I don’t want to be a Mrs Mangel Christian. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, then you probably didn’t grow up in the UK or Australia in the 80s and 90s, and I should probably explain. Nell Mangel was the semi-villainous old busybody in long-running Aussie soap opera Neighbours, back when the show had an inexplicably enormous following. She was, at least according to her own recurring phrase, ‘a good Christian woman’, and it was apparently her faith which drove her interfering, occasionally malevolent actions. She didn’t like the young people enjoying themselves too much; she tutted and told tales as the older characters became romantically involved. Essentially, she saw every individual as a person to be judged against her own high moral code, and every situation as an opportunity to be judgmental – where possible even dishing out a sentence too. This, for her, was the bedrock of the Christian life.
In many ways, old Mrs Mangel was ahead of her time. Today, judging others has become a central part of entertainment, and of our everyday lives. Whether it’s gossip magazines spreading rumours or splashing photos of a celebrity’s sudden weight gain, or singers begging four judges to swivel their chairs on a TV talent show, we’re accustomed to making deep, definitive judgements on the basis of very limited information. It’s the basis on which prospective business stars lose their place on The Apprentice; it’s the way many people have made world-changing decisions about their political leaders or their country’s international future. Now we’re all a bit like Mrs Mangel, making snap judgments and acting accordingly.
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