Train to Auschwitz...

I'll try to keep this simple after all, these are complicated enough times as it is and I do tend to see things as black and white to cries of oversimplification. So I'll start with a question which many won't like as we are not allowed to mention the war (as Basil Fawlty would have instructed us).

Here's my question; Were the drivers of the trains taking people to Auschwitz complicit in those terrible deaths or were they simply doing their job despite the fact that they could see and knew exactly what they were doing.

Were they part of it, or were they just doing as they were told? Is it a defence to say that if they didn't do it then somebody else would have done? Was it made okay because they weren't the only ones doing it - what about the engineer who greased the wheels of the train, the company delivering the coal to make the train run, the guard who blew the whistle so that the train could set off? Was it them too?

Okay, I'll tell you why I'm asking you to think about this. We are in a shitty mess, hundreds are dying each day and that is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Despite the government advice people are still flouting the instructions and going out, visiting friends, holding parties, and generally doing as they please. Well, why not? Everyone is doing it and I need my exercise so running is more important than other people's lives. Well, these are the people spreading the virus, each time they get too close to another person they spread the virus. Does this make their irresponsible behaviour okay? Isn't everybody (Jenny and Doug down the road) doing it too? Are they not driving the train?

The government (just put politics aside for a while) is trying to keep us all going. They are spending untold billions so that people can continue to live reasonable lives without too much hardship. Of course, that money has to come from somewhere and ultimately we will all be paying for this for years, perhaps decades, to come.

So what are companies doing to help? Well, many are doing nothing, making it worse, protecting their shareholders and management bonuses by laying off staff without pay. Weatherspoons is one example, but it's happening right across business and everybody knows what's happening. If companies, many of whom can afford to continue to pay their staff, look for every loophole so that they can to save a few quid, is it their fault? Isn't everybody doing it? And what about the people following the company instruction so that they can hang on to their own jobs, are they not complicit too? Are they not driving the train?

I'm hearing rumblings from the self-employed that they will come out of this with higher tax rates and the government is using this as a blunt instrument to find out about their tax fiddles. I've heard some complaints about how they have worked hard to build their business and now they can't trade. I hear silly mothers complaining that their kids are driving them mad and arranging group events so that they can dump the kids and get a 'mate' to do their hair. I see men meeting at the car park to have a kick about and 'of course' keeping two metres apart at all times. Are they not driving the train?

I know, let's blame the government for dragging their heels, for not making it clear, for giving confusing instruction, for giving us the opportunity to rip the country off. After all, it's not our fault, we are not doing anything that everybody else isn't doing, It's not our responsibility.

And there it is, that horrible word that nobody wants to accept, 'RESPONSIBILITY'. Of course, the train driver was responsible. Of course, he was guilty of driving people to the gas chambers. Of course, he was complicit in following his orders - he could have said no and accepted the consequences, he did have a choice and he did make one.

There, I told you I saw things in black and white. But I'm sickened by everyone involved in these scams and moans pretending that they are all squeaky clean when they've just stepped into the driver's cab. if you are helping drive the train then you are helping to kill people, end of. Don't do it. It's only going to come back and haunt you all your life and you will richly deserve it. Don't drive the train, don't even grease the axles, walk away from the train and accept your responsibilities. Stop being a part of the disease.