The persecution of single mothers as a source of the nations ills still has consequences.
Scapegoating the disabled as scroungers is no different from what the *** were doing in Germany before the war. We normally associate this with Jewish persecution, but the targets included gypsies, people with mental health problems, many disabilitiles,homosexuals and leading churchmen.
What is being done at the momnent is playing on public anxiety about the recession and all the cuts, by identifying in the public mind the notion that there are people apparently getting benefits rather than working through unjustifiable claims they are disabled.
There may be people claiming benefits on the grounds of disability who are also working, and therefore fraudulently claiming benefits. There may also be people with large families claiming dishonestly that all their members are disabled. Equally there are people with large families who do have lots of children with disabilities.
The majority of people claiming benefits because their disability prevents them working cost nothing like as much as all those companies dodging tax.
This government is playing on public anxiety about financial vulnerability by targeting vulnerable groups, to distract people's attention from lots of other untenable activities, like huge pay rises and bonus payments to fat cats, and massive tax dodges that they wont act on.
27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day. It is primarily about the systemmatic racial cleansing of the Jews before and during the last World War. But it also asks us to think about recent and present day atrocities around the world.
And - while much less serious issues - it asks us to think about other kinds of scapegoating. While just taking away benefits from disabled people might seem a small matter, it invokes the same mentality.
The Government is playing on public anxiety to justify persecuting a vulnerable minority.
Once you start allowing this sort of thing to happen, you have to ask yourself the question: "Who's next?"
The persecution of single mothers as a source of the nations ills still has consequences.
Scapegoating the disabled as scroungers is no different from what the *** were doing in Germany before the war. We normally associate this with Jewish persecution, but the targets included gypsies, people with mental health problems, many disabilitiles,homosexuals and leading churchmen.
What is being done at the momnent is playing on public anxiety about the recession and all the cuts, by identifying in the public mind the notion that there are people apparently getting benefits rather than working through unjustifiable claims they are disabled.
There may be people claiming benefits on the grounds of disability who are also working, and therefore fraudulently claiming benefits. There may also be people with large families claiming dishonestly that all their members are disabled. Equally there are people with large families who do have lots of children with disabilities.
The majority of people claiming benefits because their disability prevents them working cost nothing like as much as all those companies dodging tax.
This government is playing on public anxiety about financial vulnerability by targeting vulnerable groups, to distract people's attention from lots of other untenable activities, like huge pay rises and bonus payments to fat cats, and massive tax dodges that they wont act on.
27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day. It is primarily about the systemmatic racial cleansing of the Jews before and during the last World War. But it also asks us to think about recent and present day atrocities around the world.
And - while much less serious issues - it asks us to think about other kinds of scapegoating. While just taking away benefits from disabled people might seem a small matter, it invokes the same mentality.
The Government is playing on public anxiety to justify persecuting a vulnerable minority.
Once you start allowing this sort of thing to happen, you have to ask yourself the question: "Who's next?"
