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The Virtual Rambler
Number nine: 13th August 2010
Communities
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Every individual in the aggregate known as a society recognises some tension
between dwelling within a larger social matrix and the need for
some personal privacy. Genuine public interest is not just the aggregation
of private interests. The default interaction with our neighbours
is cordial but distant , with recent sporting events or the weather to hand
for any brief conversational requirements. What then of that elusive
myth of past community , where conflict was defused by
ever-open doors to mutually-caring neighbours ? Misanthropes might prefer
to call up a cast of nosy parkers and prying busybodies. Prompted by a rash
of celebrity rags-to-riches memoirs evoking back street childhoods
through a romantic , ghost-written haze , shared and sharing communities
have recently been evoked by politicians as the best (that is , least
costly) means of controlling urban anomie and anti-social behaviour. The
grocer’s daughter infamously informed us that that was no such
thing as society , there were only individuals. Thatcher’s inanities
can generally be left to waft away on the currents of Westminster’s
stale air but this moth-eaten howler merits correction.
Potted judgements and off-the-cuff opinions are characteristics of
inebriation or a closed mind. A minute’s thought leads to the
conclusion
that everything is a collective of lesser things. Each living thing is a
community of cells ; some are involved in executive activity up aloft
while others toil in the depths of the digestive tract. Conglomerates of
unsleeping organs man the pumps and respiratory systems , as transport
unions keep all the arterial routes gurgling with traffic flows. Like ant
heaps and termite mounds , our bodies house a myriad collective of
necessary activities , each contributing to the general welfare. Cells
themselves are made up of component parts , not least their DNA. In
paperback
and on T.V. screen , some biologists have conjectured that the welfare of a
species (not necessarily the well-being of its individuals) is synonymous
with propagating the Selfish Gene. Thus subservient to a larger purpose , we
while away our brief spans with or without a shoulder to the wheel of
the genetic imperative. In the inorganic world also , there are nothing
but societies , from the mysterious interactions of subatomic wave/
particles to the gravitational family of astronomical bodies within each
solar system.
Voices on the political right are the loudest in proclaiming the claims of
an individual , with those higher up the economic ladder being singled
out for preference. The radical Left pressed for the greater good of the
social whole and it was they who promoted a state of affairs which was
better (for those on the lower economic rungs) than almost all of what had
preceded it. Eventually we were informed that the welfare system it
entailed had become unsustainable. Politicians all now subscribe to a
“third way” of policy making : by an alchemical process
of alembic distillation , what was good for the few (promotion of
their personal profit) became auspicious for all in the crucible of
unflagging economic growth. As this fantasy disappeared into the black holes
of those imprudent bankers' pockets , we awaited confessions of error
from The City and about-turns in political strategy. Alas , what transpired
were huge state bailouts for investment banks “too big to fail
”. Here , apparently , was a public debt declared to be as
sustainable as any illegal and expensive foreign war our governors
decided
to embark on. Should we care to challenge the prevailing economic orthodoxy
, we’re told (in the tones of a mediaeval priest advising his
flock) that these are matters beyond our uninitiated understanding , matters
best left to “the experts”. Nevertheless , hypocritical
usage of the hollow term socially inclusive is a poor substitute for
the former commitment to trade unions , a nationalised power supply ,
public transport networks , and a well-funded Health Service.
The moral squalor peddled by current administrations in England and America
is the end result of decades during which the market was “entrusted
” with tasks previously handled by more enlightened government :
healthcare , pensions , low-income housing , education , social services.
These responsibilities were cynically subverted or ignored , as rampant
materialism and individualism paved the way for a steep decline in the idea
of
social co-operation. Then came the arrival of blustering incompetents posing
as leaders of state. Men bloated with self-regard , surrounded by flunkies
and toadies , walking indictments of a “democratic” system
through which elections and referendums are intended to convey power to the
socially-distanced people at large.
Wig.
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Archive
Virtual rambler #1 – Posturing,
9th March 2010
Virtual rambler #2 –
Managerialism, 17th March 2010
Virtual rambler #3 – Nostalgia,
27th March 2010
Virtual rambler #4 – The Alpha
Male, 13th April 2010
Virtual rambler #5 – General
Elections, 3rd May 2010
Virtual rambler #6 – The Leisure
Industry, 15th May 2010
Virtual rambler #7 – Guide to
The World Cup, 15th June 2010
Virtual rambler #8 – Human
Nature, 12th July 2010
Virtual rambler #9 –
Communities, 13th August 2010
Virtual rambler #10 – Worlds
Apart, 6th October 2010
Virtual rambler #11 – Dawdling,
22nd November 2010
Virtual rambler #12 – ELVIS,
24th December 2010
Virtual rambler #13 –
Transience, 4th February 2011
Virtual rambler #14 – Regional
Accents, 15th April 2011
Virtual rambler #15 – The
Afterlife, 21st July 2011
Virtual rambler #16 – Bizspeak,
27th August 2011
Virtual rambler #17 – Night
Walks, 3rd October 2011
Virtual rambler #18 – Bob Dylan
and Charles Dickens, 8th November 2011
Virtual rambler #19 – Another
Nutty Professor, 16th December 2011
Virtual rambler #20 – Customer
Choice, 16th January 2012
Virtual rambler #21 – Wearing
Shorts, 18th February 2012
Virtual rambler #22 – A Brief
History of Progress, 17th March 2012
Virtual rambler #23 – The Myth
of Sisyphus, 16th April 2012
Virtual rambler #24 – Natural
History, 20th May 2012
Virtual rambler #25 – European
Self Importance, 26th June 2012
Virtual rambler #26 – Sweet
Dreams, 25th July 2012
Virtual rambler #27 – Excess,
17th August 2012
Virtual rambler #28 – In Denial,
20th September 2012
Virtual rambler #29 – The Way,
21st October 2012
Virtual rambler #30 – On
Rambling, 14th November 2012
Virtual rambler #31 – Gazing
Into The Abyss, 18th December 2012
Virtual rambler #32 –
Intellectual Gloom, 25th January 2013
Virtual rambler #33 – Great
Human Achievements, 20th February 2013
Virtual rambler #34 –
Autobiography, 20th March 2013
Virtual rambler #35 – Your Good
Health, 21st April 2013
Virtual rambler #36 –
Deconstruction, 20th May 2013
Virtual rambler #37 – My Home
Town, 19th June 2013
Virtual rambler #38 – Ancient
History, 21st July 2013
Virtual rambler #39 –
Possessions, 20th August 2013
Virtual rambler #40 – Sporting
Stoics, 20th September 2013
Virtual rambler #41 – Free Time,
20th October 2013
Virtual rambler #42 – Ewan Don't
Allow, 20th November 2013
Virtual rambler #43 – A Literary
Nexus, 20th December 2013
Virtual rambler #44 – Taking
Liberties, 16th January 2014
Virtual rambler #45 – More or
Less, 20th February 2014
Virtual rambler #46 – Under
Control, 20th March 2014
Virtual rambler #47 – Waiting,
20th April 2014
Virtual rambler #48 – They Rose
Without Trace, 20th May 2014
Virtual rambler #49 – Bigger
Impression , Smaller Footprint, 20th June 2014
Virtual rambler #50 –
Terpsichorean Instrumentations, 18th July 2014
Virtual rambler #51 – Socially
Mediated, 19th August 2014
Virtual rambler #52 – Rambling Into The Sunset, 20th September 2014
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