Put yourself in someone else's shoes in 2010

Put yourself in someone else's shoes in 2010!

The Most Depressed Man I Have Ever Met

I knew a fellow comrade/victim/sufferer in life in the "Mental Health System".

When I knew him he was more depressed than me.

He had been "on the ward" at least once, he had made at least one suicide attempt, he had actually requested a "lobotomy", and he cried practically all the time.

I had a book - an excellent book - "Modern European Poetry" edited by Willis Barnstone.
I was reading it as we waited to go into group therapy whilst Neighbours was on.

He looked a bit down so I said to him. "Do you like poetry? It deals with emotions. It might help."

He paused from his tears and looked right at me and said : "It is unfortunate that you should say that. Since the woman who destroyed me was a published poetess."

Pesky brain chemicals!

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To a point, the propagation of the belief in "mental illness" manufactures what gets labelled "mental illness".

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Most, though not all, so-called "mental illness" is a reaction to adverse life events.

When it is not this, it is often still social or psychological in origin and not necessarily "chemical" or "biological".

It may well have a biological element. But it is not necessarily biological in origin.

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In the paper today I read a about a man who was "not thinking rationally" and who therefore "needed medication."

Someone who is "not acting rationally" is not acting rationally according to the speaker.
Is a suicide bomber "acting rationally"? In his own view of things he may be.

Further, it is surely ridiculous to suggest that a "medication" can in and of itself make someone "rational" or make them "think rationally" or think in a different way at all.

How can a medication in and of itself ever change the actual contents of someone's thought?


....

9-11: The United States "had it coming"!

The USA "...had it coming." Or something like that.

This was said about 9-11 by the Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, St. Mary Beard.

Maybe it's not such a shite university after all.

I advocate no one attacking anyone.

But it is totally ridiculous to attack and bomb other countries and to arrogantly assume that you will not suffer any recompense for this in any way.

9-11 was not justified but it was perhaps understandable.

IF IT HAPPENED AS DESCRIBED.

IF IT HAPPENED AS DESCRIBED.

The Stock Response.

The Stock Response.

When I say I am in agreement with Szasz to psychiatrists I am very often countered not with an engagement with Szasz's views, but with the following:

"But what do I do about situation x,y,z?? - eg. a man who thinks he's Napoleon."

My answer would be:

A man who thinks he is Napoleon......... thinks he is Napoleon. If he is not Napoleon then he is mistaken.
Someone who is mistaken is not ill.

What is the problem? You do absolutely nothing. For the man is obviously free to believe this and also his belief as such harms no one. You can't necessarily stop him believing this anyway.
ANYONE at all can have a belief. ANYONE at all can have an incorrect belief."

OR:
"What do I do about situation x,y,x?? - e.g. a man who thinks he is Napoleon with a knife."

An answer would be:

"You do nothing. Or nothing other than what you would do about a man who (thinks he) is a policeman and who has a gun.
And who may also think a Brazilian man is a terrorist. In this case latter case you would try and persuade the man to act well."

It is high time people engaged with Szasz's views rather than made excuses.

I admit that "a man who thinks he is Napoleon with or without a knife" may be in a considerably confused state, and may be more confused than a policeman.

The answer again is "So what?" You have no right to interfere. He is possibly less harmful than the policeman though he may be more confused. If he needs help, help him. Confusion is not an illness. Confusion can be a normal human state. Confusion is not a crime.

There are thousands of homeless people in this country who are harming themselves and who are homeless by choice and not by necessity.

These people are never incarcerated because they are not "mentally ill".
Yet they are harming themselves more than thousands of supposedly "mentally ill" people who are harming neither themselves nor others.

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I would say to psychiatrists - try and think of actually helping the person you are supposedly "treating" for "an illness."

Things would be very different indeed if pychiatrists were to set about actually helping people.

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I am proud that I am not and could not be a "psychiatrist" as currently conceived.

I would rather have the label "mentally ill" than the label "psychiatrist" as currently conceived.

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Psychiatry as a subject and entity is possibly fundamentally and irredeemably flawed.

William Chillingworth Quote

"Nothing is more against religion than to force religion."

William Chillingworth (1602-1644).

English churchman.

ME and NOW or US and ALWAYS

George Galloway characterised a left wing view as being in favour of US and ALWAYS.
And a more right-wing view as being in favour of ME and NOW.

New Look LRB

Orwell and Prose

Orwell and prose.

There is a discussion on BBC Radio 4 of Orwell and his views on prose and his "rules" about prose as discussed in his essay "Politics and the English Language."

I think Orwell is trying to get people to think clearly and independently.
This will be reflected in the language they use.

Clear language will encourage clear thought.
The use of difficult or unclear language is creating a political culture that restricts freedom.

The "rules" he made in the essay are very general.
They were perhaps intended as a corrective; and intended to create a tendency towards clear thought.
And a tendency towards the prevention of deceit by means of language.

It is a kind of recapitulation of Milton's exhortation that prose should be "SIMPLE, SENSUOUS and PASSIONATE."

These rules are perhaps intended to be applied in political language more than any other kind of language.

This essay is still very relevant today. It is obviously not infallible. Nothing is. But it is still very good.

One of it's contemporary inheritors and a sustainer of its spirit is the book "Unspeak" by Steven Poole.

The Noughties

The naughties in some ways weren't naughty enough! Quite a lot of conformism.....

In other ways they were very nothing-y - very nought-y - appropriately named decade really.

Amazing film

Just seen "Age of Stupid". Absolutely amazing film.

One of the most futile "wars" in history

England and USAmerica's so called "war" in Afghanistan between 2001 and now is one of the most futile so-called "wars" in history.

Parla patois que babilona entendra pas

Parla patois ragga , òc parla patois
Parla patois que babilona entendrà pas
Parla patois , comença e t'arresta pas

Sontag Quote

"The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine ballet et al., don't redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. 

The white race is the cancer of human history. It is the white race and it alone - its ideologies and inventions - which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself."

Susan Sontag.

As I re-read this blog

I look back on this blog and I think about all of what I have written in it and on consideration I feel two things:

1) I think my views are essentially correct.

2) I am shocked that other people don't say the same thing as me.

Abolition can't come soon enough

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/dec/09/day-mental-health-professionals

"Sectioning" under the UK "Mental Health" Act is:-

- the effective temporary destruction of a human being;
- a crime and;
- a crime against humanity.

The people involved in it are criminals.

It must be abolished as soon as possible.

There is simply no such thing as mental illness.

http://www.szasz.com/manifesto.html

Don't think it couldn't happen to you.
It could happen to ANYONE including YOU and it is a CRIME.

Happy Buddhmas Season!

RISE ABOVE IT!

Eden

I once went to visit The Eden Project in Cornwall.
I asked the poor unfortunate entrance attendant if he knew where Eden really was.
He said, "I'm not sure. But I know there's a town called Eden in the USA....."
I interrupted him and said "Eden is in Iraq. And we've been bombing it for 15 years."
Poor man.

This reminds me of the time when I went to the United Nations building in New York and at the end the guide asked us if we had any questions. I put my hand up and said "Yeah. I have a question. Which country has vetoed the most United Nations resolutions?" He said, "I don't know..." I said "Well. It's the USA. By far."

"Terrorism"

I am listening to a Radio 4 "Start the Week" debate on "terrorism".
These are some points about "terrorism" in my view:-

- in a sense, there is no such thing as "terrorism" - there is only war.....
  In other words so-called "terrorism" cannot be distinct or distinguished from "war", unless possibly we are talking about a specific tactic.
- there is state terrorism and non-state terrorism and state terrorism is historically far worse.
- .......

CONTRA LA VERDAD NO HAY FUERZA

CONTRA LA VERDAD NO HAY FUERZA
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The truth never dies.
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This may sound mystical and Platonic, but I mean it in a specific philosophical sense.
The truth has no concrete existence. And yet it never dies.....
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"The world is all that is the case."......

22nd November 2009

Some people seem to resent people who don't have paid work.

Not only do people who do paid work look down on those who don't have paid work, they seem to RESENT those that don't have paid work.

They are taught to think like this by years of brutal bullshit.

My message to them is : THINK!

Who is the person who is being brainwashed?

They may reply: "The world works by the wages system. It can't work any other way."

My reply is "Not only could it easily work another way, it probably will HAVE TO work another way."

Irony?

So the European Union is to be run by a Belgian.
Belgium was a country that Europeans spent millions of lives fighting to save.
..........

Bought ze DVD of Bru:no

Ich have bort ze DVD of Bru:no. It is so gutt! I had vergessen how gutt it is!
Very funny und excellent extra scenes!

They shouldn't even pass quality control

The Conservatives are so incompetent and insubstantial that they shouldn't even be on the ballot.
They shouldn't even pass "quality control."

One or the other?

Some people say: nationalism is inevitable.

I say: anarchism is inevitable.

It is certainly more in accordance with reality.

Does it have to be one or the other?

Please Let's Have A Climate Deal!

Please let's have a climate deal and save the world!

World Exclusive: I Once Had A Paid Job

The world will reel in shock at the revelation that I once had a paid job.
I can't deny it. It is true.
The truth is leaking out: I was a "medical records clerk" at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone East London for about 5 months in 1990-1991.
So miracles do happen.
I see this as my kind of Non-Military National Service.
I think this job is done by computers now.

Charles the Third? One was enough!

Charles the Third? One was enough!

"The Death of the Intellectual"

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Death-of-the-intellectual

Excellent article.

Well I personally am still alive. Just about.

"Life Is Hypocrisy"

"I was talking to a prostitute the other day. As you do."

I was talking to a prostitute the other day. As you do.
She said to me she'd been "employed" by the Conservative, the Labour and the Liberal party councillors.
And when she'd done the third she'd said "Great. I've done the full set now!"
I said, "It's such hypocrisy."
She said, "Yeah. It's hypocrisy. Life is hypocrisy."

I want to live in a world where "life is honesty."

Psychiatry: Medicine or Social Control? [PUBLISHED ARTICLE].

"Since prisons and madhouses exist, why, somebody is bound to sit in them."

Anton Chekhov.

“Tomorrow belongs to the madmen of today” – Fernando Pessoa.
“All reduction of people to objects, all imposition of labels and patterns to which they must conform, all segregation can lead only to destruction.” Maureen Duffy.


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In this article I will present some of my views on the question of "mental illness" and "psychiatry" in a very general way.

The question of so-called “mental illness” and psychiatry is related to anarchism in a fundamental way. Anarchism means freedom. Psychiatry fundamentally and definitionally opposes freedom.

Political dissidence is often characterised as so-called “mental illness”. Anarchism as a political ideology is often regarded with disdain. It has sometimes been characterised as being in some way “insane” by its detractors. Seeking to avoid discussing it, they can thus easily dismiss it and stigmatise it.

In totalitarian societies and in supposedly free societies political dissidence has been and to an extent still is suppressed through the vehicle of the pseudo-science that is psychiatry. To prevent this and to prevent all oppression by psychiatry, psychiatry must be separated from the state while we still have a state.

Unhappiness in itself is not a medical condition. This is obvious. Yet we seem to have forgotten this.

Capitalism and capitalists want us to believe it cannot be anything other than a medical condition and certainly not anything like a normal reaction to a blatantly insane and illogical social system.

Mental illness is a myth and a deceit used to punish, stigmatize and control people.

We are led to believe that psychiatry's purpose is to help people. We are profoundly mistaken.

Psychiatry - what has even been called "the mental health industry" - is one of the major sources of oppression of many people today in the rich industrialised world; and it is more and more a form of grave oppression of people in the poor plundered world. 

This issue is relevant to us as anarchists because if anarchism means anything it means ending all oppression from wherever it comes.

Freedom means the freedom to think what you like. Obviously no one can be forced to think something or not to think something anyway, so punishing someone for thinking something is particularly barbaric and ridiculous.

The treatment of so-called “mental illness” involves persecuting people for thinking things.

Another attack on freedom.

The “treatment” of people with so-called “mental illness” also involves involuntary incarceration and involuntary poisoning. So the fantasy of “mental illness” and its so-called “treatment” is a profound attack on freedom and causes much suffering. Anarchism is about freedom and reducing human suffering.

Psychiatric “medication” is principally scientifically bogus. A tiny amount of research reveals this. There is an unwillingness to admit this.

The behaviour that gets labelled “mental illness” and the crime that is its “treatment” is increasing, especially in the rich world. This is itself related to the social system of the rich world. An inhumane system will often produce damaged humans.

The statistic often bandied about is that “1 in 4” people will have some kind of “mental health problem” in their life. That is a lot of people. Are we to believe that it is therefore rare and the exception or more of a normal reaction? Yet those with so-called “schizophrenia” – what is clearly and openly simply defined as “madness” - are said to number ”1 in 100.”


Also if "mental illnesses" are "brain diseases", 1 in 4 people is a lot of "brain disease". Frankly, I would more trust Maoris or Native Americans rather than English to run my culture.

We are told that “madness” has always existed and exists in all cultures. I believe there is literally no such thing as “madness”. I believe that “the first sign of madness is belief in madness.” This conclusion can be reached after as little as ten minutes of clear philosophical consideration. When we call a phenomenon “crazy”, “mad” or “insane”, which we often do, all we can possibly mean is disapproval of the phenomenon. Behaviour has been disapproved of for as long as humans have existed. In this sense alone, madness has always existed.

“Life is hard”. "It’s a sair fecht”, “it’s a sore fight” says the Scots proverb. “Life is hard” are the first words of “The Road Less Travelled” by an American pop psychologist. We are told by philosophers from the ancient world onwards that life is hard and we are also told this by “therapists” today – the philosophers and priests of our contemporary world. We are told that life is hard and yet we are supposed to believe that those whose life is impaired by finding it hard are necessarily “ill”.

You may say that the behaviour of some people suggests that “all is not well” with them. That they are sick. I repeat that the only kind of illness that can exist is a biological one and that if someone does not have a biological illness then they are not sick. Anyone can call them sick as a metaphor. But a metaphorical illness is a metaphor and not an illness.

The only possible absolute definition of an illness is a biological one. This truth is also ignored. The “mentally ill” is simply a name given to people who are having problems in living. It is quite simple: no behaviour or misbehaviour can in and of itself be a disease. Behaviours are not diseases.

As thorough-going materialists, we must admit that all thoughts and behaviours are ultimately  generated by the brain. But this can never make a behaviour in itself a disease. A behaviour may conceivably be caused, if only partially, by a brain disease. But the behaviour cannot be the disease.

If you are having a problem in life, you can try and get help to solve it. Why should that help have to involve coercion of any kind? Why should that helping involve involuntary detention or involuntary ingestion of poison?

The growth in so-called “mental illness” is also related to the false aspirations created by adverts. It is related to the profound disconnect between our lives as we experience them and the representation of our lives and our world in our culture. The psychologist Oliver James writes about this question.

The stigma associated to so-called mental illness is strong. The audio, visual and written media all propagate – tacitly or openly - a view of profound indignation towards deviance of whatever kind. The deviant party is clearly defined by the media, and the activity that is deviant is defined as such by the media. Once the party is defined as deviant it is often permanently labelled as such.

“The Daily Mail” is often a “printed lych mob”. People want to take out their dissatisfaction on someone else. That “Other” is provided by many groups: migrants, those without paid work, and sometimes the so-called “mentally ill”.

The 1955 the psychologist Eric Fromm wrote a book entitled “The Sane Society”. This book should be as well known as “The Communist Manifesto”. Perhaps it will be one day. Hopefully when this day dawns it will not be too late for it to do any good.

This idea that society itself is (metaphorically) sick, insane or unhealthy is still today anathema to the mainstream media. Only individuals can be sick, not societies. Societies must necessarily be healthy, sane, wise. States must also be healthy, sane, wise. An anarchist knows that states can never be healthy, sane or wise.

We are perhaps a species more capable of telling the truth about the natural world than we are about ourselves. After all deceit is as easy and hence as natural as simply speaking. What goes by the name of psychology and social science should always be scrutinised by anarchists who believe in freedom and hence must be on the guard against attempts to justify intellectually curtailments of freedom. Take the entity "paranoid schizophrenia" which is simply not an entity of any kind and simply does not exist and cannot exist in the same way that two plus two cannot equal five.

And yet this term is used all the time in the media without question. When the term is used there is no attempt to define or explain it, as there often is with real and genuine medical terms used in the media. When there is an article on the TV news on let’s say influenza, there may often be a report by a science or health correspondent that may involve an explanation of the science behind the condition. There is never any such report with “schizophrenia”. One reason is simple and obvious, and can be realised as the news is broadcast: it is that “schizophrenia” is often a simple formulaic exculpation. Another reason is that there is literally no such thing as “schizophrenia” so that finding evidence for it or doing a scientific report about it would be very difficult indeed. "The experience and behavior that gets labeled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation.” R.D. Laing.

Inculcating, encouraging and building a truly free society without oppression means inculcating an attitude that no one is to be labelled, stigmatized or oppressed whatever their situation or status. It means encouraging the view that people who cannot cope with life are perhaps not the “mad” ones but may sometimes even be the more “sane” ones. It means realising that individual people cannot really be mad but that an unfree society certainly can be very (metaphorically) unhealthy. It also means scrutinising what people with power say at all times.

http://www.szasz.com/manifesto.html

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Some people think they can do anything to animals.

The  RSPCA don't.

Psychiatrists do.

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"Don't conform, won't conform, can't conform??

Then we will persecute you, poison you, incarcerate you, mutilate you, electrocute you." :

This is one possible interpretation of what psychiatry's message to the world has been.

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REMEMBER LIVES RUINED BY PSYCHIATRY.

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"Through their own words they will be exposed".

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I have seen many people destroyed unnecessarily by the mental health system - by a pointless and illogical ideology.
It must end.

Mervyn King: 'Never has so much money been owed by so few to so many'.

"With City bonuses set to top £6bn this year, the Governor of the Bank of England echoes Churchill in devastating indictment of the banks."

This profound attack on the banks system and its iniquity from a top banker seems to have had little effect and seems to have gone unacknowledged.

The Churchill allusion is interesting.
Churchill was decent. He too would I think have baulked at the system of unfettered greed that we condone.

"Vengeance of Christ" - The Ultimate Missing of the Point!

I saw the following somewhere: "Vengeance of Christ".

Literally an oxymoron if ever there was one!

They have truly and ultimately missed the point!

:)

"Yankosong"

If there is a "Eurosong" competition, why isn't there a US version?
You could call it "Yankosong".
I can see it now - "North Dakota - douze points."

STOP THE TRAFFIK

STOP THE TRAFFIK

www.stopthetraffik.org

So this is freedom?

So this is freedom? They must be joking.

I am nowhere near being free in some ways and I live in London, England, Europe in 2009.

I have freedom of speech at least.

But in many other ways my freedom and even my health is fundamentally threatened and curtailed by a coercive state.

Multi-Channel TV

Multi-channel TV.
It's the same TV but with many more channels.
"Thinner spread of the shit."

"Theoretical Artists"?

Thinkers like Foucault and Derrida and Baudrillard and others are maybe like "theoretical artists".

French culture is more literary; and creative; and poetic; and theoretical.

Their ideas are more theoretical and less based on reality.

Foucault's theories in particular are particularly hare-brained in some ways, and bear little correspondece with reality. They are more like poetry.

What I am perhaps trying to say is that some French philosophers are more like artists than scientists.

In the cases of Foucault and Baudrillard, there are the invention of concepts and constructs that don't necessarily have a correspondence with reality. This is very similar to Freud.

I do personally make a distinction here.

I think that Foucault was principally and fundamentally hare-brained and mistaken.
But I think that Baudrillard is a bit more interesting, and a little more worthy of consideration.
Some of what he said seems to be nonsense, especially if taken literally.
But this is related to the point that he was a "theoretical artist". He was following his ideas.

For example, Baudrillard's contention along the lines of the following makes a kind of sense.

The Gulf "War" of 1991 was not a war.

A war is the "continuation of politics by other means." (Clauswitz)

Baudrillard said that the Gulf "War" was: "the continuation of the absence of politics by other means".

This is in some sense a meaningful point in my view.

Baudrillard also believed that the consumer and television society spelt the end of society i.e. "The Death of the Social."

I feel this to be happening more and more or maybe I'm just getting middle aged.

Great blog!

Derek Wall's blog

http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/

Great blog!

A freedom party that wants to ban a book?

A freedom party that wants to ban a book?
Hmmmm........

Do I disagree? - re: work

After reading hundreds of pages of his words, I have found a sentence in the works of Szasz that I maybe disagree with.
It is the first and only one so far.

It is:

"...the primary source of wealth is work."

This may in some way be true.
But what about these considerations?

Firstly, without objects and raw materials there can't be wealth.
Secondly, if it is true that work gives wealth, why are people who do little or no work or no real work so wealthy and why are so many people who work so slavishly so poor?
Thirdly,.....

15th October 2009

I am now the proud possessor of two more books by Thomas Szasz - "Antipsychiatry: Quackery Squared" and "The Medicalisation of Everyday Life: Selected Essays".
I wasn't sure whether or not to buy them, mainly as I have little money, but I am very glad I did.
The more of them that I read the more I realise I am reading the right thing.

Regarding the term "antipsychiatry" it seems, to my relief, that Szasz is mainly opposed to the ideology and movement called antipsychiatry as well as the term - which he shows great hostility towards; and he is obviously not necessarily opposed to opposition to psychiatry in some form.
He seems to be saying that the term "antipsychiatry" as it has been used, does not mean opposition to psychiatry!
My use of the term anti-psychiatry in this think tank does not refer to an ideology.
I even think that I am using the term tactically and not ideologically at all.
It could even conceivably be disposed with.
To be continued.

Both

Both the Work Ethic and the Labour Theory of Value are rubbish.

Eagleton quote

"We hold many beliefs that have no unimpeachably rational justification, but
 are nonetheless reasonable to entertain."

Terry Eagleton.

Safe on that score!

I have just been to Mass. It was great!
I am going to go more often.
The lesson was about rich people not being able to enter into God's Kingdom!
Well, I thought, at least I am safe on that score!

Have you not got the tiniest scintilla of intellect?

I happen to be on benefits.

Have you not got the tiniest scintilla of intellect to realise that essentially there is no difference between me and someone who has a paid job in the sense that someone else gives both of us money?

I am the more sane of the two categories in the sense that I am honest enough to say that if I have no money I cannot live. There is no more reason to give money to someone who performs "paid work" than there is to give money to someone who doesn't.

Have you not got the tiniest scintilla of intellect to see simple things like that?

It is a political decision that someone who happens to kick a ball around a field also receives money from someone else. Someone who does this does not necessarily deserve anything for it.

Origin

In every mistake I made one of the origins of the mistake was that I was being effectively asked by others to use deceit.
Deceiving people is something I find hard to do.

The news is a "news" paper

Today we have the ridiculous situation of the main news being about the news.

The main news today is that a "news" paper has changed it's view.

Someone changing their view is not news really.

People have views about events and things.

Views of these events and things are not news in themselves really.

.................................................................................

I perused the "Currant Bun's" explanation of its defection. Utterly insubstantial and pathetic.

Much of it contained complaints about social problems.

How is a ruthless, right-wing service-cutting party supposed to be better for social problems?

The people who wrote today's Sun are brain dead zombies.

Capitalism is Institutionalised Autism!

Capitalism is Institutionalised Autism!

Cars are Institutionalised Autism!

The Car Society is Institutionalised Autism!

Glory but not all Glory

It is clear from the blog that I do not regard the history of the English Army as having been all glory.

Just to show something positive about the English Army I offer the following.

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THE ROYAL ENGINEERS SAVED SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

An unexploded bomb fell in close proximity to St Paul's Cathedral, 12th September 1940.

Lieutenant Davies - ROYAL ENGINEERS - was the Officer in Charge of the party called upon to recover the bomb. Lt Davies was conscious of the imminent danger this bomb presented to St Paul's and regardless of the risk to himself or his men, he spared nobody in the search for this bomb.

The bomb was located by Sapper G.W. Wylie, who located it deep under the pavement in front of St Paul's. By unremitting efforts the bomb was removed, all the time Davies and his party were aware of the strong possibility that the bomb would explode.
To prevent his men from further risk Davies drove the vehicle himself to transport the bomb and carried out its disposal.

For this action Lieutenant R. Davies and Sapper G.W. Wylie were awarded the George Cross.

The bomb was removed and finally detonated in the Hackney Marshes  where it left a crater 100 feet wide so it is clear how close the cathedral came to complete destruction.

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This amazing feat should be more well known.
But good old English self-deprecation means it probably won't be.

Bertrand Russell Quote

Bertrand Russell said something like the following if I am not mistaken.
(I can't find the exact quote on the internet. But I am sure that he said something like it.)

"If you could demonstrate to me that the extermination of the Jews would increase the overall happiness of mankind, then I would consider it."

This was obviously a philosophical point of some kind.

You could obviously replace the word "Jews" with any group of people.

Try replacing the word "Jews" with a group that you as an individual identify yourself with and then see how you feel.

Exam to be a Security Guard

Apparently you have to do an exam to be a security guard nowadays.
The hardest part of the exam is said to be the section on "Mastering Super-Human Resistance To Utter and Total Boredom."

"Pointless"

I am watching a pointless and awful game show that is actually called "Pointless".

That's right: a gameshow called "Pointless".

If that doesn't give you an existential crisis, I don't know what will.

Footballers do not deserve their wages

Someone has said that footballers deserve their wages.

No they don't.

A car is like a horse

In civilised countries like France, having a car used to be a bit like having a horse.
You would get it out every now and then - maybe once or twice a year - for long journeys to towns a long way away. And you certainly didn't necessarily have to own one. You could borrow one.
In the USA you almost have to drive everywhere every day.
To go to the local shop to buy a paper two minutes away on foot, you drive.
Insane. Unhealthy.
America is like Pheonix. Pheonix sounds like it's got something to do with the Pheonicians.
So at least it sounds like a civilisation.

Cars are crap.

Orwell - Political Writing Into An Art

"What I have most wanted to do during the past ten years is to turn political writing into an art". - George Orwell, Why I Write, 1946.

Definition of an anarchist?

Definition of an anarchist?
An anarchist is amongst other things someone who believes and knows that people do not have to be forced to do the right thing.
Everyone knows this is true deep down. And everyone is an anarchist deep down.

The last legitimate King of England

The last legitimate King of England was James the Second.
He threw the Great Seal of England in the Thames as he fled from a coup d'état.
Since then there have been no legitimate monarchs of England.

--------------------


Since when did the CBI run the country and dictate policy to us?
We are supposed to be a democracy.

Purge of all nastiness

I am thinking of having a "purge of all nastiness" from this "think tank".

I try not to be nasty or vitriolic.

I don't really like being nasty or vitriolic.

I believe in "hate the sin, not the sinner."

I am criticizing not for its own sake but because I feel it is necessary.

To be continued

.......

19th Century Thinkers

One reason that I reject nineteenth century thinkers like Marx, Nietzsche and Freud is that they went too far in the first flush of exuberance in questioning everything. And yet they still had a lot of irrationality built into their thinking if only because of the period they were in.
They went too far in almost creating religions themselves when they were questioning religion.
So-called "Marxism" and Pscyhoanalysis certainly had the characteristics of religions with all their dogma and intolerance.

London - The World in a City

London - the World in a City.

London was the capital of the biggest empire the world has ever known.

Some people say that Islam MEANS peace.

Some people say that Islam MEANS peace.

Inshallah!

Richard Dawkins and Biogenesis

I hope that Richard Dawkins points out at some point in a very prominent way that evolutionary theory cannot (as yet) explain biogenesis.

I accept that maybe one day we will know.

But it must be pointed out that at present we don't know.

------

At the end of the day, he is adamant that "there is no architect."

And he may well be totally right about this.

-----

But he never stresses that a gene is itself literally an architects' plan.

A gene is information.

And, as far as I know, Dawkins has no more clue than anyone else on the planet has, as to how that information emerged, supposedly ex nihilo.


As a supposed evangelist for science and reason he should make this very clear if it is the case.

I wish him all the very best.

----

I am listening to him now on BBC2 and he has just said that "Darwinism explains our existence."

(As the Americans say) Excuse me?

Have I missed something?

Update - 2017.

Nearly eight years after writing the above, I have decided to read more of Dawkins writings and hear more of his speeches to see how he maintains that Darwinism explains our existence.
I understand that he does concede that Darwin does not explain biogenesis, but he makes it clear that this is no reason to lurch from this to something other than a scientific explanation for it.
This is entirely right.
Biogenesis MUST have a rational, scientific explanation that we may indeed someday discover.

BEST BEFORE END JAN91

---------------------------------

I love Banksy

Banksy is great!
Graffiti is art!

I am thanking the Universe for Richard Ingrams

I am thanking the Universe for Richard Ingrams.

I want to thank him warmly for a simple thing he said.

A Jewish historian compared Bush and Blair to Churchill and Roosevelt.
Ingrams simply said that this is "nonsense."
Of course it's nonsense!

It is sickening and depressing that a Jewish historian of the Holocaust can make this comparison, given the Anti-Semitic and genocidal attack on Iraq (1991-2008) and I am very glad that Ingrams has said and written what he said.

I am eternally grateful to Ingrams for writing that.

I always love his succint columns anyway, but this comment alone has won him my devotion.

--------------------------------------------------
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/richard-ingrams/richard-ingramsrsquos-week-no-one-talks-nonsense-quite-like-a-historian-1710763.html


-------------------------------------

This piece also includes the following fascinating point:

"Why did the Americans invade? We still don't know. Even Bush's director of policy at the state department Richard Haass has said that "he would go to his grave not knowing the answer". "

.......

Punishment of any kind is not necessarily justified

Further to a discussion of issues around justice and forgiveness, I must point out that in my view, punishment is not in itself a necessarily philosophically sound concept, as others have pointed out.

One obvious reason for this is that punishment is in a sense an evil and a repetition of the original harm.

Cynic in the Original Sense

I was looking at an article about Cynicism in the original sense of the term as used to describe the Greek philosophical movement.
A Cynic for example was the first to say "I am a citizen of the world." Or I am "cosmopolitan".

Which now sounds like the exact opposite of cynicism as we understand it.
They were the original "drop outs" at a time when civilisation was crumbling.
Very interesting.

It might perhaps be more enlightening to call "Cynicism", "Doggism".

At least you know where you are with me

At least you know where you are with me.
In every situation I was put into I told the truth.
Will continue to do so whilst I live.
And I am proud of that at least.
RAGGIONE E MODERAZIONE.

Septic General Missing the Obvious

I am watching the EBC News.

The Septic US General in Afghanistan reckons that most ("60 percent") of the Taliban are fighting not for an ideology but for money.

I am not really an expert but might at least some of the Taliban be.... erm..... fighting against foreigners that are.....erm... occupying their country? Or at least that might obviously be one way that they see it?

It doesn't take a great deal of intelligence to realise this.

Donovan "Universal Soldier"

Donovan. 
"Universal Soldier".


He's five foot-two, and he's six feet-four,
He fights with missiles and with spears.
He's all of thirty-one, and he's only seventeen,
Been a soldier for a thousand years.


He'a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew.
And he knows he shouldn't kill,
And he knows he always will,
Kill you for me my friend and me for you.


And he's fighting for Canada,
He's fighting for France,
He's fighting for the USA,
And he's fighting for the Russians,
And he's fighting for Japan,
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.


And he's fighting for Democracy,
He's fighting for the Reds,
He says it's for the peace of all.
He's the one who must decide,
Who's to live and who's to die,
And he never sees the writing on the wall.


But without him,
How would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone,
He's the one who gives his body
As a weapon of the war,
And without him all this killing can't go on.


He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame,
His orders come from far away no more,
They come from here and there and you and me,
And brothers can't you see,
This is not the way we put the end to war.
........

Johann Hari on Derrida

http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=461


This is a great essay. And the footnotes are fascinating too.
One thing not to be forgotten is that (I think) Derrida was sincere. He was a genuine philosopher. He wasn't deliberately trying to "destroy" philosophy. He didn't set out to do such a thing.
He wasn't deliberately being "incomprehensible."

Besides, his philosophy continues philosophy; it doesn't destroy it.

The "mad axe man of "Western" philosophy" was principally Nietzsche in my view.
He was a precursor of nationalism in World War One and of fascism and general irrationalism, whose spell is still sadly cast on some. Furthermore, Nietzsche is an ancestor of the dreaded post-modernism itself.

Capitalism Is Crisis!

Capitalism Is Crisis!

"Inglorious Basterds"

"Inglorious Basterds" is a good film. Quite unlike anything I have ever seen.

I admit that at one point I was about to get up and leave the cinema in indignation - something which I have never done before and something which I don't really believe in doing if only because it is quite pointless.
(I was disgusted by the scene in which a German soldier is brutally murdered.)

It is a surreal, fairy tale, semi-fantasy war film.

I prefer historically accurate films. And I prefer political films and politically engaged films.
But I still like this film. One reason is because it is made obvious that it is not really supposed to be overly political.
Obviously, all films are political in a sense. I think this film is not politically suspect.

Why should all war films be conventional?
What is the point in making yet another conventional realistic war film?

It is clear enough that it is meant to be surreal and a kind of fairy tale.
It achieves a good balance because it is not too surreal.
It bears comparison with French surrealist gems like "La cité des enfants perdus" and "Delicatessen".

As for the excellent and considered view of a journalist who I think is fantastic, Johann Hari, who says that the film is morally bankrupt because of the way it uses violence, I am not sure.
I would say that I think he may be right.
But fairy tales can be violent too. Violence can be part of life. How you view it is up to you.
The point is it is not real. It is a film.

.........

I am anti-psychiatry

"Subsuming his [Szasz's] work under the rubric of antipsychiatry betrays and negates it just as surely and effectively as subsuming it under the rubric of psychiatry.

Szasz powerfully argues that his writings belong to neither psychiatry nor antipsychiatry. They stem from conceptual analysis, social-political criticism, and common sense. "

-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------

Well I personally am anti-psychiatry. By which I mean simply that I am against psychiatry.

Just like being against cars.

I suppose it depends what you mean by psychiatry but....

I see this as the same as being anti-slavery, anti-racist, anti-fascist etc.

Just a very general term.

I would also see it in the same way as these possible terms:
"anti-phrenology", "anti-astrology", "anti-Tarot" or "anti-Scientology."


Would I seek to ban Tarot or astrology?
Well I believe in freedom so I wouldn't.
I probably could not anyway.
But would I seek to ban them if they institutionally abused people?
Maybe I would.

Maybe Szasz means by "anti-psychiatry" a specific ideology?
I will read his book and find out.

-----

In English English "anti-x" can be an adjective. Maybe that's not so much the case in the USA.

But (thankfully) I wouldn't know.

...............................

to be continued.

as always.

-----------------

I would never seek to call Szasz an "anti-psychiatrist" nor "anti-psychiatry", nor part of (the ideology of) "anti-psychiatry."

I suppose he is a philosopher of a kind.



-----------------
-----------------

This reminds me of another interesting point about the difference between what could be called "European English" and American English.
There is a book by T.S.Eliot called "The Idea of a Christian Society".
In American English this title can mean "the purpose of a Christian society."
In European English this title principally would mean "the concept of a Christian society."
To an American mind the American meaning is perhaps so forceful as to almost preclude the European meaning.
.......

Philosophy

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."

Marx.

Philosophy and academic study undoubtedly are about understanding and interpreting the world.

I personally firmly agree with Marx here that a further purpose of philosophy and hence of academic study in general is also to change the world as the philosopher sees fit, and to work out how to do so.

"AQT"

"The Taliban are challenging our way of life."

Well firstly they don't exist.

Secondly, even if they are you can't just kill them all. Even if you do

they may still come back.

The "Taliban"

- is not an organisation as implied

- is not one entity as implied

- is not an army as implied

......

Shall I go on?

=====================

==========================

the "7/7" bombers weren't in "Al Quaeda".

Mainly because it doesn't exist:)

------------------------------------------------

-----------------

And then there is the entity "AQT"

"Al Quaeda/Taliban"

A fiendish conflation of 2 non-existent entities :)

Is this an enemy that we need?

An enemy that we need to create to justify our war?
Someone on whom to take out our own hatred of ourselves?

A simple "badguy" catch-all label?

......

=====================

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

John Simpson

John Simpson said corruption is rife in Afghanistan.

It is ALSO rife amongst the "Western" governments and aid contractors as well as the Afghans.

The "Elgin Marbles" and "Kettle Logic"

This is the thing I was trying to remember about the arguments about the Parthenon Frieze.

It's called "Kettle Logic."

http://www.pocm.info/kettle_logic.html

One thing that this maybe suggests is that if you have more than one argument in favour of something it can sometimes suggest that you may not have any at all.....

With regard to the British Museum; their BEST argument is undoubtedly that keeping the Parthenon Freize in London perhaps allows more people to see it.

The fact that they may try to introduce other arguments when they don't really have any other arguments makes their case more suspect in my view.

Calling them "The Elgin Marbles" is a good metaphor for English hypocrisy.

The marbles are respectfully and traditionally called "The Elgin Marbles."

This is in reality nothing more and nothing less than naming them after the person that stole them.

To be honest I hate nationalism and countries more and more really.

So like the Greek philosophers I am willing to be flexible in my view of this and if it were best to keep them in London then that is where I would say they should stay.

But that's just my opinion.

Corrective

If I exaggerate on this blog, I regard it as a corrective.

What's wrong with a minimum safety net?

What's wrong with a "basic safety net" health care for all?

Just as a minimum.

There are no secrets.

There are no secrets. There is only truth and lies.

Hypocrisy

I don't like nationalism.

I don't like violence.

I don't like wars.

-----

I don't like ETA.

But ETA have every right to be talked to.

They are only asserting what is supposedly the principle on which ALL states are based -

self-determination.

They are also practising what many states practice - violence.

All states are supposedly built on a (violent) assertion of self-determination.

So not to talk to ETA is pure hypocrisy.

--------------

--------------

Bookshops

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/04/oxfam-shops-booksellers

"Oxfam is the Tesco of the second-hand book world. It is destroying the industry."

As someone who absolutely adores second-hand bookshops I would be very sad if this were the case.

----------------------------------------------------

Well I would say the following.

If people didn't donate the books they would end up in land fill.

If second hand book shops accepted donations or even paid money for unwanted books then I would feel they have more right to say this.

Generally speaking, they seem to do neither.

I have often tried to sell my valuable unwanted books to second hand bookshops.

They simply do not want to know.

......

-------------------------

As far as I can see the internet is surely taking away a lot of the business previously given to second-hand bookshops, in the same way as it is affecting the newspaper industry.

On the internet you can find what you want in seconds. At a bookshop it might take a bit longer.

There is still a gap between Oxfam prices and quality and McWaterstones prices and quality.

The Greatest American Ever

Charlie Says "SAVE THE PLANIT!"

Charlie says Save the Planit!!

November 2013.

I stopped subscribing to Private Eye.
It is the only thing worth reading still.

Hoyever, I can't afford even the sub. So I thort I would buy it every now and then.
There is no Private Eye cover that would make me cancel the sub.

Hoyever, I could not purchase the current issue taking the mick out of Prince Charles on the front.
It seemed gratuitous and unnecessary with no satirical cutting edge.

I like people who genuinely care about this country, its people and the whole world and its peoples.
And especially the environment as well!

Saint Prince Charles in one of them. A survivor too who does his duty, come what may!
ICH DEIN!

And I love his views on Architecture!

Also - he is genuinely concerned about the religious role of the monarchy and what this should be! Quite right to be too! What a man!.....

Krounenbourg 1968

Give me some truth

If you think race is no longer an issue in the USA, then what about some telling of the truth about the US election in Florida in 2000?

Ditch that "UK"!

Getting rid of the letters "UK" means that you are:

anti-nationalist

anti-monarchy

anti-imperialist

anti-hierarchy

anti-state

anti-establishment

anti-conformist

anti-bland

.....

Socialism will not die

Bernard Henry-Le'vi, a famous French writer, has said that the French Parti Socialiste is "dead".

Incidentally he doesn't seem to have said why he thinks this.

Merde! The general idea of socialism is too broad and strong to die.

I am a Green personally, and green ideology cannot be ignored, but there is still plenty of space for socialism.

Vince Cable

Vince Cable said something in an interview published in The Independent today (27th July) that annoyed me. Something that I thought was impossible.

He described Amartya Sen as a free thinker and seemed to contrast this with his view of Chomsky as an "ideologue".

Chomsky is most definitely a free thinker. One indication of this is that he is often the only person saying what he says.

Vince should engage with some of Chomsky's economic ideas, as they are radically sceptical of conventional economic "theory".

Charter for Compassion

http://charterforcompassion.com/

Wonderful!

-------------------------------------------------------------------


"Unless there is some kind of spiritual revolution that can keep abreast of our technological genius, it is unlikely that we will save our planet."

Karen Armstrong in "The Great Transformation".

What's the difference?

What's the difference between health insurance and a health service?

One is paid for by taxes, the other by insurance.

What difference does that make?

"WAR IS ORGANISED MURDER, AND NOTHING ELSE"

"War is organised murder, and nothing else."

Harry Patch. RIP.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

We were taught what caused World War One at school:

Nationalism

Imperialism

Militarism

Alliances

....

An argument in favour of freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is great because you can see how stupid people are.

By The Skin Of Our Teeth

Greetings from occupied London

Greetings from occupied London.

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/

Private Schools cannot be charities

Private schools are in danger of losing their charitable status.

I really don't understand how independent schools - by the way can we discard the Victorian term "Public school" to mean private schoool, please? - can contend to be charities at all anyway when they charge thousands in fees?

-------------


It also must be pointed out that many so-called "public" schools in England were founded in the late medieval period and early modern period with the explicit intention of educating the poor or the general populace....

The term "public school" it seems is a good example of a simple anachronism.
It was invented to distinguish these schools from "private tutors" in the Victorian era.......

"Testeria" is more real than "hysteria"!

Comparitively speaking, "testeria" - the conidition semi-humorously invented by George Monbiot - which is named after the hormone testosterone, has more of a real existence then "hysteria" in women - which is named after the womb - ever did.

Great lyrics

As it was in the 19th century so it was in the 21st century:

"Come tell us how you slew

Those Arabs two by two."

From the song "Come Out You Black and Tans."

Great quote

"Humanism, in all its simplicity, is the only genuine spirituality."

Albert Shwietzer.

Blatant

Does anyone think that it is a coincidence that the last words of what is called "The Bible" - the book - are an imprecation not to add anything to the book or omit things from the book?

It is a blatant assertion of power.

A Thought

"After Auschwitz, no poetry."

"After Omagh, no rebel songs."

....

"Victory breeds hatred...."

"Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy."

"Happily the peaceful live, giving up victory and defeat."

Gautama Buddha.

-----------------------------

Another great quote - which was quoted by Prince Charles in his wonderful speech tonight - is:

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."

Mohandas Gandhi.

T-shirt design?

7/7

7/7 was terrible and wrong.

But we still always need "to take a look in the mirror".

And listen to the false reasons the perpetrators gave.

To see what led them to do what they did.

7/7 was not justified.

Good lyrics

"I'm looking at the man in the mirror....

I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways

And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer

If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place

Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change"

Michael Jackson.

----------------------------

"Be the change you want to see in the world".

Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Passion for the Planet

Found this website and radio channel

http://www.passionfortheplanet.com/

PassionForThePlanet FM

Superb!

I like Russell Brand

I have decided I quite like Russell Brand.

So there you go. :)

More to follow.

The Pheonix from the Flames

Resurgam.

The Pheonix from the Flames.

Favourite Saying

"They're all queer except for thee and me; and thy's a a bit queer."

This is one of my favourite sayings of my grandfather who was from Lancashire.

"Everyone is strange but you and me; and you are a little strange."

[This was long before the appropriation of the word "queer" by the Gay Rights Movement.]

Signpost or weather vane?

Tony Benn asks of people: "are you signpost or a weather vane?".

I like to think of myself as a signpost to some degree.

But I am against dogma, which is the enemy of radical thinking.

Political philosophers

In the USA and England all the great political philosophers are comedians.

Homeless Celebrities

"Celebrities Go Homeless" on BBC1.

I would rather be homeless than be a celebrity.

Celebrities are parasitic vermin.

I agree with President Obama and Johann Hari

Those protesting for freedom in Iran are on the right side of history.

I agree with President Obama.

And Johann Hari is right that the protests in Peru against the destruction of the Amazon are even more urgent.

www.johannhari.com

"Die See ist unfreundlich und der Himmel schwarz, aber Gott ist dort."

"Die See ist unfreundlich und der Himmel schwarz, aber Gott ist dort."

"The sea is unfriendly and the sky is black, but God is there."

---------

Germany is not a person. Germany is a country.

There have been many truly great Germans in history.

-----------------------------------------------------

We are all humans, all fundamentally the same and we all have the capacity for good and bad.

I like Michael Wood's work

I like the English historian Michael Wood and his work.

I possess and have read several of his books.

"No hay libro por malo que sea, que no tenga algo bueno."

"No hay libro por malo que sea, que no tenga algo bueno."

"There is no book however bad it may be that does not have something good in it."

PLINY THE YOUNGER (in Latin originally of course);

later echoed by CERVANTES.

After working in a second-hand book shop for 15 years I think that there may be one or two exceptions to this great observation.

Philosophy Football

Football is finished really. So you've got to be philosophical.

http://www.philosophyfootball.com/

social nOtworking

Art is not a job or an industry!

I am TOTALLY anti-copyright.

I don't advocate breaking the law at all and I don't.

But

Art is not a job!

Art is not an industry!

If you create it you share it!

Simple as!

--

The alternative is absurd. The system now is absurd.

======================================================

In medieval times, for example, musicians were just travelling minstrels, not quasi-godlike royalty.

Being a musicians or a performer in medieval times was almost like "just another job"....

=====

Art as an "industry" has its victims like other industries...

"Europe of the Regions"

My belief in anarchism, and my tendency towards anarchism rather than political nationalism, also concurs with the excellent idea of a "Europe of the Regions".......

Iran in the news

"Iran is such a strange country in very many ways."

(or words to that effect) John Simpson, EBC News at 6, June 12th '09.

I think the same about England.

It should also never be forgotten that it is a fact that England and the USA destroyed Iranian democracy in 1953.

Justice

Justice must always involve some degree of forgiveness and mercy, because it is not vengeance.

And because justice recognises in itself that people make mistakes.

Consumerism and Charity Shops

Consumerism.

There is a documentary about a charity shop.

The woman presenting it said that she found the shop disgusting and was not impressed by the quality of the donations.

The real disgrace is the amount of things that people consume .
The real disgrace is the amount of things that people buy that they do not need.

Almost everything anyone buys will end up in a charity shop if it is not thrown away.

There are so many many shops selling so much brand new stuff. So much of it is not needed.

So much is thrown away.........

......

Sport is a recreation

Sport of any kind is a recreation.

It is not an industry, a job, a profession.

It is a recreational, and leisure activity; and a physical exercise, physical and psychological skill and fitness activity.

----

Also, I repeat that:
MUSIC and the ARTS in general are not really INDUSTRIES...
....

Discuss.

Psychology

- Regret - understandable but pointless.

- Guilt - pointless.

- Forgiveness - correct.

My faculty of reason (whether God-given or not) shows me that these points are undeniable.

All my life I have been the victim of lies

All my life I have been the victim of lies.
My life consists in exposing them.
But I wouldn't have discovered that they were
lies if I hadn't been their victim.

I can smile because of forgiveness

I can smile. Because of forgiveness.

God Has A Dream - A Vision Of Hope For Our Time

I am reading "God Has A Dream" by Desmond Tutu.
It is fantastic.

Prison is a Crime.

Prison is a Crime!

Kulturschande!

"The Sun" "news"-paper - eine !Kulturschande!

"The Sun" "news"-paper is without doubt one of the least civilised newspapers in human history.

What is poetry?

What is poetry? Is there such a thing?

Via Campesina!

http://viacampesina.org/

The anger and indignation about the Gurkhas

There is such anger and indignation about the treatment of the Gurkhas who fought for the UK in 2 world wars.

Why is there never ever any shame or indignation about the fact that we had - and to an extent still have - an Empire and about what that Empire entailed?

Travel less. Travel better.

Travel less. Travel better.

Money is something you need. Work is something you do.

April 24th - Armenian Genocide Memorial Day

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/

Turbo-capitalism is destroying everything

Turbo-capitalism is destroying everything....

Turbo-capitalism is destroying everything: Pubs, shops, services....

And the supposedly socialist government is seemingly indifferent to this....

BBC mistake.

The play "Waiting for Godot" is not about two "homeless" men, as the BBC reported.

Jobs Are So 20th Century

Jobs Are So 20th Century anyway.

I may be wrong

Like all true philosophers and scientists, I admit I may be wrong; and am willing to change my mind if the evidence supports it.

PFI is a disaster

Just thought I would put up something about PFI which Private Eye has recently laid into.
It's a disaster. Especially compared to the old system of public investment.

..

Hooray for the USA!

As someone who has slagged off the USA a great deal, I just want to say "Hooray for the USA!".
I mean I just want to say there are good things about the USA! "Hooray for the USA!"

25 Reasons Why Psychiatry Should Be Abolished.

25 GOOD REASONS WHY PSYCHIATRY MUST BE ABOLISHED.

by Don Weitz

1. Because psychiatrists frequently cause harm, permanent disabilities, death - death of the body-mind-spirit.
2. Because psychiatrists frequently violate the Hippocratic Oath which orders all physicians "First Do No Harm."
3. Because psychiatrists patronize and disempower people, especially their patients.
4. Because psychiatry is not a medical science.
5. Because psychiatry is quackery, a pseudo-science which lacks independent diagnostic tests, testable hypotheses, and cures for "schizophrenia" and all other types of alleged "mental illness" or "mental disorder".
6. Because psychiatrists can not accurately and reliably predict dangerousness, violence, or any other type of human behaviour, yet make such claims as "expert witnesses", and with the media promote the "dangerous mental patient" myth/stereotype.
7. Because psychiatrists have caused a worldwide epidemic of brain damage by promoting and prescribing brain-disabling treatments such as the neuroleptics, antidepressants, electroconvulsive brainwashing (electroshock), and psychosurgery (lobotomy).
8. Because psychiatrists manufacture hundreds of "mental disorders" classified in its bible called "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (a modern witch-hunting manual); such "mental disorders" and "symptoms" are in fact negative, class-and-culturally-biased moral judgments for dissident ways of coping with personal problems and alternative ways of perceiving, interpreting or being in the world.
9. Because psychiatrists, blinded by their medical model bias, fraudulently pathologize and label people's serious life or existential crises as "symptoms" of "mental illness" or "mental disorder" such as "schizophrenia","bipolar affective disorder", and "personality disorder".
10. Because psychiatrists compound this fraud by falsely claiming, without scientific proof, that these "mental disorders" are caused by a "biochemical imbalance" in the brain, genetic factors or "genetic predispositions", despite the fact that there are no genetic factors in "mental illness".
11. Because psychiatrists frequently misinform their patients, families and the public by claiming that brain-disabling procedures such as the neurotoxins (e.g.,"antipsychotic medication" and "antidepressasnts"), electroconvulsive brainwashing (electroconvulsive therapy/"ECT"), psychosurgery (lobotomy) and other behaviour modification-mind control procedures are "safe, effective and lifesaving". The exact opposite is tragically true.
12. Because psychiatrists routinely deceive or lie to patients, prisoners, their families, and the public.
13. Because psychiatrists routinely and willfully violate the medical-ethical principle of "informed consent" by misinforming or not informing their patients about the numerous toxic, disabling and frequently permanent effects of the neuroleptics such as memory loss, tardive dyskinesia, tardive psychosis, parkinsonism, dementia (all signs of brain damage), and death.
14. Because psychiatrists routinely threaten, intimidate or coerce many patients - particularly women, children, the elderly, and prisoners - into consenting to health-threatening/brain-damaging "treatment" such as the antidepressants, neuroleptics, electroconvulsive brainwashing, and hi-risk experiments.
15. Because psychiatrists frequently fail to fully inform psychiatric inmates and prisoners about existing safe and humane, non-medical alternatives in the community such as survivor-controlled crisis centres, drop-ins, self-help or advocacy groups, diet, massage, wholistic medicine, affordable supportive housing, and jobs.
16. Because psychiatrists are sexist in frequently stereotyping women in crisis as "hysterical" or "over-emotional", blaming women whenever they voice real complaints and assertively express their feelings and emotions, prescribing massive doses of tranquilizers and antidrepressants to disproportionately large numbers of women, and in sexually assaulting women in their offices and institutions.
17. Because psychiatrists, particularly white male psychiatrists, are homophobic - the American Psychiatric Association (APA) once labelled homosexuality as a "mental illness" or "mental disorder" - and have used forced electroshock on lesbians, trying to coerce them into adopting a heterosexual life style.
18. Because psychiatrists are ageist in prescribing tranquilizers, antidepressants ("medication") and electroconvulsive brainwashing for disproportionately large numbers of elderly people - a form of elder abuse.
19. Because psychiatrists are racist in disproportionately incarcerating and drugging people of African descent, aboringal people, other people of colour and labelling them "psychotic" or "schizophrenic".
20. Because psychiatrists routinely violate people's civil rights, human rights and constitutional rights such as imprisoning innocent people without court trial or public hearing ("involuntary commitment"), and subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishments or tortures such as forced drugging, electroconvulsive brainwashing, psychosurgery, solitary confinement, "chemical restraints", and 4-point or 5-point restraints.
21. Because psychiatrists masterminded the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people including disabled children, the elderly and psychiatric patients during The Holocaust in Nazi Germany, and "selected" hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners for death ("T-4 euthanasia" program) - historical facts still missing in psychiatric textbooks and histories.
22. Because psychiatrists have willingly participated in and administered mind-control experiments in the United States and Canada since the early 1950s - its chief targets have been poor patients, women, dissidents and prisoners.
23. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological psychiatry, is based on the 3 Fs: Fear, Fraud,and Force.
24. Because psychiatry is a form of social control or punishment - not treatment.
25. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological psychiatry, is fascist - a direct threat to democracy, human rights and life.

I am ANTI-PSYCHIATRY. I think it should be abolished as a medical discipline.
Psychiatry is a crime.

http://www.antipsychiatry.org/

I am also against censorship.

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"Dov'era! Com'era!". Nessuna rendizione. Raggione e moderazione.