Justifying slavery, conquest, racism, empire, war, murder and genocide
Whether you’re in business or at war, having no regard for the feelings of others is the first step to being able to take all their stuff, and make it yours.
There’s a Netflix series in which a young man has grown up thinking he must be a psychopath because he doesn’t seem to feel sympathy like everyone else. His unruly new girlfriend seems to be getting through to him though, breaking down barriers to discover whether there is a beautiful, sweet soul hidden inside him. Or perhaps not.
Then, there was Dan Snow’s BBC series about the run-up to the invasion of England in 1066. Here we learned how ruling families bred and raised their sons in a toxic torture of hatred, intrigue and violence. The ultimately victorious William, Duke of Normandy, was raised from the youngest age to fight, to kill, to lie and to scheme. He was proud of his violent Viking heritage too — the Northmen or ‘Normans’ who had landed, invaded and subdued his part of Northern France just a few centuries before.
A thousand years is time enough for a lot to change. While we here in Jersey may be proud to toast ‘The Queen, our Duke,’ and to celebrate our Norman-French language, we should not forget how rulers get to rule. It’s the same way that the rich get very rich.
‘You’re in business to make money, not to make friends,’ they say. ‘Don’t sell to mates at mate’s rates. Deal with people you hope never to see again, and deny everything if they ever do come back!’
Having no regard for the feelings of others, even honestly believing that other people, or that certain types of other people, are not like yourself, is the first step to being able to take all their stuff, and make it yours.
This explains slavery, conquest, racism, empire, war, murder and genocide, as well as many aspects of money-making business.
The same philosophy is applied to animals, birds, insects and fish too, except then we say, ‘Oh, they can’t feel pain, it’s all just instincts and muscle spasms.’ Then we take their whole lives, their parenthood, their young, their culture and even their genetic fitness away from them, as well as managing their deaths and the deaths of their wild and complex living habitats.
Apart from Jèrriais and a slightly baffling loyal toast, we have number of other traditions in Jersey. Endemic child abuse, from Haut de la Garenne to Les Chênes, from sexual to emotional, can no longer be denied. We also have a long-standing tradition of low paid agricultural labourers sleeping in shipping containers and portable sheds, and insisting that new countries must always be found from where such placid compliance can readily be imported. Then there is hotel, cleaning and restaurant work.
I wonder if a younger generation of business people, hopefully with more women in decision making positions, may enable the blossoming of more empathy, more soul, and more kindness in our island life.
A shorter version of this article appeared in the Jersey Evening Post on 6 September 2018


