Let’s go back to Babylon.
I notice
that some young people refer to certain countries as Babylon. Google comments
as follows:
“Modern songs
sometimes use the metaphor of Babylon to comment on America. This comparison
often critiques aspects of American society, such as how it is perceived in
terms of materialism, moral decay, and political power. The lyrics employ
symbolism, drawing parallels between contemporary America and the biblical
Babylon, a city often associated with excess and corruption. This critique may
address social issues and question the current situation. The analysis of this
metaphor can be complex, requiring an understanding of both the historical
context of Babylon and the specific societal name in view.
The
interesting thing about the Biblical Babylon was the King of Babylon, and the
fact that the King was a. the Lawgiver and b. the lawgiver was
above the law and did not have to obey the law, though everyone else did. What does that remind you of? The following empire, after the fall of
Babylon, that of the Medes and Persians, one notes the oft-quoted phrase, “the
laws of the Medes and Persians, which don’t change, and the fact that the ruler
was also subject to the law.” So, we are not going back there, but one step
further back, one where rulers do not have to be subject to the law.
Babylon was
rich, at least for some people, but one wonders how much the riches were
created by slavery.
Interesting
too is that the “Third Reich’s” main economy was a slavery-based economy.
The whole difficulty,
for me, is the way in which we can undermine our humanity. So, we start to
refer to groups of people in other ways, “blood poisoners”, aliens, or, if you
like, humans are non-humans. We see this kind of rhetoric in war, where it’s
not “dead people”, it's “collateral damage”.
In the Belfast troubles, it always troubled me that people were not
killing people. The one side were
killing “Prods,” and the other side were killing “Papists”. These are not humanoid words. It makes it
possible to see people as “non-humans.”
At the very least, less than me, or at the very least, not nice people.
That is why I
really object to the new Reform elected person saying, “Let’s put asylum
seekers in tents.” It's a slippery slope to put one kind of person into a more
deserving position than another. There is always someone at the bottom of the
pile who is presented as a sort of “less than a human being.”
“Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak
out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did
not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no
one left to speak for me.”
So, I hope many will speak about Dame Andrea Jenkyns's nasty
“tent” quote and let us hope that there are more sensible people around who
will not vote to take us back to Babylon.
Adrianhawkes.blogspot.co.uk
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