I don’t know how the disgruntled will cope when Australia becomes a republic: “There are calls for a Royal Commission following [insert grievance text here…]” will disappear from the lead stories of The Age and The Guardian and Their ABC.

Reading into the story it seems the disgruntled underwent surgery for a Brazilian Butt Lift, which the reporter helpfully referred to as the BBL. The surgery went wrong, I think.

Now, having lead a sheltered life, I was unaware that the BBL could refer to either a round robin T20 cricket comp or a butt lift. It’s also not clear whether the lift is one performed only on butts of Brazilians or only by Brazilian surgeons or can anyone shuffle into the surgery and bounce out newly uplifted? I remain ignorant in this regard because I stopped reading.

Let’s keep Royal Commissions for more weighty topics.

In yet another example of the collectivisation of responsibility, a “pre-eminent road safety expert” (according to a report in today’s Australian newspaper) was critical that short-sighted leadership was failing our drivers and was responsible for a number of unnecessary deaths on our roads. 

Lauchlan McIntosh, Australasian College of Road Safety president, said “politicians and bureaucrats needed to stop blaming drivers and focus on practical solutions, such as improving road infrastructure and vehicle technology.”

There you have it. Right from the mouth of a supposed expert. If a driver crashes a car, that is the fault of a bad road or a bad car, according to this person. In fact, drivers should be blamed for crashing cars. If they have crashed, it is because they have not driven in accordance with the conditions.

The cancerous attitude that individuals are not responsible for their actions and someone else instead is to blame, is ever-encroaching on us all. As a consequence, individuals, quite rationally, display a decreasing responsibility for their own actions.