The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 01/12/13
Pot-pourri
"We'll have NO pot-pourri HERE!!!" (The Rev. - short for 'Revolting' - Ian Paisley).
Just three four things I want to point you towards, dear long-suffering reader; things which I liked and I think say a great deal.
First off is this piece by John Pilger, which shows how the dominant power élite of England - and by extension the rest of the so-called UK - has successfully put in place a policy of 'divide-and-rule' which arrogates all power and influence to them, and leads to non-conformity with that narrative being sidelined, dismissed or simply written out of the story. This is a theme I touched briefly on myself some time ago.
(On similar lines, it is instructive to note the reaction of readers of what is supposed to be a 'liberal' newspaper to an editorial praising the greater use of 'regional' (i.e., non-'sanctified') accents on BBC Radio 4 the other day).
Next, and no more than slightly tangential to the above, is this uncharacteristically to-the-point article from Nick Cohen, in which he avers that the cult of managerialism which has covered our society and commerce in recent decades in a veneer which, though highly polished, is still of a distinctly turdish hue, is just that; a cult, just like the Hubbardites. Anyone who works in a large organisation - public, private or anywhere between the two - will recognise what Cohen is talking about.
Thirdly, here is Guardian columnist Marina Hyde on top form, excoriating the empty-headed daughter of St. Bob of Geldof and his deceased ex-tart for amply demonstrating that self-regarding vacuity and an unwarranted sense of entitlement are actually capable of being transmitted from one generation of a family to the next, in defiance of accepted Darwinian norms.
"And finally, Esther...", and seeing that it's Sunday, here is philsopher and author Sam Harris. In a recent debate with the evangelical theologist William Lane Craig, Harris gave his views - calmly but trenchantly - on the fraudulent claims made for morality in relation to the reported actions of the christian god. Harris then invited video-makers to turn a section of his remarks into a video. Devon Tracey went and did just that, and the combination of powerful images with Harris' quiet-but-powerful delivery makes for compelling viewing and listening:
(Thanks to Hemant Mehta, The Friendly Atheist, for the last item).
