It's probably no understatement to say that this mad old world of ours is going through some pretty turbulent times right now, with a lot of emotions running pretty high.
We've all been stuck indoors for three months as a result of someone getting a sniffle off a bat in a far eastern poultry market, resulting in pretty much everything getting postponed, cancelled, put back or restricted to such an extent that Charlie Brooker would have rejected it as a pitch for an episode of "Black Mirror" for being too over the top.
And predictably, whilst we've been waiting to the first chance to have a pint after this whole thing blows over, it's made space for a culture war of biblical proportions to erupt, and predictably this has led to those waiting on the wings, looking for the chance to exploit the situation to advance their own cause, to open fire on and otherwise, bully, cajole, and berate and harangue honest, decent, working-class people who have done nothing more than exercise their God-given fundamental right to disagree and have different perspectives.
And predictably, rather than attempt to have a civilised conversation, the attackers have doubled down with their undeserved claims of righteousness being on their side.
Pair this with spineless media companies which are only interested turning a profit, who are more than willing to bend over backwards and capitulate to avoid being targeted by a mob mentality not seen since the Poll Tax riots of the 1980's, and the result has been absolute carnage. A frightening, total cancellation-culture free-for-all that would have Orwell spinning in his grave so hard his corpse would have burrowed it's way down to the earth's core by now.
I mean, just look at what's been happening over the past week or so. The editing, censoring and complete removal of movies, books, and TV shows which were perfectly acceptable when they were made are now considered 'problematic' because they don't measure up to the 'high standards' of today. I mean, clearly a movie made 81 years ago set in the deep south during the US Civil War should absolutely confirm to work present day extremist, left-wing cultural norms, I mean, it just makes sense, right ??
Dare to do anything, show anything, or even merely hint at anything that uses controversial language in some of its jokes ?? Yup, clearly that needs to go, especially a three-second movie clip from a film about a mermaid that shows a woman's bare bottom ?? Yep, that's right for a high quality edit with some dodgy CGI that makes it look like someone's glued Dougal from The Magic Roundabout to her lower back.
The thing is, as a fan of storytelling, and a proud speaker of the English language, and as a graduate of the the once-noble art of journalism, every single piece of entertainment we consume, from the humblest amateur film to the grandest movie blockbuster is a special, unique piece of art. It may not appeal to all sensibilities or represent the absolute pinnacle of it, but that's not the point here.
A piece of art exists, not because it must, but because it can.
People exercising their imagination and creativity and ingenuity to turn a simple idea into something timeless and memorable is the most human thing our minds are capable of doing. It's a skill and ability to be treasured and nurtured, ever since the first time our cave-dwelling ancestors learned for the first time to use tools. Yes, it's within the limitations of existence, but even then it still gives us the opportunity to break outside those limitations, and to create things that are there in our all-too short lives, that tell stories that grip our imaginations and hold us in our thrall and captivate us.
Long after we die, our culture is an expression not just of a few things, but grander and more fundamental things, we all know we might be depicting the good or the bad, the lavish or the cheapest, the power of compassion and wisdom, ether from the darkness or the light. Fact or fiction, we have wowed ourselves from the moment we created language to develop stories of courage and determination, adventure and excitement, vengeance, anger, the dangers of conflicts representing both the best and the worst of humanity.
Stories that even challenge what it means to be human.
And all these things stem from one reason and one reason only - because it's free to do so.
It's pretty boring not seeing things that are inspiring, restricted by operating in a challenging environment, and if things keep going they have, with every knee or will bent rigidly in one direction, nothing will be challenging any more.
And because we are so busy walking on eggshells for fear of a tiny minority of people getting a little bit annoyed, you can bet that it won't stay that way. Already we are seeing insidious change in the way our entertainment is being twisted from a way to allow us to escape our lives, to ramming every single kind of 'correct' opinion down our throats.
The plan has us accepting the blandness, the laziness, the pandering towards identity politics, sucking the fun and vision out of everything we produce which is being compromised by same voices calling with increasing volume and decreasing patience, to water down the things that not only do we create now, but the things that have already been created.
Instead of being preserved and respected for future generations to draw their own conclusions from, they are gradually being removed, altered via a cut scene here, a minor edit there, a change of dialogue you may not have even been aware of in the first place, all in order to present a pre-determined, pre-prescribed opinion that you 'must' arrive at in order to be seen as 'right'.
Where will it end, where will it stop ?? Ever ??
If we don't allow a diversity of opinion to have a genuine impact, then slowly but surely, the dissenting voices will spread and grow bigger, and demanding we keep trying to appease their voices, until eventually, they demand something that you won't give up. And then, armed with the weaponry of social media shaming, they will strike at the very heart of whatever it is you hold most dear, and rip it away from you, eventually leaving us with a cold, bland, sterile world, free of expression of opinion so as not so risk offending someone a little bit.
A world, not free and equal as they would believe, but constrained and shackled by fear and shame, having driven out all forms of creativity, curiosity and exploration.
But it doesn't have to be that way, we are who we were, our art also shows who we could be if we really did put our differences aside and asked ourselves 'what if ?' we could be alright if not for our fears and we will lose another little piece of ourselves if we don't have the confidence to challenge and question those who demand their agenda comes first, rather than cower and conform to avoid being labelled with something that simply isn't true.
With all this in mind, I'm going to end this with a telling quote from one of the most tragic victims of this endless, relentless, brutal and savage quest for Marxist, blanket cultural homogenisation, one Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored… the first thought forbidden… the first freedom denied – chains us all irrevocably. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today".