You join me having just inhaled the last piece of chocolate cake that me and Matthew found all lonely and reduced on an M&S shelf on Saturday afternoon. What could we do....a millionaires chocolate cake fit to feed 12 people sat there at less than half price; it would've been a crime to say no really! I also am aware that I owe you all an apology for not blogging yesterday. I was just plain exhausted due to a combo of shopping about on Saturday, staying up late to watch the live stream of Rhett and Link's Tour of Mythicality on Sunday night and having to get up early on Monday morning.
However, now I am here I wanted to get all serious again. I was in my managers office on Friday and noticed she'd put a quote up on the wall and I had a moment. The quote summed up for me everything that's going wrong with society at the moment: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." The sex scandals, the tax evasion, the shooting in Texas; everything at the moment seems to be coming down to an individual having a choice and choosing catastrophically.
This blog post is going to link loosely with my post on sexual abuse in Hollywood. I wanted to expand it to reflect what seems to be happening in society a lot both in general and in response to the scandal. I only posted about the Hollywood scandal last Wednesday and even that same night more scandal was exposed leaving us all thinking "what next?" as we all wondered just how murky the waters were among the Hollywood elite. Just as we were getting our heads around the sexual misconduct news from both the US and here in our own government, it was the Royal family's turn to be named on the scandal list but with with reports that the Queen and Prince Charles were investing off-shore to evade tax. The Royal's investing off-shore?! Never! Let's just say, I'm glad I'm sat down for that oh-so-shocking news!
Ok, so as my sarcasm may tell you, I'm not shocked at all. It's these types of people who have and can afford the best accountants that will tell them exactly how to deal with their money and exactly where to put it in order to legally avoid the tax man. Let me first point out that investing off-shore is not illegal; something which I struggle to understand fully myself however, it is completely legal to do and celebs and even royalty can squeeze through this loophole with only the threat of a very public shaming- nothing else. If you've ever tried to figure out your taxes yourself you'll understand why people would want accountants drafted in to help them as it's very convoluted and is a process that if you get even the slightest bit wrong, you are reprimanded for. With it being so convoluted, loopholes inevitably come into the mix making the system easy to play if you know how. Admit it, if you had an accountant that said to you that there was a way to avoid tax without even a whiff of a prison sentence or any punishment at all, maybe just a knock to the personal image, you'd do it right? Everyone would, or at the very least, be tempted. But as the title suggests, just because you're rich enough to afford a nice tax-free haven off-shore, or you're fortunate enough to have the decision of whether to pay your tax or not, it doesn't mean you should partake in it. Yes, tax is a piss take, we all wish we didn't have to pay it but the cold-hard fact of life is that we do so instead of whining about it or being a pillock and evading it, just be like everyone else, suck it up and get on with it.
As I briefly discussed earlier, the sexual misconduct (to put it lightly) scandal is only getting more widespread with more and more stories coming to light. I must say, when they broke the news about some Government officials being named in the accused list, I wasn't surprised. It's a shameful thing really to say I wasn't surprised but it only affirmed to me that we're living in a world where corruption lurks around every corner, even amoung those who claim to have our best interests at heart. Politics is seen nowadays as a bit of a joke; the MP's argue among themselves more than they argue for our sakes and when they're not arguing they're engaging in popularity contests to see who can gain the most attention. And then even when it does come down to voting, the country has no idea who or what it's voting for!! Take the Brexit vote for example, it was enraging to hear people on the news saying they only voted out because they didn't think it'd actually happen! I'm sorry, what?! This just shows how much of a personality and PR stunt-fuelled mess politics has become. If all you have to do now is get the most likes on Facebook or the most followers on Twitter to get your campaigns through then we've really got to look at ourselves. Just because we can tell lies and make things up to get into favour, doesn't mean it's right and in fact, it's hugely misleading for everyone else. Going back to the sexual misconduct, Michael Fallon, Defense Secretary resigned last week amid claims made about his sexual misconduct. When resigning, he said that what was acceptable 10,15 years ago is not acceptable now and while I certainly don't condemn the type of behaviour he is accused of, I do agree with his point.
Society has changed a hell of a lot in 15 years. Back then, social media was relatively new and there was no such thing as a "Twitter storm" because well, there was no Twitter. I'm not saying that social media is the sole reason everything is coming to light now, but with hashtags such as #MeToo trending online and thus lending a voice to those with a story of that nature to tell, it certainly is proving to be the catalyst for a lot of the talk we're having now. People aren't keeping it "hush hush" anymore and in fact, it may not be much of a stretch to say that social media is the path to condemnation now with a 'trial by media' trend to scandals such as these emerging . Just like with TV nowadays, we can easily and actively chose what we want to hear and I think that is the problem, we hear the name and the words "sexual misconduct" in the headline, but it's almost like we look past the "accused" part and immediately set a storm brewing on social media. I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to voice their opinions (even I'm doing it now) and personal experiences, but what I am saying is read the whole story and think about it before launching the social media apps to spread abuse and hatred. Just because we have access and the ability to do something like this, it doesn't mean we should. That goes for those in power abusing their privileges and indeed people too.
With so many that seem to abuse their power for their own gain it can be hard to see the wood for the trees but in general it's always advisable to stay on the right side of the law and to just be more wary of what's around you and how it's not just you trying to get by. You will probably find yourself in more than your fair share of moral dilemmas or among situations that will make you question humanity itself, but if anything can help, I hope this will:
"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
Perhaps if more people stopped to consider this, we wouldn't be in such a mess.
That's all from me this evening. I will be back on Thursday for the next installment but for now have a great evening!!
Share your thoughts :