The British Culture War

The bandwagon at the moment seems to be, quite arrogantly and horribly misinformed, a version of…….
“Britishness doesn’t exist any more! It’s been destroyed by the immigrants and New Labour!”
About a year ago, I probably would have agreed, but i’ve got older, smarter, and above all, less cretinous.

Nationalism:
I wonder if all of those who claim our ‘culture’ is dying could name, without searching on google, a great British Artist? A great British musician from the classical era? A great British commander from the War days? The date that India gained independence from the British Empire? The last ten Prime Ministers? The last four Monarchs? A great British war poet? The date that England became Church of England? A great battle in WWII that finally pushed the Germans back? I doubt it. Because “culture” in Britain no longer means any of that, “Culture” means getting pissed every Friday night.

Britishness to me:
To me, now, Britishness is changing every day. Which is a great thing. It moves with the times. We don’t allow religion to mix with our Politics. Belief isn’t “If you’re not Christian, you’re not welcome” in our Country. Although, this gives rise to a new hypocritical sense of Nationalism that is becoming an increasingly dangerous thing.
What you may find Britishness inside, I may see it differently, and so Britishness can never be a static, universal truth. I like it like that.

Places like Iran, stick to outdated religious principles. Unwilling to change with the times. The great thing about Britain is that the majority of us (I accept some remain ignorant) are happy to move with the times, to accept the different cultures that have contributed such a valuable amount to our society, and our economy.
We aren’t the culture of top hats and “how do you do”.
We aren’t the tea drinking nation.
We aren’t any other stereotypical view of Britain. We’re a huge cultural mixture. Who (regardless of how the media like to hype the situation) understanding of others beliefs and we’re willing to talk, relate to and befriend people regardless of their beliefs and opinions.
We’re White, we’re Black, we’re Asian, we’re straight, we’re gay, we’re men, we’re women and it has absolutely no affect on our every day life.
Britishness is not static, it isn’t like a religious belief that cannot be changed. Britishness updates every single second. It’s a constantly working mechanism that, if embraced, can cope with all the pressures of multiculturalist England today.

It would appear that the top hat wearing, tea drinking, small corner shop family run business owning,”cheery-o chap” speaking British ways have long since died. It isn’t because of immigration and it has very little, if nothing to do with New Labour. It has to do with the changing nature of humanity.
- You and I both don’t wear tradition British Clothing, because American jeans like Levi, and hoodies sporting “Greenday” logos are the fashion now.
- I don’t want to wear a top hat and say “Good day to you madam”.

New Labour didn’t open the gates. Conservative Open Market policies did that. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that when a rich prosperous country opens it’s gates to foreign investment, people are going to start to move country. If you want a wide variety of choice with regard to the products you buy, expect large numbers of immigrants offering that choice. You can’t have it both ways. PLEASE try and understand this, for the sake of intelligent thought.

The small family run tradition British businesses, the grocers, the small video rental shops, struggle to exist in a place where Tesco and John Lewis rule the waves. You can blame big business for this.

For the people who insist that “Britishness doesn’t exist”, I’d like to know what drastic changes have occured in your every day life, that have made you a little less British and a little more Polish, or Pakistani, or Indian? And then, go back into your ignorant minds and count all the aspects of your life that are actually American influenced.

And then of course, there are those who insist that England has gone “PC mad”.

Political Correctness:
Certain phrases that have found their way into our language in order to appear more “understanding”, for example if I were to suggest that because i’m losing my hair, in order to reduce the risk of offending me, instead of saying i’m balding, i’d prefer you used the term follicle regression, would indeed, take the piss.
If half the dirty old men in on the planet decided that they hate that term, and prefer the term “gender enthusiastic geriatric”, we’d laugh at them, because it’s ridiculous.

To me, that’s what political correctness is. Taking something that wasn’t offensive in the first place, and claiming it was TOO offensive.
Mankind, suddenly becomes Human Kind.
Housewife suddenly becomes homemaker.

When you use the term “paki” to describe anyone who happens to have an Asian complexion, you aren’t exercising a form of anti-policial correctness, you’re exercising ignorance, cuntishness, and above all, you’re starting to prove the case for the rest of the World hating us.
When you try to justify such ignorance as “well, it’s just like calling me a brit!!”, you have delved beyond the realms of ignorance, and infact, deserve to be shot.

When you use any kind of intended abuse, to personally attack someone, you cannot hide behind “omg, this country is so fucking politically correct!!” or “I’m just being honest!!” in a lame attempt to justify your ridiculous point of view…….. You cannot defend yourself.

When one Muslim woman complains that a British Flag offends her. That is one Muslim woman. It isn’t Islam on the whole. It’s like saying Ian Huntley is a white British man, so therefore all white British men must be paedophile child killers. If you then accuse all Muslims of being anti-British, then those same Muslims have a right to come up to you and express the view, through the media, across the World, that all British Women like to kill children and bury them on the Moors, because Myra Hindley did. I very much doubt you’d be banging on about their right to be politically incorrect then, you’d be disgusted.

People seem to think that “free speech” entitles you to be a cunt, and then not have to deal with the consequences. Free speech means you can say what you want, but you must deal with the problems inevitably faced by your ignorance. Don’t back away from it. And don’t hide behind a horrible cliche like “politically correct”. Freedom of Speech has consequences. You do indeed have the freedom to say whatever you want to say, there is nothing stopping you. But have to guts to deal with the subsequent problems you have caused.

Political Correctness hasn’t got “out of hand”, it isn’t worse than it’s ever been. Ignorance is on the rise. This new breed of arrogant Nationalism is on the rise. Too many people think they can be as offensive as they like and they’ll somehow gain support and not have to explain themselves deeper, not have to give it any intelligent thought, if they just use “I hate political correctness!” to justify their own unjustifiable prejudices. I don’t know if it’s a post-Empire thing, but it seems a high number of Brits have decided that Britain is the God of all Countries.

There is an odd thing happening. The British public seem to be paying an unusual amount of time to the Media, and so jumping on the bandwagon portrayed at the time.
The Sun – “Gordon Brown is wonderful”
The public – “YEAH! GO GORDON!!!”
The Sun – “Actually he’s a bit shit”
The public – “Yeah BOOO GORDON!”
It takes away any individual thought. I would like to see more people forming their own opinions, understanding that the media is controlled, they are private enterprises, and so, full of bias. I would like people to, instead of jumping to an illogical conclusion, research both sides of an argument and then come to a well rounded, well thought out opinion. It may agree with your initial jumped-to conclusion, it may change your mind completely, like the whole “Britishness” debate has for me. But it’s the only credible way you will answer a deep question such as the one surrounding the British Culture War.

It is people who think in this regressive, nazi-esque way, who destroy the country, no one else.

Making a hell out of heaven

I appear to had forgotten just how unreasonable a vindaloo is a few hours after you’ve eaten it.
It’s like an incredibly attractive female, who, after you’ve “enjoyed” her, tells you she’s got herpes.
It sits there, staring at me, begging to be eaten, and so owing to my great incapability for saying no, I eat it. Savouring every last beautifully cheap and greasy mouthful (the curry, not the attractive female), I’m too deep into the heavenly taste, that I don’t think about the consequences of these actions. I go to bed satisfied.
A few hours later, and I wake up feeling like someone is about to blowtorch my arse.

I’ve wondered recently, what heaven is. What it’s like. Who it pleases. Who decides what universal perfection and happiness is. I mean, I understand that Heaven is the perfected perfection. It’s also very Conservative, in that it doesn’t like change or social progression. God spits at the Gays! Like an angry redneck scared that the sanctity of his second marriage to his second cousin may be undermined if we let the “fags” marry. It’s also very undemocratic, what with one guy ruling the entire place, very heavy handedly I might add, Bush will be invading heaven before January, I assure you.

If, as Christians tend to suggest, no homosexual person, or no person who questions Christianity, or no person who hasn’t accepted Jesus as “their lord and saviour” exists in heaven, then I do not want to go to Heaven. If the Christian heaven, void of anyone who happens to have a different view of life exists, then it’s indeed a very good advert for going to Hell. Hell seems much more diverse and accepting.
A Christian at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, once told me that unless you accept Jesus into your life, you are destined for hell. I asked him, “what would happen to an Aid Worker in the Sudan, who dedicates his life to helping others, all his money goes into helping orphaned children live a better life, but is Atheist, and Gay?” The Christian, told me that man would go to hell for being a non believer. Yet this Christian stood in front of me, aimlessly condemning good people to hell, will be going straight to heaven? This same Christian, who will act morally, purely to appease his God and maybe get on the path to Heaven, whereas that Gay Atheist aid worker, acts morally, because he wants to do good, he has no one to impress, no God to appease, he does the right thing, for the sake of humanity, is going to hell? I think that’s a brilliant advert for hell right there.

Surely Heaven is different for everyone? My idea of the perfect eternal World will be entirely different to that, for example, of a White Supremacist. Their idea of heaven, may very well be void of all black or Asian people. Whereas, my idea of heaven would include every ethnic grouping, every coloured skin, every sexual orientation, every Nationality, every class, and every walk of life on the planet, living in a place without a whisp of fear or bigotry.
The idea of the perfect World for a Priest, may not include sexual salacious bliss, or may only include sexual salacious bliss for couples who had married in the material World. This, is my idea of hell.

Everyone is different.

A Vegetarian may find that his or her idea of Heaven, is never having to find another restaurant that actually caters to Vegetarians in a respectful maner. A table full of beautiful Vegetarian dishes. Whereas, my only edible wish for Heaven, all I ask of God, if he truly is merciful, would be a Vindaloo that doesn’t set my arse on fire.

The Darling pre-budget

I’m not quite sure what to make of the Chancellors pre-budget report. It seemed an obvious route to take. But it wasn’t quite as helpful as perhaps Labour tried to suggest it would be, to those families who need it most. It stunk horribly of “election coming up, let’s give away money!”
2.5% VAT cut, from 17.5% to 15% for the next year. I’m not sure how this will affect anything in particular. Whenever I go into a shop, given the current crisis, they’ve got a huge sale on. So surely, this wont make much of a difference. It wont be passed on to consumers, an extra 2.5% off consumer goods, it’ll just be added onto the sale price. It’s a lovely soundbite for an election, but nothing much else. Of course, the chancellor got a little bit cheeky with the VAT cut. The one place this could actually help struggling working families, was on fuel…. which is to see it’s duty raised.

£3billion in capital spending, will be taken from 2010/11, and used sooner rather than later, for building projects such as the building of new social housing, updating schools, and energy efficiency.

Pension credit increased from £124 to £130 a week for single people, and from £189 to £198 for couples, along with state pensions increasing in line with inflation.

£100,000,000 will be used to help insulate 60,000 homes to help cope with rising energy and gas prices.

Corporate tax will fall from 30% to 28%.

That’s pretty much the giveaway. To pay for the small percentage of this massive giveaway, a giveaway estimated by the chancellor, to the shock of the British public, who now know just how much shit we truly are in, to be in the region of £118Bn in borrowing. A record high, the Chancellor has introduced a new tax band. 45% for those earning £150,000 or more. Rightfully so. However, we’re all being taxed higher, on National Insurance, which George Osbourne, quite rightfully called “Another income tax in all but name”. NI will increase 0.5%, which renders the VAT cut, virtually useless.
I welcome increase in state pensions, I welcome the increase in child benefit, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable of the Government to try to help those who need it the most, especially with the permanent extension of the personal tax allowance by £130, helping those affected horribly by the ridiculous idea of scraping the 10p tax band last year. But as previously stated, it doesn’t help enough. It almost hides behind the idea of helping, whilst taking away at the same time. No doubt some people will now be better placed, who may have suffered heavily otherwise. But what about in the future? What about when our national debt is close to £1trillion? What then?

It’s a huge gamble that i’m not sure will pay off. It’s the equivilant of maxing out two credit cards, and then taking out another credit card in the hope that in two or three years time, you’ll have a decent enough job to pay it all back. It’s that huge a gamble. But somehow, it seems necessary. People must come before money. Otherwise compassion dies.

If anything, this pre-budget has achieved a distinction between the two main parties. Two parties that have been fighting for centre ground for years. A distinction that may indeed pose problems for the economy, whichever side of the fence you sit, but may also help to increase voter participation at the next General Election. There is now quickly becoming a clear choice between the two.

Labour, now moving back to the left, taxing the rich to help the poor, spending, borrowing, investing in public services; a move the Labour party has been restrained from doing for years. The death of New Labour, and the rebirth of Old Labour maybe. Hundreds of thousands of people will be better placed to deal with the recession, than they would under the Tories, in the short term, but future tax hikes may hit them hard in the future.

The Tories, by comparison are moving back to the Right. Hiding behind the Thatcherite concept of “just leave it be”. The Tories are offering, basically, nothing. One top Tory even going so far as to say “Recessions aren’t always a bad thing for us”. Hundreds of thousands of people would be worse off in the short term than they would be under Labour, many more would lose their homes and their jobs, but would be perhaps better placed in the future.

Either way, both ideologies clearly have supreme flaws. Right Wing economic policy appears to create a greed culture, leading to problems like Sub Prime lending, which leads to recession. Labour then try to help get out of recession, by going deeper into debt, and gambling with the Countries finances. Both ideologies and their followers, seem to have no idea what they’re doing. Both policies, are ultimately, failures. We need a new middle ground, maybe building on Keynes. Otherwise, we’re just going to be going backward and forward and backward again, for years to come, regardless of the Government.

The Cameron and Osbourne Show

A lot can happen in Politics in a year. Back in August 2007, Blair had resigned, and Brown had taken over control of Labour and the Country. Labour were suddenly at their most popular since 2002, ten points ahead of David Cameron’s Conservatives.

Then, within about three months, Brown had made a mess of the PR surrounding the call of an election, he let it go on and on, and people became disillusioned. Cameron went green. Suddenly riding his bike anywhere that a Photographer happened to be, cleverly disguising the fact that his suit was being driven to Parliament by limo. The Tories shot up in the polls. Labour plummeted.
Then, Labour’s biggest mistake since Brown took office, the talk of abolishing the 10p tax band, meaning the poor would be massively hit with tax rises. The poor, being Labours key demographic, suddenly destroyed in one foul swoop. Of course the rise in commodity prices hasn’t helped Labour in the slightest. The knowledge that whilst Brown is pushing Opec countries to increase Oil supply to help lower prices, he’s also rather hypocritically charging the British Public a huge 63% tax rate on fuel. And so the downfall of Gordon Brown continued.
Jacqui Smith then suggested that we have no reason to fear going out late at night on her own, because she does the very same thing and feels perfectly safe……….the picture then emerged of her at a kebab shop, with two security guards. Another blow to confidence in Labour, albeit a smaller one.
There was talk of a leadership contest, that Labour backbenchers had had enough of Brown. David Miliband constantly being asked if he would stand for leadership, adding to not only the public disillusionment with Brown, but also exposing his leadership as a weakness.

The Tories didn’t need to say a thing, Labour were the best advert for a Conservative government.

And then the Credit Crunch happened. The Tories had the perfect opportunity. Blame Brown for the fact that he’s been Chancellor for ten years. He should have seen this coming. But instead, Brown seems to be the only one who can weather us through this financial storm. Labour are now, according to The Times, up 5 points since the Glenrothes by-election, on 36%, with the Tories down to 41%, a loss of 4%. Labour are closing the gap. Why? Why the sudden interest in Labour, and why the losing of faith in the Tories?

Well, I think it stems fully from the Tories economic policy. Labour are offering tax cuts whilst spending more. Cameron attacks this as dangerous. Claiming the national deficit this policy would leave, would mean huge tax rises in the future. Fair point. However, Labour have decreased the debt from 42% under the last Tory government to 36%, so we’re actually much better placed now.

With the Tories effectively doing nothing, offering no tax cuts, when hard pressed families really do need it, offering no extra spending in places like the winter fuel allowance, to pensioners who will struggle the most this winter, the Tories are proving that for all their talk of change, for all their rhetoric around moving from the right of the political spectrum to the centre-right, they will always retreat back to Thatcherite economics the moment the climate gets tough. But it wont do this time.
George Osbourne’s seemingly desperate attraction to the free market, to low spending, relying heavily on interest rates, is twenty years out of date. Everything is different now. The Tories cannot hang on to out dated ideologies if they want to win the next election. It isn’t the time for them to be moving further to the right. If anything, they need to be much more firmly in the centre, if they are to gain the trust of the majority of Brits feeling the effect of the credit crunch.

63% of people surveyed by The Times favoured tax cuts. 73% favoured increased public spending. Cameron cannot ignore that. Osbourne cannot ignore that. They cannot just ignore their way through a recession when the very people that the Tories need to be voting for them come the next election, will be the same people they ignored during the financial crisis. It seems the strong, tight relationship, that impressed the majority of us, even on the left of the political scale, between Cameron and Osbourne is slowly crumbling.

The rise of Nationalism

“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” 
- Samuel Johnson

According to a publicly leaked document on the British National Party, members now include doctors, teachers, and police. Aside from the fact that you should not be entering public life if you have such strong, senseless prejudices, I cannot understand why a deeply racist person, would involve themselves in a line of work, where they have to protect those they hate. They cannot have an Us vs Them mentality, public services should have a “us” mentality, an “us” that incorporates everyone.
It’s the equivilant of Hermann Gorring getting annoyed because Jewish schools in Warsaw refuse to interview him.
If they have such fundamentally flawed beliefs, built on intolerance, they should not be allowed anywhere near the public sector.

They use St George as the symbol of Britain……… St George….. born in Palestine. Go figure. 

I got annoyed reading the BNP website. I’ll show you why.
From the BNP site…

“we, the native British people, will be an ethnic minority in our own country within sixty years. “ 
- This is a lie. A piece of, let’s face it, racist propaganda, scare mongering. It’s only purpose is to create an air of suspicion for anyone who happens to have a slightly darker skin complexion.

“the introduction of a system of voluntary resettlement whereby those immigrants who are legally here will be afforded the opportunity to return to their lands of ethnic origin assisted by a generous financial incentives both for individuals and for the countries in question.”
- Why even suggest that? What’s wrong with them being here? By even saying that in the first place, it shows a deep dislike of those who aren’t of British origin. Racist. Xenophobic. Not to mention a beautiful way to destroy a community, close business, lose millions of jobs, and bankrupt England.

“We will abolish the ‘positive discrimination’ schemes that have made white Britons second-class citizens. “
- I sure as hell don’t feel second class. If a Pakistani who has just moved here, is better at the job than i am, then he should get it. If he puts himself down on the housing list before me, he should get a house before me. That’s fucking obvious.

” work to restore Britain’s family and trading ties with Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and to trade with the rest of the world as it suits us.”
- Yeah that’s just what we need, selfish take-take-take, whilst at the same time, taking the moral high ground by suggesting that all immigrants do is take-take-take, and so the hypocrisy continues. Notice that the nations we’d be trading with on our terms, are predominantly white.

“The BNP will crack down on crime and restore public safety and confidence. “
- So a Party built on crime, nazis, and creating racial tension, they’re now trying to reach social harmony? 
I smell hypocrisy in the air.

“Globalisation, with its export of jobs to the Third World, is bringing ruin and unemployment to British industries and the communities that depend on them.”
- Under Blair, the country was more prosperous than it’s ever been. I very much doubt the criminal mind of Nick Griffin could better that. He’s completely out of touch with contemporary politics, in his own little bubble. His Britain would be the kicking and screaming child of Europe, prices would shoot up, unemployment would be rife given that only White Brits would be allowed the jobs, and racial wars would be taking place across the Country. Our ageing population would not be replaced, meaning pensions would be insecure, and the economy in general would be finished.

“Accordingly, the BNP calls for the selective exclusion of foreign-made goods from British markets and the reduction of foreign imports. “
- Which would mean pretty much everything would cost a fucking fortune.

“unemployment in this country will be brought to an end, and secure, well-paid employment will flourish, “
- Ahahahahahaha, That’s all that one needs.

“We are against the ‘trendy’ teaching methods that have made Britain one of the most poorly educated nations in Europe. “
- What he means is, let’s bring back ignorant teaching, that catered to the clever kids. That ignored pyschological problems. And why are we so poorly educated? Where’s that stat from? Given that more people are going to university than ever before. My best teachers, the ones that got through to me the most, were the eccentric ones who dared to be different. Fuck the BNP for suggesting otherwise, they have absolutely no idea.

“We will also seek to instill in our young people knowledge of and pride in the history, cultures and heritage of the native peoples of Britain.”
- If the BNP do that with my children, i will teach my children the complete opposite. Respect for everyone, love, charity, empathy, compassion, and that above all, regardless of who we are, where we’re from, how we look, what colour we are, what sexuality we are, if we’re tall, if we’re fat, if we’re short and thin, regardless, we’re all the same, and not to be a slave to the evil the BNP spews.

“We reject the idea that Britain must forever be obliged to subsidise the incompetence and corruption of Third World states by supplying them with financial aid. “
- If we have £10,000,000,000 to bail out greedy bankers, we sure as hell have the money to prevent a child in the third world dying. If we can even help one person who’s only wish in life is that their child doesn’t die of starvation, who isn’t concerned with which country you’re born, then we fucking should. Yes it’s our responsibility! It’s the World’s responsibility, the responsibility of the civilised and decent. You can keep turning your head and ignoring if you want. But no far right racist agenda will change my mind on that one.

The suggestion that the BNP are sticking up for British people is so badly flawed, given that the majority of  those same British people despise the BNP. 
Britain is a liberal country.
Therefore, logic tells you, that if you want to represent the wishes and values of the British public, you must be liberal.
It amazes me that they seem to be suggesting they are truly British. Was Churchill not truly British, given that his goal was to wipe out the threat of Fascism from the shores of Britain? That very same fascism that the BNP now holds dear.
Mark Collett, leader of the young BNP, said “hitlers germany was a better place to bring up children, than oldham in 2002.”

Nationalism is nothing but an idea that makes the ignorant feel a little superior. A place where they can all get together, and hate foreigners, and yet ignorantly depend on them for most of the things we buy.

Being British has no static identity. It’s always changing. It’s always updating. It’s the beauty of England. We’re much more accepting than most other developed Nations, including The U.S.A.
People who want to stick to basic, ignorant principles, and not move with the fact that we’re living in a much smaller World, are the ones out of touch. The Government is a liberal government, the opposition, is a liberal opposition, of course there needs to be a better form of immigration control, but not to the extent that the BNP offer, which would kill Liberalism, it would kill human decency, it would kill the idea that we respect each other on the premise that we’re all people before we’re any Nationality.
 
I absolutely love this video. This is Russell Brand, with Mark Collett, leader of the young BNP, i’d strongly advise watching it until the end. It gets good, and sums up, in a few short minutes, why I despise the BNP.

The hypocrisy of the Christian Right

 

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Hitler was a genocidal maniac, and hetrosexual.
Sadam was a genocidal maniac, and hetrosexual.
Polpot was a genocidal maniac, and hetrosexual.
Osama Bin Laden is a genocidal maniac, and hetrosexual.
General Pinochet was a genocidal maniac, and hetrosexual.
George W Bush is a genocidal maniac, and hetrosexual.
Myra Hindley killed kids, and was hetrosexual.
Ted Bundy killed college girls, and was hetrosexual.
Ian Huntley killed two little girls, and was hetrosexual.
And yet the Christian Right has the fucking nerve to suggest it’s homosexuality that is a cancer on the Planet.

It strikes me as utterly inexcusable that a Nation bound to the values of freedom and fairness, condemn anyone who happens to have a different sexual preference to one that happened to be written down, 2000 or so years ago, when you know, it was alright for grown men to sleep with fourteen year old girls. And they hold that time up, as a guidance for all morality.
It’s bigotted, it’s unfounded, it’s another case of using that horrible form of social manipulation… “God” ….. to justify ones own disgraceful prejudices.

It would seem that happiness is not an individual freedom. It seems that the Christian Right Wing, decide what should be considered happiness. Gay people are not wanting to get married, in order to spit in the face of hetrosexual couples. They just want the absolute freedom to be happy, just like a hetrosexual couple, and no one has any right to deny them that freedom, if you voted in favour of Prop. 8, you should be incredibly ashamed of yourself, you’re beliefs on this matter, are wrong.

I read this today, in regard to Proposition 8, a Law banning same sex marriage in California……
“Gender, race and impairment all relate to what a person is, whereas homosexuality relates to what a person does.”

What an idiot.
“Hey, what you doing today?“
“Oh you know, this and that, some golf maybe, a bit of homosexuality, maybe go swimming”.
Clearly, from an misinformed, bigotted Christian, insisting that HIS God, is one of peace, love, and unity, and yet paradoxically, condemning everyone to hell who isn’t an avid fan of his favourite work of Fiction, the Bible. Aside from the fact that the fundamental principle of Christianity is that God is perfect, and does not make mistakes, and therefore by definition, would accept homosexuality for what it is, just another form of love, because he created it, there are absolutely no other reasons to feel that gay marriage would undermine male/female marriage.

He went on…
“Some people have a strong bent towards stealing or abuse of alcohol, but they still choose to engage or not engage in this behavior the law rightly holds them accountable.”

The difference, that he chooses to ignore, is that homosexuality, between two consenting adults, is not harming anyone, it’s nobody elses business, it isn’t causing any harm. It’s a sexual preference. Nothing else. It isn’t wrong, it isn’t unnatural. It has nothing to do with the Christian right. It’s personal choice. For what possible reason is it wrong? Use your own mind on this one, not one of a vile, hate-filled God.

One guy suggested that he wants to ban gay marriage, because he doesn’t want his kids indoctrinated with the idea that homosexuality is ok, at school, when in fact, he suggested that homosexuality was “another form of abuse”. This man, shouldn’t be having kids, if he’s just trying to pass on messages of hate to his own children. I’d be far more pissed off, and have to remove my kids from school, if they were teaching that it’s wrong to be homosexual. If one of my kids thinks he may be gay, and the school is telling everyone that it’s wrong, i’d pull my kid straight out of that school. And what the fuck is with “it’s just another form of abuse”….. clearly when God created Christians, he may have overestimated his ability.

Another guy suggested that gay guys are much more promiscuous than hetrosexual males and so far more likely to spread disease. I’m a hetrosexual male, and i’m promiscuous. I love sex. Infact, sex to me, has nothing to do with “procreation“, it’s all about fun, enjoying myself, relaxing, and above all, happiness. If a God would rather me sit in my room, rocking backwards and forwards, crying over the fact that i’m a dirty sinner, whilst I condemn anyone with opinions of their own to hell, then that’s a God who quite frankly, can fuck off.
If I were to settle down and get married, have kids. I’d be lying to myself. I’d be hugely unhappy, and would be wasting both mine and my partners life, because it’s just not me. Not a Christian, not a Politician pandering to the bigots, and not a God is going to tell me otherwise. I’m me. Sex is such a taboo subject, people telling other people who they should love, how they should live, and who they should enjoy sex with. It should not be like this.

Why is it perfectly ok for the Christian Right to attack anything that isn’t directly pro-life….. homosexuality, abortion, but they seem to keep quiet when THEIR right winged Christian government destroy over 600,000 innocent lives in foreign countries, for reasons we still don’t know of? It seems great to be pro-life, as long as that life is white, christian, American, and doesn’t grow up to be gay. It takes hypocrisy to an entirely new level. I wish they would just admit that they use the Bible to justify themselves, and that it isn’t actually a religious matter, they just hate gay people, or go one step further, they hate anyone who happens to be slightly different. Because, God, as we all know, is a red neck from Texas, which is why they relate to him so well.  

It’s beautifully ignorant of the far right Christian hate brigade, to cite Leviticus, with…
“A man shall not lie with another man, it is an abomination” ……as proof that God is up in heaven throwing darts at a poster of Elton John, and yet they cleverly ignore verses in Exodus, such as…

“On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be sacred to you as the sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day shall be put to death.”
My dad works on a Sunday sometimes. Infact, tomorrow is Sunday, i’ll be doing some University work, for monday. Is God sending me to hell? Should I be put to death tomorrow? The Christians who despise gay people due to a verse in leviticus, and therefore morally obliged to put anyone to do death who happens to work on a Sunday, otherwise, their argument is void of all intelligence (As if it isn’t already). And does this hell consist of free thinkers, as opposed to the easily manipulated hate filled lunatics God seems to use as his spokes people, because if that’s what Hell is, i’m quite looking forward to it. It’ll be refreshing to be honest.
Exodus 21:7…
“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as male slaves do.”
Fantastic. If i’m ever in need of some spare cash, God says it’s alright for me to sell my daughter into slavery. That’s fine then. So, if my dad works on a Sunday, but then sells my sister into slavery, has he cancelled the sin out, with his morally superior act of selling kids into slavery? Will be be saved?

The point is, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to have a problem with homosexuality, other than ones own personal hatred toward anyone who happens to be slightly different.
They claim it’s “unnatural”. Surely it’s far more unnatural to surppress who you are, in order to please a bunch of ignorant bigots? In fact, i’d go one further, and say that what is far more unnatural, is blind obediance to a man in the sky, something that can neither be proved true or false.
Gay couples who love each other, just as much as hetrosexual couples, who simply want to be recognised for their bond, should have the same level of rights as hetrosexual couples. Hetrosexual couples, are not superior.

When it comes to equality, clearly a large section of Americans are living in their own little World. Don’t bang on about how you voted Republican, to protect civil liberties and freedom, and then demand that other sections of society give up their rights to the same freedom you wish to preserve, you bigotted, out of date, idiotic, mindless, despicable excuses for human beings.

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” – Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

GOD LOVES HATE!

Rant over.

My Photography

I’ve strongly resisted the urge to whore my photos, and it’s lasted all but a day.  I study Photography at a University down in London. I have absolutely no desire to carry on after the first year, because, like many warned me, Photography teachers limit your creativity to what they consider to be a good photo. I’m not willing to keep letting that happen. It’s destroying my enjoyment of Photography.

So, next year, I plan to move back home, go to university in Leicester, and study Politics.
In the mean time, here’s a selection of my Photos, tell me how wonderful I am.
You can buy them at http://jme2007.deviantart.com/prints/  …….. I’m a poor student, I need your money!
 

 

 

 

Aren’t I just wonderful?
Think so?
THEN BUY MY PHOTOS, CHEAP BASTARDS!

http://jme2007.deviantart.com/prints/

Right Wing Economic wonder

I’ve managed to keep my mouth closed over the whole financial crises. I don’t know enough about it, and apparently i’m the only person in Britain who doesn’t consider Gordon Brown to be an economic powerhouse given that he’s run the Nation’s finances for the past ten years and it’s all gone to shit. Surely if he were THAT great, we’d all be fine now? Surely he wouldn’t think that the way out of recession, is to spend more whilst simultaneously borrowing more? It’s the equivalent of me starting a fire, but then putting it out again, after first trying to tackle it with petrol. But you know, i’m no expert. 

And now we’ve deduced that i’m infact, no expert, I can go crazy with opinionated nonsense, and it wont matter, because i’ve already stated, i’m no expert. 

For a few years i’ve had a bit of a dilemma on my mind. I know it must be logical somewhere, but i’m unable to figure it out. Washing up liquid that I buy for washing up here, costs £1.20 for a bottle. If I want three bottles, it’ll cost me £3.00. A saving of 60p. Surely that’s fine, if i have that £3.00 to spare, which I don’t, I’m a student, so I have to buy the £1.20, but then a month or so later, i’ll buy another, and then another, and so i’ve spent more than I would have if I had bought the £3.00. But then that’s fine, if I have that £3.00 in the first place. And so, it appears that if you have money, you’re fine, the market LOVES you. But the Market LOVES us low lives more. 

Recently I went £0.20p over drawn on my account. They charged me £15 for this, which is obscene in itself. I paid it. They then told me that if I were to have left it unpaid, that mere 20p, for five days, they’d charge me £25. So i’d be £25.20p overdrawn. Twenty days, and i’d be £125.20p overdrawn. What gets me is, if i’ve not paid it, in twenty days, then chances are, I can’t afford to pay the £15 charges, so what makes these people think i’d be perfectly able to pay £125.20p? I asked my bank manager that very question. He answered, as they all do, to justify their robbery “You should look after your accounts better”. That’s the same as telling a rape victim “You shouldn’t wear such short skirts”. I almost said “Ok, so you guys have borrowed from the Taxpayer for not looking after your fucking accounts properly, so you will be hearing from me within the next week outlining my charges to you.” 

I looked at the whole Sub Prime lending issue today, desperately trying to understand the concept. As far as I can tell, it seems like the whole concept of sub prime lending, is much the same as suggesting that Titanic, was unsinkable. I read a description of sub prime lending, and ended up thinking “Seriously, did no one see this crisis coming? But again, i’m no expert blah blah blah. 

And whilst on the annoyance of Sub Prime lending, let’s move onto Sub Prime insurance. An even deadlier cancer than sub prime itself. AIG greedily insure sub prime mortgages, knowing they will benefit massively from the plight of those less fortunate whilst the housing market is on the rise. And then the housing market collapses, and AIG say “can we have a handout please Government?” No you fucking can’t! 

Goldman Sachs this year asked for $6.1 billion to be bailed out of the shit. They then put $7 billion aside for boss bonuses.50% has fallen from the valuation of the company this year. And yet they can afford to pay the top dogs a hefty bonus totalling more than the tax payer is paying to bail the bastards out. Lehman brothers appear to be doing the exact same thing. The whole Goldman Sachs case, stinks disturbingly of Mr Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary and ex-Goldman Sachs CEO bailing out his friends. The dictionary has “bonus” defined as “A sum of money added to wages for good performance”. $7 billion awarded for destroying your company, putting thousands out of work due to your greed, and adding to the already doomed capitalist system, please someone explain the logic behind this. 
Is this the amazing deregulated free market that those moronic advocates, Thatcher and Regan so naively promoted? The deregulated free market that Milton Friedman insisted was the perfect system? 
If i’m sat around a cabinet table, and the bosses of Goldman Sachs ask me to bail them out, and then tell me that they’re paying $7 billion out in bonuses, my first comment, after a bout of hysterical laughter, would be “no you fucking well aren’t!” 

Does anyone else get the feeling Bush has just given up? I saw Paulson the other day, tell CNN that the $750 billion bail out package that they told us was the perfect solution, and HAD to pass Congress as quick as possible, that it’d save everything, and we’d all be fine, and that if Congess didn’t pass it, we’d all be doomed…… had failed. And then, to top it off, Bush said during his speech the other day that “The market didn’t need more regulation, what the market needs is less regaulation!!!!”….. Are these people on the same planet as the rest of us? 

And doesn’t all this, stink horribly of Thatcherism and Reganomics? Telling us all that the deregulated capitalist market is wondrous and promotes the beauty of ‘freedom’. That we’d all benefit, and all will be fine, like an economic heaven, where Milton Friedman is God………… Where banks are free to encourage personal debt at a rate that the consumer will never be able to pay back, and nothing at all could possibly go wrong……….. yeah, how’d that work out for you?

Still, i’m no expert.

The peaceful life

Devon, on the South Coast of England, has a deep, profound affect on me. It is etched into my mind, that the only place I get a mindful sense of true serenity, able to block out any negative aspect of my life that may be strangling my existance, is south Devon. It’s a World away from everything. There is no fear. There is no worry. There is no conflict. It sits upon a higher plateau of existance and thought in my ever growing constantly perplexed mind.

I’m becoming deeply disatisfied with life, and I cannot figure out what I dislike, or how to change it. I’m not scrupulously unhappy, or crying out for any kind of help, but there constantly feels like there’s a void. Something that I cannot seem to understand. There’s a dire conflict between my need for absolute serenity, and the feeling that if I don’t speed through life like every businessman on the planet, i’m ultimately going to fail. I cannot harmonise the two.

South Devon, be it Dawlish or Starcross, has the most calming affect on me. More so than being around family, or friends. Even the country road leading to the coast, a mile or so away, amplifying the distinct sound of the seagull that when translated into English, will always be “Welcome to your peace” in my mind. The thought alone, is so profoundly melodious that it has the ability to turn me from a stressed wreck on the verge of tears unable to cope with my own seemingly horrible lack of motivation and my incessent need to question everything around me, to a peaceful, spiritual being, clear of all thoughts other than the melliflous sound of the ocean crashing gently into the rocks on which I sit tentatively, every time I, in essence, meditate.

I think the entire deep-rooted peaceful feeling that I get, rellies on the fact that I know that life is difficult, and it’s fast, and it’s an endless chase for fortune, that it’s stressful and often lugubriously inadequate, and so it’s comforting to know that a place of such magnificent solitude is always there, waiting for me. My entire life has been city based. Fast, worries, money problems, family arguments, heart beat racing when things seem to be going wrong, scared to leave the house at night because of the inner city mindless street gangs, police cars racing past every other minute, cars in traffic at 8am beeping mindlessly into the conflicting calm morning air, the local news demanding my attention for nothing but violence and intolerance. And then suddenly, I discover a place, 300 miles away, with such serene coastline, and a such a lack of fear of crime, in that the most criminal thing i’d seen in Leicester, is a man being kicked in the face by a gang of six men, who I then read in the news the next day, had, after i’d left, pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim, almost killing him. Contrast the violence of that situation, with the most criminal activity i’ve ever came across in south devon, being this oddly humorous criminal offence……

And you start to get the feeling that one of my main worries, is my own safety and shelter from harm. Contrast is a big part of my life. The contrast between my views on sex, and those who believe sex to be reserved for those in love. The contrast between my liberal tolerant views, and those of the Daily Mail reading audience filled with hate and rage. The contrast between my understanding that the Open Market Capitalism can be so beneficial, and yet my feeling that the concept is so deeply flawed when it still allows people to be dying of poverty everyday. The contrast between my entire life spent in the City, the rush and the fetish for success and money, and yet my seemingly dire need for absolute peace and serenity, away from any materialistic thought, so much so that when i’m that stressed, I close my eyes, and picture myself sat on the rocks of the beach in Dawlish, early morning sunrise, with no one else around, just me and the ocean, and there is nothing that can make me happier or more relaxed than that image, like a poster there to remind me everytime I start to panic. If I somehow lost that tranquil, untroubled, at peace with myself feeling, unable to find it again, or if it’s power over me suddenly disintegrated, ripped apart by pressure and panic, unable to balance the anguish of a fast, largely fatuous money-chasing life, with the tranquility and serenity I so beautifully rely on, i’d be lost.

This picture will obviously mean nothing to the small variety of individuals who happen to read my blog, but to me, it’s the very pinnacle of what it means to be at peace with myself. The emptiness, the calming light, the incredibly soft nature of the incoming waves. It all plays it’s part.

The Miliband East

It would appear that swarmy nobhead David Miliband is single handedly trying to end the problems in the Middle East by asking Abbas (Which isn’t code to suggest that there is a new member of Abba, but if it were, it would explain why the Middle East is killing itself rather than listen to Abba again) to uphold the Gaza truce.

In 1917, the Balfour Declaration, a letter of support by the Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, for a Jewish state in Palestine, stated “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People….”

And so in one swoop, the British had decided we’d create a nation, in a land that wasn’t actually ours in the First place. It’s the same, in principle, as me going into France now, and saying “ok, i’m setting up a new nation of Jamie, right here in France” (If I were to do that, it certainly wouldn’t be in France). And so the Palestinians, who lived there, were quite understandably pissed off. And the Jews, who have been persecuted where ever they’ve lived, chased out and killed of every land they’ve settled, were now becoming the hated people of the middle East.

The Arabs then revolted, in disgust, in 1936 for three years, against all the commissions that came out of Britain. They killed Jews, they boycotted Jewish and British goods. All hell broke loose.
In 1937, the Jews were given 20% of Palestine, the rest went to the Arabs, who still, understandably weren’t happy. It’s their land! Arab killed Jew, Jew killed Arab, Arab killed Brit, it was a lawless mess. And we created it.

skip 70 odd years, since the year 2000, 1062 Israeli innocents have been killed by Arab forces. 4876 Arab innocents have been killed by Israeli forces. An Israeli force that may not have existed, if it weren’t for The British. A war that will never end, over land that both groups consider themselves the rightful heirs of. Holy Land that people on both sides of the conflict are willing to die to protect for their people.

Some Palestinian media outlets even promoting violence against Jews. It’s just how it is. Whoever manages to sort the problem and create lasting peace will be remembered forever as a political giant. Greater than Churchill, greater FDR, greater than any other political legend. It will be the defining moment of the century.

Since the creation of Israel, 4 million Arabs have been forced out of Israel. Palestine wants a right of return for those people and their descendants. They also want Jerusalem, as does Israel. Until those issues are sorted, which never will be sorted, then the war will continue.

But it’s ok, because Miliband has asked them to be nice to each other.

The liberal within

I was sat wondering today, what does it mean to be liberal and why do I class myself as Liberal?

Firstly, I have very little respect for the idea of “tradition” when it seems to contradict the vision of the future. Take Fox Hunting. The only arguments i’ve heard in favour of Fox hunting, are “it’s tradition”……. so was Slavery, let’s bring that back shall we? “It’s a humane way to kill the fox”, no it isn’t, when i die, i do not want to be chased to exhaustion, scared for my life, only to find myself being bitten by a pack full of crazed hungry hounds whilst a toff on a horse cowardly sits back and watches. I don’t care how quick i’d die, it’s not humane. And of course my favourite “It’s to keep the number of foxes down, they kill our chickens! They’re vermin!” Tough!!!! That’s a Fox being a Fox. That’s what they do. It’s instinct. What’s unnatural, and verminous, is the idea of keeping chickens in a pen. That’s not natural. That’s our fault, not the foxes. Perhaps we should hunt the hunters, because they kill foxes, hunters are vermin. Infact, humanity is pretty verminous. I think it was George Orwell who said “Man is the only creature that consumes but does not produce”. We don’t lay eggs, or give milk, or pull ploughs, instead we kill each other, and create Earth destroying bombs, we use child labour to create clothes for Primark, we chop down forests wiping out habitats so that we can have a nice new wooden table for our TVs whilst we slowly get fat at the expense of those who have to walk miles just for some water………. and then we have the fucking nerve to call a fox vermin. Get a grip.

I can never understand the statement that Liberals are indeed, selfish. That’s a contradiction in terms, for me.
To be Liberal is to act morally with a sense of deep empathy, realising that you are not the most important set of atoms in the World. That a “Nation” is just a place where people on the right wing of the political spectrum can get together, call themselves “Patriots” and decide they’re better than those of us “unpatriotic” lefties, and foreigners. Nothing more.

I believe everyone, regardless of wealth, should have healthcare, paid for by the taxpaying public, that leaves no one out. Wealth should not equate to a superior form of healthcare because wealth and hard work does not make you more or less entitled to life.

John McCain saw fit to suggest during the Presidential race, that the British NHS is an undesirable model. I liked McCain up until that point. Up until the point he made me want to punch his face-that-looks-a-bit-like-a-scrotum in. This horribly undesirable NHS he speaks of, saved my Dad’s life when he had a heart attack, saved my grandma several times after her numerous heart attacks. She’s in and out of hospital all the time, she’s nearly ninety, she would not be here with us today, she would not have been at our big family dinner, the first we’ve had in around fifteen years that brought all of us together one more time, she would not be alive today if it weren’t for the NHS. Thank God for the NHS. When McCain insulted the NHS, all I could see, was a big old man, draped in Dollar signs. And here lies the fundamental difference between Liberals and Conservatives. Money is not everything, especially when it comes to moral issues.

Being Liberal is progressive, not for the benefit of the individual, but for the benefit of society as a whole. That includes a protective government that uses the common wealth (taxes) to ensure safety nets are in place so that although failure in the market place should be allowed to exist, it shouldn’t mean complete disaster. We’re all people. Black and white people should not be segregated at home or at work, homosexuality should not be looked down upon or treated like a taboo – gay marriage should be legal, those who may have had a bad start in life who then turn to drugs or drink or homelessness should not be treated like animals – they are flawed but that doesn’t make them bad people, I believe in the woman’s right to choose when it comes to abortion, and I believe war for the sake of future profits is no different from a serial murderer going mad on the streets.

Of course i’d agree that the market place in principle, should dictate it’s own terms. In principle. Clearly, those “terms” can become twisted, and selfish, and greedy. Governments should not allow that to happen. Because with deregulation comes the death of responsibility. Suddenly accountability is taken away from those elected officials, and moves to the shadowy private sector, accountable purely to it’s shareholders. And so hunger grows, the gap between rich and poor grows, a child in Africa is allowed to starve to death with no help whatsoever, whilst a CEO is lazing his days away on his yaht. When it involves such strong socially moral issues, regulation is the only way. If Government can help achieve some form of social justice, then it should.

It seems all the range to say that a single mum struggling to feed her family, who then ‘scrounges’ a few extra £ in benefits is evil, should be sent to prison, cheating the system. Yet, it seems perfectly fine to give $750,000,000,000 away to greedy CEOs, who Thatcher and Regan had us believing her the future, and would solve all the World’s problems, that the unregulated markets would lift millions out of poverty across the World. Well just look how well THAT turned out. How the hell can you find $750 billion to bail out men in suits, yet you can’t feed the starving? For me, this is the biggest social injustice of our time.

Being Liberal, is the appreciation of the human mind and gene pool. We’re not all the same, some of us are straight, we’re attracted to the opposite sex, some of us are gay, attracted to the same sex, it’s neither natural or unnatural to anyone else other than the individual. If in your mind you’re gay, but because the Christian Right tell you it’s a sin, you hide yourself away, pretending to be straight in the hope that God will forgive you, isn’t that the most unnatural thing in the world? Denying yourself?

“Freedom”, “Unamerican”, “Democracy”, “Terrorism”, “Patriot” and most manipulative of them all “God” can be heard in every speech pretty much, given by most Right Winged politicians across the World. I hate the word “Freedom”, they use it in such a disgusting way. They try to suggest that allowing 1% of the World to suck up 90% of the World’s wealth is freedom.
Recently, especially with Obama, the word “Socialist” has been thrown around by the Right Wing. Obama would be thrown out of Socialist governments, for being too Capitalist. It’s ridiculous to call him Socialist. The Right wing knows it’s ridiculous. They’ve then started to suggest that Obama will destroy the country. They totally ignore that the past eight years have seen the reign of the World’s most hated U.S President, even more hated than Nixon……. Both of whom, come from the Right Wing.
Freedom is fine, it’s a great thing, economic freedom, the right to succeed is a wonderful idea, but before economic freedom is achieved, why can’t we make sure every human being is equipped to take advantage of that freedom? Humanity is not a resource to be used for profiteering through exploitation. Economic freedom relies on those less fortunate, without those less fortunate, in places like Africa, Economic freedom and the free market is doomed. And so the “free” in Freedom applies only to those who were lucky enough to be born into a system that is ready.

I think the over riding trait within me that makes me 100% Liberal, is when people say Liberals are dangerous because we want to tax those who work hard more in order to help others who have less. If I had made a fortune working hard, maybe let’s say, £1,000,000 sat in my bank for example, i’d feel horribly guilty whenever I looked at my account knowing i’d sucked up wealth that otherwise might have saved a life elsewhere. Liberal, to me, means empathy, compassion, and social justice.

This is why i’m a proud Liberal.