In my long lifetime, I've witnessed the appearance of the self-contratulatory, virtue-signalling  mode 

of behaviour that would persuade us that "nowadays" is to be admired and emulated if we are to be

considered good and worthy human beings.  We are lectured and preached to about our obligations

and duties towards the world and its dog, while,closer to home, things occur that give the lie to this

sanctimonious attitude.

Infants and even babies are brutalised, bones broken, to die in extended torment at the hands of those 

responsible for their care.  Old people are butchered in their homes, victims of vicious brutality at the other 

end of their lives,.both unable to defend themselves and both reliant on the kindness of others.  Society

wrings its hands yet makes punishment a lottery that leans lopsidedly towards concerns for the criminal..

There is a wide range of so-called punishments that a court can impose before imprisonment - all in

the much-touted cause of "rehabilitation", leading to the logical conclusion that by the time someone

actually gets sent to prison, they've usually had ample chance to rehabilitate.  Now, the words "Life

imprisonment" have become a sick joke, , just another spin of the lottery wheel that sees murderers

(some with more than one killing to their name) released because they are no longer a "threat" to society.

This is the reality of today's "caring" humane" ethos that somehow appears to view condign punishment as

an abuse of someone's "rights".  Protection is being diluted and removed because it is viewed as working 

against the desperate desire to be seen to be as the defenders of a distorted definition of  what it means

to be"humane".  The laudable aim has become entangled with the inability to differentiate.  The result: -  

a lack of courage needed to face and address the presence and actions of evil that encourage evil 

to exist.  In short, we have developed a society that preaches the sort of gospel that does nothing to

instil belief or confidence in its content.  If we turn the other cheek these days, it's because we prefer 

not to see what is happening!

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