Oppression Still Exists in 2018

One thing that I've been talking a lot about since October of 2017 is the unfairness of the British Government's Universal Credit system. However, I never thought that I would be able to cross it over into the Catholic realm because I wasn't able to see it as the oppression that it is until very recently.

The more I think back over the past 10 years or so, the more I see about how whole areas of our country were divided and stigmatized, which paved the way very nicely for the huge reforms of the welfare system that were to come. It all started by making out that those on state benefits were living the high life with all the modern luxuries - yet, it didn't show exactly how they were able to afford such nice things while they were on a low income. Had they taken the time to look into that, they would have seen the truth of the situation in all it's glory. A lot of those large screen TV's were bought on a pay weekly scheme that saw the purchaser paying double the value of the item in order to be able to say that they owned it.

From that access point, it was pretty easy to divide the working classes away from the poorest classes who are the disabled and unemployed by picking out a few prime examples from the select small group who seemed to be doing better than everyone else on welfare because of their large family and blast stories about them on the front page of every newspaper, knowing well that the general public wouldn't have any way or inclination to fact check the truth of these stories for themselves.

By the time phase two was complete, there were only the disabled left to go at... and these were always going to be one of the easiest groups to separate from the favor of the working classes because of the minority that fraudulently claim to have disabilities when they either don't or aren't affected as badly as they claim to be... in fact, I'm surprised that this wasn't the first group of people to be targeted by the hate campaign.

Ever since Universal Credit came into effect, it's become a case of presuming that everyone is trying to scam the system until they are able to gather enough information to prove that this is not the case at all. Usually, this information has to come in the form of doctor's letters and letters from consultants, which are not written for free and typically see the disabled person having to pay to obtain a copy to show to their work coach because the Department for Work and Pensions can't demand access to patient records because of the uproar that it would cause among the general population if they were to find out that Patient Confidentiality is now a thing of the past.

Instead, they are forcing sick and disabled people to sit opposite a stranger in a public room and recount over and over again the stories behind their recent doctor's appointments so that they can cherry pick whatever details they feel are important enough to pass on up the chain of command. At the same time, they find no problem in disregarding the advice of a qualified medical professional who has obtained the degrees required to have a medical opinion on if their patient is fit and able to work or not, so they force the sick and disabled to place themselves in situations that they don't feel confident in their abilities to do by forcing them into work or voluntary roles that could potentially endanger their safety or the safety of those who they have to work with.

For now, there is no outcry about this because it is only the sick and disabled who are having to live with the effects of it. However, it's not going to stop here. As they reach the bottom of the pool of sick and disabled to persecute, guess where they'll be looking next? That's right, they will turn to the lowest earners who are in receipt of working tax credits and they will be made to find more hours of work. Of course, many of the sick and disabled will be caught up in this again because of the fact that they may not have worked for many years and have had no training - so they'll still be at the bottom of the totem pole of employment.

I can't help but wonder how long it's going to take before someone else sees what I see and starts to speak out for these people - for us? We already have people out here dying - dying because they can't live with another moment of oppression, dying because Universal Credit made them homeless and it's cold on the streets tonight, dying because they have no home and you need an address and access to the Internet to claim Universal Credit.

If we don't speak out for God's people and reach out to the oppressed in this, their hour of need, then who else will hear their cries?

Of course, you can bury your head in the sand and you don't have to take my word for exactly how bad things are getting for people who are living with the oppression that we are facing right now - but I am not the only one who is trying to speak out with the truth as things stand today.

This one is a longer view, but it highlights the gravity of some of the issues faced in a much better way than I can describe.