Driven to Distraction?

We've all known someone who is easily distracted. We love to make fun of them in our conversation and even in our sitcoms. We've all seen this, no? Some dippy person will find themselves halfway through a thought, when suddenly... OOH SHINY!

Sadly for us, we shouldn't make fun of this kind of thing, because, as a nation, we are that person. Let's wake up and focus, people. There are now a lot of issues that we need to keep a good close eye on, because if we don't... PIGEON!

All joking aside, this is a serious problem. A wise man once said "The real axis of evil in this country is the genius of our marketing coupled with the stupidity of our people." I believe he was talking about America but this goes for the UK just as much.

This week, the British Government quietly passed a law which would allow them and other security service more access to monitor social media and emails. When this motion was first proposed, people were outraged and with some fair reason. Many asked what this would do to people's freedom and civil liberties, however the government response at the time was that it would not be able to access the content of emails or social network communication, but only be able to see the names of people contacted. This would seem to suggest something far more worrying, however. Namely: what makes anyone think that seeing who people communicate with is any kind of grounds to interrogate or condemn a person?

What actually got this half-arsed and not very thought through piece of hackery into law so easily? A nice big distraction full of shiny things and loud noises: The Olympics.

Now should we be angered by the assumption that such a trick has been played? Yes, of course, but we are in no place to point the finger purely at the government about this. After all, it's not like they've not done this kind of thing before. Ever since the coalition government got into power it has been official political practice to cover much of their tracks with big lies. Saying things like Labour is guilty of causing the recession- because what better way to get the heat off the banks?

This is quite brilliant political bullshitting to get what you want. You want to push something through that is meeting with massive amounts of opposition and controversy- not least because what is being pushed is a barely thought through idea- what do you do? Change the subject, then push it right through when everyone's back is turned. Distract the opposition, do whatever the hell you while they're not looking. It is a tactic that has served this government very well, but what is worrying is that so few people have seen through these smokescreen tactics.

At the time of the Royal Wedding, while the nation was busy watching the big spectacle of gold, military uniforms and ridiculous hats, this government quickly and quietly pushed forward and passed part of their controversial NHS reform plans ending a year of heated debate and outcry from the NHS itself that there would be hell to pay if the plans did go ahead with a simple method. Wait until the nation is distracted with a nice big show, then we will never notice the postman slipping in the back door.

Again, should we be angry about such underhanded dealings? Yes, absolutely. But, again, save a little blame for ourselves. After all these examples of backdoor policy pushing are just under this government and the above are just three examples... and we have fallen for every last one of them.

Folks, this is not a game. If you lose out in this climate you really lose out. And this is not a time to be fooled or to allow ourselves to be distracted by a big show. This is very clever governmental behaviour: when they're under almost overwhelming pressure from another side, what do they do? They change the subject. This is why labour is blamed for the recession and two giant glittering extravaganzas are used to hold our attention to push forward policies without being interrogated too much.

We really are that easily distracted. All it takes is a Royal Wedding, an Olympic Ceremony, or telling a lie so often that people start to think it's true. Why not just blinker the nation, dangle a giant carrot in front of them and tell them to walk?!

We have to see past this kind of thing and see both these tactics and our easily distracted nature for how dangerous they are.

And if we cannot manage this, we need to get rid of the lions on our nation's crests and replace them with this guy.