Friday, July 2, 2010

The Conservative Mindset

Celebrity cook Jamie Oliver got very angry about the school dinners being fed to kids in the UK and started up a School Dinners Campaign. It has not been a big success but the reaction of Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, is interesting
"If we are constantly lecturing people and trying to tell them what to do, we will actually find that we undermine and are counterproductive in the results that we achieve"
In this happy land the Conservative government says that People should be healthy and jailtime is more of a worry because just shut up, that's why!
"They're probably fairly grizzly that they're in prison as well...I think if someone is going to be volatile it's going to be about more than giving up cigarettes."
I think we can see an essential Conservative mindset here.
1) Looking after folks is wrong
2) Having your life in downward spiral that you can't control is being a bit grizzley (whining)

In the same article a former womens prison governor, Celia Lashley, says:
"They've suddenly become very aware of being sued and they say they're aware of possibly being sued by prison staff but again I don't think that's the case at all or they would have moved before now...
"It's not about 'will it work?', it's about the bullshit, what the policy's really about."
She was on the radio the same day saying that it was symptomatic of this government that they like to whack the down-and-out.
I don't always agree with Lashley but it's an interesting thing to say, implying that it's not so much a policy as an ideology.

 It's only taken me fifty years but I think I am getting a handle on Conservative "thinking"



.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Dieu et mon droit.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Over here, they're very concerned about the rights and well being of large corporations and tycoons.

Everyone else is just a parasite who can suck it. (As long as it isn't a large corporation or tycoon.)
~

Smut Clyde said...

Lecturing people is wrong and counterproductive, unless they are members of the designated outgroup in which case lecturing them is not only enjoyable, but also our duty.

Unknown said...

Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Another Kiwi said...

it was Lashley on the radio hat first mentioned it and the pattern is really striking. They seem to have that designated outgroup thing down pretty tight, it's pretty much sorted as to wh is in and who is out. One assumes that the Labour party is the same. these are NZ pollies after all and we aren't too keen on any smart alec questions.

Another Kiwi said...

The radio hat, it talks to me!!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Make sure you don't have your radio hat on too tight.
~

Smut Clyde said...

It's not about 'will it work?', it's about the bullshit

Were I to get started on Celia Lashley, it would be a lengthy rant. Suffice to say that she has expertise in the field of bullshit.

tigris said...

"If we are constantly lecturing people and trying to tell them what to do, we will actually find that we undermine and are counterproductive in the results that we achieve"

Does not apply to slut-shaming, gay-straightening, get-a-jobbing, patriotism-gauging, etc. usw.

fish said...

I have been watching Jamie Oliver's campaign with some fascination. The resistance he is getting from parents is shocking. Candy bars handed through the school fence, packing their kids French fry (or chip if you will) sandwiches. Unbelievable.

mikey said...

A bit Grizzly...

...is the same as whining?

Really? Now that's odd.

I wonder, when the earliest white european settlers arrived at the northern frontier of North America and began to encounter a particularly large, aggressive brown bear for which they needed a name, why they might have arrived at a term that would seem to indicate that said bear was annoying rather than bloody dangerous...

Hamish Mack said...

Suffice to say that she has expertise in the field of bullshit.
Oh I agree, Lashley tends to shoot from the lip and ask questions later but this summation was helpful to show how this gubbmint thinks or reacts or whatever.
While they protest their non-ideological stance and blather on about "Common Sense" when in fact it is Common Nonsense"

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Well, now, if God favored those people, they wouldn't be down-and-out in the first place, and far be it from us to ignore God's will.

Plus, vegetables are communist.

Unknown said...

The terrifying relentlessness of ants.