Welcome to post-Christmas
Friday, December 26, 2008
How did I survive without nanny's advice? | Hugo Rifkind - Times Online.
Hugo Rifkind is on amusing form. But why do our satirists like "Nanny" so much as a metaphor for an overbearing ruler? Most of us didn't have a nanny or know anyone who did. And doesn't "nanny" summon images of being expensively and lovingly nurtured with professional care? Would not most of us like to have grown up in a family rich enough to have professional childcare, with glamorous parents who never smelled of baby sick? Not that I am suggesting it's a carefully-contrived way subliminally to reconcile us to infantilisation, but "Nanny State" just doesn't cut it as a way of dramatising our danger to the masses.
Any better metaphors chaps?
h/t The Englishman (does he never sleep?)
The nanny State certainly is winning. Now more than ever, people want to be protected, because they are scared, and they are very, very, risk-averse. And they certainly want their children protected. They are too busy to do itthemselves. Or they might have a momentary lapse. And they cannot be everywhere. So the state must do it. After all, you can trust the state.
For a transatlantic tale of nanny-statism, see http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=6735&cpg=1
The truly depressing line was the last one: "Congressman Paul was the only member of the House to oppose the legislation referenced by this article."
Posted by: John | Friday, December 26, 2008 at 02:34 PM
Don't get upset about our loss of liberty -
Nanny says you've nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything wrong...
And she'll decide just what's right and wrong, so it needn't concern us.
Posted by: Polaris | Friday, December 26, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Nasty State
Posted by: Shades | Friday, December 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM