Hotmao

Academics from the University of Sheffield have compiled a report stating that “far more people are living alone and are more fearful of their communities than they were three decades ago,” and that Britain runs the risk of having an increasingly fragmented and segregated society.

Although this report cites 30 years of decline in community relations and although there must be many reasons why this is the case, I would suggest that one major cause is the government’s increasing nannyism and micro-managing of communities. It is this mentality which has forced the people who make a society to abrogate their role towards each other and instead rely on the state to treat them like sheep and provide the pastures and pens to keep society in order.

Indeed to revise the parting shot at the end of Cool Hand Luke (or the opening of Guns n Roses‘ Civil War for younger readers) “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate…which is the way they wants it, well they gets it.”

And yes I don’t like it anymore then you.

To take a case in point try sitting on the 22 bus to Piccadilly Circus, a fact you will be reminded of every 30 seconds by a Chinese water torture-esque announcement in a faux jovial voice. The reason behind the announcement must be for people who are unaware of the route, even blind, or tourists, and I would guess the announcement is obnoxiously loud for those hard of hearing. A noble sentiment indeed but hugely frustrating if your morning commute involves having your destination bellowed at you 120 times just after you have woken up.

However the announcement also suggests something else. It suggests that for those who are lost, blind or a stranger, the state will provide you with answers to your needs not your fellow passengers or the driver who could easily help but are not trusted to do so.

It is this arbitrary nature of the state, stepping in and preventing discourse between strangers that can only spread alienation rather than a sense of community.

Every time the government puts up CCTV cameras for your protection, every time the state tells you what you should eat or where you can smoke or what you can watch, it is taking the role of the community on its shoulders and it is this cause which can only lead to more fragmentation, segregation and alienation.