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Is it her fault (and her choice) to kill herself through smoking? Or is that something that society (and her poor upbringing and lack of education) has conditioned her into?
Why is it one or the other?
Being sympathetic to the wider forces that shape people doesn't negate personal responsibility.
Johnson's first male role model was a philanderer which no doubt impacted his ability to sustain monogamous relationships. Boarding at a relatively young age at Ashdown House and then Eton, particularly in the era he did, no doubt impacted his ability to develop empathy.
Does that evaporate all of his personal responsibility in those areas?
hugo7-
@hugo7 you're right, it's not one or the other, it's a spectrum. But education surely plays a big role here: Johnson had some of "the best" (at least, the most expensive) education in the world, whereas the character in the story I described had virtually none. We can only know and have the opportunity to learn from what we are taught, if we aren't taught skills about how to interpret lessons from the wider world around us then we quite simply won't do that and will instead believe what we absorb from advertising and media. So I would say Johnson has a lot of responsibility, whereas the character I described has very little.
d0cA
When I was training to be a doctor someone asked me what I wanted to do and I said "paediatrician - because adults just smoke and drink themselves to death and it's all their fault, whereas the kids are innocent" (or something along those lines).
The response I got was this:
What about the 19 year old single mother of two kids who left school age 15 because she had her first child, now lives unsupported by her (ex)partner in a tiny little council flat on the 12th floor of a horrible estate, sees all the tobacco advertising when she goes out every day to take her kids to the nursery and sign on, and her 5 minutes of peace in the evening when the kids are crying is to step outside on the balcony and smoke a cigarette. Is it her fault (and her choice) to kill herself through smoking? Or is that something that society (and her poor upbringing and lack of education) has conditioned her into?
I'm a Brit living in France. I've not been able to see my family in the UK for the last 18+ months because I couldn't afford the travel (spending time in quarantine, the cost of the obligatory PCR tests etc). I am fully aware of the loss of rights and the xenophobia and racism that is going on.
I agree that ignoring hurt doesn't work. I'm not saying ignore it. I'm saying acknowledge it - which I think is what you're saying. But that doesn't mean calling people cunts, or playing blame games. I think it means trying to understand where the other people are coming from, what brought them to vote Brexit in the first place, what their hopes and fears are, and how they - we! - might overcome them (together). I'm against the 'divide and conquer' that is rife in society today. I'd like to (re)build bridges and figure out how we can all leave peacefully together.
Or am I a dreamer? Maybe yes, but I'd like to think that there's a better world we can make together. Call me a cunt if you want, my shoulders are broad and my skin thick, I'll love you anyway.