75051067
Stop This One-Minute Silence Madness
Around the country football clubs have held one-minute silences in honour of the Queen Mother. Now, don’t get me wrong – I am a monarchist; I think she was (probably) a good thing. She is probably far more deserving of a one-minute silence than most, but the whole thing leaves me feeling disquieted.
It seems these days we have a one-minute silence just about every week. Any minor tragedy will do whether it be some old codger popping his clogs or a few people dying on a train. So, why do we do it? As a mark of respect? My arse. There are plenty of people who deserve my respect but not a minute of my time. Queen Mother included.
The other thing I really hate about all this getting the misery right is the intimidation involved. What are you supposed to do if you don’t particularly want to show your respect? Shout? I have no problem with silences at Remembrance Day Services. You go there specifically to be silent. Fair enough. But people go to football games to watch football – not to be pressured into some entirely pointless gesture.
In the 1920s at 11am every 11th November Britain would come to a halt. Shops would shut, vans would stop and shut off their engines, and people would stand in silence on the pavement. They were of course remembering the tragedy of the First World War, a tragedy that had claimed the lives of a million Empire soldiers and wrecked the lives of millions more. It was a tragedy that an entire nation had borne. Under such circumstances a national token of respect is entirely understandable. These were people who could really understand what real suffering was. Their silences were heartfelt and genuine (deserved even) – ours are immature and synthetic.
Comments are off for this post75050631
A Wail From The Den….....
Plodding about the web this morning, somewhat fearful of all the April Fools Day ‘stuff’ that could entrap an unsuspecting viewer, MommaBear found an item that made shivers run down her spine and her hackles stand up. Rich Galen’s thrice-weekly column, Mullings, is always a good read; this morning’s edition was no exception.
He gave a quote from an op-ed piece in the NYTimes by Tom Friedman, which is what upset MommaBear so badly this morning:
“The New York Times’ Tom Friedman, helped us understand the intractable nature of the matter in his essay yesterday:
“The outcome of the war now under way between the Israelis and Palestinians is vital to the security of every American, and indeed, I believe, to all of civilization. Why? Quite simply because Palestinians are testing out a whole new form of warfare, using suicide bombers – strapped with dynamite and dressed as Israelis – to achieve their political aims. And it is working.”
Friedman, writing about a recent statement by a Hamas terrorist said, “Palestinians have Israelis on the run now because they have found their weak spot. Jews, [the Hamas leader] said, ‘love life more than any other people, and they prefer not to die.’ ”
Seeing a love of life as a weakness is abhorrent to the ideals upon which modern society is based. As most of the world celebrates the renewal of life, signaled by the arrival of Spring, this one statement tells us all we need to know about what we are fighting against, and why all civilized nations should join us.”
H. Sapiens(?) has reached a new low point with this total rejection of life. The madness of trying to achieve a political goal by this means is beyond all comprehension, but the world ignores or dismisses this new danger at its extreme peril. It is not only America but the entire world that must wake up and smell the putrid, acrid odor of evil abroad in our midst.
Comments are off for this post75049974
There are reports appearing on the internet that the Springer Show has a stalker. Someone is killing off the guests after they have appeared on the show. Of particular interest to the killer are men who have shown themselves to be particularily stupid.
“I am doing my best to cull the moronic end of the gene pool. These people must not be able to have kids anymore!” This was part of the note sent to Springer. In other parts of the statement the killer thanked Springer for doing a service for man-kind in allerting them to these people. The note was simply signed “Uniculler”.
For his part, Springer had this to say, “My show attracts a broad range of audience and I am not surprised that there is a least one homicidal maniac among my viewers.” He continued, “we are trying to track down this “killer” to see if we can get him on the show. We plan to call the show ‘When Springer guests attack!’”
More news on this as it emerges. A newsgroup is saying the killer has a website, but no one has a link as of yet.
Comments are off for this post
