John b in the comments to this piece takes me to task, accusing me of falling for a made up story and cites this article as evidence.
While I accept that the Mail does sensationalise, I do not accept that it is a made up story. If you go back to the original source, Scouting Magazine, the elements that I discussed are, indeed, true. Scouts today may not wear knives as part of their uniform – unless for religious reasons. So, if you happen to belong to a religion that involves wearing a knife, you can be trusted, but all other scouts may not. Nice little bit of double standards going on there… It is also true that Scouting states that knives should be carried to meetings by an adult and then handed out. It is also true that camp sites are public places and so knives may not be carried there and Scouting does, indeed, state as much. As a consequence, my comments and their context stand.
However, I wanted to make another observation. Having lived in France for nearly a year, I notice that knives are sold openly in the local Tabac and on a Saturday morning some wicked blades are on sale alongside air guns at the market. What this tells us is that the French are treated as adults and the British are treated as infants. The French are no more or less likely to run amok with a knife than are their counterparts across the channel – it’s just that the French are not treated as children who need to be controlled for their own good.
What we have seen, and what I was commenting upon, was the use of collective punishment that has become the norm for the control freaks in Westminster. Some people use knives as weapons, so everyone must be prevented from carrying them – just in case. Some people run amok with a hand gun so everyone must be banned form having one – just in case. Some people get pissed up and go on the rampage on a Saturday night…
All of this reminds me of an incident at school many years ago. We had a new English teacher who had difficulty controlling her charges – one boy in particular. One day, he caused so much disruption, she decided to put the whole class into detention. My father told me that she was hoping that the rest of us would be sufficiently annoyed that we would exercise some control over the miscreant. Some hope.
Being a staunch individualist even as a teenager, I simply did not attend the detention. When challenged the following day, I pointed out that she knew full well who was causing trouble and I had no intention of accepting punishment on his behalf – although, I realised that my own disobedience might carry consequences. Actually, she changed her tactics and dealt directly with the miscreant after that. So my rebellion worked.
My attitude to collective punishment remains one of utter contempt thirty odd years later. It is the behaviour of the coward.
We had a class detention once, dished out by a student teacher, I think we were in the notorious 4th form (I didn’t object as I was one of the miscreants). After about 15 minutes a mother stormed in to the class demanding to know why her son had not come out (this was before the days of giving notice of detentions). The teacher, cowering in his chair, explained that there had been a lot of misbehaviour. “Was my Bob responsible?”, “Well no.” “So why have you kept him in?” “um, er, well” “Right then, come on, Bob, we’re going.” Exit Bob and Bob’s mum stage right. Teacher stood the embarrassment and snickering for about 30 seconds before letting the rest of us out. As a student teacher I hope he learnt a valuable lesson.
Years later in the days of notice for detentions, our son was given a class detention, which would have meant him missing the school bus and either my wife or I having to go and pick him up. My son assured me that he was not involved in the trouble so I wrote to the teacher stating that our son did not have our permission to attend the detention. I said that if he had evidence that my son had been involved in the trouble then we’d support appropriate punishment, although penalising parents didn’t seem very appropriate. Our son got the bus home and nothing more was said.
I agree with you 100%, collective punishments are despicable and are basically a cop out by politicians and the police who would rather criminalise everyone than face real criminals.
My experience was also that when these people are challenged, they collapse pretty quickly. It’s a form of bullying and should be vigorously resisted. Unfortunately, the British public have become meek and compliant – indeed complicit in their own oppression, demanding that government do something to eliminate risk from their lives.
What was it that Franklin said about those who would trade liberty for security? They gain and deserve neither. As true today as when he said it.
“Unfortunately, the British public have become meek and compliant…”
The decent British public have become meek and compliant. Others, decidedly less so…
.-= My last blog ..Spoiling For A Fight… =-.
Collective punishments are a bit like Taxes. Except that MPs can be selective in how little they think they should pay.