Longing for Community

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth has not, as you might expect, been particularly big news here! She did, however, get a mention on the front page of one of the national newspapers.

We have, as always, been in touch with events via the omnipresent BBC. These types of national events are always a fascinating experience. Seeing the river procession on Sunday and the various street parties have reminded me very much of the Sinulog Festival which we were part of in January.

(For our experiences of Sinulog click: Sinulog Fluvial Parade; Sinulog Pasil Parade; Sinulog City Parade)

What is it that draws people out onto the streets? What is it which inspires people to join in these celebrations?

I don’t believe that the inspiration is really what it is claimed to be. Despite what they might say most British people do not love the queen, not really. She is a very private figure, she never gives interviews, she has never written a book and she is never seen informally. Her speeches are highly stage managed affairs not personal exposés. None of us know what her opinions are on any significant issue. The Queen is a very distant figure, amazingly so considering her profile. Thus for most of us she is not really a person rather part of a national myth. The media (chiefly the BBC) gives us a picture of an idealised Queen, one which we are encouraged to celebrate. No voices of dissent from this line are ever allowed to be heard. Yet we don’t really know (or possibly care) if this myth matches reality or not.

So what is the real reason that people pour out onto the streets. I think it is because we all long for community, the spiritual and emotional facets of our being yearn for universality; we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. When we see a crowd begin to gather we are emotionally drawn towards it wanting to be part of the event. Thus for a few hours we are willing to put reality on hold and to pretend that as a nation we are one people united around our Queen. It is the action of coming together that is paramount not the object which forms the focus for this coming together. We are all swept along by the group dynamic; we enter into the event and the emotion. Reality is put on hold so as to let ourselves enjoy the mythic reality. We feel better about ourselves because we are part of something worthy.

All of this is part of being human, we are social beings and we are future-orientated beings, we all need to occasionally stop working, forget reality and subsume ourselves into a collective celebration. Just occasionally we need to allow ourselves to trust in something higher than ourselves. The celebrations of Sinulog play much the same role for the people of Cebu as do many celebrations across the world. Every nation needs it national myth.

Where, however, this created mythic reality can become dangerous is in the fact that as we let go of reality and begin to trust very easily we become vulnerable to manipulation. We are just a little bit tempted to forget that this is all a game and so to stay living in the dream. We infantilise ourselves and we stop thinking. Thus we can all too easily become part of the mob just because it is what everyone else is doing. Let’s not forget that it was falling for this exact same idealised national myth that lead our nation (and others) into the butchery of the Somme and the mud of Paschendaele; and that it was a desire to let go of reality and embrace an idealised national myth which lead Germans to accept the death camps. It is an idealised national myth which is currently costing many naive young British and Afghan men their live.

So let’s enjoy the party and enjoy the community but not forget that none of this is real; she’s no more important than any of the rest of us.