 So here’s a thought that I just thought of whilst sitting on the train. By now, some of you will be familiar with my constant companions, Jasper Mountbatten III (my ego), Derek Bluebottom (my depression) and Colin Shitsmearer (my envy). It turns out that my brain is not ethnically diverse or gender neutral. I took a moment this morning to put these three in a police line up and when looking at them I found some similarities…
Whilst they may represent very different aspects of my personality, one thing was abundantly clear. Jasper, Derek and Colin are all straight, white, male and painfully middle-class (although Jasper clearly has unrealistic aspirations towards the aristocracy). There is a very obvious reason for this… That being (for those of you who don’t know me personally) I am also straight, white, male and painfully middle-class. But what I find interesting is that even when taking into account the endless power of my imagination, I somehow restricted myself when thinking of all my alter egos. Is society’s power over us so immense and unyielding that even our imagination is held under its thrall? Isn’t it supposed to be a place of boundless invention? And if it’s not, why not? And how do we free it from the shackles of cultural norms? Is this why I feel uncomfortable at the thought of telling a story with a black person or a gay person or a poor person or a woman at the heart of it? Because, even when given the opportunity, EVEN inside my own mind, I am subconsciously marginalising them? Given that almost all aspects of the society we live in are constructs of a collective imagination, I suppose it’s not surprising. The economy is based on a worldwide agreement that tiny numbers in bank accounts are actually worth something and Southern Rail would continue to exist (unfortunately) as an imaginative entity even if all of their trains exploded. If we live within the boundaries of our collective imagination, then surely our individual imaginations are going to be limited by those same agreements? I wonder if the collective imagination of the world has infected our reality to the point where you can’t see where one begins and the other ends. I hope I won’t be misunderstood… the pain and horror that racism, sexism and misogyny have caused for countless people are real. Which is why it makes it doubly awful that the base reasons for BEING racist, for BEING sexist and misogynistic are entirely imagined. And they have gone beyond imagination. Imagination should be flexible, creative and free. But these view points are anything but. It’s like someone has built an incredibly space ship, the most powerful in the world and then chained it to the earth. I know that minds are notoriously hard things to change. But sometimes our minds aren’t even aware that there is another option, we’ve been programmed to think a certain way. I suppose the first step is being aware…
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Imagine you are on a train.
The driver has been speaking over the Tannoy almost continually. His announcements are full of confidence, “The next stop is Haggerston.” When in fact the next stop is Crystal Palace. “Change here for the district and circle lines. “ When in fact there is no interchange at the next station. “There is no step free access from this station.” When in fact there are lifts a plenty. You remain in your seat. It’s clear to you that the driver is a little dim, but you shrug in an amused fashion. You glance around at the other passengers. Some will be scrolling on their phones, others will have their headphones in watching a documentary on Netflix, other’s will be engrossed in a book. There may be some who look up with a slightly concerned air of amusement who will share a smile with you, roll their eyes and shake their head as if to say “Huh! That guy.” Then go back to their paper. You go back to your book. You remain in your seat. The commentary continues. At one stop, the doors open and then close three times for apparently no reason. You look out the window and see a station attendant with a confused look on his face. The train pulls away from the station. You remain in your seat. You feel the train almost imperceptibly begin to speed up. You’ve been on this journey before. Countless times. It’s your regular commute and it feels like the train is moving a little faster than usual. You look up again at the other passengers, a couple are glancing around. You remain in your seat. The train passes through a station that it should have stopped at. Those standing near the doors mutter “For fuck’s sake.” under their breath. Other’s may be more vocal. You feel for the poor bastards. Their commute is going to be a bit longer. Maybe they won’t make that appointment. Maybe they’ll miss that interview. Poor fuckers. But it’s not your stop. So it’s not really your concern. Those around you are becoming agitated. You remain in your seat. The train continues to speed up. It passes through two more stations without stopping. You have a second to catch the bewildered faces of the passengers on the platform as the train storms by. By now, people have stopped watching Netflix. They aren’t looking at their phones. They’ve stopped reading their papers and the train is moving almost impossibly fast. Someone says “Right, that’s it!” and pulls the emergency cord. You secretly think “Thank god.” You remain in your seat. But the train continues to accelerate. The commentary from the driver has gone from simply wrong to an insane internal monologue. Now it’s clear that the person in charge of the train, in charge of all of your lives is not fit to be driving a train. The people who were supposed to be in charge of the hiring of the train drivers were lied to. And the rail bosses care only for themselves and the lining of their pockets and nothing for the commuters in their charge. There is no longer any doubt. A madman is driving your train. So what do you do now? Do you remain in your seat? Does the train have to roar through our own station before we do something? Does it have to crash headlong into another train killing everybody on board? What will it take? Donald Trump is in the UK people. Time to stand up. |
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