Sunday, September 6, 2009

The UK's Cultural Collapse

Once upon a time, the works of William Hogarth characterized the English people. Works such as Gin Lane were not very exaggerated depictions of the general debauched and drunken state of the English people. For a short time, the Victorian reformers succeeded in creating a middle class morality, that for a year, resisted Adolf Hitler's forces, alone. Indeed, heroes such as Nicholas Winton were not only unknown, but common. Among the RAF, the Royal Navy, the Army, and among the British people who took the worst Hitler could hurl at them, and endured.

Now, in a tragedy written across the Western World, the British have fallen to this:


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A Polish traveler took shocking pictures of his stay in Cardiff, Wales, showing just how debauched, depraved, and horrible the character of the British people have become. The links show party-goers sitting by mounds of fast food trash, transvestites, public drunks (so drunken they've fallen asleep), miserable, crying girls wearing almost nothing, general obesity among the populace, and older women dressing like younger folks instead of the dignity their age deserves. There are more pictures like this:


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The Photographer's website with more images that are shocking is here

Nor is this an isolated "bad town" (Cardiff is a major city in Wales). The OECD report lists Britain as being worst in health, lifestyles, and education among 30 industrialized nations. UK Teenage girls (as the pictures at the Photographer's website will confirm) are among the worst drunks in the world. In drinking, smoking, and teenage pregnancy, only Turkey and Mexico rated worse than the UK. Underage teenagers are more likely to get drunk than any other country, and proportions of teen-age mothers and single mother families were among the highest of all nations in the survey. This despite the UK being above OECD averages in social spending, particularly on youth and education.


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Drunken-ness is epidemic, with one third 13 and 15 year olds being drunk at least twice. This compares to 12 percent of Americans and 14 percent of French counterparts. Only 70% of English children live with both parents, which falls to 68% in Scotland and 66% in Wales. Drunkeness is particularly striking among teen-age girls, troubling as girls have a higher risk for alcoholism and drunken-ness encourages risky behavior.

Labor has responded by issuing credit cards for condoms to boys as young as 12. Police prevented neighbors and parents from rescuing children trapped in a fire — result three dead. As Mary Steyn noted in England freedom dies a little each day.

Meanwhile, Britain is evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state, with local trust officials arrested for writing in a newspaper column "If you are a black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you." A 14 year old schoolgirl was arrested for wanting to work with students in a group project who spoke English, as her group only spoke Urdu. A ten year old boy was arrested for calling an 11 year old boy a "Paki" and "bin Laden" during a playground argument at school.

Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned.

A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to "celebrate diversity", the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia.

Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children.

Permissiveness as well as draconianism can be deployed to destroy socially accepted norms and values. The Royal Navy, for instance, has installed a satanist chapel in a warship to accommodate the proclivities of a satanist crew member. "What would Nelson have said?" is a British newspaper cliche about navy scandals, but in this case seems a legitimate question. Satanist paraphernalia is also supplied to prison inmates who need it.


Meanwhile, a British soccer player has been stabbed in the legs by his sister's boyfriend and associates. The West Ham Premier League player is intensive care, may have both his legs amputated, and nearly bled to death. His mother was also stabbed (the player objected to the relationship between his sister and her boyfriend, by whom she is pregnant with her second child). Appearing at the arraignment sporting a black eye, sister Cara Davenport mouthed "I love you" to Worrell Whitehurst, the accused. Another report of the incident may be found here. The father of Cara Davenport's first child is notorious armed robber Neville Knight who is serving a life sentence for robbing security vans and supermarkets, along with his latest girlfriend, who got 10 years for helping in the robberies.

One can argue that the natural state of British life is Hogarthian dissolution. Certainly French, Italian, Spanish, and German visitors who were contemporaries of Hogarth were appalled at the public drunken-ness and displays, which even to the early 18th century sensibilities of their time, was distasteful. But the Victorians were able, through much hard work and cultural messages, to generally reform British life. Sherlock Holmes stories are filled with Holmes, Watson, and other characters carrying revolvers around their persons, and life while rough and often filled with crime, was never debauched to this current level. Indeed, while 19th Century Victorian Britons held revolvers and other weapons, they were in fact used fairly infrequently, as opposed to the crime waves of today's Britain with frequent firearms-enabled robberies. Such as Knight's robberies of Astra Supermarkets.

The moral dissolution and the soft tyranny of the nanny state are one and the same. Men and Women behave abominably, in equal measure, as seen in the pictures on the Polish photographer's (Maciej Dakowitz) website, or the stories linked above. The State is unwilling to address the root cause of the bad behavior, which is a culture of corruption and dissolution. Money is not the problem, the mounds of (expensive) fast food around the drunken, often obese Cardiff revelers, and the money spent on youth, according the OECD reports, attest to poverty not being the cause of moral dissolution. Instead, to be seen as "doing something" the State issues rules that only affect the law-abiding. Only law-abiding people obey the police as the fire races through their neighbors house. A lawless society would have simply shoved aside (or shot with illegal firearms) the police and rescued their neighbors or family members. Only the lawful obey PC arrest orders for violating the PC-Multicultural "state religion." Meanwhile every sort of bad behavior is celebrated. Excused. Explained away.

The Victorians were able to win a victory (for a while) over Hogarthian England, by creation of the Middle Class. As any reader of a Sherlock Holmes story can verify, this victory was not absolute even in the height of Victorian powers, and eventually faded away into a reversion into Hogarthian England. But Middle Class men and women, focused on that Victorian invention, the Middle Class family, oriented around children, and grand-children, and solid, respectable, Middle Class achievement, was capable of great things. It was capable of producing a man like Nicolas Winton, who rescued 669 Jewish Schoolchildren in Czechoslovakia from the Nazis, and did not speak of it even to his wife for forty years. The solid, Middle Class respectability produced a nation, capable of fighting alone for a year against Adolf Hitler's War Machine, without any hope of victory, and at great cost. Withstanding the Blitz that leveled half of London and other British Cities, including destroying Coventry, and near-starvation from the Nazi U-Boats sinking British shipping. This was the true strength of a society oriented around "beta male" respectability. It was not able to excite women like Cara Davenport through thuggery, nor produce the general attitude of debauchery found in Cardiff. But when it counted, it stood against perhaps the most mighty and evil war machine for a year, alone.

Nothing is more tragic than it's disappearance from the Earth. It's loss, and that of Middle Class two-parent families, creating the hell that is Hogarthian England, once again.

30 comments:

Starburst said...

Good post, but why don't you stop being a pussy about it and come out and say it: you're a jew.

You're about as Scotch-Irish as this guy.

I dunno if you're one of those stealthy jews that's half-jewish or something and aren't religiously jewish so go around seriously saying that they aren't jewish. Or if you have jewish wife or something.

The fact of the matter is you're covering your jewishness and or connections to jews.

Whiskey said...

I am indeed Scots-Irish-German. Sorry no Jewishness at all.

Nick von Mises said...

I'm a Brit and it is heartrending to see my country ripped apart by five decades of almost continuous socialism, feminism and PC multi-culturalism. The Thatcher years were a brief respite, but she was still an authoritarian at heart.

Newcastle on a Saturday night is just as bad.

Here's a few good English blogs that cover this sort of material too:
http://thylacosmilus.blogspot.com/
http://obotheclown.blogspot.com/
http://raedwald.blogspot.com/
http://brackenworld.blogspot.com/

Jeff Burton said...

The Victorian project is inexplicable without reference to Christianity. The great trans-Atlantic revivals of the 18th century unleashed a great deal of moral energy that was eventually channeled into a myriad of reforming organizations and societies such as the London City Mission, which still exists.

knightblaster said...

The strange thing, though, is why is France, though so close, so different? I mean France has a huge immigrant issue (le cordon rouge in Paris, for example), the French also drink like fish and are very adulterous, yet their society is not loutish nor coming apart at the seams.

Whiskey said...

It could be Novaseeker that it's as simple as the French eating dinner together. Dalrymple noted how few of his British compatriots ate dinner together, most eating alone from take-away trays in front of the television.

The French, however, DO have lower rates of 13 and 15 year old girls who have ever been drunk at least twice (33% to the French 14%, and US 12%). Binge drinking is relatively rare, despite alcohol being relatively cheaper (if 1990's re-runs of Absolutely Fabulous are any indication) than in the UK. I suspect that family cohesion is a lot stronger among the French, who have more ambition to become upwardly mobile, and also don't trust their government as much. Dalrymple suggested as much comparing the Italians (who never trust the government and evade nearly every aspect of it reflexively) with the British.

Others have suggested the collapse of religion or atomized, single parent families.

A reader anonymously sent in a summary, which I will post on the reasons possibly why the UK fell apart at the seams. It is interesting to note that the Scots-Irish-Welsh-English in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada all seem to have (as one anonymous reader pointed out) major problems with alcohol, us Celts in particular coming late to it. My own family history on my Mother's and Father's side both validate that. However, even though Moonshine is an American past-time, and liquor has generally been relatively cheap in the US, since colonial times, Americans don't see things like this. I didn't see it in New Orleans when I lived there for three years, not even in Mardis Gras (the scenes with the trash are reminiscent of Mardi Gras, but even there the trash is picked up rapidly after Fat Tuesday). Three or four days and all the trash is gone. This from a place selling jello-shots or bathroom visits, your choice $4, out of the Baptist Church on St. Charles! Even in the Quarter that sort of drunken-ness is not tolerated (you get arrested fairly quickly). About the only things equivalent are the women flashing for beads, or the Spring Break bacchanals. Which DO approach that scene, but only during Spring Break and only in certain Spring Break cities (Fort Lauderdale, South Padre Island, Daytona Beach, etc.)

knightblaster said...

What I see with alcohol in the Anglo societies is that people drink to get drunk, often, rather than drinking regularly and socially. It's very different on the continent. Germans, for example, drink a lot, too, but they don't binge drink. They will have a few beers every single day (which would make some people in the US consider them alcoholics), but will almost never have 10 beers. Americans will not drink Monday through Thursday and then on Friday have 10 beers to get drunk -- it's almost as if they don't want to "waste" the alcohol by drinking it without getting bombed.

France is a bit different. The french drink a crapton and have one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the world and I think the highest rate of alcohol related traffic fatalities in the world. One book I read by an expat there said that as the day progresses in France you can almost sense the BAC levels rising in the cars around you until at some point it seems like everyone's blood turns into wine. I remember business negotiations in France in the 90s where open bottles of wine were placed on the table at lunchtime, and the french guys were drinking it up as they were negotiating. You would never see that in London, but *after* the negotiation you would see the Brits head to the bar and get trashed, while the French went to dinner (and also continued to drink, but not in the same way). Steady drinking like they do in France leads to crashes and alcoholism, but still seems less problematic socially than the binge drinking we see in the Anglo world.

sestamibi said...

If Starburst had any brains, he would know that no Jew would go by the nom de cyber "Whiskey".

Many thanks for this post, one of your best. Sadly, we are headed in the same direction here on this side of the pond.

And as a member of The Tribe myself, I do appreciate your support.

Rollory said...

It's = it is
Its = possessive

Fix it!

Whiskey said...

Sorry Rollory -- bad habit. I do try now.

Novaseeker -- Very interesting. The French expats I know barely drink, and tend to be very hard-headed pragmatic businessmen. My next door neighbor with the help of his son completely re-roofed his house!

Tailgating at College Football (particularly Ole Miss which is legendary) DOES involve alcohol, but just as importantly food, including home-cooked food where guys compete for best brats/burgers etc. There's even a commercial leveraging that (three hot gals roll up with an uber-tailgate truck, two losers have a Chrysler, but the right Light beer, etc.)

ERM said...

What the hell does "soft totalitarianism" mean? Don't mince words. Either it is totalitarian or it isn't, but "soft totalitarian" is like "somewhat pregnant".

*** ******** said...

it takes a lot to make me speechless. wow. and i thought i was witnessing america's descent into the hell mouth at my job here in the states. damn.

Anonymous said...

"What the hell does "soft totalitarianism" mean?"

Soft totalitarianism is the Nanny State.

Roderick Reilly said...

Starburst is an idiotic relic.

That aside, good point about Victorian influence. A good barometer of social change's chronology in Britain is Charles Dickens. His earliest novels were set in the transitional period into Victorianism, and reflect the still-existing squalidness of the times. His later works could focus more on class identity, intrigue and snobbery, because society had improved significantly in the now Victorian age of Dickens' maturity.

Jack said...

England really is sucking bigtime. It's like our mother country, and we see them failing completely. I mean, their teenagers get drunk much more than those in IRELAND, for goodness sakes. Ireland, their neighbor known for its alcoholism. Perhaps Ireland's staunch Catholicism is keeping some kids in line, though I know here in the US, many Catholic School kids get into bad stuff.

As a part-Italian, I am disappointed that Italy was stuck with Britain, mexico and Turkey at the bottom of the educational rankings. Italy is supposed to have high IQ, but perhaps their schools aren't valued much.

And who gives a shit if he's Jewish? Internet anti-Semites really need to start focusing their energy on the vast majority of liberal lawmakers who are not Jewish.

ERM said...

Soft totalitarianism is the Nanny State.

Yes, I'm aware of what people who use it think it means. But what a load of double-speak hogwash. We're not talking about the advantages and disadvantages of national health care or old-age pensions or mandatory recycling. Nannies don't arrest people for asking to change groups in school or flying their traditional flag. You know who arrest people for innocent questions or displaying innocuous symbols? Nazis. Communists. Totalitarians. There is nothing soft about being hauled off to prison and some kangaroo court.

Terry said...

Just as an aside: Britain didn't stand against Hitler alone but the British Empire did. Many nations mucked in from the beginning.


There is a distinct lack of shame and personal responsibility in Britain today. I simply do not understand it. A huge amount of resources are put into clearing up the mess whether it is literally picking up the rubbish, treating people in hospital or the Police having to deal with violence.

It didn't used to be like this. My Dad's generation (born in the 40s) saw drunken-ness as a sign of being a lightweight - that you couldn't handle your drink. Nowadays drinking to oblivion is seen as the thing to do.

It doesn't (and didn't) need the armfuls of new legislation the Government has brought in since 1997 nor has the new legislation had much effect. The Police had plenty of powers before then to deal with drunken behaviour.

You can probably boil down the differences to stand-up drinking versus sat down drinking. People seem to drink a lot more when they are stood up. It is a less relaxed affair. This has been taken to an extreme by many where drinking becomes the point rather than socialising.

Anonymous said...

I would be more sympathetic but for all the anti-Americanism from Europe over the past decade. The best I do now is muted Schadenfreude.

Templar said...

Really, Starburst, how could you possibly see Whiskey as anything other than Scots-Irish-German? I mean, just look at how near and dear to his heart is the plight of Chuck's sensitive Scots-Irish-German protagonist and his inability to win over the hot blonde he desires. ;)

Rookh Kshatriya said...

Yeah, but ALL Americans are Scots-Irish-German somewhere down the line, so they are.

Anonymous said...

One thing Britain does have is a lot of trashy tabloids like the Daily Mail that persistently twist the facts so as to present... precisely the sort of picture of Britain you present.

I guarantee you that, in a lot of the cases of "political correctness run rampant" that you talk about, there's much more to the story.

MadKalnod said...

Not to call shenanigans on the research and statistics, but I'm hesitant to accept the photos as anything but anecdotal evidence. The large (or at least large enough to notice) number of costumed individuals in many of the images at the photographer's website might indicate that they were taken in proximity to Halloween, and are thus atypical. Sure, the obesity, drunken behavior and infidelity may be an ongoing problem, but the trash and transvestites may just be a result of the holiday.

Anonymous said...

You do talk specifics and I know most of the stories you mention but, as a Brit, I want to assure you that we are not all like that. My own situation is that we live on a council estate (something similar to the American projects, I imagine) and on welfare for various reasons that I won't go into, but our boys have been raised to be decent and respectful; one is in university, the other on a full scolarship at an excellent private school. I have witnessed some of the behaviour you talk about and I am certain it stems from having no respect for authority: not for parents, teachers, police or government. Sadly, it's the government who are giving it away. I shudder to think what the next generation will be like, and I have told my children not to feel obliged to give me grandchildren. But I don't believe that it is not happening elsewhere, including America. That is somewhat naive, I think.

I enjoyed your blog though I felt embarrassed for my country. I'm glad you allowed Starburst to speak: his bigotry just made him look foolish.

greenrivervalleyman said...

Maclean's Magazine in Canada had an article on this a while back.


In my youth I dearly wished to visit Britain, expecting to find the "jolly ole England" of folktales and classic literature. Slowly, as media images of the new "Cool Britannia" began trickling in (starting with 1996's Trainspotting, which absolutely disgusted me when I first saw it) I became disabused of these notions, and all the evidence I've seen since has only confirmed that Britain is undergoing extreme social decay. For those who'd like to see what Britain once was, though, I'd highly recommend A Canterbury Tale or any of the other films of Michale Powell.

PS: Sam Francis coined the term "anarcho-tyranny" to describe the "soft-totalitarianism" you mention.

Jeff Lopez said...

There are people who may lament the fall in standards of UK culture. But when it comes to fine cigars, no one can accuse Cuban cigars of any fall in standards. If you want to assess this, do have a look at cigar shop

Anonymous said...

Britain, now or 300 years ago isn't my area of expertise, but I doubt the children of the likes of Blair and Brown are drinking, dressing, and deporting themselves grossly inappropriately.

If "chav" "culture" is widespread, who's paying the bills? who's pushing the bureaucracy's paperwork? who's repairing the plumbing? who's programming the computers? who's making routine deliveries? (I'd ask who's teaching the children, but, alas, to that one I know the answer.)

That Britain, any Britain, behaves this way seems to indicate a sea-change in the nation's character, and not for the better (e.g., The Abolition of Britain and Life at the Bottom). It's a collective loss of self-discipline, a narrowing of interests to the moment.

It's anti-Christian--because of the degrading personal conduct-- and anti-feminist--because of the acceptance of violent conduct towards women.

* * *

"Starburst" and "Lopez": anti-semitism and advertisements. And with registered names, too.

Anonymous said...

While I acknowledge that there are many problems in the UK (not least of which is what i classify as the americanisation of the youth, based on US imports of movies and TV, fast food and the ever ridiculous American dream idea; no your not ever going to run the company you will always be poor and you'll never amount to anything get over it and get on with your life, you'll be happier overall) but the main problem here is the media, a subject i believe your familiar with. The media report only what they think of as shocking and depraved, (i'm guessing the tourist did the same) they don't report on the millions of people who don't behave like morons every friday night, they don't look at all the wonderful things that come from this country. So all you guys on your side of the pond see is the crap that the media wants you too see. You don't see the good only what the media wants you to see (which in my experiance of Americans is very very very little)

Before you jump to the conclusions that where stuffed into your head by a corrupt and sensationalist media try and actually experiance things for yourself. Always remember that there are lies Damm lies, and statistics they can be manipulated by anyone with a brain to mean anything they want them to. DO NOT EVER TRUST figures, or the media. rely on your own experiance. IN my experiance there are people like those you mentioned in every City in the UK but they are the vocal minority not the silent majority. I garentee you that should we ever face a challenge like Adolfs war machine again you'll find that the silent Majority of britain has some fairly substantial teeth and a willingness to use them.

Roughneck Jase said...

Excellent post, Whiskey. This article does highlight who much of a shithole Great Britain really is.

As an Australian, I can't fantom why so many of my countrymen and women still go to the UK despite the fact the that country is a shithole (I don't know, maybe it is because so many Australians saw the UK as the "mother country" for for many years or that they see the UK as an easy access point into Europe (I know that many Aussies that say that they are going to the UK so they can enter Europe don't do it and "slum it" in London or any part of 'Ol Blighty when they leave Australia).

On another note, Whiskey. In regards to the morals and values of Victorian England, I find them as equally as repressive and repugnant as the morals and values of Hogarthian England. Besides, the morals of Victorian England brought about a high degree of prudishness (and is still evident in the women of the Anglosphere) as well as moronic things like male infant circumcision to stop masturbation.

Anonymous said...

Well your article was well written however I dislike your lack of history knowledge...Let`s begin, as someone else said Britain didn`t fight alone, IT WAS the greatest empire and had MORE RESOURCES than the US at the time, the GREATEST NAVY forces, so in my opinion and taking into account the FACTS (Hitler didn`t mean war with England therefore the "Seelöwe" never come out of some paper to become a reality, and Germany´s underwhelming force could have never staged successfully an invasion to Britain; In order to do that they would have had to relocate the Brittish navy from Scapa Flow to the bottom of the North Sea), Britain's struggle was simply pathetic by all accounts, yes there were some great Generals (Montgomery, Desmond Young) but Germany was a puny and never inflicted the damage in England it had to undergo later on at the hands of UK and US and even with that Britain was a few years away from the brink of collapse....the comparison would be US having troubles with North Korea or modern Vietnam.

By the way spare the bigot tags but the Jews WERE NOT the only ones who died in that war. Even before the war the communists had killed tens of millions and no one blushed.....Well I guess those innocents couldn't compare to the valueable life of the Chosen ones....

ocio en barcelona said...

This can't truly have success, I feel this way.