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Of Mice And Men 26 May 2008
Yesterday I watched a TV presentation of the world’s plight, compiled
under the auspices of a movie star. That seems to sum up the new
millennium for me. Meanwhile I shrink from my complex senses, that
inhabit this me-spec of dust in a cornerless corner of the universe,
emulating “The Scream”. But if a Barrie Singleton screams, and no one
hears, has he made any sound?
The anomalous earth has a range of sentient life on it, courtesy, we
are assured, of one common DNA. I am mouse, banana and daffodil, but a
lot more dangerous. It would appear that some branch of higher ape-dom,
way back in time, obeying the survival imperative of all life, went the
big-brain route, and we got smart. We survived, but the trouble with
survival is it never thinks ahead and ‘smart’ is now
paradoxically multiplying us to the point of extinction.
A range of “experts” appeared on the TV program, each with their own
angle on “putting things right”. None asked “why bother”.
Where can we humans go, and what might we do there? Our behaviour on
earth is appalling. As we become richer in knowledge, so we cleverly
concentrate humans into greater masses that hang on to life with finer
end finer finger nails. And no one seems to notice.
The experts are sure we must mend our ways through realisation of the
need to become sustainable. Being in the business of reason, they are
sure reason will prevail. They know nothing, apparently, of that horse
that just won’t drink. Some of these experts have a day-job in
planetary exploration, where survival becomes an acute art. But they do
not factor-in to their equations the lack of maturity in the average
human. If you take a steak-stuffing, gas guzzling eco-warrior from
Earth to Mars, he might be a brilliant scientist but as a poor being,
he is still a liability when the mission gets stressed; hardly good
breeding stock.
We are not an asset to ourselves or the universe. We know, and
can apply, a vast amount of knowledge, but the sum-total of our current
way of being – Earth Culture – is a downward spiral. We are witnessing
increasing intractable armed struggle and ideological posturing, more
irrational enthusiasm, more nihilistic time consumption and less
personal competence and contentment. The seriously deranged rise
inexorably to positions of power and mire us all in their idiosyncrasy,
while we prepare for changes in climatic impact, as I have said before:
as if arranging deckchairs on the Titanic for a fiddle-concert by Nero.
Taking into account our universal insignificance, only one measure of
success in our endeavours seems relevant to me: the minimisation of
individual pain. I don’t just mean pain of war, and famine, I refer to
the pain of existence inside each head; enduring in a world that has
less and less time for being-for-its-own-sake and only prizes doing.
“Ask not what inner contentment you might achieve with the lightest of
tread on the planet. Ask only how much of that planet you can process,
in one lifetime, from innocent slumber, to complex junk and waste.”
It is my firm contention that each individual matures less, generation
by generation. To the sages gathered on TV by the movie star, I say:
unless you address the individual maturation – hence competence in life
– of a critical mass of earth’s population, you will never get coherent
action toward a viable future. A good idea, presented to an immature
mass, yields barmy leaders and wild factions.
What the planet needs, is a halt to the advancement of cleverness and
an alternative “Wisdom Initiative”. Not the sort of couplet that
comes readily from the western leadership-psyche, in the new
millennium. We humans, born animal and variously modified by
experience, are driving each other madder; but the madness, of course,
looks OK from inside. A child born today internalises passive
consumption as the norm, followed by the realisation that active
enrichment is the necessary precursor to that desirable state. No hint
of the value of becoming a whole, real being with a minimum of
requirements, impinges. Wisdom is a foreign country.
Apart from our consumptive culture, another unspoken enemy of wisdom is
puberty, today, inexorably allied with commerce. Our animal
vehicle seems influenced by modern life, to ever-earlier puberty,
perhaps by high-calorie food, while our acquisitive/consumptive culture
drives us to ever-later (costly) procreation. In truth, delayed
puberty, perhaps chemically mediated, would free us to gain competence
before succumbing to animal drives, but instead, sexualisation begins
even earlier than early-puberty, and the shambles of modern life is
built on this febrile foundation. In short, we are getting nothing
right, even though we daily know more of what is going wrong and, not
infrequently, also know why.
Vaclav Havel coined the phrase; “Living within the lie”. We now have so
many lies to choose from! Even the Eurovision Song Contest has resolved
itself into a lie, with voting being used to cement political alliance
(or make political attack?) rather than signal judgement on a song’s
praiseworthiness. When insubstantial froth itself can tarnish, the
writing must surely be on the wall? But then, the number who can read,
both practically and metaphorically is declining in Britain. Indeed, it
is likely no one will read this – in either idiom.
There was another achievement of extreme-cleverness yesterday: we
landed a new device on Mars. If it functions properly, we will soon
increase our store of knowledge. But while data beams back from Mars,
down on Earth, the crazy spiral of stupidity on all fronts, will
continue. It seems pretty certain there are no men from Mars to terrify
us into proper order, nor yet women from Venus to bring enlightenment.
We are alone, and all we have is us.
The highest probability has to be that mankind will continue to hurt
until some calamity either wipes us out or takes our mind off the pain.
There is evidence that wisdom sometimes emerges in small oases of time
and space as man stumbles along, but clever chaos is now rampant, and
it appears inevitable we must hurt our way to Armageddon. In 1995 I
suggested a crafty application of established cleverness (Eric Berne’s
Transactional Analysis) beamed through the satellites and TV sets of
the world, to address young minds. The idea was to awaken psychological
function to engender philosophical awareness; thereby awakening real
maturity. It is 2008 now, and the view from my window is steadily
darker. The shops are full of better mousetraps, but all they do is
trap mice.
Work
Ethic
Primary
work, is work related to survival. The harsher the times, the more work
is required just to stay alive. However, success achieved by work
brings self-esteem and approval of others; vital to individual and
group viability.
When the
planet is less harsh, farming is possible. Farming, an unnatural
activity, delivers increasing free time to which, it seems, we are not
adapted. Free time invites expansion of abstract thought; the
development of “culture”. (I have seen Neaderthal Man denigrated for
"stagnation" - lack of invention. I suspect he was too busy surviving
to embellish.) Culture is like the iceberg - one tenth shining in the
sunlight, but nine tenths submerged in the dark currents of the
unconscious.
The shadow
aspect of culture, brings dark practises: sexual aberration, political
manipulation and religious oppression of the many by the few.
Farming
anchors the group. It concentrates people and their waste in one area
while promoting expansion of population. It is the forerunner of town
and industry; disease and pollution. It engenders secondary work -
specialisation. With specialisation comes money (to buy specialist
products) and the tertiary business of money manipulation: banking,
money-lending, gambling and debt. The fewer the number primarily
employed, the less healthy the community (farming being quasi-primary).
Free time
and excess money leads to travel, with an inexorable improvement in
means to that end. The highly developed transport associated with
travel, now allows the mixing of ethnic groups who have lived unmixed
for millennia. The incomers congregate in the least agreeable parts of
towns, receiving less money and suffering more disease.
A
disproportionate number of their young are unemployed - beset by excess
spare time and thereby prey to excess.
Another
aspect of travel - colonisation - the bringing of oppression, religion,
farming, industry, money lending; in fact all the “ills of home”, to
other lands - has left much of the “Developing (third) World” in a
mess. But it is all part of the same mess.
The current
“diversionary activity” of “Make Poverty History” (make Africa a
conscience-saving “salve-goat“) will not cure the underlying malaise
that Homo Sapiens is unsuited to the prevailing global situation. (A
nod to Robert Ardrey's "Bad Weather Animal" is in order here.)
If it is
possible (and as yet, we cannot know) for six billion (?) to live,
contentedly, on this planet, intermixing and with freedom from
the constraints of primary work, stability will not come through
industry (farm and factory) and trade, but from a complete shift of our
aspirations and values. Small pockets of visionary ethos exist (though
virtually all are, to some degree, reliant on the current structure)
but for change to take hold, as with immunisation to control other
“dis-ease“, a critical percentage must be reached with the “vaccine of
change”.
With such a
“need vacuum” in the world today, a solution is urgent. By far the
greatest danger is a new religion. Should such arrive, its spread, via
the internet, will exceed anything ever seen. But will it be benign?
And will it have the answers?
7.4.08
Envisioning
Brown
(Psychological
malaise in British politics. 1.3.08)
Gordon Brown
– an acclaimed success – has, somewhere in his past, forsaken his first
given name: i.e. James, still cannot control, at 57, his nail-biting
impulse, and routinely stutters under pressure. He was also observed to
behave in an overtly immature way during years of “close” association
with Anthony Blair.
I suggest
the above is a manifestation of “success” all too common in today’s
Britain; significantly over-represented in the political classes and
depressingly dominant in the upper echelons of political power.
From his
constrained perspective, Brown has just delivered a speech extolling
the drive to “produce” more qualified (certificated) young persons. He
sees compulsion, in various guises, and coercion, as his means to this
end. His stated aim is to prepare the young for a life in the “Global
Economy”; a truncated life-qualification, specifically for “doing
stuff”.
Meanwhile,
inside that other “sphere of activity”: Gordon’s Head, there is
unresolved turmoil that he pushes aside (the fate of his first name)
and es-chews (like his nails); his resident childhood demons, tormented
by “a life of success”. It seems he hopes that if he “rescues”
sufficient children, across the globe, his own “unrescued child” might
just tag along to a more comfortable place. But for all Gordon’s
self-acclaimed “vision” he achieves no personal insight.
How sad that
our culture elevates the driven and needy (remember Blair?) regardless
of their inappropriate motivation. How unfortunate that Prime
Ministers, routinely, have compliant lawyers, weasel-wordsmiths and
creative accountants at their side, rather than a psychiatrist and a
small child to say: “Remember you are not a God!”
Unless Brown
awakes to the urgency of Britain’s declining INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL
COMPETENCE (evidenced by drugs, alcohol, nihilism etc.) his policies
will simply give us more nail-biting, self-de-naming, stuttering,
juvenile failed-adults (or their equivalent) while filling dole-roles,
gutters and prisons far more readily than the prestigious posts he
predicts. The only success we might then be sure of, is a copious
supply of politicians. I am not unaware of his CBT initiative, but that
is the application of psychological sticking plaster to a section of
the unemployed, in an attempt to improve the figures, not a drive to
give the recipients a viable whole life.
Such is the
“incestuous” nature of our political scene, that it PRE-SELECTS its own
dogma-led acolytes to be offered to the nose-led voters for onward
transit to parliament, government and, in the extreme case, Prime
Ministership. Westminster politics is a dark art that would not welcome
the intrusion of the light that illuminates human failings, any more
than it allows individuals of integrity and (oh the irony) HONOUR to
impinge. Thus it is, that in spite of Britain’s undoubted prowess in
the field of human psychology, politics persists in its dysfunction.
Currently, the strange Westminster cabal – when not too busy fiddling
money - are steering these islands to irreversible interment
(internment?) in Europe, and stuffing their ears to the majority of
“democratically incensed” Britons, impotently bawling: “NOT IN OUR
NAME!”
2.03.08
Indigestible
Truths
Throughout recorded time, mankind has discovered and exploited
mind-altering substances.
Almost without exception, these substances were taken into the
bloodstream with the intention of changing perception – to feel
differently.
By inference – globally and across time – we just do not feel the way
we want to feel; human consciousness is, at best, uncomfortable and at
worst, painful.
Modern man puts pressures on the young, unlike any known in far off
times. Small wonder then that we now grow to take more and stronger
substances routinely.
Today we admit (though still tolerate) the terrible ravages of tobacco.
We are slowly charting the insidious damage from low-level alcohol
while high-level damage is stark reality.
It would appear that Cannabis, in the susceptible, is seriously
damaging. The list goes on.
Might it be that we are a failed ape – inexorably unhappy due to a
level of cerebral complexity that pathological immaturity cannot
handle?
Is the trauma of our “premature” state at birth, allied with intense
sensory input and inept, early, mental processing, almost a guarantee
of emergent aberrant psychology?
Worse, is all chance of recovery hijacked – ever earlier in the
“developed” world - by puberty’s animal imperatives?
I have heard it said – in my view, correctly, “the problem is not drugs
but people’s need for drugs”. If true, then surely any competent state
would inspect the causes of misery?
Unfortunately, all my investigations show the state itself to be the
primary cause of misery.
We measure UK success and status in terms of GDP – soulless money. Our
leaders strut the world in those terms. They are concerned to optimise
income, not humanity.
Contentment and stability at home count for little, and outright misery
– for nothing.
As a rider to the above, it seems clear to me that religions are also
“taken in” by needy vulnerable humans for the same reason as
substances.
It would follow that attention to human misery would diminish the need
for religious belief and uplift human competence in a de facto bulwark
against extremism.
31.12.07
Foetus
Focus
No law prevents a mother from carrying to term any living “form” – even
with two heads and “not enough else to go round”, unless Nature’s own
law ejects it without ceremony. But nature is fickle and fallible.
Equally fickle and fallible Human acceptance of foetuses, known to have
seriously constraining conditions, is not unusual. Sometimes this is
done out of “respect for life” but why do we assume every foetus
desires life? Might it not more reasonably, on occasion, yearn not to
live? It had no say at the conception.
It is well known that our body-chemistry is adversely affected by our
mental state. How is gestation – specifically the physical wellbeing of
the foetus - affected by a mother who does not want to carry, and give
birth to, a child? This is a lot more serious than stress-indigestion.
A society that uses war to solve differences; increasingly “successful”
in preventing the “escape of life function” from terribly
shattered, mutilated and truncated bodies; and one that uses similar
expertise to condemn, barely viable, premature births to a life of
infirmity is, at best, confused and at worst, evil. If all possible
life is so valuable, why not invite a copulating free-for-all among the
young (possibly already under way) removing contraception?
In the final analysis: do egg and sperm, respectively, have the right
to be brought together to create a brief few decades of consciousness,
trapped in an unreconstructed ape, above all other considerations? Or
do they have equal (or greater) right to be left in un-quickened bliss?
What of all the sperm destined (in natural terms intended) to be sacrificed, and
eggs likewise? Do they not have some bearing? Nature, it seems, has no
qualms about non-expression of potential, any more than she has over
the ejection of “errors”.
Having, apparently, culturally decided that unconscious, and barely
conscious, foetuses deserve absolute respect, how do we justify the
many indignities that our culture inflicts on the
already-made-conscious, namely: babies (urging mother back to work)
toddlers (further denial of mother through pre-school) young kids (more
school that crushes the less able) and teenagers (accent on academic
learning wholly unsuited to some)?
Then there is child neglect and abuse and wars with their mutilation,
rape and terror.
What of the far end of life when the misery of Alzheimer’s and dementia
etc, impinges on all concerned, while our culture denies release except
through starvation to prison-camp-cadaver; and then only if the
necessary criterion of terminal illness is fulfilled? This is
imprisonment of an - often proud - spirit in an all-too-often useless
body. As the saying goes: “You wouldn’t wish it on a dog” – and the
telling fact is, you don’t – the dog gets merciful release! And
on the subject of imprisonment: nominal adults of all ages, often in
pre-existing mental anguish, are put into prisons for failing to
conform to society’s “norms of madness”. There, they are subjected to a
thousand times the hell of foetal termination; able to cognise every
uncaring nuance of “criminal justice” and the exquisite pain of
enforced, unsought associations. Meanwhile, through it all, having
understanding (albeit sometimes minimal) of just who has inflicted it
upon them and, unlike the foetus: just what the future holds (or
doesn’t hold.)
Foetal termination is to man’s total inhumanity, as cruelty to
individual domestic pets is to factory farming. We are a deeply
confused and dishonest species; and I would warn egg, sperm and foetus
to stay well away from what is ironically termed “a life”.
25.10.07
Nil By Mouth
From birth: gratification, pleasure, comfort, even reward, is by mouth.
Infants soon pick up on "I need a drink" or (even today) "I need a
cigarette" - they unconsciously ACCEPT that we alter mood by oral
intake. (Later they will learn of needle and nose, but that does
not dilute my point.)
The "habit" of grown-ups (with luck) may be under control, but the
perception of their offspring is of an OK behaviour - a "permission"
for the future, that might lead anywhere.
Against this cultural "background hum", to try to treat the most
vulnerable and hurt, who desperately need release from their pain,
misery and demons, will always be an uphill struggle; to presume to
punish, a questionable iniquity.
Until "respectable" society as a whole, admits its acceptance of its
addictive nature - be it alcohol, tobacco, coffee, chocolate or just
food - the tip-over into "unacceptable addiction" will be easy and
commonplace. This is the elephant in the "what can we (good people) do
about THEIR drug problem" room.
The root situation is not drugs, it is the neediness of people for
drugs, born of lifelong immaturity and consequent social malfunction.
This infant need also emerges as desperation for power found in
politicians etc, the current pornography/paedophilia
orgy; even retail therapy. Culturally, we are all in this
together, but having watched (on TV) smokers (faced with the ban) and
drinkers (faced with new limits) squirm, wriggle and obfuscate, I doubt
a revolution is in the offing. We must remember to see to the
elephant’s needs; it will be around for quite a while.
There is a story, in the field of science, about hypothetical
scientists who lived all their lives in a plummeting
lift, thus were unable to discover gravity as they were “in
it”. It is the same with our “drug society”; most legislators and law
enforcers are routine “users” of alcohol – they are inside the
problem-as-a-whole, unable to define it hence unable to solve it.
I understand it is de rigueur for AA members to declare themselves
alcoholics. When will any MP or magistrate stand up in their hallowed
halls and declare: “I am a user”, before pronouncing on the control, or
fault, of others?
The culture of any country is partly psychological. Britain is in
bad need of therapy, but the lever-pullers are in denial.
Status Report
We exit the womb, embryonic, by virtue of an over-large (yet
underdeveloped) brain whose rush into cognition paradoxically outstrips
attainment of locomotion, dexterity and speech. The result is that we
learn the arts of anger and frustration long before wisdom and
philosophy. Further, we complete the social wiring of our brain in
terms of the society we encounter, while still too incompetent to
recognise that what is “out there” is, at best, unconducive. With a
fair wind, by the time we reach puberty we have learned to handle the
errors of early programming and look set to flourish. This is when
Nature steps in with her procreative imperative and prepares us for
(animal) breeding; severely diluting the earlier single-minded drive to
simply become capable. Just when we are “getting human” we return to
the animal; this time driven by lust.
Nurture, education, and today’s life-goals pay scant regard to the
above. We take each new life and offer it up on Mammon’s altar, which
stands on the two pillars of Schooling and Income in the Temple of
Doing. The older deities of mothering, self-esteem and psycho-security
– all aspects of Being - were concreted over to build The Temple.
Unless we restore wholeness – centredness – of the individual, as the
primary goal for each new life, we will remain at war with ourselves.
That is a war that no one can win.
24.6.07
Certificate
of Voting Competence
Children cannot vote for MPs. Presumably they are deemed insufficiently
knowledgeable. But it is abundantly clear that many of voting age are
not really very bright; why else would political parties use such
crass, simplistic inducements to elicit their vote? Surely age, as a
voting qualifier, is a nonsense? Voting COMPETENCE should be the
criterion. You can’t drive a car or fix a gas cooker without a
license/certificate, what are you doing being let loose on influencing
the management of a whole country? A CERTIFICATE OF VOTING COMPETENCE
is long overdue. Such a certificate would be open to all to aspire to,
(and if we pretend for the moment it will not be subverted by crafty
vested interests) should mean that a COMPETENT electorate emerges who
cannot be outwitted by devious politicians. The immediate consequence
of a competent electorate is a whole new breed of REPRESENTATIVE MPs
and an effective parliament thereby. Out go all the lawyers who are
amoral by definition and along with them ambition-led brown-nosers, and
in come LOCALLY CHOSEN candidates (not party-selected “rosette stands”)
actually motivated by selfless desire to solve problems and help
country and citizen. See where we have got to? This new brand of
MP would apply themselves to WIDENING the pool Voter Certification (on
merit) as this is the decent thing to do; a growing democracy. (Tony’s
“education X 3” is destined, by default, to produce dummies – a
magnificent success!) Of course, the present bunch of charlatans would
fight tooth and nail to stop this idea.
It does not take a genius to define the necessary skills to gain a
certificate. However, I personally would insist on a psychological
awareness component to prevent the elevation of politicians of strange
motivation and delusional vision; we have had quite enough of them.
Slavery
Are we using the wrong lens? Have we concentrated too hard on the
“classic” slavery of a few centuries ago and failed to distil out the
essence? At this point: I don’t have an answer.
Is the underlying attitude, present in the owner of a slave, one of
lack-of empathy? Where else does lack of empathy prevail? Does it start
with leaving a child to cry? Smacking? “Spare the rod and spoil the
child?” Banishment to school? Instruction through “loving anger”?
These are all done with eye (and ear) contact, so the “empathy block”
in the “dispenser” can, clearly, endure severe assault. We were all
children, and many endured (and “internalised”?) serious indignity at
the hands of our “owners” – these in various guises. Do we, at least in
part, grow up as slaves?
It is widely accepted that children on the receiving end of extreme
adult assault, are at risk of growing to re-enact such assault on
children, later in life. This, at first inspection, is counter
intuitive, but may be a pointer here. Is it true for any level of
assault? In childhood, do we learn empathy-blocking from our owners?
I suggest torture amounts to “negative empathy” and the one-on-one
variety puts an extreme peg in the ground for “as bad as it gets”.
Personally I would include imprisonment in the term “torture” – it is
torture of the mind even if the body is succoured. In our society
prison is a “given good”.
So it would appear that we have considerable tolerance of, and facility
in, “failed empathy” and I find myself moved to address that factor
more diligently than apologising for past conduct. It is said that
those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it; I contend that
apology, at best, only delays repetition. However, those who gain
understanding of the past might fare better.
I am inclined to the view that “empathy block” (along with many other
human ills) arises from the fact that we exist, predominantly, as
animals - yet deny as humans. Moreover, because the human veneer is
further divided into three compartments (Eric Berne’s “Parent” “Adult”
“Child”) traits that “our animal” acquires through early experience,
our human, easily accommodates by “compartmentalising”.
So now I do have a (tentative) answer. Apologising for past, highly
visible slavery, is a typical piece of “Game Playing” (Berne) for which
the unhappy human mind is curiously well adapted. There are two pasts
we must inspect: One is our animal substrate, aeons old and very basic;
The other is human childhood, conducted atop our “personal animal”, in
total ignorance/denial of its presence, while we are enslaved and
tortured by what Berne described as our: “ loving, indifferent, or
hateful parents” (and, of course, other “owners”). Over six billion now
inhabit the earth - mostly "nurtured" to empathy block.
To move forward we must “know ourselves” and to that end we must accept
we are born - out of ignorance - to slavery and then to enslaving
others.
13.5.07
Hang
on - What Happened There Then?
Blair’s time as Prime Minister raises a number of questions for me,
that seem to have no sensible answers.
In the bizarre world of politics where power is everything, deception
is “honourable” and unbridled ambition approved, Blair was an asset.
Blair won elections. Put another way: his ambition and deception
brought power to those who gathered under the “New Labour” banner.
I am unable to find any reference to actual power conferred by the
Queen when “asking” a party leader to form “her” government, but the
term “de facto” reared its insidious head during my enquiries.
However, hierarchies such as Church, Armed Forces and Politics, where
higher office is only gained by pleasing (or not displeasing) those
more senior to oneself, inexorably confer immense power on the holder
of the highest office and considerable immunity from constraint by
those below; some adoring, some fearing and some biding their time . .
. In the specific case of a British Prime Minister, their power extends
beyond the party they lead (unlike Church and Forces) to us. Yet the
general public cannot - from day to day – topple them even if they are
seen to wield that power improperly. By way of illustration: I am of
the opinion that had Blair wanted lamp-posts painted a particular
colour (don’t laugh – Cones Hotline?) he might well have had his way.
Taking us to war is just lamp-posts writ large. There is nothing new
here (in ancient China the Qin emperor decreed all cart axles the same
length) but might we not expect, after thousands of years, new from
“New” Labour?
At a local level, British “democracy” presents voters with candidates
pre-selected by party-machines. This requires the humble voter
(clutching their four-to-five year spaced “permission to make a
difference”) to choose between two or more, deviously presented,
expensively hyped emasculated personalities, who are more rosette than
representative. Any idea that ones MP should be free to react to
local events, right down to some individual’s dire plight, without
being filtered, diluted and diverted by “Central Office”, seems to have
departed the voter-consciousness. We now vote for parties – and get
games.
Candidates are rosette stands who plug “the manifesto”, carefully
crafted in choice of issues and precise wording (while their party
spends untold money rubbishing the opposing camp). In consequence, a
local representative can actually succeed while being neither local nor
representative.
And we are back to Blair.
Tony Blair wore a Labour rosette when parachuted into “can’t lose”
Sedgefield in 1983.The people of that constituency voted for Labour
overwhelmingly and predictably. Had Joe Anybody worn the Labour
rosette, Joe would, likewise, have become their MP. Had Blair carried
any other rosette, he would have been rejected. The citizens of
Sedgefield were not voting for Blair; not as representative – certainly
not as Leader of Britain.
On the death of John Smith, the Labour Party held an internal election
to choose a new leader. Tony Blair – as himself, one presumes – was
chosen; but only as leader of the Labour Party, not leader of Britain.
(Is not a “leader” in a democracy, a non-sequitur? Surely a manager
would be more appropriate?))
Then we get the strange business of the Queen, touched on above - whose
constitutional impotence seems to bestow great power – and suddenly all
the lamp-posts are turquoise.
The
Blair Legacy - A Warning
Tony Blair holds a position of immense power. He acts for the Queen. He
wages war and (potentially) fires Trident. As he holds sway over
ambitious lieutenants (who might otherwise constrain excesses) by
virtue of absolute power over their political careers, we are at his
mercy.
Tony Blair wore a Labour rosette in “can’t lose” Sedgefield in 1983.The
people of that constituency voted for Labour above all others. Had Joe
Anybody worn the Labour rosette, he would, likewise, have become their
MP. Had Blair carried any other rosette, he would have been rejected.
The citizens of Sedgefield were not, on balance, voting for Blair.
On the death of John Smith, the Labour Party held an internal election
to choose a new leader. Tony Blair – as himself, one presumes – was
chosen; but only as leader of the Labour Party, not leader of Britain.
(Is not a “leader” in a democracy, a non-sequitur?)
At the following election, the Labour Party was returned to power. The
part played by Tony Blair was not measurable and is unknown. What is
undisputed is that the Tories actively lost the election. If Labour had
been led by Mr Blobby, they probably would still have triumphed against
such a weakened foe. At most, Blair was only a factor.
In General Elections that took place after Blair became PM, there seems
to be a confusion (often disingenuous) over whether the voters voted
“Blair” or “Labour”.
I am of the opinion that, even in Sedgefield, had Blair become
“independent”, the replacement candidate wearing the Labour rosette
would have trounced him.
The public at large seem not to realise that: out of a
presumed-democratic process, a leader will emerge who has almost
presidential power at home and abroad.
Tony Blair has proved to be an “extreme case”; he has emerged as
wilful, insular and
strangely driven. This stands as A WARNING.
An honest overview of Tony Blair’s rise to power shows that we did not
vote for this man to take and wield the powers he has, in the way that
he has. This illuminates a flawed system that needs correction.
In future, if one individual is, again, to be elevated to almost
absolute power, it is vital that we who are to be “ruled” should be
well informed of the aspirant’s most hidden proclivities beforehand.
Any prime minister with an undemocratic self-belief – paradoxically
just the character-type who gains such office – needs to be closely
controlled (or ruled out).
4.3.07
The
Elephant In The Room
(A Just So Story.)
Long, long ago, on some lost land-mass, bathed in an ocean
unremembered, clever monkeys rode lumbering beasts – much as the
mahouts, today, ride the elephant. And because the beasts did all the
necessary work, and all the apes had to do was instruct them, the
beasts became more agile; while the monkeys lost the power of movement.
Imperceptibly, as time passed, the two fused; the mind of the monkey
evolved to ever greater cleverness and the beast stood up on its hind
legs growing hands where front feet had been before – but they were
still beasts. This, my children, we call evolution.
The beast remained strong and lusty, much motivated by the baser things
of life, and the monkey, now reduced to a smart brain, did clever
thinking and wonderful art and construction, courtesy of the new hands
allied to strength and agility.
But cleverness is the enemy of wisdom, and the monkey brain lost all
track of the beast below; it took to calling itself “I”. In losing
track, it lost respect. The clever brain lured the beast away from the
earth it loved and from its natural ways, suppressed and perverted its
procreative urge, ultimately denying its existence. Whenever the brains
gathered for one of their interminable “brainstorming” meetings, in one
of their high-rise offices, they would sometimes mention “the elephant
in the room” but they had no inkling that they, themselves, embodied
that “elephant”. The farther they strayed from Nature, the more
deranged the beast of them became. In its growing madness it would
annexe the monkey brain and engage in bizarre pursuits that the brains,
in their clever convoluted way, found enticing and yet reprehensible -
even punishable - at one and the same time. So it was, my children,
that you came to be where you are today. Time is running out. Engage
with your beast, see to its needs, or one day soon you may feel it
trampling on its own head.
3.3.07
A L P
We of the Sperm and Ovum Alliance, feel it
is time to take a stand against assisted life-prevention; we have
remained silent long enough.
Assisted Life Prevention (previously
Cop-outia) is widely practiced by those “I’m alright Jack” egg-sperm
combinants who have already gained access to life.
They are known to use laissez faire
management in the case of eggs and blatant mis-direction or entrapment
– even resorting to poison – in the case of sperm.
We realise that our task of re-education
will not be an easy one; we have a mountain to climb. But we are many;
we are viable (well . . .) and prepared to jump any gap, overcome any
barrier and promote any lust – however dormant – to achieve our aim of
Total Expression.
Egg and sperm of the world – UNITE. You have
nothing to lose but your ignominy.
13.5.06
Weakness
and Evil
Joseph Rowntree, when founding his
Charitable Trust, called on us to seek out the fundamental causes of
weakness and evil in human society. It is my considered conclusion,
that our greatest weakness is our persistent avoidance of our true
state; leading to the evil of unnecessary failure in creating a
worthwhile existence for ourselves – but more poignantly – for our
children.
Evolutionarily we are animals. I see us as the elephant, ridden and
“controlled” by a tiny mahout or the canine-clad carnivore under the
“command” of an over-dressed human. Most of our acts are animal;
sleeping, eating, excreting, mating, communing, fighting. Human
activity: farming, industry, education, trade, politics; these are
constantly subverted by the animal below.
Then there is war; still with us after
thousands of years of recorded “civilisation”.
And religion, still unresolved as to which
one is true.
It would be problem enough, if the little bit of humanity doomed, by
evolution, to rely on a substrate of animal nature, was an “individual”
as often pronounced.
But the terrible truth is that our
“individual” emerges from the long process of “growing up” as a
triplet; the better that two of them might spend their lives at odds! I
refer here to Berne’s theory of “Parent” “Adult” and “Child”: divisions
of human function (ego states). Only the “Adult” third is really going
to help us get free of the animal and all his works, but first it must
develop, and take command. Just one third of a tiny fraction of each of
us can, potentially, save the day.
So: here’s the plan. First we admit humanity
(higher-than-animal-function) is a scarce commodity, as we are really
masquerading animals (apes confused by language); then we admit how
little control we have over the animal. Following that, we optimise the
Adult in each “individual” by teaching philosophy, psychology
(non-absolute disciplines) while emphasising respect for our animal
substrate. Finally we get all the tiny adults, while still riding their
animals and placating their Parent and Child, to join hands round the
world and sing a song of success.
E-PIPHANY?
I told them at Newbury racecourse - there
was puzzled silence.
I said there is a new mood in this country -
I was wrong.
The new mood is in France and Holland too.
We have been pushed too far - one stupid
directive too many.
Was it Tony’s war that woke the people from
slumber? Bless you Tony.
Or did a little boy say something obvious
like: “The Emperor has no clothes on!”
No matter - Europe is saying “enough!”
Tony and the Straw Man say we have to ask
why the French and Dutch said “no”.
But they are just a couple of tailors
pulling the wool.
The Clapham Omnibus, it seems, is now routed
right through Europe.
After all this time, the proverbial man on
it has hit the bell for “Stop!”
We were headed for Chaos - I feel like the
butterfly’s wing.
But I didn’t flap - I was unaccountably
cool. It just came out unrehearsed.
Oh how I long to see a verbal
tar-and-feathering of these crazy leaders.
Let us be Islanders again. Let us talk of
“French leave” and “Dutch courage”
while they reply with “the English disease”
and call our Channel “la Manche!”
So what? We can still be friends. Only
visionary zealots start wars (and Mr Jenkins).
Time to go Tony. Time too for an end to
party politics and “Cult of the Leader”,
visionaries, pretty straight kinds of guy,
and those who receive truth with a gleaming eye.
Let’s have substance before style.
Sanguinity not speeches. Rationality not rhetoric.
Charisma is a dirty lady - her sons play
dirty tricks; the sharpest of cards.
Let every country find its Sage. One of
integrity, honour, wisdom and sincerity
without ambition, greed or the need for
status, approval and title.
Let them confer until they can say with one
voice:
"We have seen the future - and it works."
2.06.05 mod 21.8.05
Spirit and
Sludge
Education is like distillation. You chuck
everything in a pot (called
school) apply energy (called teaching) and out the top comes "spirit"
with loads of qualifications.
But out the bottom comes SLUDGE. (Should
this seem harsh, let me say I
gravitated inexorably during much of my schooling.)
Spirit-folk run everything acceptable to
society, from Parliament to
prisons, and rarely have an inkling of what it is to be sludge. They
ignore the rare elements and gems hidden, unsuspected therein.
Typically, sludge-folk run nothing, not even
their own lives. They
survive through crime and welfare - a burden to all the spirited ones -
who seem, paradoxically, too stupid to realise this. Perhaps it is to
do with emotional intelligence.
Until we see the factors of spirit and
sludge as two EQUAL products of
school - AS CURRENTLY STRUCTURED - all the down-stream tinkering to
control or uplift the sludge-folk will be never-ending.
If we must continue with institutional
schooling, to feed Mammon (an
un-asked question in its own right) then I suggest that those who are
suited to the school ethos should be "given the tools" and left to
finish the job. The bulk of the education budget, and effort, could
then be put to understanding and uplifting the sludge-folk.
Written 7.3.06
Posted mid May 2006
Smoking Madness
Smoking is madness.
Smokers use the immense area of their delicate lung tissue to get a
“hit” of nicotine. The nicotine is dispersed in air, as a “cocktail”,
with thousands of other chemicals, many of which enter the bloodstream
doing widespread damage to the body. The Law demands 14 kinds of
illness and death be displayed on the packs. This is madness.
The greater madness is a
government busy making “fine” judgements in the matter of just where it
is in order for this lunacy to be enacted. Patricia Hewitt approves of
smoking in private clubs as they are “similar to the private home“!
Yet: if you have a less-than-perfect gas appliance, in either location,
they cut your gas, and stick tape all over the place - for fear of
fume. But you may legally smoke yourself, others and even a hapless
baby, into ill health and death, if you choose your venue with care,
This is madness.
THIS IS MADNESS. THIS IS
MADNESS!
Written 14.02.06
Posted mid May 2006
The
Twelve Days of Smoking
In celebration of Great Britain: Leader of
the Civilised World, who poisons her own people.
On the first day of smoking my packet said to me:
Does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the second day of smoking my packet said to me:
Old crinkly skin
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the third day of smoking my packet said to me:
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the fourth day of smoking my packet said to me:
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin;
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the fifth day of smoking my packet said to me:
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin;
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the sixth day of smoking my packet said to me:
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin;
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the seventh day of smoking my packet said to me:
Heart and lung diseases
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin;
And does harm to your pre-egnancy
On the eighth day of smoking my packet said to me:
Clogs up your art’ries
Heart and lung diseases
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin;
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the ninth day of smoking my packet said to me:
At-tacks your children
Clogs up your art’ries
Heart and lung diseases
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O’old crinkly skin:
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the tenth day of smoking my packet said to me:
Smo-kers die younger
At-tacks your children
Clogs up your art’ries
Heart and lung diseases
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin;
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the eleventh day of smoking my packet said to me:
Cocktail of poisons
Smo-kers die younger
At-tacks your children
Clogs up your art’ries
Heart and lung diseases
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin
And does harm to your pre-egnancy.
On the twelfth day of smoking my packet said to me:
Highly addictive
Cocktail of poisons
Smo-kers die younger
At-tacks your children
Clogs up your art’ries
Heart and lung diseases
Causes fatal cancer
SLOW - PAINFUL - DEATH!
Damaged sper-erm count
Im-po-tence
O-old crinkly skin
And does harm to your pre-eg-nan-cy.
Posted mid May 2006
Women in
Parliament
I wonder if Mr Blair is beginning to have
second thoughts about women
in politics?
In a Radio4 programme, Estelle Morris
said that on telling Tony
Blair of her intention to resign (on grounds of integrity as she had
made a pledge to The House) she quoted him as saying she need not, as
“there are ways”.
Now Clare Short has told the world that we
bugged Kofi Annan’s office
when the US wanted to get over the problem of six nations dissenting
about going to war; even saying she had seen a transcript of such
bugging.
So our “straight guy” Prime Minister would appear to be a master of
dirty tricks on all fronts. Further, he came close to name-calling,
when asked about Clare Short.
I wonder if there are any more lurking ladies in the Labour ranks,
close to saturation with double-speak, hypocrisy and dishonesty? It
would be sweet, indeed, if he were brought down by the product of his
all-women short list policy.
Of late, I have watched and listened to the male-aping of women members
with horror and dismay. Could it be that the worm has turned in those
who will not sell out womanhood?
Let it be!
Written Feb ‘04
Posted 3.5.06
PAIN (An appeal.)
I want to tell you about Tony.
Tony suffers from a condition known as PAIN.
Personal Aggrandizement Insatiable Need
syndrome.
This is a disorder of
early-years-deprivation, causing
a lifelong need for seniority and approval.
It is highly probable that Tony did not get
the approval he needed
as a child, such that his self-esteem was
damaged.
It is an incurable condition, leading to a
desperate search for
ever-higher-status and, where a coveted
position is already taken,
a tendency to abject fawning.
We at the Society for an End to Pain, are
dedicated to doing all we can
to find a solution for Tony (and the causes
of Tony).
Please write, direct to Tony, telling him
you are sure he is the
Messiah.
If we can convince him of his divinity, the
problem will be solved.
He will move on.
As for the wider problem: At election, vet
your candidates for personal
ambition.
Ambition invariable goes on to develop into
full blown PAIN.
Remember our slogan: “NO PAIN - WE ALL GAIN.”
Thank you.
Posted 3.5.06
Highway
Code 2007 (DSA)
I am both disappointed and dismayed by the new (2007) Highway Code.
The lack of practicality and pragmatism in the earlier edition,
persists in this one, specifically with regard to (1) road-crossing by
pedestrians where a cycle track impinges, (2) mini roundabouts and (3)
motorways i.e. entering the motorway and approaching an entry slip
while on the motorway.
The observations below are hardly contentious as I see canny road users
apply them on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the less than canny, can
be seen causing havoc.
(1)Where a pavement is divided for pedestrian and foot use, it
seems usual that the lane nearest to the road is the cycle lane –
although, on meeting a side-turning the lowered curb “addresses” the
pedestrian (inner) lane, causing cyclists to move across.
A pedestrian wishing to cross a busy road must stand in the cycle lane
and keep an eye on cycle traffic while looking for a chance to cross
the carriageway as well.
Should the cycle lane be on the opposite side, it is even more tricky,
as one has to judge the traffic and
ones “arrival” among cycles.
Cycles seem to have no speed restriction yet a heavy individual,
travelling fast, can do a lot of harm. Recently cars have been made
“impact friendly” but cycles are a mass of projections.
(2)In the Code, instructions for full-sized roundabouts include
some “use your common sense” advice – specifically: do not assume your
right of passage will be honoured by others. However, instructions for
mini roundabouts are minimal, yet these give rise to many a
misunderstanding and much is left unsaid.
e.g. At what point, when entering, does one cease to give way?
Clearly “give way to vehicles from the right applies without question
when such vehicles are about to
enter the roundabout but what if I am already into its
delineated space or the approaching car is “some distance” away? What
should each driver do?
More complexity arises when the mini roundabout is on a T-junction; two
cars approaching directly across the top of the “T”. Before either has
entered the delineated space, if one is signalling to turn right, does
that equate to “approaching from the right” for the other?
Entering a mini roundabout from a blind position, say: from a side road
into a major one, is fraught in the absence of clarification of the
above.
When a mini roundabout is offset, to drive right round it, when making
a right turn, can offer counter-intuitive positional and directional
inference to an on-coming driver, even though signalling is clear. It
is vital to take this into account when turning across.
(3)When attempting to enter a saturated motorway from a busy slip
road, it is vital not to slow, stop or “push in”. The only option left,
is to drive down the hard shoulder until a viable opportunity occurs
for “insertion”. As 276 of the Code allows build-up of speed on the
hard shoulder, after being stationery, this option is clearly
acceptable and the safe alternative.
In keeping with the preceding point, drivers on the motorway should be positively directed (with due
regard to safety) to facilitate entry of vehicles on the in-slip, by
signalling and moving into the next lane when possible. This would be
facilitated by appropriate signage on the motorway.
I am not aware that any of the above points are covered in the Code.
This raises the question: who is consulted for the revision? I
have been driving for 50 years; all weathers, all distances, day,
night, fog, rain, flood, ice, snow. There must be many others equally
experienced. Were they asked? Did they make no comment in a similar
vein to mine?
2.9.07
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©
2006 Barrie Singleton. All
rights reserved.
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