In search of common sense

The press is still banging on about Clarkson? Are you all out of your minds? What, did you not understand black humour? It's how we cope with the shitty world we live in. Wait, oh, of course it's a Labour MP, it had to be that or a LibDemic, missing the point again. Yet they don't seem to lack a sense of irony; tax and spend, freedom of speech (but not yours), calling the Tories 'nasty' while  stealing your money to support state enslavement.

But it's not confined to the (ahem) ruling classes; in other idiocy news:

A former copper draws attention to himself while driving, then tries to evade capture by emulating Bo Hazzard. I have an inkling that had he not been driving with his kit off nobody would have been in the least bit bothered. I'd like to think my coppers will be better mentally-equipped than this; after all I do intend to arm them and let them shoot on suspicion.

In the groaning Grauniad George Monbiot's column yesterday was full of bitterness towards the empowered classes, who after all are entirely responsible for the massive increase in the standard of living of all people in the UK today. Take a look at these pictures:

Now, do you long for the world on the left, the 'good old days' attendant with cholera, rickets and deaths from starvation, or did you actually grow up in the cosy world on the right with unlimited access to things undreamed of fifty years ago, you ungrateful peasants? If the left had exclusively had their way we'd all be nineteen eighty-fouring it to an early, monochrome grave. Balance, Monbiot, balance.

Wherever you look you'll find a dearth of straight thinking. If you feed the feckless for nothing they will stay feckless. If you don't punish criminals then crime will (does) pay. If you wean the young-uns on techno-wizardry, they will be incapable of learning, of thinking, without its support. I noticed physicists on the telly yesterday, communicating the principles of all matter via the medium of a blackboard. A blackboard. Listen to me; A. Black. Board. And chalk. Of course, they had the advantage of being able to write - selfish privileged bastards!

Meanwhile, polar bear gate is still being fervently discussed while the world economy staggers and gasps. Maybe Monbiot's right in a way - the press tell you what you want to hear, whether or not it's what you should be hearing.

We live in a world where the very idea of a direct relationship between work and reward is anathema to a generation; where the notion of toil is derided in favour of nebulous 'talent'; where, somehow, it is everybody's right to live high on their dreams. But it's a fantasy; nobody deserves anything they haven't earned. I'd rather live in a world where the possibility exists for those with the means to capitalise on what they bring to the table, rather than exist on the meagre scraps that 'equality' would bring.

Common sense. As rare as rocking-horse shit.