True respect in a multicultural society first requires that everyone sees others as capable of hearing their criticisms and entering into robust debate about them. There is nothing respectful in thinking that people are either too tender or too murderously zealous to defend themselves civilly.
ReadThe refusal to give up stolen artefacts seems even stranger when you consider that there is one set of objects that everyone agrees should be returned: anything seized by the Third Reich. In 2009, parliament passed the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act, which forms the basis of the Indian plaintiffs’ case. It seems there is one law for Nazi loot and another – or rather none at all – for the colonial variety.
ReadUniversities and other bodies that stand for values worth defending diminish their prestige if they effectively sell off parts of themselves to the highest bidder. Of course you cannot stop philanthropists gaining in stature because of their gifts. But there is a difference between bathing in a reflected glory that shines without cost and being deliberately singled out in a floodlight, which is what the granting of naming rights does.
ReadIn the crude Manichean world view that has come to characterise political discourse today, you are either a skiver or a striver, someone who contributes to society or is parasitic on it. All parties claim to speak for “hard-working families”, the only people whose interests need defending.
ReadSomething has changed and that appears to be an increased desire to choose what is best for ourselves with scant regard for what is best for the wider community as a whole. And this seems equally true of too many left-leaning middle class parents who join the chorus decrying selfish individualism and advocating collective solidarity, even while taking off on their mid-term holiday.
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