Hello

I watched Bladerunner (the original movie) a couple of nights ago. I wanted to watch it during the month and year that it was set, November 2019. Although I have seen the movie more than once over the years, I made a little pact with myself that I would do that, when I first saw the movie 37 years ago. I was barely five years old. 

We’re in the future now you see. And whilst there are no flying cars (well there are, but they’re still a bit rubbish) and we don’t have to go to ‘kiosks’ to make video calls, we can do that on the move, much of the (excellent) movie was very prescient.

What does being human mean? How do our memories define us? At what point do we decide that we are part of one group, and this other person is part of the other group. Them and us. That sense of tribe, or more disturbingly, that sense that the other tribe is less than us. 

The ‘replicants’ in Bladerunner were genetically engineered individuals who possessed some extraordinary abilities, but they also experienced emotions. Love, hate, fear. And one of the central themes of the movie was, are they then not just as ‘human’ as their creators/designers?

The way the story unfolds, it would seem that they are, and yet they are still hunted, subjugated, and feared.  What might that tell us about our November 2019?

Well, several things I suspect, but one message which leaps out to me is that we must reduce the tendency that seems to be a pandemic at the moment. The tendency to categorise individuals into one group or another, and in that way make them the ‘them’, so that they are tarred with the patina of otherness, of difference, to the point that whatever they say or do is viewed through the bitter filter of tribalism, they are not properly gauged or considered. They have lost the battle to have a fair hearing, before they even speak. 

This is not good. We must seek to consider the character, the decency, the morality of ‘the other’ instead of reflexively branding them as such. We are all set to live in a true futuristic dystopia unless we can figure out a way forward together, and the current febrile nature of political rhetoric (from just about all sides) is both extremely counterproductive and disturbing.

Real leaders seek first to understand, and are comfortable enough in of themselves not to have to resort to the ridiculous hysterical caterwauling that we are currently being subjected to. We need leaders who are able to conduct themselves with at least an element of selflessness and a soupçon of decorum.

However, we can’t just leave it up to the so called ‘leaders’, we are all leaders of self. We have to take personal responsibility for calming down situations, for seeking to understand the ‘other’, and to find common ground. Everyone is human, or everyone is genetically engineered. It doesn’t matter which way round we think of it. By finding common ground we can move forward as ‘us’.

Otherwise we may all have to leave for the off-world colonies. And that would be a crying (in the rain) shame.

Come on the political class – we see you. Now please start to lead by example.

Best 

Mike