I absolutely despise the fact that we live in an intolerant society — and one that’s becoming more so by the day.

We’re intolerant of foreign nationals, of gay people, of the trans community, of people who can’t work for whatever reason. In this country, people will find almost any excuse to be angry at someone else.

I could blame the media — and I wouldn’t be wrong. They play a huge fucking role in it. They set people against each other, always pointing the finger somewhere convenient. Someone must be to blame for the state we’re in, and depending on which day you pick up a paper or scroll the news, you’ll be told exactly who that is. “Benefit Britain.” “Asylum invasion.” Same story, different headline.

We love to tell ourselves we’re a tolerant society. We aren’t. We never have been.

Everyone knows at least one person — usually more — who’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic. The list of things people will hate others for is endless. And just because most of it isn’t said loudly in public doesn’t mean it isn’t said at all. It is. Quietly. After a look over the shoulder. And most of the time, it goes completely unchallenged.

When I was younger, I repeated what I heard. Racist jokes. Homophobic jokes. Sexist jokes. I repeated them because I believed them — because I grew up around them. But here’s the thing: I grew the fuck up and realised how absurd it all is.

While we’re busy arguing with each other, the rich are laughing.

We’re told asylum seekers and so-called “illegal immigrants” are the reason there aren’t enough jobs, enough houses, or a functioning NHS. It’s bullshit. The cost of housing asylum seekers is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions lost through tax avoidance by the highest earners in this country.

Those people don’t believe that earning more means paying more — even though that’s literally how a functioning democratic society works. Or should work.

Instead of fixing that, the solution is always to take more from the people who can least afford it. Cuts to public services. Quiet reductions dressed up as “efficiency.” And when things get too uncomfortable, we’re thrown a distraction: “We’ve increased the minimum wage.”

Sounds good — until prices rise again, because businesses refuse to absorb the cost. We end up paying for our own pay rise, and nothing actually improves. We don’t win. Big business does. The wealthy do. They keep dodging taxes, and they never feel the squeeze.

Asylum seekers are not the problem.
People on benefits are not the problem.

Yes, some people exploit those systems. We should deal with that. But broken Britain — and broken economies across the world — aren’t caused by people at the bottom. They’re caused by the biggest crooks at the top, protected by millionaire-owned tabloids and a media ecosystem that thrives on division.

We don’t live in a tolerant society. We never fucking have.

Because it’s easier to hate the people closest to us than to confront the ones actually responsible for the mess we’re in. Until we stop doing that — until we start directing our anger together instead of sideways — this cycle will never end.