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Rights, Wrongs and Reality

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Edited by Aideen Devine, Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 20:05

I was out for dinner on Friday night with a group of friends and the conversation moved to the ongoing gay/trans rights debate. One of the people at the table mentioned that they have teenagers and are getting hit with all sorts on this and did not know how to respond, they also remarked that one of their sons is gay. I asked the question, what rights do they not have that you and I have and outlined that, in law, they have exactly the same rights as everyone else. They have the right to marry, work, own property etc. and that if they were being denied any of those rights because of their sexual preferences then they might be able to make a case but otherwise they couldn’t and it was a non-issue.

They said their son had been taken into the office by the school principal and spoken to about his ‘gayness’ (I don’t have the full details on this or why it was brought up as an issue) and they remarked that ‘he has the right to be accepted for who he is’. I said no, he didn’t. I said you cannot legislate for people’s personal beliefs and/or prejudices. It doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with them. If he has the right to be accepted for who he is, then the principal has the same right, and also has the right to not accept someone’s sexual preferences, if it clashes with his personal religious/moral beliefs. (It’s a strong ‘Christian’ school) If the principal was denying him an education because of it, then they could make a case for discrimination but this was not the issue.

Afterwards I was thinking about this and thought why is this even an issue for the school unless someone wanted to make it an issue? School is there to provide a child with an education, it is not there to acknowledge or indulge someone’s preferences in a partner.

Also, going back to the transgender issue, the ‘I don’t feel like a man/woman…’ etc. I was thinking about this again too and wondered – How do you know what it feels like to be a man or woman unless you had the experience of feeling both? If you say you don’t feel like a ‘man’ then you must have had the experience of ‘feeling like a man’ at some point. You must also have had the experience of ‘feeling like a woman’ in order to be able to differentiate between the two. What is the difference, do men and women not have the same feelings and emotional range? Are women more emotional or is that just a myth? Some people have very shallow feelings, others feel things on a deeper level, does this correlate with biological differences? What difference does testosterone or oestrogen make to someone’s feelings?

From experience, I know that fluctuations in hormone levels can play havoc with your physical and mental well-being, women are only too aware of the misery periods and menopause can inflict but none of these states are permanent and eventually level off or fade away. Without being facetious I, for one, would like to know.

I’ve also been reading An Emotional Education by Alain du Botton/School of Life and he makes the point that we are still living under the influence of the Romantics where our feelings are believed to override all other concerns. He believes this is a mistake as feelings can be wrong, something I’m sure we all know from experience. He believes we put too much emphasis on our feelings and not enough on reason and logic, like the philosophers of classical antiquity. He doesn’t necessarily say that our feelings are always wrong, or that they should be disregarded, but that they should always be balanced against reality and practicality. So before we go rushing off on impulse to quit our jobs and join the circus, or whatever your wont may be, it would probably be best to sit down and give it some thought first.

We all have the same rights in law, and the law doesn’t legislate for feelings. In this age of indulgent narcissism where everyone is so easily offended, the best thing that could happen would be for all those narcissists to get exactly what they want, to never be offended, to never be challenged, to always have everyone agree with them. Because if that happened, what you would find is that their lives and the world would stagnate, comedy would disappear and everyone would die of boredom, which is basically what is happening at present.

There does not need to be conflict but we as humans need challenge and sometimes conflict in order to grow and move forward. (Nothing like a good row, for clearing the air!) Some of sciences greatest breakthroughs happened because people did not agree with the beliefs of the era. If Galileo had not disagreed about the movement of the planets, would we still believe the earth was at the centre of the universe and everything moved around it? (Although there are many who still think they are the centre of the universe!) The very rights we have are because people disagreed with the status quo and took a stand against real injustices and inequality, like slavery, not because someone’s feelings were hurt or because someone didn’t use their ‘pronouns’ (aww, poor baby!). Unfortunately, this is what comes of the ‘everyone gets a medal’ generation who have been brought up to believe that their feelings should never be hurt or that they should not be offended.

If you want to live in a world where this happens then you may go and plug into the Metaverse and spend the rest of your existence in some digital version of Pleasantville where not only will you never be offended but where you will never grow up or evolve into someone who just might add something to the human experience or the lives of the people around you.

But if you are planning on living in the real world then you need to grow up and understand the basic reality that not everyone will agree with you and things will not always go your way, that’s life! If you find that someone doesn’t agree with you or offends you, then either come up with a better argument or use it to challenge yourself to find a way of managing your feelings in a world that doesn’t really give a damn - think of it as character building.

The sad reality at present, is that the world we thought we knew is falling apart around us and this focus on non-issues is a big part of the problem. While the weak and self-righteous are whining about their feelings and being offended, real issues of concern, like loss of freedom, totalitarian control, technological tyranny, medical fascism and war-mongering are not even being looked at and, in the not too distant future, we may wake up some morning to a cold hard reality and find it is too late to stop it - but sure as long as no ones feelings are hurt!

With all its faults and failings, a world where you are free to argue, disagree and challenge ideas and authority still feels like a better option to me, than some fragile snowflakes utopian dream of eternal pleasantness where innovation, fun and adventure go to die. 

And talking about death, my father told me a joke one time (and I apologise in advance because I am useless when it comes to telling jokes) it was about a man who died and when he arrived in the afterlife was told he could have anything he wanted. So he asked for all the best food, drink and women, everything he ever wanted fast cars, holidays and indulged himself to the hilt. Over time he grew tired of it all and wondered what hell would be like as he couldn't take much more of the over indulgence and partying, so he asked if he could go and visit hell and give it the once over before he made a decision. However, he was told he didn't need to, he was already there. The choice is ours…

Happy Star Wars Day - May the force be with you!


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Weddin

How The West Was Lost

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The Taliban have now taken over Afghanistan again which is a surprise to no one, it would seem, but the politicians, especially when it was reported a few weeks ago that they were in talks with China.

Realistically, no one in the West was ever going to succeed in Afghanistan because of one simple fact, you will never beat a man in his own country, especially a country as hard as Afghanistan, those people are like mountain goats, tough as old shoe leather. Any initial successes you may have, as with ‘shock and awe’ in Iraq, will fail in the long term because you are a foreigner in a foreign land, and unless you can flood the country with your own people to live there permanently, as the Chinese appear to have done in Tibet, then eventually you will have to leave. And what the west usually leaves behind is a mess of their own creation.

For comparison, the UK is 2.7 times smaller than Afghanistan and the might of the British Army could not win in the 6 counties of Northern Ireland, even with the support of the majority of the population.

When you turn off the technology and the news, as I have done several times this year, and take a step back, you have time to think and the bigger picture starts to reveal itself. I’ve been trying to figure out what is going on in the world with the ‘pandemic’ and what the end game is. There are plenty of theories online, most designed to generate fear and confusion, and most best ignored. But experience tells me it is always about money.

For years, I looked at the US and the military industrial complex as being the villains of world conflict and war. I now see that the military were just the pawns of the bankers and corporations who have been running the world for decades. We paid the costs of those wars with our taxes, and the banks and corporations took the profits, not to mention the costs in the thousands of lives that were wasted or the countries that were destroyed. It is now obvious that most western governments are corrupt and controlled by the banks/corporations, and act in their interests, not ours. They don’t give a damn about who is left sitting in poverty, or the decimation of the high street, or the destruction of the economy and job losses, as long as they make a profit.

The UK is now basically a second world country, or at least getting very close to it, a position that has accelerated under the ‘pandemic, and becoming less relevant on the world stage with every passing day. The US is the same, it is on its knees and deliberately engineered to be so. The corporations have abandoned the US and the west, they moved all the industry out to China and other Eastern countries, less costs and more profits, at least for now, and we’re left to watch the complete destruction of our economies and lives, while our leaders fiddle with their egos, fill their pockets and sell us out.

I never realised how much the world needed a strong US to keep the balance of power in the world, but the days of western dominance are over. There is a brain dead corporate shill in the White House, (remember Spitting Image when the presidents brain was missing, history repeats itself) politics across the west is riven with corruption and, as usual, it will be us who will ultimately pay the price.

I have included a link to a video I watched a couple of months ago down below, it is titled ‘Massive Chinese cities you never heard of. It’s only 7 minutes long and I would ask you to take the time and look at it. You will see just how far ahead of the west China is and how neglected and in decline we are.

The media, of course, are a big part of it too, cheerleading the destruction and keeping us distracted with the latest hysteria and ignoring the real issues, whether it’s BLM or ‘Trans rights’. By the way, where is all this ‘trans’ discrimination happening, are they denied work, can they not marry whoever they chose, are they excluded from society? They have the same rights as the rest of us, so what do we have that they don’t? They can mutilate their genitalia and call themselves Daphne, Josephine or Frank, who is stopping them indulging in their narcissistic, gender navel-gazing and denying them their ‘rights’? What specific rights are they being denied?

And BLM, where is the discrimination happening? Is it in jobs or housing? If they are so concerned with black lives, why don’t they start with gang crime, read Malcolm X, and look at what is needed in their own communities instead of screaming about white privilege.(I’m still waiting for mine to arrive, I’m sure it will be here any day now)  Someone needs to tell them that Europe is white that is  the way it is, that doesn’t make it racist. And someone tell Lewis Hamilton, Grand Prix racing started in Europe, if it was so racist, he wouldn’t be the world’s number one driver with 7 Grand Prix’s under his belt, and living a tax-avoiding lifestyle in Monaco with his millions. Go take a look at a white, working-class community in Britain and tell them about their white privilege.

Or, as a man, maybe highlight the problem of absent and excluded fathers which isn’t always down to men, as the feminist movement would have us believe. In my work, I have dealt with men who have been denied access to their children, even when there are Court orders in place, by vindictive and bitter women, and no one seems to be able to do anything about it, not the police or social services. Children need fathers too, masculinity is not toxic, and is just another agenda driven issue to divide us. The feminist movement have made men the enemy and I don’t care what they say, experience and every social survey will confirm, a stable home with 2 parents and a strong family network of support is still the best place to bring up children and has the best outcomes for both the children and society. As the African saying goes ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

And, as usual, while we are all distracted and bickering among ourselves over the latest non-issue, the corporations continue to bleed us dry and are, literally, getting away with murder.  Is it a coincidence that President Magufuli of Tanzania and President Moïse of Haiti, who both refused to enforce the vaccine, are now dead? Is that what happens when you stand in the way of the almighty profit? I hope President Bolsonaro of Brazil has good and trustworthy security.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjRi0a19Dd0&ab_channel=TheB1M 


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Weddin

More Fun on Friday

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Edited by Aideen Devine, Friday, 20 Sep 2019, 18:24

Did you hear the one about the transgender clergyman whose preferred pronouns were Ham, Shem and Japheth! Boom, Boom!

That one is my own btw.

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Weddin

Neo-liberal fascism - part 1

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Well, voting day tomorrow and a chance for the disillusioned among us to send a message to the powers that be. I’m hoping for a change to our local council, we have some new independents running so that’s where my vote is going. 

Standing back and looking at the overall picture in politics, here and around the world, it seems as if we are living in the age of neo-liberal fascism and God help you, if you stray from the narrative or question the ‘issues’. 

One of the big ones getting a lot of press at the moment is the transgender issue. Now, I’ll be honest, I’ve avoided this one for a while because I just don’t get it. I see these men saying they’re ‘in the wrong body’ and they don’t ‘feel like a man, they feel like a woman’, and I’m thinking, ’Well, I’m a woman and I have no idea what that even means?’ And there’s another thing, why do so many of them look like Jackie Collins circa 1977, all big hair, make-up and frocks?? What’s that about? I mean, I would like  to identify as the very spoiled daughter of a multi-millionaire who gets to jet- set around the world and generally have a high old time. But then I have to face reality so, sorry guys, but putting a frock on, mutilating your genitalia and calling yourself Barbara is not going to make you a ‘woman’ or female and vice-versa. A big part of this too, is that we have the medical knowledge to put in fake body parts and do this type of surgery whereas if you lived 100 years ago, it was ‘take yer ma’s frock off and get a grip!’ 

Then, there was another story on MSN about some singer who has come out as non-binary, whatever that means?? (I always thought binary was a computer language and so logic would dictate that non-binary would not be a computer language but there you go!!) Well, anyway, here’s my advice to him and anyone else who has a notion to share their thoughts on their gender identity, don’t, please, keep it to yourself. I don’t want to hear about it or listen to another over-indulged ego rambling on and personally, I don’t really give a shit! 

Part of the problem today, is that every stupid thought that goes through someone’s head is regarded as valid, especially when expressed by children and teenagers.  And with internet access, where everything is going on 24/7, there are no end of websites in which to indulge these whims and fancies.  By the way, when did we decide that children knew everything and should be allowed to decide everything and run the world? And why are we so afraid to upset them?? I always thought the job of a parent was to embarrass and harass your children at every possible opportunity, is that not how they build up some resilience before they have to deal with the real world?? Anyway, the reality is, that 99.9% of what runs through our heads on a daily basis is nothing less than garbage and should be ignored. This is actually good advice for your mental health and another one is 'don't believe a word they tell you'.  There is far too much indulgence of every stupid notion we have and in this age of ‘inclusion’, all expressions of such, are to be paraded publicly and then the entire world bent to accommodate those whims, no matter how ridiculous they are. 

And I blame celebrities for fuelling this nonsense, with the exception of that old Corrie stalwart of yesteryear, Jim McDonald.  In this time of neo-liberal fascism or if by chance we should start to lose the run of ourselves, begin listening to our own mental crap and taking it seriously, we would do well to remember his deep philosophical expressions and ask ourselves when these notions strike, not 'What would Jesus say?' but 'What would Jim McDonald say?'  And the answer would be ‘Would you ever catch yourself on, young fella/wee girl/ miscellaneous?’ A must for egos everywhere and the best advice you'll ever receive!

Oh, and don't forget tomorrow, vote early and vote often!

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