I have always blamed Thatcher for changing the face of British society as we know it; greed and selfishness took over from pride and integrity. Over the last couple of decades all we have thrown at us is the importance of material possessions: clothes, cars, houses – be all you can be and fuck anybody who says you shouldn’t. The simpler things in life have been forgotten, by simply being content with what you have. Why must we always strive for something that is always constantly changing – fashion, technology it’s all out of date by the time we get it. Life can move so fast if you don’t stop and take it all in it can pass you by (I can’t remember where that quote came from).
Thatcher taught that you should simply take what you want, but what about social responsibility for those whose circumstances are less fortunate than you (there is always someone worse off than you. Do we look the other way when someone needs help or do we ask them what they need. Thatcher encouraged social responsibilty to be broken down – why should I give a fuck about someone I don’t know – because you can. People used to be proud to be working class, now many suffer from a bad back suffering from the burden of their class conciousness. The irony is that many middle class people strive to call themselves working class in a hope it gives them some sort of integrity whilst most of us just want to earn an honest days pay to meet our needs.
Watching the protests of the recent years and it’s great to see anger spill out the streets to remind everyone that certain things are not acceptable, but what do people do on a personal scale. I want to change the world but Portland Road will do for a start
Jason E Cooper 