Unpalatable is all that can be said of the present situation. I do not know why I should be in such a bother about what is going on in the United States, France, Russian, Ukraine, Middle East, the United Kingdom and several other areas of the globe. I have no way whatsoever of addressing, in person, the individuals who are directly concerned with, and supposedly in control of, events in those areas. If I had, what would I say?
What do my opinions matter in the face of someone who is in the thick of it? I am not in receipt of any special knowledge or information they may have about the circumstances in which they find themselves. I have no advisors or special teams gathering information, openly or in secret, about the key people involved. I have no insider knowledge of schemes and conspiracies or, so called, levels of threat. I am given no briefs nor do I participate in debriefings of heads of state and ministry officials. In short, how do I know what is really going on?
Such information that I do get comes from the writings of reporters in a variety of journals, newscasts of current affairs on television and via the internet, in particular YouTube podcasts. All of which can be tainted or slanted from a particular perspective, either form the left or right of the political spectrum. My own bias and prejudice mean that I tend to prefer the analysis of my information to come from the left.
There are loads of reporters, political sketch writers and analysts whose profession it is to seek out and dig into events that are considered to be in the interests of the public. They will, if they are able and allowed, interview as many people as they can – off and on the record, confidentially – in order to piece together such information that will become “the story”. How often have we heard reporters claim to have spoken to many politicians (unnamed) who have commented on certain matters which may be contrary to their parties publicly stated positions?
This is their claim to insider knowledge and, of course, they will not reveal their sources (except in gossip with colleagues). Indeed, some reporters develop a popularity and following of their own and are lauded for their ‘integrity’ and gritty questioning of politicians and ‘important’ people who have come under scrutiny. They have become trusted givers of information because of some perceived impartiality and honesty, and because they appear most every day at the same hour. Also they have the privilege of speaking to and questioning heads of state and their ministers. This ability, to give the impression of speaking truth to power, gives them credit with the public.
So, it is from this lot that I get my information on which I impose my own analysis and opinions, which are the product of my own upbringing and experiences in life. Hence my, perhaps unfortunate, tendency to view things from a proletarian perspective despite my clearly middleclass life.
The divergent views of how a particular country on this planet seeks to function is still, for me, baffling in the extreme. Fundamentally human beings want a place to live, or at the very least, a safe shelter where they can rest and recuperate from whatever travails they have had to endure during their day. Decent food, good health and the peace to enjoy their lives. In addition they want the freedom to do whatever they see as necessary to maintain that existence. All very basic stuff. The evolution of homo sapiens over the last 300,000 – 700,000 years has created a world consisting of 195 countries. This number is from a website worldometer
“There are 195 countries in the world today. This total comprises 193 countries that are member states of the United Nations and 2 countries that are non-member observer states: the Holy See and the State of Palestine. Not included in this total count of 195 countries are:
- Taiwan - the United Nations considers it represented by the People's Republic of China
- The Cook Islands and Niue, both states in free association with New Zealand which are members of several UN specialized agencies and have been recognized "full treaty-making capacity", but are neither member states nor non-member observer states.
- Dependencies (or dependent territories, dependent areas, dependencies) and Areas of Special Sovereignty (autonomous territories)
- Other countries recognized by the United Nations as not being self-governing.”
It has taken roughly 500,000 years to have self-governing democracies of one kind or another, held together by the notion of the rule of law. Within each of these countries there are political parties and individuals within them who claim to have the best way of ensuring that the general population can achieve and hold on to those basic needs. Some countries have not achieved any form of self-government other than dictatorships which claim to be acting for the benefit of the people, thus allowing their inclusion in the United Nations. That is of course a sham.
In all this time, in spite of dictatorial control in some countries, the existence of the rule of law has maintained some kind of equilibrium. A form of social contract has emerged across the world; and yet, still there are two things that humans do to breach this peace. There are really only two types of crime – violence and dishonesty. That’s it. Over the years various attempts to discourage violence and dishonesty, from hanging, lengthy incarceration, disfigurement, financial penalties etc. have been attempted, none of which have stopped violence and dishonesty. All kinds of excuses and threats are made in condemnation as well as in support of such activity.
The duty of care and the rule of law seem unable to permeate deep into the mind of humans, and so the transgressions continue. Shoplifting and scams of all kinds inundate our lives. There are daily occurrences of violence in all forms on the streets. The ravages of war have continued unabated somewhere in the world during the whole of my lifetime.
During the age of enlightenment many philosophers wrote volumes about the conduct of men and how they view their existence, and out of the turmoil came some revolutionaries who proposed a constitution for the creation of a nation, flawed maybe, but also magnificent in its principles which came to be the envy of the world. Somehow, despite the chicanery of its growing population, it flourished and became a great and powerful nation.
Now after nearly 250 years it is going to disrupt its progress and destroy the whole of its legacy by giving allegiance to a charlatan of the first order, A liar, a cheat a dissembler without any shame or integrity of any kind, and yet ‘they’ love him. He has done nothing for them at all save claim greatness for America. That’s it, nothing else. “American is great and I will make it greater. Fight fight fight”. He extols greatness and violence in the same breath.
He will turn the country to shit, if he hasn't already. If the majority of Americans support this criminal what hope is there.
Don't you love farce?
My fault, I fear
I thought that you'd want what I want
Sorry, my dear
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns
Don't bothеr, they're herе
An appropriate lyric. Interpret it how you will. This is my last word on the subject. Life is too short to dwell on garbage. My blogs will be more infrequent and I will speak only of nice things. The writings of friends and their creativity will take precedence and nostalgic movies will be viewed and reviewed. The great character actors will be featured: Charles Bickford, Thomas Mitchell, George Sanders, Charles Coburn, Edmund Gwenn, Eve Arden, Walter Brennan, Dean Jagger, Victor McLaglen, Henry Travers, Akim Tamiroff, William Demarest, John Carradine, May Robson, Harvey Lembeck, Robert Strauss, Franklin Pangborn, Marie Dressler, Una O’Connor, Hattie McDaniel, Margaret Hamilton, Beulah Bondi, Jane Darwell, Mildred Dunnock, Jessie Royce Landis, Mildred Natwick, Zazu Pitts, Mercedes McCambridge, Eric Rhodes, Eric Blore, Alan Mowbray, Hank Bell – who was in 413 pictures mostly uncredited, between 1920 and 1952- he was in 186 films between 1940 and 1949, that’s 20 films a year for nine years.
Hank Bell was born on January 21, 1892 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Saratoga Trunk (1945), The Virginian (1946), Duel in the Sun (1946), My Darling Clementine (1946), The Egg and I (1947). He died on February 4, 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA. Grizzled westerns character actor nicknamed "handlebar" (for obvious reasons). Often seen as prospectors, deputies or bartenders, even the odd sidekick.
And many more...
No comments:
Post a Comment