My half-full glass is emptying

I think I have always erred on the side of optimism, even if not always proved right. The world is full of fine people, lovely places and myriad opportunities, at least for many. To some degree I only became so upbeat when I had left the artificial structure of the world of work. Although navigating a career requires seeing and grasping opportunities and employing one’s creativity, the imposed hierarchies and procedures can dampen and hide human nature and personality.  Once exposed to people as people, my half-full glass began to fill up more. Already blessed with my family and friends, exposure to a community and groups of like-minded people has been revelatory and enriching. Men and women of wide diversity of experience have entered my life - or I theirs – offering the opportunity to learn from them and review previously held opinions. Life after work has been sweet. Human nature; kindness; community mutuality; individuals’ creativity and talents give hope for the future.

And yet: around this good fortune, a world has been evolving which is depressing to hopes and instincts and causes worry for the generations of my children and theirs. The legacy my generation may leave is a disgrace when compared to the opportunities we “baby boomers” have had.

Yes, life expectancy has improved all over the world and many more people have some share in the progress made by humanity. But we humans too have caused climate change and extinction of species which no action can halt immediately. It is people who start and fight wars for the sakes of their own egos, power and enrichment. It is people whose racism, greed and lack of perspective lead them to espouse nationalism, protectionism and self-serving elitism. Inequality of opportunity is perpetuated in a world of inequality of wealth and education. A world in which faith in fictions can defy scientific evidence is a world in which other irrationalities to be justified for the protection of power.

So wars continue, killing and driving millions away from the homes, peace and livelihoods to which they are entitled. States can invest more in arms than in education or care for the vulnerable, justifying the deprivation by claiming threats to stability whilst money is made from the supply of death. This too is a manifestation of human nature.

I became political because it seemed important to espouse and encourage the better human values in the governance of the country. It seems to me that there are more people in the world with goodwill than those who are malign and greedy. The trouble is that the latter seem the more powerful, more organised and more effective. The Right acts; the Left talks. That being the case, my glass is emptying and I feel very sad for the future. The only hope must be that the next generations are better than mine at instilling decent values in governance. Sorry kids!

Its not enough to be rational

It needs saying again and again until it is heard: people – consumers and voters – make decisions on irrational grounds. For all their inadequacies, simple answers to complex questions are seductive, especially to those who are not well informed.

You may think that, being rational, like I like to think I am, you decide what to do or buy having weighed up the evidence: value for money; public good; quality; experience. But the reality is that human behaviour is not immune to emotional influences. We make instant judgements on people we meet. We prefer one brand over others. We like one public figure we do not know more than another. We fail to weigh up the evidence in favour of rapid response to stimuli.

This is not to say that we should not act in a considered, rational way – just that we cannot always help ourselves and do not always have the information on which to base a judgement. Buyers of one brand of car over another are rarely competent to judge rationally the relative technical qualities of each, so make their choices on image or perception. A manufacturer must carry out research and develop sound technical design, before devoting similar sums to clever marketing messages to convince customers to prefer their resulting product.

Do people buy into a religion on the basis of scientific grounding or because it appeals to their emotional needs? So with politics. Rational self-interest is pleaded by Conservatives as grounds for their manifestos; but this is in reality an emotional, self-centred appeal. Labour’s appeal to the more altruistic or at least communal sense of the voting public faces tough tests when up against this self-interest. A political leader must think through costs and impacts of policies. But then – how to sell this dry basket of plans? S/he must develop an emotional pull as well, which appeals to the current experience of the voters. This may take the form of a barb against their opponents or a Big Idea. Certainly, a strong emotional antipathy to one party or another – or their leaders – whipped up by partisan media drives headlines and [too?] many votes. Whichever tactic is chosen must be crafted into instantly comprehensible messages - slogans. Slogans? As the basis for the serious business of voting? You betcha! Whether positive or negative, they stick in the minds of millions far better than budgets and dry policies, even if sometimes they become a stick with which to beat their utterers:

“Remoaners!”                    “Strong and stable”         “Take back control”         “Labour’s deficit”

Let us demand that skill and responsibility is applied to the drafting of policies, manifestos, trade deals and laws but let us also recognise that such detail is a turn-off to many, who will respond more keenly to simplistic messages; and make sure that Labour is sharper, in tune with the electorate and effective in its slogans. We should not need to do this – but we do. Tories have a habit of doing this better.

"The best revenge is to live well"

So said George Herbert [17^th century poet] and who is to say he was not right? So much injustice is perpetrated by the powerful against those with no agency that living well is their greatest challenge. Lack of job, home, money afford little opportunity for a good life, though millions do their best to achieve this against their circumstances. They shame those who look down on them daily by their humanity and resilience.

I was born in the year of Nakba. Above all of the injustices of the world, the apartheid enacted against Palestinians in their own land is the one which has angered me most, exacerbated by the continuing support for its perpetrators by supposedly even-handed and humanitarian governments such as our own and that of the USA. Money and power always trump human rights, it seems, leaving yet again those without agency to live well against the odds. That power is increasingly today used to promote messages of self-justification and hostility to opposition. These are often simply lies and fiction. Typically, the Israeli government issues accusations of anti-semitism against those opposed to its racist policies and actions, citing “holy” texts as if they were incontrovertible truth; and uses the holocaust as justification and immunity from criticism for just about anything they choose to do to others.

Many who support the rights of Palestinians have neither the money nor the power though which to counter these fictions. Organisations campaign against injustice but this does nothing to help those affected to live well. Perhaps a more positive form of opposition to Israeli apartheid may be to find ways for Palestinians to live well. Support for medical aid in Gaza and the West Bank may offer well-being to some who would otherwise be ill or worse. Small loans to and buying goods from people trying to eke a living from their own business in those areas may offer a sense of independence as well as an income. Such interventions contrast greatly with the lavish military support and investments proffered so profusely by Western governments to the oppressors and may attune to the values of those concerned with this great injustice, in its 70^th anniversary year; and offer those concerned the revenge of living well against the odds so stacked against them.

www.map.org.uk – medical aid for Palestine

www.lendwithcare.org – microfinance lending