Astounding!
I was very surprised to find any replies at all to that last post - it's not as though I said anything interesting. But take a look at the first Anonymous Said; it was the only one I even tried to read, and for the life of I can't work out if it's trying to sell me drugs, if Anonymous is on drugs, if I've been mistaken for someone who knows what this gibberish is about.... The rest are just as bad, I can't work out if they're computer viruses or messages from God. On the off-chance it's God, btw, can I ask for the traditional Burning Bush or whatever? We humans have developed awfully short attention spans while you're been away.
Well, I've Valiumed my way through the first 100 days of Tory/LibDem Coalition Government, time to peek over the parapet and see how the country's going. No more being too depressed to read the newspapers, better to Know Thine Enemy. Since I listen to BBC Radio 4 (serious talk!) all day every day, I can't say I'm oblivious to the world, but some opinion would be helpful. I wasn't ambitious or interested enough to become an expert on Economics or Politics (I'm very well-informed on Alexander the Great, however), so like most people I depend on people who, presumably, were. Ambitious enough, at least - I don't take anything as Gospel, not even the Gospels as it happens.
But other people's opinions give you something to bounce off - sometimes the ramifications of a Government diktat aren't obvious to the layperson, however well-informed, and there are some sources that I often find helpful; anything owned by Newscorp, for instance, I know from the moment I start reading that I'll probably deeply disagree with the "opinion" and that "facts" will need to be checked. I wonder, incidentally, if Murdoch intended his business empire to sound like a Batman villain right from the start. Or Superman; I can imagine Lex Luthor owning Newscorp.
In any case, for the purposes of knowing what to disagree with, I usually buy The Sun. Terrifyingly, this alleged newspaper is the best-selling daily in England, so I have to assume that this is where many people in my society (yes, even Buddhist hippy leftie malcontents get a vote, suck it up!) get the "information" on which they form their views. And their votes (yes, even people with swastika tattoos who want to deport 3rd generation immigrants to places they've never been to get a vote, I've been sucking that up for years!).
The Big Issue at the moment, for me at least, is Trident. When every government department from Welfare to the NHS to the Police have to swallow 25% cuts in their budgets (25% as in one quarter, as if those departments weren't grossly underfunded as it is) how come we can afford a multi-billion upgrade to our much-vaunted Independent Nuclear Deterrent? Is it time that Post-Empire Britain gave up its seat at the Top Table (some of us do feel a bit silly anyway, this tiny little islnad off the coast of Europe having the same voting power as, say, China!, and admitted that the quirk of post-war history that got us here needs to be rebalanced in a new millennium.
My grandfather was a soldier of the Empire, he spent years in India before Independence until malaria exacted it's price as the White Man's Burden. That's how recent it is for us; I can forgive the people who find it difficult to let that go. Even I do, in a way - in my travels, I've seen how a British passport gets you an easier ride than, say, a passport from the Former Yugoslavian Republic. But feeling a slight nostalgia isn't enough to make me believe that slashing 25% off the budget for the most vulnerable people in our society to pay for nuclear arms is a price we should be willing to pay to hold on to the coat-tails of a long-gone dream of power. We don't have any moral right to be here, I'm not aware that our history covers us with glory as a peaceful, progressive, democratic country. In some senses, our time is as long past as the Roman Empire's. I'd give up the remnants, the sacred Independent bit of the nuclear deterrent, for a more balanced economy. I'd rather spend the money on real living people now than theoretical future aggressors; I'm sure if we just shut up and got on with being part of Europe we'd be okay.
I'm rambling, as usual. Time to go buy the Sunday paper of my choice, and some much-needed cigarettes.
Well, I've Valiumed my way through the first 100 days of Tory/LibDem Coalition Government, time to peek over the parapet and see how the country's going. No more being too depressed to read the newspapers, better to Know Thine Enemy. Since I listen to BBC Radio 4 (serious talk!) all day every day, I can't say I'm oblivious to the world, but some opinion would be helpful. I wasn't ambitious or interested enough to become an expert on Economics or Politics (I'm very well-informed on Alexander the Great, however), so like most people I depend on people who, presumably, were. Ambitious enough, at least - I don't take anything as Gospel, not even the Gospels as it happens.
But other people's opinions give you something to bounce off - sometimes the ramifications of a Government diktat aren't obvious to the layperson, however well-informed, and there are some sources that I often find helpful; anything owned by Newscorp, for instance, I know from the moment I start reading that I'll probably deeply disagree with the "opinion" and that "facts" will need to be checked. I wonder, incidentally, if Murdoch intended his business empire to sound like a Batman villain right from the start. Or Superman; I can imagine Lex Luthor owning Newscorp.
In any case, for the purposes of knowing what to disagree with, I usually buy The Sun. Terrifyingly, this alleged newspaper is the best-selling daily in England, so I have to assume that this is where many people in my society (yes, even Buddhist hippy leftie malcontents get a vote, suck it up!) get the "information" on which they form their views. And their votes (yes, even people with swastika tattoos who want to deport 3rd generation immigrants to places they've never been to get a vote, I've been sucking that up for years!).
The Big Issue at the moment, for me at least, is Trident. When every government department from Welfare to the NHS to the Police have to swallow 25% cuts in their budgets (25% as in one quarter, as if those departments weren't grossly underfunded as it is) how come we can afford a multi-billion upgrade to our much-vaunted Independent Nuclear Deterrent? Is it time that Post-Empire Britain gave up its seat at the Top Table (some of us do feel a bit silly anyway, this tiny little islnad off the coast of Europe having the same voting power as, say, China!, and admitted that the quirk of post-war history that got us here needs to be rebalanced in a new millennium.
My grandfather was a soldier of the Empire, he spent years in India before Independence until malaria exacted it's price as the White Man's Burden. That's how recent it is for us; I can forgive the people who find it difficult to let that go. Even I do, in a way - in my travels, I've seen how a British passport gets you an easier ride than, say, a passport from the Former Yugoslavian Republic. But feeling a slight nostalgia isn't enough to make me believe that slashing 25% off the budget for the most vulnerable people in our society to pay for nuclear arms is a price we should be willing to pay to hold on to the coat-tails of a long-gone dream of power. We don't have any moral right to be here, I'm not aware that our history covers us with glory as a peaceful, progressive, democratic country. In some senses, our time is as long past as the Roman Empire's. I'd give up the remnants, the sacred Independent bit of the nuclear deterrent, for a more balanced economy. I'd rather spend the money on real living people now than theoretical future aggressors; I'm sure if we just shut up and got on with being part of Europe we'd be okay.
I'm rambling, as usual. Time to go buy the Sunday paper of my choice, and some much-needed cigarettes.
posted by holojojo at 5:57 AM
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