Abnormalising the unthinkable

a flu on the wall

If you gave a sound recorder to a fly on the wall of a typical household you might be struck by (a) the lack of force and originality in the conversations, and (b) the large number of commonplace platitudes which give an overall mood that is trite and banal. Sound bites, slogans and catch phrases.

Basil Bernstein gave us the concept of ‘language codes’. Not only do the working, middle and upper classes read different newspapers, they also have different vocabularies and accents. A couple of words is enough to identify a person’s class and to call up the standard thoughts, feelings and associated words. Stereotypes are activated and everyone knows their place. Power to the people!

Note that the codes of the different classes need not be seen as stretching from poorer to richer or from powerless to powerful. Think of Robert Burns the ploughman poet and of the oratorical skills of Jimmy Reid and Arthur Scargill. But these may be exceptional cases.

There is also the concept of ‘elegant power’ and of ‘mind policing’ by the agents of the exploitative business, political and economic elites. The artists and media people are in bed with the academics and the elites to map out an acceptable world view to which ‘there is no alternative’.

Those freelance philosophers who suggest that there is another way are viewed as terrorists and revolutionaries who are insane and need to be locked away. (Some more ‘reasonable’ ones may be allowed as the acceptable face of opposition.)

When power is elegant there is peace for a time but the rich are systematically shafting the poor and the inequities (the lack of fairness and care) gradually become apparent - and inelegant power is used to suppress the popular uprisings. This can get nasty with women, children and innocent bystanders becoming collateral damage. Think of Hiroshima, of the Holocaust, and of the various murderous messes of wars in recent times. Much of what is going on is hidden from, and therefore unthinkable to, most people.

But there is the concept of ‘normalizing the unthinkable’. Responsible sounding ‘talking heads’ make their elitist views known through the various communication channels. But, until very recently, these have been, in large part, controlled by the media moguls and their lackeys.

There is the concept of the ‘people’s journalism’. The social networks made possible by the amazing rise of affordable ICT means that almost anyone can develop their views and make them known. This would include ‘abnormalising the unthinkable’. Morally acceptable ‘truth’ will rise like cream to the surface and may even be recorded by the elitist flies on the wall.

Everyone has a world view that has its origins in their ‘nature, nurture and happenstance. These world views can be more or less parochial and xenophobic. But trite banality is not acceptable in these modern, globalised times. We owe it to ourselves, other people and the planet to think big and to engage in forceful and original conversations. If Big Brother is watching you then have a good story for him.