Sunday 22 August 2010

As I Was About To Say ...

Linking to other people's stuff appears to be the theme here today, but I've spent my Sunday advising (pro bono) an organisation which always seems determined to press the self-destruct button.

Fortunately, yet again Longrider has articulated my thoughts exactly.

By the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, it is apparent that the blood-letting and losses of the preceding century have been forgotten and the consequent lessons failed to be learned.
That is merely his denouement. I heartily recommend reading the whole piece.

Just as an addendum, though, I'd like to point out that we are now far beyond the indoctrination of just children. Infantilisation has now progressed to such an extent that adults - and, significantly, MPs - are more blind to what is going on around them than even a pre-pubescent used to be in the 70s.

Tonight I have spent the evening pointing out to grown men and women why their ridiculous ideas will invite damaging unintended consequences on them. There has always been an element of this over the two decades in which I have been involved, but each year the stupidity is ratcheted up another notch.

I could write a couple of thousand words on the ignorance and lack of extended thought I've seen tonight. Suffice to say that after quietly listening to a 30 minute debate about a particularly stupid idea, the meeting convenor looked worried and shot a glance in my direction.

I told him not to fret, I'd shoot it down in one sentence. He wasn't convinced ... until I did and the room went quiet. And stayed that way.

Again, Longrider has explained it perfectly here.

And there, unfortunately, is the problem. The enemies of liberty are not just the politicians, the bureaucrats and senior police officers. It’s not just the petty jobsworths and town hall officials wearing the jackboot that stamps on the faces of the oppressed. It’s the man on the Clapham omnibus. And that is a depressing thought indeed.
Talk of a lasting rebellion is incredibly premature. We're still nibbling at the edges of a nasty disease. That of spineless 'oh well'-itis. The regurgitating of idiot ideology by those whose life skills have been replaced by blind adherence to poorly thought-out authoritarianism. So much so that their only understanding of responsibility is to replicate the fuckwittery of those they see wielding power, without any thought to the obvious consequences of their actions.

Depressing? Yes. Is there an answer? Fucked if I know ... but I can't see one yet in the new morons we have governing us.

Now, if they were to come out and tell Sandwell Council - for example - that they're every shade of cuntishness and must drop it now, we'd have a chance. But while 70 year olds are being pursued by unrepentant local authority bastards, what chance will we ever have of instilling respect for our elders in the rest of community?

Leaders lead. And the public follow. It's how it has always been, it's just that now we have quite appalling examples of leadership, which is why we have such an atrocious society.

Politicians can bleat about 'broken society' as much as the like, but their lack of thought, their adherence to insane ideology, their oblivion to the consequences of their nonsense, and their inaction in cracking down on arseholes like Sandwell Council, has done the breaking.

And their idiocy drips down into every pore of our existence.


4 comments:

Unknown said...

That last link was most depressing DP.

I struggle to know what is going on in this once proud country of ours. As I aproach my 60th birthday in 2010, the year of the olympics, I fear the future sometimes.

Frank Davis said...

Tonight I have spent the evening pointing out to grown men and women why their ridiculous ideas will invite damaging unintended consequences on them.

I'm dying to know who!

Junican said...

It is really weird that, in respect of smoking, the denormalisation has already worked. I have seen the evidence in my own family. Visiting my daughter who has a six year old son, windows and doors had to be left open when I was smoking. Even my wife felt it necessary to sit near an open door - I mean, voluntarily. My other daughters (in their forties) also felt impelled to 'cough and splutter' a bit.
If the objection was 'the smell and the smoke', then I would understand. But what really, really pisses me off is this appeal to 'health'. That is where the 'denormalisation' has succeeded.

Somehow or other, the 'health' bit has to be shown to be untrue. By all means whinge about the 'smell and the smoke', but don't give me the health stuff.

It is hard to see, in the short term, how people who enjoy tobacco can stop feeling guilty.

Eventually, somehow or other, a website needs to come into existence which has the simple objective of denying tobacco harm while at the same time accepting the 'stink and smoke' argument. Given the right approach, all the people who are standing outside the pub smoking could be 'leafleted' (for lack of a better word) and asked to look at the site and 'join the movement', but it is critical to accept that lots of people do not like the 'stink and the smoke'.

Pat Nurse MA said...

Junican - smell is subjective. I spend my time telling people that there is nothing better than the smell of fresh aromatic tobacco burning and stale tobacco smells are like any other stale smell - food, perfume, sweat etc... Once explained, I find many agree, actually, when they have thought about it.

I also now say that to tell a smoker they "stink" is wrong and not something they would say openly to anyone else from a minority group. Again when they stop to think about it, they accept it is wrong.

The tolerant understand and I have noticed a change in their language. The intolerant will never understand because encouraging people to say we "stink" is part of their campaign of hate against us.

Yes, being a smoker is hard with families and I have also had one of my daughters refusing to visit with a grandchild because I am a smoker. This is what the antis wanted.

DP and TBY - I can't read links anymore because it's too depressing. The truth is this fight will not be won and we will never gain any ground unless we get smokers on side and active. That seems even harder to achieve.