The mid-1970s were my last years at high school. In the brainiac class, we spent much of our time philosphising about life, the universe and everything, and especially the future.

We had grown up in the era of 2001 - A Space Odyssey, Alvin Toffler's Future Shock and The Little Red Schoolbook. The distance of 25 years to the end of the century was both an immense distance and part of our certain future. We foresaw much of the technology, but then again, anyone who read any sci-fi or watched Star Trek could manage that.

We saw the changes in discriminatory laws that worked against coloured people, women and outliers, all of which came to pass.

What we did not see or contemplate in any way was the softening up of humankind.

Whether a reaction to the urbanisation of humanity, or something else entirely, there can be no doubt that we have bred a generation of wimps.

Free speech is quietly under direct threat as universities' are held to ransom by weepy, trigger-warning-needing students to the extent that even some of the students can see how dangerous it is to hinder  free speech on campus. And sorry, we know for sure it is Millennials who are to blame, or more likely, their Boomer parents - because no other age group has anything like the 40% who believe free speeh is less important than Snowflake's feelings.

The best and most deliciously ironic example of the softness of the species circa 2016, is the banning of Huckleberry Finn, a book so magnificent it is consistently rated in the top two or three American novels in history, well over a century after its first publication. The irony? That the same book was originally banned in some places because it had the horrific spectre of a white boy befriending and living with a nigger!

The trigger for me writing this is the hilarious screeching in response to the BBC showing Watership Down as their Easter Sunday family movie. Thankfully, I see there are also lots of people willing to point out to them how absurd they are being in complaining.

What the hell is wrong with these parents? As noted by one commenter, the same parents will almost certainly allow their children to watch TV news, complete with the terror & disaster porn of which it primarily consists. Watership Down has a realism news doesn't, because the victims on the news are unknown to the viewer - they aren't seen as real people - but the rabbits show us their emotions and dreams, thus becoming real to the viewer.

The reason why Watership Down is a children's film is because of that realism - it enables kids to learn about death and life in a non-threatening format, and these are very important lessons in life. The rabbits are a metaphor for humans and kids understand that.

Well, the ones whose parents aren't having conniptions about Snowflake potentially having PTSD from seeing a cartoon rabbit get shot. God forbid those parents allow their kids to watch Itchy & Scratchy on The Simpsons.

The softening up is now complete.

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