Recently I was accused of being condescending towards people who believe Britain was being overwhelmed with immigrants. My response is this... yes... yes I am.
But here is the thing, condescending insinuates that I believe that folks who believed the paper-thin propaganda that the hordes of Sauron were descending en masse, have some sort of intelligence to condescend and are therefore beneath me. That would be tantamount to believing that a squirrel is worth debating.(in this illustration I’m the human and they’re the squirrel, I explain this because do to my concern that analogies probably go over the head of people like this all the time.)
However there are times when people should be condescended. When they have ideas and expressions that expose their prejudice and small minded bigotry is the perfect time for derision, and yes condescension. People who are backward need to be told they are backward, it matters little if they make up a majority, or a minority. If they are wrong, then they need to be told, and in a manner that is not a whispered comment or a shake of a head. They need to be told bluntly, that they are wrong.
If someone has a hammer in their hand and is hitting you, but when confronted say they are holding a napkin, that is not the time to pretend that they just misguided, or to placate their sensitivity. It is the time to tell them in no uncertain terms that they are wrong, loudly.
Refugees, immigrants? These people help make your society a better place. They work hard, boost your economy, build equity, create jobs, support business, and generally contribute to your country. By embracing new people, new ideas, and helping them to assimilate into your country, you elevate yourself, and your culture. As soon as you start building walls, isolating yourself, persecuting people who are different then you, or blaming others for the failures of your government, economy, or justice system, you create a backwater of stale dying inbred culture.
They are not a horde of needy ingrates, like all people there are both positive and negative individuals among their numbers. They come many different countries with many different stories, some heart breaking and some mundane. Some are refugees of a unending civil war, others moved because they needed a job and fled back breaking poverty.
Embracing them flaws and faults and all, shows that a nation and it’s people are not inward looking selfish ideologues without charity or an ounce of human kindness. It is quite literally antithetical to the propaganda that terrorists spread. The US is mired in the same lie, where fear mongers, and nativists railing against a threat that is far less dangerous then even the most modest alarmists claim.
But none of that matters, because some people have allowed themselves to believe the lie that they are the chosen blessed few, the special race, or class, or part of superior culture... a lie told by people who continually use them to enrich themselves, doing all they can to keep them poor, keep them illiterate, and keep them uninformed. They profit from fear and ignorance... and boy do they have a motherload in the hearts and minds of the ill-educated.
It is too late for many of these individuals to change... it is only succeeding generations that have a chance if they educate themselves and overcome the burden of their xenophobic fore bearers. But it still remains for us to speak out when we see someone saying blatantly racist or bigoted things, and tell them “You are wrong!”. So Condescension?
