How better to create division within a community or a country than to push a narrative that will divide us.
Sell the idea that men can be women and women can be men, and Bob’s your uncle (or aunt) and there will be an argument or a passionate debate between those that agree or disagree. Religious debate is the current flagship. Israel Folau and whether you are for him or against him is a whopper for dividing a gathering into two camps.
In the old days, the advice on running a successful get together was to avoid the subjects of politics and religion and to stick to discussing the weather. Well, that is now off limits. Discussing the weather is the petrol on the fire that will burn the house down. Climate Change, Global Warming, Climate Emergency will sure as faith turn the most innocent comment – “hasn’t it been chilly lately?” – into a showdown about coal (to burn or not to burn).
Humour has been taken off the table. It is racist, homophobic, islamophobic, sociophobic or pick a prefix out of a hat-phobic.
Gone are the days when you could watch an advertisement on TV that was mildly amusing or just plain clever. Back in the 90’s I used to race home from work to watch the Speights ads (the ones about the young bloke from Auckland who moved to Southland when he inherited his grandfather’s farm and Clydesdales… the young female vet and the young Northerner were guaranteed to fall in love… but each new ad ended at the pub where they drank a Speights. I loved those ads!
Now TV is full of blended families, same-sex families and diversity driven marketing that have caused me to boycott so many brands that I am back to the farmers market and bugger the lot of them.
Even the trip to the supermarket has me reaching for my glasses to inspect the label to see if the product is imported from the wrong country, manufactured by the wrong company or contains the wrong ingredient.
Our entire lifestyle, belief system, social fabric, education system and history has been divided by diversity.
Divide and conquer. Replace joy with fear and suspicion. Put people into two groups who stand on opposing sides of the metaphorical room – one to the left and one to the right.
You see, when people disagree on virtually everything in life – from the birth of babies to the education and nurturing of children; from politics to paedophilia and marriage to marketing it stops us from uniting.
I read a great quote the other day from Donald Trump which seems to say it all.
“They are not after me. They are after you. I’m just standing in their way.”
I think I need a Speights and to listen to Nancy Sinatra singing about those boots…
You keep saying you got something for me
Something you call love but confess
You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't 've been a'messin'
And now someone else is getting all your best
These boots are made for walking
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'
You keep losing when you oughta not bet
You keep samin' when you oughta be a'changin'
Now what's right is right but you ain't been right yet
These boots are made for walking
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
You keep playing where you shouldn't be playing
And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt (HAH)
I just found me a brand new box of matches (YEAH)
And what he knows you ain't had time to learn
These boots are made for walking,
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
Are you ready, boots? Start walkin'