ANYONE expecting me to apologise for holding the views I do is going to be sorely disappointed with this blog post. I may as well come clean and tell you what I think about a few things while I'm here, but don't expect me to be sorry for saying the things I say - particularly if you read into the things I post and apply them to yourself. If it's the truth that hurts your sensibilities, maybe you should be looking at your own failings before being critical of what you perceive to be mine.
What I will do is offer some balance to my previous post, given as it appears to have offended a few people. I want you all to be assured that I am all for helping those who need it the most. I'm all for giving people who have recently been made redundant the help they need and deserve, particularly if they've paid their way for many years before times got tough. I used the words 'feckless' and 'mendacious' for a reason. If you read my last post and thought I was applying those terms to those of you who are desperately seeking employment you are just plain wrong.
It remains a fact that there are feckless and mendacious people who pick up their dole money and other benefits without a care for the rest of us who have to pick up the tab. Is there something wrong with being unhappy with people who do that? Frankly, I wouldn't piss on those people if they were on fire. I stand by my assertion that people should not be given money for doing nothing. A common refrain from people who are unemployed or unemployable is that they 'have no experience', or that 'there just aren't the jobs out there'. I accept that times are tough and that work is not easy to come by, but at the same time I still believe that there is no excuse for turning down any form of employment if it means getting people off the dole. I for one would shovel shit if I had to - so what gives those unemployed who don't want to work the right to be picky?
I mentioned yesterday how I believe that it would be of benefit to everyone if the long term unemployed were compelled to undertake some form of voluntary work within their own communities. I truly believe that this is something worth further consideration. It would get people back into working habits and offer structure to their day. Experience gained would look better on a CV than a blank space and communities would benefit from the help. I truly believe that it is not acceptable to be giving money to people who do absolutely nothing. In the same breath I believe that it is equally unacceptable not to help people who are genuinely trying to get themselves sorted out. I tried yesterday to differentiate between those who can't and those who won't. The thing is, if you're reading this as an unemployed person, only you know which one of those two categories you fall into.
If you put the boot on the other foot, and you were working hard to make ends meet, how would you feel if you kept seeing the same thing over, and over again? How can it not rankle with you that those of us who work bloody hard for the things we have and want also have to pay for those who abuse the system? Again, only you know if you are one of those people abusing the system. It's hard to argue that, for some people at least, being on benefits is a way of life and we've all heard of the second and third generation claimants who've never worked a day in their lives. Is that fair and just?
I've been unemployed before. I know how difficult it is to take rejection after rejection, to have your hopes built up and then have them come crashing down again. What I've never accepted is that there is work 'beneath' me. Beneath my capabilities, yes. Beneath my qualifications, yes. But not beneath me as a person. I've never turned down the opportunity of work on the grounds that it was somehow 'beneath' me or that it would degrade me. Maybe that's what makes us different. Maybe 13 years of a carefree lifestyle where most of us were guilty of living beyond our means has left us with a raft of people who feel somehow that certain work is 'beneath' them. Maybe we're not ready to let go of the illusion created by an unsustainable standard of living. Maybe people just don't want to start on the bottom rung anymore. Maybe we live in a time where Labour's mantra of borrow, borrow, borrow and fuck the consequences is now biting us all on the arse? Maybe we've been left with a generation of people who somehow feel 'entitled'. I think all of the above is true.
I suppose I'll be accused of being all right wing and typically Tory. But what sickens me to the absolute core is the Labour Party's reluctance, no, their absolute refusal to accept any responsibility whatsoever for the mess they've helped to create. I cannot abide anyone of that persuasion who wishes to talk about matters of the economy with me. Even less so if you happen to be a long term benefit claimant who voted for them in the last election. Sadly, people who are losing their jobs now, and equally those who are trying desperately to find employment are reaping what was sown by Labour's profligacy. The good times were never going to last. Throughout history whenever they've been in power it's taken 20 years after they've finally been kicked out for the mess to be tidied up only for the easily led to be taken in by them again until the shit violently hits the fan once more.
You can't blame me for not wanting to have to pay for people who do nothing but take the piss out of those of us who try and do the right thing.
To make the point again: Those of you who are taking the piss know who you are, and if what I write offends you, there has to be a modicum of truth to it.
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