Monday, June 14, 2010

Democracy is dead, long live democracy!

Do you ever get the feeling that democracy is becoming increasingly autocratic, even totalitarian? Our democratic freedoms are being eroded faster than the arctic ice caps.

I was a child of the seventies and early eighties and I grew up with autocratic parents whose attitude was always..
                                   'No you can't...I said No!...Do as I told you!'

..and I escaped as soon as I came of age. I bought my first house at eighteen (dodgy mortgage), and left home without looking back. I enjoyed freedom for the first time...I had a good time, got drunk, silly and adventurous for a few years - but worked hard to make money and get along and I never got myself into serious trouble along the way.

But even if I did break free from the confines of my parents rules and beliefs, my life has been ordered and directed by society, complete with it's own long list of rules and regulations. I haven't minded this though, society needs order and most laws are determined with the well-being of the majority in mind.

What scares me is the rise of the self-righteous activists, the homosexual rights campaigners, the feminists, anti-racists.. the greens, the health and safety quangos, the ban fox-hunting/smoking/drinking and anti four wheel drive campaigners who make me afraid to express my own opinions in fear of being branded as sexist, homophobic or racist.

It scares me to see just how much influence and power they gained in just a few short decades, how they have worked tirelessly to integrate themselves into positions of influence within councils, the government and the media and how they play a huge part in creating new laws, rules and regulations that affect us all.

I'm an Average Joe but I have my own preferences; I like Peanut Butter and Marmite together on toast, I prefer the summer to the winter, I like Jaguar cars to BMW cars...and so on...

What is really getting to me is the long list of words we can no longer use for fear of insulting someone. I've just been told that my use of the word 'disabled' to describe a man I saw whose legs had been blown off by an Afgan IED is prejudiced against all those who in some way do not enjoy the same mobility as someone with two working arms and legs.

This pissed me off. I felt extremely sorry for the man I saw but I was also absolutely in awe of him knowing that I wouldn't cope with the situation he was obviously having to cope with.... but to describe him as disabled is apparently wrong..... he should be described as 'a person without the use of arms and legs'. That's like having to call an egg a 'chicken foetus ecased in a hard outer shell'. Try asking for that in Joes cafe!...

"I'll have sausage, beans and a chicken foetus encased in a hard shell please"

That's a silly example but what I'm saying is, I am neither racist nor over opinionated but I have my preferences. I have a sense of humour, I don't care if someone is gay; black; white; pink or purple or disabled - In other words, if a woman (I prefer women) looked as good as Catherine Zeta Jones, had the fun personality of Nicole Shit-slinger and the body of either, I really wouldn't worry what colour or race they were!.. but there are always going to be people who are bothered and will go out of their way to be cruel and stupid. (I took a good share of that at school).

I read an American blog written by a black American that said that if a white person is accused of racism, that person has no defence to the charge. If the white person says 'but my best friend is black', then he/she is racist for distinguishing his black friends from his white! It's frustrating...

If we continue down this road, then I will be 'size-ist' for preferring shorter women to taller women; I'll be 'weight-ist' for preferring slimmer women to wider women and homophobic for turning down a date with a gay man (as I prefer women). In fact, it could get to the stage that if anyone declines anyones offer of a date they will be seen as discriminatory...'he/she wouldn't go out with me and so offended me and discriminated against me'...Eh???

The world is never going to be a perfect place but it has to support the habits, habitats, cultures and foibles of all of us, so lets stop running our lives according to the fanatics and do-gooders and start living according to common sense. Unfortunately, we live in a cruel world and some people will be insulted, others beaten and others driven to early deaths and that's terrible but at the rate we're going, our free democratic society is going to be eroded into a world of rules and strict guidelines that will in themselves bring about trouble and revolution.

Anyone, whether a kind-hearted anti-something supporter or a murdering political fanatic can cause serious repercussions if they attempt to force the will of the majority to the idealism of their own single views.