I Hate my New Broken Society.

Today my eyes opened.

I was walking to the community drop in centre, were I used to be on placement and now volunteer with every now and then and found a man laid out on the street. He had basically taken enough heroins to knock out a small giraffe. Being the type of person I am I gave this man assistance. He might be a drug addict but I wanted to help him so I phoned for an ambulance, popped him in the recovery position and so on. This has opened up my eyes in a very real way showing me just how broken our society has become and it got me thinking all day.

First off all the volume of people who were walking by with judgmental faces looking down on this man, it were as if he had lost his humanity and was not just worthy of their human compassion, when in fact the opposite is true. By not showing this man compassion I would say it was they who lost their humanity. People would stop to help a wounded dog, but not a rat, and this is how the treated him, like a rat. And why not because they could tell he was a drug addict but he had a distinctly pungent unpleasant smell, looked dirty and his clothing resembled rags. I could not tell he had taken drugs until I examined him and noticed the track marks on his wrists and his pupil reactions.

I do not blame this man for his addiction rather I blame the drug dealer who is providing him with the tools to become an addict. Sure he is the one who eventually decides to take the drug’s but without the dealer he cannot take the drugs in even if he wants them. It is this addiction that may cause a drug addict to lose him or herself, it fuels crime, prostitution, organised crime and even terrorism. And these drugs and just one of the problems that I have with my new broken society.

For example we have that other horrid drug, its legal and I even drink some of the stuff myself, yup its good old alcohol. If one was to venture out along a busy street at night lined with pub’s and clubs then one is forced to watch as the ignorant of society beat each other senseless in alcohol fuelled duels. Apparently something like 10 000 people in the UK are killed every year as a result of alcohol, what a waste of human potential. I often wonder how much money we would save the state my banning alcohol and cigarettes (I do not advocate an all out ban). Might be in the best interest of the population but let’s face, it makes money through tax’s the politicians are just going to run with it to pay off their nice expenses bills. In our new broken society we can’t even trust our leaders.

Teenage pregnancy is another prime example showing how broken our society has become years ago a pregnant 14 year old would have been abnormal. Yet now we have exposed our young people to so much sexually provocative media if they are not having sex they are abnormal according to our new Brocken society. As a result of this, sex, it seems, has replaced the must have toy for our children and as a result some of them are having their own children when they are still children themselves, it’s almost fashionable to be a single underage mum. This is a viscous cycle that leads to them losing not only their innocence but their childhood much too young; a 14 year old shouldn’t be worrying about child support. Having a child should be the most wonderful experience of one’s life but how can a 14 year old be expected to appreciate this. The baby loses out from the moment of conception because the parents are too young and immature to support the child.

Issues that should have been resolved 40 years ago are still prevalent with in this new broken society, such as racism and homophobia. Words like “pakie” and “Chinkie” are thrown around without any regard for one’s fellow men. The worst example of this is people’s attitudes towards our European neighbours I am always hearing of hate crimes against eastern Europeans. We, as society should be helping each other fix the problems not fighting each other. People of a homosexual orientation should be tolerated not swore at and discriminated when they are showing affection to one another on a bus or in a park by some of the so called “yobs” or “neds”.

Gang culture is also big problem now in our inner cities, apparently there are now over 170 gangs in London alone mostly influenced by the American style of gang culture that is portrayed through films and music, for whom an ASBO is not a deterrence, it’s a status symbol. Shootings and stabbings are so regular in London now that they go unreported in the mainstream press. When one goes out at night the fear of being mugged or stabbed is very real.

Indeed this is a very brief overview on my views on how broken our society is there are more problems but my message would be the same. We should be endeavouring to fix these problems not fighting with each other. It is up to Society to fix these problems not the politicians, police, doctors or teachers everyone should be working together to condemn our abhorrent new society. It is not the responsibility of one group of people rather it is the responsibility of all people to fix our broken society.

I like this thread, it's very thoughtful.

I agree with everything you wrote actually.

One thing that aggravates me the most is racism. For some people it's just the norm these days. Some of the so called "jokes" people send by text message are disgraceful. They are not in the slightest bit funny and some sound like something from 1950s Mississippi.

[edit on 28/7/10 by Kram09]

reply to post by Kram09


The jokes, really annoy me. A few days ago i was in a room of people and somebody made a racist joke some laughed others didn’t. What struck me however was that the person telling the joke didn’t realise that the people who were not laughing were doing so because we found the joke to be offensive. He didn’t even think it was a racist comment.

It's indicative of the beast that is civilization to have these evils, no surprises there. Homelessness, crime, drug abuse, conditioned powerlessness, apathy... I mean we could make an endless list.

I salute you for doing the right thing.

reply to post by kevinunknown


It seems however I'm considered "politically correct" for being offended by racism.

I remember a year ago in a restaurant with my family and my dad told a joke which was racist. He wasn't broadcasting it to other people in the room but there were only a few other people in and it was quiet so it was loud enough for them to probably hear him. It was quite embarrassing.

It seems to be a topic of my Grandma's to complain about "Pakis" too. On the one hand I can understand where my grandma is coming from as she is from the older generation, along with my dad and how she claims that "Pakis" as she says, don't intergrate into the community.

To a certain extent I can understand what she means. But there is no need for some of the racism I hear.

A classic example of pure ignorance was my sister, who claimed Polish people were really ignorant. I asked her how many Polish people she actually knew (none), how many had she actually had a conversation with (also none).

I hear people bang on about Polish immigrants and I think of the Battle of Britain. If I recall correctly from what I've read 1 in 5 pilots were not even British and a large majority were actually Polish. BNP take note!

reply to post by Kram09


Talking about people’s perceptions of the polish community is really interesting, I can honestly say i have never came across a polish person who has been rude to me and all are very hard working. I am sure they are not all like that but based on the polish people i know and have came across none have gave me cause to dislike them. My brother was out with some polish friends when some random punched a girl in the back of the head just because she was polish. I thought we had done away with that sort of behaviour long ago.

Dont start me on the BNP.....

I think, sadly, that society is so broken in this country (UK) that "us" as a society are being controlled by the thugs and we can do very little to touch them.

Police here are too worried about being sued to get involved, PSO and CSO's are next to useless and "vigilante" society who step in to do the right thing or protect loved ones and property more often than not find themselves in court.

I remember a story of a guy breaking into a factory by climbing onto the roof of the building, the roof collapsed and he hurt himself and got awarded £1,000,000 in compensation.

..or the poor doctor who revived a man by pumping his chest, accidently cracked his rib in the process but got sued for assault.

Someone stole an old car of mine, I was going to scrap it anyway... but I told the police, I also told them I didn't want it recovered as I was going to scrap it anyway, I just told them to prevent any neighbours from having their cars stolen. Long story short, the police recovered my car and charged me £500!!
People no longer report crimes because of things like this and the criminals know it and take full advantage.

Thankfully I can see green shoots with this coalition government that things are starting to turn a corner...fingers crossed!!

My father in law has been an opiate junky off and on his whole life. When I met with wife I would live through her pain and resent him because of the pain he caused her to relive and live in the present.

As I have grown older I have come to understand the reasons he has fallen prey. It is said that the years following a spiritual awakening/self-realization is a heavy period of depression.

You look around you and see the beauty of this world being destroyed for meaningless gains by a few bad apples. You try to scream for help but get ridiculed by the mob or outright ignored.

When no one pays attention to the horrors of this world you turn to pain killers or you end up having a psychotic break.

Accept, do not judge and love limitlessly. I'll continue trying to do that myself.

Peace

You haven't been listening to Everlast have you Kevin?



That's the T&C complaint version. If you can't follow it there's unedited versions on Youtube. Watch that vidoe, listen to the music. I think this is what you're saying Kevin.

reply to post by zroth


That is a fantastic point, i think when it comes to drug addicts people only see the label “junkie” and automatically disregard the person without understanding the reasons that drove that person to drugs.

What you described can be summed up by the phrase divide et impera.

reply to post by InspectorGadget


I don’t think this is a problem created by the state to bring about the conditions required to justify the roman ideal that you are talking about; i do agree we are divided. It might be the solution however it is not the problem, the problem is society as a whole. You’ll have to excuse me if I have miss understood perhaps you could elaborate.

Starred and Flagged.

I know people who don't give money to the homeless because "they will only spend it on alcohol or glue." My response is whatever gets them through the night. If some cheap vodka or whatever will make their life less of a hell for a few hours then why not?

It's only a pound or two FFS.



It's a crazy old world.

[edit on 28-7-2010 by Big Raging Loner]

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Again a fantastic point, I almost always give money to Big Issue sellers. I remember i used to work in a supermarket as a supervisor and my manager asked me to move a Big Issue seller on because she was making the front of the store untidy. She was outside the store, they allowed dogs to sit in the foyer at the front of the shop by the door but wanted to move this women who done nothing wrong. I refused, and when threatened for not doing as i was told I kindly pointed to my contract and asked for where is said i should move on the homeless.

"Speak softly, but carry a big __________."

reply to post by kevinunknown


Ahaha, good one! You gave yourself away, when you claimed shootings in london, as we all know that gun confiscation has liberated the UK from any fear of "gun violence". And we all know that the official multiculturalism has made the UK a virtual paradise of goodwill for all.
Nice try though. You had me on for a bit.
Where are you from really?

reply to post by mordant1


Eh?

I am from Scotland, I got that information from a book i read by a former SO19 officer. Don’t know what you were trying to get at or where you’re from


[edit on 28-7-2010 by kevinunknown]

I know this thread was written a British perspective but i was wondering what our American cousins think of this and if you’s have similar problems.

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