Legality, Democracy, Freedom and Charity can be Different Things to Different People

The Tweet below makes the point very well within the discipline of Twitter's 140 character rule.

Terms and ideas such as legality, charity, democracy, freedom, etc, are all in of themselves a force for good. Yet when we begin to break them down and apply contemporary definitions they take on a new, and sometimes opposite, meaning.

Legality. Well, the Tweet above has succinctly exposed that the concept of legality can apply conveniently to anything the powers-that-be so desire.

Democracy. Another grand ideal. Yet when held up to the light of deeper scrutiny, like for instance how political parties are in the thrall of the corporations, the edifice of democracy begins to crumble.

Freedom. Thatcher packaged this one up and sold it as choice. The choice to own your council home. Though more than one third of those 'right-to-buy' homes are today part of property portfolios of private landlords. The choice to buy shares in state owned utilities such as gas and telecommunications, things that were yours anyway.

Charity. This is the practice of giving something voluntarily. Indeed the very act of charity is its own reward. That however is not what charity has become. Today charity is as much about gaining social status. Corporations appearing on primetime TV brandishing cheques the size of billboards emblazoned with corporate branding. This is actually the antithesis of a charitable act as it is performed in order to profit from personal publicity.