The Shrugging of Shoulders

I want to talk about the vandalism of ULEZ cameras today. There's a mini furore as former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has said he supports this vandalism. It's interesting to me as:

a) it's a moral conundrum

And b) it says quite a lot about where we are at the moment.

a)

It's a moral conundrum for obvious reasons. It wasn't too long ago that I was stating on this very blog that we don't just vandalise the things we don't like in a civilised society. This was in response to the pulling down of statues by BLM agitators. Now however, the boot is on the other foot. Now it's something I don't like being vandalised. I could make the case that the ULEZ cameras are much worse than the statues. After all, regular people are being forced to pay £12.50 a day just for the privilege of using cars they've bought, paid tax and insurance on, paid the petrol and repair costs for - on roads that they've paid for. That they need to use for work/school/business. Then on top of this, that this is just the beginning ..that it will inevitably lead to further costs and incursions. Perhaps eventually leading to the banning of cars altogether.

Whatever my pleading though, I can't escape the hypocrisy.

In my heart I'm very pleased these cameras are being destroyed. Yet, in my head, I can't avoid the simple fact that it is indeed lawless vandalism. I'm torn.

At what point does it become okay to go full Robin Hood? Is there a point?

For the time being I'm going to be a coward and just leave it at that. I can't really say if this vandalism gets a green light from me or not. I'm not sure what side of the fence to come down on.

b)

This leads me very nicely on to (b) though, and the "shrugging of the shoulders," as mentioned in the title. People often think that change occurs when everyone rises up. That there's some revolutionary moment, where everyone starts to boot off. However, in reality I suspect things begin to change when a large chunk of people just start sitting on the fence.

To give an example.

Let's say you have protestors protesting a particular issue. To keep it simple let's just say on the one side of the issue you have left wing people, and on the other right. Now let's say a right wing person turns up and punches a left wing protestor. In normal times what happens is all sides condemn the person committing the assault. Even though the right wing people are on the opposite side of the particular issue, they nevertheless take the side of the person assaulted. Even to the point that they'll want the assaulter prosecuted and jailed. As basic principles are much more important than the particular political issue at hand.

However, when things become very strained, this stops happening. If the people on one side of the divide have went too far - and exhausted the good will of their opponents, then people stop interjecting. They shrug their shoulders.

So now, if a protestor gets punched, they don't raise their voice in condemnation. They don't demand the assaulter gets prosecuted. They just keep quiet. It's not necessarily that they support the assault. They may be very uncomfortable with the idea. They may still believe it's completely wrong. It's just that now they don't care enough to step in. Or that they feel, if not think, that the person deserved to be punched, so conveniently avoid having to make themselves think about it.

Or they think, "Well, these people have went so far, who am I to say violence isn't a justified response? If I step in to condemn this am I making things worse by defending and facilitating these people." That is, they're just not sure anymore.

Again, like myself above, and my indecision as to whether to condemn the vandalism of ULEZ cameras. "I think it's wrong to vandalise things ..but these people pushing these ULEZ schemes really are pushing their luck."

When enough people step back, Robin Hood can step in, safe in the knowledge that the common people won't step in, to hand him over to the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Look The Other Way

I actually saw a tweet earlier from Alastair Campbell. He was commenting on Iain Duncan Smith's comments, and he noted that most the MPs and media had "looked the other way" on it.

This isn't entirely true of course, it has been commented upon and discussed. However, he's right in perceiving that the outcry hasn't been quite as strong as it once would've been.

Campbell puts it down to terrible Tory Britain. I would put it down to people shrugging their shoulders.