"The English Character" by E M Forster (essay reading)

E M Forster's more well known works include "Howard's End", "Passage to India" and "A Room With a View".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster

This essay was written in 1920, before "racism" was invented. Before that triggers a sharp response, I mean the word "racism." Other words were meaningless back then too, such as "psycho","sociopath" and "fascist" but that doesn't mean the things they refer to didn't exist.

The essay is abridged, this is only half of it, but you can find the whole thing online. England is no longer overwhelmingly composed of, nor controlled by, an Anglo-Saxon middle class. You might not even notice that the essay is racist. It is less offensive because it is aimed at the English and it was written by an Englishman. It would not be politically correct to say these things about most races these days but the English seem to be the exception that proves that rule.

People are afraid of the label "racist" but not because of any real activity it refers to: the "racism" might be no more than an unfortunate word or off-the-cuff remark, something said in private or in anger. Yet if it is broadcast then it is taken as a revelation of a hidden, damning deformity of character.

"Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."...Ecclesiastes 10:20
These days it's not a little bird that tells on you. They record your phone calls. They have concealed cameras and microphones. Who is so pure of heart or so paranoid that they can justify everything they say? Who isn't guilty of thought-crime?

A hitherto blameless life can be blighted by one application of the label "racist." "Racist" is a branding-iron which anybody can wield that will leave a permanent scar.

Many celebrities have been felled and branded. No real proof is needed. There is no viable defence. "I was only joking", "I thought I was hip enough to say that." "Seriously, I didn't mean it that way" No chance. Futile. If you are accused of racism the only thing to do is to make a grovelling apology, declare that you're thoroughly chastised and are now reformed and penitent. It is of no use saying that you have engaged in no "racist" activities, that you have harmed nobody, nor that that you have provided benefits to those whom you are supposed to have harmed.

Every age thinks its beliefs and practices are absolutely right and those of the past were absolutely wrong. The future will come, the present will become the past, and then we will see that what seems right and true today is merely a different kind of wrongness. We are not enlightened about "racism", we have merely traded one sort of "racism" for another.

If you feel strongly about it and want to bring people to justice for being "racist" for trivial reasons then you're the problem - you're not the solution. All that has happened is that these powerful words we invented and loaded with destructive force are hitting the wrong targets. We are attacking the stupid, the loose-lipped and the intoxicated who are relatively harmless: diverting attention away from real criminals who are not so easily identified and punished.

Well, were you hunting through this text hoping to find something you could misinterpret and brand me as a "racist"?

When the label becomes more powerful than the referent, when there's no defence, when the sentence is carried out immediately and without any trial; then that's not much different from accusing people of witchcraft, dragging them off and burning them. Their lives are immediately destroyed.

DNA hasn't changed in centuries. The sort of people who used to be witch-finders and witch-burners now work in the media. It suits their nature.

Sin, by George Herbert (1593-1633)

Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round!
Parents first season us: then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws; they send us bound
To rules of reason, holy messengers,

Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin,
Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes,
Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in
Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,

Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness,
The sound of glory ringing in our ears;
Without, our shame; within, our consciences;
Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears.

Yet all these fences and their whole array
One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away.

The portrait of E. M. Forster was by Dora Carrington, 1925.

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• The English Character
• E M Forster
• Sense and Sensibility
• Jane Austen

[andrewshere]

Thank you for this and for your additional notes. One small point, you say "solidarity" but the text correctly reads "solidity." Sorry for nit-picking. See this more as a kind of footnote. Thanks again, your extensive work here on You Tube is much appreciated.

[SpokenVerse]

@andrewshere So noted. There's a slight difference of meaning: solidarity means united in a common purpose, whwreas solidity means soundness or financial stability It's almost impossible to avoid minor errors.

I have a two hour limit for making a video. Tracking errors down fixing them increases labour in exchange for diminishing benefits. If it's good enough I let it stand.

[DeLpHoRtAl4KeEp]

@andrewshere American English vs The Queen's English

[daleashierpaking]

its nice.



[auitane]

Putting aside the dubious assertion that calling someone a racist ruins their lives and is essentially a modern day cry of which, honestly this doesn't seem like "racism" in the sense that you're trying to imply. He's talking about social tendencies brought about in a segment of English society because of the way in which they're socialized. It's a criticism of a national psychology and ethos, bound up in a criticism of the institution he believes creates that ethos--the "public" schools.

[testing4echo]

As a fan of some Jane Austen novels (and many other works set in that time period) I've often wondered why the English men are often portrayed as these emotionally constipated, austere and sometimes stoic characters who treat expressions from the heart as some sort of embarrassment. Anger, power, indifference and condescension are portrayed as the norm for them. This is the first piece that I've seen which seems to address this, so I am excited to read it.

[EyeLean5280]

Nice choice, nice reading and nice painting! Thanks.