What on earth has happened to Great Britain? This country, which once defeated Hitler, has descended into something utterly unrecognisable. It has become a land where self-pity and defeatism rule, and victimhood is the new supremacy. It’s now fashionable to say “my life’s bad… and it’s all because of you!”
Take yesterday – when crime appeared in the news. Who’s making everyone stab each other? The government, obviously! On Twitter, Jeremy Corbyn wrote: “Under the Conservatives spending on youth services has been cut by 52% and 600 youth clubs have closed. The next Labour government will ensure that youth services support our young people and tackle the causes of crime.”
The causes of crime are complex and have economic origins. But we now must assume the only thing between someone being stabbed or not was whether Dave went to play snooker. We’ve reached the point where every single societal problem is now automatically someone else’s fault, and when I say “someone else” I mean Tory cuts, white old privileged rich men and “the system” – whatever that means. Personal responsibility? What’s that all about…
In the case of knife crime, the insistence that social investment is the main prevention sends a terrible message to young people, suggesting they have no ownership for their behaviour – and that nothing can be done about crime until investment flows in.
Repeatedly we are told that every social ill in Britain has been caused by external factors. But older generations have lived through much harder times – World War II, for instance, where there was bombing all over Britain. So how did they turn out alright? “Oh, but it’s a different time for the kids now,” they will say. What, worse than the Blitz?!
The only thing on the decline in Britain is its stinking attitude to every societal wrong. Almost daily someone, or something, is getting blamed for another person’s issue. Didn’t get good grades at school? It’s the exam system! Didn’t get a good job? Discrimination! Nobody fancies you? Toxic masculinity… The list goes on, and on. How refreshing it would be to hear the words: “sorry, the problem was me.”
It’s no wonder that our society has become so disrupted as a result; when politicians tell the Xbox generation that someone else caused their woes, this merely encourages huge resentment. It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where the electorate believes it can never triumph – so great are the forces against them.
Britain isn’t perfect, but we’ve been brainwashed into a ridiculous vision created by the Left, whose descriptions increasingly make us sound like North Korea. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as we are one of the most fair, meritocratic and successful societies, which is why so many people move here.
More stoic societies wouldn’t have so much laughed at us, but overtaken our country while we threw vegan sandwiches at each other. There have been brutal civilisations by comparison, but none so hopeless at taking personal responsibility: the sign of true civility.
Charlotte Gill 