Britain is beset by seven social evils that undermine all the good brought by prosperity, one of the countrys leading research groups said yesterday.
Greed, collapsing moral values and the decline of old-fashioned virtues such as honesty and tolerance were named as blights on the lives of millions.
The article is a very good read, but it leaves out the fundamental problem with British society, and the "sin" that has gradually come to our nation, brought like the Black Death was once spread by stowaway rats, this time carried by human cargo: immigrants, academia and broadcast by world media. That pervasive, dominate and the deadliest of sins in Britain is envy.
Envy is what defeats Britain at every turn. It pervades their media and their attitudes so casually and so completely that the majority of folks no longer recognize it, or would even consider it an evil trait. They don't even know they're doing it.
Someone will say "no one needs that much/many [fill in blank]" when the British rags present pictures and stories about some celebrity living in a big house, or buying another car. It is an absolute certainty that the comments of such articles will be full of nonsense like that. No one is immune from it. There is no recognition, not even an inkling of it, that no one has to justify or feel any shame for what they have, or buy anything based on need. If you can afford it and want it, go for it. It is no one's business.
Yes, there can be a downside to living one's life in a constant buying frenzy. We can recognize and identify the difference between spoiling oneself with stuff we like and love, and someone who is in a death spiral of self-loathing, which causes them to acquire stuff to fill a void that can never be filled. Those, however, are exceptions. It doesn't apply to the latest starlet's million pound movie deal, the hot football player who just signed a ten million pound contract, or the entrepreneurs who risked it all to make fortunes such as Richard Branson.
It extends to other issues, beyond wealth, including those who stand up against evil in other forms. No one is allowed to be self-sufficient or stand the tide of evil in any form. It is why the poor fellow, Tony Martin, who shot burglars who had repeatedly terrorized his home, was ravaged and punished by a crowd not unlike those who stood before Potius Pilate. How dare he strike back?! Commoners are not allowed to do that! That is the government's job! Lop off his head!
They're a nation of Madame LaFarges, sitting in front of their TV sets or computers, enjoying the spectacle.
The loathing is palpable and it drips casually from their tongues and pervades their behavior like a sickening, festering wound. It is pure evil and it is so common, so commonplace and accepted, that is it difficult to know where to begin to purge the evil from the little Isles.
As is well understood by Alcoholics Anonymous and any other recovery program, the first step in recovery is acceptance, of owning up to the fact that you have a problem. The British, however, are in such a deep void of denial of their acceptance of envy, it is difficult to think they will ever recover from it.
The Britons have a long history of a class system: of have-nots and haves. Envy and anger are easy to sympathize with when a nation is ruled by a monarchy, and there is no possibility that the have-nots could ever rise above their station.
But it ended more than a century ago and it continues not by the royals' actions, but by the people themselves.
It is now possible for anyone in Britain to do what Richard Branson has done, or at least rise above the station of their parents and grandparents. They achieve it by education, fortitude, hard work, and taking the dare to risk it all for something better. More importantly, however, they achieve it by believing, knowing, and accepting that they can.
They simply don't.
Others feel that people's 'moral compass' has failed them, and that too many people claim rights but assume no responsibilities.
They're caught in envy's tendrils, wanting the wealth of others handed to them, delivered like Salome's gift of the head of St. John the Baptist. They want it in the same way the royals had it handed to them in previous generations, and are perfectly willing to have it stolen from those who have it now, and dolled out to others by a government complicit to act as Robin Hood. There is simply no recognition that the Queen or any other Lord or Baron owns outright what they have, that their wealth is not in the public domain. Britons, simply, have no respect or recognition of the concept of private property. They're still caught in the past, carrying on the anger and resentment of their parents and grandparents. They must let it go to be able to get on with it.
They don't want a society of prosperous people based on a societal foundation of encouragement to work for it. They want revenge. They want the heads of the wealthy on platters, and they demonstrate their desires for that by the fact that they have no hesitation to boo and hiss at those who have wealth, however they've acquired it. They'll use the tax collector as their henchman, without a trace of shame.
The first step in achieving a culture of prosperity and happiness is being pleased and excited about the prosperity and happiness of others. There's enough to go around, and the wealth bathtub can never be too full or run out of water to allow everyone to be prosperous, if they are willing to do the heavy lifting to get there.
There are just too few Britons who are not infected by envy to make a difference in the outcome.
"Attaboy!" and "Cool!" must be the reaction to the success of others. "I want to do that, too" is the healthy/moral reaction to seeing success.
That attitude has never existed in Britain and it only gets worse as time goes on. It is an attitude that once existed in America, but it is, sadly, no longer the norm here either. There were a few who "went off to seek their fortunes" and returned with it. It pervades English literature, but few read it or allow it to be tought anymore.
When Obama says "fairness" it is a guise for wealth redistribution schemes where he is playing into the envious streak of too many Americans, and it is dangerous, and it is an evil that must be purged if we are to continue to exist as free people.
Where Britain goes, we follow, unless we recognize it and put an end to it.
Posts
