“David Cameron has launched an attack on Britain’s culture of ‘moral neutrality,’ saying the obese, the idle and the poor have no one to blame but themselves.
“He said it is time people made judgments about what is ‘bad, good, right and wrong.’
“The Conservative leader acknowledged that he risked attracting attention to his own party’s behaviour but he said society had become ‘too sensitive’ about hurting people’s feelings.
“Mr Cameron admitted that the issue had been ‘troubling’ him for some time, but claimed it is time to ‘say what needs to be said.’
“In a speech in the heart of a deprived [???] area of Glasgow he said: ‘We as a society have been far too sensitive. In order to avoid injury to people’s feelings, in order to avoid appearing judgemental, we have failed to say what needs to be said. We have seen a decades-long erosion of responsibility, of social virtue, of self-discipline, respect for others, deferring gratification instead of instant gratification.
“‘Instead we prefer moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgments about what is good and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour. Bad. Good. Right. Wrong. These are words that our political system and our public sector scarcely dare use any more.'”
(…)
“We talk about people being ‘at risk of obesity’ instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise. We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it’s as if these things – obesity, alcohol abuse, drug addiction – are purely external events like a plague or bad weather.
“Of course, circumstances – where you are born, your neighbourhood, your school, and the choices your parents make – have a huge impact. But social problems are often the consequence of the choices that people make.”
He added: “There is a danger of becoming quite literally a de-moralised society, where nobody will tell the truth anymore about what is good and bad, right and wrong. That is why children are growing up without boundaries, thinking they can do as they please, and why no adult will intervene to stop them – including, often, their parents. If we are going to get any where near solving some of these problems, that has to stop.”
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