W-H-Y

It seems counter-intuitive to suggest that we have greater wisdom at birth than at death but that is only because we are encouraged to accept a prescribed view of wisdom from an early age. We attribute it to those who know a lot about a lot of things and can articulate ideas about them clearly. However, I don’t think this is necessarily correct – in fact, I think that naivety can be the greatest wisdom of all. Essentially, by not knowing much about much, a child can have an astounding insight into the world we live in. Primarily, through the use of a long-forgotten question – why?

We need to discover this word again. It is the most natural question of all, yet it is beaten out of us incessantly by society before we can ever really begin to challenge the status quo. When children are growing up, their ‘why?’ is consistently greeted with, ‘It’s just the way it is’, and they are expected to be satisfied with such a response. It is the continued use of this non-answer that eventually leads to us not bothering to ask ‘why?’ at all. We slip into this pathetic ‘musn’t grumble’ type of attitude whereby we accept things as they are and do not believe for one minute that we can change them.

Society sets itself up in such a way that you learn from an early age that challenging the status quo harms your own position within it. It is completely self-policing and it is depressingly effective. Right from the outset, those who challenge the system and authority are removed – children who are intelligent in a non-traditional sense (and think in different ways) are penalised from the outset by an education system that stifles creativity. Subjects like Dance and Drama are practically treated as ‘extra-curricular’ because the intelligence required to excel in them is not aligned with the typical scientific / mathematical intelligence that society puts on a pedestal (for the same reason, it always frustrates me when footballers are chastised as being ‘stupid’ – it is outrageous to suggest that an individual playing at such an elite level is ‘thick’ – they are simply intelligent in a different way). After school, it does not improve. Individuals who do not excel in favoured subjects are then likely to be isolated from certain jobs and positions within society.

Essentially, what we are left with is a situation whereby the most powerful people in society are those who fit a certain mould and are intelligent in an ‘academic’ sense (even the word ‘academic’ is derivative). Therefore, they are highly unlikely to make decisions that benefit those who are not like them. This is compounded by the fact that they form an Establishment (Government, Media, large corporations etc.) that controls everything within society. They remain perfectly happy to maintain a system where their power remains unchallenged.

In fact, to a large extent you have to become a martyr in order to make your point – to rally against the status quo is to pretty much kiss goodbye to your own career advancement. The system is set up in such a way that the only way to defeat it is to join the system and defeat it from within. However, by the time you have advanced enough in a career to begin making the decisions that can change the way things are, it is likely that you will be institutionalised, have a mortgage to pay and a family to think about. For every person willing to challenge their peers and suggest there needs to be a change, there are about 100 others waiting in the wings who are perfectly happy to step into the job and toe the party line.

As a society, we have forgotten how to question things and I think this is due, in part, to an education system that pushes children towards fact-based subjects. Of course there are millions and millions of unanswered questions in science but in a classroom environment you are essentially taught certain absolute truths in order to pass exams. In creative subjects there is no such requirement – there is no set answer to an art assignment or an interpretation of a piece of theatre. Children are actively encouraged to ask questions of themselves in these subjects and generate their own personal truths. This is sacred and needs to be preserved and encouraged within our education system. By forcing children to neglect the subjects they are passionate about for those that will get them into a ‘red-brick’ university and a well-paid management job, we begin the process of demolishing their ability to question things. That is not to say that individuals who pursue such careers are closed-minded by any means, this is not a Science vs. Art battle, it is simply a question of allowing a child to express themselves and pursue something that they are passionate about (whatever that is) instead of the constant looming pressure of career prospects. I believe that if we teach ourselves to be naïve again and return to a child-like state of inquisition, then we can actually begin to challenge those in power by putting them on the spot.

We also need to remember how to be angry again. Instead of a rye smile, or a roll of the eyes, when we hear about the corrupt market-rigging by the world’s biggest currency dealers, we should be screaming and shouting and demanding that the system changes. We are unbelievably placid and accepting of shocking behaviour because we have been taught that our country is the model of democracy. However, we are perfectly happy to sit at home and watch the 10’o’clock news, shaking our heads at corruption and immorality reported in other countries…for example…

92% of the top 50 publicly-traded firms in Colombia have Government officials sat on their Board of Directors. Those same Government officials then come up with (and vote on) policies and laws that directly affect how well those top 50 firms can operate in Colombia.

It is fair to say that this seems pretty corrupt. Now – how about if I told you that the above story is actually factually incorrect but to make it true, all you have to do is replace the word ‘Colombia’ with ‘the UK’. Would you still say this is corrupt? Or would it now become simply a ‘conflict of interest’? We do not judge our own society by the same standards that we judge others. This is because we are taught that we live in a model society, where those in power are acting in the public interest. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.

We need to start asking questions about everything again. If we follow through with a line of enquiry, we can actually begin to reveal things for what they are….

The Green Party has the same number of MPs as UKIP, yet they are not included in the televised election debate. WHY? Well, maybe it is because Nigel Farage is surging in popularity at the moment. WHY? His anti-immigration views are striking a chord with certain members of the public. WHY? They think that immigrants are to blame for the lack of jobs available and the economic downturn. WHY? The media consistently put forward the idea that immigrants scrounge from society and take jobs. WHY? Because a large proportion of the media has a very strong political agenda and they are biased in their news coverage, often misrepresenting the truth. WHY? By misrepresenting the truth, around issues such as immigration, the media can influence the public to think and vote a certain way. WHY? Because the public think that the media is telling them the truth. WHY?

And here we have the crux of the issue – the public think that the media tells them the truth – they present facts and figures that we presume to be true because we think that they are simply reporting true events. In fact, they are as much a part of the Establishment as the big corporations and the politicians – we need to ask questions of the stories and reports they put out into the public domain, questioning their authenticity.

This is a simple and obvious example but it shows how simply by asking a few questions, instead of accepting things, we can reveal things about our society – showing things up for what they are. And it only takes one word...WHY?