Marc My Words 17 Sept 2004

When equal treatment is a betrayal of responsibility and consequence.

There can never be an outcome of 'equality' when it is based on a single guiding principle and dispensed to both the deserving and the contemptible in equal measure. At some point we do have to decide one way or the other whose rights should take precedence when it is clear that the rights of one can only be upheld at the cost of another.

Criminals who are sentenced to rent free accommodation, three square meals a day (nutritionally monitored no less!), access to onsite medical treatment, taxpayer funded education, and the occasional option of employment to relieve the boredom, are better off than the disabled, our elderly and our students. It is bizarre that the concept of discrimination adopted by the PC fundamentalists has reached the point where there are no exemptions to achieving equal treatment and even more astonishingly we discriminate positively in favour of criminals!

When we allow our senior citizens to subsist at the lower end of their rightful superannuation entitlements; marginalise them from decent healthcare; underfund restcare facilities and stall on any respite from elder abuse - what we are saying is, they don't matter.

When we deny subsidised medication, access to legal remedies and quality of life assistance to those imprisoned by their disabilities - what we are saying is, they don't matter.

When we allow tertiary students to impoverish themselves to such an extent that their full economic participation is retarded; when students feel they need to flee the country that is supposed to nurture them; and when to be unemployed is a taxpayer funded alternative - what we are saying is, they don't matter.

But when we allow someone who cares not one jot about the rights of others; shows utter contempt for our laws and is dismissive of everyone else's safety and security; and who is provided with all that we have denied our elders, our disabled and our students - what we are really saying to them is - you matter more.

And if the free board and accommodation, codes of practice, medical, education and other taxpayer funded entitlements aren't enough, you can then be provided with a small but costly army of lawyers, J.Ps and do-gooders, who will at your beck and call to sue! And all because of the free exercise of choice to become a criminal rather than a contributing member of society!

What does this say to the elderly, the disabled and our students? Most would love the chance to be as well treated and recompensed as the criminal. Problem is.they have a conscience and a respect for others. It's high time that we rewarded the good rather than the bad; the law-abiding rather than the criminal. It seems to me that the happiness of criminals should never be allowed to be purchased by the misery of victims.or their wallets.

There is no real discernment of equality where there is equal or better treatment of unequals; that is no less than a betrayal of responsibility and consequence.

ENDS

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