There Is No “They”
On why it’s unfair to criticise “they” when it comes to politics, especially of the local variety
Imagine it’s this coming Coronation Bank Holiday Monday, and a man is sitting at home, watching BBC News coverage of various street parties taking place around the country. He looks out through his window and sees no street party. Why, he asks, did they not organise a street party for my street?
The answer is that there is no they. Those people on the TV are having street parties because some people in those streets thought that it would be cool to have a street party, knocked on doors, got their neighbours involved, and organised a party. On his street, no-one did that, including him. He could have got off his sofa and organised a party, but he didn’t.
Yesterday, there were local elections in most of the country. Imagine that this man had been thinking of supporting the Green Party. But no Green Party leaflets came through his door. No Green Party people knocked on his door. But then he sees a report on the TV that shows other areas in different cities where there are Green Party leaflets, and there are Green Party people. Why, he asks, have they decided to care about those areas but not to care about my area? Why aren’t they delivering leaflets to me? Why aren’t they knocking on my door?
The answer is that there is no they. In those areas, various people decided to do something. They joined the Green Party, produced some leaflets, knocked on some doors. In his area, no-one did that, including him. He could have got off his sofa and join the Green Party, get involved, help deliver leaflets, perhaps stand for the council. But he didn’t.
In whole areas of society, including most of what we call politics, there is no “they”. There are just individual volunteers, donating some of their spare time to trying to help improve their communities. You want to have your say, go ahead: opinions and debate are good. But don’t castigate volunteers for not working hard enough if you yourself aren’t doing anything.
Thanks for reading The Nexus Files! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
The Nexus Files is free to read. But if you subscribe you'll get new posts emailed to your inbox automatically, and I won't feel like I'm pointlessly screaming into the void.