Just finished Dan Kieran’s book “I Fought the Law”
Who wants to live in a society where children are at risk? I do!
So often we here statements along the lines of “but if one less child dies…” or “if we can stop one child being abused…”. Indeed the government cliche of the moment is “Every Child Matters”. The trouble is, in a simplistic way I guess most of tend to agree with these sorts of statements. There is a problem in that statement though – the word “simplistic”. These are not simple matters, they are complex, and cannot be boiled down to “Every Child Matters – how could you possibly disagree?” The dangers of children being abused or endangered in some form of another need to be weighed against the risk of a meddling nanny state really screwing our kids up, or risk aversion that leaves our children soulless and with no sense of adventure or enquiry.
And please dear reader, do not forget, the state has a history of acting in loco parentis. It is utterly useless at it. So I’ll keep looking after my kids, and ask the government to stick to what it’s good at. As soon as I find out what that is.
What a state….
I wonder just how much state control/surveillance the average Brit can stand? It appears the country will quite happily swallow almost anything as long as it is dressed up in terms of “protecting” the vulnerable – particularly children. The Government’s “Every Child Matters” strategy is a classic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there is some good stuff in it, but it takes us yet deeper into being a surveillance society.
Some will think this is scaremongering, and that I’ll mention 1984 any minute like all good conspiracy theorists. I shall confess at this point I have never read 1984, though I probably should!
So what is the limit? Where does the state responsibility to protect overrule the individual rights to privacy and non-interference? Would compulsory ID cards be OK? Statutory anti-abuse visits by Social Services? How about CCTV cameras in your house, then at the slightest hint of abuse the police could drop by and arrest you. Think of all the crime that could be avoided. Oh, and we could catch all those nasty terrorists too. How could anyone object? If it saves just one life……