I have certainly enjoyed working on the WoWpetition facebook page.
I have learned about myself that I am far more tolerant and patient than I had in the past thought myself to be.
I have learned so much about social security, disability issues, welfare reforms, and support groups, and so on; more really than I ever wanted to know. But needs must in the current situation under this ConDem government.
However, at the same time I have been saddened to be an on-looker to internecine squabbling between disabled folk who really ought to be working together for the common-good.
Trolling has also been an eye-opener. There are obviously some nasty individuals out there who take some kind of twisted pleasure out of attacking disabled folk.
I am a firm believer in karma, in that if one lives by the sword one dies by the sword. Still, I should rather such offenders were blessed with discovering the errors of their ways and making attempts at atonement for their own amour-propre.
Still worse miscreants have to be the neo-liberal politicos and their acolytes in the main-stream media (MSM). They deliberately lie, misrepresent, fail to represent or cover. I am shocked at the bias at the BBC. I had previously always considered it a bastion of impartiality. I now realise I was misguided. Thankfully we have #Channel4News, RT & Al-Jazeera, and, to a lesser extent, ITN. Obviously there has been bias on this page towards the Indy, Guardian and Mirror - but out of necessity. Most national newspapers at some point though have had a plug or two.
Of course the worst malefactors are the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and their off-shoot fiefdom, the Office for Disability Issues (ODI). Caitiff, insincere, hypocritical, mendacious... downright evil to be honest! The unquestioning wraiths carrying out the edicts of their respective high commands deserve their own circle of hell, methinks. Today I heard of a case of a person being sanctioned for applying for too many jobs! Madness. It’s Kafkaesque incarnate.
The folk of these fair isles have compassion - for furry creatures and those that might be trapped in fishing nets. Very laudable to be sure. But the nation has demonstrated its misanthropism and insecure tribalism: the sick; the dying; the disabled; the elderly; the poor; children; the starving; the homeless; the unemployed; the underemployed - all are looked down upon as well as being metaphorically and in some cases literally spat upon. Shameful and shaming! My view of my own people has forever been altered, and not for the better.
[Image description: the writer in wheelchair sporting WoWpetition T-shirt, leaflets, placard & paraphanalia]
I am in a fortunate position to have some essential social care provided by my local authority. Despite an unsupportive family, I have a brilliant network of friends and neighbours. Social media itself has given me access to a whole new world of possibilities. I can do this lying on my back in bed, in the dark, at times that suit me and fit around my various conditions, illnesses and issues.
I am so grateful to have had the chance to inform, provoke, stimulate, support, answer, share, joke and so on with so many of you lovely folk.
I do hope that some of you will decide to follow me on twitter, @criquaer, or continue to occasionally take a peek at my blog, http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.co.uk/ .
You also have the option to follow the offical twitterfeeds, @wowpetition and @wowpetitionchat; view the website www.wowpetition.com; or, get involved with chat/discussion at www.wowpetitionforum.com .
Tonight I leave the page with 1,352 page-likers, that’s 19 new folk this week - actually it’s more as, unusually, we had a few unlikers, circa 4.
The #WoWpetition signature tally stands at 54,164; meaning we need 45,836 to reach our 100K target by 12th December. Anything you WoWriers can do to attract signatories, is appreciated. Keep sharing fellow WoWers! The campaign continues…
Sincerely
Colin-Roy Hunter aka criquaer
%)
No comments:
Post a Comment