Going Ape over Benefit threats

A rant about proposed cuts

Imagine if you went to take part in a tree top assault course and there were no harnesses, no nets.

“Oh we used to have those”

Says the operator.

“But the cost was too great so we scrapped them”

He adds.

“Thought we’d spend the money on something else.”

He says pointing and grinning at the chocolate teapot in his office.

“Anyway, you’re fit and strong, you’ll be alright.”

On you get. As you scale the heights, slowly putting one foot in front of the other on the wobbly bridge, you nearly miss your footing but thankfully retain your balance.

Yeah, I don’t know why they bothered spending money on that shit.

You think as you totter down the flimsy rope ladder and on to the zip wire.

I mean….. I can do it! What’s wrong with those losers? Tsk! Harnesses! Safety nets!

A little later, you look down and see something unsightly in the bushes. On closer inspection it appears to be a pile of rotting bodies. The weak ones. The ones who fell down, didn’t make it. At least, you thought they were weak, lesser…….As you too start to become unsteady, you wonder……. what if they’d just been unlucky? Unfortunate?

WHAT IF LOSING YOUR GRIP COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE?

Too late, you slip and you’re down in the dirt with them.

Okay, I know it’s an obvious analogy but sometimes the obvious needs pointing out.

Life is an ongoing assortment of challenges and obstacles. It bombards us with shocks and surprises, ambushes us from behind. Some of us are better equipped for it than others.

No-one thinks they will need help.

Most of us hope that poor health or disability won’t affect us or our loved ones. But every day we spin that wheel of fortune…… and whatever comes up, comes up.

And in a civilised society we do have harnesses and safety nets. Precisely for that reason. To support and scaffold. To catch people when they fall.

Why?

BECAUSE WE’RE NOT CUNTS.

And here’s the thing, when we don’t, we ALL have to deal with the aftermath. The problem doesn’t conveniently go away, stay hidden in the undergrowth. Every casualty not caught by such a net will leave a rotting mess for the rest of us to clean up. A mess that may manifest itself as crime, suicide, addiction, homelessness…..

The cabinet has a cabinet full of both chocolate teapots and silver spoons.

Before we deny those in most need, how about we take a look at where the rest of the cash is going? When exorbitant amounts of money ceases to be spent on ridiculous MP’s expenses and funding wars, then maybe take a look elsewhere. Vulnerable people should be last on the list of places to look to save money, not first. If the number of claimants is increasing, why not own that as being because the country is turning to absolute shit instead of trying to out people as shifty wasters?

Programmes such as ‘Benefits Street’ have served to foster an atmosphere of suspicion and nastiness in our communities. All whilst those at the top of the pile pour petrol on that very fire. Of course they want you to argue among yourselves over who is more deserving - it means the spotlight isn’t on them!

There’s a word for an environment in which only the fittest survive, where one wrong move means we’re fucked.

A jungle.

As our politicians continue to expose themselves as snakes, we must remind them their job is to offer ladders.

Do we really want to subject the weakest members of a civilised society to a ruthless jungle?

And if so, do we still get to call ourselves civilised?