social vacuums
The human is a highly dangerous animal and often must be tamed as part
of its maturation process, even from two years old. As long as children
continue to be raised in cotton wool and the vacuum, it is inevitable
that a proprtion will act dangerously and foolishly.
This is far more important as the potential power of the individual
rises; along with our huge strides in understanding chemistry, biology
and physics.
If some wet dope is let out with a degree in chemistry, in combination
with no serious social training or understanding, it is inevitable
that with hubris and ignorance, a few will choose to go out with a bang.
There is another version of this phenomenon with the events at Columbine.
This sequence of events is not magic and it is not just
found with Islam. It is human nature, combined with a society adrift;
a society with far more power available to the individual than ever
before.
Meanwhile, in the background, there are always venal power seekers:
self-styled imams or a Charles Manson are ready to corrupt and use the
folly of youth for personal gain; and then there are irresponsible politicians,
prepared to lie by offering pretended easy options.
You do not raise an individual to independence by running to pick the
child up the moment it starts to whine or falls down, nor by refusing
to let it choose its own cothes or have some say over its diet.
-
resolving these social
problems
The real actions to be taken to stop, or at least attenuate, the problems
must include a sane modern training in citizenship. This is not an add-on
extra. It is a necessary central and fundamental part of a modern society
changing at a rate never previously experienced by the human animal.
These social problems cannot be solved with the methods of last century,
let alone those of the 7th century. There has to be a modern approach
to modern problems, not some crazy Taliban/Luddite attempt to return
to the olden days where olden methods would (apparently) work for a
primitive, or even a purposefully primitivised, society.
I have no wish to live in the 7th century, or even the 20th century.
I wish to live in the 21st century. I welcome the real world with all
its wonders. I do not seek to return to the earlier ways of ‘nasty,
brutal and short’.
Many people appear to think all that is needed is a bit of paint and
sticking plaster and then “things will be fine”. They will
not.
flawed school
model
There is, sensibly, much more ‘learning by doing’ in schools
now, but the problems go very much further. Meanwhile, the school model
is deeply flawed.
School is often an unsuitable place for serious learning. The schools
should belong to communities and be a resource, not a prison and baby
sitting service for the crime of being ‘young’.
Education should be aimed at parents, not just children. Parents should
be a fully integrated part of the process, as should local communities.
Many things should be taught
that are just not taught at all. Teaching should not be about some outdated
handcrafts, or preparing pre-digested written scripts.
The problems concerning behaviours, disaffection, young people... are
mixed into the package like a raspberry ripple.
The less smart kids cannot look forward to high-paying jobs. They cannot
compete with educated, disciplined Chinese or Indian adults. They cannot
compete with immigrants who will do the less fashionable jobs at lower
rates and without constantly whining. Until the yearning
for the past world is stopped, society will not adjust to the present
world.
some directions to
take
How does society propose to deal with an already over-crowded island
(the UK) in a world where population is growing at the rate of more
than a new Britain every year, and where food and oil supplies come
under ever increasing pressure? Many are ostriches,
seeking to believe what they want to believe rather than attending
to reality. Typically, socialists act in such a fashion. Those who prefer
burying their heads will ever more lose control of the outcomes.
This is a new world that must be understood, tackled and accomodated.
Franchise by examination
is effectively one rather simplified focus for that need to adapt, as
is a citizen’s wage.
At the heart of the problems is the cowardly raising of cowards, and
the inculcation of arrogance.
Children are being raised in a sort of intellectual and emotional vacuum.
There is little so foolish and cruel as to tell some ignorant kid that
the world owes
them a living, let alone that their immature ‘opinions’
much matter in the development of society and nations. Obviously, the
young must develop self-expression through practice, but they should
not be led to expect that they will gain original insights into the
political problems of the age without accumulating a considerable mass
of learning.
Self-control does not suddenly spring fully formed, “just like
that” at some magical age. Large percentages of ‘adults’
are merely immature children in bigger bodies. Much of their immaturity
is due to an irresponsible, dogmatic ‘permissiveness’, a
fashion from hippy theories - detached from the realities of human nature
and development.
- Sane development requires judicious and thoughtful balance between
permissions and discipline. It does not require aone extreme or the
other. All extremes generate unfortunate outcomes with inevitable payments
to be made.
