Got Beef?

  My best friend in the whole world has recently started a blog detailing his attempt to pass a year as a vegan.  Having previously been vegetarian for a year, he has now upped the stakes (or perhaps the steaks).  He pointed out that my previous two blogs were filled with a lot of “hate”.  I wasn’t aiming for so much griping and atheism when I began the blog – it was just those issues were on my mind at the time.  Alas, who am I to ignore the advice of a newly baptized vegan (head dipped in soy milk for those that are questioning the metaphor)?

  Please visit my friend’s blog and follow his vegan-adventures here –

http://the-vegan-year.blogspot.com/

  Here is another link to a friend of mine who is one of the most wonderfully talented illustrators ever, Dan Morley.  He has launched a new website this week so please pay it a visit and support him if you can –

http://www.danmorley.co.uk/

  You see now I’m spreading the love.  I have another friend who writes an intelligent blog but he hasn’t written anything for months now.  Ritik, if you want a mention then you need actually write something.

  As for myself, I am doing my best to write and write and write.  I am currently working my way through my latest attempt to write a novel.  Although I have tried on countless occasions, this is probably my first earnest attempt to climb the mountain.  I have thought the idea out well and researched to a reasonable level.  The only danger is in the novel spiralling out of control with new elements that I keep adding.  On the other hand I would rather have too much to write than too little.  I will edit the piece when it is finished and trim away the fat with a little help from a few friends.  I have outlined the story to take approximately thirty chapters; I am currently writing chapter seven.  So, not bad going but I do want to pick up the pace and get further on before Christmas.

  I already have a sketch for the next story I want to tell.  At the moment it is very basic but with some powerful images that came right out of a dream (one of the few I remember).  It just needs fleshing out and then for my friends to do a cliché check.  For now it will have to remain as a sketch, burning away at the page.  It’s just a seed in the back of my mind where it can grow and become something a little more developed and special.

  I think I’m trying to re-train my brain to behave creatively on a regular basis.  Since leaving university and not being in a band, I haven’t really had a regular creative output.  I have been lazy and on occasion I have been too busy.  Sometimes I’ve just been too low emotionally to bother.  So my little creative centre is a bit rusty but I’m oiling it and polishing it every day like a vintage car engine.  It is ticking over just fine but grant me a little more time and I will be racing Le Mans with the best.  I have even started playing guitar again; dusting off the case and getting familiar with my telecaster once more.

Right, that will do for now.  Spread your love like a fever.

EDUCATED in IGNORANCE

Ed Milliband has won the vote for party leadership of the Labour Party.  I’m not loyal to any particular party and my previous voting has been based on my own situation contemporary to those elections.  As an example, during my days as a student I voted for the Liberal Democrats who advocated free university education for all.  Such was my short sighted world as an undergraduate.

  There has been a lot of media coverage of Ed’s success (particularly at the expense of his brother David).  What strikes me most however is that we are currently in a situation where the entire parliament consists of almost exclusively of unelected members.  Now that statement applies in varying degrees to different members.  But in its pinnacle form I would contend that the Coalition Government does not have a clear mandate to lead the country.  My reasoning for saying this is if you were to give everyone who voted for the Liberal Democrats (as I did) if, knowing that the Liberals would get in to political bed with the Conservatives, would they change their vote; I believe a majority percentage would change their decision.

  Let’s face up to the truth; Labour did worse than any of us were expecting.  Many people who had previously been voting Labour decided to shake their fists and show Labour how bloody disenchanted the public are with their performance.  Trouble was, who else to vote for?  No sane, regular, Labour voter would vote Conservative; it’s just too big a jump in ethics.  Liberal must have seemed the only feasible option at the time.  It was a safe bet wasn’t it?  The Liberals and their policies that lean ever so subtly to the left (but we have to whisper it so as no one starts burning women as Communists again) surely wouldn’t find common ground with the Conservatives – the old enemy.

  It seemed like such a convenient plan; the voters would move to the Liberals in reasonable numbers but Labour would still do well enough for a Liberal / Labour coalition.  Labour, being the lesser of two evils and the Liberals pushing through some reforms to the system with little resistance.  It was obvious to us all it seemed – clearly not to Mr. Clegg.

  But I don’t really want to gripe or dwell on the outcome because what is done is done.  What I want to talk about is the motivation, wisdom, knowledge, judgements, etc that led many people to stop voting for Labour and move to other parties.  The Conservative Party didn’t just spawn a lot of new voters for itself; a vast number switched from Labour, to another party.  On what basis did many of us make that decision?  On what basis do we make our voting decisions in general?

  My own vote is cast based upon my own research into the policies of each party, watching the debates and reading the news.  I can’t admit to ever reading a party manifesto.  I think it is important to do this and this is why: when I was first eligible to vote I voted Labour because my parents said that it was a good choice and not to vote for the Conservatives.  On that occasion I did as was suggested but it was only afterwards that I realised I didn’t really know for what I had voted.  The more I thought about it, no one had ever taught me about voting or politics and that’s despite how integral and important they are to our lives.

  Little has changed since I was at school.  I am forced to question why we are not taught basic politics in Secondary schools.  The current situation seems to be that we go through the education system and then once 18 we are able to vote; with the exception of those curious few who might read about politics, the rest of us are fed on the scraps of mass media.  So many people have only the BBC news and the press on which to base their opinions and eventually their votes.  Now is it not concerning to think that voters might be basing their decisions entirely on the reporting of newspapers like The Sun or the Daily Mail?

  In private schools, pupils are taught basic politics; taking as my local example, Leicester Grammar School.  Students at Leicester Grammar are taught politics as part of their Personal and Social Education classes.  These lessons would be broad and generalised but none the less an introduction to the idea of British politics.  Guests are also invited to speak to the students.  Politics as a subject is then offered as an AS Level qualification to all Further Education students but all FE students (regardless of subjects studied) attend a one hour General Studies Lecture.  A lot of these are political in nature; members of the Green Party might come and discuss their role in Government, debates held on the troubles in Palestine, and speakers representing a variety of QUANGO’s.

  I was not lucky enough to have a private school education so I received no education in politics at all.  Might that represent a class divide or can we just lay it squarely down to our poor education system?  I do not like to resort to class based arguments in political discussions (you run the risk of sounding like a deranged Marx scholar).  What angers me is that throughout secondary education I received at least one hour of every week studying Religious Education.

  I want to make a brief clarification.  I am an atheist but I am not anti faith.  I love mythology and stories and books.  I am passionate about different cultures and beliefs.  I am only ever anti religion when it interferes in lives and governments and education on a systematic and state-like basis.

  So my issue with Religious Education; why are we taught it?  Would it not be more prudent to school our population in basic politics from an early age?  When I finished secondary school I could tell you the story of Diwali almost from memory but I couldn’t tell you the key policy differences between Labour and the Conservatives.  I can safely say that my knowledge of Hindu festivals has never served me in any way.  Does religion have a place in the education system of a liberal and multicultural nation?  That is perhaps a question for another day.

  I do not think we can say we live in a democratic society where the general population is kept in the dark on even the basics of British politics.  The average person is introduced to politics via the media that is in most cases biased to one party or another.  For want of a better word we are controlled and kept ignorant and compliant.  How can you change the system if you don’t even know what the system is?  That is perhaps the only class divide here; those lucky enough to have a private education are arguably more likely to work in politics because they were introduced to it an early age and have more of an interest.

  If politics was taught in secondary school young people would understand politics and be better prepared to vote once they reach the age of 18.  I think it would combat voter apathy because people would feel involved and in touch with politics from an early age.  Also, a basic knowledge at an early age would encourage students from less wealthy backgrounds to study politics at FE and Higher Education levels, moving into politics as a career.  It would reform politics as we know it in Britain and we would see real change, not just superficial change.

  For now we continue with an unrepresentative government, formed by an unrepresentative voting system, voted for by a deliberately uninformed population.  But hey, why I should I care when I can tell you the story of how Ganesh got his Elephant head?

FEAR AND OTHER UNREASONABLE DEMONS

  I have been thinking about fear a lot lately.  It has become a reoccurring feature of my day to day life.  I have read a lot about different types of fear and phobias, entire conversations have shared those things that make our skin crawl.  I’m not entirely sure why this issue has reared its ugly head so regularly in recent weeks but it strikes me as important.

  There’s this spider at work that is reportedly quite large, living somewhere behind the refrigerator.  I’m not scared by spiders; even the venomous species instil a cautious respect in me rather than fear.  For the best part of my life I have been scared of wasps, irrationally so.  However, I seem to be growing out of it or something similar because I can now sit with one flying around me, I can catch them in a glass and release them; all of which I see as a more constructive response than fleeing in terror and squealing like a child.  Anyway, this spider seems to have some people at work worried.

  All of this has asked me to consider what I am afraid of and the more I think about it, the less straightforward things become.  To the best of my knowledge I am not afraid of any particular or popular archetypal nemesis; spiders, heights, the dark, etc.  I’m not afraid of being physically attacked or emotionally hurt.  After a lot of thought I think I am scared of two things; myself and other people.  I think what worries me most is my potential; my inability to meet my potential and do great things, and my potential to be not so great.  Everyone has it in them to be angry, resentful, hateful, jealous and cruel.  I am not proud enough to deny I have in my lifetime been each and every one of these things.

  Arguably the opposite of feeling scared is to feel brave.  I don’t remember where I heard this said, perhaps a particularly cliché episode of C.S.I. or something similar; “bravery is not the absence of fear, but the mastering of it”.  To be brave is to know your fear and feel it every single day like an itch and yet to live your life as if it wasn’t there.  To be brave is to make decisions completely unhindered by your fears or concerns and without a second thought.

  My point, if I have one is this: I know what I’m afraid of and I know what I have to do or be to overcome them.  But I’ve spoken to so many people about their fears recently that I wonder what they will do?  Set aside the spiders, wasps and heights; what are we really afraid of, deep down?

  The Pope has finished his visit to Britain and has now returned to Rome.  I must admit to a great sense of relief.  The airwaves and the media (in particular the BBC) can return to a more varied reporting of the news.  There are only so many pre-arranged public relations stunts and posturing I can stomach.  One thing I can’t understand is how Sky and the BBC could cover the events with such a positive attitude and a heavily Christian rationality.

  The first thing I need to say is how much I respect an individuals right to believe whatever they choose (as individuals) to believe.  I think faith can be very important; it provides comfort and happiness to many people around the world.  I would never mock anyone for their faith.  In return I insist that no one judge me on my own brand of atheism.

  So what is my problem with the Pope?  In my opinion he can be compared quite comfortably and without exaggeration as the Papal George Bush.  His ability to vocalise nonsense and bigotry is formidable.  This is the man who says that the AIDS epidemic cannot be combated by using condoms.

“[AIDS] cannot be overcome by distributing condoms – it only increases the problem”[1]

  This dangerous attitude will condemn many people to suffer and die from HIV and AIDS in Africa and across the developing world.  Some of you out there might think that I’m exaggerating and ask if it is not down to every individual to use common sense.  However, to ask that question is to under estimate the sway and control that the Vatican and the Pope has over Catholics globally.  For example, to comply with Papal doctrine in 2004 the heavily Catholic, Philippine Government criminalised the use of Condoms[2].  The idea of free choice dies a miserable death when out dated Catholic doctrine becomes Law.

  Thou shall not use condoms, thou shall not abort a pregnancy, thou shall not be gay; are these teachings any different from other religious, fundamentalist beliefs?  I do not hesitate to say they are not.  How then can we justify a State Visit for this fundamentalist Pope to a multi cultural and liberal society that hasn’t been a Catholic nation for centuries?  Just in case you were not aware, because his was a State Visit it was inevitably paid for by the taxpayer.

  That’s right, YOU paid for his visit to Britain; how does that feel?  Before arriving, one of his Cardinals regarded Britain as a third world country[3].  Whilst in Britain, he compared atheists and atheist societies to the Nazis[4].  What a kind and benevolent man he must be to visit this third world country that is full of Fascist, Nazi, Atheist Extremists that paid for his visit to our decadent wasteland with en-suite moral graveyard.

  Let us not forget the role secularist attitudes in the Catholic Church played in the discrimination of Jews before and during the 1940’s.  Let us not forget that Hitler was a self proclaimed Catholic and on numerous occasions claimed to be doing the work of God.  I don't think the Vatican should be allowed to erase its historical ties with the Nazi Party so easily.  Particularly when they are so willing to lay blame on the atheistic doorstep.

  There are some criticisms of the Pope because of his association with Hitler Youth in the 1940’s.  I think this has to be over looked in any fair criticism.  Many ordinary German boys were conscripted into the Hitler Youth and Party membership.  There was no realistic option of refusal.  It has been argued that the ordinary German public and in fact most of the soldiers didn’t really know about the Holocaust, or at least didn’t know everything.

  None the less it was an ill advised comparison, accusation and complete lie.  This is why I compare him to the former U.S. President George Bush.  His ability to utter P.R. gaffs is quite considerable but where Bush was often a source of comedy, the Pope is a source of controversy, deception and falsehood.

  So where do we go from here?  Shall we expect a State Visit by the Ayatollah of Iran in the near future?  Anyone who can find an objection to his visit that can not be applied to the Catholic Pope might win a prize.  Surely it is time to be brave and cast of the shackles of institutional religions?  Every individual can be free to believe in Jesus, or the Prophet, or Buddha, or not at all.  What we don’t need is an institution that is in no way representative of any God, let alone any free society.  If God exists, I doubt he needs a middle man on earth.

Every single one of us is a miracle.  Take that how you will; spiritually, statistically, philosophically, logically.  As it should be; the choice is yours.

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[1] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5927964.ece

[2] http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2004/05/04/philippines-anti-condom-policies-could-spark-aids-explosion

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/16/pope-aide-walter-kasper-no-apology

[4] http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tomchivers/100046969/pope-visit-blaming-atheists-for-nazism-is-both-silly-and-demonstrably-wrong/

Maiden Voyage

  Yes I believe it's come to this...

  I can't really be precise about why I have decided to write a blog.  I imagine it has a lot to do with frustration, as many urges in this world seem to stem from that particular sensation.  There are so many events happening all across the globe and at such an incessant rate that I can't keep up.  I do my best of course but you know how it is...  Perhaps it is age that is making me so opinionated, or indeed youth?  I feel as though I belong somewhere in the middle of that broad spectrum these days.

  I suppose I just want a little space to write down my thoughts, ideas and opinions.  Writing down my feelings might be a little more rare but none the less I don't imagine that will detract from the content of this page very much at all.  In honesty it might not be possible to detract any further.  Moving swiftly onwards, I don't really know what I will post here so I guess that only time will tell.

  I do believe in freedom of expression and a free press however I am only human and therefore have a limited amount of patience for hate and ignorance.  Therefore you will have to forgive me if I exercise my powers of censorship on any comments posted.  Having said that I do welcome comments and healthy discussion of ideas even if they do not coincide with my own opinions - in fact particularly so.

  So let's smash the champagne bottle limply against the hull (it bounces off without breaking on the first attempt) and have an arbitrary old lady wearing a big hat, bless the vessel and all who sail in her.

Who knows where we'll end up?