"Get over it, Move on the leitmotiv of the political now"
I watched the Trump Clinton debate last year during the Presidential election.. It echoes debates all around the world, There is the simplistic closing of the mind. Many have been seduced by the simplistic refrain of being anti immigrant. It is inspiring that Jeremy Corbyn refuses to say he will talk numbers on immigrants. It is wonderful that he states that the problems caused by immigration are not the problems of the immigrants bit are the problems of the economic system. These are the problems of how housing and education are provided for, Immigration does effect communities and does effects wages and services and so it is the job of government to build sufficient houses , to provide schools and services necessary. Th job of a political party is to educate, inform, advise and to help. It is not to pander to Farage, Trump or Marine Le Pen. Its job not to pander to the daily mail and the Sun. Shortages are caused by economic decisions not migrants. Politics is more than the cynical “move on, get over it” Its the shorthand that so many pseudo racists and the new right use. Its a leitmotiv of the continuing hope of the Right for the continuation Thatcher revolution. Its the leitmotiv of closing your door and your eyes to the community. Its the leitmotiv of branding the other ,the scrounger and the parasite.
I then remembered another Jeremy who has been in the news recently. That Jeremy was of course Jeremy Kyle.Kyle's approach is simplistic, it is “get a job” ( no mention of the minimum wages, no understanding of deskilling, no appreciation of the nature of modern work, no understanding of globalisation, the rise of the multinational and the impersonation of large sections of the public, and the rise of the conservative simplistic agenda), “put something on the end of it” ( no appreciation of the complexity of human passion, no appreciation of the poor quality of sexual education in our schools and and no understanding of how broken and vulnerable that we all are) and finally “give up drugs” ( no understanding of addiction, the wide availability of drugs and the failure of the so called war upon drugs). Kyle solutions are simplistic , individual and crass beyond belief.
There is an analogy between Kyle's outlook and the simplistic model of conservatism. Conservatism equated the national economy with the family budget. It draws parallels between how both work. It ignores the fact that a a modern states political economy produces its own currency, has imports and exports and commits itself to the illusion of debt. The modern individual , or family does not have this choice. The logic of the Kyle show promotes a similar myth, the analogy it draws is toxic , shameful and gives simplistic Cognitive Behavioural approaches to complex situations stored in structures going back many years, are ignored, denied and hidden.
The Kyle show is a conservative approach to the problems of modern life, of our loves and our relationships. Austerity is the Cognitive behavioural Therapy of this Conservative government. It is simplistic and lacks a real understanding of the numerous problems that we all face.
Of course Cognitive Behavioural approaches has value when allied with wide ranging approaches and means of analysis but simple fundamental approaches offer little. Conservatism has become a religion, Corbyn,the Green Party and similar movements stress the challenge that dissent brings to the high priests of neo liberalism. As Thoreau once said “ certainty is the hobgoblin of the closed mind”. Perhaps we should add simplistic solutions as a new example of the closed mind. The main stream
politicians even look like Kyle is this an accident I wonder?.
“[Charity] is not a solution [to poverty]: it is an aggravation of the difficulty. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible…Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to do most good…” Oscar Wilde
I watched the Trump Clinton debate last year during the Presidential election.. It echoes debates all around the world, There is the simplistic closing of the mind. Many have been seduced by the simplistic refrain of being anti immigrant. It is inspiring that Jeremy Corbyn refuses to say he will talk numbers on immigrants. It is wonderful that he states that the problems caused by immigration are not the problems of the immigrants bit are the problems of the economic system. These are the problems of how housing and education are provided for, Immigration does effect communities and does effects wages and services and so it is the job of government to build sufficient houses , to provide schools and services necessary. Th job of a political party is to educate, inform, advise and to help. It is not to pander to Farage, Trump or Marine Le Pen. Its job not to pander to the daily mail and the Sun. Shortages are caused by economic decisions not migrants. Politics is more than the cynical “move on, get over it” Its the shorthand that so many pseudo racists and the new right use. Its a leitmotiv of the continuing hope of the Right for the continuation Thatcher revolution. Its the leitmotiv of closing your door and your eyes to the community. Its the leitmotiv of branding the other ,the scrounger and the parasite.
I then remembered another Jeremy who has been in the news recently. That Jeremy was of course Jeremy Kyle.Kyle's approach is simplistic, it is “get a job” ( no mention of the minimum wages, no understanding of deskilling, no appreciation of the nature of modern work, no understanding of globalisation, the rise of the multinational and the impersonation of large sections of the public, and the rise of the conservative simplistic agenda), “put something on the end of it” ( no appreciation of the complexity of human passion, no appreciation of the poor quality of sexual education in our schools and and no understanding of how broken and vulnerable that we all are) and finally “give up drugs” ( no understanding of addiction, the wide availability of drugs and the failure of the so called war upon drugs). Kyle solutions are simplistic , individual and crass beyond belief.
There is an analogy between Kyle's outlook and the simplistic model of conservatism. Conservatism equated the national economy with the family budget. It draws parallels between how both work. It ignores the fact that a a modern states political economy produces its own currency, has imports and exports and commits itself to the illusion of debt. The modern individual , or family does not have this choice. The logic of the Kyle show promotes a similar myth, the analogy it draws is toxic , shameful and gives simplistic Cognitive Behavioural approaches to complex situations stored in structures going back many years, are ignored, denied and hidden.
The Kyle show is a conservative approach to the problems of modern life, of our loves and our relationships. Austerity is the Cognitive behavioural Therapy of this Conservative government. It is simplistic and lacks a real understanding of the numerous problems that we all face.
Of course Cognitive Behavioural approaches has value when allied with wide ranging approaches and means of analysis but simple fundamental approaches offer little. Conservatism has become a religion, Corbyn,the Green Party and similar movements stress the challenge that dissent brings to the high priests of neo liberalism. As Thoreau once said “ certainty is the hobgoblin of the closed mind”. Perhaps we should add simplistic solutions as a new example of the closed mind. The main stream
politicians even look like Kyle is this an accident I wonder?.
“[Charity] is not a solution [to poverty]: it is an aggravation of the difficulty. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible…Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to do most good…” Oscar Wilde
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