Todays Lesson ; I don’t like you because…....

Whether it is religion, politics, skin colour, country of birth, sports team, newspaper you read, band you listen to, what you eat or do not eat, clothes you wear and anything else you can think of that divides opinions, it all boils down to one thing.

You are different to me.

That’s it!

Phew! thousands of conflicts, war, famine, arguments, battles, arguments, all fixed by me with those 5 words above eh? Simon Robson, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2021…onwards.

But it is more complicated than that isn’t it, as us humans love to complicate things don’t, we?

If you will allow me to indulge myself and as this is my book and you have read it so far to here, you have no choice, yet there may be some nuggets of wisdom among my words that follow in what I like to call Simon Says.

Religion

My real or imagined person I worship or better than your real or imagined person you worship and if you do not worship a real or imagined person, well you are weird or worse still I shall dislike you and get others to dislike you too.

Person who does not worship a real or imagined person, says to person who does, how can you let someone or something real or imagined that you cannot see, dictate how you live your life?

Simon Says – The voices in your head, of doubt, unworthiness, unhappiness, judgement of yourself or others. Are they real or imagined? If real, who exactly are they if you cannot see them and if imagined, then are we not all guiding our lives based on these ‘voices’?

Big Bang Theory (one where Religion and Science love to debate)

Also, my real or imagined person made everything on this planet, including the planet and I do not wish to listen to science or reasoned argument because my real or imagined person and their words which were passed down from many, many many generations, from their original words and have not been changed or amended or misinterpreted at all.

Ok religious person, the scientists may say, prove that the creation of the earth was only thousands of years ago, when we know that it was millions of years ago.

Simon Says - By whose measurement? Pope Gregory changed our week centuries ago from 11 days to 7 and us Christian humans were up in arms. Plus isn’t 1.6 kilometres and 1 mile the same, so if we cannot agree on a uniform measurement of distance now, then maybe we measured stuff differently back then, so millions and thousands of years could be the same?

Skin Colour

You have a different skin colour to me, therefore you must be superior or inferior to me (depending on where on planet earth you reside) so I will either dismiss everything I hear from you, or denigrate anything you say, even though it may be useful, helpful and intelligent.

Simon Says – Forensic scientists have demonstrated that once you remove the top few skin layers of less than 1 millimetre (we have load’s more layers than you think) we are all the same skin colour. Plus, I am confused, does that mean if we hate people with different skin colour, why don’t we arrest and imprison people with different hair or eye colour to ourselves then?

Immigration

Bloody foreigners coming over here, taking our jobs and ruining our heritage and culture.

Simon Says – where would we be without foreign influences like Yoghurt, Cookie, Entrepreneur, Rucksack, Cul De Sac, Mosquito, Tattoo, Ballet, Lemon, Pyjamas, Café, Lingerie, Delicatessen, Kindergartens, Glitches, Guerrillas, Macho, Patios, Plazas, Siestas, Chocolate, Moccasins, Tsunamis, Karaoke, Tofu, Gung-Ho, Moped’s, Paparazzi,

Wars and Battles

I want to impose my will/religion/biases/on you or take your land without asking for a fair price for your minerals, wealth, people, workforce and subjugate you to our way of life, our views and values and beliefs.

Or because you tried to do the above, I will retaliate and defend the above against your opposition of the above and one of us will win and another will lose, land, people’s lives, homes, relatives, resources, livelihood, and financial systems.

Simon Says – So you want to draw imaginary lines or use rivers, hills, lakes, coastlines to show to others that this is the bit you own, when as we have seen ,nature does not give a damn about imaginary borders and flora and fauna , oh and germs and viruses do not need a passport either ?

Sexism

Women cannot do the same work as men, they are weaker, lack as much body strength and besides, they should be wives and mothers and home builders.

Men, you have had it all your way, it is our turn now and we want and deserve better pay, working conditions, opportunities and not to be treated as simply sexual objects.

Simon Says – Er, maybe you are both right and have we asked women what they want, plus aside from Boadicea and Joan of Arc and Mulan ( yeah the last one was a story), have we seen that female leaders have better understanding and empathy ? Oh, and men have had it their way for so long, they are going to take a while to understand this after thousands of years of being the dominant sex, so be patient with us, many of us men are simple folk.

Now, I realise that you may say it is simple Simon, it is simplistic, it is silly, and it is much more complicated than that.

You may be right, however imagine explaining all the different arguments in the world to a 4 or 5-year-old child, in a way they can understand.

Children are born without prejudice and bias and ‘isms.

It is only when they are told to not mix with those people, that this god or gods or no god , is better than theirs, that your skin colour is the best, that men are better than women or that we must fight other people, it is in our nature.

Next time you see a new-born or tiny baby, ask yourself, is it really in our nature or have we taught them?

Maybe teach them betterer?