Super post from Julian Dobson about fairness and how our frantic politicians have assimilated it as a central concept as a way of talking about social justice:
'to ensure everyone plays by the rules, we spend more and more time checking for abuses and seek to create fairness by finding new ways to stop people getting something for nothing. So we give destitute asylum seekers a handout of just over £5 a day to meet all their needs, on the grounds that they might abuse the system if we were any kinder.'
It reminds me of a distinction which I still find I have to make occasionally, between neighbourly relations based on trust and neighbourhood watch which is based on distrust. There is something about generosity of spirit and meanness of spirit, which Julian brings out:
'every successful project I've come across and that has made a difference in its locality... has worked by cultivating a culture of generosity.'
Thanks for the link (and the generous comments!)
Posted by: Julian Dobson | Saturday, 24 April 2010 at 21:23