ICM - Leeds Design Agency

Friday, August 31st 2007

you can't coerce self control

gun crime, knife crime, race hate crimes and all the other ills that seem to plague modern society… all of these are laid at the door of self control, and a bit unfairly i think.

self control and self discipline, or the lack thereof is used as a tool to blame hoi polloi from those in power. So they try and enforce it, be it by ASBO, fines and imprisonment. You can’t coerce self control in this way. You can’t make people retroactively have self control. it’s just not possible!

obviously the rise in violent crime is partly down to people simply not caring enough about anything, let alone themselves, but it’s partly down to short-sighted-ness.

we live in a society that chases short term pleasure, waiting for the weekend, wanting THAT car, needing to live in THAT house (all the usual stuff trust fund trustafarians throw up when talking about society). Self discipline or self control is all about waiting. it’s about long term gain… not going on holiday for two years so you can afford a special one, that kind of thing.

we work hard for our wages, and we should be allowed to spend them how we like, this isn’t about that.

it’s not just ‘society’ that pushed the myth of short term happiness. Look at our governmental system… long gone are the days of vision, the parties standing for their beliefs, now crowding the middle ground as if it were the only place to be. we see them switch and change ideas and ideals like there was no tomorrow. how does this show us self control or discipline?

having worked in the public sector previously, i have lost count of the amount of amazing ideas or projects that never saw completion as political whims changed, often leaving communities wondering what the point was in the first place. this message is prevalent throughout government and society, so no wonder people sneer at the government or the police when they try to tell us that we need self control. hardly cricket is it!

bit deep for a friday… sorry!