Abuse - I've seen quite a few politicians talking about this tonight. Talking about the abuse of themselves online. It's actually ironic because abuse is exactly the reason I am standing in May 2021 for election to the Scottish Parliament, only it's a more sinister type of...
...abuse.

I'm speaking, of course about the complacency of politicians. The half measures, the badly written policy, the cracks in the system that cause people to fall through it. The inevitable ass-covering and politicians delivering what they think people need...
...not actually listening to exactly what they need.

Politicians deal with mainstream problems in bulk. I on the other hand, never go a day without a message or an email from someone begging for help.
Whether it be DWP paperwork, or some company taking advantage of them, I see it all the time. The one common theme for the people that make it to my inbox is that they've tried every mechanism of government and it has failed them.
Most of these issues are simple issues which you simply cannot understand how 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 mechanisms of Government could fail a person one after the other. Each layer introducing a minor issue, but ultimately resulting in compounded issues....
....that destroy lives.

The term abuse is defined as "treat with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly."

or

"use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse."
Politicians seem to have this block that in order for something to have been used for a bad purpose, misused or cruel, it must come from an "act" and unfortunately that mindset fails to grasp that inaction or omission can have more devastating consequences.
If I get the honour to serve in may (and that's not mere words), I am going after the cracks in the system, the omissions, the complacency and inaction. For no other reason than the fact I know exactly where those cracks are. I live it every day.
Politicians like to thump their chest and play the victim, but they never stop to actually ask themselves - why does this person have so much vitriol. Why does this person seem to hate me. Well, I can tell them why. It's phrases like...
..."we're all in this together" being trumpeted by politicians being watched by some with 2 kids and minimum wage, bearly scraping by, watching the words coming out of the mouth of someone wearing a different suit every day.
It's statements like "We love carers...they give up work to...." which politician think is a compliment but fail to grasp that carers don't give up anything. Caring is their job, whether or not those same politicians choose to define them as workers.
It's politicians having petty squabbles in a chamber about partisan political rubbish and the "he said she said" being watched by the guy whose wife just had a stroke and they are about to lose everything.
It's demeaning comments and labelling these members of the electorate as fringe nutters, as uneducated and as less than, rather than asking the question of whether or not their anger is justified.
It's this snobbish, arrogant viewpoint of automatic self-entitlement that politicians project, using words like "gaining power" when what they should be saying is "getting the honour to represent constituents".
It's the wasting 10 minutes writing a tweet about how great their party is doing in the polls when instead, they could have spent that time raising awareness about poverty, or health or a multitude of other things.
I often ask myself how many politicians have been on the dole long term, or have suffered severe enough injury to warrant a longterm benefits claim, or who have had to work as an unpaid carer 24/7 for a decade, and I often come to the same answer: Not many!
I often ask myself about people who actively engage in written abuse online: "How did this person get to have that much anger in their heart" and I often feel that it's perhaps them screaming in the dark, feeling abandoned, alone and afraid.
Abuse of all types should be called out, period! But you can't legislate away pain and anguish or the question being asked of why people react in such a manner. I ask myself if such an over-reaction as online abuse, might be a symptom of a deeper problem.
But from what I can see, a lot of the time, those who are labelled by parliamentarians as being "abusive" are often just very angry. When legitimate anger is just merely dismissed and panned off as abuse, that helps nobody.
Sometimes the best way to handle a person yelling into the void is to simply ask them : Why do you feel this way. And I can guarantee you, most of the time, the answer you will get is that the system has kicked them again and again.
These people do not want "special privilege", all they want is to be listened to, action to be taken and to be given the same opportunity as everyone else. What they don't want is politicians taking action on what they think they need, only what they actually need.
I don't pretend to have the answer. But I bet finding that answer starts with an admission that we don't know or understand everything and an admission that perhaps, just maybe, the solution is to start by listening at the other end of the void.
When we pass on information, we like to refer to that as communicating information. But I actually think that's a misnomer. Communication is a two-way street, it cannot be one-sided. How about politicians stop talking "at" people, and perhaps start talking "to" people.
Not very "election friendly" to say that you don't have all the answers, is it? But I'll tell you what it is! It's human! And so is promising no more and no less than to listen to the concerns brought to you and a commitment to go out and find the answer! That's my commitment!
You can follow @MartinJKeatings.
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