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Hobbies are dead

Wow, I've had a lot of emails and comments over the past few hours from people lamenting the death of hobbies.

I thought I was the only one who was starting to feel as if hobbies are now being actively discouraged by "the powers that be", mainly as a result of ridiculously over-reaching regulation and economic policies.

Apparently not.

I posted a YouTube video yesterday in which I reflected on the fact that less than one percent of those who watched a previous video could even be bothered to raise a finger to support my favourite hobby, RC planes and drones.

The result was a cascade of comments which shared very common perspectives.

Firstly, the current economy is very anti-hobby simply because people are having increasing difficulty even paying their bills. The rising price of *everything* including fuel, power, food, housing and such, has pushed discretionary spending out the door and for most people, a hobby is a luxury, not a necessity.

Another huge factor has been the relentless onslaught of (over)regulation.

In the RC flying space, regulation has effectively crippled a hobby that was once seen as an important part of a young lad's childhood. When I was young, almost every young boy, at some time or another, played with model aircraft. While most soon tired of the smell, mess and lack of instant gratification, some like myself discovered that it became a life-long passion. Many also turned this interest into a career in aviation or engineering.

Today, sadly, hobbyists are increasingly being marginalised and forced out of the airspace. That's because the 0-400ft airspace suddenly now has commercial value for drone delivery, flying taxis and all sorts of other things that are really a very long way from reality, despite the claims of those who are ill-informed as to the limitations of current technology.

Over-regulation isn't the sole domain of model flyers however. As someone who was once an avid sports shooter and hunter, I pitty those who still cling on to these hobbies.

My gun rack was once festooned with bolt-action hunting rifles and semi-auto sports guns such as the iconic SKS. It was great to take a few hundred rounds of cheap Chinese 7.62x39mm steel-core ammo out into gulley that was in my rural back yard and "light up" the swamp at the bottom of it -- or practice my marksmaship by felling otherwise inaccessible tobacco-weed trees from 50m away with a few magazines full of lead.

There was no danger to anyone, no risk to property or person. It was just fun but sadly, semi-automatic centre-fire rifles are now verboten to the general public because police failed to do proper background checks so some dickhead was given a gun license and did bad things. The innocent must be punished to protect the guilty.

These are two of my hobbies that have been all but destroyed by laws and regulations but based on the feedback I have received, it's a trend that is affecting a huge number of recreational activities right across the globe. It's almost as if there's a move to outlaw any kind of recreational pastime that gives people joy and pleasure.

Let's not forget that if you're an under-16-year-old who has established a network friends and acquaintances across the world thanks to social media, the world's governments now seem hell-bent on killing the joys and support that this might bring you as well.

As I've mentioned previously, residents of EU countries have effectively found that the hobby of tinkering with and building electronic projects has now been made far less affordable by way of the 3 Euro per line-item tax on imports from any non-EU country. Send an order for 20 different components off to AliExpress and the tax exceeds the value of the components by an order of magnitude or more.

What is it with governments that they seem to despise the people they work for so much as to want to punish them by removing their hobbies and the things that bring them joy?

I honestly believe that things have to change and if they don't, there may be some significant uprisings amongst the great unwashed masses.

Perhaps it's just me but I've noticed a huge swing towards authoritarianism on the part of governments, ever since they realised just how much power they can actually wield over those who elect them. This happened during the pandemic when I suspect "the powers that be" were amazed at just how compliant the public was when put under house arrest and discriminated against on the basis of their vaccination status. I doubt anyone could have dreamed that we'd be more like sheep than the actual flocks in farmers' fields.

Now, it would seem, they're happy to take advantage of that compliance and lack of push-back from a disillusioned and defeated public.

Carpe Diem folks!

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