Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Village Mentality

I have spent virtually all of my fifty odd years living in a typical, Lower Middle Class English Suburb, named Leicester Forest East.

The remarkable thing that I find is that although I have lived in the area for over fifty years, I feel no affection for it.

There are a lot worse places in which to live. I should be thankful but I am not fond of the place. I don't hate it, I just feel a cold indifference to it. I admit that this is rather sad.

It is essentially a dormitory and only comes alive at the weekends when the residents engage in a frenzy of DIY 'improvements' to their properties. The properties near me are mostly semi-detached houses and most of the residents have at least two vehicles. This results in much congestion. We have grass verges but they are often churned up by parked vehicles and the pavements are often blocked by the same.

The area has very few shops. People tend to drive out to the large shopping parks. There is one less shop in the vicinity than there was when I was five years old. This is despite the considerable expansion of housing during the ensuing decades.

Whenever more houses are built, the existing residents invariably complain about it. They forget that they are sitting on land that was once green. It amuses me that I have been in the area long enough to remember when most of the properties surrounding me were green fields.

They are about to build over four thousand extra houses in the wider area and I must be one of the few people who do not mind.

The majority are bemoaning the fact that the 'green fields' will be lost. The fact is that few of them have ever walked on these fields, they cannot bring themselves to fetch a newspaper without jumping into their 'People Carrier' first. They fail to preserve even the grass verge outside their own doorstep, which usually has the said 'People Carrier' parked on it but they miss the 'green fields'.

The area proudly proclaims itself to be a 'Neighborhood Watch Area'.

Every now and again you get some busybody poking their nose in - some self appointed custodian of the Public Good. People are quick to find fault with any minor 'misdemeanor' which you may have inadvertently committed. Occasionally, little notes are put through your door - often with no name attached - reminding you of what an inconsiderate resident you are.

When I was young, nobody had heard of a 'BarBQ' but now, thanks to Soap Operas such as 'Neighbors' and the growing American influence in British Society, it has become a major Summer activity. The aroma of Cheap Burgers and Charcoal Burning permeates the atmosphere. Dare to light a Bonfire and you will have a busybody calling or leaving you a note but you are free to pollute the air with as much cheap burger emissions as you want.

I could go on but I had better not. You get the idea, I do not like the ethos of Lower Middle Class England. Nevertheless, my irritation with it is probably as integral a part of my personality as anything else is.

The Internet is a wonderful way of stepping out of these cloying 'localisms'. In times past, people were trapped within a very narrow circle of people, defined by their locale. This need no longer be the case. They say , 'Think Globally but Act Locally'. Whether this is desirable or possible depends on your Locale. In my case, I have no intention of trying to influence or interact with anyone locally.

The English Lower Middle Class like being Insular although they quickly absorb the very worst aspects of the Mass-Media Mono-Culture, this being the only sense in which you could say that they are 'Internationalist'. My line is to leave them to it. The present Government encourages this attitude with the thinly disguised racism of its Immigration Policy and its deliberate hankering after a 'Village Life' which never existed.

My Ancestors, on my Fathers side of the family, lived in real Leicestershire Villages. They toiled away working on the land or acting as servants within the rich households. Later on, they became coal miners. They knew what 'Village Life' was really all about. My Great Grandfather was Born in a Workhouse in Leicestershire, my Great Great Grandmother being only 18 at the time, Father unknown. His way out was to Join the Army, at 18. He ended up serving the British Crown in India, then part of the British Empire. The closet racists forget this, that England has always had a strong connection with India and many other countries.

The City of Leicester is a wonderful example of 'Multiculturalism' but the Government declares this to be 'failing'. It is only in the Lower Middle Class areas outside of the City where Multiculturalism may be failing. I am not going to be a part of this.

I am proud to be a Citizen of the World and have no wish to be sucked into a pseudo 'Village' of petty minded back-biters, gossips, racists and meddlers.  Furthermore, thanks to modern Communications Technology, I don't have to.

The fact is, the majority of people in England, myself included, do not live in 'Villages'. They live in Cities and Suburbs and there is nothing wrong with that.

It is good to be Modern, to be Diverse and to be able to live without having to justify your every move to some local busybody. This does not mean the dumping of Traditional Values. The Lower Middle Classes are usually as ignorant of these as they are of most other things.

The 'Village Mentality' is encouraged by the Government because they are afraid of people breaking out of their immediate social surroundings. Small mindedness is an instrument of Social Control and probably always has been.