Maybe it’s because of the lockdowns, and people isolating away from the general public. Maybe it’s been growing for longer, as social media lets us choose what news we consume and what bias it holds, creating an echo chamber. We’re less exposed to new ideas and, more importantly, public censure.
Some things are socially unacceptable; racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, bullying, criminal misconduct, sexual harassment, and standing on the left on the escalator. You can think whatever you like, but you don’t say it or act on it in a public forum. But 2 years of not having to be in public means we’ve forgotten how to be in public.
Take Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy who said, out loud, to cameras, recently, that the maternal death rate in his state (ranking 47) is not high if you don’t count Black Women. When you “Correct for Race” their rates are fairly standard. I think he got away with this statement because everyone was too stunned by grotesque racism to form a comment. Sorry, Senator, Black women are people and therefore must be counted in the data. It’s like saying if you take out the water, the ocean isn’t that wet. The worst thing is, he wasn’t trying to be controversial or edgy; he wasn’t trying to be ‘more real’ by being un-pc. He was stating what he believed and he didn’t see anything wrong with the racism and misogyny. He didn’t see the racism and misogyny at all.
Then there’s former Tory MP Neil Parish, now forever known as the Porn MP. He admitted the widely reported incident was not the first time he’d watched Porn on his phone while the House was in session, it was just the first time he was caught. I’ve nothing against people watching porn, but it should really be a private thing. Not Suitable For Work has never applied to a situation more.
There’s a Tory candidate for Preston who posted a tweet just this weekend. Jonty Campbell described girls age 16-23 as ‘having a creamy, buttery smell that was unbelievably magnetic.’ This is not an old tweet, made when he was young and stupid. This is from last weekend, when he was middle aged and stupid. Somehow, he doesn’t realise that it is unbelievably creepy for him to be sniffing not just teenage girls, but any woman. The Conservative party has now dropped him like an unsanitised rock. Just reading that story made me want a shower.
Of course, what the Tories should do is take their example from their fearless leader. Oh, wait, they’re already doing that. Boris Johnson, a man of multiple affairs, unknown number of children (official count of 7 but….). A Party boy and a Party man. The Party Boy was clearly on the loose all through the lockdowns, when No10 was turned into a Speakeasy for likeminded Tory higherups. All in violation of the rules BoJo himself set and read out on television. Latest photos have him raising a glass of champagne. All the while, the British public were getting fined in the £1000s for doing far fewer parties and in a much smaller scale. (Not everyone can have the Head of the Ethics Committee bring a karaoke machine).
In facing the repercussions for Partygate, we see the Party Man; devoted to doing what’s best for the Party and Conservative Ideology. The Police have concluded their investigation of the gatherings, issued 126 £50 fines and left with an air of “Move along, nothing to see here.” Please note the £460,000 investigation netted £6300 in fines. I know of a New Years eve party in 2020 that received a £10,000 fine for the hosts, plus £500 for each of the guests.
But Bojo is keen to move on from Partygate, to the point he will do nothing more about the Cost of living crisis until Partygate and the Sue Gray report are completely put to rest. So he won’t deal with the thing that is making everyone’s life measurably worse until we agree to stop pestering him about the thing that offends us all on a moral level. He is holding the country hostage and not trying to hide it.
And even when he does, eventually, get back to the work of actually governing, he doesn’t plan to do anything. He has already vetoed the idea of a windfall tax on energy companies, who have recorded record profits in the last two years. He won’t even say the words ‘Wealth Tax.’ His reason? It would be a Betrayal of Conservative Ideology.
Take a moment to calm down after reading that.
The main tenets of Conservative Ideology are Individual Freedom, Limited Government, the Rule of Law, Peace through Strength, Fiscal Responsibility, Free markets, and Human dignity. Where does our Government stand on these?
They like Individual Freedom, as long as the Individual Isn’t protesting with other likeminded individuals.
They like the Rule of Law, as long as the law is letting the government off the hook while punishing the working class.
Peace through strength, as long as we can still sell arms to everyone.
Fiscal Responsibility, when its used as a stick to beat the people with nothing, and ignoring the £500,000 Rishi Sunak spent on focus groups to rehabilitate his image.
Free Markets, except Brexit has weakened our position in the marketplace.
Human Dignity. Sorry what’s that? They can’t hear you over the sound of the plummeting standard of living for 90% of people in Britain.
That leaves Limited Government. They love this one as it absolves them of all responsibility and means they don’t have to do any work.
The scary thing for me is that they don’t even pretend to care anymore. Politicians used to know that what they were doing was wrong, or would be perceived as wrong and they tried to sugar coat it or cover it up. Now they stand proud and say they are racist, sexist, misogynist, classist, greedy and they don’t see anything wrong with it.
Lack of shame has become their superpower.
So That Happened 