The North Wind Vs The Sun...

So the North Wind and the Sun have a bet. They spy a man beneath them and, in an attempt to ascertain which of them is the most powerful, resolve to make the man remove his cloak by any means available to them. The North Wind tries to blow the man’s cloak from his shoulders, but the harder he blows, the tighter the man pulls the cape around him. So the Sun steps in and blasts him with his rays. The man soon removes his cloak. The fable exists to teach us that persuasion is better than force. But does it have relevance today in an increasingly post-Jungian society? During the sixties the level of individual discontent had reached critical mass – a libertine uprising was inevitable. Thus began a true social revolution which, although less obvious, is still in motion today.

The 1960s championed peace over violence; love over war, and that ethos was liberally applied to society. What was acceptable behaviour and, more crucially, what was not, was dragged, kicking and screaming, under the microscope.

Capital punishment ended with the hanging of Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans in 1964, and 1999 saw the total prohibition of corporal punishment in schools across England. Although not illegal, domestic corporal punishment has come under scrutiny in recent years and there have even been cases of parents being arrested for smacking their own children. THE HARE asks: have we gone too far?

The cessation of corporal punishment in schools has frequently been linked to a decline in student behaviour, though it is probably just one of several contributing factors, such as a slide in parenting standards, the absence of naivety in youth and the rights of youngsters to speak their mind unreservedly. Aesop’s fable, The North Wind and the Sun’, supports the avoidance of using force to reach a desired conclusion. This is preferable – I doubt anyone would disagree. But occasionally force is necessary. Either because the situation cannot be reasoned out, or the persecuted party does not respond to gentle guidance. I’m not suggesting we start thumping people whenever something goes arse-over-tit, but the right for people of authority to exercise force (in whatever guise is appropriate) might go a little way towards reducing the sickening level of pitifulness to which our country has slumped.

So the Sun won the bet. Great. But if the sun’s rays become too strong they will hurt the man’s eyes and force him to close them. And then he won’t be able to see where he is going. Without a firm hand to point the way, we will inevitably lose ourselves in rising liberalisation. This fledgling generation is over-mothered, mollycoddled and expectant, wrapped in cotton wool and none the better for it.

Does violence breed violence? I don’t know. I think it more likely the suppression of nature breeds frustration which leads to violence. The fortunate children of the west are sheltered from adversity and perhaps it is time to realise that the bumps and scrapes our parents’ parents picked up in childhood did not leave scars, but marks of character. We don’t need a reversion to corporal or capital punishment, but the people in charge should acknowledge that some people are just dicks and deserve a royal spanking when they make the rest of us suffer. Would that be such a bad world to live in?


Pick up THE HARE newspaper at Night and Day, Bar Centro, Font or Tiger Lounge in Manchester town centre, or the Oakwood in Glossop.

E-mail theharenewspaper@hotmail.co.uk with questions, comments or contributory pieces.