WHO GOES THERE?

Apart from death, competition is the most inescapable fact of life .

And competition is fundamentally about survival in an over-populated world with finite resources.   This competition takes many forms, ranging from the violent interactions of the natural world through warfare and commercial rivalries to the most subtle connivings for social advancement.   Also, the predatory and parasitical tactics for survival we see in the animal world have their counterparts in human society, although frequently disguised and of a more insidious nature.  The predatory animal can only survive by consuming other creatures; thus its prey is assimilated into its own life.  In human society the predation operates at the psychological level , in the competition for power, influence and ‘a place in the world’ .  Our selfhood is engaged in a constant war of survival amongst other selfhoods no less inclined to be self-assertive.  The more predatory , that is to say egotistical selves expand their own place in the world by, as it were,  consuming other selves. It’s a kind of social theatre, a stage crowded with people contending for the star roles and where the less assertive or advantaged are upstaged and marginalised as anonymous ‘extras’ .     We are seeing this today in the so-called ‘celebrity’ culture, where certain individuals are described as such simply for having a sizeable following in such fields as fashion, popular entertainment, sport, politics, literature, industry and art.   The ‘fans’ of such people are the prey of their ‘celebrities’.  They have, in a manner of speaking, been consumed, in that their own identities have been diminished and perhaps nearly extinguished by that of the person ‘celebrated’ . We see this most vividly in popular entertainment, with its ‘stars’ and tumultuous ‘fans’ sacrificing their own individuality on the altar of their idol..  In the political sphere it is the ‘front benchers’ hogging the limelight and calling the tune, with a largely  unimpressive motley in the background;  irresistibly reminding us of the Gilbert&Sullivan musical comedy ‘where everybody’s somebody and no one’s anybody’ .

Of course everybody wants to be ‘somebody’.  Much of the anxiety and neurosis affecting modern society has to do with a feeling of lost personal significance, of being merged into faceless and futile anonymity by some bureaucracy or regime .  Almost any stage-managed ego-trip is therefore bound to attract people hoping the self-assertion will be infectious enough to invest their own lives with some meaning.  But more often than not the hope is unfulfilled ; the excitement fades, and the more perceptive finally realise they have simply enhanced somebody else’s selfhood at the expense of their own.

The ‘enlisters’ are always with us.  A conspicuous example in our so-called ‘multicultural’ society is the Muslim immigrant , whose own sense of identity is chained to a long ago desert prophet, even to the extent of adopting the same name.  Detached from his prophet’s identity the individual Muslim is socially and culturally floundering, his selfhood dissolved.  And of course the self-abasement he’s obliged to  exhibit at prayer meetings emphasises his own feeling of insignificance.  Devotees of this religion in particular are obliged to discard anything resembling personal freedom of thought and action as the price of salvation ;  they must cease to be authentic individuals except in the most superficial respects.  But they are not alone in this compulsion to affirm and perhaps enhance personal selfhood by identifying with some charismatic figure or prestigious group;  hence Marxists, Buddhists, Maoists, Keynesians,

‘Common Purpose’ nuts, Stalinists and such.   In all such cases the price of membership is diminution of personal choice and judgement ;  subordination to somebody else’s assertiveness , principles and values.

To be sure this may even be advantageous to some otherwise disorientated or alienated individuals.   But the authentic individual embodies a much more robust selfhood,  capable of holding its own against all the intimidatory pressures of officialdom, the mass media, advertisers, commercial, political, religious and other agencies seeking to subordinate and enlist one’s identity to their own advantage.

This can never be easy, and such individuals are apt to experience quite a lot of personal differences, suspicion, pressures to conform and moments of self-doubt in some circumstances.  Even so, they retain a sturdy selfhood in exercising freedom of thought and choice , always too large, complex and independent for any bureaucratic questionnaire , market researcher or ideologue.  They are not easily and conveniently pigeonholed, labelled or enlisted by those seeking to expand and impose their own selfhood, however well-disguised as altruistic philanthropists.

You will have noticed that most people are much more interested in discovering what you are  than who you are., since that tends to govern their reaction to you .  That you are called William Bloggs is a matter of supreme indifference to all except close relatives ;  but how different the reactions if you are introduced as Sir, Doctor, Professor, the Reverend, Colonel, Judge, Chairman, for example !   In mischievous mode with a couple friends I made such social experiments many years ago. Introduced at different parties as a psychoanalyst, psychic researcher, Detective Inspector, company director, stockbroker or journalist, one learned much about social psychology very quickly, though of course careful to avoid any harm to those involved in this light-hearted deception. 

But rugged individuality is anathema to the kind of control freaks we have in government these days .  The only identity they want you to have is the one they think necessary to fit their totalitarian mould.  Without toting an official card and serial number from womb to tomb you will be what the Communists called a non-person. And according to them the most conspicuous alien becomes ‘as British as anybody else’ by ticking a few boxes and reciting a few words to a Home Office plonker before dashing off to collect social services benefits. 

As justifiably proud but not arrogant members of the most accomplished race and nation on the planet, we owe no apologies and don’t much care what other races and nations think about us.  With centuries of closer social and cultural integration than you can find anywhere else in the world, we don’t need immigrant whinges about integration, Marxist pseudo-comrades,  or black bishops lecturing us about the brotherhood of man while their blood relatives are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands back in Africa).  No black, Asian or other alien is capable of representing the interests of the British people in any capacity whatsoever, though such might occasionally be hired on a temporary basis to serve British purposes.  Every inch of British soil belongs to the British people and no one else ;  and we are not bound by any laws made by people not elected by or accountable directly to us.  And where such illicit laws are applied, we reserve the inalienable right to ignore , frustrate and subvert them at every opportunity.    The fact that this government condemns us for this patriotic stand makes its own perfidy all the more conspicuous.   In short, we know well enough who and what we are and are as content with it until we ourselves see fit to make changes.. 

Meanwhile anybody who looks like an alien, talks like an alien and  acts like an alien is always going to be seen as an alien by all the natives of our own happy breed.   So if you meet anyone contending otherwise, just spit in their eye.