Political Mummery and Journalism

This image has been doing the rounds on Facebook lately and in one we were asked if we agreed.

Below is my response with a few extra additions to flesh out my response.

I only partially agree ... I do agree that each individual whether young or old owes it to themselves and to society to be their best thus not blaming the world for the consequences of our choices. Boredom is a state of mind and for most of us, theft is a choice (sorry but in the poorest of the poorest communities, I can understand stealing food if you have none). Violence is always a choice.

I don't agree with the notion that society does not owe us anything. Responsibility is not just an individual concept, it's also a communal concept. Individuals do have the right to expect the society to provide them with a safe, secure environment where education is provided by people who are qualified to teach the subject rather than a world where the teacher only may be qualified or where education may be only sporadically available, where children can access medical and dental treatment not because they live in the right areas or have parents wealthy enough to cover the medical gap fee or the $170 dental check up fees. I can't remember the last time I was at a doctor and I didn't have to pay a gap fee of up to $50. Society does owe it's citizens an economy where they have a fair chance at employment and where our children are not graduating from high school into communities where youth unemployment runs at anywhere up to 40%. I find it hard to believe that 40% of the young in a community are lazy.

I also do not agree with the Principal when he maintains that our youth owe society their talent, energy and time so that no one is at war, sick or lonely. Either the Principal has a poor grasp of history or our forefathers were incompetent, lazy and selfish as our common histories are littered with examples of war, sickness and loneliness.

If Principal Tapene's words were true then we'd have no need for the Universal Declaration for Human Rights as each individual's needs and each community needs would be met.