Shame

Readers will know that by my absence of posting that I am one of those who Witterings from Witney correctly identified as hitting the wall. I've been absent, not because of the lack of anger but more due to the idea that we as a people and a nation are surrounded by detritus that those who spread it have the gall to call public service.  It seems to come from all angles and to the relatively small number of bloggers trying to engage the 60 odd million people of this island to wake up, it can be an energy sapping experience.

David's kind words to me yesterday got me back into the saddle and I find myself on a second post in two days.  I thank David for encouraging me to get back into the fray.

Surrounded as we are by a torrent of self interest and corruption I started thinking about positive aspects about the apparent dominance of those for whom nothing matters but craven self interest.  It came to me after stumbling across a few seemingly unrelated stories.

First up was an article that I thought when opening was going to be a bit of a short piece.  How wrong I was.  The article in question was a suggestion that Jimmy Savile was the tip of the iceberg.  To read it is truly scary when you read about the efforts to cover up any attempts to get to heart of what happened on Jersey.  The other article was about the efforts by the speaker of the House of Commons to avoid releasing details of MPs expenses.  This was dressed up in the premise that such obfuscation was for security reasons which does not really seem to stand up to scrutiny and looked to those examining it, that it was more about hiding something.

On the face of the two seem about as unrelated as it is possible to get and I would agree if taken at face value.  There is no suggestion on my part that the ongoing criminal investigation of Savile is connected with Westminster (just so we're clear). There is however a common denominator on another level.  For me that common denominator is about keeping something hidden from the eyes of the public. To a point those taking the p*ss are brazen, but once the attention of the majority focus on them they look to hide it.  In the Jersey case, although efforts to thwart the investigators initially succeeded, the end result was that certain individuals allegedly connected to the sabotage efforts were caught red handed and committed suicide.

Please do not mistake this post as one taking pleasure in the loss of life. It is far from that.  I use the example to illustrate a point and it is this.  If there is something positive it is that even amongst the most craven and  most vile of actions, shame still exists.  Shame exists because we see it every day.  It dresses up as cover ups, lies, buck passing, sabotage - you name it.  Every effort to deflect attention from wrong doing to somewhere else is a behaviour that has its roots in the shame of the perpetrator.  In other words they have a fear of being found out.  We can find it when we saw the wriggling of our PM around his cast iron guarantee of a referendum on the EU and in all the claptrap about repatriation of powers back to Britain currently found in the verbal dysentery from those in Westminster.  We can find it in the lies of one Edward Heath in the joining of the common market. We can find it wherever a public servant conveniently leaves something out of a statement that would leave their credibility on an issue lying in tatters if it were known by the public.

Is that a positive?  I say yes.  In some things they are seemingly brazen but their dominant behaviour is to dance around the truth.  They will not stand and make a case to you on what they truly believe and that should tell you the whole story.  What it should tell you is that having what they do laid bare for examination scares them.  They fear accountability.  They fear examination.  They fear their lies being exposed to the wider public. They know that there is a power in your hands that they do not have.  They know that you, yes you has the power to remove them from their place at the trough filled by the public purse and it scares them. They fear shame which is something that can be attached to them by the public and the people of this nation. 

Reread that last sentence - because you are the nation and you are the public. Wake up!