The descent into madness

As a self confessed "paedo whore" nursery worker is jailed for just seven years after sexually abusing children in her care for pleasure, a father who defended his family and home from violent armed attack is sentenced to prison while his attacker is let free and the Ministry of Defence decides to cut Britain's air defence so as to purchase 22 new helicopters which may - just may - be ready in time to help pull our troops out of Afghanistan rather than do any good while they are still fighting there our leader is in Copenhagen pledging to give billions of pounds of British taxpayers money to foreign countries to "solve" a non-existent problem based on an unsubstantiated premise that the world is going to fry as a result of what man does.

Yes - the lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

The art world has no shame

Once again, a policy of the USA has brought uproar to the world. There is widespread news coverage of the demonstrations, protests and condemnations against the US by people upset by its actions and the way their own governments appear to capitulate to US demands.

Only this time it is the art world -and the policy in question involves bringing a predatory paedophile to justice. When he was well into his forties, the film director Roman Polanski admitted having sex with a 13 year old child while in the USA - and then went on the run to escape justice. Now, after travelling to Switzerland to receive an award, the dirty old git has been arrested and faces extradition to the US.

Good!

But the art world is in uproar. How dare the Swiss arrest one of their great and good? How dare they give in to the demands of the US bullies? People appear on TV to denounce the US and the Swiss for their actions in pursuing a celebrated director.

Let's put this into perspective. If Roman Polanski were just a normal every day 76 year old paedophile nobody would give a damn. They'd all be glad that this disgusting creature was finally facing justice for his despicable acts - but because he is something in the art world this somehow makes statutory rape OK?

To be honest, the reaction from the art world doesn't surprise me. Art long ago gave up trying to reflect the culture that created it and started trying to shape the culture it existed in. Art became all about "pushing the boundaries" and being "challenging" - codewords for obscene and ugly. In a world where a pile of shit can be considered worthy art it is not a surprise that a predatory paedophile is so revered.

But to me, the reaction to the arrest of Polanksi is the ultimate shaming of the world of art. At least it would be if the art world had any shame.

Guilty

It's been two weeks since the incident that led to this post occurred. During those two weeks I have struggled to reconcile my feelings towards what happened and it has been difficult - God alone knows how hard it must be for the victim.

I have in turn fluctuated from simmering anger to all out rage coupled with frustration and feelings of helplessness. Some people seem to think that, as a Christian, I should forgive - but it is not my right to forgive those who perpetrated this hateful crime. That is between them, their God and their victim - I have no role to play in that process.

What has become apparent over the last few days is that my overwhelming emotion is guilt and shame.

Why guilt? After all, I didn't take part in this heinous act. No - but it is my generation that has allowed this country and our society to degenerate to such an extent that this sort of thing can happen in broad daylight and in front of witnesses - and is now so commonplace that it doesn't even warrant a mention in the local newspaper, although, as I hinted at before, there are other reasons why it is being kept quiet.

My generation is the current generation of power and we are going to have an awful lot to answer for when the history of our time is finally written. That we have taken an ordered, peaceful and moral society developed over hundreds of years and turned it into a hedonistic cesspool of vice, degeneracy and violence in the space of a generation is scarcely believable.

We've all heard stories of crimes and moral bankruptcy that have sickened and disgusted us - whether it be Baby P or greedy bankers - but people of my generation can shut ourselves away in our ivory towers and pretend that the world out there is somehow better than the one we inherited. It isn't.

My generation are not the ones who are suffering most from what we have wrought. The victims tend to be young and vulnerable or old and vulnerable. Occasionally, someone from my generation falls victim too - beaten to death by a feral gang of youths, but mostly it is the young and the old who have most to fear.

It is my generation that have allowed this situation to arise.

We are guilty. We should be ashamed.