Thursday, May 21, 2009

Shame - less

Is it just me or has anyone else been struck by what appears to be the growing trend of a lack of shame in society today. I never seize to be amazed by what people open their mouths to admit and not to the hearing of their friends only or their secret diaries, but on national TV no less!

I watched a programme the other day about teenage mums and I was dumbstruck as one of them looked straight into the camera and informed the UK that she had sneaked out of the house, without her parent’s permission, to have sex with a boy she barely knew. Yes, she confirmed, that was all she wanted. Sex. And she is smiling as she tells her viewers this. A few weeks later she discovered she was pregnant. When questioned as to the whereabouts of the ‘baby father’ (apparently that’s what they are known as ‘baby father’ or ‘baby mother’) she declared that she didn’t want anything to do with him. Full stop. She was 15years old. No shame.

I think the majority of people – and I am not only speaking about teenagers now – have lost all sense of shame and embarrassment. People freely admit that they have shoplifted, taken drugs, had 67 partners, defrauded people, ‘played the system’, claimed expenses for stuff bordering on the ridiculous (MP’s anyone?) and the list goes on… and it’s almost like this stuff is celebrated – you only have to read a few of the tabloids to see my point. In my day (and I don’t think I am THAT old) some of the things people come out with now would have had me diving under the covers. I mean even if we did those things you certainly didn’t announce it to all and sundry. Besides the mere spectre of my dad looming over me was enough to nip any misdemeanour I was thinking of committing in the bud.

Am I being old fashioned?