05/19/2008
Oh and..
My thanks to the Government... is was very good to see some free votes...
Please do some more
Soon.
Next week looks good (I was going to say Friday, but I thought you might see that as a little too radical)
xXx
20:05 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
01/14/2008
Uses of humour
The Telegraph produced a rather curious article today
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinio...
The idea of using ridicule and humour as a defense mechanism for times of conflct is not uncommon. Neither, if you think about it, is to use comedy as an attack and a weapon.
How many people do you know who, when faced with insult or trouble, treat the entire thing as one large joke? Looking around (particularly in England with the "Thou shalt not take thyself seriously (under ANY cirucmstances)" rule) it is easy to see how many people sit behind their comfoting wall of irony, sarcasm, wit and sattire as they move steadily from day to day. Even the worst traumas can be overcome with a few jokes and a laugh - at least to the people watching and that is all that really matters. Appearances are kept up and life kept going by daily injections of stand-up comedy.
Equally, how often so you see ridicule being used to bully and oppress people either in the playground (if you are at school), or the office (if you are at work) or in a family (if you are ... well...)? So often the person with the most power is the one who can simply make everyone else look weaker, and what better way to do this than by comedy, humour and "all in the name of fun". I have seen children cry over direct insult for hours, I have seen children fall utterly silent over ridicule for weeks, months and years.
I am not trying to say use of humour is good or bad or safe or harmful. There is no way it can be caegorised so easily. It is however potent. It can hurt, it can heal, it can make people change how they think and how they act. It is a weapon... how can we use it? How should we use it? Where would it be most effective? Where is it most needed at the moment.
xXx
10:57 Posted in News , Politics , Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
12/25/2006
Baghdad Burning
Not the most optamistic and inspiring topic for Christmas Day, but one of my presents happened to be a book of first year of blog entries written by a once sucessful Iraqui self-styled "computer geek" under the alias Riverbend...
If you have the time I would check it out - provided you aren't feeling especially down or empathetic. It's worth readign whether you agree or not, particularly as she paints a remarkable fair and intelligently apraised picture of her situation despite having to live through the situation and the bias that incurs.
It is going to take me a while to read through. There is too much to think of, too much questioned, too many sterotypes and false assumptions corrected to take the book, or blog, in one entry. I had not realised Iraq had sunk quite so low, or in fairness to my ignorance, so much.
It is odd (though not surprising) to think of the vast range of different opinions and beliefs within Iraq. I am used to them here: no one has quite the same opinion over either the war, the terrorism, the fundamentalism or the occupation though I am pleased to say that the number of Black/White opinions I encounter on a day to day basis is falling. I would like to think that this is because people are growing wiser, however, I am somewhat resigned to the belief that I am simply mixing with a set of people who are both more aware, more analytical, more cynical (in extreme - some come close to my levels of cynicism) and more willing to debate and modulate their opinion based on fact. Anyways, back to my point.
Everyone has a different opinion. When dealing with horrific actions on both sides of an unpleasent war for all concerned, the removal or a dictator who, though morally questionable (to say the least) held power and kept a country in reasonable shape, immesurable civil unrest... the list goes on. In all accounts, a combination of the media, (and a pinch of salt), the government, (and a barrel of salt) and friends/family you know the situation better than I could explain here in any readable format. This sort of confusion/chaos/frustration and loss, combined with the fantastic ways in which human beings react when put under such pressure, makes weighing up good against bad incredibly difficult. No surprise there is such a discrepance over what is right and wrong.
Isn't it sad that the situations where opinion and belief vary so greatly are also the situations people feel most passionately about.
When deciding what to choose from two equally undefinable *evils* (in that you know both are horrific but no idea which is worse) then the only way you can even know you've gone wrong is in hindsight. Hindsight isn't that useful for making descisions. Could anyone have known what was right, what would have been best, what should happen now? In all honesty, all anyone does is make a choice, and then pray to whichever God the can bring themselves to trust in.
You can't live live based on the "what might have been"'s - although that is a good friends episode.
I don't know if this post had a point, I can't see an obvious one now, but it may have had one to start with.
It's Christmas, a time where we celebrate not the brutalies and pain of the crucifixtion, nor the elation and majesty of the resurection, nor the power and might of the Second Coming... we celebrate life, and peace and simplicity. And the patients of a God who loves enough to wait an eternity to call his people home (Nice midnight sermon by Tom). You look at a situation in Iraq, and so many look for someone to blame... look for an ulterior motive to the invasion and occupation, look for the conspiracy and the plots and intrigue - desperate to point a finger at someone - anyone.
We will never know what would have happened if there had been no War on Terror. This counts for both those primising a bounteous and harmonious "whatif" and those swearing a desolate and destructive "whatif". We don't know what would be better or worse, we each have our own opinions about how things could be made better - but no one cane give an answer to suit all, and without drawbacks.
Like so much else in life, we play our games with unfair dice, rolling again and again to determine the odds, raising the stakes and calling our bluffs. But in the end it's still a game, and someone wins and someone looses. All you do is hope that when it's your turn to loose, you leave with enough to buy back in.
I am not particularly interested in what is right or wrong for Iraq as a country for each of the people have their own needs, and myabe I will do my part in dealing with that, and maybe I wont, but that is the level I will address. Politicans may debate, but I am ever dubious over the extent to which they consider the lives of the people they are influencing on a daily basis. If you want to help the people, go to the people.
In these cases, the difference between right and wrong are determined by whoever has the scepter when the history books are wriitten and I can tell you now how it will pan out.
- For the moment there will be a range of opinions, mostly closer to neutral than extreamism (with notable exceptions on all sides) - This is partialy dependant on the skill f our politicians in mass manipulation and general charisma
- When the 20 years Offical Secrets Period is over there will be a general outcry which will be hyped in extreme by the media... I believe this will lead to a general anti-war/occupation concensus as the situation itself is far enough removed to make this "safe" and not requiring of great consideration or care.
- In about 80-100 years people will briefly study this as a case study in a unit on global warfare... and a teacher will stand at the front of the class persuading his 13 year old group to debate the pros and cons of the war knowing the conclusion will be "well it was a bit of both wasn't it Miss, Some bits were good but others not so"
Isn't it strange how history repeats itself... well it has to, no one listens!
xXx
PS: proper Christmas post+ piccies coming up later...
16:53 Posted in Politics , Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this