How the useful idiot manages to still feel important

And why a case by case approach is needed

Last night I attended a gig that, initially wasn't something I was overly keen to go to, but did so for 2 reasons. The first being to compare old school and new school UK hiphop. Secondly, as someone who has always avidly attended gigs, but at present rarely finds ones I know (possibly due to age). So after seeing legendary UK hiphop artist Blak Twang in London the previous week, I thought I'd see how this Lowkey fella compared. Expecting a contrast of the contemporary events mentioned in each rappers verses to be the first thing to emerge. Neither this nor my initial two motivations were my take-aways from the performance. Nor was the flow or the beats. Though there were differences aplenty. What struck me more than anything, was the political aspect, more specifically concerning the fans in attendance last night. 

The first altercation that dropped my jaw lower than the democrats are willing to stoop to give President Trump bad press. At the bar, I witnessed a white bloke order a pint of John Smiths, the bartender, a black bloke, mentioned there was no nozzle on the tap. Whitey responds, "that's fine mate." Fair enough. Likes his John Smiths (a shocker in itself really, he only looked in his 20s). The barrell ran out when the pint was only 3/4 full, and, very reasonably, the bartender suggested to just give him half a pint or take a minute to change the barrell. "No it's fine, that'll do." He paid full price for 3/4 of a pint. At a gig venue when they're already overpriced. My spidey senses tell me this is a close encounter with an NPC. 

My benefit of the doubt shrugs it off as merely a dangerously agreeable bloke. Then the gig begins.

Laced from top to bottom, not just in verses; chants inbetween songs, but also an anti Israeli group representative actually gave a pro Palestinian speech before the main artist even began. Where the rest of me had to concur with my spidey senses was the repetition and vitriol that the fans spewed in response to each "fuck Trump" and "free Palestine" chant from the artist. 

I came out to compare old school and new school, with a slight expectation of a pleasant surprise. What I saw was a masterclass in brain washing. The microcosm of the NPC encounter at the bar interaction unfortunately represents the indoctrinated left of today. The first song he did had a chorus of peace and love for gods sake, two songs later he's encouraging them to "fuck Trump up" I could go into how if he changed his politics/religion he'd be now sitting in a jail cell for incitement to violence. The fact that he's not, glaringly points out where the real privilege in modern society lies. Not only did his fans appear not to see this, nor the peace and love followed by the "fuck him up" irony. To put it down to stupidity alone would be ignorant of me. 

What it really points out is the gulf that emerges between someone being able to take themselves seriously when they appease who they consider minorities. Constantly. This gulf is filled with the vehemence at which they spewed whatever their idol told them to. The contradictions of peace and love with incitements to violence and, not one open discussion following the gig, merely slogans, suggest that no research has been done before these guys decide where they align on certain issues. 

Another thing that fills this gulf is the one way traffic, allergic to any contrary thoughts, we see on marches chanting all the leftists buzzpoints.

Instead of needing to compensate following their appeasing behaviour and jumping straight into angry rants, they should take a case by case approach. Case by case in terms of their interactions with people and case by case in terms of issues they advocate for. The media likes to put us all in a box be it left, right or centre (which frankly, hardly on sit entirely on across the board) we don't need to put ourselves and others in these same boxes. 

If critical thinking was taught in schools I doubt blatent political agendas would be swallowed so easily. But now we have grown adults willing to do this whatever the issue. Provided those doing the spewing (indoctrination) are "minorities." We need a campaign to encourage embracing different political leanings. Because anyone (non NPC) should not give 2 shits about skin colour, gender, religion... as a reflection of the importance of what people say.

#JudgeContentNotColour #CaseByCase #FreeSpeechForAll