Out Of The Fire, Into The Frying Pan, Then Back In The Fire

 

I think that a lot of our current extremes are so excessive because in the second half of the twentieth century we got it so badly wrong at the opposite extreme. I can think of four obvious examples: 

1)    Racism was one of the biggest stains on our past, especially when it was ingrained in socio-political legislature - but now we micromanage identity categories in ways that are just as divisive and prejudicial, we frequently see reverse racism, and we even see preposterous scenarios where the police were reluctant to properly investigate Pakistani grooming gangs for fear of being called racist.   

2)    Abuse scandals like those in Operation Yewtree came out of a culture in which abusers like Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris were so protected that victims were frequently dismissed - but now we have taken it so far the other way that we frequently blur the line between genuine abuse and social discomfort, creating a culture of fear, extreme behavioural inhibition (especially for many young men), and social over-policing. 

3)    Homophobia was so mainstream that gay people were openly shamed (in the UK, it was even illegal to be a practicing homosexual until the late sixties) - but now we treat many criticisms of gay/trans parades and ethical choices like a potential crime scene, even to the point that people have been reluctant to challenge and intervene when children have been harmed in plain sight, young people are actively encouraged to identify as whatever sex they wish, and people are being hounded, fired or prosecuted for having traditional views about the reality of biological sex. 

4)    Mental health issues were frequently misunderstood, misdiagnosed or ignored in the past - but now we’ve become so eager to pathologise every discomfort that we have cultivated a self‑perpetuating mental health crisis, where ordinary struggles are treated as symptoms and people are encouraged to see themselves as fragile (see my blog How We Made a Nation Too Fragile to Cope). 

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s been great that in the second half of the twentieth century Western societies finally confronted past wrongs. But I think it’s fairly evident that in so many cases we lurched into their opposite extremes - where symbolic virtue has crept up in replacing real responsibility. We moved from tendentiously overlooking injustice to the grossest policing of language, where people are routinely being censored like the great dystopian novels predicted, and are regularly afraid to speak openly for fear of recriminations.

And just as imprudently, we’ve helped create a nation of fragility, where distinctions between genuine harm and the required tenacity in navigating life’s many character-building challenges have been blurred (often deliberately so).

And both extremes have this in common: they fail to honour the sovereignty of the individual – in respect, dignity, and in regard for their potential.