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Another momentous copy and paste exercise there from the Conservatives, marvellous!
Thanks anyway Roger, although I have read this before and there really is no misquote. The little interview, which I think is from 'Women's Own' (or some other publication that negates the suffragette movement) actually just confirms the 'there is no such thing as society' quote and its intent, placing the emphasis on individuals. Incidentally I find it amusing that the most powerful woman of the 20th century doesn't even believe in feminism...but then that is just another inconsistency all together!
The problem with individualism (of which Mrs. T would be openly subscribed to) is the fact that by our very development we are not autonomous. We have reached a point of evolution which makes us dependent on others by the complexity of our needs. This starts at family level, extends to community and then to society. In an industrialised country, it is impossible to be autonomous (even Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall relies on book royalties) As a result services and goods have to exchanged, or as Mrs Thatcher says 'reciprocated'. The problem is by operating an individualist mentality (by human nature) certain people suffer inequalities at the hands of others or get 'screwed over', at best this results in a feudal system that is the precursor of our class system. I would honestly subscribe to individualism if we were given a level playing field but as Mrs T also acknowledges, we are not (the result of both natural and environmental conditions). Children do not asked to get born into deprivation and their immediate social group (that is family and demographic, which actually has a profound effect on their outlook) Individualism has the power to raise them out of this situation (albeit only to a certain level generally) but ironically it is this individualism, twinned with their "background in society" that makes them think to 'get what they can' and sod the fact that the welfare state was set up to support, not to wholly provide for the self-centred.
For someone to say that it is not the fault of society that people do not adhere to its doctrines is nothing short of paradoxical. After all that's what our sense of what right and wrong is: the consensus of society and it's combined beliefs (or as Thomas Paine would call 'common sense').
So every time you see a group of youths demonstrating 'anti-social' behaviour (by definition an act of individualism), remember these young people are very happy to accept the responsibility of their actions, as far as they are concerned it is society that has a problem with it. It is up to society to say "No, this is wrong and WE will not let it ruin the lives of the people it affects" If it doesn't affect me personally it is still my problem, because one day it could. And also every time we moan about people not pulling together and supporting things, that is also the result of people looking (albeit short-sightedly) towards themselves before looking towards the whole.
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