Soapbox Sunday :Government scaremongering

It is no big news that we live in somewhat of a nanny state these days .This according to the OED is defined as “ term of British origin (and primary use) that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice “.

Although I can not vouch for other countries when I say this, here in the U.K it's reaching quite ridiculous levels. I like to think as an adult human being I have a modicum of intelligence as do the majority of the population .Certainly there maybe some members of society who are slightly further down the spectrum and need a little assistance but the majority of us can get by without interference. If I wanted to live in a totalitarian state I wouldn't be living in the modern western country that I supposedly grew up in. 

For the past decade or so the government as begun to ever increasing force itself on us ,through endless public health & lifestyle schemes .Before I launch in a rant about the latest the latest campaign of this nature  .I will say that some of these can be seen as informative and in the public interest .Some years ago ,as a struggling student I took job working for the call centre end of a stop smoking campaign .No one would argue that encouraging the population to give up the "evil weed" is a bad thing and there is no doubt it did help many people . Similar public service films for road safety & smoke alarms  serve an immediate purpose .Don't get a smoke alarm ,there is very real possibility you could end up dead in a short space of time. Enjoy a glass of rose with your dinner? You might get cancer ,which FYI one in three of us are getting anyway . There is just no comparison. 


There comes line though when you just don't need to the government to tell how to live your life .Don't you think we got on fine before someone told us we need to eat five a day? why five? who decided that anyway ? 


Do you think that adults don't know for example that vegetables and fruit are good for them? Of course we do that’s primary school and childhood information .Do we like them ,no maybe we don’t. Hence why we as individuals make our own lifestyle choices of our own back. Yes we might know it's ultimately good for us but let us make our own choices and stop hammering it down our throats. I won't begin to go even go into conflicting and ever changing "advice" on alcohol consumption and idea that this generation ,my generation somehow invented binge drinking .I bet nobody told my father he was a danger to society when he was drinking I quote "a galleon" a day of beer in the 1970s.It was while I did some tentative research for this post ,that I discovered that even the French are being told to drink NO wine whatsoever .The French ,the second biggest producer of wine in the wine ,and the biggest consumers outside of the US. 

The latest line of government intervention is nothing short of scaremongering.It started on the radio a few months ago ,a rather grim advert advising us too check for blood in are poo .According to the advert ,you might have cancer .Do they realise how much the word CANCER strikes fear into people? I'm not a medical expert but I am sure there a good few reasons for this happening other than having cancer .No doubt this lead to already busy doctors waiting rooms clogged up with hypochondriacs & worriers "well the radio told me I might have cancer, that I'm just straining too hard”. It turns out this isn't a one off, in the last week new adverts along the same lines have launched this time its ' your cough could be cancer " .I suffer from coughs badly myself, have I ever thought it would be cancer? No , not seriously , so next time I have one thanks for planting that seed in my head.

The stop smoking campaign I worked for.

Is this the best way to get people to change their lifestyles to the scare them rigid? Eat a burger? You'll have a heart attack, smoke cigarette you'll definitely get cancer, Drink Alcohol you'll get mouth cancer .The scaremongering is endless these days .Surely the time and money would be better spend educating the next generation, so the powers that be don’t feel the need to babysit a nation of people who are probably not listening. 
The standard argument is that illness is caused by bad lifestyle choices and this ultimately a strain on the NHS .While is undoubtedly true in same cases what would happen if the government got their nation of docile leaf munching tee total drones ? A nation of super centenarians needing care ,because how many 110 years old do you know who don't need some form of care ? even the ones who claim to have lead illness free lives & swear by a whiskey a day are in homes ,homes that cost money.

I understand that a lot of people will disagree with me ,that's fair enough we are all entitled to an opinion but this just a phenomenon that particularly grinds my gears .Why not just instigate government maintained food for us all ,like they've done in schools ?
Only producing and importing food on an approved list. Legally bound doctors appointments with prison like fat camps if our BMI dares to appear out a “safe level”, a total ban on alcohol and cigarettes. Obviously this isn’t going to happen, there is too much revenue in everything that is deemed bad for us ,which just makes every thing they slam down our throats so ridiculous ,why don't they just ban cigarettes etc ? Oh yeah ...


I'm so sick of hearing how these hypocrites want us to live the one life we get on this earth ,I'm thinking of moving to a tropical island ,just one with a decent supply of rose wine and pizza .