"Whatever"

Regardless of what you think of Dr. Fox of the Tories, he may be between a rock and a hard place, but he does speak sense once in a while this must be said. Please take the time to read the piece below by Liam Fox.

"Since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the great Age of Reason, we have transformed our world. While we have lurched at times into bloody conflict, we have also excelled in literature, art, science and medicine. We have expanded the rule of law and democratic systems and we have alleviated more physical poverty in our own generation than in the whole of history. The triumph of our political and economic systems has enabled us to see off the threats of Nazi fascism and Soviet communism. Yet despite all this, we are now confronting a crisis of confidence, an uncertainty and a lack of optimism in our society which I believe is profoundly worrying. The Age of Reason is in danger of gradually shifting into reverse, while the culture of “whatever” – that one word so frequently used to dismiss objective reasoning – is on the rise.

There are many factors contributing to this trend. Diminishing social mobility, the cult of celebrity, the decline in serious learning, the increasing disregard for empiricism and social attitudes verging on “valuephobia” all threaten to cast a shadow on the enlightened western Liberalism which has taken us so far.

It takes only a passing glance at any newsstand today to see the influence of celebrity. Society seems obsessed with fame and trivia while serious achievements take second place. Where in previous generations youngsters would aspire to be scientists or astronauts, the answer to the question “what would you like to be?” is now simply: “famous”.

This celebrity culture masks one of the most worrying recent trends. The decline in social mobility in the last decade in Britain should be a prime concern in a country which needs to harness the potential of all its citizens if it is to compete successfully in a cut-throat global economy. While the pages of Hello! and OK may be opened up to reality TV stars and footballers’ girlfriends from any background, the doors of the universities and the law seem to be closed to far too many. And the dangers of a broad, cultural aversion to difficult learning should not be underestimated. While India is producing huge numbers of mathematics, physics and chemistry graduates, their British counterparts are dwindling, as easier subjects such as media studies gain popularity.

Distracted by celebrity, softened up by the education system, we have also succumbed to what you could call intellectual relativism. We have reached a state of affairs whereby people believe that the validity of their views is determined by the strength with which they hold them, not by any reference to empiricism. And so we hear phrases such as “Well that is your truth - it's not mine”, or, increasingly, the word which is doing untold damage to the concept of objectivity: “whatever”. When confronted with evidence which undermines the current fashion or your own prejudices, simply lift your hand and say “whatever”, and you can avoid all the discomforts of the value of truth, or objectivity, or of being plain wrong.

This trend is exacerbated by the culture of political correctness. How often do we hear people say “Of course, you're not allowed to say that are you?” or, “I’m not supposed to think that, am I ?”. This is neither a small nor a trivial matter. Freedom of thought and freedom of expression are essential in the pursuit of reason. It is reason that will lead us to truth, and the pursuit of truth has been the driving force behind progress since the Enlightenment. We cannot afford to abandon these principles now.

People are so afraid of saying the wrong thing that we have blundered into a state of what you could call valuephobia. But modern, tolerant and secular society does not have to be a valueless society. Tolerance is not the same as surrender. Although we tolerate the views and ideas of others, we do not have to accept the creed of moral equivalence. Just because a state does not have a formal affinity to a particular religion does not mean it should avoid a robust system of values. For the most part, our concept of right and wrong is in tune with our basic instincts, and our understanding of the consequences of our actions. These values are codified by religions, not invented by them. There are other, different, non- religious values which are part of our heritage - the concept of looking after those who cannot look after themselves, of hard work, perseverance and saving for a rainy day. States cannot operate without values, and the seemingly all-pervasive fear of causing offence needs to be balanced by the benefits of clear guidance on what is desirable behaviour.

Both politicians and the media need to get away from the bad habit of saying what people want to hear, and tell people what they need to hear, without worrying about offending people or encountering a dismissive “whatever”. As a society we have to find the resilience to deal with the challenges of our generation as previous generations dealt with theirs. We must begin by understanding who we are and what brought us to where we are, before we lose our hard-won gains."