So Just What are "Our Shared Values" that our politicians often talk about?

By Pat Hackett 

 The undefined values of Western society.

Many people are asking themselves how can we have a world standing bye watching ethnic cleansing and a genocide taking place by Israel while the West support Israel on many fronts and consider them our friend and ally. A world in which communications, technically speaking, is greater than it has ever been.

When Britain and America gave Israel the right to do "whatever it deems necessary" the world sank to a depth never before witnessed by so many from which it will be hard to recover but we must do everything we can to do so.

Inaction or indifference from Western society.

Whether it is inaction or indifference from Western societies, without this silence then it would be unlikely Western governments would be able to continue to support Israel's ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Palestine.

For this level of depravity to continue all these negative influences have had to coincide:-

* the psychopaths who can commit and boast about their brutality, given the go ahead from their Israeli government.

* Western governments to continue to support the regime responsible.

* A media to allow themselves to deliver a false narrative throughout.

* And sadly the inactions of a society that it would seem have been encouraged to do so.

We often hear our politicians talk of "our shared values" whether they are talking about values of a political party or the British or what we share with the USA in "our special relationship", but we seldom hear journalists asking them just what these undefined values are.

If these are values that allow society to turn a blind eye to our collective compliance in the genocide in Palestine then we must question those values and what maybe the cause of those values.

We need societies that when they say never again they mean never again for everyone.

Of course not everyone has turned a blind eye but those who haven't, have had to defend themselves against prejudice and claims that they are spreading hate or supporting terrorism.

This opposition to the genocide however is not coming from our leaders sadly, but is coming from the people upwards. However the main stream Media is trying to make them invisible particularly if the people are Jews speaking out "not in our name".

The corruption in our democratic world has been previously covered but this corruption also aims at corrupting society to encourage the indifference that will benefit the Oligarchs who benefit from war or exploitation and have an overwhelming influence in controlling our politicians and media.

I believe these negative influences have existed for decades but as the world enters a desperate stage and with genocide and people starving to death as a result of countries including our own being complicit, it is imperative to identify these negative values. How else can we change things for the better with a revolution for peace when our leaders are inactive?

A society is more than just the sum of individuals pursuing their own self interests.

A society that is being constantly led by both consumerism and celebrities is one that devalues key workers while promoting excessive self interest, rewards corruption and feeds the Oligarchs. 

What are the ways that society has been encouraged to be indifferent?

Devaluing key workers. 

During the COVID pandemic there was a brief period in time when key workers where suddenly valued for their contributions to society, some of them where even clapped as they went to and from their work. 

However society now is back to taking them for granted and we are back to worshipping the lives of those pursuing self interest or obscene wealth in live and even death. 

As but one example when adults (spectators, participants or managers) become uncontrollably ecstatic but in the depths of despair when they have won or lost what should be a fun game with some sort of ball, then their obsession should be seen as such. This is particularly important when we are watching at the same time a nation starve to death in their tents or bombed homes that we as a nation have a shared responsibility. When we see this routinely on our news programmes as professional pursuits and the vast sums of money involved including obscene wages while there is great inequality and injustice around the world then our values are surely in question.

Routine reporting on such professional obsessions is not really a good example to our children but is clearly encouraged by the media perhaps unwittingly following prescriptive patterns without question.

Not only this devalues ambition to that of self interest fame but over competitive pursuits serves the purpose of distracting from political awareness of the corruption in our society leading to wars and environmental damage.

Inequality consumerism and the Oligarchs.

The inequality encouraged as described previously is also encouraged by consumerism.

It is constantly being claimed or implied, via the Media mainstream or otherwise, that we must continue to grow the economy otherwise our economic system will collapse. Of course the Oligarchs directly benefit from this assumption which is implied every day of our lives. This growth is measured indiscriminately regardless of the benefit or otherwise to society, whether that growth benefits from the sale of weapons fueling wars or leading to environmental damage. There is a further assumption to encourage the population to accept this:-with the wheels of the economy and it's trickle down benefits (as opposed to shared out) you are encouraged to believe you will benefit from this indiscriminate growth particularly in a competitive society whereby you can climb up through the ranks with a bit of "ambition".

Ambition and the Media.

It is imperative that to achieve anything then we need ambition but are we talking about ambition to do something worthwhile or are we are we merely talking about self interest ambition? Which ambition is encouraged by the media and does it matter?

Obsessive self ambition is encouraged and sadly overvalued and as described has contributed to these negative values:-

It devalues key workers over celebrities 

It emphasises competitive attitudes and devalues cooperation

It leads to greater inequality in society giving more power to a few favouring those who are corrupt. (Those who are less corrupt will have less of an insatiable desire for power and wealth regardless of the consequences.)

Corrupting the media:-

When we look at the coverage of the Palestinians it is clear that our M. S. Media themselves have been corrupted which of course they will deny and some of them may be unaware of this hard to dispute observation. (The bias didn't start with this Palestine issue but it is this issue that exposes this bias) 

However those working in the media are selected ultimately by those who have an overwhelming influence on the media and there are few selected who would be considered as a loose cannon. Furthermore career prospects will play an important role and those with self interest ambition will know intuitively what will be helpful and what will likely limit their career. Ultimately overwhelming ambition of the self interest type makes it much more likely that you will be corrupted and be promoted within the MSM in a society that has extreme inequality and leads to one where the Oligarchs are in charge as previously discussed.

Over Self Ambition means you can be relied on to go with the flow.

In summary society is becoming more and more a consumerist and celebrity led society without many values that go beyond self interest.

A successful sustainable society is more than just a collection of individuals chasing their own interests.

It is not just a sum of individuals chasing what's in for me.

(Every budget for example is analysed in terms of asking people what is in it for you and asking primed experts how the economy will indiscriminately grow)

An analogy here:-

 The properties of a substance is much more than the sum of the properties of the atoms from which it is composed. Of course this is just an example of the fallacy of composition (Wikipedia link)

(In parallel the connected issue of environmental damage is directly related, with the same problems but I am focusing on the plight of the Palestinians because of its even more urgent necessity.)

Home:- "never again"

Back:- corruption in our democratic world 

Forward:- Why we need a grassroot revolution.