It is the lot of one generation to bemoan the decline in
the next. Since man first started recording such thoughts, the undeserving young
have featured highly, teenagers being picked out for special opprobrium even
before the term ‘teenagers’ was coined. In parallel, the unequal – some would
day simply different - roles of men and women have also provided rich pickings
for satirists, activists and ordinary people trying to make sense of the world.
Obviously, if each generation was genuinely less capable
than the one which preceded it, mankind’s evolution must surely have taken a
backward track; it’s a wonder we haven’t returned to hunting and gathering,
gleaning the hedgerows for berries and smearing ourselves in our own shit for
warmth. But of course the reality is that those slovenly teenagers become
adults, change their attitudes and take their place in the world. And of course
not all young people are wide-eyed ingénues, ripe for exploitation by venal
adults. Not all.
Bu what the hell is happening to the world at the moment?
Since the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, we have been expanding the life
chances for every single one of us. No longer are we born and bound into
serfdom, into predictable lives of drudge and early death. The opportunities
for all people in the developed world are immense and varied, exciting and
rewarding. But are we content with this bounty? Apparently not.
After several centuries of progressively loosening the ties
that bind we find our world a confusing maelstrom of strictly defined liberties
and vaguely stated restrictions. We seem to have a raft of statutory rights that
are as if written in stone and inviolable, yet we can unwittingly commit a crime
just by expressing a thought that somebody else chooses to misinterpret and
find offensive, often long after the words were uttered. We have the right to
live our life exactly as we wish yet to do so might put us on the wrong side of
the law.
The current Westminster outrage is but one example, with
committees now convening to draft codes of conduct and individuals pondering
how to avoid the traps. Surely we know the difference between a clumsy attempt to
engage and a wilful effort to dominate and control? If we don’t notice the
instance a come-on turns into a no-thank-you is that so horrific? Should all
public servants be neutered before entering the profession? Should they wear
asexual, ill-fitting uniforms to conceal their attractions? Masks? Burkas?
The Prime Minister holds a cabinet meeting
Maybe the whole notion of men and women together in the
same workplace should be subject to legal scrutiny and to preserve safe spaces
for all everybody should be isolated, working from monastic cells in silence.
Hell, maybe they should all convert to islam and be done with it; this sometimes
looks like the direction of travel anyway. But, in reality, none of this will
happen. They will hold their inquiries, more rules will be agreed and everybody
will get back to work unimpeded by allegations of sexual impropriety... until
the next time.
The one thing is certain the direction of travel that many especially the richest Western societies are taking is not a continuation of all that has achieved the wealth and liberties that we now or did until recently possess. As I have stated before it is a symptom of a dying civilisation. However that inevitability is nothing we can do to stop. All we can do now is speculate on what will be our fate.
ReplyDeleteTaken over by the barbarians is high on the cards and so fall under the power of Islam. Returning to a more medieval time. However I can see that Russia and China would not be pleased with that outcome as they would not like Europe to enlarge the power and influence of Islam. So perhaps we should start to learn Chinese and Russian. When our civilisation finally collapses I for one would rather that we become Russian or Chinese than Muslim.
The Macpherson report undermined the police and altered their priorities, and "hate" crime was perhaps the most damaging attack on freedom of speech ever. But I do not despair. In G K Chesterton's The Man Who was Thursday, the small group believe that the world has gone made and become anarchists. In the end they find it hasn't and they were regarded as the enemy because the world believed that they were the anarchists.
ReplyDelete"No longer are we born and bound into serfdom, into predictable lives of drudge and early death." Are we not in a modern form of this?
ReplyDelete"Surely we know the difference between a clumsy attempt to engage and a wilful effort to dominate and control?" I hope most would, still that does not mean we can not learn from previous events/ mistakes. Perhaps the recent outrage is that people do know the difference but have used the current processes to hide behind when aiming to dominate/ control and get away with. This is not a Westminster outrage but a societal one.