Looking back over the last year, one of the nicest things has been the emergence of an informal Spanish speaking group on a Wednesday evening at a local bar. There are usually a few English and a few Spanish, and one Catalan (he is definitely not Spanish!)
Unlike most groups in pubs and bars the people who come for a chat, this little group has a large age range, the youngest and the oldest of the regulars being fifty years or so apart.
From our schooldays onwards we are segregated in age bands, and this age segregation is re-inforced by the media. In times gone by it was normal for people to live, work and meet together. Only in advanced Patriarchy has this division, so natural in a world of bosses and servants, of social and economic grading, been introduced, keeping us segregated by our age.
Over the years I have very lucky that the nature of my work has kept me in touch with the very elderly and the very young, those with wealth and influence, and those with none, but I am aware that this is unusual.
It does us all good to get together as equals. Divide and rule is the aim of those in Power. Men and women, old and young, are not aliens to each other. The most revolutionary thing we can do, apart from opting out of the power structure as much as possible, is to get together as much as possible. There are no gradations in Paradise. We are all the children of Adam and Eve.
Monday 30 December 2013
Sunday 29 December 2013
Christmas Gifts
Mary Malone writes:
Christmas is a big excuse for keeping in touch with family and old friends, but it is much more than that. Christmas is the season when we give gifts to each other.
In a Patriarchal society giving to each other is not normal. Indeed, giving freely is rather frowned upon, as giving does not help the economy, the Economy of Control, grow. Those who give freely are disparaged as being a bit simple or a bit stupid, or perhaps devious, deviant, and self-seeking. People are encouraged to buy and sell, and to pay taxes. Only the State has the right to take our resources through taxation and redistribute them to those whose support it wishes to gain or those it wishes to weaken by creating habits of dependency - such as foreign governments and mothers.
The Patriarchal economy is the economy of Hierarchy - a mixture of the exchange economy and the command economy. It is enforced with egotism and violence.
In the past fifty years we have seen women brought under Patriarchal domination as never before. In the two hundred years up to the Second World War the great Liberal project was to smash the autonomous power of the peasantry, whether they be Chinese, African, Russian, Scots Highlanders or Red Indians through land expropriation, taxation and conscription of men into armies and forced labour. In the past fifty years or so we have seen the assimilation of women into the Patriarchy, through the destruction of the family and the monetarization of both domestic activity and the care of the young and old and sick.
Our grandmothers lived almost entirely within matriarchal parameters - theirs was a gift economy. They were not paid in money - tax tokens - and except for what they were given by their husbands, they lived cash free existences. They cared for the young and the old, they grew food and cooked food, washed clothes, mended clothes, made clothes.
The Gift Economy was at the centre of women's existence. In her children she gave the future to the human race.
Women's natural activity, her giving, is central to human life. Woman's Gift is the core of human society. It is the Gift of Love, not the Exchange of Egotism, nor the Demand of Domination.It is the Gift that is the absolute essential for our well-being, both woman and man alike.
The agents of the State, the Vichy Feminists and their fellow travellers, the ideologues of the overseer class, forever seek to belittle the Gift. They seek to replace it with their own degradation, that of reward and punishment, that of compulsion.
At Christmas time we celebrate the Economy of the Poor, the God of the Powerless, the Gift of Woman, the Gift of Our Lady, the Mother of God.
Christmas is a big excuse for keeping in touch with family and old friends, but it is much more than that. Christmas is the season when we give gifts to each other.
In a Patriarchal society giving to each other is not normal. Indeed, giving freely is rather frowned upon, as giving does not help the economy, the Economy of Control, grow. Those who give freely are disparaged as being a bit simple or a bit stupid, or perhaps devious, deviant, and self-seeking. People are encouraged to buy and sell, and to pay taxes. Only the State has the right to take our resources through taxation and redistribute them to those whose support it wishes to gain or those it wishes to weaken by creating habits of dependency - such as foreign governments and mothers.
The Patriarchal economy is the economy of Hierarchy - a mixture of the exchange economy and the command economy. It is enforced with egotism and violence.
In the past fifty years we have seen women brought under Patriarchal domination as never before. In the two hundred years up to the Second World War the great Liberal project was to smash the autonomous power of the peasantry, whether they be Chinese, African, Russian, Scots Highlanders or Red Indians through land expropriation, taxation and conscription of men into armies and forced labour. In the past fifty years or so we have seen the assimilation of women into the Patriarchy, through the destruction of the family and the monetarization of both domestic activity and the care of the young and old and sick.
Our grandmothers lived almost entirely within matriarchal parameters - theirs was a gift economy. They were not paid in money - tax tokens - and except for what they were given by their husbands, they lived cash free existences. They cared for the young and the old, they grew food and cooked food, washed clothes, mended clothes, made clothes.
The Gift Economy was at the centre of women's existence. In her children she gave the future to the human race.
Women's natural activity, her giving, is central to human life. Woman's Gift is the core of human society. It is the Gift of Love, not the Exchange of Egotism, nor the Demand of Domination.It is the Gift that is the absolute essential for our well-being, both woman and man alike.
The agents of the State, the Vichy Feminists and their fellow travellers, the ideologues of the overseer class, forever seek to belittle the Gift. They seek to replace it with their own degradation, that of reward and punishment, that of compulsion.
At Christmas time we celebrate the Economy of the Poor, the God of the Powerless, the Gift of Woman, the Gift of Our Lady, the Mother of God.
Saturday 28 December 2013
A Verse On Sunday
The Gospel according to John, Chapter 1, verse 2:
'The same was in the beginning with God.'
Jesus was with God in the beginning, whenever that was, an idea our mortal minds find difficult to grasp. But what is clear is that Jesus is not a creature of God. He was not made by God, like you and me. Jesus is God. He is of the essence of God. What God is, so is he.
Throughout the years there have been many sects that have tried to claim that Jesus is a creature like you and me, but the idea is farcical. He is a man, yes, but not a creature. How can a creature, obsessed with self and survival, in a world of compromise and sin, be the perfect Son of God? His sacrificial love, his perfect suffering, his boundless love, was pleasing to his Father. How can a sinful human do anything so great that he could pay for the sins of the world, that he could set us free from the chains of sin?
Jesus Christ, the Word was in the beginning with God.
'The same was in the beginning with God.'
Jesus was with God in the beginning, whenever that was, an idea our mortal minds find difficult to grasp. But what is clear is that Jesus is not a creature of God. He was not made by God, like you and me. Jesus is God. He is of the essence of God. What God is, so is he.
Throughout the years there have been many sects that have tried to claim that Jesus is a creature like you and me, but the idea is farcical. He is a man, yes, but not a creature. How can a creature, obsessed with self and survival, in a world of compromise and sin, be the perfect Son of God? His sacrificial love, his perfect suffering, his boundless love, was pleasing to his Father. How can a sinful human do anything so great that he could pay for the sins of the world, that he could set us free from the chains of sin?
Jesus Christ, the Word was in the beginning with God.
Friday 27 December 2013
Charles Haddon Spurgeon - The Incarnation
'Our Lord Jesus Christ is, in some senses, more completely man than Adam ever was. Adam was not born; he was created as a man. Adam never had to struggle through the risks and weaknesses of infancy; he knew not the littlenesses of childhood, - he was full-grown at once. Father Adam could not sympathize with me as a babe and a child: but He is cradled with us, He accompanies in the pains, and feebleness, and infirmities of infancy, and He continues with us even to the grave.'
'That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful - they are of our own race; but that He, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon Himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and then should be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvellous.'
'There are some points in which no one man is all that manhood is; but Jesus was the summary of all manhood. I might also venture to say that he had about him the whole nature of mankind, as it respects the mental conformation of both man and woman, for he was as tender as a woman though as strong as a man. Holy women, as much as godly men, find in Jesus all that is in their own souls. There is nothing effeminate in him, and yet all the loveliness which is feminine; read his life-story and see. He was a man in the broadest sense of the term, taking up the whole genus.'
'You must not transform his humanity into deity: his deity is everywhere, but his substantial humanity can only be in its proper place, and to suppose it to be everywhere is virtually to deny that it is anywhere.'
'He, on whom all worlds are hanging, hangs upon a woman's breast. He must do that, or he cannot put away sin.'
'That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful - they are of our own race; but that He, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon Himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and then should be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvellous.'
'There are some points in which no one man is all that manhood is; but Jesus was the summary of all manhood. I might also venture to say that he had about him the whole nature of mankind, as it respects the mental conformation of both man and woman, for he was as tender as a woman though as strong as a man. Holy women, as much as godly men, find in Jesus all that is in their own souls. There is nothing effeminate in him, and yet all the loveliness which is feminine; read his life-story and see. He was a man in the broadest sense of the term, taking up the whole genus.'
'You must not transform his humanity into deity: his deity is everywhere, but his substantial humanity can only be in its proper place, and to suppose it to be everywhere is virtually to deny that it is anywhere.'
'He, on whom all worlds are hanging, hangs upon a woman's breast. He must do that, or he cannot put away sin.'
Thursday 26 December 2013
Together At Christmas
Mary Malone writes;
I hope you have had a lovely Christmas. I have had a wonderful time here with my husband, my two daughters and three sons, not to mention visits from uncles and aunts, cousins, and Granny and Grandad. Santa Claus turned up too, with a few presents for everyone.
I cooked an enormous Christmas dinner. My mother and my daughters were a great help. The boys were having fun too, playing with their train set, their father teaching them the art of being hairy and masculine.
There are plenty of people who aren't as blessed as I am. They are lonely not just at Christmas, but all year too. Even when they are living with other people, people seem so lonely these days. Here in our house, we may not be very rich, and all of us except the youngest has to share a room, but I like to think that we actually live together.
As a Feminist, a woman who believes in the equality of the two genders, and the greater importance of women than men, it saddens me to see the destructive power of the Patriarchal State, willingly abetted by all those phoney Vichy Feminists who are hooked on power and domination.
We must never forget the destructive power of the State and the Vichy Feminist ideology. It is important to know our enemies. They come to us with their smiley concerned faces but they only want to control us. Never trust a bureaucrat, I always say. Never trust anyone who works for the State or Local Government.
Divide and Rule is their game.
Segregation is the path of absolute triumph for the State. First the young people are separated from the adults, the children from the grown ups, older people are marginalised from society, and men and women are increasingly kept apart, so that everyone, isolated and alone, diminished, irresponsible and driven mad by lack of social experience can be subdued and dominated by the institutions of power.
So let's get revolutionary! Let's get together, everyone, old and young, girls and boys. Love your families, be together. Together we can rebuild Society and destroy the Patriarchal State!
I hope you have had a lovely Christmas. I have had a wonderful time here with my husband, my two daughters and three sons, not to mention visits from uncles and aunts, cousins, and Granny and Grandad. Santa Claus turned up too, with a few presents for everyone.
I cooked an enormous Christmas dinner. My mother and my daughters were a great help. The boys were having fun too, playing with their train set, their father teaching them the art of being hairy and masculine.
There are plenty of people who aren't as blessed as I am. They are lonely not just at Christmas, but all year too. Even when they are living with other people, people seem so lonely these days. Here in our house, we may not be very rich, and all of us except the youngest has to share a room, but I like to think that we actually live together.
As a Feminist, a woman who believes in the equality of the two genders, and the greater importance of women than men, it saddens me to see the destructive power of the Patriarchal State, willingly abetted by all those phoney Vichy Feminists who are hooked on power and domination.
We must never forget the destructive power of the State and the Vichy Feminist ideology. It is important to know our enemies. They come to us with their smiley concerned faces but they only want to control us. Never trust a bureaucrat, I always say. Never trust anyone who works for the State or Local Government.
Divide and Rule is their game.
Segregation is the path of absolute triumph for the State. First the young people are separated from the adults, the children from the grown ups, older people are marginalised from society, and men and women are increasingly kept apart, so that everyone, isolated and alone, diminished, irresponsible and driven mad by lack of social experience can be subdued and dominated by the institutions of power.
So let's get revolutionary! Let's get together, everyone, old and young, girls and boys. Love your families, be together. Together we can rebuild Society and destroy the Patriarchal State!
Wednesday 25 December 2013
But One King
John Ball writes;
A free people needs but one King, Jesus Christ, and but one Priest, Jesus Christ.
Those who wield the power of expropriated violence, the lords of this earth and their stooges like to speak to us at Christmas. They address us in condescending and lying tones. These days they even smile at us. Both the new pope of Rome, Papa Francesco, and the new Archbishop of Vichy, Justin Welby, wear the same goofy lying grin, the smiley face of the oppressor. They smile and they wave and they make pious statements about economic injustice, as if they do not know that wealth follows earthly power, a power that they are dedicated to uphold. It is the distribution of power, not the distribution of wealth that is the problem.
Like the Bolsheviks, the Prelates of Power believe they can introduce equality of wealth whilst stealing people's power. But the end result is always death and destruction.
The solutions of these Priests Of Hierarchy are no better than Lenin's. They are unable to forego earthly power. But in one sense they go further than Lenin. Lenin wanted to steal the power of the peasantry, the Prelates of Power want to steal the power of God. Fortunately, God I'll never allow this to happen. They can only steal an illusion.
So, ignore the imposters, love God, obey God, live in peace with your neighbour if you can, and pray to God that the white Wolves of Power may howl in the wind far away from your door.
A free people needs but one King, Jesus Christ, and but one Priest, Jesus Christ.
Those who wield the power of expropriated violence, the lords of this earth and their stooges like to speak to us at Christmas. They address us in condescending and lying tones. These days they even smile at us. Both the new pope of Rome, Papa Francesco, and the new Archbishop of Vichy, Justin Welby, wear the same goofy lying grin, the smiley face of the oppressor. They smile and they wave and they make pious statements about economic injustice, as if they do not know that wealth follows earthly power, a power that they are dedicated to uphold. It is the distribution of power, not the distribution of wealth that is the problem.
Like the Bolsheviks, the Prelates of Power believe they can introduce equality of wealth whilst stealing people's power. But the end result is always death and destruction.
The solutions of these Priests Of Hierarchy are no better than Lenin's. They are unable to forego earthly power. But in one sense they go further than Lenin. Lenin wanted to steal the power of the peasantry, the Prelates of Power want to steal the power of God. Fortunately, God I'll never allow this to happen. They can only steal an illusion.
So, ignore the imposters, love God, obey God, live in peace with your neighbour if you can, and pray to God that the white Wolves of Power may howl in the wind far away from your door.
In The Bleak Midwinter
In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him,
Not earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay
Enough for Him whom angels
Fall down before
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give Him
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
Yet what can I give Him,
Give my heart.
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him,
Not earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay
Enough for Him whom angels
Fall down before
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give Him
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
Yet what can I give Him,
Give my heart.
Monday 23 December 2013
Christmas Eve - One Of Us
John Ball writes;
This is a world of Popes and Princes, of soldiers and politicians and thieves, scoundrels who dress up their crime with all kinds of fancy uniforms and medals and robes. But Jesus Christ, when he walked the earth was not one of the oppressors - he was one of us. He wore no tiara except the Crown of Thorns of the common man. He completely rejected the power of this world, a power that falsely calls itself Authority, but which, in reality, is based on nothing but deception, the weasal words of priests and propagandists, the self interested morality of caring institutions designed to protect the powerful from the hordes.
The Ten Commandments was the Law of a free people, a people like our own ancestors, the Saxons, who before the imposition of the Norman Yoke ran their own societies without overlords and priests. Our ancestors were 'Germans', that is 'brothers' and Authority came from the people.
But the feudal thugs and the lying priests joined forces to form a military bureaucratic complex. The false authority of the rulers came from the lying priests, - no longer from us, the people.
The rulers learnt to hate the people, because they are parasites, and they hate our self-sufficiency and our love. These perverts only know domination and they are all around us today.
So remember this - Jesus Christ is one of us. He came not to tax us nor to tithe us, nor to set up institutions with bureaucracies and police forces with their guns and batons and chemical coshes and their universal compulsory brainwashing for our poor bairns.
Celebrate Christmas because through the darkness the Word of Freedom shines on. God Himself is made flesh - in the form of a powerless common man, and it is his supreme lack of earthly power which makes him the Son of Man, and pleases God to give our Lord supreme Authority.
This is a world of Popes and Princes, of soldiers and politicians and thieves, scoundrels who dress up their crime with all kinds of fancy uniforms and medals and robes. But Jesus Christ, when he walked the earth was not one of the oppressors - he was one of us. He wore no tiara except the Crown of Thorns of the common man. He completely rejected the power of this world, a power that falsely calls itself Authority, but which, in reality, is based on nothing but deception, the weasal words of priests and propagandists, the self interested morality of caring institutions designed to protect the powerful from the hordes.
The Ten Commandments was the Law of a free people, a people like our own ancestors, the Saxons, who before the imposition of the Norman Yoke ran their own societies without overlords and priests. Our ancestors were 'Germans', that is 'brothers' and Authority came from the people.
But the feudal thugs and the lying priests joined forces to form a military bureaucratic complex. The false authority of the rulers came from the lying priests, - no longer from us, the people.
The rulers learnt to hate the people, because they are parasites, and they hate our self-sufficiency and our love. These perverts only know domination and they are all around us today.
So remember this - Jesus Christ is one of us. He came not to tax us nor to tithe us, nor to set up institutions with bureaucracies and police forces with their guns and batons and chemical coshes and their universal compulsory brainwashing for our poor bairns.
Celebrate Christmas because through the darkness the Word of Freedom shines on. God Himself is made flesh - in the form of a powerless common man, and it is his supreme lack of earthly power which makes him the Son of Man, and pleases God to give our Lord supreme Authority.
Sunday 22 December 2013
Lord Byron - To Inez
From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:
'Nay, smile not at my sullen brow,
Alas! I cannot smile again:
Yet Heaven avert that ever thou
Shouldst weep, and haply weep in vain.
And dost thou ask what secret woe
I bear, corroding joy and youth?
And wilt thou vainly seek to know
A pang even thou must fail to soothe?
It is not love, it is not hate,
Nor low Ambition's honours lost,
That bids me loathe my present state,
And fly from all I prized the most.
It is that weariness that springs
From all I meet, or hear, or see:
To me no pleasure Beauty brings;
Thine eyes have scarce a charm for me.
It is that settled, ceaseless gloom
The fabled Hebrew wanderer bare,
That will not look beyond the tomb,
But cannot hope for rest before.
What exile from himself can flee?
To zones, though more and more remote,
Still, still pursues, where'er I be,
The blight of life......the demon Thought.
Yet others rapt in pleasure seem,
And taste of all that I forsake:
Oh! may they still of transport dream,
And ne'er, at least like me, awake!
Through many a clime 'tis mine to go,
With many a retrospection curst,
And all my solace is to know,
Whate'er betides, I've known the worst.
What is that worst? Nay, do not ask......
In pity from the search forbear:
Smile on........nor venture to unmask
Man's heart, and view the hell that's there.
'Nay, smile not at my sullen brow,
Alas! I cannot smile again:
Yet Heaven avert that ever thou
Shouldst weep, and haply weep in vain.
And dost thou ask what secret woe
I bear, corroding joy and youth?
And wilt thou vainly seek to know
A pang even thou must fail to soothe?
It is not love, it is not hate,
Nor low Ambition's honours lost,
That bids me loathe my present state,
And fly from all I prized the most.
It is that weariness that springs
From all I meet, or hear, or see:
To me no pleasure Beauty brings;
Thine eyes have scarce a charm for me.
It is that settled, ceaseless gloom
The fabled Hebrew wanderer bare,
That will not look beyond the tomb,
But cannot hope for rest before.
What exile from himself can flee?
To zones, though more and more remote,
Still, still pursues, where'er I be,
The blight of life......the demon Thought.
Yet others rapt in pleasure seem,
And taste of all that I forsake:
Oh! may they still of transport dream,
And ne'er, at least like me, awake!
Through many a clime 'tis mine to go,
With many a retrospection curst,
And all my solace is to know,
Whate'er betides, I've known the worst.
What is that worst? Nay, do not ask......
In pity from the search forbear:
Smile on........nor venture to unmask
Man's heart, and view the hell that's there.
Saturday 21 December 2013
A Verse On Sunday
The Gospel According To John, Chapter 1, Verse 1.
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'
Jesus Christ, our Lord is the Word. The Word gives meaning, form, ownership. God gave Adam the gift of speech, to give names to all creatures and all things of this earth. The animals, who cannot speak, can only relate to something else from the perspective of their own appetite. A creature might be something to eat, or something which might eat the animal. A stone or a river is simply an obstacle.
But mankind, through the gift of speech, knows meaning. And Jesus is the original Word, who was with God and was God, right at the beginning.
It is Jesus, God Himself, who brings meaning out of chaos, who brings life and love and form and harmony to a mass of nothing, whose love redeems us from an eternity of animal egotism.
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'
Jesus Christ, our Lord is the Word. The Word gives meaning, form, ownership. God gave Adam the gift of speech, to give names to all creatures and all things of this earth. The animals, who cannot speak, can only relate to something else from the perspective of their own appetite. A creature might be something to eat, or something which might eat the animal. A stone or a river is simply an obstacle.
But mankind, through the gift of speech, knows meaning. And Jesus is the original Word, who was with God and was God, right at the beginning.
It is Jesus, God Himself, who brings meaning out of chaos, who brings life and love and form and harmony to a mass of nothing, whose love redeems us from an eternity of animal egotism.
Friday 20 December 2013
Ivan Illich - A Life
From 'Brave New Biocracy':
'What I fear is that the abstract, secular notion of 'a life' will be sacralized, thereby making it possible that this spectral entity will progressively replace the notion of 'a person' in which the humanism of Western individualism is anchored. 'A life' is amenable to management, to improvement and to evaluation in a way which is unthinkable when we speak of 'a person'. The transmogrification of a person into 'a life' is a lethal operation, as dangerous as reaching out for the tree of life in the time of Adam and Eve.'
''A life' is the most powerful idol the church has had to face in the course of its history. More than the ideology of empire or feudal order, more than nationalism or progress, more than nationalism or progress, more than gnosticism or Enlightenment, the acceptance of 'a Life' as a God given reality lends itself to a new corruption of the Christian faith.'
'When the Lord announced to Martha 'I am Life' he did not say 'I am a Life.' He says 'I am Life', tout court. This Life has its historical roots in the revelation that one human person, Jesus, is also God. This one Life is the substance of Martha's faith. In the Christian tradition, we hope to receive this Life as a gift; and we hope to share it. We know that Life was given to us on the Cross and we cannot seek it except on the Via Crucis. This life is gratuitous, beyond and above having been born and living. But, as Augustine and Luther constantly stress, it is a gift without which being alive would be dust.'
'What I fear is that the abstract, secular notion of 'a life' will be sacralized, thereby making it possible that this spectral entity will progressively replace the notion of 'a person' in which the humanism of Western individualism is anchored. 'A life' is amenable to management, to improvement and to evaluation in a way which is unthinkable when we speak of 'a person'. The transmogrification of a person into 'a life' is a lethal operation, as dangerous as reaching out for the tree of life in the time of Adam and Eve.'
''A life' is the most powerful idol the church has had to face in the course of its history. More than the ideology of empire or feudal order, more than nationalism or progress, more than nationalism or progress, more than gnosticism or Enlightenment, the acceptance of 'a Life' as a God given reality lends itself to a new corruption of the Christian faith.'
'When the Lord announced to Martha 'I am Life' he did not say 'I am a Life.' He says 'I am Life', tout court. This Life has its historical roots in the revelation that one human person, Jesus, is also God. This one Life is the substance of Martha's faith. In the Christian tradition, we hope to receive this Life as a gift; and we hope to share it. We know that Life was given to us on the Cross and we cannot seek it except on the Via Crucis. This life is gratuitous, beyond and above having been born and living. But, as Augustine and Luther constantly stress, it is a gift without which being alive would be dust.'
Thursday 19 December 2013
Mary's Boy Child
Mary Malone writes:
A Merry Christmas to all you girls and boys who avidly read the blogs I write for my friend Revolting, and especially to those of you who have bought my books, 'The Denial of Woman,' 'Men and Matriarchy', 'The World in Blue and Brown,' and so on.
I love this time of year. I think of my namesake, Mary, heavy with child, and how lovely it s to be pregnant. It's what it's all about really. How happy Our Lady, the Mother of God, must have been!
Her child, the Son of God, was a boy!
I know that a lot of Vichy Feminists either deny God completely, or would like Mary's boy child to be differently gendered, but they are sadly mistaken.
In Jesus Christ, God's love is sacrificial. Jesus suffers an awful death for our sake - that's you and me, girls. Not only do boys grow up knowing that they must sacrifice their health and lives for us, such selfless love is in the nature of the male of the species. It is how he loves.
In the very act of love, that great mass of masculine energy gives up his strength to us girls, and suffers a little 'death'. How wonderful it is to hold the inert body of a powerful man, like Mary holding the body of the crucified Christ in Michelangelo's sculpture, the 'Pieta'.
Christmas reminds me how lucky I am to be a girl, to be a mother like Mary, to have given birth to a wonderful boy child.
I think those Vichy Feminists are crazy. Who wants to be God when we are loved by God!?!
A Merry Christmas to all you girls and boys who avidly read the blogs I write for my friend Revolting, and especially to those of you who have bought my books, 'The Denial of Woman,' 'Men and Matriarchy', 'The World in Blue and Brown,' and so on.
I love this time of year. I think of my namesake, Mary, heavy with child, and how lovely it s to be pregnant. It's what it's all about really. How happy Our Lady, the Mother of God, must have been!
Her child, the Son of God, was a boy!
I know that a lot of Vichy Feminists either deny God completely, or would like Mary's boy child to be differently gendered, but they are sadly mistaken.
In Jesus Christ, God's love is sacrificial. Jesus suffers an awful death for our sake - that's you and me, girls. Not only do boys grow up knowing that they must sacrifice their health and lives for us, such selfless love is in the nature of the male of the species. It is how he loves.
In the very act of love, that great mass of masculine energy gives up his strength to us girls, and suffers a little 'death'. How wonderful it is to hold the inert body of a powerful man, like Mary holding the body of the crucified Christ in Michelangelo's sculpture, the 'Pieta'.
Christmas reminds me how lucky I am to be a girl, to be a mother like Mary, to have given birth to a wonderful boy child.
I think those Vichy Feminists are crazy. Who wants to be God when we are loved by God!?!
The UK's Horniest Student - Subjected To Sharia Law?
The UK's Horniest Student, Elina Desaine, is being disciplined by Exeter University for bringing the university into disrepute. A woman is being punished for seeking sexual pleasure as freely and openly and pro-actively as any man. But do we hear an uproar from the State Feminists? While they are bleating about the smoke screen of Islamic seating arrangements they ignore the very real attack on the most important and hard won freedoms against Patriarchal society - for a woman to be respected for who she is and not what she does with her pussy.
In recent years Exeter University has risen up the university rankings, in large part due to donations from Arab Islamofascist ultra Patriarchal regimes, where women are treated like dirt, foreigners treated like slaves, Christianity is banned and whose main ideology is hatred of the Jews.
Wikipedia states;
'Gifts from the Gulf States made it possible to build a new university library in 1983 and more recently have allowed for the creation of a new Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. A further major donation enabled the completion of the Xfi Centre For Finance And Investment. Since 2009, significant further investment has been made into new student accommodation, new buildings in the Business School, and the Forum, a new development for the centre of Streatham Campus.'
One of the 9 'research strengths and key themes' include 'Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.'
According to a report concerning Libyan investment in the LSE, the Daily Telegraph of 3rd March 2011 said,
'Yet, on the most conservative estimate, other British universities have received hundreds of millions of pounds from Saudi and other Islamic sources - in the guise of philanthropic donations, but with the real intention of changing the intellectual climate of the United Kingdom.
Between 1995 and 2008 eight universities - Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, University College London, the LSE, Exeter, Dundee and City - accepted more than £233•5 from Muslim rulers and those closely connected to them.
Much of the money has gone to Islamic study centres: the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies received £75 million from a dozen Middle Eastern rulers..........the LSE's own Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, which got £9 million from the United Arab Emirates; this week, a majority of the centre's board was revealed to be pushing for a boycott of Israel. While figures since 2008 have yet to be collated, the funding has only increased: such donations are now the largest source of external funding for universities by quite a long way. The donors claim they want only to promote understanding of Islam - a fine goal for any university.
The man who gathered the earlier figures, Prof. Anthony Glees, argues that their real agenda is rather different: to push an extreme ideology and act as a form of propaganda for the Wahhabist strain of Islam within universities. "They push, he says, "the wrong sort of education by the wrong sort of people, funded by the wrong sort of donor."
This is not simply scare-mongering. The management committees of Islamic Studies centres at Cambridge and Edinburgh contained appointees hand picked by Prince Alwaleed. Other universities have altered their study areas in line with their donors' demands. And it works. A study of five years political lectures at the Middle Eastern Centre at St. Antony's College, Oxford, found that 70% were 'implacably hostile' to the West and Israel............... The gift by foreign governments of language books , for instance, can have a significant effect on what is taught: in one case, the gift of an art gallery was found to have a direct impact on teaching and admissions policy.'
So writes Stephen Pollard of the Telegraph.
Could it be that Britain's Horniest Student has offended Islamic funding? In which case Miss D. may be an enthusiastic amateur, but the University of Exeter, and all the men in suits who will judge her, and all the State Feminists who rush to sew the letter 'A' to her garments, are shameless whores.
In recent years Exeter University has risen up the university rankings, in large part due to donations from Arab Islamofascist ultra Patriarchal regimes, where women are treated like dirt, foreigners treated like slaves, Christianity is banned and whose main ideology is hatred of the Jews.
Wikipedia states;
'Gifts from the Gulf States made it possible to build a new university library in 1983 and more recently have allowed for the creation of a new Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. A further major donation enabled the completion of the Xfi Centre For Finance And Investment. Since 2009, significant further investment has been made into new student accommodation, new buildings in the Business School, and the Forum, a new development for the centre of Streatham Campus.'
One of the 9 'research strengths and key themes' include 'Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.'
According to a report concerning Libyan investment in the LSE, the Daily Telegraph of 3rd March 2011 said,
'Yet, on the most conservative estimate, other British universities have received hundreds of millions of pounds from Saudi and other Islamic sources - in the guise of philanthropic donations, but with the real intention of changing the intellectual climate of the United Kingdom.
Between 1995 and 2008 eight universities - Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, University College London, the LSE, Exeter, Dundee and City - accepted more than £233•5 from Muslim rulers and those closely connected to them.
Much of the money has gone to Islamic study centres: the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies received £75 million from a dozen Middle Eastern rulers..........the LSE's own Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, which got £9 million from the United Arab Emirates; this week, a majority of the centre's board was revealed to be pushing for a boycott of Israel. While figures since 2008 have yet to be collated, the funding has only increased: such donations are now the largest source of external funding for universities by quite a long way. The donors claim they want only to promote understanding of Islam - a fine goal for any university.
The man who gathered the earlier figures, Prof. Anthony Glees, argues that their real agenda is rather different: to push an extreme ideology and act as a form of propaganda for the Wahhabist strain of Islam within universities. "They push, he says, "the wrong sort of education by the wrong sort of people, funded by the wrong sort of donor."
This is not simply scare-mongering. The management committees of Islamic Studies centres at Cambridge and Edinburgh contained appointees hand picked by Prince Alwaleed. Other universities have altered their study areas in line with their donors' demands. And it works. A study of five years political lectures at the Middle Eastern Centre at St. Antony's College, Oxford, found that 70% were 'implacably hostile' to the West and Israel............... The gift by foreign governments of language books , for instance, can have a significant effect on what is taught: in one case, the gift of an art gallery was found to have a direct impact on teaching and admissions policy.'
So writes Stephen Pollard of the Telegraph.
Could it be that Britain's Horniest Student has offended Islamic funding? In which case Miss D. may be an enthusiastic amateur, but the University of Exeter, and all the men in suits who will judge her, and all the State Feminists who rush to sew the letter 'A' to her garments, are shameless whores.
Wednesday 18 December 2013
Extremely Horny
Exeter University takes the fight against extremism very seriously. In such an esteeme centre of education men and women sit together, but not too closely. The students have to be careful about what they say, and about where they sit, suitably sandwiched between otherly gendered people, and ever vigilant in case they are perceived to be extreme or unequal.
One must, of course, be moderately horny.
Chastity is just so extreme and religious, yet surprisingly, perhaps, a woman who sleeps around and is unashamed of her activities, is deemed to have brought the university into disrepute.
Elina Desaine, who has won the title of Britain's Horniest Student, might well ask what has changed in this brave new world of State Feminism.
According to student magazine Exepose, Exeter University student Miss Desaine is facing a major disciplinary action from the university on the grounds that her own particular actions 'may cause reputational damage to the University.' It continues, 'Possible sanctions from a major disciplinary hearing include permanent exclusion from the University, a fine not exceeding £500, community service or the signing of a behavioural contract.'
In her entry Miss Desaine, who won £500 and a years supply of condoms wrote:
'I should be the UK's horniest student because I have sex with 2/3 different people a week.
Sometimes I go clubbing, have sex with someone, and then go back to the club go pick up my second victim. Feeling horny right now, so might just text someone on my 'shag list' and do it in the computer room (I've done this before, was great!) With your help and Alcohol I will be able to become an even hornier student!'
Pretty tame really, but too extreme for the conformists and moralists of Soviet Britain. Miss D. must learn to shag a little more earnestly in future, yah?
One must, of course, be moderately horny.
Chastity is just so extreme and religious, yet surprisingly, perhaps, a woman who sleeps around and is unashamed of her activities, is deemed to have brought the university into disrepute.
Elina Desaine, who has won the title of Britain's Horniest Student, might well ask what has changed in this brave new world of State Feminism.
According to student magazine Exepose, Exeter University student Miss Desaine is facing a major disciplinary action from the university on the grounds that her own particular actions 'may cause reputational damage to the University.' It continues, 'Possible sanctions from a major disciplinary hearing include permanent exclusion from the University, a fine not exceeding £500, community service or the signing of a behavioural contract.'
In her entry Miss Desaine, who won £500 and a years supply of condoms wrote:
'I should be the UK's horniest student because I have sex with 2/3 different people a week.
Sometimes I go clubbing, have sex with someone, and then go back to the club go pick up my second victim. Feeling horny right now, so might just text someone on my 'shag list' and do it in the computer room (I've done this before, was great!) With your help and Alcohol I will be able to become an even hornier student!'
Pretty tame really, but too extreme for the conformists and moralists of Soviet Britain. Miss D. must learn to shag a little more earnestly in future, yah?
Tuesday 17 December 2013
Just Not Equal
Once again the government has chosen to interfere in the minutiae of daily life, pronouncing on matters concerning people's free choices and their freedom to act according to their beliefs. All must abide by the Democratic will, the bovine herd directed by its masters, who only want to milk it and slaughter it.
In this case, the government want the universities not to 'pander to extremism'.
How? By not teaching certain Chemistry or History lessons? No, by outlawing segregated seating. You see, separate seating of men and women is dangerous, extremely dangerous, dangerously extreme.
According to the Independent newspaper, a newspaper for moderate, normal and equal people;
'Controversial guidelines for universities on separating men and women at certain religious events at universities, which were branded a 'legitimisation of sex apartheid', were being reviewed by Universities UK after the Prime Minister criticised them.
The body, which represents universities in the UK, has said that it is withdrawing a specific case study referring to external speakers from 'ultra orthodox religious groups' being able to request that men and women are separated at events they speak at. It is now reviewing the guidelines.
Both David Cameron and Education Secretary Michael Gove criticised the guidance, with Gove describing the guidelines as a 'pander to extremism'.
A spokesperson (sic) for the Prime Minister also said: 'He doesn't think that guest speakers should be able to address segregated audiences and he thinks that Universities UK should urgently review its guidance.'
The tyrant speaks and his will is - democratically - done.
In this case, the government want the universities not to 'pander to extremism'.
How? By not teaching certain Chemistry or History lessons? No, by outlawing segregated seating. You see, separate seating of men and women is dangerous, extremely dangerous, dangerously extreme.
According to the Independent newspaper, a newspaper for moderate, normal and equal people;
'Controversial guidelines for universities on separating men and women at certain religious events at universities, which were branded a 'legitimisation of sex apartheid', were being reviewed by Universities UK after the Prime Minister criticised them.
The body, which represents universities in the UK, has said that it is withdrawing a specific case study referring to external speakers from 'ultra orthodox religious groups' being able to request that men and women are separated at events they speak at. It is now reviewing the guidelines.
Both David Cameron and Education Secretary Michael Gove criticised the guidance, with Gove describing the guidelines as a 'pander to extremism'.
A spokesperson (sic) for the Prime Minister also said: 'He doesn't think that guest speakers should be able to address segregated audiences and he thinks that Universities UK should urgently review its guidance.'
The tyrant speaks and his will is - democratically - done.
Monday 16 December 2013
Just Not Funny
According to the Daily Star of 8th December 2013,
'Comedian Simon Amstell has apologised for a joke he made in reference to Nelson Mandela while on BBC Radio 1. Appearing in the station's breakfast show less than 24 hours after news of Nelson Mandela's death was announced, the former Pop World presenter joked about racial segregation between different aspects of BBC radio and referenced the late South African leader.
During the show on Friday he said, "What is going on? We're next to (urban music station) 1Xtra, it's so white in here. Mandela would not approve of the situation here at the BBC."
Amstell took to his Twitter account later the same day to apologise for the joke, writing, "It may have been unclear this morning, as things often are, but what came out of this mouth today was very silly. Apologies go everyone else."
So there you have it Simon. No being disrespectful to Old Uncle Tom Mandela, y'hear?
And a Happy Mandelamas to you all!
'Comedian Simon Amstell has apologised for a joke he made in reference to Nelson Mandela while on BBC Radio 1. Appearing in the station's breakfast show less than 24 hours after news of Nelson Mandela's death was announced, the former Pop World presenter joked about racial segregation between different aspects of BBC radio and referenced the late South African leader.
During the show on Friday he said, "What is going on? We're next to (urban music station) 1Xtra, it's so white in here. Mandela would not approve of the situation here at the BBC."
Amstell took to his Twitter account later the same day to apologise for the joke, writing, "It may have been unclear this morning, as things often are, but what came out of this mouth today was very silly. Apologies go everyone else."
So there you have it Simon. No being disrespectful to Old Uncle Tom Mandela, y'hear?
And a Happy Mandelamas to you all!
Sunday 15 December 2013
Thomas Hood - Faithless Nelly Gray
Ben Battle was a soldier bold
And used to war's alarms
One day a cannon ball shot of his legs
So he lay down his arms
Now as they bore him off the field
Said he, "Let others shoot
For here I leave my second leg
And the Forty Second Foot
The army surgeons made him limbs,
Said he, "They're only pegs
But there's as wooden members quite,
As represent my legs."
Now Ben he loved a pretty maid,
Her name was Nelly Gray;
So he went to pay her his devours,
When he'd devoured his pay.
But when he called on Nelly Gray
She made him quite a scoff,
And when she saw his wooden legs,
Began to take them off.
"O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
Is this your love so warm?
The love that loves a scarlet coat,
Should be a little more uniform.
She said, "I loved a soldier once,
For he was blithe and brave,
But I will never love a man,
With both feet in the grave,
Before you had those timber toes
Your love I did allow,
But now , you know, you stand,
Upon another footing now."
"O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
For all your jeering speeches,
At duty's call I left my legs
In Badajo's breaches."
"Why then," said she, "you've lost the feet
Of legs in war's alarms
And now you cannot wear your shoes
Upon your feats of arms."
O false and fickle Nelly Gray
I know why you refuse!
Though I've no feet, some other man,
Is standing in my shoes.
I wish I'd never seen you face,
But now a long farewell,
But you will be my death - alas!
You will not be my Nell."
Now when he went from Nelly Gray,
His heart so heavy got,
And life was such a burden grown
It made him take a knot.
So round about his melancholy neck
A rope he did entwine,
And for a second time in life,
Enlisted in the Line.
One end he tied around a beam,
And then removed his pegs
And as his legs were off, of course,
He was soon off his legs.
And there he hung till he was dead,
As any nail in town,
For though distress had cut him up,
It could not cut him down.
A dozen men sat upon his corpse,
To see why he had died,
And they buried Ben in four-crossroads
With a stake in his inside.
And used to war's alarms
One day a cannon ball shot of his legs
So he lay down his arms
Now as they bore him off the field
Said he, "Let others shoot
For here I leave my second leg
And the Forty Second Foot
The army surgeons made him limbs,
Said he, "They're only pegs
But there's as wooden members quite,
As represent my legs."
Now Ben he loved a pretty maid,
Her name was Nelly Gray;
So he went to pay her his devours,
When he'd devoured his pay.
But when he called on Nelly Gray
She made him quite a scoff,
And when she saw his wooden legs,
Began to take them off.
"O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
Is this your love so warm?
The love that loves a scarlet coat,
Should be a little more uniform.
She said, "I loved a soldier once,
For he was blithe and brave,
But I will never love a man,
With both feet in the grave,
Before you had those timber toes
Your love I did allow,
But now , you know, you stand,
Upon another footing now."
"O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
For all your jeering speeches,
At duty's call I left my legs
In Badajo's breaches."
"Why then," said she, "you've lost the feet
Of legs in war's alarms
And now you cannot wear your shoes
Upon your feats of arms."
O false and fickle Nelly Gray
I know why you refuse!
Though I've no feet, some other man,
Is standing in my shoes.
I wish I'd never seen you face,
But now a long farewell,
But you will be my death - alas!
You will not be my Nell."
Now when he went from Nelly Gray,
His heart so heavy got,
And life was such a burden grown
It made him take a knot.
So round about his melancholy neck
A rope he did entwine,
And for a second time in life,
Enlisted in the Line.
One end he tied around a beam,
And then removed his pegs
And as his legs were off, of course,
He was soon off his legs.
And there he hung till he was dead,
As any nail in town,
For though distress had cut him up,
It could not cut him down.
A dozen men sat upon his corpse,
To see why he had died,
And they buried Ben in four-crossroads
With a stake in his inside.
Saturday 14 December 2013
Water The Earth With The Tears Of Your Joy
From 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Dostoyevsky;
'"Do not fear Him. He is terrible in his greatness, awful in his sublimity, but infinitely merciful. He has made Himself like unto us from love and rejoices with us. He is changing the water into wine so that the gladness of the guests may not be cut short. He is expecting new guests; He is calling new ones unceasingly forever and ever........There they are bringing new wine. Do you see, they are bringing the vessels................"
..........Something glowed in Alyosha's heart, something filled it till it ached, tears of rapture rose from his soul.......He stretched out his hands, uttered a cry and awoke........
...........He did not stop on the steps either, but went quickly down; his soul, overflowing with rapture, yearned for freedom, space, openness. The vault of heaven, full of soft, shining stars, stretched vast and fathomless above him. The Milky Way ran in two pale streams from the zenith to the horizon. The fresh motionless still night enfolded the earth. The white towers and golden domes of the cathedral gleamed out against the sapphire sky. The gorgeous autumn flowers in the beds round the house were slumbering till morning. The silence of the earth seemed to melt into the silence of the heavens. The mystery of earth was one with the mystery of the stars.
Alyosha stood, gazed, and suddenly threw himself down on the earth. He did not know why he embraced it. He could not know why he embraced it. He could not have told why he longed so irresistibly to kiss it, to kiss it all. But he kissed it, weeping, sobbing, and watering it with his tears and vowed passionately to love it for ever and ever. "Water the earth with the tears of your joy and love those tears" echoed in his soul.
'"Do not fear Him. He is terrible in his greatness, awful in his sublimity, but infinitely merciful. He has made Himself like unto us from love and rejoices with us. He is changing the water into wine so that the gladness of the guests may not be cut short. He is expecting new guests; He is calling new ones unceasingly forever and ever........There they are bringing new wine. Do you see, they are bringing the vessels................"
..........Something glowed in Alyosha's heart, something filled it till it ached, tears of rapture rose from his soul.......He stretched out his hands, uttered a cry and awoke........
...........He did not stop on the steps either, but went quickly down; his soul, overflowing with rapture, yearned for freedom, space, openness. The vault of heaven, full of soft, shining stars, stretched vast and fathomless above him. The Milky Way ran in two pale streams from the zenith to the horizon. The fresh motionless still night enfolded the earth. The white towers and golden domes of the cathedral gleamed out against the sapphire sky. The gorgeous autumn flowers in the beds round the house were slumbering till morning. The silence of the earth seemed to melt into the silence of the heavens. The mystery of earth was one with the mystery of the stars.
Alyosha stood, gazed, and suddenly threw himself down on the earth. He did not know why he embraced it. He could not know why he embraced it. He could not have told why he longed so irresistibly to kiss it, to kiss it all. But he kissed it, weeping, sobbing, and watering it with his tears and vowed passionately to love it for ever and ever. "Water the earth with the tears of your joy and love those tears" echoed in his soul.
Friday 13 December 2013
Costanza Miriano - Marry and Be Submissive
Costanza Miriano was asked about her books and why they should be so controversial.
Any errors in translation are entirely mine.
'To begin with I thought that it was the word 'submissive' that caused offence. Then I saw that in your country (Spain) other books are sold that contain the word 'submissive' with no problems, books with titles such as 'Diary of a Submissive Woman' or 'Confessions of a Submissive Woman.' Then I realised that it is the word 'Marry' that causes offence. Submissive, yes! To your lover, certainly, or to a passer-by, to anyone, but not to your husband! The mainstream ideology hates the Christian idea of marriage because it is exactly the opposite of the totem of contemporary man, which is auto-determination, the total absence of ties, of belonging, of boundaries. Contemporary man does not accept even the most obvious truth, that gender is a given identity and not one we chose, and it is an identity in which the masculine and feminine dynamic states the deepest truth about the nature of man: man and woman, in his image, says the Bible. In the man/woman dynamic there is the secret of the image of God, which is one and triune. But today God is rejected, and they want the complete auto-determination of every man. Orphan, sterile, alone.
Why people have wanted (my books) to be censored, it is not for me to say. I'd like to ask them why, those who want censorship. I find it all rather grotesque and also quite worrying. Who is to say who can say what? I ask myself too: I am a nobody, just a wife and a mother and I represent nobody, and I speak only for myself. Why is it that what I say is so threatening? You don't have to buy my book; you can think badly of me, reckon me to be of little intelligence. Censorship shows weakness, it is clear.'
Any errors in translation are entirely mine.
'To begin with I thought that it was the word 'submissive' that caused offence. Then I saw that in your country (Spain) other books are sold that contain the word 'submissive' with no problems, books with titles such as 'Diary of a Submissive Woman' or 'Confessions of a Submissive Woman.' Then I realised that it is the word 'Marry' that causes offence. Submissive, yes! To your lover, certainly, or to a passer-by, to anyone, but not to your husband! The mainstream ideology hates the Christian idea of marriage because it is exactly the opposite of the totem of contemporary man, which is auto-determination, the total absence of ties, of belonging, of boundaries. Contemporary man does not accept even the most obvious truth, that gender is a given identity and not one we chose, and it is an identity in which the masculine and feminine dynamic states the deepest truth about the nature of man: man and woman, in his image, says the Bible. In the man/woman dynamic there is the secret of the image of God, which is one and triune. But today God is rejected, and they want the complete auto-determination of every man. Orphan, sterile, alone.
Why people have wanted (my books) to be censored, it is not for me to say. I'd like to ask them why, those who want censorship. I find it all rather grotesque and also quite worrying. Who is to say who can say what? I ask myself too: I am a nobody, just a wife and a mother and I represent nobody, and I speak only for myself. Why is it that what I say is so threatening? You don't have to buy my book; you can think badly of me, reckon me to be of little intelligence. Censorship shows weakness, it is clear.'
Thursday 12 December 2013
Unacceptable Opinions
In November 2013 El Mundo reported that Ana Mato, the Spanish Minister for Equality had criticized the book, 'Marry and be Submissive,' and had asked for the bestselling book to be withdrawn. Any errors in translation are entirely mine:
'The Minister of Health, Social Services, and Equality, Ana Mato, has said that she has asked the Archbishop of Granada to withdraw the book, 'Marry and be Submissive,' According to her, neither she nor 'the majority in society' share the sentiments expressed by this title.
For the first time, Ana Mato has pronounced on the controversial book by the Italian Costanza Miriano, during an interview with television station TVE on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
"I don't agree with either the title or the content, so I have asked for the withdrawal of this book; I believe that it is wrong, and that it lacks respect towards women," she pointed out in the interview.
She continued to point out that "for the moment" she had received no reply concerning her request for the withdrawal of the publication, and insisted that she hopes that it will be withdrawn as, in her opinion, "no woman, nor the majority in society" are in agreement with either the title or the content of the book.
Two weeks ago the director of the Institute of Woman, Carmen Plaza, following orders from Ana Mato, sent a letter to the Archbishop of Granada asking him to reconsider the publication of the book 'Marry and be Submissive' because it did not have the values of Equality that any public institution must defend, it has been revealed by sources at the Ministry of Equality. Already the provincial government of Andalusia has requested the withdrawal of the book, but for the moment, the Archbishop of Granada has said that he sees no reason for the publishers, New Beginning, which depends on the diocese, to withdraw the book.'
'The Minister of Health, Social Services, and Equality, Ana Mato, has said that she has asked the Archbishop of Granada to withdraw the book, 'Marry and be Submissive,' According to her, neither she nor 'the majority in society' share the sentiments expressed by this title.
For the first time, Ana Mato has pronounced on the controversial book by the Italian Costanza Miriano, during an interview with television station TVE on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
"I don't agree with either the title or the content, so I have asked for the withdrawal of this book; I believe that it is wrong, and that it lacks respect towards women," she pointed out in the interview.
She continued to point out that "for the moment" she had received no reply concerning her request for the withdrawal of the publication, and insisted that she hopes that it will be withdrawn as, in her opinion, "no woman, nor the majority in society" are in agreement with either the title or the content of the book.
Two weeks ago the director of the Institute of Woman, Carmen Plaza, following orders from Ana Mato, sent a letter to the Archbishop of Granada asking him to reconsider the publication of the book 'Marry and be Submissive' because it did not have the values of Equality that any public institution must defend, it has been revealed by sources at the Ministry of Equality. Already the provincial government of Andalusia has requested the withdrawal of the book, but for the moment, the Archbishop of Granada has said that he sees no reason for the publishers, New Beginning, which depends on the diocese, to withdraw the book.'
Wednesday 11 December 2013
Ana Mato - Receiving Gifts
Ana Mato is the Minister for Health and Equality in Spain. She is divorced from her husband, and like Adolf Hitler, the Austrian politician, and Samantha Lewthwaite, the British alleged terrorist, she is the child of a uniformed government official, in her case a naval officer.
The newspaper El Mundo published this report in February this year. Any errors in translation are entirely my own.
'The 'Gurtel' web of corruption gave to the family of the Minister of Health, Ana Mato and her husband, Jesus Sepulveda, ex-mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcon, tourist holidays worth 50,000 euros, and luxury items from the firm, Louis Vuitton, worth 610 Euros, at the same time defraying the costs of 'private family events' such as birthday parties with clowns, which cost more than 11,800 Euros. They also picked up the tab for 75,000 Euros at the People's Party office in Pozuelo, as well as other expenses.
Such is the information given in a report to which Europa Press has access, written by the Economic and Tax Crimes Unit, which gives a summary of the 'Gurtel' case, which details how the organisation headed by Francisco Correa rendered 'various touristic services to Jesus Sepulveda and/or various members of his family between 2000 and 2004 through the company, 'Pasadena Journeys.'
The report details the existence of various gifts in cash (60,000 Euros) into the accounts of the Pozuelo People's Party, the payment of expenses related to various political activities and the setting up of an office for the People's Party in that locality for the 2003 elections (15,000 Euros) and the organising of a number of family events for Sepulveda.
The report details the discovery of documents that show the purchase, on the part of 'Special Events', one of the companies in the 'Gurtel' network, of two items from Louis Vuitton, destined for the Minister of Health to the value of 610 Euros. The said document contains a hand written note, 'Present for Ana Mato'.
The two items are valued at 225 and 385 Euros. Also, there is a receipt for the handing over of 480 Euros in cash to Alvaro Perez, the man thought to be responsible for the network in Valencia. The receipt states the money is 'to buy a present for Ana Mato.'
The newspaper El Mundo published this report in February this year. Any errors in translation are entirely my own.
'The 'Gurtel' web of corruption gave to the family of the Minister of Health, Ana Mato and her husband, Jesus Sepulveda, ex-mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcon, tourist holidays worth 50,000 euros, and luxury items from the firm, Louis Vuitton, worth 610 Euros, at the same time defraying the costs of 'private family events' such as birthday parties with clowns, which cost more than 11,800 Euros. They also picked up the tab for 75,000 Euros at the People's Party office in Pozuelo, as well as other expenses.
Such is the information given in a report to which Europa Press has access, written by the Economic and Tax Crimes Unit, which gives a summary of the 'Gurtel' case, which details how the organisation headed by Francisco Correa rendered 'various touristic services to Jesus Sepulveda and/or various members of his family between 2000 and 2004 through the company, 'Pasadena Journeys.'
The report details the existence of various gifts in cash (60,000 Euros) into the accounts of the Pozuelo People's Party, the payment of expenses related to various political activities and the setting up of an office for the People's Party in that locality for the 2003 elections (15,000 Euros) and the organising of a number of family events for Sepulveda.
The report details the discovery of documents that show the purchase, on the part of 'Special Events', one of the companies in the 'Gurtel' network, of two items from Louis Vuitton, destined for the Minister of Health to the value of 610 Euros. The said document contains a hand written note, 'Present for Ana Mato'.
The two items are valued at 225 and 385 Euros. Also, there is a receipt for the handing over of 480 Euros in cash to Alvaro Perez, the man thought to be responsible for the network in Valencia. The receipt states the money is 'to buy a present for Ana Mato.'
Tuesday 10 December 2013
TEBO - Democratic But Not Free
The United Kingdom government is planning to introduce Terror and Extremist Behaviour Orders. Civil authorities such as the police, local government and national government, will be given the power to silence those who seek to 'radicalise' others. If you have a TEBO you will be banned from speaking in public, entering certain buildings, and who knows, writing a blog like this.
Certainly, though supposedly designed to combat 'Islamism' these orders will be used to silence those who campaign against public corruption and unjust laws. Once again law has been transformed into an administrative process, whose aim is not justice, but the quiescence of the population.
David Cameron, the Chief Bureaucrat stated: 'We have already put in place some of the toughest terrorism-prevention controls in the democratic world.'
Take note! No longer do the politicians talk about the Free World!
Now they talk about the Democratic World.
'We must work harder to defeat radical views which lead some people to embrace violence.....'
Does Cameron mean ideas such as Responsibility to Protect, ideas that lead to extreme violence in the form of bombing foreign cities and the murder of men, women and children?
I suspect not.
'There are just too many people who have been radicalised in Islamic centres, who have been in contact with extremist preachers, who have accessed radicalising information on the internet..........I want to see an end to hate preaching in Britain.'
Ah, the internet!
I'm beginning to think this Democratic Trojan Horse is disguised as an 'Islamist'.
Certainly, though supposedly designed to combat 'Islamism' these orders will be used to silence those who campaign against public corruption and unjust laws. Once again law has been transformed into an administrative process, whose aim is not justice, but the quiescence of the population.
David Cameron, the Chief Bureaucrat stated: 'We have already put in place some of the toughest terrorism-prevention controls in the democratic world.'
Take note! No longer do the politicians talk about the Free World!
Now they talk about the Democratic World.
'We must work harder to defeat radical views which lead some people to embrace violence.....'
Does Cameron mean ideas such as Responsibility to Protect, ideas that lead to extreme violence in the form of bombing foreign cities and the murder of men, women and children?
I suspect not.
'There are just too many people who have been radicalised in Islamic centres, who have been in contact with extremist preachers, who have accessed radicalising information on the internet..........I want to see an end to hate preaching in Britain.'
Ah, the internet!
I'm beginning to think this Democratic Trojan Horse is disguised as an 'Islamist'.
Government Interference
According to the BBC, the Minister of Culture and Sport, Maria Miller, has called a 'Whitehall summit following allegations of fixing in football.'
The government bureaucrat is calling together 'leaders' from football, cricket, horse racing, rugby league and rugby union.
Why is she doing this?
Apparently she is 'deeply concerned'. But so what?
If there have been criminal actions committed, that is a matter for the police. And if there needs to be rule changes that is a matter for the respective sporting bodies, not for government. FIFA, the world footballing organisation demands that each football association is free from interference from national government.
Not so long ago, governments in this country kept out of private life, but now every sphere of human life is the government's business.
If they would simply content themselves with passing the occasional law, balancing the budget, and dealing with foreign powers, nobody would mind the government too much. People could then live in relative autonomy and peace.
But the imperative of power and the imperative of democracy lead to ever increasing government interference. When a people elects its government, instead of electing representatives to restrain its government, a collectivist mentality kicks in and liberty dies.
Maria Miller has no intention of introducing a new law to deal with gambling related fraud in sport. There are already sufficient laws in place. So why stick her oar in? Why politicise common crime? Indeed why politicise anything?
Yet many will tell you, police, civil servants, journalists, ordinary workers how their lives lives are impacted by the government's need to impose their Narrative. Such is the collectivist, totalitarian consequence of democracy.
Before long they'll be telling us exactly what we can and cannot say, what we can and cannot think.
What did you say? They already do that?
The government bureaucrat is calling together 'leaders' from football, cricket, horse racing, rugby league and rugby union.
Why is she doing this?
Apparently she is 'deeply concerned'. But so what?
If there have been criminal actions committed, that is a matter for the police. And if there needs to be rule changes that is a matter for the respective sporting bodies, not for government. FIFA, the world footballing organisation demands that each football association is free from interference from national government.
Not so long ago, governments in this country kept out of private life, but now every sphere of human life is the government's business.
If they would simply content themselves with passing the occasional law, balancing the budget, and dealing with foreign powers, nobody would mind the government too much. People could then live in relative autonomy and peace.
But the imperative of power and the imperative of democracy lead to ever increasing government interference. When a people elects its government, instead of electing representatives to restrain its government, a collectivist mentality kicks in and liberty dies.
Maria Miller has no intention of introducing a new law to deal with gambling related fraud in sport. There are already sufficient laws in place. So why stick her oar in? Why politicise common crime? Indeed why politicise anything?
Yet many will tell you, police, civil servants, journalists, ordinary workers how their lives lives are impacted by the government's need to impose their Narrative. Such is the collectivist, totalitarian consequence of democracy.
Before long they'll be telling us exactly what we can and cannot say, what we can and cannot think.
What did you say? They already do that?
Sunday 8 December 2013
Lord Byron - Ambition's Honoured Fools
From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:
Three hosts combine to offer sacrifice;
Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high;
Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies.
The shouts are France, Spain, Albion, Victory!
The foe, the victim, and the fond ally
That fights for all, but ever fights in vain,
And met.....as if at home they could not die.....
To feed the crow on Talavera's plain,
And fertilize the field that each pretends to gain.
There shall they rot - Ambition's honoured fools!
Yes, Honour decks the turf that wraps their clay!
Vain Sophistry! in these behold the tools,
The broken tools, that tyrants cast away
By myriads, when they dare to pave their way
With human hearts....to what?......a dream alone.
Can despots compass aught that hails their sway?
Or call with truth one span of earth their own,
Sure that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone?
Albuera, glorious field of grief!
As o'er thy plain the Pilgrim pricked his steed,
Who could foresee thee, in a space so brief,
A scene where mingling foes should boast and bleed.
Peace to the perished! may the warrior's meed
And tears of triumph their reward prolong!
Till others fall where other chieftains lead,
Thy name shall circle round the gaping throng.
And shine in worthless lays, the theme of transient song.
Enough of Battle's minions! Let them play
Their game of lives, and barter beneath for fame:
Fame that will scarce reanimate their clay,
Though thousands fall to deck some single name.
In sooth, 'twere sad to thwart their noble aim
Who strike, blast hirelings! for their country's good,
And die, that living might have proved her shame,
Perished, perchance, in some domestic feud,
Or in a narrower sphere wild Rapine's path pursued.
Three hosts combine to offer sacrifice;
Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high;
Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies.
The shouts are France, Spain, Albion, Victory!
The foe, the victim, and the fond ally
That fights for all, but ever fights in vain,
And met.....as if at home they could not die.....
To feed the crow on Talavera's plain,
And fertilize the field that each pretends to gain.
There shall they rot - Ambition's honoured fools!
Yes, Honour decks the turf that wraps their clay!
Vain Sophistry! in these behold the tools,
The broken tools, that tyrants cast away
By myriads, when they dare to pave their way
With human hearts....to what?......a dream alone.
Can despots compass aught that hails their sway?
Or call with truth one span of earth their own,
Sure that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone?
Albuera, glorious field of grief!
As o'er thy plain the Pilgrim pricked his steed,
Who could foresee thee, in a space so brief,
A scene where mingling foes should boast and bleed.
Peace to the perished! may the warrior's meed
And tears of triumph their reward prolong!
Till others fall where other chieftains lead,
Thy name shall circle round the gaping throng.
And shine in worthless lays, the theme of transient song.
Enough of Battle's minions! Let them play
Their game of lives, and barter beneath for fame:
Fame that will scarce reanimate their clay,
Though thousands fall to deck some single name.
In sooth, 'twere sad to thwart their noble aim
Who strike, blast hirelings! for their country's good,
And die, that living might have proved her shame,
Perished, perchance, in some domestic feud,
Or in a narrower sphere wild Rapine's path pursued.
The Attributes Of God - Immutability
John Ball writes:
It is debatable whether people really change. Although sometimes we might get rid of nasty habits or acquire new ones, the child is very much father of the man. We are, though, affected by time and experience. We change as time changes us.
But God was not born and he does not die. Time does not alter God. God always was what he is now for God is perfect. He is perfect in his Person and perfect in his Work. Arguably, it is sin that leads to change and God does not sin.
Instead, our Lord and Creator, our Father in Heaven, will always be Love. He will always be True. God's justice will always be perfect, his righteousness will always be perfect, his faithfulness will be perfect too.
All this may seem obvious to us, but before God revealed himself to the Hebrews, people worshipped all sorts of 'gods', entities that were vicious, unpredictable and downright nasty. These 'gods' knew little of love, justice or faithfulness.
Mankind knew there was a God, but was not clear who or what that god might be. Only the Hebrews knew the light while other peoples staggered around in darkness.
And that Light was the one true living God, not an idol made of stone. He is the eternal God, perfect, unchangeable, immutable.
It is debatable whether people really change. Although sometimes we might get rid of nasty habits or acquire new ones, the child is very much father of the man. We are, though, affected by time and experience. We change as time changes us.
But God was not born and he does not die. Time does not alter God. God always was what he is now for God is perfect. He is perfect in his Person and perfect in his Work. Arguably, it is sin that leads to change and God does not sin.
Instead, our Lord and Creator, our Father in Heaven, will always be Love. He will always be True. God's justice will always be perfect, his righteousness will always be perfect, his faithfulness will be perfect too.
All this may seem obvious to us, but before God revealed himself to the Hebrews, people worshipped all sorts of 'gods', entities that were vicious, unpredictable and downright nasty. These 'gods' knew little of love, justice or faithfulness.
Mankind knew there was a God, but was not clear who or what that god might be. Only the Hebrews knew the light while other peoples staggered around in darkness.
And that Light was the one true living God, not an idol made of stone. He is the eternal God, perfect, unchangeable, immutable.
Friday 6 December 2013
Ivan Illich - Shaping The Consumer
'The poor have always been powerless. The increasing reliance on institutional care adds a new dimension to their helplessness: psychological impotence, the inability to fend for themselves.'
'All over the world the school has an anti-educational effect on society.'
'If we do not challenge the assumption that valuable knowledge is a commodity which under certain circumstances may be forced onto the consumer, society will be increasingly dominated by sinister pseudo schools and totalitarian managers of information. Pedagogical therapists will drug their pupils more in order to teach them better, and students will drug themselves more to gain relief from the pressures of teachers and the race for certificates. Increasingly larger numbers of bureaucrats will presume to pose as teachers. The language of the school-man has already been co-opted by the ad-man. Now the general and the policeman try to dignify their professions by masquerading as educators. In a schooled society, war making and civil repression find an educational rationale.'
'As long as we are not aware of the ritual through which school shapes the progressive consumer - the economy's major resource - we cannot break the spell of this economy and shape a new one.'
'All over the world the school has an anti-educational effect on society.'
'If we do not challenge the assumption that valuable knowledge is a commodity which under certain circumstances may be forced onto the consumer, society will be increasingly dominated by sinister pseudo schools and totalitarian managers of information. Pedagogical therapists will drug their pupils more in order to teach them better, and students will drug themselves more to gain relief from the pressures of teachers and the race for certificates. Increasingly larger numbers of bureaucrats will presume to pose as teachers. The language of the school-man has already been co-opted by the ad-man. Now the general and the policeman try to dignify their professions by masquerading as educators. In a schooled society, war making and civil repression find an educational rationale.'
'As long as we are not aware of the ritual through which school shapes the progressive consumer - the economy's major resource - we cannot break the spell of this economy and shape a new one.'
Thursday 5 December 2013
English Education And State Feminism
Mary Malone writes:
Compulsory education is a key element in the indoctrination of the young with the worldview of State Feminism and the destruction of solidarity between man and woman.
The origins of State Feminism lie in the boredom and resentment of women from bureaucratic patriarchal families who had servant women to do their work. They wanted the same sort of power as their menfolk. The Pankhursts, Shirley Williams, Harriet Harman are all women who have enjoyed the use of servants.
Since the War there have been huge efforts to bring women into the workplace, to subject women to the same sort of patriarchal control as men. New technology has been made available to make domestic work lighter, contraception has been made widely available, and abortion and divorce encouraged. Add to that the destruction of many skilled jobs since the 1980s and the foundations of the working class family have been rocked.
The compulsory education of young people is designed to finish off this destruction and assimilate everyone into Patriarchy. The indoctrination of girls, their training designed to accustom them to endless hours of repetitive work, aims to end women's autonomy, and bring women into the degrading world of paid work, alongside men.
Fifty years ago the education of a girl was still based on the likelihood that she would become the mistress of her own family, whereas now it is assumed that she will be a sort of second class man. Motherhood is regarded as a lifestyle choice. Women are expected to abort rather than 'ruin' their careers. Child care and even child bearing is outsourced to the Third World. If a woman is brave enough to have a child she must expect that there will be no man paid well enough to support her, and that she must place her poppet into a nursery to be looked after by other poorly paid women while she goes out to work.
Drudgery and degradation within the Patriarchy is the liberation offered to girls within the education system. And as for men - they're something to do with STDs aren't they?
Compulsory education is a key element in the indoctrination of the young with the worldview of State Feminism and the destruction of solidarity between man and woman.
The origins of State Feminism lie in the boredom and resentment of women from bureaucratic patriarchal families who had servant women to do their work. They wanted the same sort of power as their menfolk. The Pankhursts, Shirley Williams, Harriet Harman are all women who have enjoyed the use of servants.
Since the War there have been huge efforts to bring women into the workplace, to subject women to the same sort of patriarchal control as men. New technology has been made available to make domestic work lighter, contraception has been made widely available, and abortion and divorce encouraged. Add to that the destruction of many skilled jobs since the 1980s and the foundations of the working class family have been rocked.
The compulsory education of young people is designed to finish off this destruction and assimilate everyone into Patriarchy. The indoctrination of girls, their training designed to accustom them to endless hours of repetitive work, aims to end women's autonomy, and bring women into the degrading world of paid work, alongside men.
Fifty years ago the education of a girl was still based on the likelihood that she would become the mistress of her own family, whereas now it is assumed that she will be a sort of second class man. Motherhood is regarded as a lifestyle choice. Women are expected to abort rather than 'ruin' their careers. Child care and even child bearing is outsourced to the Third World. If a woman is brave enough to have a child she must expect that there will be no man paid well enough to support her, and that she must place her poppet into a nursery to be looked after by other poorly paid women while she goes out to work.
Drudgery and degradation within the Patriarchy is the liberation offered to girls within the education system. And as for men - they're something to do with STDs aren't they?
Wednesday 4 December 2013
English Education - A Matter Of Control
One of the major problems for any child wishing to be educated is the modern obsession with the idols of Equality and Fairness. Caring and Sharing are pretty dangerous idols too. All these concepts are used to debilitate the common person. The powerful ignore such concepts. They make sure their own children are equipped with the tools to ensure 'success' in the hierarchy of political and economic life.
In effect, Equality and Fairness are ways of telling the powerless, 'Don't get above your station!' The purpose is divide and rule. It tells us to look at our fellow peasants and to resent their achievement. There must be no more top of the class or bottom of the class, no more recognition of achievement, only recognition of effort and improvement. The objective gold star for coming top is replaced by the subjective smiley face of Teacher. Discipline is replaced by management, learning by control.
In the post war years, up until the late Seventies, autonomous working class organisations, the Trades Unions, had claimed a role in the political process. Working class life was vibrant. Ordinary people sat at the top table. We had never had it so good.
But the Imperative of Power does not allow such a situation to last for long. The young Managers coming out of the red brick universities with their social science degrees, had new weapons to unleash on ordinary people; Equality, Diversity, Fairness and Care.
In the schools the masses were to be treated the same. They were all little savages, tainted with the original sin of powerlessness, and they were to be proselytised, civilised, and made sick.
It was not fair if a girl did not behave like a boy, or a boy like a girl. Being a working class boy was in itself something of a crime, especially if he was of indigenous stock.
Ignorance was peddled. Nothing could be expected from these inferiors who would only become electricians, plumbers, cooks and cleaners. They were damned by their background, supposedly ill or 'disadvantaged'.
Once upon a time education had been a route to material and financial betterment for the working class. They might go to grammar school, and if they were more practically inclined there were apprenticeships and night schools. Where once he learnt so that he might earn enough to support a family, now the working class boy is damned, dumbed down and drugged up.
As long as the young have to bow to the false gods of Equality and Fairness, English education will continue to decline. The young will continue to be under-achieving and self -pitying.
School instills patterns of docility and consumerism, the glass ceiling of Fairness.
Our masters have to decide what they want - either education is a matter of learning or it is a matter of control.
In effect, Equality and Fairness are ways of telling the powerless, 'Don't get above your station!' The purpose is divide and rule. It tells us to look at our fellow peasants and to resent their achievement. There must be no more top of the class or bottom of the class, no more recognition of achievement, only recognition of effort and improvement. The objective gold star for coming top is replaced by the subjective smiley face of Teacher. Discipline is replaced by management, learning by control.
In the post war years, up until the late Seventies, autonomous working class organisations, the Trades Unions, had claimed a role in the political process. Working class life was vibrant. Ordinary people sat at the top table. We had never had it so good.
But the Imperative of Power does not allow such a situation to last for long. The young Managers coming out of the red brick universities with their social science degrees, had new weapons to unleash on ordinary people; Equality, Diversity, Fairness and Care.
In the schools the masses were to be treated the same. They were all little savages, tainted with the original sin of powerlessness, and they were to be proselytised, civilised, and made sick.
It was not fair if a girl did not behave like a boy, or a boy like a girl. Being a working class boy was in itself something of a crime, especially if he was of indigenous stock.
Ignorance was peddled. Nothing could be expected from these inferiors who would only become electricians, plumbers, cooks and cleaners. They were damned by their background, supposedly ill or 'disadvantaged'.
Once upon a time education had been a route to material and financial betterment for the working class. They might go to grammar school, and if they were more practically inclined there were apprenticeships and night schools. Where once he learnt so that he might earn enough to support a family, now the working class boy is damned, dumbed down and drugged up.
As long as the young have to bow to the false gods of Equality and Fairness, English education will continue to decline. The young will continue to be under-achieving and self -pitying.
School instills patterns of docility and consumerism, the glass ceiling of Fairness.
Our masters have to decide what they want - either education is a matter of learning or it is a matter of control.
Tuesday 3 December 2013
Anti-Intellectualism
Reports say that while people in other countries are becoming better educated, standards in England are declining. This comes as no surprise. There are a number of social and political factors behind this decline. But not least is the prejudice against the intellectual. Before you say this is not the case, in Rome there is an Irish pub. It is called the Scholars Lounge and the Irish bar staff wear T-shirts bearing the image of Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, Kavanagh and Shaw. Is there an English pub somewhere that honours England's writers?
Sneering at the well-read is nothing new. Even back in the 1960s and 1970s reading was a suspect activity, unless of course you were reading for titillation and excitement. Nothing that might exercise the mind, if you please, nothing that might challenge your preconceptions.
You were allowed to better your income but not your mind.
When you go abroad you find that all sorts of common people have a love of the written word. From Africa to Ireland, from Arabia to India, poets are revered, thinkers valued, questions asked, answers sought.
But not here. Perhaps there is a lucky side effect here. When someone breaks through the prejudice against independent thought, they cast off all restraint. With an attitude of 'no-one likes us, we don't care' the English intellectual is free to fly.
Who is it that is considered an intellectual in this dumbed down society? I would say, anyone who reads a book for instruction, opinion, or the beauty of the language, anyone who does not take their opinions or their values off the peg from newspapers, radio or television, someone who questions and works things out for themselves.
I know a man who likes to tell people he is an 'ordinary man', that he is 'uneducated', even though he has a university degree. Yes, he loves football, he tells us, and he gets his information from the idol in the corner of the living room.
Of course, he is normal - one more cretin in a farmyard of mental slovenliness.
Sneering at the well-read is nothing new. Even back in the 1960s and 1970s reading was a suspect activity, unless of course you were reading for titillation and excitement. Nothing that might exercise the mind, if you please, nothing that might challenge your preconceptions.
You were allowed to better your income but not your mind.
When you go abroad you find that all sorts of common people have a love of the written word. From Africa to Ireland, from Arabia to India, poets are revered, thinkers valued, questions asked, answers sought.
But not here. Perhaps there is a lucky side effect here. When someone breaks through the prejudice against independent thought, they cast off all restraint. With an attitude of 'no-one likes us, we don't care' the English intellectual is free to fly.
Who is it that is considered an intellectual in this dumbed down society? I would say, anyone who reads a book for instruction, opinion, or the beauty of the language, anyone who does not take their opinions or their values off the peg from newspapers, radio or television, someone who questions and works things out for themselves.
I know a man who likes to tell people he is an 'ordinary man', that he is 'uneducated', even though he has a university degree. Yes, he loves football, he tells us, and he gets his information from the idol in the corner of the living room.
Of course, he is normal - one more cretin in a farmyard of mental slovenliness.
Monday 2 December 2013
Pantheon
One of my least favourite places in Rome is the Pantheon. I am always uncomfortable when the statues of Caesar are placed in a church, and sure enough here in the Pantheon we find the tomb of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a united Italy, the 'Father of the Nation'.
Much better are the nations who value not conquerers but poets. In the Lisbon version of the Pantheon the Portuguese honour Almeida Garrett, Teofilo Braga and the fado singer Amalia Rodriguez as well as three presidents of the republic. Most impressive is the inclusion of the political dissident Humberto Delgado, who was murdered by the State.
In Galicia, in Spain, pride of place goes to the poet Rosalia de Castro.
In Westminster Abbey, the poets only have a corner.
The Irish are at their best when they forget to blame the English and celebrate the many great writers who have enriched the language that conquered their own.
Who are the great Italians I ask myself? Certainly not kings and politicians. Perhaps Giovanni Agnelli, Enrico Caruso, Mastroianni, Pavese and Pasolini, men who have enriched modern Italy, and the whole world.
Much better are the nations who value not conquerers but poets. In the Lisbon version of the Pantheon the Portuguese honour Almeida Garrett, Teofilo Braga and the fado singer Amalia Rodriguez as well as three presidents of the republic. Most impressive is the inclusion of the political dissident Humberto Delgado, who was murdered by the State.
In Galicia, in Spain, pride of place goes to the poet Rosalia de Castro.
In Westminster Abbey, the poets only have a corner.
The Irish are at their best when they forget to blame the English and celebrate the many great writers who have enriched the language that conquered their own.
Who are the great Italians I ask myself? Certainly not kings and politicians. Perhaps Giovanni Agnelli, Enrico Caruso, Mastroianni, Pavese and Pasolini, men who have enriched modern Italy, and the whole world.
Lord Byron - Rome
From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:
Oh Rome! my country! city of the soul!
The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,
Lone mother of dead empires! And control
In their shut breasts their petty misery.
What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see
The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way
Over the steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye!
Whose agonies are evils of day
A world is at our feet as fragile as our day.
-
Fantastically tangled: the green hills
Are clothed with early blossoms, through the green grass
The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills
Of summer-birds sing welcome as ye pass;
Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their class,
Implore the pausing step, and with their dyes,
Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;
The sweetness of the violet's deep blue eyes,
Kiss'd by the breath of heaven, seems coloured by its skies.
-
A ruin - - yet what a ruin! from its mass
Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been reared;
Yet off the enormous skeleton ye pass,
And moved where the spoil could have appeared.
Hath it indeed been plundered, or been cleared?
Alas! developed, opens the decay,
When the colossal fabric's form is reared:
It will not bear the brightness of the day,
Which streams too much on all --years --man - have reft away.
Oh Rome! my country! city of the soul!
The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,
Lone mother of dead empires! And control
In their shut breasts their petty misery.
What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see
The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way
Over the steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye!
Whose agonies are evils of day
A world is at our feet as fragile as our day.
-
Fantastically tangled: the green hills
Are clothed with early blossoms, through the green grass
The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills
Of summer-birds sing welcome as ye pass;
Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their class,
Implore the pausing step, and with their dyes,
Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;
The sweetness of the violet's deep blue eyes,
Kiss'd by the breath of heaven, seems coloured by its skies.
-
A ruin - - yet what a ruin! from its mass
Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been reared;
Yet off the enormous skeleton ye pass,
And moved where the spoil could have appeared.
Hath it indeed been plundered, or been cleared?
Alas! developed, opens the decay,
When the colossal fabric's form is reared:
It will not bear the brightness of the day,
Which streams too much on all --years --man - have reft away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)