There is nothing new under the sun

Media reporting on recent tragedies here in UK seem to emphasise and polarise every report into a ‘them-and-us’ documentary. It panders to our worst inclinations when they do that and many amongst us seem simply to suck it up. It is ‘working the audience’, an expression that denotes manipulation and half-truths to achieve a sought after result or response. And I dislike it with a hearty contempt. Politicians do it all the time.

Did you notice that as soon as it was possible for voyeur-vision reporters to cast around for scapegoats, the local residents of multi-national origins, style of dress, diverse faiths, and none, stood out like sore thumbs from the WASPs in suit, tie and cufflinks who represented responsible local authority? Of course you did. And none of those lived in the tower, it seems. How odd.

Others can talk about responsibility and justice when really they mean ‘blame’ and ‘vengeance’ but I believe other factors could be weighed in the balance.

Who pays for social housing? Answer: Everyone. Wealthy or poor doesn’t matter. In their way and according to their situation (not financial ability) everyone in a locality pays for social housing. Everyone? Yup. It leads to 'things in common'. There is the clue.

A couple of thousand years ago a man with discernment asserted that we would always have the poor with us and he made no judgement as to whether or not that was good or bad. He went on to say ‘but you won’t always have me’.  That was a statement and an observation. Don’t believe me? Look it up. New Testament, Matthew 26 verse 11 and Mark 14 verse 7. You don’t have to believe it, just observe it.

The point I’m trying to make is that all of us live side by side with advantages and disadvantages and these are neither right nor wrong. They just are. We have them in common and they must be addressed in common or else ignored and not addressed at all. We can’t resolve anything if we ultimately believe that our own advantage is all that matters.

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And another thing

Not all those who lived in the tower are lacking in education. Many are proud to have educational qualifications and many speak more than one language. Think about THAT!

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If Bill Still can claim to be Still Reporting, is it OK for me to claim that I’m Not Quite Dunn’?

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