Tag: Current affairs

Just saying…

Life is short /
chill the duck out.

Keeping_it_real..[Banksy]
See no evil, hear no evil, say whatever “The F” you want so long as it ain’t
argumentum ad hominem
We can be heroes
The Pearly-eyed girl
Life_is_short_...[Banksy]
Let’s remind ourselves just how very much the Brits love the F word.!.

❝
I
I will be queen
And you
You will be king
…
We can beat them
Just for one day
…
We can be heroes
Just for one day

❞
— David Bowie

{ A Correction }
We may wanna say: “courses for horses” as opposed to, “horses for courses.”

Daydreams & Nightmares

** actions have consequences.

"I have a suspicion that the politicians' revival of the old behaviourist ideas and techniques will be helped and reinforced by a powerful ally - the machines we have built. The computers." -- Adam Curtis"
“I have a suspicion that the politicians’ revival of the old behaviourist ideas and techniques will be helped and reinforced by a powerful ally – the machines we have built. The computers.” — Adam Curtis”
"The Nightmare" by John Henry Fuseli.
“The Nightmare” by John Henry Fuseli.
"I have a suspicion that the politicians' revival of the old behaviourist ideas and techniques will be helped and reinforced by a powerful ally - the machines we have built. The computers." -- Adam Curtis"
“I have a suspicion that the politicians’ revival of the old behaviourist ideas and techniques will be helped and reinforced by a powerful ally – the machines we have built. The computers.” — Adam Curtis”
The Power of Nightmares is a 2004 documentary made and produced by Adam Curtis. It explores the origins of contemporary Islamic fundamentalism. Curtis draws parallels between it and Neo-conservatism in America and then considers the impact of both. It consists of three parts:

01. — It’s Cold Outside
02. — Phantom Victory
03. — Shadows in the Cave

Anti-capitalism_color—_Restored
Life’s a Layer cake.
Banksy---Visitors-not-welcome
Them & Us
Divided-we-stand---United-we-fall
Divided we Fall /
United we Stand //

but what about individuality¿?¿ ‘What’ indeed!

Oh So You Kay:

“Yes Minister”
— Classic British political satire.
The Thick Of It
“The Thick of It”
— Political satire at it’s very best.
The Mash Report
“The Mash Report”
— Contemporary political lampooning.

Mask Wars

~ by J.H.K.

Almost half of the British population believes that COVID-19 (often referred to on the street as Chinese Corona) is a “man-made creation.” According to the Independent, research suggested that many think Covid-19 is a Chinese weapon or created by the “New World Order.”
“Mask Wars” ~
According to London’s FT, Freemasons, Norwegian salmon and even Bill Gates have been blamed for an upsurge in coronavirus cases in China.
Almost half of the British population believes that COVID-19 (often referred to on the street as Chinese Corona) is a “man-made creation.” According to the Independent, research suggested that many think Covid-19 is a Chinese weapon or created by the “New World Order.”
“Mask Wars” ~
In an interview with London’s Telegraph nwspaper, the former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, cited an “important” scientific report that suggested that COVID-19 had not emerged naturally, but had been created by Chinese scientists. Likewise, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has argued that there’s “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
Almost half of the British population believes that COVID-19 (often referred to on the street as Chinese Corona) is a “man-made creation.” According to the Independent, research suggested that many think Covid-19 is a Chinese weapon or created by the “New World Order.”
“Mask Wars” ~
I read it said that, “We are all prone to believing information when it is repeated, easy to process and when it aligns with our prior attitudes and world views.”
Almost half of the British population believes that COVID-19 (often referred to on the street as Chinese Corona) is a “man-made creation.” According to the Independent, research suggested that many think Covid-19 is a Chinese weapon or created by the “New World Order.”
“Mask Wars” ~
Almost half of the British population believes that COVID-19 (often referred to on the street as Chinese Corona) is man-made. According to the UK’s Independent newspaper, research suggested that many in the UK think Covid-19 is wither a Chinese ‘weapon’ the creation of those seeking to bring about a “New World Order”. . .

To wear or not to wear

According to Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, “refusing to wear a mask is a uniquely American pathology.”

The rise of fear and misinformation around COVID-19 has allowed promoters of malicious matter and hate to engage with mainstream audiences around a common topic of interest, and potentially push them toward hateful views. – Professor Neil Johnson
The rise of fear and misinformation around COVID-19 has allowed promoters of malicious matter and hate to engage with mainstream audiences around a common topic of interest, and potentially push them toward hateful views. – Professor Neil Johnson
The rise of fear and misinformation around COVID-19 has allowed promoters of malicious matter and hate to engage with mainstream audiences around a common topic of interest, and potentially push them toward hateful views. – Professor Neil Johnson

❝
The rise of fear and misinformation around COVID-19 has allowed promoters of malicious matter and hate to engage with mainstream audiences around a common topic of interest, and potentially push them toward hateful views.
❞
— Professor Neil Johnson (2020)

We Live To Die

live-free-or-die

Diatribe

— A forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something.
— “Billy began his diatribe against Big Brother.”
— Castigation / obloquy / tongue-lashing / vituperation /

You see, well maybe you don’t but, clearly now, I do. It is all to do with the controversy over corona. One could launch and embark upon a (philippic) tirade. One could set sail and set forth a (monotonous) monologue. I have ruminated (long & hard) & now have more than a little desire to fulminate. Why? well because of all that’s going on, what it portends to and what’s at stake. Losing one’s religion, becoming faithless ain’t no run-of-the-mill thing.

Coverage

I die for you — I live for you

Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-H
This
Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-G
ain’t
"Mask Wars" -- CORONAVIRUS // Covid-19
rock
Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-L
&
Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-N
roll,
Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-K
this
Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-F
is
Mask-Wars___CORONAVIRUS-I
“hardcore.”

Without fear

Without favour

Index-on-Censorship
🤐🙈🤐🙉🤐🙊

❝
Free societies are societies in motion, and with motion comes tension, dissent, friction. Free people strike sparks, and those sparks are the best evidence of freedom’s existence.
–
❞
— Salman Rushdie

Journaist's toolbox
✒   The Journalist’s Toolbox

❝
Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.
–
❞
— Laurie Halse Anderson

index on censorship magazine 02
index on censorship magazine 03

❝
To forbid us anything is to make us have a mind for it.
–
❞
— Michel de Montaigne

index on censorship magazine 05
index on censorship magazine 08

❝
To prohibit the reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves.
–
❞
— Claude Adrien Helvetius

index on censorship magazine 07
index on censorship magazine 06

❝
Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.
–
❞
— Mark Twain

Censorship
✒   حجب الإنترنت لإسكات المنتقدين

Edward Saïd

& “Orientalism”

“Humanism is the only resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.”

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0C5C8C3B-0008-4FAB-9B11-98B8F635BEB3

Read “Orientalism”

Read the full review (& download a PDF copy) here:
Books ❱ Orientalism.

Edward Saïd’s seminal work, Orientalism, has, according to one academic, “redefined our understanding of colonialism and empire.” If you come across the term post-colonial studies whilst u r reading or delving off on an internet-based, whimsical knowledge building journey, soon enough you’ll encounter Saïd. In Orienrltalism, Saïd surveys the history and nature of Western attitudes towards the East, and contends that “orientalism” is a powerful European ideological creation – a way for writers, philosophers and Western political powers (alongside their think tanks) to deal with the ‘otherness’ of eastern culture, customs and beliefs. Drawing on his own experiences as an Arab Palestinian living in the West, Said examines how these ideas can be a reflection of European imperialism and racism. He traces this view through the writings of Homer, Flaubert, Disraeli and Kipling, whose imaginative depictions have greatly contributed to the West’s romantic and exotic picture of the Orient.

Paraphrasing from the book’s introduction, orientalism is the amplification of difference, the presumption of Western superiority, and, “the application of clichéd analytical models for perceiving the Oriental world,” from the perspectives of Western thinkers and scholars. According to Said, orientalism is the key source of the inaccuracy in cultural representations that form the foundations of Western thought and perception of the Eastern world {نحن نعيش ، نموت}. The theoretical framework that orientalism covers has three tenets:

(1)
— an academic tradition or field [see, maybe my posts on: Wilfred Thesiger and Sir Richard Burton];

(2)
— a worldview, representation, and canon / discourse which bases itself upon an, “ontological and epistemological distinction made between “the Orient” and the West;

(3)
— as a powerful political instrument of Western domination over Eastern countries {عاشت فلسطين}.

Orientalism
Orientalism
Western Conceptions of the Orient
Western Conceptions of the Orient
Edward W. Said
Edward W. Said

Praise for the book

“Beautifully patterned and passionately argued.”

— New Statesman

“Very exciting … his case is not merely persuasive, but conclusive.”

— John Leonard, New York Times

7845E211-2E3B-40F5-AD31-F0F4E3698607
1A6A3701-D253-49F3-8A11-FDBD6E1C255D

Them ‘n’ Us

“who knows which is which and who is who”

— Dark Side of the Moon

It’s an ‘Us & Them’ thing (I’m one of the ‘them,’ dear reader). The West may objectify us…

BF18461C-4CEA-473E-8070-4C58B13E0C17
Orientatalist art
Orientatalist art
6731132A-B129-4581-912C-1C65D2636158
BA2BDB15-C2F1-4A22-A890-DAAF34C82176
7907B33A-A13A-4060-A90C-98B5E7D195F1

But, they do themselves too:

Le Sommeil (Sleep) by Gustave Courbet (1866).
Le Sommeil (Sleep) by Gustave Courbet (1866).

Jupiter in the Guise of Diana, and the Nymph Callisto, by François Boucher (1759).
Jupiter in the Guise of Diana, and the Nymph Callisto, by François Boucher (1759).
Et nous aussi nous serons meres, by Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1794).
Et nous aussi nous serons meres; car……!, by Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1794).

p.s.

Epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that focuses on ‘knowledge.’ It is the study of the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief. It relates to the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.

Humanism
[1]  A rationalist outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.   [2]  A Renaissance cultural movement which turned away from medieval scholasticism and revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought.   [3]  (among some contemporary writers) A system of thought criticised as being centred on the notion of the rational, autonomous self and ignoring the conditioned nature of the individual.
— From Latin “homo” – a person, “humanitas” – human nature.

Ontology
[1]  Ontology is the branch of philosophy that focuses on ‘the nature of being.’ It focuses on concepts that directly relate to being (in particular: becoming, existence and, reality.)   [2]  A way of showing the relations between the concepts and categories in a subject area or field of study.

Orientalism
[1]  Style, artefacts, or traits considered characteristic of the peoples and cultures of Asia.   [2]  The representation of Asia in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude.   [3]  “Orientalism,” as defined by Edward Said, is “the Western attitude that views Eastern societies as exotic, primitive, and inferior. Basically, an Orientalist mindset centers the Western (European/American) world and views the Eastern world as ‘the Other.'”

“I am not free while…

…any woman is unfree…

…even when her shackles are very different from my own.”

— Audre Lorde

Equal
Equal
Are
Are
We
We

A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.

— Irina Dunn

FP_graphic_02
Prospect__graphic

Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.

— Margaret Atwood

We are slaves to money...
We are slaves to money…
Then...
Then…
We die.
We die.

The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.

— Virginia Woolf

p.s.
Virginia Woolf was born in London in 1882 and, from 1915, when she published her first novel, she produced an astounding output of essays, fiction, letters and literary criticism until her untimely death…

“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.”
…Unfortunately Virginia Woolf suffered a series of mental breakdowns and, in 1941, she committed suicide.

“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?”
“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?”
“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?”
“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?”
“I see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river, to me you’re everything that exists; the reality of everything.”
— Jay, you are my ev-re-thing

Lust and Lambast

A hand left poignantly unshaken; a republican party, quite unstirred.

hand-shake

hand-up

Writing concisely is not my style yet, as column inches for anything other than celebrity gossip, consumer reviews and self-help are now such a precious commodity, I must be succinct. Even if I were allowed to go wild with the word count, it would probably demonstrate only the validity of the Law of Diminishing Returns. Nowadays smartphone shortened attention spans need to be taken into account. In order to gain wide readership on matters of current affairs, being parsimonious with prose is a necessity. Gone are the days when waxing lyrical in verbose flowery language on issues of international political economy was considered a mark of distinction.

Partisanship must also be accounted for more before. Both liberals and conservatives now read mostly within their own communal and gated echo chambers. Each is served with bespoke newsfeeds that are informed (and manipulated) by ‘big data’ analytics and, essentially only serve to reinforce extant prejudices.

Adding further weight to the Editor’s demand that this article be no more than 900 words, is the fact that its contemporary flag—the courageous testimony of Dr Christine Ford—is yesterday’s news; it is all but academic now.

Nevertheless, the selection of Judge Brett “the gyrating groper” Kavanaugh to the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States, once more, the mother of all misnomers: the ‘Pro-Life’ constituent. It also makes clear the extent to which a female’s right to decide upon her own reproductive decisions is now under threat. This event, this very partisan confirmation, places the march of progress toward gender equality (‘and’ autonomy from man) that’s been taking place since at least 1913—when Emily Davison was trampled and killed by a racing horse—is now, once more, in serious jeopardy.

This isn’t really news, I hear you say. I concede, women have indeed been controlled and told what to do since the day that the mythical Eve took a—no doubt ‘dainty’—bite of the apple. I agree with you, I’ve recently read Eric Berkowitz’s, Sex and Punishment. From the savage impalement of Mesopotamian women several millennia ago to the Yazidi sex slaves of modern day Babylonia, the female form has long been lusted by men and lambasted by men.

There are mitigating circumstances, I hear you say. I concede here too. These are uncertain times, infotech and biotech are disrupting everything. It is evident that the discontents resulting from the maturing of globalisation have rekindled Huntington-style ‘us’ versus ‘them’ populism. But what is only know becoming apparent is just how gendered the undertones of this regression are. President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, dreams aloud of raping Miss Universe. The macho misogynist Brazilian President, Jair “Trump of the Tropics” Bolsonaro, makes clear he’d only rape attractive women. And of course, (the once progressive) ‘Free World’ has Donald “Pussy Grabber” Trump. President Trump is categorically and publicly sexist. Recently, for instance, he described Stephanie Clifford as being “horse faced.”

Just because we can point out causal factors, does not mean we should demurely accept their consequences. We should not allow ourselves to become one of the ‘them’s for such men of power to rile against. This then brings us to one area, one appellation worth agitating against: a constituent of American voters know as ‘Pro-Lifers.’

On the face of it they sound rather caring and progressive. However, they are far from harmless. Indeed, they are both anti-life and very much against gender equality. It is this group who sought a Supreme Judge of Kavanaugh’s ilk. Pro-lifers are pro guns. Correct me if I am wrong, but guns are designed to extinguish life. Whilst delusionally obsessed with unborn foetuses (grounded, you see, on biblical myth) they are vociferously pro capital punishment and are totally okay with tucking into meat feast pizzas and Surf ‘n’ Turf slaughter house offerings.

Moreover, Pro-lifers are church going folk, ipso facto, they believe the battle of Armageddon to be sacrosanct. To be clear, they pray for a Third World War, it is prophesised so it must be true. There is little that is endearing about pro-lifers. Their morality (e.g., not coveting each other’s wives) is based only on their fear of the lord’s damnation to an eternally burning hell. They are not morally decent because it is morally decent to be morally decent. They are, according to their own narrative and logic, morally decent because god commands it.

As a result of their ‘morality’, when Dr Ford—who, unlike Judge Kavanaugh, took a polygraph test and passed—raised her hand and spoke the truth, many pro-lifers petitioned their Republican representatives to turn a blind (uncaring) eye and allow her words to fall upon deaf (unprogressive) ears. Kavanaugh’s being anti-abortion and pro gun trumped his sexual abuse of nonconsenting women. Trump, I imagine, isn’t that concerned about the issue of abortion; neither really are Fox & Friends (the latter are essentially friends of the mega-rich who care only about Trump’s tax cuts). Yet, by facilitating the overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade (i.e., the decriminalisation of abortion) Trump will, by way of the Court’s newest appointee, deliver unto himself the pro-life vote in 2020 and thus, for ‘us’, another four years of megalomania.