Black Lives Matter: An Act of Contempt

Read the poster on the left, if you haven't already seen it. It proclaims, "Fuck Madeleine McCann". The message couldn't be more clear: "Black lives matter and white lives don't, because white people are privileged, and if something bad happens it doesn't count, because they had it coming." I hope this angry young man (I think it's a man) has his own family one day, and thinks back on the day he held up that sign to the world.

But he is young and stupid. A mindless, unthinking pawn of social media and hysteria. Not that this makes his act forgivable. But it does make it easier to see how he got caught up in it all. The young get angry and make mistakes they regret. If you get to wave a cool flag, wear a mask and tear things down, who wouldn't want to join up? You can see it in the faces of young men from Sudan to Syria, albeit there supplied with a staggering array of expensive weaponry. (But that's another story.)

Far more unforgivable are the all-grown-up Hollywood celebrities, heads of business, Big Tech companies, politicians and left-wing members of the social and political elites. People as diverse as Kevin Bacon, Steve Carell and Lady Gaga have been supporting the movement, both in social media and by giving donations to bail out protesters or to support organisations such as Color of Change.

Why is it more unforgivable? Because of what it betrays about their deeper thinking. Any number of commentators have pointed out that in the US, hugely more black people are killed by other black people.  But these black lives seem not to matter, because such statistics are consistently totally ignored. Why? Because the deep, never-to-be-unacknowledged thinking behind this attitude is, "What can you expect? Black people are bound to kill other black people. It's what they do. It's like watching lions fighting to the death. But we hold white people to a higher moral standard. If a white person kills a black person it is far, far worse, because white people are superior to black people. Which is why we all have to take responsibility: a white person has made us look bad, so we share a collective guilt."

This is a tough comment but it has to be said, because it is the only thing that adequately explains the complete illogicality of support for the movement. Members of the social and political elite, in fervently supporting to Black Lives Matter, are betraying their deep contempt for black people. They are, once again, casting black people as inferior, helpless victims who need white support. Who need a helping hand from high, reaching down from a white moral high horse. It reveals appalling racism masquerading as social conscience, and going along with the movement  to avoid blow-back in social media is appalling cowardice. All lives matter, and maintaining otherwise is an act of contempt.

Harry Wiren