Social acid has burnt the heart of Britain

Telegraph (UK) ^ | 26/08/2007 | John O'Sullivan

[Panzerlied]

Fifty years ago I was a schoolboy in a Liverpool suburb and a strong supporter of Everton like Rhys Jones. My parents were cautious and loving, but they had no qualms about letting me follow the team around the country.

That a boy might be killed by a drive-by shooter as he was returning from his local soccer practice would have struck them as an episode in a Latin American coup rather than a possibility in their relatively tranquil lives.

Not unreasonably. In 1955, the anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer described this tranquillity in his book Exploring English Character: "When we think of our faults, we put first, and by a long way, any lapse from our standards of non-aggression, bad temper, nagging, swearing and the like. Public life is more gentle than that reported for any society of comparable size and industrial complexity."

[Panzerlied]

Sad to read but hardly surprising.

[TLEIBY308]

Liberalism destroys everthing.

[vetsvette]

The UK is a perfect example of what happens to a truly great country when you let the leftists hold sway, even for a short time.

I’ve always loved England and visited there frequently for many years, but you wouldn’t get me to go there on a bet these days.

[Chode]

On October 11, 1798, President John Adams addressed the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts in a letter: 'We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'

[gcruse]

“Going to a West End play today is like going to Broadway in the 1970s...except that the swearing doesn’t stop when the play starts.”

I moved with my young family to Canada in 1972. We moved back in 1978. It was a weird difference. When we left the US, men didn’t swear in the presence of women and young women swore not at all.

When we came back, it was a shock to hear young virginal-looking sweet things cursing freely and using the f-word in mixed company as if it were unremarkable.

I don’t know what happened from 1972 to 1978, but the society achieved the coarseness it has today in that short time.

Who killed modesty?

[stripes1776]

mark

[padre35]

The article is decent, but the comments section is priceless and a must read IMO, An excerpt: It is now virtually impossible to regain any sense of nationhood and pride in a country, as there was in the 1950’s, that is now bereft of all forms of social, moral and ethical let alone Christian values that have, over the last two or three decades and certainly during the last decade, gradually been undermined by liberal elite thinking that began in the mid to late 1960’s, took root in the 1970’s and galloped ahead during the late 1990’s and during this first decade of the 21st century. To begin some of the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of the teaching profession who allowed for, perhaps even encouraged, the breakdown of respect and learning in the state education system by adopting an increasingly liberal attitude to discipline. In the last decade unfettered immigration coupled with the notion of multiculturalism that encourages those who come here not to think of themselves as being part of this country and nation but to retain their own culture, creeds, customs and traditions within their own communities as part of a confused mass with no loyalty or commitment to the future direction of this nation. Indeed, government has bent over backwards to accommodate all the wishes and demands of the various and numerous ethnic minorities such that there are many sections within this confused society that not only are not part of this nation but positively dislike the culture, creeds and traditions of the indigenous population consisting mainly of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. The fact that this government has failed in its duty to retain and maintain HM Armed Forces, not only in numbers and strength but also in terms of platforms, ships, vehicles and planes, to deal with any situation they are sent into in support of government foreign policy, is another example of the breakdown of the nation. We are not a stupid and foolish country, but we appear to be governed by a bunch of stupid and foolish people who appear hell bent on undermining not only the United Kingdom but any notion of being English. Multiculturalism might work on a small scale, and with fewer nationalities, as is the case in Singapore but with a nation of 61 Million the task is that much more difficult and confused. The Blair decade turned out to be disastrous and, regrettably, the Brown era appears to be going in the same confused direction. Posted by Kenneth Armitage on August 26, 2007 12:13 PM

[ronnie raygun]

Just sit back America and do nothing, it will soon be at your back door if it isn’t already. GET OUT AND VOTE, TURN THE TIDE.

[donna]

America has so far avoided the worst effects of its own multiculturalism because it has a proud national identity. Most immigrants still want to become Americans as they once wished to become British.

John O'Sullivan is making the same mistake for America that he is describing for the UK.

I'm getting Dex yellow pages on my Phoenix doorstep in Spanish only.

[Lil'freeper]

The article is decent, but the comments section is priceless

I wholeheartedly agree.

[donna]

Wide spread drug usage and God was removed from the school house.

[padre35]

This is not news to the bulk of us, but it is a well articulated view of what we already know.
In short, political correctness is almost exclusively responsible for the state of Britain today.
The most distressing feature of it however, is it’s powerful self-perpetuation. The BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, Westminster, practically all local government employees - this has been a Stalinesque style takeover, which will be very, very difficult to reverse.
Quite simply, all these people, with their smug, self-righteousness and aggressive assertion, have been almost completely WRONG. But there will be much more blood on the walls, before they admit it, even to themselves.
Educational egalitarianism? - failed.
Responsible social behaviour - failed.
Policing - failed.
Promoting family life - failed.
Controlling immigration - failed.
Impartial news reporting - failed.
Control of public spending - failed.
International esteem - failed.
Rewarding the deserving - failed

Funding, fuelling and rewarding the feckless, criminal and security threats - major success!
Posted by Graham King on August 26, 2007 7:26 AM
.
,
.
,
.
,
.
,
. This one hits very close to home and sounds rather like America in some respects.

[gcruse]

Drug use was rampant in the sixties, old hat by 1970. The seventies gave us Nixon, the oil cartels and Carter, a religious president. Any other ideas?

[VR-21]

The comments which follow the article are as remarkable to me as the article. How much they sound like threads I read in our country.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'

So true.

[Free ThinkerNY]

Enoch Powell was right.

[Charlespg]

The part solution to this problem is so simple it beggars belief. When a person becomes a criminal they should forfeit their rights under the human rights act. I live in Thailand and my wife is Thai, I speak quite good Thai and teach English part time in my daughters school. I have never been cheeked by a pupil and I am always treated with the utmost respect by all the students in the school. But should they be dis respectful to me I can rap their knuckles with a ruler and if they tell their parents, then the parents will probably give them a clout around the ears for being dis respectful. There was an interesting story in the local newspaper in the last few days, the headline was "Thief nabbed, legs broken" a 55 year old woman was robbed and her gold necklace stolen by a thief on a motorbike. She gave chase on her motorbike and rammed it into his leg, breaking it. As he tried to limp away she shouted for help and another motorcyclist rammed his other leg breaking it. The police were then called and the thief arrested. Job done and the police chief congratulated both the victim and the passer by for apprehending the criminal. Should a person break into my house and threaten me, and my family, I am allowed to use whatever force I deem to be necessary to stop him. Were I to use a gun and shoot him the police would back me 100%. Their reasoning is quite simple If he was not in my house at the time he would not have got shot.Posted by mike williams on August 26, 2007 2:43 PM

have the misfortune to be British. I live under a government that is as yobbish as the ones in the streets. Snide remarks are made about Americans because many Britains are secretly jealous of Americans. If I were born an American, my life would be a lot better. Posted by Robbed by Sub Prime Minister Brown on August 26, 2007 9:18 AM

About says it all

[donna]

Drug use was rampant in the sixties, old hat by 1970.

Maybe for the college kids and elites but not in the red states.

You take drugs, have sex and your standards are forever lower and more vulgar.

Add in mothers killing their own young and you're done for.

A generation will probably need to wander in the desert before things improve.

[blam]

Britons Quit Country In Record Numbers

[vetsvette]

I don’t remember the leftists being right about a single thing in my entire lifetime, not a single time.

But, I don’t remember the left admitting that they’ve been wrong about a single thing either! Not even once!

I hate to say it, but the UK has committed suicide by electing all of those leftists and the Muslims will soon have their own European Muslim state. There is nothing that can save them.

Sad but true.