CELEBRATE THE ORDINARY

It might also be said to be the professionalisation of normal.

When I was applying for a building permit in 2013 I was advised after some considerably problems with Golden Plains Council that there was no way a mere mortal could ever succeed in getting everything approved without professional intervention and that intervention cost money. D.I.Y? Preposterous.
What am I rabbiting on about this month? You may recall in the Christmas Edition of the Linton Astonisher the story of Robert Ingersoll, the free thinker.

“Each man is responsible in making a living for himself and his kin using all his knowledge and skills”

Oh! How true that may have once been. Once upon a time there used to be ‘General Practitioners’ and not just in the medical profession. They were called general as they covered a wide area of expertise and could advise you what you needed to have, or do, or go through to achieve a certain end. Most adults did their own legwork, filled out their own forms to lodge and even did their own tax returns. It was called personal responsibility and it was a learning curve to take you into an independent future.

Somehow, someone, somewhere made the decision that as clerical workers would begin to decline with the advent of computers so new jobs had to be created to fill the void and to maintain low unemployment. In some ways this meant that it would be an advantage for specialists to emerge, high priests of pen and ink.

The nomenclature of government changed to collateral and leverage, potential university students could no longer understand their own educational applications ending up in a situation where teachers colleges are turning our educationalists without full literacy and numeracy skills.

Where will this drive to have someone else do it for you ever end?