Bread and Circuses-UK 2015

There comes a time when great civilisations come to an end, and I doubt it's ever pretty for those involved. It feels ever more like our civilisation is crumbling, maybe it deserves to and certainly the politically correct left are hellbent on hastening our demise as has always been their aim.

For me the rot set in during the 1960s. That decade bred an attitude of self, self, self. An attitude of I want so I will have and sod the consequences for society. That blighted decade led directly to abortion on demand. It led to the breakdown of the traditional family. It led to the kind of welfare system that pays people to claim rather than work, and for women to breed with or without a husband knowing that the state (the rest of us) will pick up the bill.

We now live in a society where a man can decide he's a woman and have the operation, estimated cost £30,000 and the rest of us pay the bill. The NHS in crisis? Well stop spending money on that kind of thing and other vanity treatments. If they really want to mutilate their bodies in that way then let them pay to have it done privately. I have no problem if that's what they want to do with their bodies but don't expect me to regard them as women any more than I would regard a man on all fours trolling around barking to have suddenly become a dog.

These people on the fringe plead tolerance and acceptance of their lifestyle choices, but God help anybody who dissents then you find that their belief in freedom and tolerance suddenly evaporates. Witness Germaine Greer last week facing the wrath of the politically correct Stasi for daring to question aspects of transsexuality. Cardiff University appears to harbour groups of students dedicated to killing free speech and policing thought, which is no surprise to many people who have long believed our education system to be nothing more than a brainwashing factory controlled by the politically correct to promote their own agenda and crush anybody daring to think differently.

Then you look at the TV schedules and it is quite shocking. In centuries gone by people who were different from the norm were paraded around the streets for the entertainment of the general populace, John Merrick, the Elephant Man being one. On April 1st the mentally ill were released from Bedlam for the day to be goaded and ridiculed by the general populace. This kind of thing was ended years ago, or so I thought.

But no, our TV schedules are full of it. There are programmes about the ugliest people dating each other. The fattest people looking for friendship and love. The tiniest most deformed people trying to find partners. These programmes are not informative or educational, they are modern day freak shows. Animals are no longer allowed to perform in most circuses but we can parade humans on TV for the general populace to gawp at and get some strange kind of pleasure from.

I began this post blaming the me, me, me decade of the '60s with it's so called liberation challenging of the norms of society. What it actually did was lead to people wanting to do whatever they wanted while abrogating personal responsibility. Screw up? Somebody else will pick up the pieces and pay for it. Help your neighbour and your wider community? No, let the local council or the state do that, but as long as I vote for a party that will promise to help the poor and needy I can get a nice warm glow without getting my hands dirty.

Most of my working life I worked for medical charities. From the mid 1980s the level of volunteer involvement became ever smaller. Volunteer recruitment became ever more difficult. We are now seeing the results of the attitude that defined the 1960s. Peoples' answer to any problem today, ironically most prevalent amongst the politically correct in my experience, is not to roll up their sleeves and help but to call for the state to deal with it. That means the government, the politicians those same people they claim to loathe and ultimately the poor old tax payer. Because what they don't seem to understand is that government doesn't have a big money tree, we pay for them to swan around splashing the cash to get a few extra votes and to make the politically feel a warm, smug glow of self satisfaction.m

The bread and circuses have anaesthetised the populace to reality and they can't or won't see the wider picture. Pretty soon it will be too late and they'll ask how it was allowed to happen. Maybe if they wake up now and look around they will actually see for themselves before it's too late.