Is it just a British thing or is authority a dirty word everywhere? I mean, a politician swears at the cops for enforcing some no-go rules in Downing Street (did he say plebs or plods?); and now a football referee is accused of verbal retaliation after an ill-tempered match in which both sides harrassed him constantly over his decisions. More generally, school teachers are verbally abused every day but would be sacked for answering in kind. Is this the price every ‘authority’ figure pays for their job? Is respect only to be accorded to self-selected groups of misfits defined by celebrity, wealth, social disfunction, ethnic origin, sexual proclivity and religious bent?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Laughing stocks Janus
That’s how we here consider the British society presented to us on our TV screens and in our press.
Your final sentence sums it up nicely 😉
Well said Janus. Me thinks Chelsea feel hard done, by seeing as the FA investigation exposed John Terry’s evidence as “Improbable, implausible and contrived.” The Chelsea secretary was also implicated as to how the evidence was “evolved.” I think it does Chelsea no credit whatsoever to bring this latest spat into the public domain; It is immature, reckless and smacks of sour grapes. I hope Chelsea’s season implodes!And I hope the referee’s account gives a full and justifiable account of his use of language. I find Chelsea’s stance quite sickening.
It’s not much comfort to know that the number of attacks on teachers in France has been particularly high since the start of this academic year, some by pupils, some by parents. Policemen have also been targeted. In Cannes one young policeman was killed by a speeding car, driven by a drunken driver, which deliberately targeted him. The same thing happened in Peille, in the hills behind Nice. The driver of the stolen car had just come out of prison, decided he didn’t want to go back there, and drove straight at the police barrier. The death of the policeman has now ensured the criminal will spend the rest of his life in prison. Another incident in Nice had three drunken louts drive straight into a police car, pushing it on to the pavement and killing a working girl who was “doing the pavement” as the French say. Shortage of brain and surplus of alcohol.
There’s a lot of it about.
And…………..respect isn’t what it used to be.
At the risk of winding up TR, Premiership Rugby has the answer. All conversations between match officials are recorded and archived. This has led to a reduction of talkback by the players, who were always better than footballers anyway at respecting the ref’s decisions, and will also record any out of place comments by match officials and any players near them!
FEEG, I must admit I always enjoy hearing the referee’s comments in a rugby match. A beautiful Welsh voice telling a player “You won’t do that again, boyo!” is great.
I do think in general that authority figures have bought themselves into disrepute by their own behaviour.
So many these days are corrupt, immoral and unethical in their dealings with the general public, they can hardly expect respect, it has to be earned. It is not earned by those that obviously have no self respect.
I lay the blame for most of it at the disintegration of the Judaeo Christian ethic and the misplaced non judgementalism of the PC liberal brigade. I have to say it is far worse in the UK than the USA, at least at the moment!
A small example. Once when the boy was in hospital about 5 years ago there was this junior training doctor, a young girl, who appeared two days running in the same grubby casual clothes in a grubby white jacket with greasy face and hair. Unfortunately for her the second day she had the temerity to sit on the boy’s bed.
I pounced, told her to get up immediately that she looked filthy, needed a shower and clean clothes and how dare she approach cancer patients with low immunity carrying so many germs and ought to be struck off before she started. I did suggest an alternative career as a streetwalker to which she appeared more suited. All delivered in a voice of icy contempt. She fled in tears, she was meant to!
When I discussed this with the boy’s oncologist he laughed his head off and told me he had wanted to say something for ages.
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
“Not allowed to anymore, mustn’t make personal comments”
So patients could be put at risk to assuage the nature of slaggy brats! Unbloodybelievable!!!
Note, she looked quite different thereafter, clean tidy and washed and very much more polite and correct in her approach. I suggest she learnt a lesson for life there, it was obvious no-one had ever read her her fortune before. Frankly the whole UK needs telling it’s fortune and being bought up to scratch, the whole place is really rather mucky in every way these days and no one seems willing to DO anything about it.
I suspect, Christina, that in a private hospital, this young medic would have been told off long before. At one time in my teaching career, there was a move to permit female teachers in the (private) school to wear trousers to work. All male teachers wore suits. One senior teacher who should have known better turned up for work and a parents’ meeting wearing a rather shabby jersey and slacks. One of the parents at that meeting was also a school governor and complained to the head. As a result, the offending teacher was hauled over the coals by the head, also resulting in tears, and female staff were no longer allowed to wear trousers.
CO, “the whole UK needs telling it’s fortune”. Apostrophic, I call it. 🙂
I suspect that ‘authority’ is a dirty word almost everywhere where the general population has been educated.
worked pretty well before before education taught the ‘poor man’ to question why he should remain at the gate and before the advent of media highlighted the ‘corrupt, immoral and unethical ‘ standards of those in castles who thought they had the right to rule simply by virtue of who they were.
The present situation might have been resolved had those with authority learned that they needed to earn the respect of those they governed, and the governed understood that without some over-all authority anarchy will prevail.
Last week, I sat on a plane for 13 hours from the UK to Singapore – two small children screeched, screamed and shouted. When I asked the steward to tell the family to do something he told me that he “didn’t want to offend the parents”. Christina is absolutely right – the fear of ‘offending’ the individual is often at the cost of offending the majority – who have been silenced by the ‘PC liberal brigade.’.
* All Things Bright and Beautiful
Janus, it is reported that the offending word, (said by the referee to a black Chelsea player) was “monkey.” I would guess Christina would think that quite a pleasant word to use. I have used “monkey” to address my son when he is being cheeky, hence “cheeky monkey.” The term has been used many years throughout my lifetime to address cheeky children “you little monkey.” whatever the colour of the child. It is said affectionately and in good fun. The response from Chelsea and the player in particular says more about their squalid, chip-on-shoulders attitude and sour grapes on account of their losing the match in which two of their players got sent off by the ref.
Christina I am heartened by your account of giving that scruffy bird your tongue. Glad to hear it was taken to heart. As I get older I complain more and more, verbally and face to face.
The way things are at the moment, I cannot see that I would ever want to work in any position within a major corporation or for the government, that would require me to work with the public.This tendency of insisting on a person’s right to be offended will end in tears. We are all capable of feeling the heat of the moment and saying things with more haste than consideration. Nothing positive is achieved by overreaction. Be offended if you want to be, but don’t go seeking help from others to fight your battles, which is what half the players in the Premiership and the Police Force seem to be doing.
When I was a young chap, about 23 or so, I was working for a firm of stockbrokers in the City. One day I took a call from the private client of a senior colleague of mine, my manager and something of a weasel, who had just stepped out of the office. Though I had never spoken to the client before, I knew his name and abrasive reputation and had heard the obsequious and fearful tone with which my colleague dealt with him. He was a wealthy fellow and an important businessman who clearly generated considerable commission. Immediately upon speaking to the client, he became rude and abusive towards me as I endeavoured to help him. Eventually I got fed up with his attitude and told him that he should speak to me with more courtesy and say please, rather than simply issue orders. I was not his servant. He spluttered and demanded to know who I was and how dare I talk to him like that. I repeated my name and again insisted that he speak to me politely and that if he did not say please I would hang up. He went apoplectic and so I hung up. The phrase, ‘say please’ uttered to somebody much older and more senior to you, tends to have that effect.
5 minutes later, the intercom lit up and my manager, who had by this time returned was summoned by the senior partner into his office. Two minutes later it lit up again and this time I was called in. Clearly both gentlemen had had an earful from the client. I was asked to explain my behaviour. I told them what happened. I was then told to call the client and apologise. I refused and said I would not speak to him until he apologised to me. In my view, there was no excuse for bad manners, even from important clients. My manager began whining hysterically, while, to his credit, the senior partner could not resist a smile. Though I did not get the apology, I certainly did not feel that my dignity had been irreparably impinged. Here was just an ill-mannered oik who needed to learn a lesson. And though I was not fired, I have to say the incident did not do my relationship with my manager any good and eventually my employment there came to an end. It was worth it though. I cannot stand cowards, sycophants and ill-mannered arrogant twats. (present company excepted!).
In Andrew Mitchell’s case, he was wrong to have used the language he is alleged to have done, (though I strongly suspect that the policeman was out of order and provoked the outburst) but having done so, the cop should have simply taken it on the chin. If he had felt so inclined he could have subsequently written to Mitchell and asked for an apology. If Mitchell, with hindsight, felt that he was wrong, he should have given it sincerely. It should have been accepted and that should have been that. On the other hand, if Mitchell honestly believed that his behaviour was justified, he should not have resigned under any circumstances and should rather have accepted dismissal. Better to lose your job than your integrity. In the end he showed himself to be an individual possessing very few admirable characteristics.