scotland at one stage, but no more. I’m far too ashamed of my birthplace now. We have gone from being some of the most independent and genuinely progressive thinkers, to a nation of politically subservient slaves. What is most shocking is the speed at which this deterioration has occurred.

All of this was predicted in Matthew 10 of the bible, where “Brother will betray brother to death”. Whilst some might baulk at that comparison, I can think of no better working example of a dark and malevolent state in action, be it religious or political. I suspect though, that our current troubles are more the latter than the former. We have reached that point where families are divided over Covid, but this is just one arrow in this ongoing spiritual war between good and evil. Brexit, immigration, abortion – every contentious issue under the sun is being converted from an ethical and moral one to a political and legal one, and therefore to be considered off limits, even to family or friends. If you have not watched the film (No, I can’t pronounce that word properly either) “The Devil’s Advocate”, I would strongly recommend it to the house. A bit bloody and gory in parts, it is a tragic morality tale that clearly highlights the plan to get corrupt lawyers into everything and overturn the natural authority of God. The movie even has oblique conversational references to Donald Trump and the Alex Cullen apartment scene was filmed in DJT’s personal apartment in Trump Tower. Produced in 1997, it was well ahead of its time on certain cultural issues, but I won’t give away any more spoilers here.

In essence though, those who embrace political correctness are deluded in their worship of this new “Religion”. Rather than confronting real life issues, such as the highest abortion rates being amongst Black women and the generational lack of Black fathers, it patronises the group by giving them special “Victim” status. This does more harm than good long term, as it drives a wedge between the very role models, groups and social identities that would primarily help deal effectively with such issues. The question “Is it because I’m Black?” is then easily answered. No it’s not, it is because you have swallowed the corrosive acid of PC. You have taken the bait, and in a vain attempt to maintain individuality and “Your culture”, you have been sold down the Mississippi to become a political tool and poster child, rather than an independent and autonomous individual. Repeat, ad nausem, for every “Minority” or “Special” case. In short, what your political masters give, they can just as quickly take away on a mere whim. As to those who promote such a vile and divisive ideology, at best it is misplaced empathy. At worst, it is a cold and calculating practice to have us all at each other throats, too scared to honestly share our views, however well meant or believed they are. Disagreement often comes with the territory when we are truly honest with one another, for not everyone will agree with what you or I think. That truism, if we are mature and well adjusted individuals, is just a natural part of being human. We have all had different life experiences, some considerably more traumatic than others. It is how we personally deal with these negative experiences that counts, not the colour of our skin or some token brownie point a political apparatchik pins to our lapel. Such badges are worthless in the greater scheme of things, especially when real adversity strikes rather than any faux political “Injustice”. What is most sickening though, is that on a human level, this undemocratic political philosophy has all the faithlessness of a cheap Parisian hooker, and as soon as a “More deserving cause” emerges, your “Cause” will quickly and quietly be forgotten about. Real people need real long term commitment, not some transient and unobtainable political unicorn. Of course, there is a way around that, pull the ladder up behind you once you have achieved your goal, but that wouldn’t be very considerate to others, would it? Of course, you could leave the ladder down and let your peers come and join you, but once you have filled the ranks with your own, the cycle will inevitably start over. Such is the peril and insecurity of a system driven by politicised privilege rather than individual merit. As there is no real sense of achievement, there is no real sense of worth, for inside, you, and indeed everyone else, knows that you are fake. This is the greatest con of PC and the “Woke” movement. Dig below the surface and you will see that it betrays more people than it rescues, causes more resentment than peace, opens more wounds than it heals.

The cure for this malady, is of course, even more straight talking. There is generally no more straight talking individual than the working class man or woman (NRS classification C2DE). Whilst the Middle and Upper classes remain financially secure, the last thing they ever generally want to do is to rock the boat, so they will “Go with the program” unless the water that is used to boil the frog is turned up just that little bit too high. Likewise, they will happily implement “Orders from above”, leaving those further down the food chain to pick up the pieces. Things are changing rapidly though, nowhere is this clearer than the recent anti-covid restrictions protests, where a good cross section of the public turned out including doctors, nurses and other professionals. This is good news, it means the PC brigade has awoken the sleeping beast, which up until now was drugged up to its eyeballs by the confining chains of wealth, social order and “Respectability”. Observing this happening, you can tell trouble is not far over the horizon, when the ABC1’s put their feet to the streets in protest. Hence the rush and desperation to implement more government censorship to keep a tight lid on the ever increasing dissent.

In the final analysis, I believe we are heading into a very dark winter indeed. The mood in the country is decidedly febrile, and our genuinely privileged Prime Minister has spaffed his 80 seat majority all over the alter of political correctness rather than dealing with the real issues that this broken and divided nation needs desperately and urgently to come to terms with. Fixated with the globalist agenda, bewitched with the illusion that he is Churchillian, the man is the dictionary definition of antiphrasis. There is much more trouble coming over the horizon, financial and supply chain issues amongst them, and there will undoubtedly be an energy crisis, be it brownouts, blackouts or just the inability to pay. The 1970’s political vibe has never been so prevalent at any timesince the 1973 oil crisis. Ironically, the end of that decade led to 18 years of effectively unopposed Conservative government. Today, Mrs R, a quiet and reserved “Red wall” C2, has vowed never to vote Conservative ever again. There are many more like her out there, myself included. As the chickens inevitably come home to roost this winter, in whatever form they may take, we can be assured of one thing. While the multi-headed hydra of political correctness, ongoing censorship and medical malfeasance continues unslain, anyone who pretends to be leading this country is an out and out charlatan. For all they are is a stooge and figurehead, a slave to undemocratic political dogma rather than a true inspirational leader deserving of any respect.
 

© Rookwood 2021