Sod the children
Most of us are probably familiar with Godwin’s Law.
In essence, it is taken to mean that the first person to mention the Nazis or Hitler loses an argument or debate.
I would like to introduce Grandad’s Law.
The first person to mention “the children” in an attempt to sway public opinion has lost their case.
I am sick to the back fucking teeth of hearing about how we must protect “the children”.
Children in this day and age are the most protected, revered and molly-coddled of any previous generation. As a result of living in centrally heated, germ free homes they are also probably the most vulnerable to any disease or ailment that comes their way.
Modern kids know nothing about risk assessment. To them, anything is fine, because all dangers have been removed. They play in their cocooned area of risk-free environment safe in the knowledge that mumsy and dadsy have removed just about every conceivable danger. Their bodies know nothing of germs and infections because everything has been cleaned to within a millimetre of its life. On the other hand, their bodies are filled with a lethal cocktail of chemicals, from fire retardant sprays through to carpet cleaners and air fresheners. And they wonder why the likes of asthma is on the increase?
Those who wish to impose their personal gripes and fears on us are becoming masters at invoking “the children”, whether it concerns smoking, obesity, alcohol or whatever their favourite flavour of the month is. “The children” must never see a cigarette being smoked. “The children” must at all costs be prevented from eating sugar or fats. God forbid that “the children” should ever see a pint of ale or a glass of wine.
Childhood is a time of learning. Kids learn just about every trick to allow them to cope later in life. They are supposed to learn what’s safe and what’s dangerous through experience. How the hell can they learn if they are never exposed to those “risks” that they are later going to encounter in later years? After all, mumsy and dadsy aren’t always going to be there to protect them against all the dangers, both real and imaginary.
So the next person to squeal about protecting “the children” can go fuck themselves.
Not only are they doing the kids no favours but they are just using pseudo-emotional blackmail.
They have lost the argument.
Very true.
But re. Godwin’s Law, I read such references as “Fourth Reich” and “Jackboots marching down O’Connell Street” all the time from commenters on your site. So you are saying they are wrong about the E.U?
Heh! Godwin doesn’t apply if you are talking about the real thing.
Granddad, you took the words out of my head, and again I agree with everything you just wrote.
It’s a shame so few people get this.
Little boys should be obscene and not heard.
My memories of my own childhood are invariably very happy ones, interspersed with clips around the ear, getting up from the table still hungry, (highly recommended at the time), threatened daily in school with physical violence, having no money to spend, working on building sites all summer from the age of thirteen, sleeping with the windows wide open, summer & winter, and standing up automatically when an adult entered the room.
Ah ! Happy days.
Oh ! And I forgot to mention that it was all lived to the sounds of the Beatles when I could Luxembourg (208) on the radio.
amen to that Grandad,the lack of natural selection these days has led to the prevalence of idiots in our society
Totally agree, when I think of some of the risks we took as quite small children It is a wonder we weren’t killed but it taught us to assess risk. My son is trying to let his kids have as natural a life as possible in this safety obcessed world but it is not easy. I do wonder how todays kids will cope in a world where we soon eon’t be able to afford the social security system we have and life will be harder. Quite glad I will be long gone by then.
John – You forgot to mention the mandatory scabs on the knees. It was rare to see any kid worth his salt without both knees scraped to the bone. Elbows were a bonus.
Ahhhh!! Radio Luxembourg – The Great Two Oh Eight! Who can possibly forget the dulcet tones of Horace Batchelor and his breathless Keynsham [that’s K. E. Y. N. S. H. A. M.], Bristol?