Prospering Cheats

On one of my recent long walks, hooked up to ‘the wireless’ as Jake Rees-Mogg would have it, I listened to a short exposé of the phenomenon of essay mills. This industry – the cheating industry – is nothing new; twenty years ago I encountered some early versions of it in the form of essay-sharing websites being freely accessed by MSc students. In fact, asked to check over a fellow student’s work I quizzed him as to why paragraphs were in different literary styles and logically unconnected. He shrugged, submitted it anyway and gained a merit. I’m guessing the tutor was merely looking for key words.

Of course, cheating was always an option but in the past it was not only frowned upon, rather than encouraged, it was generally recognised that the cheat would eventually be exposed, the plagiarist pilloried and that real talent would out. Encouraged, you ask? Surely cheating is still a disqualification event? Not that you’d notice; GCSEs taught to the exam, colleges and universities as qualification factories and the espousal of the ‘right’ cultural values placed above knowledge and achievement.

We have an entire sub-economy (sub, in the sense that it undermines the economy) based on the virtue signalling, social justice promoting, equality and diversity worshipping cults of the new Marxists. Non-jobs proliferate, such as patient experience champions in place of nurses, human resources practitioners displacing actual human resources and an entire branch of the judiciary intent on defending the indefensible instead of upholding the common law. And some sectors of society – such as drug-dealing sons, daughters and siblings of serving politicians – are seemingly beyond legal sanction.

But what other choices do people have, when they see that an honest day’s toil brings in a miserable minimum wage, whereas a day spent messing with other people’s heads can be the foundation swell of a meteoric career wave, culminating in honours, adoration and riches? Forty years in the machine shop brings ill health, subsistence living and the prospect of retiring on a state pension while still paying rent, compared to the same time spent in comfy talking shops, ordering progressively more expensive champagne.

But it isn’t sustainable. This world of easy options, of lazy, second-hand ‘work’ procuring the rewards that should properly accrue only to those who contribute to, not detract from our common wealth cannot continue. Eventually, the state runs out of money earned by the productive to pay for the non-productive – the cheats, the charlatans the snake-oil salesmen. The quinoa-fed world produces nothing of value but is filled with those who have convinced themselves that copying a slogan is as important as reproducing an item of commercial value. All of this culminating in a bid to have veganism given the status of a religion and have animal-based phrases denounced as hate speech.

The developed world is burning and in no small part this is due to the perceived and actual injustice of cheats prospering. The greasy pole climb used to need skill, strength and stamina; now, your pointless degree in cheating gives you a leg up. But the gloss is fading and the lying, cheating classes are being seen for what they are – valueless leeches, parasites on the body national. When the public finance well runs dry those shop-bought essays will count for nothing. The future belongs to those prepared to tear down the flimsy walls of political correctness and rebuild them with sturdy blocks of honest toil.

Go for 'B'...

So, instil in your children a love of learning, acclimatise them to the work ethic and emphasize the gaining of true life skills. Evangelise self-sufficiency; cooking, cleaning, thrift and most importantly, making do but striving for better. Let them know themselves, not be led by donkeys and never fear to speak their mind. Challenge them to make choices, rather than follow the herd. Teach them to socialise without being sycophants, to defend their values, but listen to those of others; keep the enemy close. And if they must cheat to get ahead, make sure they don’t get caught.