In my day when you made a balls of it you paid for it. It was common sense really and a strong motivation not to make a balls of anything.
There was a commonly understood equation between authority and responsibility. If you had the authority to decide things, in your own life for example, then you were also responsible for the fallout of those decisions. Good decisions brought reward and bad decisions brought problems. A hangover was the problem you faced for deciding to drink too much the previous night and a dose of the trots for not minding your food. Simple really and we all knew it.
But in today's unhealthy climate of celebrity victim status, society is to blame for anything bad that happens the individual. The individual is innocent and blameless when they've fucked up all by themselves. It's weird! Take obesity for example. It's a straightforward proposition whereby if you eat a lot you have to exercise a lot. Do the former without the latter and you get fat. If you don't burn off the extra food as energy it has nowhere else to go. Keep adding to it everyday and soon you need a new wardrobe. It's the checks and balances of Mother Nature. It's lots of things actually including all your own fault if you don't stop it. So don't tell me you are a victim of 'Big Food.' You're a victim of your own gluttony and it doesn't have to be that way if you practice a modicum of self-denial.
With a few exceptions the booze is the same thing. Life is about balance and always trying to get it right. Special occasions will arise and you may overdo things but then you get back on track, a term denoting going off the rails in the first place. Going mad from time to time is good for the soul as long as you get back to your own equilibrium each time afterwards. Sadly though, that appears to be the wisdom of another time. Today it is all about getting on television to tell the nation about your spineless weaknesses, your lack of backbone and your nonexistent ego. When you do, hundreds more phone/text in to say they identify with you. And your excesses are to blame as well as the Government for not taking away the temptation. How the fuck did we end up with that?
But I truly despair at this today. A hurler from Galway is urging TD's to do something about gambling, I kid you not. Apparently this monkey brain can't pass a betting shop without pledging his parents home on the 3.30 at the Curragh. "I was feeling, isolated. I didn't know who to tell," he sobs to us all. Ah God help us. "I became a compulsive liar,” he went on. That makes you a prick in my estimation, but there's more. “I was as bad as any alcoholic,” he said. “I had a disease that was so hidden. I hid it for eight years.” Then came the modern mantra. He said that he is standing up and telling his story so that others in his position may feel that they can get the help the need, too. “The Government urgently needs to take serious action and bring in laws to regulate the gambling industry,” the sad windbag tells all the rest of us. The actual standing up and confessing naturally happened in front of the cameras on Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ. I despair. If that's a celebrity get him out of here!
I wonder sometimes if these bozos are on a short-term Government contract to demean themselves this way. Are they paid to get the all the other brain dead agitating for yet another tax on something. I saw a horribly obese girl one night tearfully tell the camera that Coke should be made too expensive to buy. That's music to any TD's ears. Betting is a mugs game and everyone knows that the bookie always wins. Overeating without exercise is just laziness and over-indulgence. Overdoing the sauce will always end in tears. It's called commonsense. But what annoys me is that these sad saps want to punish all of us for their own lack of responsibility.
There is a principle that has crept into the modern discourse which goes, "The polluter pays." The idea is that if you committed the undesirable action then you pay for it. So if you've bet more than you can afford, YOU get fined. That'd keep you away from the bookie for a bit. If you've turned into a big fat balloon because you've bought too much food then a hefty fine will prevent you doing it again for a while. Why penalize the rest of us for your stupidity? If you do really want harsh measures to help you, (you dozy sap), then I'm sure a streamlined set of harsh measures can be designed especially for you and only you.
Oh! And please come back on the television to tell us about the horrors of it. Make it a comedy show and we'll have a good laugh at your expense.