This article explains anti-Trumpism as being due to a British culture of ridicule as a pastime.
Quote:But unlike America (or at least Trump’s America), Britain does not worship fame for fame’s sake. We distrust it, so our instinct is to bring it down with mockery. The recent phenomenon of milkshaking politicians like the far-right Nigel Farage — itself an evolution of throwing eggs, a storied British tradition — springs from this instinct to ridicule.
Much more than in the United States, British politicians rarely survive their careers intact. The sheer gall of someone seeking to run the country in the first place is usually enough to convince most Brits that that person deserves ridicule, not respect. So when faced with a man of Trump’s preposterous swagger and self-regard, we can’t help ourselves. We’re like a teenager with a zit: we are compelled to squeeze.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-u-k-visit-protests-are-so-hilarious-because-ncna1013656
It is interesting to wonder, however, whether this attitude doesn't represent some inherent sense of superiority by virtue of one not being famous or a politician. In other words, when everyday people feel entitled to ridicule others for being 'uppity,' doesn't that imply that they find themselves above ridicule, or rather below it, because of their social position?
There is an irony in rejecting social position as a cause for respect, but then embracing your own low social position as immunity from disrespect.
Maybe it's time people started learning to respect all people, regardless of status (high or low) and truly embrace the truism that all people are created equal, because we are. We all have hearts and minds. We all make mistakes and (hopefully) learn from them. To allow the fiction of social verticality, positive or negative, to interfere with empathy for humans because they're human is probably worthy of ridicule, but with a little empathy, we might be able to rise above the urge to ridicule it nonetheless.
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