A desire for social connection is fundamentally hardwired into our psychology, and so being deprived of it has devastating mental and physical consequences. Yet we live in a society which has become ever more fragmented and atomised.
Here in Britain, black people are disproportionately targeted, arrested and imprisoned for drug offences, while organised and violent crime are granted a massive source of revenue.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights systemic inequality in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
Owen Jones emphasizes the disparity in how black individuals in Britain are treated by the police and the justice system, particularly in relation to drug offenses. While black people face heightened scrutiny and consequences, organized crime, which often includes more severe and violent actions, is often overlooked, suggesting a flawed system that disproportionately punishes certain demographics while allowing others to benefit from criminal activities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might refer to Owen Jones' quote to illustrate the ongoing issues of racial inequality in law enforcement.
More from Owen Jones
All quotes βNeoliberalism has left Britain's boss classes drunk on triumphalism, paying themselves record salaries and bonuses while their workers are imprisoned by poverty and insecurity. It was never going to last.
Socialism is the democratisation of every level of society, or it is nothing. It is based on an understanding that the concentration of wealth and power leaves democracy hollowed out, and that simply trooping to a polling station every few years is an insufficient counterweight to the behemoths of global capital.
Similar quotes
I've never seen a sincere white man, not when it comes to helping black people. Usually things like this are done by white people to benefit themselves. The white man's primary interest is not to elevate the thinking of black people, or to waken black people, or white people either. The white man is interested in the black man only to the extent that the black man is of use to him. The white man's interest is to make money, to exploit.
Everyone around me says, You're a genius! You're great! That's your voice! But I'm not sure if they're right.
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There is a perverse mood of the mind which is rather soothed than irritated by misconstruction; and in quarters where we can never be rightly known, we take pleasure, I think, in being consummately ignored. What honest man on being casually taken for a housebreaker does not feel rather tickled than vexed at the mistake?
The rule of law bakes no bread, it is unable to distribute loaves or fishes (it has none), and it cannot protect itself against external assault, but it remains the most civilized and least burdensome conception of a state yet to be devised.
The lies we live will always be confessed in the stories that we tell.