New Neighbours
Brendan O’Neill on life in an age of euphemism:
The footage from Ceuta is extraordinary – throngs of foreigners, mostly men from Morocco, gatecrashed an enclave of the Spanish kingdom. They scaled fences, kicked down gates, colonised the beach. Some punched the air with glee, clearly delighted with their successful storming of Spanish territory.
All cheered on by ladies of a certain kind.
Says Mr O’Neill,
At which point, the reliably ludicrous LBC presenter James O’Brien comes to mind.
With all of the earnestness he could conjure, Mr O’Brien described the intruders as akin to “climate refugees… moving from inhabitable to habitable,” before referring to Ceuta as “nowhere near as inhospitable” as Morocco. Despite Ceuta’s climate being indistinguishable from, say, Tangier or Tétouan.
“There was something about the footage that shook me to my core,” said he. Though the scenes of mass invasion and subsequent looting and disorder – described as a “wave of humanity” – were much less of a concern to Mr O’Brien than the prospect of some onlookers, and perhaps quite a few local residents, regarding the violation as less than ideal.
And clearly, these immensely vibrant young men, overwhelmingly of fighting age and remarkably unencumbered by women or identifying documents, are merely using other people’s cars to start fires of neighbourliness. Arson being the universal language of warm feelings.
It’s all one big expression of gratitude. Of common humanity. The ennobling effects of which can be found with little effort.
Because sharing and caring, right?
And when the uninvited newcomers swarming through your streets start desecrating your ancestors’ graves while hurling rocks at you, it’s just a sign that they want to get to know you better.
I’m reminded of the scene in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which Zaphod Beeblebrox visits the headquarters of the eponymous publication, which is under attack, being bombarded from orbit. Despite the thunderous explosions, he encounters obliviousness. In disbelief, and trying to be heard over the explosions, he shouts, “Do you know your building’s being bombed?!”
As a summary of our times, and in more ways than one, it does have a certain resonance.
Update, via the comments:
Chow Bag quotes this,
And replies,
Well, setting aside Mr O’Brien’s limited grasp of the Mediterranean climate, he did bring into relief one of the key ideological differences of our time, one that blurs into fantasy and psychodrama.
I mean, if you can watch the footage of the invasion and the almost immediate looting, arson, assaults, etc., and feel – or pretend to feel – an urge to indulge the invaders, to side with them over the people whose neighbourhoods, homes and businesses are being trashed and plundered, that’s… quite something.
It’s a line that divides, and in a significant way. It does suggest a rather fundamental incompatibility.
Well, setting aside Mr O’Brien’s limited grasp of the Mediterranean climate, he did bring into relief one of the key ideological differences of our time, one that blurs into fantasy and psychodrama.
I mean, if you can watch the footage of the invasion and the almost immediate looting, arson, assaults, etc., and feel – or pretend to feel – an urge to indulge the invaders, to side with them over the people whose neighbourhoods, homes and businesses are being trashed and plundered, that’s… quite something.
It’s a line that divides, and in a significant way. It does suggest a rather fundamental incompatibility.
The word “refugee” doing heavy lifting again, why does he not imagine that these are fighting age men who should be defending against whatever the real refugees (women, children, elderly, etc) are escaping from?
[ Post updated. ]