There is an oft-quoted assertion (in the English speaking world anyway) that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. The inference was that the traditional values that the English ruling classes claimed that they possessed (loyalty, courage, stoicism, steadfastness, honesty, fairness etc.) were inculcated over many centuries on the sports-fields of Eton and similar (ironically called public) schools and that they ultimately prevailed over the inferior values of England’s enemies.
An extension of this was that the British Empire (because the victory at the Battle of Waterloo was very advantageous in respect of England’s global imperial ambitions) was fashioned on the values that shone through on elite schools’ playing fields.
I don’t believe it was! In fact, I believe that this is a gigantic imperial myth designed not only to bolster such ambitions, but also to plant the idea in people’s minds that such schools produce those most suited to rule.
I believe that all Empires are fashioned in the values that prevail in what I will term disingenuous rooms rather than playing fields. (I call them disingenuous rooms because they are places/environments where it is virtually impossible for the whole truth to get out).
After all, a playing field is a place where openness is implicit. The general public can see what’s going on. Those on the playing field may experience embarrassment or sanction if they break the rules. Cheating notwithstanding, players will generally want to show the public and their peers that they are playing fairly and winning honestly.
But fair play and honesty are values which are totally opposite to those needed to deny people their human rights while behaving in a cruel, dishonest, ruthless and brutal manner – all the time portraying a veneer of decency and righteousness – i.e. being disingenuous – when building a powerful Empire.
The restrictions of sanctions (or embarrassment) on an open playing field which might be imposed by a watchful general public where there may be people with integrity, and can influence others in their midst, do not exist in the far more furtive surrounds of private totalitarian type spaces.
In these places:
1. Dirty deals can be planned and executed away from public scrutiny.
2. The only response to bullying is more bullying.
3. Superiority, domination, hierarchy and elitism are the norm.
4. People who may feel insecure or unsure of themselves are manipulated.
5. People who promote truth, fairness, honesty and idealism are mocked and derided.
The last one above – 5 – is particularly effective.
Because of our need to avoid embarrassment or shame at all costs, mocking someone who points out falsehoods, or even warns about impending threats or dangers (i.e. making out the carrier of truth to look stupid, a killjoy or panicky) is probably the most difficult disingenuous-room type behaviour to address.
Mockery and derision are very effective control tools. They are often used against radical left wing parties that are small, rubbishing their ideas as being laughable and not of the real world. Messages are also transmitted through media (including – some commentators would say – cartoons aimed at children) promoting the corporate/establishment view of the world while subtly ridiculing the alternative.
If we listen to any political debate where uncomfortable truths are being presented to a politician, a mocking wisecrack by the politician under pressure is a very effective way of shutting down the debate and distorting the truth. This is often accompanied by laughter and the issue itself suddenly appears to have lesser status to the wise-cracking going on.
These disingenuous values, (i.e. bullying and intimidating – but – all the time pretending to appear decent and upright to the outside world) are truly the values needed to ensure that, while portraying a veneer of openness, closed-ness actually prevails, real change is resisted, fellow humans’ innate rights are trampled on, and elitism, wealth and privilege perpetuate.