Decades back there was a British
comedy series called “Who dares wins”. It was most famous for its dialogues
between Giant Pandas but many of its other sketches were very clever. One in
particular springs to mind. It starts with an “aged” film clip of two stereotypical
hippie protest singers. Both are long haired and the man is bearded, they wear
kaftans and so forth. Switch to a shot of the two actors “now”. They are clean
cut. The man is shaved and wearing a blazer and tie, his wife equally conventional.
They are laughing self-consciously and good naturedly at the film clip.
Interviewer: “So, are you still
active in politics?”
Woman: “Oh yes! We have recently
become the regional organizers for the National Front.”
(The National Front is a racist
organisation that exploits working class youths as its muscle)
Interviwer: (pauses) “Ahhh….so, your
politics have changed quite a bit?”
Man: “Oh gosh no! We have always been
right wing. Our musical career was to ensure that no one could hear any
left-wing ideas without automatically thinking of beads and face painting...”
This was from a comedy show, but all
good satire contains at least a grain of seriousness. You could easily flip
this sketch and have the protagonist working so that no right wing idea could
be heard without associating Nazism and camouflaged rednecks preaching
conspiracy theories! Poe’s law means that many left and right wingers have done
a fine job of achieving the above without any influence from the opposition! I
have at least one friend whose passion and dogmatism tend to drive more
sympathetic people from his causes than towards them.
Regular readers will know that I tend
to avoid political posts. I am, however, interested in perception and consider
this relevant to both self-defence and preparedness. So the question I will
propose to you today is :- Are you helping what you most despise?
Think about this after you read this
very interesting article on “Grey Warfare”
