My OperaAltruism is Dead
Sunday, February 3, 2008 4:07:25 PM
Well! Well! The UK politicians are vying to see who can be the hardest on the poor. This time it's those on disability benefit. Damn scroungers! Work shy bas***ds! Get the shotgun out - peasants to shoot! The spirit of the gouty retired colonel is alive and well.
It cannot be denied that there are work-shy individuals amongst the unemployed and the disabled but what proportion are we talking about? The DWP (and it's Gestapo predecessor)have a Fraud Section which investigates rogue claimants - but how successful are they? What statistics do they provide to support their existence? How many people are really bogus claimants? Expecting our glorious leaders to provide any rational justification for their actions is like trying to knit fog - it ain't gonna happen.
Of course this has nothing to do with sleight-of-hand. Politicians are not trying to distract us from their wrong-doings! Yes and pigs might!
There are those who say that the post war governments should never have brought in the welfare state or paid money to the unemployed. It was pure misguided altruism! Or was it?
Consider the situation in the early fifties - a MANpower shortage - those of sound bodies could easily find jobs - the walking wounded (including those psychologically damaged) could not. What these 'rejects' had in common was they had been trained to kill (and many still had guns).
Also women had been doing jobs normally reserved for men and many were unwilling to go back to being the little wifey at home. This was a potential powder keg of discontent. The status quo had to be maintained.
Potential revolutionaries were therefore given a sub from the public purse disguised as state generosity. Today our politicians think it safe to bash the poor. They can't fight back after all! Well maybe our lords and masters should bear in mind the utter contempt in which they are held. In spite of all their recent Draconian laws riots are not out of the question - they have happened before in some very poor areas.
Well I'm off to the pointless "training" tomorrow. I will be looking at the 'contract' very carefully and keeping notes - good job I can still do some shorthand.
It cannot be denied that there are work-shy individuals amongst the unemployed and the disabled but what proportion are we talking about? The DWP (and it's Gestapo predecessor)have a Fraud Section which investigates rogue claimants - but how successful are they? What statistics do they provide to support their existence? How many people are really bogus claimants? Expecting our glorious leaders to provide any rational justification for their actions is like trying to knit fog - it ain't gonna happen.
Of course this has nothing to do with sleight-of-hand. Politicians are not trying to distract us from their wrong-doings! Yes and pigs might!
There are those who say that the post war governments should never have brought in the welfare state or paid money to the unemployed. It was pure misguided altruism! Or was it?
Consider the situation in the early fifties - a MANpower shortage - those of sound bodies could easily find jobs - the walking wounded (including those psychologically damaged) could not. What these 'rejects' had in common was they had been trained to kill (and many still had guns).
Also women had been doing jobs normally reserved for men and many were unwilling to go back to being the little wifey at home. This was a potential powder keg of discontent. The status quo had to be maintained.
Potential revolutionaries were therefore given a sub from the public purse disguised as state generosity. Today our politicians think it safe to bash the poor. They can't fight back after all! Well maybe our lords and masters should bear in mind the utter contempt in which they are held. In spite of all their recent Draconian laws riots are not out of the question - they have happened before in some very poor areas.
Well I'm off to the pointless "training" tomorrow. I will be looking at the 'contract' very carefully and keeping notes - good job I can still do some shorthand.
