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Were we always that cold and cynical?

Possibly. Possibly not. I'm sure historians could point to rougher times, but they'd be hard pushed to point to a time when an acceptable level of existence has been so damned expensive and beyond the means of so many (ironically, there is another thread about how many remote controls we all own). Sign of the times, I know.

For the homeless/less well-off, the gradient back into society (and also education) steepens further, a foothold more dificult. Socialism pretty much failed (though that's not to say it could never work) and capitalism brought success to an influential few. We'd never had it so good, apparently. But who did 'We' exclude? We were promised change, but it never came. Instead what we got was a society that doesn't even have an acknowledged working class, though it does have what has been so disgustingly called an underclass. Under what? I take it the idea is to redeem oneself by aspiring to be middle-class.

Which is beyond the means of so many, of course. We already have a society of haves and have-nots. The danger we face is creating a society of haves and never-will-haves.


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"once there was class-war/ but not any longer/ because baby we are all bourgeois now" McCarthy - We Are All Bourgeois Now.

i agree magoo he should have not been hanged because im sure he was epileptic as well,i recall iris his sister on a chat show yrs ago breaking down it was very sad.

Im against it to, but reading about the filth who raped a baby and got 5 years is an example where it should be introduced for crimes of that genre.
Mags, where do you stand on the bloke executed yesterday who killed a doctor that performed abortions?

5 years he should have been shot,i suppose he will have all the psychiatric reports crap etc too that they dish out.

You're probably right, Magoo. They'd have you believe it was survival of the fittest, of course - the egoist excuse for those that have prospered. For the long-tern effects it has on society, survival of the cruellest would be nearer the mark.


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"Let's do it..."

I think someone with some street cred covered the song. For some reason, west coast black artists actually think that conceited little tosspot Collins gives a toss.

You can't fix everybody elses problems Steve56

Giving someone in need some loose change isn't going to help them in the long run

For mine its a Governemnt Responsibility-they are the safety net not Welfare Organisations or You & I

Things like

Emergency Housing
Low Income Housing
Mental Institutions
Drug Programs

Have all been scaled back alarmingly in the chase for savings

Until Governments start resourcing Treatment & Prevention programs with serious money rather than relying on Jail & Do Gooder Welfare Groups the status quo will continue,

The haves living in fear and the have-nots/will never haves living without a care

Todays society is definitely more cynical and scared due mainly to the NEGATIVE media which pervades into our lives via TV,Radio & Papers

I often pass people in the street and say hi and get no repsonse

My favourite-walking towards someone and they decide to cross the street

Never considered myself scary but I suppose it depends on the other persons mental state as much as anything

cheers
B....OZ