The stupid and selfish Cult of Me generation should try surviving in a war zone

HATE to sound like a misanthrope, but sometimes I despair of humanity, I really do. When did people get so stupid and selfish? What happened to common sense? Was it washed away on the outgoing tide, along with raw intelligence and compassion for our fellow innocents? Not to mention the formerly commonplace concept of pulling together for the good of all.

I’m not talking about the big issues, such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, although God knows, they are bad enough. We have reached a point where the entire civilised world is urging President Putin in Russia and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel to desist from the fighting and bombing and killing, but no one is listening.

Especially not the Hamas terrorists who are still holding more than 100 Jewish people hostage and refusing all entreaties to give them up, even though this would lead to a reduction in hostilities.

You might hope that those of us who are lucky enough to live in peace and relative prosperity would be feeling blessed by our circumstances, making the most of our good fortune and thanking our lucky stars that we are not sheltering in a bombed-out basement in Rafah, or living in fear for our lives on the frontline in Avdiivka. Not a bit of it.

Just look at the recent Easter Bank Holiday, which brought out the worst in so many here in my neck of the woods. Holidays always do. Perhaps it’s the pressure of leaving routine and comfort zones behind that makes people behave so badly, but increasingly it seems like curdled entitlement.

‘I deserve this’ is the mantra of the it’s-all-about-me generation. How on earth would they cope with the desperation and deprivations of a war zone when they can’t even conduct themselves reasonably on a day-trip to a beauty spot?

How else can you explain those visitors to Cornwall who parked their cars on beaches and had to be rescued by hard-pressed emergency services? Or the dozens of illegally parked cars which had to be towed away at Welsh landmarks, while furious locals in the Peak District and Scotland blamed Easter visitors for clogging up beauty spots with traffic and litter?

Everywhere you looked, TikTok maniacs and selfie-seekers were out in force, ruining everything for everyone else, thinking only of themselves and capturing that vital picture for their Instagram feeds – because in this monstrous Cult of Me, the only experience that matters is theirs.

There is a new sharp-elbowed tribe of travel bloggers out there who are ‘investing in memories’ at the expense of others; singleminded graspers focused only on ticking off their bucket list of adventure banalities. Indeed, one popular bucket list staple is getting to the top of Snowdonia and over the Easter weekend there were fights in the queues – queues! – for the summit, where many were poorly dressed, despite snow at the top. ‘Muppets everywhere,’ one exasperated climber noted.

At Stonehenge in Wiltshire, a woman walked across security barriers to photograph herself touching the famous monument, despite being repeatedly warned not to by security guards. It is sacred, it is protected, it is fencedoff – but nothing would stop her.

From vandalising ancient sites to disrespecting local culture and damaging valuable art and objects in museums by walking backwards to take a selfie, this creep of selfishness has spread like knotweed.

And it’s not just confined to the

UK. The sunbed-bagging season has barely begun, yet residents in Tenerife are already revolting against the influx of drunken British tourists who ruin their island every year, while the bullish holidaymakers have responded by painting some graffiti of their own: ‘We Pay Your Wages’. Well, that’s going to result in a cheery atmo down at the old Dog & Duck in the Playas de los Drunkos, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, eight passengers who missed their Norwegian Cruises scheduled departure time from the island of Sao Tome recently are thinking of suing the cruise line instead of blaming themselves for being late.

SOME point to this growing recklessness and selfishness as typical of post-pandemic behaviour. It certainly seems to be the case that Covid and lockdown changed everything, but particularly the way people think about themselves and their place in the world.

And, whether on holiday or at home, it is true that there is precious little ‘one for all’ these days, but plenty of ‘all for one’. Muppets everywhere, indeed.