PEOPLE ARE...

Okay, it’s been a while now and the dust has had time to settle, but, for various reasons far too complicated to go into here, I happened to be reading Twitter on the day of the sentencing in the trial of Mick Philpott and his accomplices, the one in which six children died in a house fire in Derby, mostly, it seems, due to the negligence, greed and rank stupidity of the very group of people who had a duty of care over them.

But their version of stupidity, or callous disregard, or whatever it is, is not what I want to write about today, because it was the sentencing itself which led to such a lot of public displays of rank stupidity that I began to wonder how it was that we ever managed to evolve ourselves out of the swamp in the first place.

Setting aside the rabid opinions of the “Hang ’em and Flog ’em” brigade, as well as the cynical charges against the welfare state made by the right-wing tabloid press, it was fascinating to realise just how many people were prepared to go on the record – and sometimes demonstrate an incitement violence for which they might find themselves rather surprised to be cautioned later – whilst having so utterly misunderstood the nature of the very sentences they were prepared to comment upon.

Interestingly enough, the “PM” programme that evening felt the need to have the judge’s word read out in full in an attempt to dispel the growing sense of anger from a large section of the community who appeared to be unable to read the small print, the medium sized print and, perhaps, even the 72 point bold caps that were screaming at them.

In those terms 17 does not add up to more than 15, and the word “minimum” is quite vital to the understanding of it, as, incidentally is the understanding of the definition of “manslaughter” rather than “murder…” There is, after all, the small matter of “intent” and the fact that a stupid plan turned out to be far more dangerous than anyone involved in it seemed capable of imagining doesn’t mean that anyone set out that day intending to physically harm anyone.

It’s the difference between lying in wait to deliberately run someone down with your car as opposed to someone running out in front of you and it being far too late to stop. Both are horrifying, but the intent is completely different.

But seeing the “I reckon” brigade in full force can be quite a distasteful thing, and finding out that the mentality of the mob is nowadays just as prevalent as it always was (albeit now hidden behind the anonymity of the internet) is actually almost as depressing as what those idiots in Derby managed to cook up, and, as ever, a little knowledge is a very, very dangerous thing, especially if people allow themselves to just respond to two or three words instead of a full, if you can pardon the pun, sentence.

I suspect that, had Mr Philpott succeeded in his grand scheme, the same press and people who were so swift to judge him would have been lauding his bravery and the “I reckon” brigade would have been singing his praises just as swiftly as they sought to condemn him, such is the fickle nature of “news” and the people who have a knee-jerk response to it.

I suppose that we ought to be grateful that the people who choose to go into the legal profession and those that go on to become judges are generally from the more educated and thoughtful (in the “thinking about” sense – they are capable of still being right so-and-sos…) sectors of society and are able, given the full facts of the situation, to look at all sides of the argument and generally come up with a more reasoned and thought-through response than “Throw away the key” or “String the ****er up!”

Ah…! The Mob and their carefully thought-out actions… What a fine bunch of upstanding and righteous citizens they (we...) always turn out to be in their thoughts and words and deeds. Maybe you should Google (Other search engines are available…) Robert Hubert some time and see what a mob is capable of…

This all comes to mind after the recent court case where the jury had to be released for demonstrating their own version of rank stupidity and the whole question of trial by jury, a system which has served us reasonably well for many centuries despite the odd major miscarriage, was brought into question by the current generation and it’s lack of ability to look beyond the bleeding obvious and use a bit of common sense without having to look it up on Google… (Other search engines, etc…)

And it doesn’t just happen when we’re thinking about a tabloid “monster” but in other ways too, sometimes with the very best of intentions. No loving parent should ever want to put their children through any unnecessary suffering, but a few years ago, a few ultimately discredited newspaper stories about the M.M.R. jab led to a severe downturn in the uptake of it for which we are now reaping the rewards with a relatively major measles outbreak, which just goes to show what happens if you believe the newspapers for than say, oh, I don’t know, a G.P., and, given the high profile nature of that story right now, parents are now queuing up to demand the very same vaccination which they previously rejected in such a nonchalant manner.

It was much the same with the closing down of that Leeds Hospital for surgery the other week. A massive over-reaction to unverified figures, banner headlines for a couple of mornings, which were then followed by a few muffled apologies and a re-opening a few days later. We seem to live in a culture so terrified of making a wrong decision and being sued for it that we’re prepared to make a stupid decision instead, because it’s safer.

There are now figures suggesting that various firms are making up bogus “health and safety” reasons to not allow things to happen because they feel far safer doing so, and, of course, people are idiotic enough to believe them and except whatever nonsense they choose to throw our way.

We are all prone towards bandwagoning, choosing to read only the headline and then head off with our half-arsed opinions based on very little in the way of facts, because, basically, we really are all that stupid... and I’m sure that if you posted a link on the web saying “Click Here to find out how gullible YOU are!” you’d get more than a few responses.

We also ought not forget that each of us is capable of being extraordinarily stupid ourselves, and I cannot finish this piece without admitting that I’m capable of being utterly stupid too...