The Value of Nothing!

Hello,
Having spent the best part of today trying to talk in a soothing manner to an extremely distressed and disturbed chap who is being driven mad by 'these waves' and believes that his appliances are telling him to kill people, I have gone from being quite cheery to despairing for humanity.

Not being at all qualified to deal with this sort of thing I confess I felt somewhat out of my depth. One wonders what was going on in his mind, though not have as much as I wonder what was going on the mind of the hero at the Jobcentre who sent this emaciated, unwashed and terrified soul over to me for advice on getting back into employment.

Actually I don't wonder what the walking empathy bypass at the Jobcentre was thinking at all. I should imagine it was their targets interspersed with dreams of spitting in the gruel in a workhouse. Funnily enough I have targets and the like to work to but felt rather than piss about telling the chap what 'in work benefits' he might be entitled to before rustling up a c.v I'd refer him to his GP by getting on the phone and using the skill of being reasonably articulate to arrange an urgent same day appointment.

No one dislikes people more than I do but even I can see that it's a terrible thing for a human being to be in such a state of distress and that it would be a worse thing if their television actually convinced them to do someone in. Even the tit at the Jobcentre. There is of course one's self image to think of. I'm sure both I and my chum at the DWP like to think we're not the sort of people who would take advantage of a mentally ill person for the sake of meeting some arbitrary target dreamt up by some overpaid nit who knows about as much about real life as I do about expenses fiddling.

Whilst I don't want to go sobbing all over the settee at other folks problems I think we might all rub along a bit better if certain folk considered the possibility from time to time that other peoples needs should perhaps come before their own. I do realise that whilst this chap is out of work he's costing us all money but I personally find the idea of a seriously ill person being harassed into employment for the sake of saving a few bob morally repugnant. Money is important and it's very useful at the shops but a person's worth cannot be determined solely by their economic worth. Good Heavens if people believed that they'd cheer when they hear about the deaths of those deemed economically worthless and no one has been that evil since we saw off Hitler.

Oh whoops a daisy! Would you believe it -the readers of the Daily Mail are in high spirits because an illegal immigrant has died from suffocation in the back of a lorry? Obviously pussy lefties and other assorted lunatics think it's awful that someone died in this way. Some freaks might even feel a bit of sympathy for someone who's circumstances were so grim that they were prepared to risk their life in the hope of bettering their lot. In fact one might even shud an awful shudder imagining the slow death one of their fellow human beings has had.

Still not all the Mail readers are breaking out the champagne. Whilst Martyn Robinson of Northampton believes this mans death has saved us a 'house, car and free money' and Keith Jones of Porthcawl feels it is 'good news. One less to worry about', Crackers of Yorkshire reminds us that it's only 'one down, millions to go'. Similarly downbeat is Eduoard Dunnachie of Carnwath who is upset that this country may be 'liable for disposing of his corpse'.

It may surprise you to learn that these were the comments that made it past the moderators. The mind boggles at what they felt was unfit to publish. Let's hope none of the chaps family are online Mail readers

One can't even excuse these comments as being from people who feel strongly about immigration and are angry at the governments record on border control. Someone who felt like that would I imagine be calling for tighter controls in the hope that these would deter people from trying their luck. They may also demand much stiffer penalties for people convicted of people smuggling. And all of those would be fairly sensible and defensible positions.

They don't even work as bad taste jokes or black humour. Can any passing boffin who may have arrived her to sneer at me advise me what the origins of this madness are? When did people start weighing the worth of their fellow humans solely in cash? If I find out these are the same folk who bang on about there being no sense of community anymore heads will roll.

Excuse me I'm off to live in a cabin in the woods with only foxes and wood pigeons for company before you monsters all deem me 'nil economic value' and sell me for glue. It's a terrifying day when I of all people am forced to call on people to try and be a bit nicer. At the very least people could try sugaring the pill with a few jokes.

Cheerio