Apathy

So, the government now wants to monitor our texts, emails and websites, doesn’t this sound a tinsy bit like the Cold War years? The difference being, we the public are the `enemy’ and the government is the Big Brother Authority.
Squeal as you may to this latest piece of national dominance issuing forth from the allegedly democratic British government, but in truth, is it not our pure apathy that allows such things to occur?

People in the western world appear to be unable to stand up for themselves anymore, relying solely on moaning and lamenting to anyone willing to listen!
Most of us fall into this category, if a person were to trip over an uneven pavement; the cry would go forth;
“Why doesn’t some one report this?”
But alas no one does because no one really cares. Why should we be bothered, it was not us that tripped so let someone else deal with it! This same level of apathy drapes its uncaring blanket over all of us at some time, a practice we have all been guilty of at some stage in our lives.

So why do we simply insist on moaning rather than standing up for our rights? Is it because we do not know how? Is it because we fear any back lash? Or is it just that we cannot be bothered to make the effort? What ever the reason, the government, businesses, the medical establishment, in fact all those in a position of authority are allowed to happily stamp all over us.

The only thing we are famous for fighting against, is planning permissions! Suggest building a nuclear power station in the middle of nowhere and lo and behold, thousands pour onto the streets in protest! Even though those who protest will benefit from increased jobs, increased commercial benefits and an economic up turn for that area. No, all we care about is the value of our houses and how having a nuclear plant near by may reduce the selling price of our property. I used a nuclear plant as an example but it could be any type of commercial construction, from a school to a wind farm, we raise our voices in protest at the sheer audacity of building such a thing near our homes.

So what is our stance in life today? Is it simply to protect the value of our homes? Unfortunately this does appear to be the case. Start a war in another county? Fine, OK. Raise taxes beyond the ability of thousands of people on low incomes? Yep, that’s fine. Snoop into our private lives, through the web and texts, through our financial transactions? Yes that’s alright.
Try to ease our fuel consumption by erecting wind turbines? No! That’s not OK; it’ll affect our house values! Build an incinerator to help reduce the amount of rubbish that is buried in landfill sites? No, that’s unacceptable as it will affect the value of our homes!
Take any action or construct any device, machine or building that will help both us and our environment will bring cries of dismay from all homeowners across the western hemisphere. But tax us into the gutter, spy on our every move with CCTV or read our texts and emails, enter all our details onto every computer in the land, yes that’s fine.

Where did this apathy come from? Why do we no longer care unless it affects the property values? Where has our spirit of defiance gone? Is there a price?