The Hidden Truth of Inequality.

The UK uprisings took the whole world by surprise. But why were we so surprised? The answer lies somewhere between our own need to see the world through blinkers, and the unending lies fed to society by those who benifit most from the grossly unethical and criminal inequality foisted upon the world.

In 1920, two German Professors, Karl Binding and Alfred Hosche published their treatise -Permision for the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life. They presented an argument for killing "incurable idiots, empty human husks and useless eaters so that the nation might be unburdened from caring for these and by so doing allow the nation to soar ever higher.

The initial reaction of the Brittish to the riots were symptomatic of this thinking and some on the BBC even went so far as to call the rioters "scum".

The Brittish Prime Minister not far off this "popular" sentiment goes out the next day and declares to the Nation that the state will hunt down the rioters "picture by picture" (in reference to the thousands of Big Brother cameras strung up all across London) and will not be stopped by "Phony Human Rights".

What this reaction points to is the inequalty with which Human life is viewed. The establishment values the lifes of the upper class more than they do those of the lower classes. Both the Brittish Government and the US health Industry calculates what it costs to provide treatment against the years of life the treatment saves.

This is a rather callus undertaking and serves only to reduce humans to commodoties and things. But Proffessor Binding and Hoche took it a step further, they suggested that not all human life is worth the same and that society as a whole could save money by killing the mentally ill. You can quess where all this leads to. It provided the intellectual foundations of Nazism.

The Brittish and most of Europe are not particularly innocent when it comes to turning people into commodities whose lives might be bought or extinquished. Did they not Profit from slavery? Did this Profit not place them at the centre of world power? So it is quite understandable that the upper classes from whence David Cameron comes should still harbour some nostalgia over those heady days of the "Empire"

The crass History of Brittish classists systems notwithstanding, the lie of the capitalist ideology has once again been exposed.
The function of ideology according to Slavoj Zizek is defend the existing system against any serious critique, legitimising it as a direct expression of human nature"
But according to Raj Patel " More and more wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few, whose lifestyles are glorified by the media, which means that the expectations of the majority have become increasingly beyond their means. We become less happy with goods that, ordinarily, we have been overjoyed with. The inflation of what are known as "positional goods" the kinds of goods that reflect your social status back at you, is why rising inequality makes the majority of people less happy"

What the capitalist ideoloques would have us believe is that "greed is good" ala Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged, and that it is natural to be selfish and seek wealth for the individual.And this is what the youth of London believed. This is what society has told them is acceptable,to wear the Bling and live the lifestyle. But as the crises becomes more evident and the reality sinks in,that all the wealth and the bling we experienced over the last two to three decades was not real wealth, it was a magic show, built on paper and squeezed from the pockets of the working classes, is when the youth decided to go "affirmative shopping".

London was particularly susceptible to this type of reaction as very often working class and upper middle calss neigbouhoods lie side by side. So every day these youth have to see the Bling go past them without so much as a hope that they would be able to experience this absolute value of society. And so as each day goes by the feel less and less empowered, more and more frustrated ...until...

The youth were obssessed with obtaining as much commodities as they could in as short a time span as they could, prefering brand names and high street items. The constant refraim was: We`ll show the establishment, if the dont share this with us we will take it"

And so the capitalist ideology of "greed is good" is laid bare. Hopefully in the aftermath of the orgy of violence and looting, when the sober heads are brought to bare, a new reality might be brought forth. A reality that belies the capitilist ideology of greed and a new understanding of equality might be born.

Now is the time for us to show that there is ample evidence to suggest that it is not human nature to be greedy.

According to Raj Patel in many North American indigenous cultures, generosity is a central behaviour in a broader social and economic system. One anecdotal account examined what happens when boys from white and Lakota communities recieved a pair of lollipos each. Both sets of boys put the first one straight ito their mouths.. The white boys put the second one in their pockets while the Lakota boys presented it to the nearest boy who didnt have one.

" it is not surprising to see that culture can shape how resources are accumalated and distributed, and dictate the social priority of saving over sharing. but the experiment also reminds us that the opposite of consumption isnt thrift, its generosity." says Patel.

Our society has become twisted and sick....we no longer know what is the truth and what is fantasy. While the bubble floated we were content to float along and absorb the magic....Now that the bubble has crashed landed and we have been brought down to earth we have to ask ourselves what is true and what is fantasy.

While the bubble floated Greed was good, but now that the bubble has crashed to the ground we need to reconsider that wisdom.