I have been watching recent events with absolute horror and fear that a lot of people are missing certain points whilst obviously seeking self aggrandisement at a time when we should be putting people, not politics, first.
I have long feared the prevalence of 'My God Is Better Than Yours!' thinking because it reminds me of the very woolly playground idea that 'My Dad is Bigger than Yours!.
I make no secret of having no faith.....in gods of any hue. This is not because I hate religion, I just see it as a human construct and although I see the logic of the ten commandments I question their source. For me religion is all about ideas and ways of securing superiority. In my long life I have known some really appalling Christians and some wonderful Atheists and vice versa. I am an Atheist because I have found that life without a god makes it easier for me to reconcile the disgusting behaviour of people in the name of what is really merely a bunch of ideas formulated over time but ones for which there is no empirical proof of source. I do envy the 'god's will' notion that reduces many to passivity, living without belief is certainly harder because I cannot fall back on god's will because we can exercise will too.
For me religion is often used to control large groups of people whilst elevating the social position of 'those in the know' the ones to whom their god speaks, the ones who claim to be rewarded with 'the word' and leader status because they are better or more pious than the hoi polloi upon whom charismatics feed.
As a child the house next door was the Manse for our local Methodist Church so I met a series of vicars and their families. The vicars were nice, some of the children were too but for some years I was swept up and taken to church each Sunday and I sat listening to sermons about loaves and fishes and Lazarus (logically a man in a coma). Those sermons were impossible for me to believe even to my pre double figures brain. I never bought it and have survived this life for almost seventy years without any sort of faith except in the frailty of humans who claim dominion over animals.
By mind set I lean towards an Hobbesian interpretation of people, life being short and people nasty and brutish. I cannot subscribe to Rousseau's notions of people being in a Miss World Contest collecting chocolate box tops and saving the world because it will take more than nice to save this world....from us. Once we own possessions we tend to build fortresses around them thus separating ourselves from 'the others' who we decry. True socialism works for young people, idealists who possess nothing, but ask one if they'll give you their i-phone because you don't have one and you're likely to hear their mental draw bridge go up as their goodies are threatened.
As a former sociology lecturer I am keenly aware of how easy it is to generate labels that condemn some and elevate others. Factions develop, people elevate themselves by comparing themselves to others deeming themselves better although so many of those labels are subjective and based on ignorance. Queen Victoria couldn't comprehend the mechanics Sapphic love (being somewhat randy herself) so while male homosexuality was criminalised and driven under ground female homosexuality was not and lesbians were not imprisoned for their crime against our sensiblilities.
We are still aiming to make our gods better than those worshipped by others, so obviously the tribe that worship Prince Philip are numpties. However, they aren't killing us in the name of their god so I would suggest that although I don't get it, it is harmless and there's the rub - supporting modern faiths and sects seems to lead to hypocrisy and its bed mate mayhem.
Of course I judge people too, there are many things about modern life that I don't like but when the events of Grenfell Tower become so politicised that people are seeking to blame a particular political leader I despair and fear that joined up thinking is dead and mourn the demise of logic. I watched with horror as Piers Morgan harangued Michael Gove the other day, Morgan was vociferous in espousing his opinions and his crass grandstanding made him look even worse than usual in my book, while I have never admired Mr. Gove I did that day because he didn't rise to the bait and remained calm and objective which is what all good politicians need to master.
There are numerous factors involved that led to the Grenfell Tower disaster, but it goes back more than ten years to when another block of flats burned, an investigation was made and a report returned to the sitting Labour Government advising them that if they wanted to avoid a repeat of the events remedial action was imperative otherwise it would happen again....and, having ignored the report, it bloody well did!
This isn't an issue about Con/Lab although I will point out that despite the young vote the Labour party did get less seats than the conservatives, something that the Corbynites studiously ignored while gloating over their non-triumph. People in councils make decisions and demographics are significant, had Grenfell Tower been in another part of Kensington and Chelsea it would, doubtless, have had better fire doors etc. People in power are susceptible to corruption as are many of us. For example I conduct a lot less non-religious funerals because I do not include any form of religiosity while there are many celebrants who will dance with snakes if you pay them enough and people do like to hedge their bets 'just in case'. My argument is that I am not trained or ordained and believe that the average person would prefer someone down front with Nanna who actually cared rather than someone who looked at her coffin and thought 'Kaching!' Payoffs are not rare, they are common, local government is rife with graft and people seeking plaudits and knighthoods. There is always at least one Popette who come out of the woodwork to object to this and that and to sing on charity records which, incidentally, is why some celebrities go into the Big Brother house - because of 'career sag/flag' or a book that needs promoting. Yet others visit quietly and without fanfare genuinely intent on handing out a hug and a pat of support.
By now I imagine you realise that I am a cynic dear reader, but lets not kid ourselves that the world is full of Ghandi's and Mother Theresa's - there are a lot of people out there with some serious blood on their hands. We must not blame Mrs. May for this disaster, I don't envy her, the poor woman cannot do right for doing wrong as she becomes the object of the collective wrath of people who don't know what to do. There is now talk of a group intent on rioting in protest, how stupid is that? Surely they've noticed that the killing by IS and others has not generated support in the west, we must maintain the civilised façade that we pretend we have, otherwise we are no better than the animals that are intent on killing us.
Retaliation was inevitable, when the troubled man drove a van into a group of people at their local mosque it was evident that he clearly needs treatment and a better understanding of how many Muslims are peaceable and decry the acts of the men on the bridge who stabbed people at will - they are not supporters of any god, they were just sad disenfranchised creatures with no ties to reality and even less hope of improving their lives until they meet the seventy virgins they are promised in the afterlife - although the prospect of an inexperienced man enjoying the favours of seventy virgins makes no sense to me - seventy hookers yes!.
Too many people have died in the name of greed and/or gods, I believe that adding an 'o' to god = good, I can try to do that, but I am only human and it is tempting to imagine that I know better than you, but I don't. I've just lived a long time and see the futility of so much that we have done to the planet. We don't own it, we just spend time here and it deserves to be left in the same condition that we found it.
When I see a baby of any hue, I fear for what sort of world it will grow up in. I will be gone in a few years and have thoroughly enjoyed being here but I do not like how things are going. Are we entering a new epoch, a facsimile of The Crusades of yore? Do we need to blow up all the buggers who threaten us?
We need to find a common cause that unites us and that will not be achieved in tit for tat retribution by bully boys who really just want to break windows and rip doors off. We need to open doors not rip them off their hinges, we need to work out exactly who our enemy is before we seek to destroy anyone who resembles who we think he is.
Disasters will always happen and lives will be lost but it is seldom one person's fault, it is a culmination of ideas formulated by disaffected people uniting to undermine that which they do not have - but that which they want.
