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Heather Graham Talks Flowers in the Attic, Horns & Embracing Being a Lifelong Nerd
January 15, 2014 – 11:00 AM – 1 Comment
By Scott Neumyer Parade @scottneumyer
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Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
If you think it would be impossible to improve upon the deliciously campy 1987 movie of V.C. Andrews’ novel Flowers in the Attic, you’d be wrong. Lifetime’s version, which premieres Saturday January 18 at 8 PM, is completely crazy and absolutely fantastic. Starring Heather Graham, Ellen Burstyn, and Kiernan Shipka, Flowers in the Attic is the best film that Lifetime has ever created and it’s going to be the cult hit TV movie of the year that spawns a thousand glorious GIFs all over the Internet. Gone are the cookies and the persistent soft-focus of the ’87 version. They are, instead, replaced correctly by donuts and a much darker, more faithful adaptation of the classic tome. Lifetime’s version features excellent performances and is not only better, but it also never shies away from the cringe-worthy incestuous moments that made Andrews’ book so controversial. Parade sat down with star Heather Graham to discuss the film, Lifetime’s upcoming plans for the series, and how she’s embraced being a self-confessed nerd her entire life.
I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with the 1987 movie version of Flowers in the Attic.
[Laughs] I know. It was so twisted and slightly funny but also kind of sexy, you know?
How did you get involved with the film?
They offered it to me. They sent me the script and I had actually never read the book and I had never seen the movie, so I was reading it and I was like, “This is the craziest story ever. It’s so dark.” The character is so dark and, at the end, I couldn’t even believe what she does. I was just so disturbed. And then I heard that Ellen Burstyn was going to be in it and I’m obsessed with her. I was just so excited to act with Ellen Burstyn.
Ellen Burstyn & Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
Your film is much closer to the book than the previous version. Did you go back and watch the 1987 movie before you started work on this?
The director encouraged us not to watch it, but when they offered the role to me, I decided to watch it because I had never read the book at the time. It’s weird how very effective it is. It really draws you in and you can’t stop watching it. It’s like watching a train wreck that just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and you just get more and more disturbed, but you can’t stop watching it. There’s something about it that’s addictive.
There’s a rabid fan base online for this story. Your movie is going to be turned into GIFs and memes before your eyes.
[Laughs] I have a friend and she’s obsessed with it. She has the lines from the movie memorized. She was quoting my lines to me and I’m pretty sure she hasn’t even watched it in a really long time. I was like, “How do you remember all this?” She’s just watched it so many times.
Heather Graham, Maxwell Kovach, Ava Telek, Mason Dye & Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
I love that you guys kept it a period piece as well.
I’m glad they did that because I think it makes my character’s story make more sense. When I was reading it I did think, “Why doesn’t she get a job?” But I think if you put it back in the ’50s, it wasn’t so easy for women to get a job. You would have to be more of a trailblazer to go out there and get a job where you could support four children. I think it makes more sense that, as a woman, you didn’t feel like you had as many options, so you might somehow get into this terrible situation that my character gets into.
It gives it an extra bit of authenticity.
I think if you set it in the modern day, you’d also have to deal with technology. If the kids had an iPhone up there in the attic, this would never have happened.
Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
There are moments when you’re watching this film that you think it’s coming down on the side of your character being the victim, almost as much as the children. But then there are times when Ellen’s character shows a bit of humanity. How did you straddle the line between victim and terrible mother?
I wanted to show an arc, which was basically that, in the very beginning, I am a good mother and I’m very loving. I’ve been a really great mother to my children, but my husband sort of brought out the best part of me. When I have to go home and live with my family, being around my mother and being in the same abusive situation that I grew up in, I start to revert back to feeling like I have no options. She makes me feel so bad about myself that I can’t think like a sane person. I almost start to turn into her. Being at home, and being around her, I somehow continue the cycle of child abuse by turning into my mother.
You can see the way she almost morphs into this different person.
I think, as well, that my character has this deep need to be taken care of. So I put up with living with my family, in this very unhealthy situation, because I really want to be taken care of. I think there’s a moment where I know that my children, especially my son, see me as the really screwed-up person that I am, and I can’t live with it.
Mason Dye & Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
There are little touches that you provide throughout the film that show your character’s heart as well. There’s a moment in the beginning where your eyes become so bold and wide that it’s almost like you can’t even believe what’s happening.
I really wanted to [show that], even though my character does these terrible things, I do feel bad about it and that I do love my children and that I do wish that there were another way. I wanted to make it so that I’m not an evil person just sadistically torturing children for no reason, but that I have gone through so much child abuse and that I don’t understand a better way out. You read the story and you go, “This is ridiculous! This would never happen,” but it does. Kids are abused by their parents. Then they grow up and abuse their children. They don’t want to do it, but it’s so hard to break out of the cycle of how you were treated and not doing some version of the same thing to your own children, unless you really work on yourself and heal that wound.
Super terrifying. That’s why I have no children! [Laughs]
Heather Graham & Ava Telek in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
Between you and Ellen and Kiernan Shipka, the acting in this film is phenomenal. Ellen even scared me at one point.
[Laughs] She’s so scary! Everyone behind the monitor, during this one scene, was jumping. She is so powerful. You know what? She is so brave to play these characters that aren’t attractive. She, herself, is a very attractive woman, but she is willing to play characters and show these really human, unattractive sides, and I think that’s really brave of her, as an actress.
And Kiernan as well. For someone that young to play a part like this and pull it off is impressive.
It’s kind of freaky how mature and professional she is because you’re looking at her and you think, “You’re thirteen.” They really cast the real age this time, as opposed to the other film where Kristy Swanson was this sexy, beautiful girl that definitely seems worldlier and more sexual. Whereas, with Kiernan, you really feel like she’s just going through puberty. I just found myself amazed that she is that mature at that age. To play this part and to just be an actress, she is freakishly adult.
She’s a rock. She doesn’t flinch once in this film, even with all the crazy things she has to do.
It was really fun working with her. She is such a nice person too. The funny thing is that she really seemed like she was in character a lot of the time, but then at the very end I started to get to know her a bit better and she actually has this wicked sense of humor. She and Mason [Dye], who plays the brother, were going, “We’re such a screwed-up family!” And they would just find hilarious ways to make fun of the scenes we were playing.
The incestuous stuff was really controversial in the book and it’s much more prominent in this version than it was in the 1987 film. Were you guys worried at all about being censored or did Lifetime just give you the freedom to kind of go crazy?
I think the goal was actually to make something darker and more real than the original. It’s a little bit more of a drama. There was an element of camp to the other one, which is fun, but this one is a bit more disturbing.
Yeah, this version is definitely played straighter. The ’87 version is full of soft focus and lilting music. It’s so over the top.
When you read the script, the grandmother character is so harsh, but Ellen added so many levels to that character that you really kind of feel bad for her. You just feel sorry for her. I really like that. You don’t feel it when you’re reading the script, but you get it when you watch Ellen’s performance.
Kiernan Shipka & Ellen Burstyn in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
There have been rumors that Lifetime is planning to film the entire series of books by V.C. Andrews. Have you heard anything to that effect?
[Laughs] I know they were thinking about doing a sequel. I’m not sure if they are or not, but the sequel is basically where Cathy gets her revenge on my character. I’m not one hundred percent sure if they’re going to do it, but I do think they would like to. There was even some talk of them maybe doing a prequel series about my character focusing on when she was sixteen and falling in love with her half-cousin. [Editor’s Note: Since this interview was conducted, Lifetime confirmed that a sequel to Flowers in the Attic, based on the second V.C. Andrews book in the series, Petals in the Wind, is currently being planned.]
Are you up for all that, if they ask you to return?
I guess it could be fun. Honestly, the sequel is so torturous for my character. If you can imagine Cathy getting the worst revenge possible on Corrinne, that’s the story. [Laughs]
Horns, which you’re starring in alongside Daniel Radcliffe, just got picked up in October. Any word on a possible release date yet?
I don’t really know, but that is a really crazy story too. Daniel is such a great guy. He’s so nice. He has so many crazy fans too. They would stand outside when we’d be shooting and he’s so sweet.
Oh, Heather. You have not seen crazy fans until this movie comes out. You just wait.
[Laughs] That’s awesome. I can’t wait.
Mason Dye, Ava Telek, Maxwell Kovach & Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)
You have a few new films coming out next year. Which one are you most excited about people seeing?
I have episodes of Californication coming out in April, and I just did this film in New York called My Dead Boyfriend. And Horns is fun too. I have a smaller, supporting part in that. And I actually wrote a script that I want to direct, so knock on wood, I hope that happens.
You describe yourself on Twitter as “Actress and big nerd.” What is the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?
I wore headgear when I was in school as a teenager. Like Joan Cusack in Sixteen Candles. Actually, wait. She had headgear. I had neck-gear, so I should specify that it was actually neck-gear. Just around the neck. But, yeah, it had the rubber bands attached and all that. You always remember what you were as a kid, so I’ll always sort of feel like a nerdy kid with headgear. [Laughs]
Flowers in the Attic premieres on Lifetime on Saturday, January 18 at 8 PM.
http://youtu.be/meNwZ_GYTIQ
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Puzzling headstone leads to history mystery in Oklahoma City
by Richard Mize
Published: Sat, March 30, 2019 5:00 AM
Ulysses G. Moore, a World War I veteran, is buried in Trice Hill, an all-black cemetery in northeast Oklahoma City. But there is no marker on his final resting place. A new homebuyer recently found a headstone for Moore in his back yard. [JIM BECKEL/THE OKLAHOMAN]
Carl Watson did not want to bump into U.S. Army Pvt. Ulysses Grant Moore, 1896-1964, in his living room in the dark of the night — stumbling across the World War I veteran's headstone in the backyard was shock enough.
He was worried that his grandkids would visit him once at his new-to-him home and never come back if they saw the grave marker, official looking or not.
Under a cross in a circle, the rectangular stone read:
ULYSSES G. MOORE
PVT CO M 65 PIONEER INF
JUNE 10 1896 — JAN 20 1964
Who was Moore? Why was his headstone in the backyard at 2304 E Madison St.? Why at all, but why, indeed, after 55 years?
Watson said he discovered the stone while cleaning up debris from a long-collapsed garage or shed. He was especially disturbed, he said, because the stone appeared to have been placed deliberately and properly for burial.
Was there a body down there?
One afternoon, Watson spied a man across the property line, in the parking lot of Trinity Presbyterian Church, inspecting the fence. Did he know anything about it? The houses faces north; the church fronts NE 23, facing south.
No, the church elder did not.
Nor did I, the pastor, as my worlds collided again: ministry, history, mystery, journalism.
At first, I thought maybe Moore had been a member of Trinity and for some reason he had been either buried there, or the marker placed there, and the fence had drifted across the property line, as they can do over decades. But no one knew anything about it.
What a property puzzle! So, doffing the clerical collar and arming myself with tools of the journalism and history trades, I went to work.
A check of property deeds and other records revealed several things.
Records show that U.S. (not U.G.) Moore and his wife, Mentora, bought the house, built in 1940, from John and Leona Hicks on June 13, 1963. Mentora Moore lived until 1980. Title to the property got tangled up with never-completed probate, quit claims and death until Alma Lucas, a granddaughter, went to court for a quiet title — and clear title.
I called James A. Slayton, her attorney, he emailed her, and she called me.
Lucas, 74, said she had not lived in the house, or in Oklahoma, since 1966. After decades in California, she'd recently relocated to Copperas Cove, Texas, about 75 miles north of Austin.
She knew about the headstone, although it, and the oddness of its location, slipped her mind over years, distance and generations.
"I don't know why it came, and I don't know why it was sent to the house," she said. "Why it was delivered to the house is a mystery to me."
She did know one thing: Ulysses Moore was not buried at 2304 E Madison St. He was buried at Trice Hill, a large African-American cemetery at NE 50 and Coltrane Road.
Good, I thought. My church neighbor can relax, and its pastor can quit ribbing him about his unusual, possible and, frankly, unwanted resident, since his body was in a cemetery where it belonged.
(Watson has been good-natured about my kidding him: "Well, Carl, if Pvt. Moore does show up, y'all are both welcome to church next door at 2301 NE 23, at 11 a.m. Sunday!" I can be lightning fast at switching from my journalism-history hat to ministry hat, and vice versa.)
So, I called Trice Hill Cemetery, and they knew right where Ulysses G. Moore was buried: Section 26, Lot 32, Grave 5. So, I assigned a photographer — and was floored when the pictures came back showing an unmarked grave site. All this time, I'd assumed that the backyard headstone might have been left there because his grave was already marked.
No. Who knows why it was left there, but it was. And I think that needs to be ceremonially remedied. Who will take this on?
Moore served in Co. M of the 65th Pioneer Infantry, which formed in October 1918, at Camp Funston, near Junction City, Kansas. The camp was eat up with the Spanish flu. The war was over in December. Moore was drafted, probably got sick as could be, served briefly, and presumably came back home to Oklahoma, honorably.
Who will see that his grave is properly and ceremonially marked?
You can email Real Estate Editor Richard Mize at rmize@oklahoman.com .
The headstone for Ulysses G. Moore was found by a man in his backyard on E Madison St. [TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH]
Richard Mize
Real estate editor Richard Mize has edited The Oklahoman's weekly residential real estate section and covered housing, commercial real estate, construction, development, finance and related business since 1999. From 1989 to 1999, he worked... Read more ›
CommentsPuzzling headstone leads to history mystery in Oklahoma City
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endees
#OneSolution - October 2018
Everyone A Changemaker
Be a Part of the Change
Empathy in Leadership
Lessons from Anand Mahindra
Backtoptop
Ashoka presents: #OneSolution - Everyone A Changemaker
It's a unique occasion when some of the smartest business leaders in the country come together with the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Because that's when change happens. They discuss critical problems. Ideate. And co-create solutions to scale.
Ashoka's #OneSolution will be one such platform where leaders from business and social impact sectors will discuss the important and urgent need for empathy and collaborative leadership in social change. Together, they will envision a journey where everyone is part of the solution.
Show Your Interest
Anil Swarup
Secretary, Chief Executive Officer, State Development Council, Govt. of Jharkhand
Shri Anil Swarup is presently posted as Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India....
Shri Anil Swarup is presently posted as Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India. Shri Anil Swarup started his career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in, 1981. His past assignments in various Ministries of the Government reflect his in-depth knowledge and experience in visualizing, conceptualizing, articulating and implementing various schemes. Shri Swarup holds a Masters degree in Political Science from Allahabad University, where he was awarded the Chancellor’s Gold medal for the best all-round student. At the very beginning of his administrative career he was awarded the Best officer Award at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration amongst the officers of 1981 batch. As a strategic thinker and an innovative leader he has won several awards and nomination, the prominent ones being: Nominated as one of the “policy change agent” by The Economics Times during the years 2010, 2012, 2015 & 2016. He was selected as one of the 35 “Action Heroes” in India Today’s 35th Annual Edition.
Nandita Das
Actor/ Director
Nandita Das has acted in more than 40 feature films in 10 different languages....
Nandita Das has acted in more than 40 feature films in 10 different languages. She made her directorial debut with Firaaq, in 2008, that won many accolades and appreciation, both in India and abroad. She was on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival twice (2005 and 2013), among others. She has a Master’s degree in Social Work and is a strong advocate for issues of social justice and human rights. Nandita's second directorial venture, Manto, based on the life and works of Saadat Hasan Manto, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, and released in theatres in India on September 21, 2018.
Sonam Wangchuk
Founder and Advisor, SECMOL
By introducing educational reforms in government-run schools, Sonam Wangchuk is encouraging communities to reinforce the cultural identity of minority ethnic groups that live along the northern bor...
By introducing educational reforms in government-run schools, Sonam Wangchuk is encouraging communities to reinforce the cultural identity of minority ethnic groups that live along the northern border of India. He is also known for designing the SECMOL campus that runs on solar energy and uses no fossil fuels for cooking, lighting or heating. He is one of two Indians who has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay award this year.
#OneSolution - Everyone A Changemaker, 2018
Ashoka presents, #OneSolution, a platform that is putting together India's leading social entrepreneurs with dynamic business leaders, to envision the change we need now, as we head into a fast-changing future. The best, most ingenious minds of today, with a proven record of social impact, will discuss, ideate and come up with actionable steps to solve some of our most critical problems. And this year, we collectively tackle the crucial need for empathy as a skill and pushing it to be mainstreamed in discourse and practice among other spheres of influence, especially businesses. The event has no audience, because every individual participates in their capacity as a leader of change! Together, we build a world where Everyone is A Changemaker.
Sat, 27 Oct 2018 to Sun, 28 Oct 2018
Novotel, Aerocity, New Delhi
New Delhi DL - 110037
#OneSolution Agenda 27th & 28th
Sat, 27 Oct 2018
by Bill Drayton, Founder, Ashoka Innovators for the Public
Introduction to Keynote Speaker
by Mr. Anil Swarup, Former Secretary, GoI, (followed by Q&A)
Empathy in a complex and fast-changing world
by Sunish Jauhari, Ashoka India
Stories of Change: Empathy as the Foundation
Ashoka Fellow Vijay Mahajan (Founder BASIX Social Enterprise Group): "Empathy as a core value across banking, finance, foundations, policy research"
Ganesh Natarajan, (Chairman 5F World & Social Venture Partners India): "From finance to manufacturing, how inclusion is key"
Ashoka Fellow Shanti Raghavan (Founder Enable India)
Sanjay Mittal, (CEO Living Habitats Pvt. Ltd): "Empathy in construction: towards environment & the construction worker"
AP Singh, (CEO India Post Technology Centre): “Your worker as the key to building relationships: The revival story of IndiaPost”
Ashoka Fellow Hasina Kharbhih, (Founder & CEO Impulse Enterprises): “Building empathy among key institutions towards victims of trafficking”
Tea/Coffee
Group Activity - Solutions with Empathy
Followed by Wildcard session, Wrap up with Insights
Ashoka Fellow Anshu Gupta (Founder Goonj) on “Tackling disasters with empathy”
Ashoka Fellow Dr Akkai Padmashali (Founder Ondede) on “Building relationship between law-makers and LGBTQ+ communities towards empathetic policies”
“Institution building for Empathy”
Panel led by Meera K (Founder Citizen Matters), Meenakshi Batra (Director CAF), Shireen Vakil (Tata Trusts), Ved Arya (Founder Srijan)
Conversation: “Expertise is overrated in today’s world”
with Gowri Ishwaran (CEO, tGELF), Ashoka Fellow Ashok Khosla (Founder Development Alternatives Group), Ashoka Fellow Sonam Wangchuk (Founding-director Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh)
Pledging for a better future
by Vishnu Swaminathan, (Leadership Group Member, Ashoka)
Closing + Free time for meetings with tea/coffee
Grab a seat and a snack!
by Ashoka Fellow Anshul Tewari (Founder, Youth ki Awaaz)
by Actor/Director, Nandita Das
Ashoka - The Journey so far
by Sunish Jauhari, India Leader, Ashoka
Qissebazzi
by artist Danish Husain, Hoshruba Repertory
Vote of Thanks
by Ashoka Fellow Anshul Tewari
Sun, 28 Oct 2018
Ashoka Fellowship: Going Ahead
by Rameez Alam & Trina Talukdar, Venture and Fellowship Ashoka
Inclusion of Young People in the Social Sector
by Ashoka Fellows Deep Jyoti Sonu Brahma, Saurav Kumar Ghosh, Priya Agrawal & Kuldeep Dantewadia
Fellow Facilitated Parallel Sessions
Session A: "Scaling work with technology" - session anchored by Anand Arkalgud (Founder, Socion), co-led by Ashoka Fellow Arjun Venkataraman (Founder Mojo Lab), and joined by Sahana Jose (Societal Platform, Nilekahni Philanthropies) & Sanjay Podder (Managing Director, Accenture Tech Labs)
Session B: "Amplification of work - transforming the sector using media as allies" - by Ashoka Fellows Hasina Kharbhih & Gangadhar Patil (Founder, 101 Reporters)
Tea/ Coffee
Wellbeing and the Social Sector
by Manoj Chandran (CEO, White Swan Foundation)
Reverse Pitch
A session by three funders pitching to Ashoka Fellows - sharing their high-level strategy and pen-profile of Ashoka Fellow partners they would like to work with - Participants: Pooja, Tata Trusts; Hanumant Rawat, AIF
One to One Meetings
Closing Remarks & Tea
by Sunish Jauhari, India Leader Ashoka
Abu Naser Khan
Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon
A skillful coalition builder, Abu Naser Khan is engaging social and intellectual leaders in developing new forms of citizen engagement to halt environmental degradation.
Aditya Natraj
Kaivalya Education Foundation
The 2009 Right to Education Act makes free elementary education the right of every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years in India. This is a historic milestone for the country and implementation...
Ajit Singh
Anant Learning and Development Pvt Ltd
Ajit Singh is building a effective and ethical skill development value chain in India to empower India's large youth demographic dividend to gain full economic citizenship.
Akkai Padmashali
Ondede
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Akshay Saxena
Avanti Learning Centers
To ensure students from low-income households have realistic access to higher education, Akshay Saxena is creating an affordable alternative to the expensive tuition classes that currently serve...
Amol Goje
Vidyaprathisthan Institute of Information Technology (VIIT)
Amol Goje is enabling rural communities in India to participate effectively in the new economy, driven by computers and rapid information exchange. By educating and equipping rural producers with...
Anant Sharma
Consumers Action & Network Society
In order to spread consumer awareness to rural areas, Anant Sharma plans to train and create a network of 1,000 local consumer consultants/activists in the villages and small towns of Rajasthan...
Ananya Raihan
D.Net
Ananya Raihan is ushering in an era of information-on-demand in the rural areas of Bangladesh by building a network of locally-run kiosks that offer villagers access to everything from up-to-date...
More Fellows
Changemakers are people who can see the patterns around them, identify the problems in any situation, figure out ways to solve the problem, organize fluid teams, lead collective action and then continually adapt as situations change. To form and lead this community of communities, leaders have to possess what Drayton calls “cognitive empathy-based living for the good of all.” Cognitive empathy is the ability to perceive how people are feeling in evolving circumstances. “For the good of all” is the capacity to build teams.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s leadership mantra is all about empathy
Business is about being able to meet the unmet and unarticulated needs of customers and there is just no way we are going to be able to succeed in doing that if we don’t have that deep sense of empathy.
Empathy, Not Bureaucracy, Makes Organizations Great - Leadership Lessons from Anand Mahindra
Innovation only happens in an organization where its people feel empowered, understood, and trusted with the work delegated to them. People do not innovate in a climate of fear, hierarchy or bureaucracy. In a hyper-competitive world, the benefit of innovation is an obvious one. You have to position empathy as a key element in building a more innovative organization.
Sunish Jauhari
India Leader - EACH
Sunish comes with two decades of leadership experience in international trade and investment consulting for the interest of small and medium scale enterprises. He has to his credit a number of organisations he founded / co-founded, in the areas of media and PR, market-based social security for informal sector, women’s safety and road safety during his career. Sunish currently leads Ashoka in India, helping creating a Changemaker-world by expanding the community of Ashoka Fellows and young-changemakers, and institutions that focus on developing essential skills of empathy and problem-solving among young children. Sunish runs an initiative to reduce instances of road-deaths and injuries, by re-introducing road as a shared social space, redefining the way driving is learnt and licensed, and redesigning road infrastructure putting the vulnerable road-users in the center. In his free time, Sunish loves to paint and has held a few exhibitions of his own. He lives in Bangalore with his wife, Vidyut and son, Yash.
Trina Talukdar
Venture Manager, Venture and Fellowship
Trina Talukdar started working in Kalighat, one of Asia's oldest and largest red light areas, at the age of 18. Her interaction with commercial sex workers spurred her passion to spend her life working on gender empowerment. Trina co-founded a non-profit, Kranti at the age of 22, in Mumbai. Kranti identifies the potential in girls who have been trafficked to become agents of social change, as they have survived the worst social adversities, and have the passion and understanding to solve these social problems. Trina moved to Ashoka: Innovators for the Public to explore other areas and models of work in the development sector, through Ashoka’s fellow selection process. In 2014-2015 Trina took a year long sabbatical from Ashoka to work with American Express, Philanthropy, in Wasington, D.C. and New York, as an Atlas Corps Fellow.
Rameez Alam
Change Manager, Venture and Fellowship
Rameez believes the mysteries of human nature can be uncovered by studying history and philosophy. Berger’s “Hold Everything Dear”, Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”, Harari’s “Sapiens” are some of the books that have unlocked these mysteries for him. His desire to see people living more responsibly, and understanding the full impact of youth on society encouraged him to work with Ashoka Fellow, Ashraf Patel’s organization, Pravah, from 2008 until July 2017, building journeys for young people to find their purpose. After riding his motorbike through the Himalyaas for a month he is now with us to create journeys for Ashoka Fellows. Rameez listens and keenly observes everything around and about him, like a fly ion the wall, but will only tell you what he’s thinking if you ask.
And, he swears he could have been a vegetarian if Biryani had never been invented, but alas!
Archana Sinha
Change Leader (Managing Director), Health and Nutrition Initiative
Archana Sinha leads the Health and Nutrition Initiative at Ashoka. Through Nourishing Schools, the initiative aims to develop young changemakers who can take charge of their own nutrition and that of their communities. She also manages global partnerships at Ashoka India. Prior to joining Ashoka, she was a management consultant with i3 Consulting, a firm founded by ex-McKinsey employees. She led engagements advising clients from industries such as financial services and e-commerce on business development, strategy and setting up new ventures. She’s been a journalist with The Asian Age and is a regular contributor for publications such as Huffington Post and Forbes. She has a Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a Bachelors in Economics from Sophia College, Mumbai University. She was elected as Student Body President at Sophia College and co-founded the student-run Economics journal at JNU.
Artika Raj
Associate Director, Impact Communications
Artika works for the Framework Change and Communications team at Ashoka that looks at figuring out how do we make a paradigm shift towards a world where everyone is a changemaker. She started her career as a researcher, going on to write and edit for an art and culture print magazine, subsequently heading editorial operations at a digital media platform. Currently, she is helping build the architecture for how we effectively communicate the need for changemaking across communities and networks through collaborations and impactful engagements. She's also an ICF-News Corp Fellow. Most importantly, she loves to read and drink tea.
Shrushti Runwal
Intrapreneur, Venture and Fellowship
Shrushti holds an honors degree in Psychology from Fergusson College, with an unconventional mix of private and social sector experience. She has previously worked as a therapist and fundraising manager in two leading nonprofits in Pune. The Art Mob project was co-founded by her with the aim of mobilizing budding artists to create a platform for them to display their artwork, network with potential buyers and explore different art forms. She has a unique blend of grassroots and managerial experience in market research, marketing, and communications. Yoga has a major influence in her life, she began practicing at the age of 8 and is trained as a teacher. She began her career at Ashoka by organizing the Fabric of Change Globalizer that focused on sustainability in the apparel industry and is currently working with Ashoka Venture and Fellowship team to search and select Ashoka Fellows in South Asia.
Rajesh Meher
Consultant, Venture and Fellowship
Rajesh believes in constantly exploring newer interests and passions, from botany to development studies, from micro finance to photography, from Odisha to Delhi. He completed his M.Phil. in Science Policy from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi a few years ago and since then has worked extensively in the youth development and social entrepreneurship sector.
He co-designed a traveling cafe in 2012 and thereafter designed and led a campaign on social inclusion called Bas! Stop Discrimination Right Now. In the past, he led the Changelooms program and co-led the Adolescent Interventions program at Pravah, Delhi. He is currently working with the Venture and Fellowship team at Ashoka India. Outside of work, he loves working with soil, jewelry making, reading non-fiction, listening to music, extensive traveling, road trips, and cooking.
Anna Jacob
Intern, Venture and Fellowship
Ashoka would like to thank the following partners for their generous support.
54, 1st Cross Road
1st Stage, Domlur
Bengaluru, KA 560071 IN
india@ashoka.org
@AshokaIndia
©2019, ASHOKA All rights reserved
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Tesla Model S and X Due for Next-Generation Refresh
Tesla is planning imminent upgrades for the Model S and X that will bring the most significant refresh for both vehicles in recent years.
New permanent magnet reluctance motors are expected to replace the AC induction motors that Tesla currently utilizes, which will allow for a greater degree of efficiency. Tesla built the Model 3 by utilizing permanent magnet reluctance motors, which contribute to the vehicle’s class-leading range and efficiency.
In addition, Tesla is working on replacing the current battery cells with the 2170 cells that are used in the Model 3. These cells allow for a greater kWh capacity, so as a result we should see range and performance improvements. New models would also be capable of a 250kW charge rate with Supercharger V3. Interestingly, there is code that suggests Tesla is testing CCS charging which would allow its vehicles to charge on third-party fast charging networks.
We also expect to see a major interior overhaul which would bring it more in-line with the interiors found on the Model 3/Y and Roadster.
A revised Model S/X should be released around Q3 2019. Model S received a facelift in 2016 while Model X has largely remained the same since its release at the end of 2015, though the company gradually adds upgrades as they’re ready.
New battery cells combined with a more efficient motor should lead to significantly better range, and would potentially allow Tesla to build lower-trim models at a lower cost. This refresh is needed sooner than later in our opinion as demand has been slowing with the release of the Model 3, which Tesla themselves calls the most advanced Tesla. The Model S/X interiors are also beginning to feel outdated in a fast-paced tech industry, so a refresh will be welcome.
Want to keep tabs on the used Tesla market so you can snap up a good deal before anyone else? Bookmark our listings page.
Want a 100% free Net Present Value estimate on your Tesla? Contact me directly at contact@onlyusedtesla.com
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Browsing Creative Encounters (ICM/IKL) by Title
Department of Intercultural Communication and Management (ICM/IKL)
Creative Encounters (ICM/IKL)
Advertising and the Technology of Enchantment
The Portraval of Beauty in Woman's Fashion Magazines
Moeran, Brian (Frederiksberg, 2009)
Abstract: The primary contents of women’s fashion magazines are fashion, beauty and health. This paper sets out to explore the ways in which international fashion magazines such as Elle, Vogue and Marie Claire portray feminine beauty in textual and advertising matter and how their readers react to such portrayals. Beauty is analysed as grooming practice, and make-up as the prime symbol of the self and its many facets in social interaction. The paper looks at the different kinds of ‘face’ that magazines invite their women readers to put on and suggests that they – and their advertisers – adopt a ‘technology of enchantment’ as a means of exercise control over them. Magazine and advertising language is imbued with ‘magical’ power, and the paper shows how the structure of advertisements closely parallels that of magical spells used in certain healing rituals. It concludes by using magazine reader interviews to learn the extent to which women do or do not believe in such ‘spells’ and whether they are encouraged to buy into the ‘beauty myth’.
27_BM Advertisi ... hnology of Enchantment.pdf (251.2Kb)
Antecedents and consequences of creativity and beauty judgements in consumer products
Christensen, Bo T.; Kristensen, Tore; Reber, Rolf (, 2009)
Abstract: The literature in consumer psychology has tended to lack a clear separation between theoretical models of creativity and beauty evaluations of products. The present study examined whether creativity and beauty affected willingness to pay jointly or separately. In three experiments using paintings, wrist watches and designer lamps as stimuli, the present study shows how creativity and beauty both positively influence consumer willingness-to-pay for the product, but each explains different parts of the variance. Further, product complexity differentially affects consumer judgments of creativity and beauty. The results show that it is essential to develop separate models of creativity and beauty evaluations in consumer psychology, in that they seem to be distinct factors, explaining different parts of the variance in their consequences on willingness to pay, and are affected differentially by antecedent factors, such as complexity.
Creative Encounters Working Papers 29.pdf (264.5Kb)
An Anthropological Analysis of Book Fairs
Moeran, Brian (, 2008)
Abstract: This working paper examines the role of international book fairs in the global publishing industry, and in particular their relation to the publishing cycle, chain and field. It outlines some relevant historical features, as well as main functions, of fairs, before describing in detail the daily activities of an independent academic publisher at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Analysis of the book fair takes place at two levels. The first focuses on the importance of visibility in a fair’s timing and location, as well as in the location and size of participants’ stands, inclusion in the fair catalogue, business deals, and social gatherings. The second examines the book fair as a tournament of values, or ritual tournament, in terms of its framing, membership and currency. The argument presented is that the currency of copyright is not dissimilar to a form of gift exchange and that, as a result, a book is both commodity and gift. It is in the shadow of the gift that the commodity of the book is produced, distributed, sold and read.
The apparel industry in West Europe
Hilger, Jan (, 2008)
Abstract: The Apparel Industry was one of the first globally operating industries. Already in the early 1970ies did European fashion companies extend their manufacturing workbenches into lower cost neighbouring countries, making it one of the first industries to have a globally distributed network. In the first decade of the 21st century, the conditions for clothes manufacturing has changed considerably. The Sourcing Share of Asia increased dramatically especially since Chinas participation in the WTO in 2005 which led to the abolition of quotas. India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Philippines also play a major role in the Asian Textile and Garment Market. But even so, West Europe, the Mediterranean Rim and the East European Countries still play an important role on the global textile and apparel market, maybe no longer from the volume perspective but in terms of variety, complexity and product quality, particularly for the more demanding markets. Latin America has seen a significant decline over the last decade but is developing similar strategies like Europe to compete through quality and specialty niche rather than volume. Does this mean that the West European Apparel Industry is dead? The European Textile and Garment industry has undergone a severe decline since 1970 which nearly made it extinct in some of the EU founding economies. The labour intensive manufacturing segment which is almost not existent in Western Europe today particularly suffered. The only uncritical area where specifically one country in Western Europe is still defending its share, possibly due to changed sourcing practices and a recently increased presence on the global marketplace is the textile sector in Italy, which has even seen a rise in both volumes and employees over the last decade.
The Art of Selling Art
Poulsen, Nina (, 2008)
Abstract: Presenting empirical material from the making of the exhibition “This is Not Fiction” at the Milk Wall Gallery in the autumn 2007, I will in this paper introduce some of the themes and characteristics that are central to the notion of art and to the ethnographic study of it.
Creative Encounters Working Papers 13.pdf (1.611Mb)
Authenticity-in-Context: Embedding the Arts and Culture in Branding Berlin and Singapore
Ooi, Can-Seng; Stöber, Birgit (, 2008)
Abstract: This paper compares the branding strategies of Berlin and Singapore. The respective authorities in these cities are actively marketing, branding and transforming their cities, so that these locations will be perceived as culturally vibrant, technologically advanced and attractive for investors, tourists and creative workers. While Berlin and Singapore share the same goals, they also share similar problems – how can they convince a world that is critical and cynical about the commercial images presented through their place brands? How can they convince the world that their cities are really exciting and truly creative? The arts and culture – both popular and high – are used in place branding to address some of these challenges. This paper also concludes that place branding and its authenticity must be understood in context. The emerging reality of the place means that the brand should also reflect the local entangled social, economic and political issues; the brand, in order to be authentic, should also communicate the commercial and the vision of the place.
Creative Encounters Working Papers 6.pdf (250.3Kb)
The Careers, Survival Functions and Income of Artists
Bille, Trine; Jensen, Søren; Vestergaard, Trine (Frederiksberg, 2011)
Abstract: Many studies on the creative labor market have been done with the purpose to get knowledge on the creative workers employment, working conditions, income etc. (e.g. Alper and Wassall (2006), Throsby (2001), Throsby and Hollister (2003), Heian, Løyland and Mangset (2008), Abbing (2002). Most studies have been based on interviews and this approach has of course its pros and cons. Very few studies are based on true longitudinal data making it possible to study artists income development and survival in the professions (one exception is Coulangeon et al., 2005) The aim of this study is to analyze, comparatively for different groups of artists, the factors that affect 1) the income of artists, and 2) the probability of an artist exits the artists labor market. The paper compares different groups of artists, by looking at income functions and survival functions concerning risks to exit the labor market, using event history techniques (survival functions and Cox regressions).
Trine Bille_ Creative Encounters_63.pdf (308.9Kb)
Chinese Tourists in Denmark
Ooi, Can-Seng (København, 2007)
Abstract: Tourism is entwined in economics, politics, culture, and social life. Despite Denmark’s attempt to re-brand itself as a modern, trendy and vibrant destination, the Danish tourism authorities is still selling the country’s historical sights and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales to attract a growing number of Chinese tourists. While tourism authorities want to please the Chinese, other Danish authorities are concerned with overstaying tourists who may end up as illegal immigrants. On the Chinese side, the Chinese government is concerned with the image of China and its travelling citizens; they are trying to socially engineer the Chinese into better behaved tourists. The growing China outbound tourism market offers avenues for researchers to re-evaluate some aspects of tourism studies. Earlier studies have concentrated on the domination of tourist-receiving Third World countries by tourist-supplying First World countries. Other studies have focused on tourism impacts on host societies, ignoring how tourists themselves are being socialized and managed. This article, in the case of China, shows that a class of tourists from the developing world is capable of shaping destinations but they themselves are being shaped for the global tourism market. branding Denmark, place branding, tourism impact, tourism strategy, tourism politics
wp5-2007.pdf (207.7Kb)
Cinematic careers in and of shadows
Career-making among cinematographers and film editors in the Danish film industry
Mathieu, Chris; Stjerne, Iben Sandal (Frederiksberg, 2011)
Abstract: This chapter analyzes subjective and objective dimensions of developing a career to a large extent based on one or several strong dyadic relationships to directors who invariably overshadow editors and cinematographers, and the personal and professional advantages (maybe even necessity) and dilemmas encountered in this process. We focus on processes of reputation, but above all, association. With regard to association we examine its two-fold dimensions. On the one hand we look at dynamics inherent in the dyadic relationship (relationship-internal dynamics) as these are central to both subjective experience of one’s career (i.e. meaningfulness, quality of working life, ambitions, and accomplishments), as well as its more objective trajectories.
Mathieu_ Stjerne_#67.pdf (175.3Kb)
City branding and film festivals
The case of Copenhagen
Ooi, Can-Seng; Strandgaard Pedersen, Jesper (, 2009)
Abstract: The stakeholder and bottom up approach is advocated by many researchers in the place branding literature. In order for a place brand to be successful, it must be supported by the various stakeholders. Moreover, it is an ethical issue. While studies have shown how place brands fail because of the lack of consultation with stakeholders, building up consensus amongst stakeholders is easier said than done. Models are plentiful but the practice can be a different story. How should these models translate into actual practices? We looked at the Copenhagen International Film Festival and the branding of Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is hot, Denmark is not
On the authority and role of place brand image rankings
Csaba, Fabian Faurholt; Stöber, Birgit (Frederiksberg, 2011)
Abstract: This paper discusses the practice of ranking linked to the issue of place branding focusing on two cases from Denmark, one the national level, the other on the local level, namely the city of Copenhagen. Rankings of places have increased, and – as we shall argue – so have their influence on identity negotiation and public policy. Drawing on experiences with rankings in other fields (corporate reputation and higher education) and critical work on polling, we examine their growing influence, unanticipated consequences and claims to represent places and people. We analyze how media and various audiences represent and use place image survey results.
52-FFCBS-Copenhagen is hot Denmark is not.pdf (197.4Kb)
The Craft of Editing
Anthropology’s Prose and Qualms
Abstract: To edit is to make a choice, or series of choices. Will I write a rough draft of this essay in longhand, or hammer it out on my computer? If the latter, what font shall I use? Times New Roman, Book Antiqua, or Garamond? Once I get started, what style shall I adopt: realistic, confessional or impressionistic; or a combination of all three (Van Maanen 1988)? Should I try to impress with ‘learned scholarship’, or should I merely outline in conversational English a few thoughts based on my own experiences?...
61 - BM The craft of editing (2).pdf (156.8Kb)
Creative Encounters in the Film Industry
Content, Cost, Chance, and Collection
Lorenzen, Mark (København, 2007)
Abstract: This Working Paper argues that the film industry is a paradigmatic example of how the organization of the cultural economy is shaped by balancing creativity with contextual issues. In the film industry, organization is far from determined only by creative concerns for content production: Issues of cost, chance and collection also play important roles. Through analyzing creativity and its context in the film industry, the paper explains the industry’s organization, and opens up for understanding its significant national and regional differences. The paper carries out a literature study of economic, socioeconomic and economic geography literature on the film industry, analyzing the importance of creativity, cost, chance and collection in the film industry, and exemplifies how these issues are balanced differently in different clusters. The analytical framework presented in the paper may be used to understanding different "models” of filmmaking. Creativity, film industry, organization, innovation, transaction costs
wp03-2007.pdf (289.7Kb)
Creativity at Work
Film festival prize juries
Mathieu, Chris; Bertelsen, Marianne (Frederiksberg, 2011)
Abstract: This case focuses on juries that award prizes at film festivals. Prize juries usually award a preordained set of prizes to a preselected slate of films, but on grounds or criteria that are usually up to the actual jury itself to formally or informally establish and administer. The consequences of film festival prize jury allocations can accrue to many different groups and individuals. The most obvious beneficiaries are the persons associated with the films and roles that win prizes, though what the tangible benefits of winning prizes are depend both on what prize at what festival and still is a matter of debate. The film festivals themselves and their leadership also are impacted by the jury and its decisions, as these build or erode legitimacy and publicity for the festival. Likewise, the jury members themselves may receive a number of benefits from their jury work, as elaborated on below.
#69_Mathieu_Bertelsen.pdf (352.9Kb)
Credibility of a Creative Image: The Singaporean Approach
Ooi, Can-Seng (, 2008)
Abstract: Singapore has embarked on an ambitious program to make the city-state into a significant player in the global creative economy. The country is being re-branded as a creative city. The government agrees that in the creative economy, the environment must be conducive to experimentation and innovation. As a result, more social and political spaces have been opened up to spur Singapore’s fledging creative economy and also to signal that the nation has become more transparent and tolerant. The authorities, however, still limit the freedom of public expression on political, ethnic and religious issues. The current state of ethnic-religious harmony and political status quo is to be preserved. Singapore remains a soft-authoritarian state. Can such a country then be branded as a place conducive to creativity and innovation? This paper shows how the Singaporean government: 1) introduces and implements a set of comprehensive policies to develop the creative economy; 2) brands and re-images the city-state as an exciting creative nation; 3) communicates the new creative vision and eventually engineers local acceptance of the creative economy; and 4) promotes the image of an open society and yet maintain tight social and political control. The re-making and re-imaging of Singapore are two sides of the same coin.
The cultural of production and career in the Danish film industry
The ideological symbiosis of ‘auteur’ and ‘craftsperson’
Mathieu, Chris (Frederiksberg, 2011)
Abstract: This chapter explores some of the central cultural tenets of career and film making among elite members of the Danish film industry, or what is less than elegantly and somewhat grammatically incorrectly referred to as ‘the cultural of production and career’ in the title of this chapter. The theoretical reasons for this formulation is to train focus on the ideational dimensions of culture in the Danish film industry, especially as refracted through reflections on work and career by film workers. In this sense the approach, though less inclusive and ambitious, resembles Caldwell’s interest in ‘indigenous interpretive frameworks in Production Culture.i The chapter also argues that production and career decisions and actions are inextricable intertwined. Sometimes the two are consciously and manifestly related to each other, in terms of deliberating the implications that working on a given film, with given persons, in a given manner, etc. will have on one’s further work possibilities; or the reverse, how career considerations impact how films get made in terms of who works on them and what resources, skills, tastes, and perspectives are brought into and realized in a production. Sometimes the interrelation of these considerations remains latent. This chapter explores how certain cultural underpinnings support these mutually intertwined considerations.
Mathieu_#68.pdf (141.6Kb)
Cultural production, creativity and constraints
Abstract: This paper draws on extensive fieldwork in a wide range of creative industries to argue that creativity itself is under-theorised, and should be considered as both enabled and inhibited by numerous constraints guiding the choices made by creative personnel during the course of their work. Six sets of constraints are outlined in the context of different forms of cultural production: material, temporal, spatial, social, representational and economic. It is argued that the performance of creative work is similar in part to Turner’s concept of ‘communitas’, when an aura of individual creativity is passed to other participants. This kind of liminal space is also found in creative industry ritual events, which enable participants to communicate on an equal footing, and gain knowledge and connections that they can then use at work in their normal everyday lives. These in turn may have a long-term effect on cultural production, creativity and constraints.
Dress and Fashion in Denmark
Melchior, Marie Riegels (, 2008)
Abstract: In terms of dress and fashion Denmark is an example of a West European peripheral country within the international fashion system. Since the Middle Ages, new fashions have found their way to Denmark through the internationally oriented royal family, the purchases of well-traveled citizens, various international and national fashion reports, and the international purchases by local retailers. With varying speed new cuts, colors and styles have impressed themselves upon both the everyday and festive fashions of the Danish wardrobe. The same foreign influence applies to local fashion production. Design, craftsmanship and technology has through time been shaped under influences from abroad. But these international influences have not undermined the recurring idea of a particular Danish dress and fashion culture. In the middle of the 19th century the prevailing view was that the peasants’ festive dress represented specific national dress. By the beginning of the 21st century discussions in the Danish fashion industry and industry policy concern Denmark’s status as a fashion nation and Copenhagen as a possible new global fashion center. This is due to the growing Danish fashion culture, the textile and clothing industry’s export success, and not least the fact that Denmark is a world-leading fur exporter.
Embedded Structural Tensions in the Organization of Japanese Advertising Production
Abstract: This essay examines embedded structural tensions in the organization of Japanese advertising production. Tensions arise from the fact that an advertising campaign, like many other creative products, is produced by motley crews of personnel from both within an agency contracted to carry out the campaign (an account team) and freelance professionals hired to assist in the creative work required (a production team). The structuring of advertising account teams in Japan, Europe and the USA depends on how accounts are distributed by advertising clients. The amount and kind of creativity displayed by photographers depends on advertising and the structure of fashion magazine publishing. Creativity itself thus depends on an unspoken set of institutional power relations that enables individuals to compete for recognition as being creative .
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← Making life from the primordial soup
Atheists aren’t shrill – just disgusting? →
What’s this about cosmic rays and global warming?
Posted on September 12, 2011 | 112 Comments
This old argument is getting another airing among the internet climate change contrarian/denier ghetto. Briefly it claims that humans have nothing to do with current climate change – it’s all caused by the sun! Specifically the influence of cosmic rays originating from the sun on formation of clouds in the atmosphere.
Of course things are never that simple – but that doesn’t stop those wishing to justify a preconceived position. And the sudden new evidence which is being touted arises from a recent paper from CERN Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation published in Nature. The denier ghetto has come out with headlines like New CERN “CLOUD” Study Makes the Al Gore Climate Change Forecasts Obsolete! Or locally the NZ climate change denier blog Climate Conversation asserts CLOUD proves cosmic ray link!
The reasearch findings in no way justifies these headlines. And even veteran denier Richard Treadgold at Climate Conversations has backed away to some extent from his headline. Nevertheless it ahs him demanding that New Zealand review its Emmisions Trading Scheme and he thinks that “warmists” are responding by “rushing to the exits”!
Yeah, right!
What are the research findings?
Potholer54 has produced a nice video summary of the facts around this research Are cosmic rays causing global warming? It’s well worth watching
Another brief video, starring Jasper Kirkby the lead scientists in this work, also provides more information on this work Kirkby on Cosmic Rays
As Kirkby points out the work is only the first step in this research and says nothing about the influence of cosmic rays on cloud formation. This initial work really only reports the influence of chemicals and cosmic rays on nucleation of chemical particles which may eventually lead to some cloud formation.
As for headlines like CERN: ‘Climate models will need to be substantially revised’ Kirkby points out we are a long way from that – at least ten years before the influence on models can even be considered.
It’s certainly interesting research, but only one step in considering climatic effects. We still have a long way to go to understand how clouds and other aerosols influence climate change.
And it is the nature of research that we should be ready for all sorts of tangential leads produced. For example, perhaps this research may in the end say more about the influence of human activities on climate through the emission of all sorts of chemicals not yet considered and their role in cosmic ray induced particulate formation in the atmosphere.
Thanks to Richard Christie and Cedric Katesby for videos.
See also: For a more detailed discussion of Kirkby’s research watch this video of one of his lectures (65 min): Jasper Kirkby: The CLOUD experiment at CERN.
This entry was posted in atmosphere, environment, Environment and Ecology, New Zealand, religion, SciBlogs, science, Science and Society and tagged CERN, climate change, CLOUD, clouds, Cosmic ray, Jasper Kirkby, New Zealand, SciBlogs, YouTube. Bookmark the permalink.
112 responses to “What’s this about cosmic rays and global warming?”
Mick | September 12, 2011 at 11:54 am |
Well it is certainly interesting research, and will hopefully lead to a better understanding of our climate system.
Cedric Katesby | September 12, 2011 at 12:45 pm |
The denier ghetto has come out with headlines like New CERN “CLOUD” Study Makes the Al Gore Climate Change Forecasts Obsolete!
Yeah because Al Gore controls NASA and the AGU and all the rest of ’em like some real life Dr Evil. The diabolical all-powerful mastermind behind the global scientific conspiracy. A puppet-master so brilliant that he created the global climate change hoax even before he was, y’know, born.
Now that’s clever.
That’s a neat trick.
Anybody that can pull a stunt like that DESERVES to grab your precious bodily fluids and yer tax dollars.
Climate denialism: Making 9/11 troofers look good by comparison.
The American Denial of Global Warming
Mick | September 12, 2011 at 1:06 pm |
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/multimedia/45950
Interview with Jasper Kirkby
Richard Christie | September 12, 2011 at 2:28 pm |
It never ceases to amaze me in regard to the subject of climate change, that some seem prepared to carry on grasping at what ever new straw they can find, or are feed, in order to deny the science, even when it has been demonstrated, over and over again, that they have been deceived in the past. Some people just can’t tell or care when they are being taken for a sucker.
“Deny the science”
This is some new information that has changed the parameters of climate science. This is how science works. New theories come along, they get tested and the existing theories either get adjusted or tossed out.
All I hear from you lot is this quasi-religious BS about “deniers”
No interest whatsoever in science. Truly tragic.
that’s a bit of a touchy reply Mick. Perhaps the shoe fits.
If I recall correctly the first thing you did when the topic came up was to provide a link to a denier website, full of rhetoric about warmists.
Don’t make us laugh with your faux indignation.
Ken | September 12, 2011 at 6:54 pm |
Mick’s comment “This is some new information that has changed the parameters of climate science really shows the idiocy of the denier approach.
The researchers themselves say that no such conclusions can be drawn and that it will be 10 years before there is even a possibility of contributing to our actual understanding of cloud formation and being able to model this.
I think commenters who behave that way are clearly not skeptics, the are deniers and will grab at anything.
They are desperate.
“I think commenters who behave that way are clearly not skeptics, the are deniers and will grab at anything. ”
Have you read any of Svensmark’s theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Or do you just prefer abusing people to actually understanding science?
So far, you have called me a “denier” and a “racist”, and I am getting a bit sick of it.
Mick, my conclusion relates to your claim “This is some new information that has changed the parameters of climate science”
Of course you will now avoid that and attempt diversion. Another characteristic of deniers.
Cedric Katesby | September 12, 2011 at 8:00 pm |
This is some new information that has changed the parameters of climate science.
No. The science behind climate change is as solid as ever. The climate denier blogs ran with hysterical headlines and the faithful nodded their collective heads dumbly and went along.
They don’t fact check. They don’t know how.
Take yourself for example. Did you go straight to primary sources of information the instant the shocking and amazing headlines broke?
The thought didn’t occur to you.
It’s not something you are used to doing. It’s a novelty for you. It is with all climate deniers. Looking back, can you think of a single climate denier talking point that you picked up from the internet over the years that can be supported only by primary sources? Not ten or five or two talking points, just one?
It doesn’t happen. It’s all spin. Every single time.
It’s all about middlemen putting themselves between the scientific communities that do the actual work and a gullible public that doesn’t think very hard about exactly where it’s getting it’s information from. Middlemen that tell climate deniers what they already are predisposed to believe and what slogans to mindlessly shout out. The work that science has demanded all along and continues to demand is sidelined.
You fell for the CERN talking point because you failed to look at primary sources.
I didn’t.
You fell for the NASA/aliens story because you failed to look at primary sources.
The veracity of those two talking points are not some faulty exception; they are the standard that all the climate denier blogs subscribe too. They are all equally worthless.
No, that won’t do. Science is not a religion-not even a little bit. Science is not a “belief” system. There are no high priests, no churches, no dogma, no revelation and no heretics or Inquisition. NASA (for example) is not a cult. Nice try though as slipping in a little pejorative language. Very dishonest.
Deniers exist. They are not the same as skeptics.
There really and truly are people who deny the science on a multitude of subjects. It’s not just restricted to climate deniers.
Denialism is a real word to denote a real psychological frame of mind. Deniers do exist. That’s just a fact.
You can be in denial about the death of a loved one. Or be in denial about a substance abuse problem. Or be in denial about the test results from the biopsy that show you have cancer.
Science denialism is the same thing.
Denialism is choosing to deny reality as a way to avoid an uncomfortable truth. “[it] is the refusal to accept an empirically verifiable reality. It is an essentially irrational action that withholds validation of a historical experience or event”.
In science, denialism has been defined as the rejection of basic concepts that are undisputed and well-supported parts of the scientific consensus on a topic in favor of ideas that are both radical and controversial. It has been proposed that the various forms of denialism have the common feature of the rejection of overwhelming evidence and the generation of a controversy through attempts to deny that a consensus exist. The terms Holocaust denialism and AIDS denialism have been used, and the term climate change denialists has been applied to those who refuse to accept that climate change is occurring. Several motivations for denial have been proposed, including religious beliefs and self-interest, or as a psychological defense mechanism against disturbing ideas.
Go ahead and take your favourite climate denier talking point. Choose the best and the easiest to support. Now ditch the opinion pieces of the middlemen that fed you the talking point in the first place and go direct to primary sources of information.
The talking point will fail. Each and every time. Without middlemen, it wilts like a hothouse flower taken out of it’s carefully controlled atmospheric environment.
In contrast, the reality-based community have NASA and every single scientific community on the planet in our back pocket.
There truly is nothing new under the sun.
Have you read any of Peter Duesberg’s theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Have you read any of Andrew Wakefields’ theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Have you read any of William Dembski’s theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Have you read any of Bill Kaysing’s theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Have you read any of David Irving’s theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Have you read any of Rupert Sheldrake’s theories Ken? Would you classify him as a “denier”?
Yep. Standard fare for a science denier. Creationists do the same thing for the same reason.
6. Evolution vs. Creationism:Experts vs. Scientists-Peer Review
Mick | September 13, 2011 at 9:16 am |
I said that the cosmic ray theory changes the parameters of climate science, much in the same way that putting a new set of tyres on a car changes the driving parameters of that car.
For my efforts, I get bombarded by all this garbage about “denialism, creationism” and other such BS
You guys sound like the crazies thumping their Bibles at me in the street.
Clearly, I have touched a raw nerve. I have dared even suggest that The Science is Not Settled.
Forgive me, Lord Trenberth, for I have sinned. Let me offer an editor of Remote Sensing journal as a sacrifice before ye feet.
Ken | September 13, 2011 at 9:20 am |
Mick – be specific. Describe a single parameter that has changed as a result if these very preliminary finding?
Just one!
No, I thought not. That’s why you get called a denier making such unwarranted statements.
I prefer to accept the researchers conclusion that there us nothing that can be used at this stage and such results are at least 10 years away.
A single parameter?
Cosmic rays affect cloud formation. Clouds play an important role in climate.
If cosmic rays change, then climate may change.
Is that clear enough?
Ken | September 13, 2011 at 10:10 am |
I repeat, what parameter, Mick?
This research hasn’t produced a single parameter on clouds. It’s only involved the chemicals involved in nucleating particles (which at this stage are smaller than required to nucleate clouds).
There is already information on cosmic rays and the temporal changes. We are still researching clouds and other aerosols to get a better handle on their influence.
I repeat – what parameter had come out if this research at this stage, in this paper, which can be input into any climate model?
Come on, stop your diversion.
Cloud formation may be linked to cosmic rays
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110824/full/news.2011.504.html
It sounds like a conspiracy theory: ‘cosmic rays’ from deep space might be creating clouds in Earth’s atmosphere and changing the climate. Yet an experiment at CERN, Europe’s high-energy physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, is finding tentative evidence for just that.
The findings, published today in Nature1, are preliminary, but they are stoking a long-running argument over the role of radiation from distant stars in altering the climate.
For a century, scientists have known that charged particles from space constantly bombard Earth. Known as cosmic rays, the particles are mostly protons blasted out of supernovae. As the protons crash through the planet’s atmosphere, they can ionize volatile compounds, causing them to condense into airborne droplets, or aerosols. Clouds might then build up around the droplets.
The number of cosmic rays that reach Earth depends on the Sun. When the Sun is emitting lots of radiation, its magnetic field shields the planet from cosmic rays. During periods of low solar activity, more cosmic rays reach Earth.
Scientists agree on these basic facts, but there is far less agreement on whether cosmic rays can have a large role in cloud formation and climate change. Since the late 1990s, some have suggested that when high solar activity lowers levels of cosmic rays, that in turn reduces cloud cover and warms the planet. Others say that there is no statistical evidence for such an effect.
Polarizing lens
“People are far too polarized, and in my opinion there are huge, important areas where our understanding is poor at the moment,” says Jasper Kirkby, a physicist at CERN. In particular, he says, little controlled research has been done on exactly what effect cosmic rays can have on atmospheric chemistry.
To find out, Kirkby and his team are bringing the atmosphere down to Earth in an experiment called Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets (CLOUD). The team fills a custom-built chamber with ultrapure air and chemicals believed to seed clouds: water vapour, sulphur dioxide, ozone and ammonia. They then bombard the chamber with protons from the same accelerator that feeds the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle smasher. As the synthetic cosmic rays stream in, the group carefully samples the artificial atmosphere to see what effect the rays are having.
Early results seem to indicate that cosmic rays do cause a change. The high-energy protons seemed to enhance the production of nanometre-sized particles from the gaseous atmosphere by more than a factor of ten. But, Kirkby adds, those particles are far too small to serve as seeds for clouds. “At the moment, it actually says nothing about a possible cosmic-ray effect on clouds and climate, but it’s a very important first step,” he says.
Scientists on both sides of the debate (That’s deniers too, Ken) welcome the findings, although they draw differing conclusions. “Of course there are many things to explore, but I think the cosmic-ray/cloud-seeding hypothesis is converging with reality,” says Henrik Svensmark, a physicist at the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen, who claims a link between climate change and cosmic rays.
Others disagree. The CLOUD experiment is “not firming up the connection”, counters Mike Lockwood, a space and environmental physicist at the University of Reading, UK, who is sceptical. Lockwood says that the small particles may not grow fast enough or large enough to be important in comparison with other cloud-forming processes in the atmosphere.
“I think it’s an incredibly worthwhile and overdue experiment,” says Piers Forster, a climatologist at the University of Leeds, UK, who studied the link between cosmic rays and climate for the latest scientific assessment by the International Panel on Climate Change. But for now at least, he says that the experiment “probably raises more questions than it answers”.
Kirkby hopes that the experiment will eventually answer the cosmic-ray question. In the coming years, he says, his group is planning experiments with larger particles in the chamber, and they hope eventually to generate artificial clouds for study. “There is a series of measurements that we will have to do that will take at least five years,” he says. “But at the end of it, we want to settle it one way or the other.”
Mick, your extensive quoting only confirms my point: Eg. “But, Kirkby adds, those particles are far too small to serve as seeds for clouds. “At the moment, it actually says nothing about a possible cosmic-ray effect on clouds and climate, but it’s a very important first step,” he says.”
Now thus is a long way from your assertion: “This is some new information that has changed the parameters of climate science.”
Ten years down the track there might be information reliable enough to include in climate models. On the other hand the relevant data may have more to do with other chemicals emitted by human activity as I suggest.
The “parameters of climate science” have not moved one bit with the publication of this paper, despite it’s interesting findings.
Why? It is some new information about climate science. What else does it change?
Maybe my use of the term “parameter” is not precise enough for you?
Which version do you think I was meaning?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parameter
Mick | September 13, 2011 at 12:09 pm |
Must be almost Cedric’s shift…
Ken | September 13, 2011 at 12:10 pm |
Mick – “What else does it change? ”
You tell me!
I am starting to lose the will to live.
Ken, these guys are called “scientists”. They have done an “experiment” in a highly precise lab that shows that there may be potentially a link between cosmic rays and climate change. They hope to undertake further research.
I don’t know if there is much more I can add really. I certainly didn’t say it “disproves” “global warming” (whatever that is) or anything like that. I don’t even remember providing a link to a “denier” site that was “full of rhetoric about warmists”.
Richard Christie | September 13, 2011 at 12:26 pm |
I wouldn’t have thought parameter is even the correct term to use in this sentence This is some new information that has changed the parameters of climate science .
In mathematics and engineering a parameter is a defined term or quantity related to equation variables but not subject to them.
In mathematical and climate modeling I expect it’s the same. Is this the meaning Mike attaches to the word? Or something more general?
I was being more general. I wasn’t meaning the precise mathematical sense. as in a parameter to a function
Come on Mick – perhaps you meant to say the results don’t changed anything about climate science.
No I didn’t say that at all, and neither does Kirkby.
Svensmark, of course, thinks nothing of the kind. His theory is that cosmic rays are a major driver of climate.
Fact is, Ken, climate science is a very young discipline. To suggest that nothing will change our understanding, or even that entire paradigms will change, seems wrong in the extreme.
Sure Mick. You don’t need to teach me to suck eggs.
But the fact remains that these published results don’t change a thing about current understanding in climate science – let alone produce a paradigm change. Your failure to support your initial claim underlines that.
After all – we have known about the influence of ionizing radiation for ages. My physics teacher at high school in the late 50s built a Wilson Cloud Chamber and we saw this effect in practice.
The Nature paper hasn’t itself added to that. Except to indicate that our understanding of what gases are responsible for initial particulate formation need revising. That’s why I suggest we may in future use this sort of data to improve estimates of other human produced chemicals on climate and clouds.
You are desperate to imply those taking a rational approach to this work here are in any way suggesting “nothing will change our understanding” if climate science. I think those people support the current investment in climate research.
It is people like you who have tried to imply that investment is wasted and that scientists cannot be trusted.
That’s why I suggest we may in future use this sort of data to improve estimates of other human produced chemicals on climate and clouds.
What about non-human influences such as cosmic rays? Oh I forgot, you can’t tax those, so it’s difficult to get funding from the gubmint
That’s more like it, Mick. Back to your denier stance. After all you can’t trust these scientists, can you?
Ken, is it possible for you to construct a sentence without the word “denier” in it?
My point is, how the hell can we understand the human influence on climate if we don’t understand the natural influence on climate. My point on funding, though cynical, is valid in my view.
Mick – “My point is, how the hell can we understand the human influence on climate if we don’t understand the natural influence on climate. “
True – and who the hell is trying to do that? You are crazy to even imply someone is.
You should spend some time reading the IPCC reports. The current conclusion is based on this understanding. The problem is that we cannot explain the temperature increases over the last 50 years unless man-made inputs are included.
So – you think that the CERN work should not have been funded? Is this view a result of being shown that the data doesn’t fit your denial necessity?
“My denial”
There you go again Ken
The point of the CERN work and Svensmark’s hypothesis is that it might actually disprove the IPCC assertions about CO2
Well then, let’s pin you down Mike.
Do you accept that current increase in global temperature over past 40 or 50 years is very likely due to human influence?
Do you have a reference for that? Primary sources, not IPCC summary for policymakers.
Maybe you could also dig out the reference that explains the warming in the earlier part of the 20th Century, and the one that explains why there has been no warming for the last 10 years or so, that explains why ocean heat content is static or declining, and why sea level rise is either static or actually decreasing.
If you can find me that, I might be able to answer your question.
Here’s a question for you guys. When Ban Ki Moon tells us that Kiribati and Tuvalu are being inundated by “sea level rise caused by climate change”, do you agree that he is an “anti-science” denialist?
After all, there is no evidence for this, and Darwin’s theory is that coral atolls rise with sea levels anyway.
This man, the head of the UN, is a science denier. Agree or disagree?
Looks like classic denial to me.
So you agree Ken, Ban Ki Moon is a “science denier”?
Wow, we are making progress
So what did you mean? What definition were you using? Or were you using your own private English language?
Oh I forgot, you can’t tax those, so it’s difficult to get funding from the gubmint…
Behold the global scientific conspiracy. All powerful and all encompassing…and yet mysteriously undetectable. You know it’s there. “They” can’t fool you. You know the fix is in. Yet you just can’t demonstrate it using evidence. Those durned scientists have covered their tracks perfectly all these decades!
Another common conspiratorial attack on consensus science (without data) is that science is just some old-boys club (not saying it’s entirely free of it but…) and we use peer-review to silence dissent. This is a frequent refrain of HIV/AIDS denialists like Dean Esmay or Global Warming denialists like Richard Lindzen trying to explain why mainstream scientists won’t publish their BS. The fact is that good science speaks for itself, and peer-reviewers are willing to publish things that challenge accepted facts if the data are good. If you’re just a denialist cherry-picking data and nitpicking the work of others, you’re out of luck. Distribution of scientific funding (another source of conspiracy from denialists) is similarly based on novelty and is not about repeating some kind of party line. Yes, it’s based on study-sections and peer-review of grants, but the idea that the only studies that get funded are ones that affirm existing science is nuts, if anything it’s the opposite.
Lately, there’s been a lot of criticism of the excess focus on novelty in distribution of funding and in what gets accepted into journals. I encourage all scientists and those interested in science to watch this video of John Ioannidis giving grand rounds at NIH on how science gets funded, published, and sadly, often proven wrong. I put it up at google video. He is the author of “Why most published research findings are false” published in PLoS last year. It’s proof that science is perfectly willing to be critical of itself, more than happy to publish exceptional things that often turn out wrong, but ultimately, highly self-correcting.
(From “Denialism Blog”)
Great Teachers: Translation, Replication and Credibility of Research Findings
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1075176624492631545#
No Mick, I am not being diverted. You will have to front up to the question Richard asked. (Boiy do you skate around to avoid facts).
Have a look at my post Climate change is complex.
Yes this refers to the IPPC report (AR4 WGI Chapter 9: Understanding and Attributing Climate Change). This is not the summary fro policy makers – its the review and is well referenced.
But then again you can’t trust scientists, can you?
Richard’s question has nothing to do with this post. I have no reason to answer it any more than I have any reason to ask you what your favorite colour is.
It’s not a question of trusting scientists. It’s the IPCC I have a problem with
Ken, you might also like to read Judith Curry’s series on overconfidence in IPCC attribution on Climate etc.
Then again, maybe not….
“It’s the IPCC I have a problem with”
Mick, might I generalise that a bit (only a little bit)
It is scientists and their findings you have a problem with. Especially when their data supports findings you wish to deny.
That’s why I classify you, not as a sceptic or contrarian, but a denier.
Clear and simple.
Ken, which scientists findings am I denying?
Name them.
Now please.
By the way, Ken, you are really pissing me off with this continued abuse
Really pissing me off
You will have to front up to the question Richard asked. (Boiy do you skate around to avoid facts).
Wriggle and squirm, Mick. Wriggle and squirm.
What abuse?
No, no, no. If you want to project emotion and be taken seriously then the only what is to embrace allcaps.
See? Much better.
Pingback: Global Warming – A Short Update | The GOLDEN RULE
So very wonderful.
“The Golden Rule” blogger buys into the global warming conspiracy and…the 9/11 conspiracy.
Troofers: They walk amongst us.
Go ahead! Lift up that rock and take a peek. You know you want to.
http://tgrule.wordpress.com/911-2/
Go ahead! Lift up that rock and take a peek.
I know it’s getting a bit off-topic track a bit but the whole crazies/troofers/tea-party/birthers/climate science denial etc in the USA thing is all interrelated.
here is an interesting insight from an ex insider
http://www.truthout.com/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779
AL GORE IS FAT
You’re right Cedric! It feels so good in bold and caps.
What a revelation, thanks dude!
I read that article when it first came out. Creepy. Homeschooled religious nutjobs running the most powerful country on Earth.
The way you adopt one conspiracy theory is the way you adopt them all. The thinking is often exactly the same.
The fact is that other than a few anecdotes tossed about the [Climate] Denialosphere there is no attempt to actually document the conspiracy. Why not? There are any number of ways that evidence could be provided. Grant guidelines and terms of reference could be offered and their bias revealed. Statistics could be generated on what research is funded to demonstrate bias, and so on.
Looking for clues
It is fascinating that the Deniers invest almost no energy into documenting the alleged conspiracies. Most conspiracists obsess on gathering evidence. They watch videos over and over, study floor plans and forensic reports, plot trajectories and lines of sight, read and compare testimonies of witnesses endlessly, post youtube videos explaining byzantine timelines and event sequences. Their obsession with documenting evidence is almost pathological. Indeed there is a process to validating a conspiracy.
Yet the Deniers toss out a few anecdotes and move on. Why?
The most obvious reason would be that it can’t be done. Any critical examination of the evidence naturally causes the whole premise to fall apart. As I will discuss below the whole idea is absurd. In fact it is probable that the authors of the theories know them to be nonsense so they are not going to waste their time looking for evidence that they know does not exist.
More importantly, from their perspective it isn’t necessary, not for it’s intended purpose. What is a conspiracy theory for and who is the audience? If your purpose is to stop or destroy the conspiracy then you must expose it to the public and the appropriate authorities. If your intended audience does not require convincing and the purpose is merely to sow confusion then evidence and facts are unnecessary.
The audience for the Denier conspiracy theories do not require evidence. As has been demonstrated over and over the Deniers accept the most outrageous nonsense as fact on the basis of hearsay. The popular media will publish almost any Denier nonsense under the rubric of “balance”, so evidence is wasted on them. Merely invoking the theory accomplishes the intended purpose, so why bother with evidence?
Denier Conspiracy Theories: More Paranoid Than Thou
There doesn’t have to be a conspiracy for any of this to happen.
Then you can no doubt explain the nuts and bolts of the global scientific conspiracy…without the need for a conspiracy.
No one will censor you or send the black helicopters after you. Honest!
Give us a rational, mundane rundown on “they” do it.
Put some distance between yourself and the crazies.
Global Warming 1 of 7 Conspiracy Theory Jesse Ventura
Any of what to happen Mike?
The stuff wot you are talking about. Remember?
Or are you a goldfish?
No spell it out, what can happen without a conspiracy.
second thoughts, not.
Tell us Mike.
He wriggles. He squirms.
Come on Mick. Don’t be shy.
How are “they” doing it?
Nobody’s going to censor you here. Far from it. Give us the details as you see ’em. Enlighten us. Reveal all!
…he runs away.
Or maybe, it’s all part of the conspiracy?
Imagine Mick hidden away in some secret bunker somewhere. He risks his life every minute he is on the internet.
“They” are after him.
He knows what’s going on. Oh yes. He is determined to expose the global scientific hoax.
Yet “they” have a secret weapon. A mind-control device that activates any time a whistleblower tries to spill the beans on what is really “happening”.
The fiends!
He sits down to type…and yet he can’t…the precious details are all there in his head…but he can’t physically type out the words.
Curses!!
Perhaps there’s even secret fake memory implant that activates? One that seduces him into thinking that he didn’t want to reveal what he knows anyway?
“Yeah” thinks mind-controlled Mick. “I won’t tell ‘em. They don’t deserve it. They’d only think my explanation was poorly thought out cheesy paranoia with no supporting evidence whatsoever. They’d call me a kook!”
At yet, it wasn’t his rationalization at all. It was the fake memory implant.
And so, the details are never revealed on the Internet for all to see.
And so, the global scientific conspiracy remains all powerful and yet completely unseen.
Spooky stuff.
Al Gore & Global Warming Conspiracy EXPOSED
This was the “conspiracy” I was referring to.
Anyway, more interesting things on the stove – the euro is about to collapse
” the euro is about to collapse”
Could be the influence of cosmic rays!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/jefferies-describes-endgame-europe-finished
Off topic, but since you seem interested
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 3:42 PM
To: xxxx@aps.org
Cc: Robert H. Austin; ‘William Happer’; ‘Larry Gould’; ‘S. Fred Singer’; Roger Cohen
Subject: I resign from APS
Dear Ms. Kirby
Thank you for your letter inquiring about my membership. I did not renew it because I can not live with the statement below:
Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth’s climate. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide as well as methane, nitrous oxide and other gases. They are emitted from fossil fuel combustion and a range of industrial and agricultural processes.
The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring.
If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth’s physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.
In the APS it is ok to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible? The claim (how can you measure the average temperature of the whole earth for a whole year?) is that the temperature has changed from ~288.0 to ~288.8 degree Kelvin in about 150 years, which (if true) means to me is that the temperature has been amazingly stable, and both human health and happiness have definitely improved in this ‘warming’ period.
Ivar Giaever
Cedric Katesby | September 15, 2011 at 11:54 am |
So what did you mean, Mick. What’s happening? How does it happen?
This is the conspiracy I was referring to. The one that Richard implied.
It’s all interrelated – it’s a conspiracy!
Clearly, mind control central (Rick Perry’s Bat Cave) have taken over the minds of the homeschoolers and fundamentalists.
The told them 9/11 is a hoax
They told them AGW is a hoax.
They told them the Moon landings were a hoax.
(PS Michelle Bachmann and James Delingpole are also in on the secret. Shhh, pass it on…..)
Here’s your favorite conspiracy theorist guys:
Al Gore: 24 Hours Of Bullshit (Prison Planet)
http://www.prisonplanet.com/al-gore-24-hours-of-bullshit.html
No, that’s not what he implied.
English comprehension fail. How sad.
(And how very squirmy)
Conspiracy theories are interrelated because they all spring from the same line of thinking. It’s very easy to compare any of the major conspiracies and notice strong similarities.
Scratch a climate denier and it’s very easy to find a troofer.
Scratch a creationist and it’s very easy to find a climate denier.
Scratch a Birther and it’s very easy to find a creationist and a climate denier.
The mentality is the same. They all have the same low standards of evidence. They are all suckers for the same reasons.
American fundies often get the way they are because they are homeschooled. There’s a very strong overlap in the States. Educational incest. They are not exactly the best and the brightest.
If your education is stunted enough to accept creationism then you are primed and ready to accept climate denialism and any other paranoid conspiracy nonsense that comes along.
Evangelist mom on global warming, evolution, creationism
Try scratching me and see if you find a troofer/creationist/birther/whatever.
No chance!
State your position on climate change in the most logical and reasonable manner that you can.
Give it your best shot.
Can you do it without sounding like a conspiracy theorist?
Sure, I don’t believe the current state of climate science represents a fair and accurate view of the science because it has been skewed by government funding and activist lobby groups
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe this. The UEA emails demonstrate this quite clearly, as have more recent events.
Attach “climate change”, or a nod to AGW in your research proposal, you get funded, otherwise you don’t.
It is corruption and collusion rather than conspiracy.
That sounds like a clear conspiracy theory to me, Mick.
No wonder you can’t get your head around the science!
It is not a conspiracy
Corruption Ken
There is plenty of that around. Look around you.
Would you like me to cut and paste some climategate emails for you and your reader(s) pleasure?
Your evidence for this is what?
Oh I forgot, you don’t need evidence, just a feeling
That’s a conspiracy. Follow through with that line of reasoning. It leads you straight down the global conspiracy rabbit hole just like the creationists and the troofers.
Test it for yourself. Can you do anything more than toss out a few anecdotes and move on?
This is your rather vague claim:
That’s a conspiracy. There’s no other way to describe it.
“The government” and “activists” have skewed the science.
(Somehow)
“They” won’t fund you if you don’t do what they want.
How does “The government” actually do this? What government? All of them?
How is it possible to skew the science without leaving any evidence?
There is plenty of evidence. Just ask all the sceptic scientists who struggle to get funding or their papers pal reviewed.
it is hardly a secret.
Claim CA321.1:
“The conclusions of scientists are motivated by scientists’ pay; they cannot be considered objective.
1. Scientists get rewarded for overthrowing currently accepted ideas (if they can do so with evidence) and for proposing new theories that lead to new research. Any bias from material gain would be against the accepted theory of evolution.
2. Many research scientists could make more money in industry. They do science because they enjoy it.
3. The complaint applies equally to anti-evolutionists.”
Claim CA320:
Scientists are pressured not to challenge the established dogma.
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. 1985. Life–How Did It Get Here? Brooklyn, NY, p. 182.
1. The pressures that science imposes do not weaken the validity of evolution — quite the contrary. Scientists are rewarded more for finding new things, not for supporting established principles. Thus, they tend to look more for novelties and for results that would overturn common beliefs. If a scientist found evidence that falsified evolution, he or she would be guaranteed world prestige and fame.
2. Creationists are under far more pressure than scientists. Since their entire world view is threatened by finding disconfirming evidence, they are very highly motivated not to admit it. Many creationists have taken oaths saying that no evidence could change their dogma (AIG n.d.). At least one admits that he became a scientist not to find the truth, but to destroy Darwinism (Wells n.d.). The commitment to established dogma is pretty well monopolized by creationists.”
Which governments are in on it? Name them.
Which governements are in on it?
Just ask all the sceptic scientists who struggle to get funding or their papers pal reviewed.
What funding proposals were rejected? Name them.
What papers didn’t get published or reviewed? Name them.
How does the conspiracy work?
Yes I do know that I am wasting time trying to argue with you.
You asked me for my opinion and I gave it.
Your opinion is totally unsupported. It’s pure handwaving.
None of my questions are unfair. They are very basic questions.
Should be a doddle for you to answer.
Which government is skewing the the funding? Name it.
The Australian government?
Or did you mean the US government?
Or both? Oh, goody! Did you mean both? Are they both working together? Please say that they are.
What about the Chinese?
Is it the Chinese and the Australian and the US governments?
What about the German government? Is it in on it too?
The Chinese, Australian, US and German governments all trying to “corrupt the science”?
Are there more?
Maybe, just maybe,….(gasp)… it’s all the governments on the planet? Just how big is the conspiracy?
That which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence- Christopher Hitchins
You could try the Spencer and Braswell paper for a start. it eventually got published but the editor resigned and apologised to Trenberth, yet the paper was not retracted.
Dessler issued a rebuttal in rather speedy time, yet this has been shown to be full of holes (it doesn’t even use official IPCC temp records)
Another example would be Lindzen and Choi that took years to get published.
Of course, there are the famous emails in which Phil Jones said he would “redefine what the peer-reviewed literature” is.
Then there is the NIWA case where an NZ group has shown that NIWA did not follow there own peer-reviewed best practice, and over-inflated the temperature record for the 20th C
CSIRO had a similar audit I think, with similar results.
Then there is the Steig et al paper on Antarctica which was also shown to have been pal-reviewed. The critique by Jeff Id et al eventually got published but not after a fight.
All very tiresome
You guys have been cutting and pasting emails (for Christ sake – emails) for almost 2 years now (while covering your eyes so you can’t read official reports of investigations into that affair).
It hasn’t effected the climate one bit but it does help in identifying deniers and conspiracy theorists.
You are naive to think that argument does you any favors, Mick.
You could try the Spencer and Braswell paper(..)Another example would be Lindzen and Choi..(…)Of course, there are the famous emails in which Phil Jones said he would “redefine what the peer-reviewed literature” is.Then there is the NIWA case where an NZ group has shown that NIWA did not follow there own peer-reviewed best practice, and over-inflated the temperature record for the 20th C. CSIRO had a similar audit I think, with similar results. Then there is the Steig et al paper on Antarctica…
All you are offering are anecdotes.
You have not shown that any of this is related to any government or agency doing anything wrong.
Papers can be rejected. Happens all the time. No government involvement needed.
People say stuff in emails. Happens all the time. No government involvement needed.
Scientists even make mistakes and find out about it later. Happens all the time. No government involvement needed.
Even by taking all your anecdotes on faith alone, anecdotes are not evidence of corruption or collusion or conspiracy.
Your claim does not stand. You are no different from any other denier or conspiracy theorist out there.
Here is your claim again:
Attach “climate change”, or a nod to AGW in your research proposal, you get funded, otherwise you don’t. It is corruption and collusion…
Which governments are in on it? Why is this such a spooky question for you? Reveal all.
Well, as Ken knows, NIWA are being taken to court over the NZ temperature record. Hopefully that might clear things up a bit one way or the other.
Which governments are in on it? Well, I guess all the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, for a start.
It’s hardly rocket science. Governments want to tax people. Fund research that justifies taxes. Produce the goods, get more funding.
Just one big gravy train.
Thankfully, when the US and EU economies collapse, this will all come to an end, and we can look forward to rooting around for grubs and rats to put in the dinner pot.
With any luck, we might find some entrails of climate scientist to spice it up a bit.
Why should it? If you don’t get the results you need then you can just put it down to “the conspiracy”. Clearly, “they” have gotten (somehow) to the NZ court system.
All of them? Wow.
Any evidence?
(No? Ah, never mind)
So…how do they do it? What are the nuts and bolts of the operation?
When did they start doing it?
Mick – this is the sort if thing which gives you away;
“Then there is the NIWA case where an NZ group has shown that NIWA did not follow there own peer-reviewed best practice, and over-inflated the temperature record for the 20th C.”
We have followed this saga here in depth. I also have an interesting collection of email correspondence with this denier group (I could provide a link tomorrow I you are interested). They were caught out luring about the extent their paper was reviewed, they refuse to credit the “science team” they claim to have (strange that) and they refuse to make their data or workings available.
The group has consistently lied and slandered our NZ scientists (mind you that would appeal to you). The ACT party and their backers in the NZ right wing think tank are complicit.
If you had followed this at all objectively you would not want to be associated with the claim you make. But then of course you are on record as refusing to accept anything a scientist produced but are happy to accept what these politicians offer you – purely because they are conservative.
Mick , are you willing to read through my email correspondence with this group.? Let me know. I can post a link to the file tomorrow (not at my PC till then).
Come on – give yourself a chance to experience some lies and anger from your political idols!
Probably Agenda 21 was the starting point. Like I say, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but there was a definite timeline for this “movement”…
I guess you could draw parallels with Lysenkoism and Eugenics. Of course, both ended badly by killing millions of people. I don’t expect the AGW issue will be any different,.
Of course, for the death-loving Green movement, this is just wonderful news
Thanks Ken, I’d be delighted to read the emails from the NZ group.
“Hopefully that might clear things up a bit one way or the other”
Come off it, Mick. Surely you are capable of including Judges and Lawyers in your conspiracy when the deniers are laughed out if court!
Surely if you don’t accept honest scientists you are not going to accept court decisions!
Bloody hilarious: “Like I say, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but there was a definite timeline for this “movement”…”
And they are going to kill millions of people!
You have been reading the clown Wishart, haven’t you?
Mick, you are an hilarious parody of a conspiracy theorist.
So there is a “movement” and it’s got something to do with something called Agenda 21…but you are not a conspiracy theorist?
So….um…..a definite timeline? Wonderful. At last some concrete details.
When and where did it start?
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/
@ Mick Like I say, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but there was a definite timeline for this “movement”…
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.
Very spooky.
So that’s the start of the timeline, right? 14 June 1992?
Actually, I haven’t given this much time. It’s just an approx thing so I can’t really say.
I prefer to deal with the here and now with regard to the literature
Of course, guys, I am fully aware of this little “game” you like to play. You like to back someone into a corner over some “conspiracy” stuff and then “expose” them as a kook.
Personally, I am not interested. I haven’t read too much on the historical aspects of the green movement.
However, I do know enough to recognise BS and fraud when I see it. Thankfully, the rest of the public is also onto this.
You can bleat all you like that “it won’t change the science”. I don’t care.
Odd.
Like I say, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but there was a definite timeline for this “movement”…
Doesn’t quite gel with… It’s just an approx thing so I can’t really say.
Either there is a definite time line or there is not.
Make up your mind.
You know there’s a definite time line because you’ve seen the dates, right?
Otherwise, how could you possibly know one way or the other?
You like to back someone into a corner over some “conspiracy” stuff and then “expose” them as a kook.
Even the most simple questions lead inevitably to kooky conspiracy theories.
So far, we have dozens of governments involved. There a definite timeline involved (or maybe now there is not?). Agenda 21 figures into it somehow. There ‘s some sort of a “movement” but no details are forthcoming.
Not much in the way of detail.
Yet you are convinced that “Sure, I don’t believe the current state of climate science represents a fair and accurate view of the science because it has been skewed by government funding and activist lobby groups
If there is wrong doing by the governements of the world to skew the science, then how?
When? 1992, 2002? Or do we have to go back? 1982, 1972? Was there ever a time when the science wasn’t magically skewed by “the governement”? If so, then it should be easy to compare the research proposals from then as opposed to now. Same goes for suspicious “behind closed doors” government funding or some other kind of hanky-panky from “the movement”.
At one point, “the movement” did not exist, right? Just how long has the movement been getting away with their crimes? 15 years? 25 years? 50 years? 100 years?
You asked me for my opinion and I gave it.(…) All very tiresome(…)Of course, guys, I am fully aware of this little “game” you like to play. You like to back someone into a corner over some “conspiracy” stuff and then “expose” them as a kook. Personally, I am not interested.(…)You can bleat all you like that “it won’t change the science”. I don’t care.
There was a time when science wasn’t primarily funded by government. I think it was maybe funded by benefactors or individuals.
I guess the state funding started of “big science” around the time of the Manhatten Project. I am not an historian of science, but it would be interesting to look into this.
Susan, What’s Big Science?
Mainly climate science, these days
Big Science is a term used by scientists and historians of science to describe a series of changes in science which occurred in industrial nations during and after World War II, as scientific progress increasingly came to rely on large-scale projects usually funded by national governments or groups of governments.[1] Individual or small group efforts, or Small Science, is still relevant today as theoretical results by individual authors may have a significant impact, but very often the empirical verification requires experiments using constructions, such as the Large Hadron Collider costing between $5 and $10 billion
While science and technology have always been important to and driven by warfare, the increase in military funding of science following the second World War was on a scale wholly unprecedented. World War II has often been called “the physicists’ war” for the role that those scientists played in the development of new weapons and tools, notably the proximity fuze, radar, and the atomic bomb. The bulk of these last two activities took place in a new form of research facility: the government-sponsored laboratory, employing thousands of technicians and scientists, managed by universities (in this case, the University of California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
In the shadow of the first atomic weapons, the importance of a strong scientific research establishment was apparent to any country wishing to play a major role in international politics. After the success of the Manhattan Project, governments became the chief patron of science, and the character of the scientific establishment underwent several key changes. This was especially marked in the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but also to a lesser extent in many other countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Science
Actually, this article mentions the Manhatten Project, which vindicates my previous statement as I hadn’t actually read the Wiki page at the time.
It doesn’t seem to mention climate science Janet.
No it doesn’t. And who finances climate science? Big Oil, Big Coal?
How much has been spent on climate science? $100 billion is the estimate I heard. Who pays for this? The tooth fairy?
“Big Science” usually implies one or more of these specific characteristics:
Big budgets: No longer required to rely on philanthropy or industry, scientists were able to use budgets on an unprecedented scale for basic research.
Big staffs: Similarly, the number of practitioners of science on any one project grew as well, creating difficulty, and often controversy, in the assignment of credit for scientific discoveries (the Nobel Prize system, for example, allows awarding only three individuals in any one topic per year, based on a 19th-century model of the scientific enterprise).
Big machines: Ernest Lawrence’s cyclotron at his Radiation Laboratory in particular ushered in an era of massive machines (requiring massive staffs and budgets) as the tools of basic scientific research. The use of many machines, such as the many sequencers used during the Human Genome Project, might also fall under this definition..
Enormous superconducting synchrotron particle accelerators with circumferences of many kilometers are the exemplars of Big Science. Shown above is the Fermilab Tevatron.
Big laboratories: Because of the increase in cost to do basic science (with the increase of large machines), centralization of scientific research in large laboratories (such as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory or CERN) has become a cost-effective strategy, though questions over facility access have become prevalent.
Where are the big machines Janet?
or the big Laboratories full of zombie staff, all loyal to the cause?
I guess they spend the money on all those overseas wankfests. Gotta spend $100 billion somehow eh?
Are you somehow suggesting that “climate science is underfunded?
Do you think I am a cretin like you Richard?
You brainless fucktard
Any other brainless comments tonight?
Read your “emails” Ken. Yawn. I have had more fun watching a tap dripping.
Where, exactly, is the scandal? And pleeeeeze don’t try to compare your “scandal” with climate gate. This little NZ group is not getting millions in govt funding and influencing billions of $$ in govt policy is it?
The questions a bit difficult for you John Wakelin ?
http://www.johnwakelin.net/biography.html
BIG science, massive tax payer rorts by armies of scientists all in on the deal? All fraudulently altering data, all sworn to silence.
Where are they Janet?, I mean John, or is it Mike/
I remember (vaguely) John. Was really upset last time and even closed his Facebook page. Still comments on Treadgold’s blog – a standard example if the denier ghetto.
Why do these people always hide behind an alias?
1 They know they sound stupid under any reasoned analysis and most people view their viewpoint as being fringe and/or mostly held by nutjobs.
2 It protects their professional, social standing from being contaminated by their viewpoints.
3 Internet anonymity allows them to be boldly irresponsible .
Now, now! Take a deep breath and try not to sound like an angry, frustrated kook.
Remember, you are the sucker that believes that dozens of governments are doing something to “the science”. That there’s a movement with a timeline and that the UN is somehow involved or whatever.
You think? Oh.
What happened to the…definite timeline for this “movement”…?
Doesn’t sound so very definite at the moment.
What’s your point, oh-slow-witted one? This is the same argument used by deniers of all stripes.
It’s just idle slander. You have no evidence. Yet evidence would be easy to get if it was true.
The creationists use this hackneyed arguement. The anti-vaxxers use it. The HIV deniers use it. Even the moon-landing deniers use it. And…you use it. You use it all the time.
We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle [Paperback] Bill Kaysing (Author)
Sure, I don’t believe the current state of climate science represents a fair and accurate view of the science because it has been skewed by government funding and activist lobby groups(…) It is corruption and collusion….
Sounds oddly familiar somehow. Now who else talks like this? Oh yes, now I remember…
Deniers argue that because scientists receive grant money, fame, and prestige as a result of their research, it is in their best interest to maintain the status quo. This type of thinking is convenient for deniers as it allows them to choose which authorities to believe and which ones to dismiss as part of a grand conspiracy. In addition to being selective, their logic is also internally inconsistent. For example, they dismiss studies that support the HIV hypothesis as being biased by “drug money,” while they accept uncritically the testimony of HIV deniers who have a heavy financial stake in their alternative treatment modalities.
John Wakelin?
They know they sound stupid under any reasoned analysis and most people view their viewpoint as being fringe and/or mostly held by nutjobs.(…)Internet anonymity allows them to be boldly irresponsible .
So his friends and family might not know about his antics or his beliefs?
Ah, I understand him better now. Disturbing. Let’s hope he doesn’t behave like this in real life. That would be unfortunate for them.
So you don’t think there is a “green/environmental” movement? You think that all these “honest scientists” spontaneously started agreeing with each other about greenhouse gas emissions? You don’t think that when Dr Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, described the organisation he created as “anti-intellectual, anti-science, and ultimately anti-human”, that he had lost his marbles?
Just asking a question
So you don’t think…
John Wakelin, whatever I think or don’t think doesn’t help you.
(shrug)
This is all about you spilling the beans on the conspiracy. I wouldn’t dream of interfering.
Remember your claim. Tell us how it works.
So how?
This can’t be that difficult a question for you. The advantage is all yours. You know about the governments involved. You know about the definite timeline of “the movement”. You know about Agenda 21. You know that the science is being skewed.
You clearly have the facts at your fingertips.
All you have to do is explain how “they” do it in a reasonable and logical manner that doesn’t make you sound like a delusional kook.
Break it down for us into simple, non-paranoid mundane steps.
You think that all these “honest scientists” spontaneously started agreeing with each other about greenhouse gas emissions?
Does this figure in with your “definite timeline”?
Good. Give us the details.
Compare the time when climate scientists definitely weren’t corrupted by dozens of governments and the as-yet-undefined “movement” to the present era of corruption. What’s happening now that didn’t happen sometime back then thats clear evidence of corruption and hanky-panky goings on.
Objective or subjective laws and lawgivers
Peer review - the "tyranny" of the third reviewer
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Maple Leafs trade Nazem Kadri to Colorado for Tyson Barrie
Nazem Kadri and Tyson Barrie. GETTY
There were a couple of weddings in the Maple Leafs family the past couple of weeks — and now some on-ice break-ups.
With the NHL salary cap pushing from one end and three first-round playoff defeats at the other, the Leafs came out of a wild Canada weekend with a desired new look.
Two of their longest-serving brethren, forwards Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown, exited in separate trades with Colorado and Ottawa, respectively, while defenceman Jake Gardiner is still a prime candidate to leave via free agency.
General manager Kyle Dubas wanted defenceman Tyson Barrie, but the price included Kadri, who had a trade-friendly contract and had lost some lustre as the third centre behind Auston Matthews, John Tavares and now possibly Jason Spezza or a converted William Nylander.
Kadri, defenceman Calle Rosen and a third-round pick next year went to the Avalanche for Barrie, forward Alex Kerfoot and a sixth-rounder in 2020. Colorado will retain half of Barrie’s AAV of $5.5 million.
“We’ve liked both Barrie and Kerfoot throughout and they like Naz,” Dubas said. “So it just came off as a trade that probably made sense for both teams completely. Both teams met their objectives.”
The acquisition of veteran Spezza on the first day of NHL free-agent shopping made Kadri’s future shaky, this after he’d come under heavy fire for another episode of losing his temper at playoff time and a subsequent suspension for the balance of Toronto’s series with Boston. Dubas was adamant that Kadri’s behaviour was not a factor in Sunday’s move, citing his competitive nature as being a key part of Toronto’s changing identity to a playoff contender.
Kadri played 561 games for the Leafs, ranking him 25th in team history, with 367 points, also nudging into the top 25. He was the seventh overall pick in 2009 and despite some rough beginnings, appeared to have matured into a dependable NHL regular.
“His contributions have been massive,” Dubas said. “He’s grown up with the franchise. We’re certainly going to miss his personality.”
Colorado GM Joe Sakic projected Kadri could play on the second line and get the power-play time Toronto couldn’t provide.
While defenceman Nikita Zaitsev put the wheels in motion for his own departure in the Ottawa trade, Dubas was truly saddened to have to lose Brown in the deal with the Sens for defencemen Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur. All Monday’s phone calls were tough said the GM as many Leafs had just been attending ex-mate Matt Martin’s wedding and then forward Zach Hyman’s, reinforcing their bonds.
“It just kind of sucks,” Dubas said. “You wish it was a quiet time and you could get somebody when they were at home on their own, or in Brown’s case bring him in and tell him, but it didn’t work out that way.
“(But) I heard Pierre Dorion’s press conference before I came down here and he said he’s excited to go there and perhaps get an increased opportunity. He brings a lot, not just to our on-ice play, but to our locker room.”
Brown was a mid-round draft choice from 2012 who also lived through the bad times and last-place finish, then scored the goal that clinched their 2017 playoff berth.
Barrie was initially stunned to be moving on, but took stock of the many friends he has in the Toronto dressing room.
“I’ve played in the world championships with Mitch Marner and won one with Jake Muzzin. I know (fellow B.C. resident) Morgan Rielly and hung out with him a bunch. Jason Spezza, we do a camp together in Vail, Colo., A lot of them have reached out.
“We only get to see them play twice a year, but I was watching their playoffs. They have serious weapons … I guess I should start saying ‘we’. To see what they’ve done the past two years, how good of a team they are, I can’t wait to get up there and try and win a Stanley Cup with these guys. I think I’m just coming into my prime.”
Kerfoot, a Harvard hockey grad, brings a versatility at centre or wing and is a good faceoff man.
“I played a lot of power play,” added Kerfoot, who is also from B.C. “I was comfortable in different situations there. Once you get to this level and play with elite players (led by Nathan MacKinnon) it allowed me to have success. You don’t expect to be traded in the summer, but I don’t know if there’s any better place than Toronto right now.”
Barrie, 27, was in 78 games for the Avs last year, with 59 points, ranking seventh among NHL defencemen. He was a Colorado draft in the third round of 2009. Kerfoot, 24, was in 78 games, achieving 42 points. He was originally a New Jersey pick in the fifth round of 2012.
“Barrie will be seen as the key part of the deal,” Dubas said. “Alex is a younger guy than Naz by four years, we hope he’ll be part of it for a long time.”
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Gerd Seidensticker
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Braques Rock!
It was classic South Dakota, and classic Braque work, both at their very best.
Aurora County corn stubble butted up to a grass-lined wetland. Surely, some roosters were hiding within. As Brad Boisen and I approached from downwind, two brown-and-white dogs shook with excitement, but stayed at heel even though their noses quivered with scent.
Soon the dogs were coursing the cover. Savvi and Cleo flowed with grace and efficiency – not too fast, not too slow – and crouched progressively lower to the ground as they homed in on pheasants.
When Savvi locked up, head almost on the ground and butt in the air, Cleo honored. I stepped in. Two roosters exploded out of the cattails. After whiffing on one bird, I settled down and swung for an easy shot. The longtail folded and splashed … right into the slough!
Not a problem. Savvi barreled in and finished his work, bringing the cock bird back to hand before shaking off and moving on.
That evening, sitting on a couch watching football, you would have thought the Braques were Shih Tzus, the way the dogs snuggled and lounged at our sides, looking for some love.
Hard-working, versatile, family-friendly. That’s the Braque. These particular dogs happened to be of the Braque Francais Pyrenean variety. But what about all the other kinds of Braques out there? Let’s decipher the background of the upland pointing dog family known as Braque and define the breeds’ many qualities.
Braque Origins
Like all short-haired pointing breeds, Braques originated in Europe. The predecessor of today’s Braques was a big, burly, hound-like canine known as oysel. Oysels developed on the Mediterranean flanks of the Pyrenees Mountains, in what is now France, Spain and Italy. This dog was bred for rough shooting; hunting’s goal was game (feathered or furred) on the cook fire, and not elegant dog work.
Jacques Espee de Selincourt, a huntsman for the French royalty, wrote of the Braque in his 1683 book La Parfait Chasseur (The Perfect Hunter): “He is a quite tall dog, very strong, with a robust chest, big head, long ears, good-sized nose, loose lips, and a white coat with brown spots.”
“This original Braque was the Braque Francais Gascogne,” says Boisen, who has been importing Braques from France to the U.S. since 1992. He has a Braques breeding program and hunts from his Grand Ciel Lodge.
“My Braques are the Pyrenees variety,” says Boisen. Gascognes are now rare, even in France. There are also Braque du Bourbonnais, Braque d'Ariège, Braque d'Auvergne, Braque du Puy, Braque Saint-Germain, and the related Bracco Italiano. In the United States, only the Pyrenean (2016), Bourbonnais (2011) and Italiano (2001) are currently recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC).
So why are there so many versions of the Braque? How do they differ, and not differ?
Braque Breeds
You can get as complex or as simple as you want with Braque history. Boisen makes it simple.
“They all descended from the Gascogne dog,” he says. “Then, as the dogs reached different regions, they were bred for the game, terrain and habitat there.” Hounds contributed to the versioning, as did English pointers, and other breeds. It is probably no small coincidence that German Shorthairs and Braques share similar looks and hunting abilities.
Boisen has a unique interest in the Pyrenees (Pyrenean) version. “As society changed from almost purely rural and agrarian to being town and community oriented, property lines became tighter and a smaller. This version of the Braque emerged.” That’s parallel to how the Brittany developed in that region of France: a smaller dog for the common man and cottage dweller.
Following is a summary of the various Braque breeds. All are named after the region or province in which they originated.
Braque Francais Gascogne. After oysel, this is the original Braque. A few Braques with Gascogne traits (large at 25 to 28 inches tall at the withers, and with a thicker and shorter coat, plus longer ears and jowls that are almost hound-like) survive in rural areas of southern France.
Braque Francais Pyrenean. The Pyrenees version, and probably the most common Braque in both France and North America. A smaller, brown and white dog with shorter ears, less “jowl,” and only 19 to 23 inches tall at the withers. Coloration is a rich and deep brown or chestnut, and white, often with generous ticking.
Braque du Bourbonnais. A mostly white Braque, featuring light brown or fawn-colored ticking, and ears in a color to match. Bourbonnais dogs first reached North America in 1988, and have been growing in popularity ever since. They are sized similarly to Pyreneans.
Braque d'Ariège. A larger dog, sized more like a Gascogne, but mostly white. These Braques have long ears and are jowly, and are likely closely related to Bracco Italianos.
Braque d'Auvergne. This Braque, from the mountains of its namesake region, is white and black. The head and ears themselves are always black. This dog was developed to hunt chukars in the rocks and scree.
Braque du Puy. This Braque has been lost, but was interesting in that it hailed from the lowlands, and was built more like a greyhound than a pointer. Old artwork shows the dogs with barrow noses and short ears.
Braque Saint-Germain. This old breed dates back to the 1800s in France’s St. Germain region. Dogs are white and orange, with white dominating. The head and ears are orange.
Bracco Italiano. The Italian pointer, from that country’s side of the Pyrenees. Braccos are excellent pointers, well established in North America. They are different than Braques in the spelling of their name only. Braccos are large (23 to 27 inches tall, up to 80 pounds) and very hound-like in appearance. They could be the closest breed we have to the original, early Braques.
Braque Qualities
Entire articles could be written about each of the Braques breeds. But they all share qualities as efficient hunters and loving pets.
“I am constantly amazed at how acute their sense of smell is. It is unmatched in the pointing dog world, in my opinion. I have consistently seen Braques locate birds from farther away than other dogs, and locate birds that other dogs missed,” says Boisen.
“Braques love to retrieve,” he adds. That was a requisite trait when lost game meant a lost meal. “Rare individuals that aren’t 100 percent natural retrievers only take a little encouragement.”
“By and large, they love water,” he adds. Dump a rooster in the drink and a Braque is on it. “Combined with retrieving sense, they make great early season duck dogs. But the short coat keeps all Braques on the sidelines for cold-weather water ducks.”
“Braque breeds are easy to train,” adds Boisen. “They figure pointing out by themselves. The trait is just in their genetic makeup. Get them in the field and on a few birds. That’s it. You can’t keep a Braque from hunting. Neither you can’t keep them from loving you up at home.”
Braques are versatile. They’re adept in big country (thinks Huns, chukars and desert quail), and effective on sneaky rosters. But many hunters take Braques into the grouse and woodcock woods, too.
Point and Lock
A Braque is A Braque. The versions may look a little different, but they share virtues. It all comes down to that one word, braque, which in French describes the ideas of point and lock. Is there any simpler or better way to describe a bird dog? Any Braque is worth exploring as your next hunting companion.
Braques Resources
Grand Ciel Lodge
www.grandciellodge.com
Club du Braque Francais North America
www.cbfna.com
Braque du Bourbonnais Club of America
www.bdbca.org
Bracco Italiano Club of America
www.thebraccoclub.org
Tom Carpenter is Digital Content Manager at Pheasants Forever
The Braque Breeds
Bird Dogs for the Individualist
Brendan Tebbs
Great article giving this little-known breed some exposure. My Braque pup was actually sired by one of Brad Boisen's French-born studs. For some quality Braque fellowship and discussion, visit the "Braque Francais in North America" Facebook page.
David Johe
I believe the author of this article is wrong that the Gascogne is the oldest Braque. As the only known present breeder of Braque d'Auvergne in the US, I have done extensive research on this breed. These dogs go back, before they were in the Auvergne region of France, as they were used along with falocon for rabbit and bird hunting by monks on the island of Malta. Great article, just missed the mark with the D'Auvergne.
The picture of the dog at the beginning of the article is not a Gascogne, but the Braque d'Auvernge!
Randy Hackett
As a breeder of Braque d' Auvergne hunting companions (Legacy Bleus), located in Michigan, I appreciate the exposure for the breed. this breed is under appreciated in this country.
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Breaching a 'carbon threshold' could lead to mass extinction
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Hear System of a Down's "Chop Suey" turned into happy fun-time acoustic jam
Jeremy Baker Corus Radio
LOS ANGELES - SEPTEMBER 1998: (EDITORS NOTE: THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED USING COLOR INFRA RED FILM) American rock band with Armenian roots,System of a Down, (drummer John Dolmayan, guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and lead vocalist Serj Tankian pose for a September 1998 portrait in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images)
A manbun rocking youtuber named Dave Melodicka took System of a Down’s 2001 song “Chop Suey” and turned it into this wonderfully bizarre happy acoustic guitar folk jam.
It’s a strange beast.
© 2019 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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About Sarah Cox
Sarah Pruitt Cox lives in the Dallas, Texas area. She works full time as an accountant and tax preparer. She is the mother of a 4 year old son and three babies in Heaven. Sarah had trouble getting pregnant, but gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Nolan in 2014. Afterwards, getting pregnant was still a struggle. She had a chemical pregnancy in 2016, followed by a miscarriage in early 2017. Sarah became pregnant with her daughter, Jasmine Grace, in August of 2017. This was a rough pregnancy, and at the 13 week ultrasound they discovered that Jasmine had CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia). After an amnio was done a few months later, they discovered she also had mosaic trisomy 15. Sarah and her husband had made plans to see a specialist in Florida, but the issues were too much for Jasmine and her heart stopped beating around 32 weeks. Sarah then had to deliver her, where she was born stillborn. She now wants to help other women who have experienced a life-changing loss like this and ensure that no one ever feels alone when going through this. Sarah has been writing about her loss through her blog Life is Stupidly Unfair: A Mom's Journey of Survival.
Sarah’s Bump Day Blog: Emma’s Birth Story
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By Sarah Cox|2019-05-28T17:06:56-04:00May 28th, 2019|
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Sarah’s Bump Day Blog, Week 31: Going to Counseling
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Minister's briefing on Department's Objectives and Strategy for 2001/2
PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE; LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE: JOINT MEETING
BUDGET REVIEW BY MINISTRY AND DEPARTMENT
Chairperson: Mr Y I Carrim
2001 Estimates of Budget Expenditure
Budget Review - Chapter Seven: Provincial and Local Government
Department’s Report on Activities for the 2001/2 Financial Year (see Appendix)
The Minister of Provincial and Local Government addressed the Committees on the development objectives for the forthcoming financial year. Key issues addressed by the Minister were the future of traditional leaders as well as the future of the provinces after comments made in the press that provinces might be restructured. The Department of Provincial and Local Government briefed the Portfolio and Select Committee on its financial strategy for the forthcoming financial year. The main issues raised by members were the progress that the department had made in ensuring co-operative governance, the distribution of the Equitable Share as well as the identification of households in need of basic services.
The Chairperson welcomed the Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Mr S Mufamadi, the Director General, Mr Z Titus, as well as other members of the Department.
Minister’s Address
Mr Mufamadi, Minister of Local and Provincial Government, presented development objectives for the forthcoming financial year.
The Minister stated that the Ministries programmes aimed to address five main development objectives - stabilising and consolidating systems of Local Government; the integration of municipal systems under the Municipal Systems Act, support for newly established Local Government structures; strengthening of inter-governmental relations and the implementation of government strategies for urban renewal and integrated rural strategies.
Mr Mufamadi re-iterated the policy thrusts arising from the State President's State of the Nation address, namely development, establishing an economic growth path and urban renewal and rural development. He said that Local government was vital for these objectives and that the Portfolio Committee had played a vital role in this in helping the ministry thus far. He also said that the Department is indebted to other agencies such as the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the Independent Electoral Commission, other national ministries, Municipal Demarcations Board, Independent Development Trust as well as the provinces. He said that it was the most recent SALGA conference that signposted the direction for Local Government transformation.
Mr Mufamadi said that a sphere of Local Government had been created that has its own functional integrity, rather than limited to an administrative role.
Mr Mufamadi said that the discussion of the day was likely to have an enduring affect on the shape of government. He said that the Department is structured to deal with the conditions and challenges facing the country and seek to work with the Portfolio Committee in achieving its objectives.
Mr P Smith (IFP) said that there is a need to consolidate and stabilise Local Government. He asked if the Minister sees a solution to the crisis between traditional authority and government structures.
Mrs G Borman (DP) asked how the minister sees the future of the provinces in the light of recent comments made by Premier Stofile of the Eastern Cape.
Mr M Bhabha (ANC) (Mpumalanga) reminded the minister that this was a joint meeting and that the Select Committee was present.
Mr B Solo (ANC) asked if the minister could enlighten the committee further on the vision and strategy planning for the Urban Renewal Strategy (URS) and the Integrated Rural Development Strategy (IRDS) and asked what budgetary provisions are being made to ensure the success of these programmes.
The Chair said that this was an important question and constitutes the theme for the next few days.
An NP member asked about the progress on the redrawing boundaries for B and C category municipalities.
The Chair said that this question could be put to the Demarcation Board when they address the Committee next week.
The Minister, in response to perceived tensions between traditional leaders and government said that he does not believe that there is a crisis. After meetings last year with the select committee and the portfolio committee, Cabinet established a cabinet Committee to address this matter. Once the Cabinet Committee had presented a draft bill to Cabinet, the Cabinet decided to consult stakeholders including a delegation of Traditional Leaders, National Land Commission, Commission for Gender Equality, Cosatu and Sanco. He said while not all stakeholders were completely happy about the bill, encouraging feedback was received from the stakeholders and that the draft bill will be refined in cabinet, taking all stakeholders into account.
The Minister added that this is a democratising society and that traditional leaders are by definition conservative as they are the custodians of tradition and culture. He said that they therefore have the potential to fetter democracy and that their authority would have to be transformed in order for democratisation to take place. This transformation is the collective responsibility of the executive and legislature, rather than just between the executive and traditional leadership.
He said that the matter was an important one in that it goes to the heart of democratising the country. He re-iterated however, that there is no crisis. He said that is it certainly not his wish for a crisis.
On the future of the provinces in the system of government, the minister said that he would be surprised if one sphere of government was chosen. He said that a multi-faceted system of government was chosen in keeping with global trends.He said that it was felt by some at CODESA that provinces were unnecessary. The old provinces were political boundaries, whereas the new provinces are developmental boundaries. He said that developmental considerations are asking us to rethink our boundaries as it is something of an anomaly that some Local Government boundaries straddle provincial boundaries. He said that this anomaly will be addressed. He added that while some may feel that the existing provincial boundaries are inimical for development, the idea of provincial sphere of government it self was not the issue. He added further that provincial as well as municipal boundaries were not cast in stone.
In response to Mr Bhabha, the minister said that he was mindful of the jointness of the meeting.
Mr P Smith (IFP) responded to the urging of the Minister that there was no crisis, saying that he was rather intrigued by the minister's comments. He said that promises made to traditional leaders had not been fulfilled. He quoted the statement of traditional leaders during the stakeholder consultaions mentioned by the minister that said that traditional leaders "reject this bill and are at the end of their tether". He said that the minister should be aware that this could lead municipal governemt to grind to a halt in some of the provinces. He added that if the Minister does not think that this precipitated a crisis, he would be fascinated to know what the Minster thinks is a crisis.
Mr C Ackerman (NNP) (Western Cape) said that the issue of boundaries is a highly political one and it was therefore necessary that all parties and stakeholders should be informed what decisions were being made in this regard.
An ANC member said that she does not see the matter as a crisis. She asked about the audit of Traditional Leaders as part of the perceived crisis is that we don't know who are traditional leaders and who are not.
Ms G Borman (DP) asked if the traditional leadership sructure will be completely re-worked.
Mr Mufamadi said that he is intrigued by the alarmism demonstrated by Mr Smith and repeated that there is no crisis. He said that while there is not agreement between traditional leaders on all issues, there is now a bill that seeks to address the role of traditional leaders while continuing with the process of formulating policy.
In respones to Mr Ackerman's comments on provincial and municipal boundaries, the Minister said that the matter is political, but the so is everything discussed here. He said that the government is doing work on the issue of the provinces and that he assumes that Mr Ackerman's party is also doing work on this. He said that other parties should not be waiting for government.
Mr Ackerman replied that he was asking for information, that is all.
The Chair ended the discussion by saying that the separation of powers needs to be enforced as well as constituencies. He thanked the Minister and suggested that Mr Bhabha (Chair of Select Committee) chair the second half of the meeting as he felt that it would be more productive for the two committees to work jointly. Mr Bhaba said that this would be inappropriate as the Constitution did not allow for Select Committee Chairs to chair joint meetings.
Budget presentation
The Director General of the Department of Provincial and Local Government, Mr Z Titus introduced representatives of the Department:
Deputy Director General- Mr E Africa (Governance and Development)
Deputy Director General- Ms J Manche (Institutional Reform and Support)
Deputy Director General- Mr G Mokate (Support Services)
Chief Director of Finance- Mr C Clerihew
Director of Intergovernmental Relations: Co-ordination and Implementation- Mr D Powell
Director of Intergovernmental Relations: Research- Dr A Botha
Director of Infrastructure Implementation- Mr R Kruger
Director of Development planning and Local Economic Development- Ms S Magwaza
Mr Titus said that the key issue being addressed was what it means to cut the budget. He said that it is not just about figures, but implementation of policy, government strategy plus a myriad of other issues. He handed over to Mr C Clerihew to take the committee through Budget vote 5.
Mr Clerihew went through the document (Report on Activities to Portfolio Committee for the 2000/01 financial year) explaining the budgetary strategy of the Department. (see appendix for document)
Ms G Borman (DP) thanked the Department for the amount of work put into the presentation. She said that the way that she understands equitable share is that it is designed to assist communities who cannot afford to pay for basic services. She asked if the equitable share figures were costed or if they were ad hoc figures.
An ANC member asked how far the Department was in restructuring. She said that the all in the Committee were aware of the challenges of restructuring. She asked if the department could give the Committee an assessment of the Department. She also asked what the policy of gender equality was in the Department given that out of ten Department representatives introduced today only two were women.
An NP member asked why so much money was being given to Public Works.
An ANC member asked the progress of the Local Economic Development fund and asked what municipalities must do in order to access these funds.
Ms Manche, one of the Deputy Director Generals said that the current estimates for the equitable share are in a draft form. She said that the department had arrived at a figure off R86.00 per household.
The Chair asked if the Department could tell the committee on the progress of providing free electricity.
Mr Titus replied that as south Africa is a large country, pilot areas will be identified first to receive free electricity. He said that this issue resides in the Mineral and Energy affairs portfolio who had given the Department their workplan, indicating that everything is on course. He added that some municipalities have started already.
The Chair asked how many municipalities were to receive free basic services. He asked if it was just the poor who were entitled to the delivery of basic services or if everyone was. He also asked what the restructuring of Eskom meant for delivery.
Ms Borman (DP) asked if the department was in a position to know exactly which households were entitled to the R86.00.
Mr A Lyle (ANC) asked if the benefits to the poor were accumulative.
An ANC member said that development is only seen to be occurring in established or in other words, white areas. When people see an RDP house, they feel that development is being achieved even though it is not comparable to the development of white areas.
In response to Ms Borman's question, Ms Manche said that pilot areas had not been identified yet. She said that the delivery of water was more advanced than electricity at this stage. She said that it will be a staggered exercise and that capacity will be built in the weaker areas.
In response to the restructuring of the Department, Mr Titus said that the Department will release a document the following day to show how the Department is restructuring. He said that the Department is aware of the imbalances and that a clear policy framework had been developed to address this. He said however, that it is a simple fact that imbalance exists. He said that the issue should be deferred until tomorrow when the document is distributed.
In response to the money being spent on Public Works, Mr Clerihew said that a community-based Public Works programme will provide community based job creation and poverty alleviation. Mr Africa added that a Public Works programme is established and that the national Treasury makes the final decision in this regard. He said that new programmes are being monitored before they are fully implemented.
Mr M Bhabha (ANC) said that he feels that it is logical that municipal workers be brought into the public service sector and asked what developments were taking place in this regard. He also asked if there was any way of monitoring the manner in which grants are being spent.
Mr Titus said that there had been some debate over who should benefit from free basic services and whether well-off people should be brought into the net. He said that he was uncertain whether the debate had been finalised.
In response to municipal workers being brought under the umbrella of the Public Service Act, Mr Titus said that the issue had been misreported in the press. He said that the Cabinet had said that the pros and cons of putting municipal workers under the act should be investigated and suggested that members raise the issue with Cabinet.
Mr J Kgarimetsa (ANC) asked for clarity over municipalities applying for funds and asked what role the department plays in ensuring that a particular municipality gets help. He also asked the extent of the role that the Department plays in ensuring co-operative governance.
The Chair said that Mr Kgarimetsa's second question was particularly important and a question that vitally needs to be addressed. He said that a key question was the degree of progress that the department had made in securing co-operative government. The Chair also asked how the Public Finance Management Act had affected the department. The Chair added that this parliament was becoming one of the most user-friendly in the world thanks to the Treasury's guidelines on how budgets are presents to Committees.
An ANC member noted that there had been a reduction in funds for disaster management by 200%. He asked how the Department decided that disasters had become more manageable.
Ms Borman commented that attempting to locate the poor in every area would be a costly exercise and that it would be cheaper to provide water across the board.
Ms J Manche that the equitable share is monitored by the Department and that each provincial department has to report what it is used for. She said that each municipality is assessed by its population and a measurement of poverty, which is presently based on income per household, but may change to expenditure. At the moment hose-hols that earn less than R800 per month are defined as poor. Ms Manche said that it cost-effective to target municipal areas rather than individual households.
With regards to ensuring co-operative governance and municipalities applying for funds, Ms Manche said that sometimes municipalities do not respond which indicates capacity problems She said that the Department has however been able to identify such municipalities and put support programmes in place in over 170 municipalities.
The Chair said that there must be other ways of steering money into the right areas and that something needs to be done in this regard.
Mr Manche said that the Department is in the process of finalising guidelines for the delivery of the three basic services to be distributed to municipalities that will help them to formulate their budgets.
Mr Africa said that the problems in ensuring co-operative governance are in three broad areas. The first is in the area of policy and legislation. He said that the Department is looking at constitutional guidelines and reviewing legislation. The second problem is that there are different structures in government and it not always certain which structure is in the charge of which department. The third problem is in the area of identifying key delivery areas and programmes as some are duplicated.
Mr Titus added that the solution to co-operative governance is not in the constitution but rather in legislation such as the Systems Act. He added however that the Budget Review Document is a fantastic example of co-operative governance. With regards to disaster management, he said that the Department has been discouraged form budgeting for disasters, but that a framework document was being prepared to address this problem.
The Chair thanked the Department and adjourned the meeting.
DEPARTMENT OF PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FOR THE 2000/01 FINANCIAL YEAR
1. UNAUDITED BUDGET OUTTURN
1.1 Expenditure by Programme
Original Budget
Adjust-ments Budget
Expen-diture
R'000
· Governance and Development
· Institutional Reform and Support
· Auxiliary and Associated Services
1.2 Expenditure by Standard Item
Professional and Special Services
Transfer payments
1.3 Expenditure by Economic Classification
Transfer Current
Transfer capital
2. EXPLANATION OF MAIN VARIANCES
2.1 Programme 1 – Administration
The current variance of R3,393 million is mainly due to:
Saving on personnel expenditure of R1 million due to vacant posts.
The anticipated level of travelling by the Ministry and Management was not realised and the moratorium on the filling of vacant posts due to the restructuring of the Department resulted in reduced activities. (R1 246 714)
The non-utilisation of funds provided for professional services to implement the new Public Service Regulations
2.2 Programme 2 – Governance and Development
A saving of R3,72 million on the provision for the White Paper on Traditional Leadership which was expected to be completed by March, but is now estimated to be November 2001.
No expenditure required in respect of boundary disputes (R264,000).
General reduction in the amounts utilised for administrative expenditure of R1,73 million through vacancies and delays in programmes.
The amounts expected to be required for professional services did not realise and a number of projects are being carried forward in the next financial year (R2,6 million).
The expected printing of reports and legislation did not materialise (R729,000).
2.3 Programme 3 – Institutional Reform and Support
The current variance of R85,805 million is mainly due to:
Saving on personnel expenditure of R5,2 million due to vacant posts.
The delays in LED Fund projects at municipalities occasioned mainly by the elections and the need for financial discipline (R23,576 million).
The transfers in respect of training initiatives reflect a R1,4 million saving.
The saving of R689,000 in respect of Y2K remediation.
The actual cost of consultancy services on Project Viability reflects a R2,47 million saving.
General reduction in the amounts required for administrative expenditure (R773,000).
The current saving is R15,839 million, however, there are a number of known commitments which still have to be brought to account. The original cessation date for the Centre was 31 March 2001, but due to a variety of reasons, this was not possible. A full report is to be submitted with a request to roll-over funds.
An amount of R31,9 million of the CMIP allocation was not spent by the Gauteng Province due to the fact that funds were committed to slow moving projects and the claims were not received on time from the implementing agents.
The project management costs of the CMIP project were very closely controlled which has resulted in a saving of R3,56 million.
2.4 Programme 4 – Auxiliary and Associated Services
The saving on Communication of R1,0 million is to be utilised in part to cover the additional requirement for the Municipal Demarcation Board.
The saving on the Section 185 Commission of R3,2 million due to the delay in the promulgation of required legislation, is to be utilised for the additional requirement of the Municipal Demarcation Board.
The shortfall in the Municipal Demarcation Board of R4,4 million is as a result of unfunded mandates, unforeseen litigation and publications in Gazettes.
The saving of R648,000 at the National House of Traditional Leaders is due to fewer meetings and the expected research was not realised.
3. ACHIEVEMENTS BY KEY FOCUS AREAS
3.1 Consolidate, Develop and Sustain an Integrated System of Intergovernmental Relations.
3.1.1 Financial Outturn by Component
Prog. 2 : Management
Prog 2 : Co-operative Governance
Prog. 3: Local Government Finance
3.1.2 Level of Achievement of Main Outputs
LEVEL OF ACHIEVEMENT
Policy and legislation on intergovernmental relations
During 2000, the Ministry and Department strategically re-evaluated its position on omnibus policy and legislation as part of the overall restructuring process. This legislation is not desirable during the current phase as the existing ad hoc legal measures do serve the purpose. Instead of free-standing omnibus legislation, the current strategy is to examine intergovernmental relations in the context of core government service-delivery priorities, such as the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy.
Certain chapters of the Municipal Systems Act provided for core monitoring aspects of intergovernmental relations involving provincial and local government.
Discussion document on intergovernmental relations
A discussion document was produced. In line with the Minister’s and the Department’s strategic re-evaluation of its intergovern-mental role, and the emphasis on stabilising local government, however, the discussion document will now inform a practical manual on intergovernmental relations aimed at local government councillors and officials for the 2001 financial year.
National framework for monitoring, support and supervision
This is an inter-directorate project. Substantial progress was made in that a national and provincial study for a monitoring framework has now been completed. The framework seeks to enhance service delivery through improving inter-governmental rela-tions and channels of accountability. This process further informs the necessary sup-port measures that the different spheres need.
Section 100 and 139 legislation
Draft legislation was produced, but as a basis for consultation with stakeholders. Any legislation will eventually form part of the Monitoring Framework.
Develop specific strategies to support intergovernmental and interdepartmental processes
Substantial progress on the government planning cycle was made in collaboration with the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Presidency, including developing priorities and a work plan for the Governance and Administration Cluster and reconfiguring the agenda of the President’s Co-ordinating Council to ensure greater integration with government priorities.
A manual on intergovernmental relations
The manual is to be produced during the 2001/2002 financial year as part of the Department’s capacity-building strategy for local government. A manual on section 189 was however produced.
Intergovernmental Planning Cycle
This project is driven by the Presidency. The Department serves on a cabinet approved task team with the Presidency, Treasury and GCIS. Substantial progress has been made towards finalising the planning cycle before the July 2001 Cabinet lekgotla.
Policy on intergovernmental disputes
The Intergovernmental Relations Audit Report had as one of its tasks the question whether this policy was required. The Report concluded that this policy was not needed in the short term, given that the intergovernmental system is evolving.
National intergovernmental data-centre
The Department supported the establishment of the PAIR centre at the University of Pretoria, which is now operational.
Audit on Provincial Institutional Capacity Needs
Substantial progress was made in that workshops in the areas of concurrent competency between national and provincial government departments determining institutional capacity needs were concluded by the end of March 2001. The draft report containing findings of the project is now being finalised and will be submitted to the Department at the end of May 2001.
MUNICIPAL FINANCE POLICY
Legislation on Property Rates
Draft Bill published in August 2000.
Comments on Property Tax Bill received from various stakeholders by 04 October 2000.
DPLG and National Treasury have met to manage the finalisation of the Bill as agreed to by the two Ministers.
A Task Team consisting of National Treasury and the Department of Provincial and Local Government was formed in January 2001 to process the Bill. The Task Team has been meeting twice a week since the beginning of February 2001.
The Task Team has met with the Department of Public Works, Department of Land Affairs, Institute and council of Valuers.
Consultations continued into the year 2001 as follows:
A meeting with NEDLAC took place on 3 April 2001.
A meeting with Traditional Leaders to take place by end of April 2001.
The Bill will be submitted to Cabinet in May and to the State Law advisors in July 2001.
A workshop is scheduled to take place in June 2001.
Bill to be tabled in Parliament in August 2001.
The processing of the comment on the Bill is almost 80% complete.
National Municipal Tariff Policy Statement and Guidelines
Final drafts on National Municipal Tariff Policy statement and guidelines to be published and distributed to all the councils before July 2001. The policy statement and guidelines are 90% complete.
Fiscal Reform Project
A policy study of Regional Council Services Levies- Now called "Financing District Councils"
Reference group had met for the fifth time on 29 March 2001.
Draft paper on the review of the RSC Levies was presented on 25 November 2000. A workshop on the final Draft paper on the review of the RSC Levy took place on 28 March 2001. A policy framework document to be completed before June 2001.
Establishment of a fiscal database for modelling finances and informing decision makers of options
First draft on fiscal database completed in November 2000. A presentation on fiscal database to take place end of April 2001. Final Draft to be completed before end of May 2001, and presented in the June 2001 workshop.
Analysis of the vertical split (quantum) of Equitable Share for Local Government and the determination of an overall performance criteria for the Equitable Shares system
Draft Policy framework on the options for closing the fiscal gap between expenditures and revenues of local government finances was presented to the reference group in November 2000. Draft Policy framework on the options for closing the gap between expenditures and revenues of local government finances must be completed before the end of May, and presented in the June 2001 workshop.
Determining the Fiscal Powers and Functions of Category B and C Municipalities
The first draft of the policy framework for the division of fiscal powers and functions for category B and C municipalities was presented to the reference group in October 2000. The draft policy framework for the division of fiscal powers and functions for category B and C municipalities was presented on 29 March 2001. Final Draft to be completed by May 2001, and presented in the June workshop.
Workshop on Local Government Fiscal Reform Project to be held on 4/5 June 2001.
3.2 Consolidate and Sustain an Integrated System of Planning and Delivery.
3.2.1 Financial outturn by component.
Infrastructure and Planning
Municipal Services Partnerships
Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme
Social Plan Measures
Local Economic Development Fund
Equitable Share to Local Government
Local Government Support
R293 Towns
Local Government Transition Fund
Level of Achievements
DECENTRALISED DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROGRAMME
Analyse the current institutions and processes in all spheres of government that impact on development planning by March 2000
Sector alignment document has been completed. The purpose of the document is to align municipal planning requirements of other sector departments.
A report on poverty, gender and integrated development planning. The document will assist municipalities to focus on gender issues and poverty reduction during the IDP process.
Work in this area is ongoing.
Develop a single regulatory framework for development planning by 2001.
A draft discussion policy paper on integrated development planning has been completed. Consultations with major stakeholders were held and the policy will be finalised and launched in July 2001.
Facilitate the use of IDP approach across all spheres of government over a five year period.
The above paper on integrated development planning incorporates issues on IGR planning approach across all spheres.
Monitor implementation of the regulatory framework on an annual basis.
The draft IDP monitoring system has been developed to ensure that the IDP process is monitored on an annual basis.
Develop and promote a common understanding of the outcomes of development planning and infrastructure delivery, i.e. community empowerment, integrated and sustainable environments, local economic development, meeting basic needs and infrastructure needs through workshops, information dissemination and various other training initiatives on an ongoing basis.
IDP process has been successfully linked to local economic development and infrastructure as delivery instruments in order to create sustainable communities and ensure implementation of plans, through CMIP and the LED Fund.
Develop a national planning implementation and management support system (PIMS) for provincial and municipal integrated development planning by December 2000
Established, equipped and trained staff for 12 Planning and Implementation Management Support Centres (PIMS – Centres) at district level to fulfil the municipal developmental function.
Seek greater alignment between the financial/budgetary planning cycles of all three spheres of government by December 2000.
The initial step was to ensure that the planning cycle /budgetary processes of local government are linked to the IDP process. The second phase was to develop the planning cycle for government processes and the process is now led by the Presidency.
Establish and manage a data and information system to support the preparation of provincial and municipal integrated development plans by July 2000.
The IT and monitoring system has been designed and it will finalised in July 2001.
Align the Provincial Development plans with national priorities through the Presidential Co-ordinating Council on an annual basis
The President, Minister for Provincial and Local Government and Provincial Premiers meet in the PCC to discuss governance and development issues that affect the three spheres of government on a regular basis.
Monitor and evaluate the performance of the IDP programme to ensure that the developmental outcome of government is addressed on a regular basis.
The monitoring system will be utilised to collect and analyse data on IDP progress. The findings will be used to feedback into the annual planning process.
Capacity building programme to support provincial government during the implementation of the system
A capacity building programme has been designed for both provincial and local government stakeholders that have a role to play in the IDP process. The tender amounting to R 10 million was advertised in November and service providers will be appointed soon.
LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Develop the capacity to promote a common understanding of the key development outcomes of national, provincial and local government by interacting with strategic delivery programmes by November 2000.
Completed a study on IGR/LED aimed at developing a common understanding of the roles and responsibilities of different spheres of government in contributing to the developmental role of local government.
Manage LED Fund and undertake all actions necessary that will ensure effective, efficient and unsustainable project delivery on an continuous basis.
Monitor and evaluate the performance of the LED Fund to ensure that the developmental outcome of government is addressed on a regular basis.
Effectively managed the LED fund resulting in the creation of both part- and full-time jobs, transference of facilities and assets to local communities and municipalities and ensured
the participation of provinces in the selection and approval of LED projects.
Site visits were undertaken, together with provinces, to LED projects in order to monitor and evaluate the performance and ensure that the developmental outcomes of government are achieved. In addition, monthly/quarterly reports are received on individual projects.
Ensure that provinces and municipalities have crafted strategic economic regeneration programmes and strategies to address economic decline in their areas of jurisdiction by July 2001
Out of 51 municipalities who qualified for the Social Plan Fund, 36 have completed their regeneration studies detailing strategies/projects to address economic decline in their areas of jurisdiction.
Develop and position the LED component appropriately in the national sphere of government in order to play an effective role within the overall system of co-operative government.
A fully functional LED component within the Department was established and maintained. Discussions are continuing on the need to establish an interdepartmental structure comprised of national departments implementing poverty alleviation programmes. A proposal has been made to MEC's for local government to establish LED units in provinces and municipalities (some have these in place already)
Produce an enabling national policy framework for LED to support the mandate of provincial and local government.
Completed a draft policy framework for LED to support the mandate of provincial and local government has been completed and consulted on during November/December 2000.
Engage in a range of targeted capacity building and support initiatives aimed at provincial and local government.
Designed a training programme for both provinces and municipalities. This will be rolled out in June/July 2001. The manuals and information booklets are at a printing stage.
Infrastructure Implementation.
Develop the capacity to promote and facilitate a common understanding of the key developmental outcomes of national, provincial and local government by interacting with strategic delivery programmes (such as CMIP).
By means of regular Municipal Infrastructure Task Team (MITT) meetings, co-ordination meetings with line function departments at provincial sphere and workshops and training sessions on provincial and local levels, a common understanding of the key developmental outcomes of national, provincial and local government have been promoted and facilitated.
Manage strategic delivery programmes and undertake all actions necessary that will ensure effective, efficient and sustainable project delivery.
Effective, efficient and sustainable project delivery have been achieved through the requirement that operation and maintenance plans (O&M) must be approved by municipal councils and provided for in project business plans. The training and capacity building of municipal officials further enhances this process.
Monitor and evaluate the performance of strategic delivery programmes to ensure that the developmental outcome of government is addressed.
CMIP is being monitored and evaluated on a monthly, quarterly and biannual basis to ensure that the developmental outcomes of government are adhered to.
Implementing the changes to CMIP as approved in the Cabinet Memorandum on 1 December 1999 in respect of rural infrastructure, capacity building, internal services and community facilities.
All changes to CMIP as approved in the Cabinet Memorandum dated 1 December 1999 in respect of rural infrastructure, capacity building, internal services and community facilities, have been implemented.
Upgrading the management system of CMIP. This included ensuring that provinces have the necessary capacity to implement the new changes to CMIP.
The upgrading of the management system of CMIP receives constant attention and regular workshops are held with provinces to ensure that they have the necessary capacity to implement changes.
Finalising the review of the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework (MIIF). This will provide the latest overview of municipal infrastructure backlogs in the country and recommend a financial, planning, delivery and institutional framework to address these backlogs.
The Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework (MIIF) is in the process of being submitted to Cabinet. This framework document was finalised in January 2001.
Establishment of an enabling policy and regulatory framework for various forms of municipal service delivery.
1. Cabinet approved a Draft White Paper on Municipal Service Partnerships (MSPs) for further consultation and input from stakeholders. This policy framework is due for a second presentation to Cabinet for final endorsement as a series of consultative workshops have already been convened with a wide spectrum of stakeholder.
A regulatory framework on MSP is in place in the form of Chapter 8 of the Municipal Systems Act as some of the provisions of the policy were converted into legislation.
Institutionalisation of Municipal Service Partnerships Capacity Building Programme.
1. This is on track and at an advance stage as the Department has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the two universities that have been identified to pilot this idea namely the Free State and Western Cape. Already Training of Trainers (TOT) drawn from 10 universities, 6 NGOs and 9 Provincial Programme Managers for MSPs has been conducted. Since this is a process other stages would be completed in September 2001.
To compliment this the Department is formalising a relationship with two provincial local government association such as the Eastern Cape Local Government Association and KwaZulu/Natal Local Government Association to mentor those municipal cadres that have received MSP training.
Design and implement municipal community partnerships (MCPs)
A business plan on MCPs has been designed. The Department is embarking on the implementation phase and the process of identifying pilot projects is underway.
Review the mandate of the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Unit (MIU)
A Directorate for municipal policy is created.
Regeneration policy guidelines by August 2000.
Guidelines on how to undertake regeneration studies were developed and distributed to all municipalities.
Policy implementation and Training Guidelines by December 2000.
Initiation workshops were held in municipalities that qualified for Social Plan Fund and guidelines were provided.
Monitoring and evaluation strategy by December 2000.
Monitoring study was commissioned to analyse submitted regeneration studies and assess their quality. The findings of the study were used to propose a structure and content of the regeneration study. Regular reports are also received from municipalities presenting performance on the expected outputs. Provincial Co-ordinating Committee (comprised of national, provinces and municipalities) meetings are held regularly to assess progress and deal with problems.
EQUITABLE SHARE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Determination of equitable share allocations to individual municipalities and organised local government for the 2001/02 financial year (and onwards)
Equitable share allocations to individual municipalities for the 2001/02 financial year finalised during April 2000.
Preparation and release of an annual report on the equitable share for local government, which includes a review of the impact of the equitable share on the various types of municipalities on an annual basis
Annual report on the equitable share for local government for the 1999/2000 was published and distributed to all CEOs/Town Clerks and Mayors early in May 2000. The allocations to individual municipalities for the 2000/01 municipal financial year formed part of the report.
Converting current municipal allocations to the new municipal boundaries resultant from the demarcation process
Joint process was established with the National Treasury and STATS SA to, amongst others:
Review poverty data for use in the re-modeling of the equitable share for the 2001/02 financial year;
Determine those modeling activities that can be undertaken by STATS SA and contracting out the remaining activities; and
Re-aligning Census 1996 municipal data to the newly established municipalities.
The data collection and manipulation activities required to undertake equitable share modeling for the 2001/02 to 2003/04 financial years were finalised during January 2001.
Produced draft local government equitable share model for discussion with National Treasury and SALGA by February 2001.
Allocations to individual municipalities for the 2001/02 to 2003/04 financial years will be finalised during April 2001.
Equitable share payments to those municipalities which are primarily responsible for the provision of services and with sufficient treasury capabilities to receive such transfers
Equitable share payments to municipalities (approximately 550) and organised local government for the 2000/01 financial year were effected quarterly within the first month of these quarters.
Updating database on municipalities as required (addresses, names of CEOs/town clerks, banking details)
The Finance Section is informed of any changes to banking details of municipalities in order to ensure that payments are made to the right banking account – continuous activity.
Quarterly reconciliation to ensure actual and accurate transfers to municipalities
Equitable share payments for the 2000/01 financial year were reconciled with the payment schedule approved by the Director-General.
Devising implementation strategy for incorporating DWAF operating subsidies into the equitable share
Meetings are held every fourth Thursday of every month between the Department, DWAF, National Treasury and SALGA to develop an appropriate strategy for incorporating DWAF operating subsidies into the equitable share.
Review of the appropriateness of the equitable share formula after demarcation process of municipalities
Issues impacting on the formula as a result of the demarcation were identified during August 2000. Simulations will be done during end 2000/early 2001 to determine most appropriate alternatives. Longer-term reforms to the equitable share formula will only start in 2001 (also refer to Local Government Finance Reform Project).
Monitoring municipalities with a view to detect mismanagement or financial misconduct
Withholding of equitable share payments to selective municipalities were investigated due to possible financial misconduct at these municipalities. It was, however, identified that corrective steps are being taken by these municipalities and payments were accordingly effected.
Monitoring other operating transfers administered by other national government departments for possible transfer to this department in future years
Departmental activity through MTEF processes.
Dealing with enquiries from municipalities regarding the equitable share
Telephonic inquiries are dealt with immediately (approximately 60 to 90 telephonic queries per month).
Approximately 15 to 30 written responses are dealt with per month. The response rate to inquiries approximately two months after receipt of letter due to lack of sufficient staff.
R293 TOWNS PERSONNEL GRANT
Assist in determining allocations to provinces, and conditions in respect of the R293 towns personnel grant for the Division of Revenue
Original division completed in February 2000. Various amendments were made to the payment schedule to effect direct payments to various municipalities.
Transfer of R293 town personnel grant to provinces and municipalities on a monthly basis
R293 personnel transfers were made to six provinces and fifty-four municipalities on a monthly basis for the 2000/01 financial year.
After monitoring monthly reports for the 2000/01 financial year, it was determined that there are surpluses at the KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga Provinces. Submission in this regard was made to the National Treasury during March 2001.
Due to incorrect capturing of payment advice during January 2001, there is an under expenditure of R3 000 on the R293 town personnel grant during the 2000/01 financial year.
Continued assistance to provinces and municipalities to assist them in the transfer of R293 staff before the stipulated deadline
A workshop was held with all provinces during beginning July 2000 to assist them in resolving issues hampering the transfer of R293 staff to municipalities.
A circular was sent to all provinces and municipalities during August 2000 to inform them of the deadline for transfer and to assist in issues hampering the transfer process.
Regular discussions were held with provinces and municipalities to solve individual problems regarding the transfer of R293 town staff.
The deadline for the transfer of R293 staff to municipalities was the end of September 2000 and the deadline for submission of final transfer lists by provinces middle October 2000. The following submissions were made:
Eastern Cape 98
Free State 1 051 (provisional)
KwaZulu-Natal 835
Mpumalanga 406
Northern Province 2 326
The above-mentioned information received by provinces were captured and follow-up was done to clarify various anomalies in the reports submitted by provinces.
The total number of R293 staff to municipalities by the stipulated deadline amounted to 8 579, or 66 percent of the original ± 14 000 R293 staff.
Further extension was granted up to the middle January 2001 to enable provinces to effect those transfers that were far advanced but not finalised by the deadline (a further 12 transfers were finalised – KwaZulu-Natal and North West Provinces).
Follow-up was done to determine the status of transfer of R293 staff in the Free State Province (these transfers were not finalised by the stipulated deadline of the end of September 2000).
From the 2001/02 financial year, the division of the R293 town personnel allocation between provinces and municipalities is based on the number of R293 town staff transferred to municipalities and those retained by provinces. The allocation for local government is based on 100 percent of the provincial salary as at transfer and is guaranteed for three years. The remainder of the funds was allocated to provinces based on the projected annual expenditure for retained staff and was proportionally scaled down according to available resources.
Further outstanding issues regarding the transfer of R293 town staff to municipalities will also be dealt with during the 2001/02 financial year, such as the transfer of pension benefits to municipal pension funds.
Obtain monthly reports from provinces in respect of R293 town staff
The necessary follow-up was done to obtain outstanding expenditure reports from provinces for the 2000/01 financial year. On average, provincial compliance was unsatisfactory and numerous follow-ups were required.
From monthly reports obtained from provinces, compile consolidated quarterly reports to the DG of Finance
The monthly information as stipulated in the Division of Revenue Act, 2000 provided by provinces was used by the Department to prepare a consolidated quarterly expenditure reports for the 2000/01 financial year – July 2000, October 2000 and December 2000 respectively.
Quarterly report for January to March 2001 due in April 2001.
Other R293 town related issues:
East London TLC legal case
Various responses were prepared on legal documentation in the legal case instituted by the East London TLC against various parties, including the Department.
Various meetings were also held during January to March 2001 in order to resolve the issue through negotiation rather than litigation.
Buffalo City Municipality (East London TLC) subsequently withdrew legal case on 12 March 2001.
TRANSITION GRANT FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Possible establishment of a transitional fund for local government for the 2001/02 and 2002/03 financial years
A survey of the once-off and incidental costs related to the restructuring process and the proposed size of the transitional fund was completed in August 2000.
MTEF submissions were made during June 2000 to request the establishment of a transitional fund for local government.
A follow-up memo was made during December 2000 to inform Cabinet of the once-off and incidental costs related to the demarcation and to propose that a transitional fund be allocated to local government for the 20001/02 and 2002/03 financial years.
An amount of R100 million was allocated on the Adjustments Budget for the 2000/01 financial year to cater for the costs related to the demarcation process.
The proposed framework on the criteria for allocation, conditions, reporting and monitoring requirements in respect of the Local Government Transitional Fund was prepared during November 2000. Various discussions were held with SALGA and the National Treasury during November 2000 to March 2001 to finalise these issues.
A draft payment schedule was prepared for the appropriate division of the Local Government Transitional Fund for the 2000/01 financial year. The National Treasury and SALGA were also consulted in this regard.
A draft letter of allocation to municipalities was prepared to inform municipalities of their allocation for the 2000/01 financial year and the criteria/conditions for accessing allocations for the 2001/02 financial year. Draft guidelines to assist municipalities in preparing amalgamation plans were also prepared and formed part of the allocation letter. The letter was approved during end February 2001 and forwarded to all municipalities.
Payments were effected to all newly demarcated municipalities according to the approved payment schedule during March 2001.
3.2.3 Other activities Accomplished
Consolidation of Interim IDPs for newly established municipalities.
Stemming out of the demarcation process municipalities were requested to prepare interim IDPs and link these plans to their 2001/2002 budgeting process. More than 80% municipalities have completed their interim IDPs with the rest due by the end of April 2001.
Sharing of information and best practices
Distributed best practise newsletters to all relevant stakeholders with the view to share lessons learned during the implementation phase of the LED programme.
Showcasing LED projects
Hosted a successful Trade Fair to showcase 32 completed LED projects.
Improvements on the LEDF for better planning outputs and maximum impact.
The LED Fund is now located within MTEF enable municipalities to effect multi-year planning. The increase in the LED Fund allocation is a positive step towards addressing poverty and job creation.
CMIP STATISTICS
The amounts allocated per province on rural and urban projects are as follows:
RURAL PROJECTS (R’000)
URBAN PROJECTS(R’000)
Outputs for the 2000/01 financial year
Projects approved
Projects in design and tender phase
Women and youth employed (person days)
Training provided (training days)
SMME’s used on projects
Outputs since inception of programme
3.3 Support Provincial and Local Government as well as Institutions of Traditional Leadership in Order to Facilitate Delivery.
Prog 2: Traditional Affairs
Prog 3: Management
Prog 3: Development and Support (Portion)
Prog 4: National House of Traditional Leaders
Prog 4: Khoisan Communities
TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP AND INSTITUTIONS
Draft a Discussion Document on Traditional Leadership and Institutions
Finalised.
Develop a Green Paper and White Paper on Traditional Leadership and Institutions
Chapters of the Green Paper have been completed and three are outstanding. It is expected that the Green Paper will be finalised by June/July 2001.
Review of existing legislation and drafting new legislation.
Review and rationalisation of all existing legislation pertaining to traditional leadership has been finalised. A skeletal framework for National legislation has also been drafted. The final version will be completed after completion of the White Paper.
Establishment of an Independent Commission on Disputes and Claims on traditional leadership
The necessary preparatory work has been done. A proposal has been submitted to form part of the Green Paper. Implementation will take place after the completion of the White Paper.
Conduct research on historical and anthropological dimensions of the Khoisan communities
A report with recommendations has been finalised and submitted to form part of the Green Paper. This will be finalised simultaneously with the White Paper.
Develop and maintain capacity building programmes for traditional leaders and institutions
A paper on capacity building was commissioned to lay a foundation for the development of an effective programme.
Render support to the National House of Traditional Leaders
A Code of Ethics was formulated for the National House. The appointment of two additional officials for the National House has been approved.
Attend to ad hoc traditional leadership disputes and claims
Disputes and claims that do not require the attention of the Commission have been handled on a continuous basis.
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS
Support the implementation of the Demarcation (MDA) and Structures (MSA) on an on-going basis.
· Determined formulae for the number of councillors for each municipality, in terms of section 20 of the MSA.
Determined a policy framework in terms of section 18(4) of the MSA for full-time members of municipal councils.
Developed a policy framework for the adjustment of powers and functions between district and local municipalities, in terms of section 85(1) of the MSA.
Determined a policy framework for the exemption of municipalities from those sections of the MSA, as contained in section 91 of the MSA.
Promulgated legislation authorising the establishment of cross-boundary municipalities.
Called and set the date for municipal elections, in terms of section 24 of the MSA.
Re-assess capacity of all newly elected councils with a view to finalise the division of Powers and Functions between category B and C municipalities.
· Provide inputs at fora represented by the National Departments of Finance, Water Affairs and Forestry, Mineral and Energy Affairs, Health, and the Municipal Demarcation Board.
The Implementation of the Municipal Systems Act.
· After consulting the relevant line managers, ensured that the legal requirements for the implementation of the Act were in place.
Ascertained which provisions of the Act should be phased in and which should be made applicable to all municipalities on the same date that the Act took effect.
Promulgation of the relevant Notice to authorise implementation of the relevant sections of the Act.
Administer the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act.
· Consulted with MECs, and the Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers on determining upper limits for salaries and allowances for councillors and traditional leaders.
Promulgated the relevant Notices to give effect to the relevant provisions of the Act.
Provide support to municipalities and provinces.
Provide municipalities and provinces with the necessary advice and support regarding the problems being experienced at both spheres of government pertaining to the implementation of the new local government dispensation.
The successful disposal of enquiries received from provinces and municipalities.
3.4 Development and Implement Targeted Capacity Building Programmes.
Prog 3: Project Viability
Develop a system to address capacity needs assessment.
Design appropriate methodology for assessing needs
Methodology designed and agreed to for usage.
Identify and assess capacity needs.
Capacity needs assessment for the provinces at high level for strategy development purposes done but an in-depth analysis not yet complete.
An in-depth analysis is currently being done and is due for completion before the end of June 2001.
A high level desk top capacity needs assessment for municipalities done, using the World Bank, Municipal Demarcation Board and provincial visits data for the purpose of developing strategy.
Analyse and categorise needs according to municipal, provincial and traditional authorities
Process to implement this has been put in place and work to be completed before September 2001.
· Develop an institutional capacity building strategy
A 1st Draft Local Government Capacity Building Strategy done and completed for discussion purposes with stakeholders.
A stakeholders committee has been established to co-ordinate the involvement of provinces, national departments, SALGA and other key stakeholders in the strategy development process.
Consultation with all role players is underway through workshops in all the nine provinces.
A final draft Strategy document will be completed before the end of June 2001
· Assess the performance of provincial institutions in terms of their functions and in supporting local government.
· Process to start in May 2001.
· Identify and document "best practices" and new methods within provinces.
· A system is being developed to document best practices and will be in place by September 2001.
Develop evaluation mechanisms for provinces to continuously assess their performance and capacity building needs.
· Process to start once the capacity building strategy is being implemented by October 2001.
Develop and implement targeted Capacity Building programmes
Develop framework on capacity building.
Draft completed
Finalise framework and development program.
· A draft development Programme is included in the Draft Strategy document.
Pilot projects in selected provinces and municipalities
Process to start before end of August 2001.
Develop an evaluation mechanism for capacity building
Process to start before end of June 2001.
· Develop and implement capacity building programmes on an ongoing basis (in line with our programmes)
Establish co-ordination structure comprised of relevant or transversal national departments and donor agencies for targeted capacity building in provinces
Mobilise funding for capacity building on an ongoing basis
· A targeted Training Programme for Councillors was developed, implemented and completed at the end of March 2001.
Done and agreed to for the purpose of developing a Capacity Building Strategy.
Being done on an ongoing bases.
· Evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness and impact of the capacity building programmes
Monitor and evaluate the implementation and impact of capacity building programmes on the effectiveness of governance and support given to local government annually.
A monitoring and evaluation system is due to be developed by the end of October 2001.
· Normalisation/stabilisation of municipal finances
Monitor the financial and administrative status in order to assess the stability of municipal finances in South Africa
Assist in building up financial administrative capacity of financially compromised municipalities in order to bring them back to a state of financial viability that will ensure delivery of essential services to local communities
Promote the implementation and maintenance of sound financial management practices at municipal level
Being done on an ongoing basis.
PROJECT VIABILITY:
The main outputs, presented at the previous portfolio hearing for the 2000/01 financial year, were as follows:
CONDUCT A QUARTERLY SURVEY ON THE STATUS OF MUNICIPALITIES AND MAINTAIN THE PROJECT VIABILITY DATABASE:
Quarterly reports on the status of municipalities to be available within 2 months after the end of each quarter and submitted to MINMEC.
Extensions were given to municipalities to submit their responses to the Department. This was due to the low response rate of just over 50% experienced. Thus, reports were only obtainable after approximately 3 months.
Publish at least one status report on municipalities each year
Due to the delay in the submissions of the reports to MINMEC, no reports have been published, however, reports have been made available electronically on request.
Information on the status of municipalities to be published on the website
All reports approved by MINMEC were forwarded for publication on the website.
Ensure that each province can utilise the database
A pilot project was undertaken where one province was trained on the database. Due to the lack of interest this process was terminated. Provinces were supplied with the relevant data applicable to their province through the quarterly reports.
Refine the early warning system to timeously identify municipalities heading towards a financial crisis
The early warning system was enhanced to include financial as well as administrative factors that could indicate the possibility of a municipality facing a financial crisis
Develop and implement a strategic plan for the collection of data at provincial level in order for provinces to meet the requirement stipulated in Section 155(6)(a) of the Constitution
A process has been identified and will be introduced once monitoring of the newly established municipalities takes place.
ENSURE THE EFFECTIVE PROVISION OF TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO MUNICIPALITIES TO ASSIST THEM IN IMPROVING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENT STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMMES THROUGH THE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT PROGRAMME:
Establish Management Support Teams and stabilise at least 100 municipalities throughout the country
At least 170 municipalities have been assisted through the management support programme.
Monitor the technical support provided through quarterly meetings with the Steering Committee and Provincial Programme Managers in order to ensure that the objectives of the programme are met
Regular quarterly meetings were held during the year.
Develop a strategy for the implementation of the structural adjustment programmes developed through the Management Support Programme
Funding was provided to over 125 municipalities for the implementation or various projects that would have a positive impact on the cash flow of the municipality. R60 million was provided for this purpose. Requests were received for over R300 million worth of projects.
Through technical support and liaison with Section 14(5) committees, ensure that municipalities are adjusted to take the development envisaged within the new boundaries, as determined through the demarcation process, into account.
Regular communication was established at provincial level with Section 14(5) or transitional committees. The work of the management support teams was adjusted to take into consideration the new municipal boundaries.
Provide progress reports to MINMEC and make Cabinet submissions as required
Regular reports were provided to MINMEC, input was provided to joint submissions to Cabinet on municipal and related matters.
PROMOTE THE IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE OF SOUND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AT MUNICIPAL LEVEL:
Develop a user-friendly manual on customer care, credit control and debt management that is suitable for use in all municipalities.
This manual has now been completed. It is expected that final comments will be received and incorporated and the manual will be published and forwarded to all municipalities during the first half of the 2001/02 municipal financial year.
Develop a mentoring programme for implementation through the Management Support Teams for financial council officials in liaison with the SETA dealing with Project Viability Training
A mentoring programme was designed but not implemented by the Training Board (now dissolved and replaced by the Local Government SETA). Management Support Teams were instructed to provide mentoring to municipal officials as they assisted the municipalities involved in the management support programme.
3.5 Disaster Management
Prog 3 Disaster Management
Developing a new regulatory framework
Disaster management legislation
· The revised Disaster Management Bill was distributed to all Cabinet Ministers, Premiers and Directors-General of the National Departments and the Provinces.
A special IMC meeting was arranged (28 March 2001) to discuss the Disaster Management Bill.
· Unfortunately the meeting had to be cancelled due to a lack of attendance.
· The Minister indicated that he will submit the Bill to Cabinet as soon as possible.
Letters were sent to all IMC/ERC members requesting them to submit their final comments on the Bill before 2 April 2001.
Developing a national disaster management policy.
A draft Disaster Management Manual has been completed. The Department has decided that the Disaster Management Manual will not be finalised before the Disaster Management Act has been promulgated.
Promoting the establishment of a functional institutional framework.
The Interdepartmental Disaster Management Committee (IDMC) has been augmented to include all possible role players (also the private sector) and meets on a regular basis to deal with disaster management related issues. The following fifteen Working Groups have been established and each Working Group has been assigned to a particular government department who must take responsibility in accordance with its roles and responsibilities re disaster management:
Floods : Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
Drought : Department of Agriculture
Veld and Forest Fires : Department of Water
Affairs and Forestry
Environmental Emergencies: : Department of
Epidemics : Department of Health
Weather Warnings : DEAT (SA Weather Bureau)
Urgent Response : Department of Provincial and Local Government
Disaster Relief : Department of Social
Displaced Persons : Department of Home Affairs
Mine Disasters : Department of Minerals and Energy
International Aspects : Department of Foreign
Policy and Legislation : Department of Provincial
and Local Government
Training and Capacity Building : Department of
Provincial and Local Government
Radiation-related Incidents : Nuclear Regulator
Telecommunications : SANDF
Training and Capacity Building.
The Norwegian Government donated R706 000-00 for an informal training programme for disaster management. The Chief Directorate: Disaster Management has appointed the ML Sultan Technikon in Durban to undertake such a programme in the four provinces where the need for training is the greatest, namely, Mpumalanga the Northern Province, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The ML Sultan Technikon has finalised and submitted their proposed workplan, strategy, timeframes, needs analysis budget, etc. The programme will also be monitored by a representative of the Norwegian Government.
Implementation of Strategies to establish and maintain an integrated Information Management System for Disaster Management.
As far as the development of an IT database is concerned, the following can be reported:
Flood Damage and Reinstatement System
The business requirement specification is still under development and due to time constraints from an application development point of view to deliver a workable system, it was decided to follow an incremental system development approach. All known business requirements will be taken into account and development will start from there.
A few significant developments took place:
The Command Centre - BIGEN web development will continue and be hosted at an Independent Service Provider until the SITA bandwidth problems are solved. Once the bandwidth problems are solved, the Command Centre – BIGEN web site will be transferred to the NDMC web site.
NDMC web hosting on DWAF infrastructure will be terminated before the end of November 2000. A new more user friendly NDMC home page is already under development and will initially include:
Links to the Weather Bureau, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the National Department of Agriculture and other participating structures.
A "WHAT’S NEW(S)" to cover topics of immediate relevance such as the fight against Foot and Mouth disease
Regular media releases on cholera outbreak in KZN highlighted with graphical and tabular presentations.
All media reports on the cholera outbreak have been published on the NDMC web site. The presentation is in graphical format and is supported by a tabular presentation with an overview as supplied by the provincial structures in KZN. See http://edmc1.pwv.gov.za/edmc
Developing a monitoring and evaluation system to measure the overall impact of the implementation of disaster management.
The development of such a system is closely linked to the implementation of the strategies and activities mentioned under 5 supra,
Alleged collapse and deterioration of emergency services (fire brigade and ambulance services).
Based on the report by SAIA in this regard, a technical task team was established to address the issues of uniform norms and standards for fire brigade services and the effective funding thereof.
The said technical task team has held several meetings and the work is nearing finalisation. Uniform norms and standards have been established and it is envisaged that the funding aspect will be finalised by the end of February 2001, whereafter the matter will be submitted to Cabinet.
Since the establishment of the Fire Services Working Group mentioned in the previous report, several meetings have taken place.
Uniform norms and standards have been established and it is envisaged that the funding aspect will be finalised by the end of May 2001, whereafter the matter will be submitted to Cabinet.
A letter regarding the functioning of emergency medical services was received from the Minister of Health. The said Minister indicated:
That the Department of Health is urgently attending to the deficiencies in the functioning of these services; and
That the Health MINMEC supports the separation of Fire and Emergency and Medical Services and believes that the latter will operate more efficiently as a link within the health care chain.
3.5.3 Other Activities Accomplished.
Establishment of a SADC Disaster Management Unit
At a meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers during August 2000 it was resolved that the SADC Disaster Management Working Group (chaired by Mr LJ Buys) be disbanded and a SADC Disaster Management Committee be established. The first meeting of the SADC Disaster Management Committee and Technical Planning Seminar was held in Harare on 6 – 9 December 2000 where Mr Buys reported on the work done by the SADC Disaster Management Working Group and in terms of protocol formally handed over the chairpersonship to Namibia.
3.6 Develop and Implement a Performance Management System Appropriate to Provincial and Local Government.
3 Research reports on PMS
A report on " international review of approaches to the implementation of local government Performance Management" is completed
A report on the National Key Performance Indicators Framework and proposed set of national KPIs has been developed and is 80% complete
A study investigating the feasibility, the nature of and cost implications for establishing and managing an incentive scheme for performance management system is 50% complete and will be finalised by end of April 2001
A written policy framework on PMS
A manual that defines the policy and legislative framework and explains core components of the system as articulated in the MSA has been developed. The manual is 80% complete
Host a conference to receive input on the policy framework
The conference will convened in early June 2001 to launch PMS support framework (manuals/guidelines, national KPIs and PMS training programme
A set of regulation \ guidelines on implementing the PMS
Draft regulations on PMS have been developed, and a workshop convened with stakeholders to discuss the regulations. They are currently being revised and are almost 75 % complete.
A set of National KPIs for municipalities
As reported earlier, a report on the National Key Performance Indicators Framework and proposed set of national KPIs has been developed and is 80% complete
A number of training guides/ management guides developed on PMS
As reported earlier the first manual - that defines the policy and legislative framework and explains core components of the system as articulated in the MSA has been developed. The manual is 80% complete
The second manual give step- by- step guide to municipalities on implementing the core components of PMS. The manual is 80% complete
The third manual defines the PMS models and recommends elements thereof that could assist municipalities in linking PMS to IDPs, employee PMS and the budgetary process.
Developed training curricula and training materials for PMS training
The Directorate has advertised a tender to procure the services of service- providers to develop and deliver PMS training programme to municipalities. It is planned that the programme will be ready by the end of May.
Running PMS Pilot training programme
The Directorate has advertised a tender to procure the services of service- providers to develop and deliver PMS training programme to municipalities. It is planned that the PMS training programme will be delivered from July 2001.
An established research Agency on PMS
A PMS comes in operation from 1 July 2001 and the research agency could be established then to monitor how municipalities are establishing their PMS, develop best-practice reports and facilitate shared learning among municipalities.
Established PMS Technical Support Team for PMS Pilot
The Directorate has advertised a tender to procure the services of PMS / monitoring and evaluation experts to provide technical support on various aspects of PMS to DPLG and pilot municipalities.
Implementation of Policy Framework on Municipal International Relations for South Africa
The Directorate conducted six Provincial Workshops on the Implementation Policy Framework Municipal International Relations for South Africa. The workshops were successful. Most municipalities are conducting their international relations activities within the policy framework.
SADC Local Government Forum
The Directorate in consultation with Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe successfully lobbied, for the acceptance and recognition of SADC Local Government Forum within SADC structures. The Local Government is now represented within the newly restructured SADC. This is a major achievement by the Department and South Africa in general.
The Directorate also successfully supported the Ministerial, and Technical Task Teams and the SADC Local Government Forum. Several meetings were successfully organised and generated several acceptable decisions.
Africities 2000 Summit
The Directorate successfully co-ordinated the attendance of the Minister, several members of the Executive Committee responsible for Local Government, Mayors, Councillors and officials to the Africities 2000 Summit held in Namibia during May 2000. The Minister chaired an important meeting, which adopted several resolutions. The officials compiled an informative report, which was distributed to Provinces, Municipalities and National departments.
SADC Heads of State/Government Summit
The Department attended the SADC Heads of State/Government Summit held in Windhoek, Namibia from 1-7 August 2000. The Department and fellow colleagues from Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa successfully lobbied for acceptance and recognition of the SADC Local Government.
Forum meetings of the SADC Local Government Forum and Task Teams
The Directorate successfully organised, co-ordinated and supported meetings of the SADC Technical and Ministerial Task Teams held on 24 March 2000 and 10 July 2000 in Pretoria
MIR Co-ordination Group
The Directorate co-ordinated and supported several meetings of the MIR co-ordination Group. Ongoing advice was given to municipalities on their twinning proposals
Database on twinning arrangements by municipalities
The Directorate developed a draft manual database on twinning arrangements by South African municipalities. The foundation for expansion of this project has been laid.
At a 'Post-Demarcation Challenges' conference in October 2000 the Minister alluded to the urgent need of developing a monitoring instrument for the interim IDP and the establishment processes for the new local government system. Subsequently, at a meeting between the Minister and the PMS directorate the need for such a monitoring instrument was re-confirmed.
The Directorate duly developed a concept paper on monitoring the implementation of the new system of local government. The primary objectives of the monitoring instrument are:
Monitor progress of the establishment/change process;
Keep the Minister/ MECs/Departments updated on developments;
Pick early warning signals for support and interventions; and
Develop a database.
High level indicators on the focus areas namely - financial issues, human resources, institutional, strategic and administrative infrastructure were developed as articulated in the Guidelines for transformation of local government. An accompanying reporting format was developed. Provinces duly submitted composite provincial status quo reports, which were analysed and developed into a National Status Quo Report on the new system of Local Government. The report has been forwarded to senior management and the Minister. A second report is being developed.
3.7 Support Services
Prog 1: Minister
Prog 1: Corporate Services
Prog 4: Communication Services
Prog 4: Government Motor Transport
Prog 4: PSETA
Maintenance of standard of reporting in terms of the PFMA and Division of Revenue Act.
All reports were submitted timeously and resulted in no over-expenditure and the effective movement of funds in the Adjustment Estimate.
Consolidation and presentation of budget inputs.
Budget inputs were submitted timeously to the National Treasury and the results from the Medium Term Expenditure Committee were satisfactory.
Review of current system of financial administration.
A new system of expenditure commitment and budget control at programme manager level introduced.
Improvement in the administration of the system of procurement of supplies and services.
The application of the tendering procedures was reviewed which led to a reduction in lead times and improvement in tender adjudication.
Provision of a media liaison service for the Ministry and the Department.
All media requirements of the Minister and the Director-General were met. A revised communication strategy has been prepared.
Co-ordination of public relation campaigns.
There have been a number of very successful campaigns, such as local government transformation, local economic development, disaster relief and the anti cholera campaign.
Preparation of departmental legislation.
All legislation prepared timeously and amendments brought about by Portfolio Committee incorporated immediately. In some very urgent cases the assistance of a consultant is acknowledged.
Administration of court cases.
All court cases threatening the local government elections were resolved before the elections. Further developments in respect of these court cases depends on political interaction.
The major commercial-type cases have been concluded with real benefits to the Government.
Restructure the Department in line with its new focus and objectives.
Successfully completed the restructuring processes in the Department in co-operation with a task team appointed for this purpose.
Render human resource management and development services.
Continue to successfully administer human resource management and development processes in the Department.
Effected the appointment of personnel for the Command Centre: Emergency Reconstruction and administered the relevant staff's salaries etc.
Implemented the new all-inclusive remuneration system for senior managers in the Department.
4. PROGRESS WITH THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE DEPARTMENT
4.1 Summary of the Process
4.1.1 As the Portfolio Committee is aware, the Department embarked on a major restructuring exercise in order to align the Department’s organisation and post structure with its new focus and objectives. This project, which has recently been finalised, was dealt with on the following basis:
Pursuant to strategic planning and the finalisation of a strategic plan, the revised organisation and post structure on senior management level was finalised as a first step.
After wide consultation with the employee unions and serving staff, agreement was reached with the said stake holders on the principles and criteria to be applied for purposes of the absorption of serving staff in the revised post structure.
Based on the outcome of a further business planning exercise, the revised post structure below senior management level was finalised during October 2000.
Serving senior managers were absorbed in the revised post structure on senior management level with effect from 22 November 2000.
The absorption of serving Deputy Directors and lower ranks in the revised post structure below senior management level was finalised at the end of February 2001 and came into effect on 1 April 2001. All serving staff on these levels have been absorbed in the revised structure.
4.1.2 As far as the filling of the remaining vacant posts are concerned, attention is invited to the following:
Vacant posts on senior management level were subjected to job evaluation and advertised. The three vacant Deputy Director-General posts have already been filled. The selection processes in respect of the other advertised senior management posts are presently receiving priority attention.
Other vacant posts will be subjected to job evaluation, where appropriate, and advertised as soon as possible. This process will be dealt with in phases and on a priority basis.
4.2 FINAL RESULT AFTER ABSORPTION OF STAFF – 31 MARCH 2001
Post Level
Approved Establishment
Posts filled
Posts vacant
Total Other posts
49(33%)
11(7%)
Total SMS
2(10%)
Note: Senior Management Service (SMS) is reflected in post levels 13 – 16.
Middle management is reflected in post levels 9-12.
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Intergovernmental Relations Bill: deliberations on Chapter 2
PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
Acting Chairperson Mr M Lekgoro (ANC)
Documents handed out:
Intergovernmental Relations Framework Bill [B3-2005]
The Committee deliberated the President’s Co-ordinating Council (PCC) framework established to enhance intergovernmental co-operation. It was questioned, whether it was appropriate for the detailed management of the framework to be addressed in the BiIl. The role of the Department of Provincial and Local Affairs in the PCC was discussed at length. The Committee also discussed the hierarchical nature of the PCC framework, with certain members suggesting that more provision be made for provinces to raise their policies with national government.
Chapter 2: Intergovernmental Structures
Part 1 President’s Co-ordinating Council
Clause 7 Meetings
Mr D Powell, Acting Deputy Director-General: Governance, Policy and Research in Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG), said the reference to the Minister administering the meeting in Clause 7(3) was part of the practical implementation of the Minister’s mandate to manage the intergovernmental relations of government. It was only logical for the DPLG to play the role of a conduit of intergovernmental relations. However the ultimate responsibility for the PCC Framework was still vested in the President. The PCC generally submitted its work programme for the forthcoming year to the Cabinet. It was merely called a framework and included in this Bill to ensure predictability and clarity on functioning of the PCC within government. He said the DPLG played a secretariat role to the PCC and simply proposed agendas to ensure that appropriate issues were raised and not matters that could be better dealt within a particular ministry. The PCC framework was intended to serve the national government and especially the sector ministries, and not any ministry in particular.
Mr Lekgoro asked whether would it not be preferable for the Presidency itself to administer the PCC directly.
Mr P Smith (IFP) said the Office of the Presidency was a well-established department, with ample capacity and budgetary allocations, and thus capable of administering the PCC itself. The Presidency hosted all sorts of issues and forums, and always maintained the right to delegate a task if it so required. He appreciated the need for the framework to be established but questioned whether it should be placed in a national Bill. He said the whole approach seemed uncomfortably hierarchical.
Mr W Dorman (DA) said he was very positive about the Bill but suggested that Clause 7(1)(a) and b) were sufficient. That would be that the President convened the meeting and determined the agenda. He recommended that the Committee be more concise. Alternatively Clause 7(2) could simply end after ‘Suggestions for inclusion in the agenda for a meeting may be submitted to the Minister’.
Mr Smith said he understood the role of the Minister of the DPLG as a gatekeeper to the PCC, but cautioned against micro-managing. He reiterated his agreement with the need for a framework but asked whether it was necessary to have it in national legislation.
Mr Powell said it was very important to acknowledge that the Minister was responsible for the management of intergovernmental relations and therefore best placed to advise the national president on issues the other ministers would want to raise at the PCC. The ultimate authority for deciding the PCC agenda rested with the President and not the DPLG. The Minister should not be viewed as a gatekeeper, as his role was merely to rationalise issues raised at the PCC, especially matters that could be more effectively dealt with at a ministerial level. The PCC was not a DPLG preserve but an operational framework for the PCC and therefore a framework for the entire national executive, including other sector ministries.
Mr Smith said Clause 30 (Internal procedures of intergovernmental structures) was sufficient to regulate the PCC framework, and cautioned against micro-managing.
Mr Powell said he conceptually understood the issues Mr Smith raised, however it was an immense practical challenge to ensure the PCC agenda was suitable for the national executive's attention and valuable time. The Department had been very specific in establishing internal rules to ensure predictability and visibility to the structure of government as a whole.
Mr Mashudulu asked where the PCC would fit in the hierarchy of the state organogram as he was unsure of power relations between the PCC and Cabinet.
Mr Lekgoro said it was conceivable that a minister could be uncomfortable with the role of the Minister of Provincial and Local government in the PCC, given their equal status as ministers.
Mr Smith said it seemed there was almost a fear that the executive would not be able to manage the PCC if there were not very specific and definitive rules established.
Mr Powell said practice on setting regulations for government bodies differed substantially but that several such institutions were regulated in considerable detail. He added that an act of parliament was required to establish the PCC structures while Cabinet was a constitutionally established body. The PCC therefore could not replace the Cabinet, but merely served as an intergovernmental structure. Cabinet was still the supreme decision-making body of the executive government but it was a not an intergovernmental co-ordination structure. A variety of state organs and ministries were involved in the governance of South Africa. The PCC was an attempt to establish a rational process of intergovernmental communication and streamline its structure to focus directly on the most appropriate issues.
He said the Department was eager to avoid informality and uncertainty in governance and wanted to make it abundantly clear that the PCC was a framework for the entire national executive and not the preserve of any one minister or department. The PCC was a national executive platform and the Minister of Provincial and Local Government simply carried the responsibility of facilitation of intergovernmental relations.
Part 2 National intergovernmental forums
Clause 8 Establishment
Mr Smith said if the Department was taking the route of naming the PCC because it was an established practice, the MinMec (Ministers and Members of Executive Councils) structure which had been established before the PCC and was much more familiar, had a much stronger claim to be recognised as such.
Mr Powell said the reason for not establishing a category called ‘MinMecs’ was the need to allow a certain level of discretion in their organisation especially given the potentially sensitive nature of MinMecs. In practice meeting forums for Ministers and Members of Executive Councils were euphemistically known as MinMecs because of the composition of such forums. He added that the majority of intergovernmental structures were non-statutory bodies as few statutory bodies were established prior to 1997.
Mr Mashudulu asked what the department would label a meeting of the Minster of Labour, who only had Provincial Directors and not provincial MECs, with his provincial subordinates.
Mr Powell said the Bill aimed to create a communication conduit. Should the Minister of Labour or a department in a similar position want to meet with a provincial MEC or any other provincial official, they could create a ‘MinMec’ although such bodies could not strictly speaking be defined as such. This he said was precisely why the department did not want to narrowly define Min/Mecs. The Department aimed at allowing extensive latitude for ministers to meet with provincial officials, even those not within their respective departments. Strictly speaking such interactions would not be MinMecs but a joint meeting format used for cross-functional communication.
Mr Lekgoro said the Department should revisit the categorisation of MinMecs with the aim of enhancing uniformity as far as possible.
Mr Smith said he initially thought all meetings between a Minster and Provincial MECs were referred to as MinMecs, and he was now informed that was not the case. In practice a name change in this Bill would have serious legislative consequences for similar bodies, not strictly speaking viewed as MinMecs.
Clause 9 Composition
Mr Smith asked why a differential approach on the chairing of meetings was employed in this clause as compared to its equivalent in Part 1 dealing with the PCC.
Mr Powell said Mr Smith’s question was dealt with in Clause 13 of the Bill.
Mr Dorman said the term ‘person’ should be changed to ‘councillor’ if it referred to a politician, as he believed it should. He said the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) could appoint any one as long as that person was a politician.
Mr Mashudulu said the committee had agreed the previous day that the Bill should explicitly refer to a politician.
Clause 10 Role
Mr Smith said the PCC should ideally have been a forum for mutual participation and sharing of ideas instead of the hierarchical approach presently employed. The top-down approach was objectionable and asked whether the provinces would be allowed an opportunity to influence the national government as well.
Mr Mashudulu said it appeared the IFP was not prepared to take instruction in terms of policy from the ANC.
Mr Lekgoro agreed that the fundamental philosophy that informed the Bill was a top-down approach possibly predicated on the mindset of the Ministry and the dominant party. He said this would no doubt manifest itself throughout the Bill. He encouraged the Committee to constructively work towards improving the Bill.
Mr Powell said it was necessary to define the operation and functions of these intergovernmental forums, which played a vital role in national development policy. The Department understood its own mandate regarding this Bill as enhancing the quality of co-ordination of intergovernmental forums.
He said national government’s oversight responsibility was vested in the Constitution as elucidated in the decision of the Constitutional Court and stated by Judge Chaskalson ‘to confirm that the Constitution does not contemplate the establishment of sovereign independent provinces.’ The Bill was clearly in conformity with the Constitution as national government’s authority to regulate was only limited by the principle of not removing in its entirety, the executive function of another sphere of government. The Bill was simply regulating the co-ordination between the various spheres of government to ensure enhanced quality of co-ordination and improved intergovernmental relations.
Mr Smith said there was no provision in this Bill for provinces to discuss their own policies with national government. He asked what legal status national policy, not articulated in legislation, had and whether provinces were obliged to implement such national policy.
Mr B Solo (ANC) said that not all policies were contained in law thus the need for additional regulations.
Mr O Kellner, State Law Advisor, said that according to the Schools Act, provinces were obliged to implement the Education Minister’s policy, even if it was not articulated in law.
Clause 11 Reports and referrals to President’s Co-ordinating Council
Mr Smith asked why the Department did not follow the same process in this clause as in Clause 7(2).
Mr Powell said MinMecs could forward an issue to the PCC once the discussions at the primary level were completed. Clause 7(2) created the possibility for the Presidency, a department or similar processes to suggest agenda items to the PCC whereas Clause 11(2) dealt specifically with resolutions emanating from within that MinMec structure.
Clause 12 Referrals to Budget Council and Budget Forum
Mr Lekgoro asked why the Bill did not simply state the Minister of Finance instead of the cumbersome "Cabinet member responsible for finance".
Mr Powell said the range of functions of any portfolio might change with time or alternatively it was even possible that two ministers could share the financial responsibility in question. This clause was intended to deal with ‘linkages’ in intergovernmental relations, in an attempt clarify the conduit through which issues were dealt with, in government.
He said the second aim of this clause was to guard against the creation of ‘unfunded’ mandates. Decisions taken at a sectoral level could result in ‘unfunded’ mandates if a mindset was not created through national legislation that clarified that critical linkages existed between matters discussed at MinMecs that affected the national budget.
Mr Mashudulu said this clause might unwittingly raise people’s expectations of their ability to influence the allocation of resources beyond the budgetary process, when this was not the case.
Clause 13 Meetings
Mr Powell referred to Clause 13(2) and said that it was important that matters such as when submissions should be submitted, be clarified. Guidelines for these structures usually required submission within seven days. However, this Bill was intended as a normative framework, and it was important to appreciate that these authorities were constitutionally mandated and a degree of flexibility regarding regulations, were appropriate. The framework was intended to serve as an incentive for more precise arrangements, as ministers had complete discretion to meet with anyone they chose.
Mr Smith asked whether MinMecs were allowed to interact with technical experts.
Mr Powell said ministers had full discretion to meet with anyone they chose.
Mr Smith asked whether the word ‘formal’ in Clause 20 (Other provincial intergovernmental forums) was not redundant.
Mr Powell said the Department would review the wording in Clause 20.
Mr Dorman said there was often friction between the district and metropolitan mayors and suggested that district mayors as well as metropolitan mayors be allowed to attend the forum mentioned in Clause 16 (Composition of Premier’s intergovernmental forum) .
Mr Powell said approaches differed in the various provinces, however he did not foresee a problem should a premier want to include the district mayors in the forum. The section only sought to establish a minimum composition of meetings, but he cautioned against creating large unwieldy meetings.
Mr Smith commented that it was unacceptable that SALGA was not present at the meeting.
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Home Forums > Theology > Theological Forum >
Penal Substitution and Nestorianism Question
Discussion in 'Theological Forum' started by Timmay, Feb 10, 2019.
Timmay Puritan Board Freshman
I have an EO friend who told me that PSA is Nestorian. They base this on Christ going to hell and being damned, but if the two natures can’t be separated, thus how is it that the divine nature could be damned?
Well I don’t think Christ went to hell since everything was finished on the cross. But if the two natures are without separation, how is it the human nature could endure God’s wrath and be separated from God, but not the divine nature as it is impossible for the Son to be separated from the Father?
Is this where the concept of, whatever is applicable to one nature is assigned to the PERSON of Christ, yet there are distinct properties retained among each nature?
SeanPatrickCornell Puritan Board Freshman
It's sad to say but I think your EO friend is confused about what PSA is.
Ask Mr. Religion Flatly Unflappable
It was Our Lord's human nature, consecrated and prepared especially so (Heb. 10:5), that was offered up upon that altar of His divine nature, hence a sanctified and worthy gift of infinite worth (based upon the divine nature).
Our Lord's suffering was the work of the Person, the God-man, due to the mystical union (hypostatic union) between the two natures. The divine nature did not and does not suffer. Christ took up a human nature to bear the punishment for sin. Again, what was offered and was judicially punished was the human nature (body + soul). Our Lord's divinity sustained Him in the torment of infinite punishment due all those so given to Him by God the Father.
How did the divinity sustain Him?
Poimen Puritan Board Post-Graduate
He instinctively knows that the two natures must be distinguished (though not separated) since he (with us) would confess that Christ truly died and yet only in his human nature, not his divinity, since the divine is not subject to mortality.
BayouHuguenot Puritan Board Doctor
Some crude PSA accounts have the Father damning the Son to hell. The only way this could work is that if his human nature is seprated from his divine nature. If it is, ergo Nestorianism.
BayouHuguenot said: ↑
Yes but Christ was “in hell” on the cross since the wrath of God was poured out on Christ. How then, would you answer that this is not Nestorianism?
DTK Puritan Board Junior
Well, Cyril of Alexandria, the arch-enemy of Nestorianism, espoused something very close to penal substitution...
Cyril of Alexandria (patriarch 412-444): The Only-begotten was made man, bore a body by nature at enmity with death, and became flesh, so that, enduring the death which was hanging over us as the result of our sin, he might abolish sin; and further, that he might put an end to the accusations of Satan, inasmuch as we have paid in Christ himself the penalties for the charges of sin against us: ‘For he bore our sins, and was wounded because of us’, according to the voice of the prophet. Or are we not healed by his wounds? Cited in Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach, Pierced For Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007), p. 180.
Greek text: γέγονε δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Μονογενὴς, καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ φυσικῶς ἐνεχόμενον πεφόρηκε σῶμα, καὶ κεχρημάτικε σὰρξ, ἵνα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνατλὰς τὸν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ἡμῖν ἐπαρτηθέντα θάνατον, καταργήσῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ παύσῃ 68.296 λοιπὸν ἐγκαλοῦντα τὸν Σατανᾶν, ὡς ἐκτετικότων ἡμῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ τῶν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν αἰτιαμάτων τὰς δίκας· «αἴρει γὰρ ἡμῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται,» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνήν. Ἢ οὐχὶ τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν; De adoratione et cultu in spiritu et veritate, Liber III, PG 68:293-296.
Cyril of Alexandria (patriarch 412-444) commenting on Luke 9:44-45: The mystery of the passion may be seen also in another instance. For according to the Mosaic law two goats were offered, differing in nothing from one another, but alike in size and appearance. Of those, one was called “the lord:” and the other, the “sent-away.” And when the lot had been cast for that which was called “lord,” it was sacrificed: while the other was sent away from the sacrifice: and therefore had the name of the “sent-away.” And Who was signified by this? The Word, though He was God, was in our likeness, and took the form of us sinners, as far as the nature of the flesh was concerned. The goat, then, male or female, was sacrificed for sins. But the death was our desert, inasmuch as by sin we had fallen under the divine curse. But when the Saviour of all Himself, so to speak, undertook the charge, He transferred to Himself what was our due, and laid down His life, that we might be sent away from death and destruction. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke, Homily 53, trans. R. Payne Smith (Studion Publishers, Inc., 1983), p. 234. See also the edition S. Cyril Patriarch of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel according to S. Luke, Part 1, trans. R. Payne Smith (Oxford: The University Press, 1859), pp. 239-240.
Cyril of Alexandria (patriarch 412-444) commenting on John 19:16-18: Bearing the Cross upon His shoulders, on which He was about to be crucified, He went forth; His doom was already fixed, and He had undergone, for our sakes, though innocent, the sentence of death. For, in His own Person, He bore the sentence righteously pronounced against sinners by the Law. For He became a curse for us, according to the Scripture: For cursed is everyone, it is said, that hangeth on a tree. And accursed are we all, for we are not able to fulfil the Law of God: For in many things we all stumble; and very prone to sin is the nature of man. And since, too, the Law of God says: Cursed is he which continueth not in all things thcd are written in the book of this Law, to do them, the curse, then, belongeth unto us, and not to others. For those against whom the transgression of the Law may be charged, and who are very prone to err from its commandments, surely deserve chastisement. Therefore, He That knew no sin was accursed for our sakes, that He might deliver us from the old curse. For all-sufficient was the God Who is above all, so dying for all; and by the death of His own Body, purchasing the redemption of all mankind. See Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Vol. 48, trans. Thomas Randell (London: Walter Smith, 1885), Vol. 2, Book XII, Chapter XIX, p. 623.
Greek text: Τὸ δὲ ἐφʼ ὧπερ ἔμελλε σταυροῦσθαι ξύλον ἐπωμάδιον ἔχων πρόεισι λοιπὸν κατακεκριμένος ἤδη καὶ τὴν ἐφʼ αἵματι ψῆφον ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ παντελῶς ὑπομείνας κακῷ, καὶ τοῦτο διʼ ἡμᾶς. τὰς γὰρ τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσιν ἐπηρτημένας εὐλόγως ἐκ τοῦ νόμου δίκας εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐκομίζετο. «Γέγονε γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα,» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, «Ἐπικατάρατος γάρ φησι, πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου.» Ἐπάρατοι δὲ πάντες ἡμεῖς, τὸν θεῖον ἀποπληροῦν οὐκ ἀνεχόμενοι νόμον, Πολλὰ γὰρ πταίομεν ἅπαντες, εὐολισθοτάτη τε πρὸς τοῦτο λίαν ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πάλιν ὁ θεῖος ἔφη που νόμος «Ἐπικατάρατος ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσι τοῖς ἐγγεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου τούτου, τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτά·» ἡμῶν ἄρα, καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρων ἡ ἀρά. Οἷς γὰρ ἔγκλημα μὲν ἡ παράβασις, τὸ δὲ τοῦ διορισθέντος ἐξολισθεῖν εὐπετέστατον, αὐτοῖς ἂν εἴη καὶ τὸ εὐθύνεσθαι πρέπον. οὐκοῦν ἐπάρατος δι' ἡμᾶς ὁ μὴ εἰδὼς ἁμαρτίαν, ἵν' ἡμᾶς ἀπολύσῃ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀρᾶς. Ἐξήρκει γὰρ τοῦτο παθὼν ὑπὲρ πάντων ὁ ὑπὲρ πάντας Θεὸς, καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς ἰδίας σαρκὸς τὴν ἁπάντων λύτρωσιν ἐξωνούμενος. Commentarium in Evangelium Joannis, Liber XII, Caput xix, vv. 16-18, PG 74:649.
Cyril of Alexandria (patriarch 412-444) commenting on John 19:16-18: The Cross, then, that Christ bore, was not for His own deserts, but was the cross that awaited us, and was our due, through our condemnation by the Law. For as He was numbered among the dead, not for Himself, but for our sakes, that we might find in Him, the Author of everlasting life, subduing of Himself the power of death; so also, He took upon Himself the Cross that was our due, passing on Himself the condemnation of the Law, that the mouth of all lawlessness might henceforth be stopped, according to the saying of the Psalmist; the Sinless having suffered condemnation for the sin of all. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Vol. 48, trans. Thomas Randell (London: Walter Smith, 1885), Vol. 2, Book XII, Chapter XIX, p. 624.
Greek text: Ἐπικομίζεται τοίνυν, οὐ τὸν αὐτῷ πρέποντα σταυρὸν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἡμῖν ἐπηρτημένον τε καὶ χρεωστούμενον, ὅσον ἧκεν εἰπεῖν εἰς τὴν διὰ νόμου κατάκρισιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ γέγονεν ἐν νεκροῖς, οὐ διʼ ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἡμᾶς, ἵν' ἡμῖν ἀρχηγὸς τῆς εἰς αἰῶνα ζωῆς εὑρεθῇ, καταλύσας διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος, οὕτω καὶ τὸν ἡμῖν πρέποντα σταυρὸν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλαμβάνει, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ νόμου κατάκρισιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατακρίνων, ἵνα πᾶσα λοιπὸν ἀνομία ἐμφράξῃ στόμα αὐτῆς, κατὰ τὸ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς μελῳδούμενον, τοῦ μὴ ἔχοντος ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁπάντων ἁμαρτίας καταδεδικασμένου. Commentarium in Evangelium Joannis, Liber XII, Caput xix, vv. 16-18, PG 74:649, 652.
Cyril of Alexandria (patriarch 412-444) commenting on John 19:19: For God's anger did not cease with Adam's fall, but He was also provoked by those who after him dishonoured the Creator's decree; and the denunciation of the Law against transgressors was extended continuously over all. We were, then, accursed and condemned, by the sentence of God, through Adam’s transgression, and through breach of the Law laid down after him; but the Saviour wiped out the handwriting against us, by nailing the title to His Cross, which very clearly pointed to the death upon the Cross which He underwent for the salvation of men, who lay under condemnation. For our sake He paid the penalty for our sins. For though He was One that suffered, yet was He far above any creature, as God, and more precious than the life of all. Therefore, as the Psalmist says, the mouth of all lawlessness was stopped, and the tongue of sin was silenced, unable any more to speak against sinners. For we are justified, now that Christ has paid the penalty for us; for by His stripes we are healed, according to the Scripture. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Vol. 48, trans. Thomas Randell (London: Walter Smith, 1885), Vol. 2, Book XII, Chapter XIX, pp. 627-628.
Greek text: Οὐ γὰρ δήπου λελύπηται μὲν ἐν Ἀδὰμ διαπταίσαντι Θεὸς, οὐκέτι δὲ ἦν τοιοῦτος ἐν τοῖς μετʼ ἐκεῖνον ἀτιμάζουσι τὸ τῷ κτίσαντι δοκοῦν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐφʼ ἑνὸς κατὰ πάντων ὁ τοῖς πλημμελοῦσιν ἐπηρτημένος ἐξετείνετο νόμος. Ἦμεν οὖν ἐπάρατοι, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ ψήφῳ κατακεκριμένοι, διά τε τὴν ἐν Ἀδὰμ παράβασιν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ μετʼ ἐκεῖνον διορισθέντος νόμου· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τὸ καθʼ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον ἐξήλειψεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, προσηλώσας τὸν τίτλον τῷ ἰδίῳ σταυρῷ, σαφῶς εὖ μάλα σημαίνοντα τὸν ἐπὶ τῷ ξύλῳ θάνατον, ὃν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν καταδεδικασμένων ὑπέστη ζωῆς. Ἐξέτισε γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων δίκας. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ εἷς ἦν ὁ πάσχων, ἀλλʼ ἦν ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν, ὡς Θεὸς, καὶ τῆς ἁπάντων ζωῆς ἀξιώτερος. Διά τοι τοῦτο, καθὰ καὶ ὁ Ψάλλων φησὶν, «Ἐνέφραξε μὲν ἀνομία πᾶσα τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς,» κατηργήθη δὲ τρόπον τινὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ γλῶττα, καταλέγειν ἔτι τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων οὐκ ἔχουσα. Δεδικαιώμεθα γὰρ, ἐκτετικότος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὰ ὀφλήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «τῷ γὰρ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν,» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Commentarium in Evangelium Joannis, Liber XII, Caput xix, v. 19, PG 74:656.
And I don't think the EO guy would want to accuse Athanasius of being a proto-Nestorian...
Athanasius (297-373): And Psalm 22, speaking in the Saviour's own person, describes the manner of His death. Thou has brought me into the dust of death, for many dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have laid siege to me. They peirced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones, they gazed and stared at me, they parted my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture. They pierced my hands and my feet- what else can that mean except the cross? and Psalms 22 and 69, again speaking in the Lord's own person, tell us further that He suffered these things, not for His own sake but for ours. Thou has made Thy wrath to rest upon me, says the one; and the other adds, I paid them things I never took. For He did not die as being Himself liable to death: He suffered for us, and bore in Himself the wrath that was the penalty of our transgression, even as Isaiah says, Himself bore our weaknesses. [Mt 8:17] So in Psalm 138 we say, The Lord will make requital for me; and in the 72nd the Spirit says, He shall save the children of the poor and bring the slanderer low, for from the hand of the mighty He has set the poor man free, the needy man whom there was none to help. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, trans. and ed. A Religious of C.S.M.V. (Crestwood: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996), to which is appended a Letter of St. Athanasius to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms, pp. 100-101; Cf. also the translation provided in Athanasius, The Life of Anthony and The Letter to Marcellinus, trans. Robert C. Gregg (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), p. 105.
Greek text: ἐν δὲ τῷ εἰκοστῷ καὶ πρώτῳ τὴν ποιότητα τοῦ θανάτου ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Σωτῆρός φησιν· Εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με· ὅτι ἐκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοὶ, συναγωγὴ πονηρευομένων περιέσχον με. Ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας μου, ἐξηρίθμησαν πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου. Αὐτοὶ δὲ κατενόησαν, καὶ ἐπεῖδόν με· διεμερίσαντο τὰ ἱμάτιά μου ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἱματισμόν μου ἔβαλον κλῆρον. Τὸ δὲ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τοὺς πόδας ὀρύττεσθαι, τί ἕτερον ἢ σταυρὸν λέγων σημαίνει; Πάντα ταῦτα διδάσκουσα προστίθησιν, ὅτι μὴ δι' ἑαυτὸν, διʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ ταῦτα πάσχει ὁ Κύριος. Καί φησιν ἐκ προσώπου πάλιν αὐτοῦ ἐν μὲν τῷ πζʹ· Ἐπʼ ἐμὲ ἐπεστηρίχθη ὁ θυμός σου· ἐν δὲ τῷ ἑξηκοστῷ ὀγδόῳ· Ἃ οὐχ ἥρπασα, τότε ἀπετίννυον. Οὐ γὰρ ὑπεύθυνος ὢν ἀπέθνησκεν, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἔπασχε, καὶ τὸν καθʼ ἡμῶν θυμὸν διὰ τὴν παράβασιν ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐβάσταζε, λέγοντα διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου· Αὐτὸς τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἔλαβε· καὶ λεγόντων μὲν ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ τριακοστῷ ἑβδόμῳ ψαλμῷ· Κύριος ἀντ αποδώσει ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ· λέγοντος δὲ καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν ἑβδομηκοστῷ πρώτῳ· Καὶ σώσει τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν πενήτων, καὶ ταπεινώσει συκοφάντην, ὅτι ἐῤῥύσατο, πτωχὸν ἐκ χειρὸς δυνάστου, καὶ πένητα, ᾧ οὐχ ὑπῆρχε βοηθός. Epistola ad Marcellinum de interpretatione Psalmorum, §7, PG 27:16-17.
EO folk and Romanists alike love to level the charge of Nestorianism against those outside of their communions because it creates their own climate controlled comfort zone . . . it's better than a monastic retreat!
Timmay said: ↑
"in hell" was very misleading, and if we take it literally it is Nestorianism. I don't say Christ was "in hell" in that sense.
Ok but how is it not Nestorian on the cross?
Because on my view there is no separation of the two natures. Nestorianism entails two acting subjects in the Person of Christ.
Yes Chalcedon. I guess I’m looking for how to respond.
If someone said PSA is Nestorian how would you answer that it is not?
I would ask them what they mean. I've been down this road before. Many have no clue what they are talking about.
Amen x 1
Sin is committed against an infinite God. The guilt of that sin is infinite. Man cannot satisfy the justice of God for this infinite guilt. Accordingly, man is punished eternally. Our Lord is God...hence, He is infinite. As an infinite Person, Our Lord's sufferings and torments of judicial punishment of His human nature are able to satisfy the justice of God for the infinite guilt of men.
Given this, Our Lord does not need to be punished eternally. He bore the punishment of sinners, Christ was not a sinner (polluted by sin in Himself), but a righteous sufferer, Son beloved of God, hence, vindicated by God, resurrected, rewarded per the demands of divine righteousness.
The torments and sufferings brought upon Christ's human nature were enabled to endure what He was bearing for His people—their actual sins, for He was sinless, yet accounted judicially a sinner deserving the demands of justice—by the power of His divine nature such that He was victorious, sinless.
Spoiler: The Sword of Justice
Ralph Erskine, The Sword of Justice awakened against God's Fellow, Sermons 1:20-21:
The cause of God and the cause of man is referred to Christ; therefore he partakes of both natures, that he may be faithful to God and merciful to man: a fit Mediator between God and man, to lay his hand upon both parties, while he partakes of both natures. – Our Redeemer must be both subject to the law, and fulfil the law meritoriously. Now, if he had not been man, he could not be subject to the law; and if he had not been God, he could not have merited by fulfilling the law: but now, being God-man by his obedience, he hath magnified the law and made it honourable. – Our Redeemer was to give his soul an offering for sin. Now, if he had not been man, he could not have had a soul to offer; if he had not been God, his soul could not have upheld itself; but must have died when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: but now, his divine nature did support his human body, and his human soul, under the weight of that burden which would have crushed a world of men and angels. – Our Redeemer must both suffer and satisfy. Now, if he had not been man, he could not have suffered; and if he had not been God, he could not have given satisfaction by his sufferings; but, being God-man, his sufferings are dignified with infinite value and virtue. – Our Redeemer must both die for us, and conquer death. Now, if he had not been man, he could not have died; and if he had not been God, he could not have destroyed death, conquered death: but now, “He is declared to be the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead.”
Dachaser Puritan Board Professor
Believe the scriptures teach that Jesus went to hades itself, and announced to the saved OT folks that he was bringing them back to heaven when he arose again.
Dachaser said: ↑
You might give this thread a look:
https://www.puritanboard.com/threads/exegetical-help-on-1-Peter-3-18-22.89728/#post-1105157
I believe, based on textual evidence, that "preaching to the spirits in prison" is literally that: he preached to the fallen beney ha-elohim who were chained in Tartarus, announcing to them that they lost.
I thought that it meant that He had preached through Noah regarding all of the lost in there due to the Flood?
terry43 Puritan Board Freshman
Strange, I just questioned my Pastor on this Sunday with reference to the apostle creed and His promise to the thief.The pastor did not have a great answer and left me with continuing questions when he said "some say that Christ went to hell to pay for our sin" Which I totally deny .. also has been my thought that the humanity of Christ dies on the cross and was later resurrected ... The humanity (body) laid lifeless in the grave while the divinity remained ... did that divinity to go hell? go to Sheol ? go to paradise?
terry43 said: ↑
The humanity (body) layer lifeless in the grave while the divinity remained ... did that divinity to go hell? go to Sheol ? go to paradise?
Christ's humanity also includes his human soul. He went to Sheol, not hell. I know what the Creed says, and that's because the concept of "hell" didn't quite mean then what it means now (Bar B Q pit).
The soul.."Mind,will and emotions" ...all would have perished with the "man Christ" what would remain is the Spirit ..which in His case would be divine ??????
Christ's humanity had a human mind/soul which wasn't the same thing as his divine mind.
I guess I do not "get " this.. Paul clearly man has a body, soul and spirit ...The soul is the "breath of life " that would have died leaving as it will with us, just His Spirit which is divine.. was not the mind of Christ divine ?
was not the mind of Christ divine ?
Christ has two minds.
Contra_Mundum Pilgrim, Alien, Stranger Staff Member
Strange, I just questioned my Pastor on this Sunday with reference to the apostle creed and Hs promise to the thief.The pastor did not have a great answer and left me with continuing questions when he said "some say that Christ went to hell to pay for our sin" Which I totally deny .. also has been my thought that the humanity of Christ dies on the cross and was later resurrected ... The humanity (body) layer lifeless in the grave while the divinity remained ... did that divinity to go hell? go to Sheol ? go to paradise?
I recommend taking some time with your pastor, when he has a block of time to answer your questions. Maybe even give him them in writing ahead of time, and then have an appointment. That way, he's not just trying to help you out "off the cuff." He may not be able to give a "great answer" in the midst of a busy Sunday.
Possibly, when he said "some say...," he was not personally advocating that view, just mentioning one of the interpretive options.
It is true that Christ died, according to his humanity; and, according to his divinity he did not die, for it is impossible for divinity (as such) to go through death. Nevertheless, Christ (we say) died, he really did; it's just that his experience of death was everything we human beings experience in death, and more due to his possession of a divine nature as well.
This is a big subject, and some of your question may reveal some gaps in how you've thought about it in the past. Your pastor is a great resource for you to work on clarity and depth of understanding.
Christ's body did lie in the grave. His human spirit (or soul) went to Paradise (heaven), as did the spirit of the thief on the cross. Thus, we make sense of the Lord's words to him from the cross. Christ's divinity has never been "limited" in or by the human body or the whole human nature that was united to his divinity in the Incarnation. It is the nature of God to "fill all space," he is "omnipresent." God the Son was still "everywhere" in the first century; even as Jesus of Nazareth was local to his homeland, God the Son having a unique Personal presence where Jesus is, then and now.
We don't want to affirm that the "spirit" of God/Jesus was the "divine part" of his identity, and the body was his "humanity" having a "lower order" of "animal" immaterial faculties. That way of thinking/trying to grasp the Person of Christ is in fact one of the early Christian heresies the faithful church rejected.
1 Thess. 5:23, with its reference to body/soul/spirit, is not a verse (the only text like it) that we want to say defines biblical anthropology, that is the composite "anatomy" of the material and immaterial human nature. We are better off thinking of a duality: body and soul-or-spirit. We find both immaterial terms used interchangeably for the same thing in Scripture. And we are reminded that we are, down to the very bottom of our being, body-souls and soul-bodies. That is what makes the resurrection so important, because without it, we are half of what we were created to be.
One valuable commentator has suggested that a good way of thinking about the immaterial part of us, and the two terms, is (generally) to think of "soul" as the immaterial part in reference to the material world (including the body); and "spirit" as the immaterial part in reference to the immaterial world. That idea seems to handle the great majority of the varied uses of those terms in the Bible. And it keeps us from devaluing the body. Then, Paul's one-time use of that phrase, "body, soul, and spirit," looks less like an anatomy, and more like his tendency to pile up terms and descriptions, a not-uncommon feature of his style.
God the Son took to himself a true, full and complete human nature. He united the human (and all its own faculties) with his divine (and all its own faculties). He did not deem any part of our humanity "redundant" and so dispense with it. Or else, how would he have redeemed that part of us? No, he made himself like us in every way. So, he had a human body and a human soul/spirit.
He (as God) did not simply "inhabit" a human shell, or "borrow" our human life-force (a false definition of the soul). He united our humanity--using the virgin born Jesus of Nazareth--to his divinity, thus becoming the God-man (theanthropos), having two natures in hypostatic union, in one Person, unmixed, unconfused, forever and harmoniously bound together as Himself.
I hope these definitions are helpful to you, especially as you formulate some questions for your caring pastor.
Tom Hart Puritan Board Junior
I have an EO friend who told me that PSA is Nestorian.
I'm curious as to what alternative your friend offers as to the nature of the atonement.
Tom Hart said: ↑
Recapitulation theory. The idea that Christ conquered death and sin and fulfilled what Adam did not but did not pay a penalty. Now those who are willing can walk with Christ and conquer sin in their life as salvation is not a one time act, but a lifelong process.
It’s semi-Pelagian (they deny this) and actually saves no one. It seems to make sanctification the salvific method (though they define those terms differently). They treat sinnners as those in a hospital and they just need medicine, not that we need to be acquitted by a judge and risen from death.
I wouldn’t say that none of that is true, they just place a greatest importance on it, confuse things, and reject the source of all that, which is vicarious sacrifice.
Recapitulation is a legitmate take on the atonement. It's not the complete one, but it is part of the biblical witness.
Contra_Mundum said: ↑
Thank you, I appreciate your time and teaching on this..I am hoping to grasp this mystery
I know I said that. Problem is you can’t start from there. Only having it is incomplete. Not having it is incomplete. Starting from it is erroneous.
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Unborn Activists?
By Julia Gorin 2007-09-26T05:00
After a test showed that one of her twins had Down Syndrome, a 38-year-old woman in Italy had the handicapped fetus aborted this summer - only to find out that the hospital killed the healthy twin. So she came back for a second abortion and filed a complaint against the medical staff. It turns out that the twins had switched places between the last scan and the actual abortion.
This is just one of many cases showing that, as often as not, aborted fetuses get the last laugh. In incidents like this one, you can almost hear them. Yes, when they take a break from crying, aborted fetuses are laughing - at us. Switching places in the womb just in time for the abortion is one of many gags these practical jokesters like to play on us.
Another case in Italy, from March, in which doctors at a teaching hospital called Careggi told an expecting mother that her fetus had a defective esophagus, a problem often correctable through surgery.
However, Mom opted for the abortion, and here's what happened:
[W]hen they went to abort the baby boy, they discovered he was healthy and desperately tried to resuscitate him. The boy was born healthy and lived for six days following the failed abortion, which was done at 22 weeks into the pregnancy...Hospital officials are defending the doctors saying their physicians advised the mother to have further diagnostic tests but that she opted for the abortion after consulting with a private doctor.
But look what happens when a mother overrules her doctors and gives the baby a chance. The child will often reward her, as happened in England when physicians advised Deborah Gudgeon that she should abort her baby because of a large, potentially fatal cyst-a situation, they said, in which most patients opted to abort. Instead, Gudgeon started to pray, and four weeks after medical scans confirmed that the cyst was growing, it simply disappeared.
Another happy ending came last year in a Maine incident in which parents whose last name is Kampf kidnapped their 19 year-old daughter with rope and a gun so they could drive her to an abortion clinic in New York. But the fetus made sure that Mom managed to escape, and that Grandma and Grandpa got arrested.
In a less fortunate but darkly poetic, current case, a couple in Italy are in danger of losing their daughter because they made her abort hers. (In Italy, the ultimate decision about whether a teen can abort belongs to her parents.) The 13 year-old girl has entered a psychiatric ward after having a mental breakdown and is now on suicide watch.
Indeed, depression caused by having had an abortion is very real and widespread among aborting women. But one vengeful critter made extra sure Mom wouldn't forget him/her: Woman left to discover jar containing her baby - "A woman who had an abortion was stunned to find the foetus left in a jar after a hospital blunder. Nicola McManus made the horrific discovery when she was left in a room to answer a phone call from her husband. The jar was labelled with her name. She said: 'I fell apart. I couldn't believe anyone could be careless enough just to leave it lying there. That image will live with me forever.'"
Indeed, some can be appropriately spiteful, but others are just stubborn, as this headline demonstrates: 50 [UK] Babies a Year are Alive after Abortion.
Still others survive and end up handicapped to remind Mom and Dad every day of their lives what they tried to do. Such is the case of Gianna Jessen, an abortion survivor who suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of the attempt on her life. Last year she crashed a hearing at the Colorado House of Representatives on a resolution to honor the 90th anniversary of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
Meanwhile, the ones who don't survive will just make sure that the child you do want to keep gets the palsy, as happened in Australia, where a woman sued her mother's obstetrician for causing her cerebral palsy by rupturing the uterus during labor and starving her brain of oxygen. The judge, however, found that the uterus had been perforated in an abortion the year before, which the plaintiff's mother hadn't told her doctor about.
Then there are all those deadly cases of "botched abortions," as we call them. In reality, what these entail is a mother thinking she's just going to take her child's life and the child deciding to take Mom with it. (Or at least knock her into a coma for a month.) Remember, the decision about how to handle these things is the fetus's choice. Not your business.
In stark contrast to this kind of fetal revenge, look what happens when Mom sacrifices for a fetus:
Jamaica Beauty Queen Who Refused Abortion Can Keep Miss World Title
The head of the Miss World beauty pageant says it will not strip the Miss World Caribbean title from beauty queen Sara Lawrence, who announced she would step down as Miss Jamaica after saying she was pregnant and would not have an abortion. Lawrence will also be able to keep her Miss Jamaica title....Miss Jamaica World franchise holder, Mickey Haughton-James, previously... said keeping her crown and carrying the baby to term were incompatible, implying that an abortion would let her continue her reign.
But Haughton-James was touched by a letter from Miss World founder Julia Morley and decided, "I have no intention of removing her title."
Yes, the unborn are asserting themselves. The real "sleeper cells" have been activated. Their methods may seem a bit harsh, but they've been watching us, and have noted both that we respond to coercion better than anything else and that we actually treat things like terrorists more humanely than we treat them. So they're showing us that not only are they people too, they're politically active.
For example, fetuses were among the first to weigh in on the embryonic stem cell debate, which is fundamentally about the value of an embryo. Not only is every unfortunate soul who has been implanted with stem cells from embryos or aborted fetuses dead or wishing he/she were, look what this embryo did just to make a point: Embryo saved from flood is now a boy - "Noah Benton Markham--8 pounds, 6 1/2 ounces--was born to 32-year-old Rebekah Markham by Caesarean section after growing from an embryo that nearly defrosted in a sweltering hospital during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina." Here is some interesting background on the rescue:
Illinois officers on loan to Louisiana set out in National Guard trucks, towing flat-bottomed boats. A flat surface was essential: The 35- and 40-liter nitrogen tanks, which weigh 75 and 90 pounds, had to stay upright. If one tipped over, the nitrogen would spill.
In the hospital parking lot, the boats puttered past cars still flooded almost up to their windows. The boats were taken through the flooded halls, and the embryos were floated out. They were taken across town to a hospital that had not flooded.
Both AP items were sure to include an explanation as to why it was important to save the embryos:
[I]f the embryos had thawed, each woman who wanted another baby would have had to undergo another expensive round of fertility drugs, egg harvesting, and in vitro fertilization. Markham estimated her first pregnancy cost $12,000; the second $2,000.
As if seven Illinois policemen and three Louisiana state troopers hauled butt through a city underwater to save a few thousand dollars for some strangers. In any case, their efforts were rewarded when they heard that the first of the 1,400 frozen embryos they rescued actually made something of himself.
Fetuses have gone so far as to form a strong alliance with science and technology, and within this powerful coalition bloc they manipulate the scientific community to their favor, as advanced technology confounds the pro-abortion camp, who are otherwise fans of science. Indeed, the more advanced our instruments become, the more the fetuses seem to look and act like people. They are winning the war of images:
New Ultrasound Rekindles Abortion Debate
Doctors: South Dakota Abortion Law Parallels Scientific Understanding
"The debate surrounding when unborn babies can feel--and so the age up until which they should be aborted," read a UK Guardian article last year, " was reignited by 4D scans, three-dimensional images with movement, that were pioneered by Professor Stuart Campbell, former professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at King's College, London. The moving images showed that unborn babies can stretch, kick and leap around from 12 weeks, make intricate finger movements at 15 weeks and yawn at 20 weeks. They also revealed that 18-week-old foetuses can open their eyes."
Also viewable was this fetal propaganda: "...twins and triplets jostling for space in the womb while grasping each other's hands and even faces... 'I was amazed at the detail in the faces - smiles, blinking - and the interaction between multiple foetuses,' [said Campbell]."
Thanks to these "4D" images, we found out that a fetus chooses to be right or left handed at 10 weeks by sucking its thumb. And it can show you the middle finger even earlier: Parkinson's Research is Set Back by Failure of Fetal Cell Implants.
But there are scientific "advances" that fetuses aren't so fond of, exposing certain technology to be as defective as it claims the fetuses to be: Prenatal Screening not so Accurate as Once Thought - "Normal" Children Killed as "Defective", reports a pro-life website called Lifesite News, which also revealed that screening tests for Down Syndrome are inaccurate up to 40 percent of the time. "Abortion of the child is most often the result, even though in many cases scans are inconclusive or show only an increased possibility of health problems....A recent Canadian study found more natural differences between the genetic code of individuals than previous researchers had thought existed, leading to greater difficulty in establishing a 'normal' genetic code as a basis for evaluating pre-natal scans....prenatal screening may incorrectly diagnose genetic differences as 'defects'."
Nor do fetuses like the RU-486 abortion drug. When debates raged as the FDA was set to approve it, the unborn were clearly against, and are apparently bitter over their political defeat, as evidenced by the fact that eight women who have taken it are now dead (though some put the number at 13), and a number of others have faced serious complications.
In addition to other negative consequences of abortion such as increased cancer risk, difficulty to carry future children to term, mental disorders, substance abuse, and regrets in later life that one didn't have more kids, abortion leads to an increased likelihood of premature birth, as the UK Telegraph reported:
A French study of 2,837 births...found that mothers who had previously had an abortion were 1.7 times more likely to give birth to a baby at less than 28 weeks' gestation. Many babies born this early die soon after birth, and a large number who survive suffer serious disability.
The preemies who survive, however, are useful for advancing the unborn agenda still further, by sending a message: Baby Beats 100 to 1 Survival Odds; World's Most Premature Baby is Thriving. Here they hold up a mirror to our self-created paradox of how on one floor of a hospital someone could be aborting a five-month fetus while on another floor medical staff are fighting to keep a five-month-old baby alive.
And there are other subtle hints the unborn have been throwing our way. For example, over time humanity learned to not be dismissive toward the suffering of animals, if for no reason other than the fact that violence against animals leads to violence against people. Likewise, the unborn have showed us that cruelty to fetuses leads to cruelty to others:
Former Jackson Abortion Clinic Doctor Faces New Murder Trial
New Website Details Thousands of Violent Crimes by Abortion Supporters
Who can argue that the unborn aren't people when they already behave as a formidable political bloc? Who can still think they don't have an opinion on whether they live or die?
Foetuses 'may be conscious long before abortion limit', read a 2003 UK Telegraph headline.
Julia Gorin is a comedian and opinion writer who blogs at JuliaGorin.com and PoliticalMavens.com.
https://pjmedia.com/blog/unborn_activists/
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Faith Victorious (Paperback)
BP-PHIR-FV
There’s hardly a topic more important than faith. And no portion of Scripture demonstrates the vitality of faith better than Hebrews 11. “This chapter is to faith what the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is to love,” writes Richard Phillips. “Hebrews 11 is the work of a master teacher and loving pastor who is convinced that the fate of his readers hinges on their faith.”
In this study of Hebrews 11 we find answers to some of our most pressing questions: What is faith? How do we get faith? What are its benefits? How does faith respond to life’s trials? We also enter the fascinating world of Old Testament men and women whose vision of a sure hope beyond their struggles led them to acts of great courage.
Like the first audience of the Book of Hebrews the church today faces mounting opposition—and the danger of falling away from the truth. Faith Victorious is an inspiring call to persevere in the faith and to spur each other on to love and good deeds.
The Good Confession: An Exploration of the Christian Faith (Paperback)
Justified By Faith Alone (Paperback)
God's Living Word
Faith Victorious (CD Set)
Faith Victorious (mp3 Disc)
Faith Victorious (Phillips)(mp3 download Set)
Grace Transforming (Paperback)
From Inscrutability to Concursus (Paperback)
Anchored in Grace: Fixed Points for Humble Faith (Paperback)
Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? (Paperback)
From the Pen of Pastor Paul: 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Paperback)
The Shepherd Who Would be King (Paperback)
Saved by Grace (Paperback)
Going Beyond the Five Points: Pursuing a More Comprehensive Reformation (Paperback)
Knowing God (Paperback)
Knowing the Trinity (Paperback)
The Valley of Vision (Paperback)
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"An alibi for voyeurism": sexual politics at the Wellington City Gallery
9 Comments / Feminism and women's rights / By reneejg
Last year, Te Papa museum exhibited one of my favourite Aotearoa artworks. It was part of a small show, with an understated title that did not capture its punch: Two Artists. Emily Karaka’s unabashed anti-colonial paintings about Bastion Point, and advancing Ngai Tai land claims hung alongside Shona Rapira Davies’ terracotta Nga Morehu. Nga Morehu must be one of the most powerful sculptures ever produced in New Zealand, and first exhibited at the City Gallery in a 1988 show called Whakamamae.
Shona Davies, Nga Morehu, 1988. Photo: City Gallery Wellington
Nga Morehu means “the survivors”, and the sculpture depicts a women’s karanga. A girl child looks up to face a group of life-size wahine, strong, barefoot women who call out to her as they step along a woven flax mat, reference to their whakapapa. The women are the young girl’s tipuna, shaped and alive with love. Davies’ hands seem fresh off the clay she has lavished with care to leave them emphatic, stirring and solid.
The women’s mouths are open, chanting but silent, the black of te po because Davies hasn’t just indicated the mouths with an indentation; she has channelled out a passage of voice for each through their chests, into history and beyond, where these tipuna call from. Their aliveness makes the thick silence that envelops the group striking and chilling. Te reo Māori belongs after all, to a culture of flowing oratory.
These women though are inscribed all over with writing; words all over their bodies. Words like,
Maori girls are
easy fucks
dirty Maori
Words like,
But kia toa little one
you were born of
survivors little one
The paradox of a struggle against violence and silence is a hallmark of Davies’ work in Two Artists. In another piece, the words ENOUGH IS ENOUGH are carved from transparent Perspex to imitate a spraypaint scrawl, and hung from the wall, visible only from certain angles. Another series looks to have been produced by a girl closed off in her room, abandoned to her thoughts, which come to paper:
Say goodbye to your brother, he is going to a good home
All maori men beat up their wives
Your father is a maori
I am a maori
Her fierce compassion makes Davies a standout artist: her works are profound, confronting, compassionate and urgent. They talk about colonisation, about rape culture, and life in Aotearoa from the perspective of a wahine Maori who is vociferous, even as she is silenced. Nga Morehu is still absolutely relevant today – perhaps even more than before.
In New Zealand today, police are called to one domestic violence situation every seven minutes on average. One in three girls will be subject to sexual assault by the age of 16, and for Maori girls and women the likelihood of experiencing sexual violence is nearly double. Davies does what most artists don’t: she looks. She insists that we are confronted, that we cut through the silence, that we korero, and that we work to make a better world for our girls.
For a time, while Karaka and Davies’ works showed at Te Papa, the City Gallery was displaying new and old photographs by Fiona Pardington, who also made her name as a feminist artist in the 1980s, in its show A Beautiful Hesitation.
Photo: CGW
Fiona Pardington’s Gigi
Gigi was a featured work in the show: a rephotographed image of a woman in underwear and heels, on the grass, crawling away from a pursuer – or posed to fetishise the act of crawling away from a pursuer in the viewer’s position. The image was rephotographed from a 1960s softcore porn magazine, and curator Aaron Lister positioned it on the City Gallery floor during Beautiful Hesitation, for visitors to walk over.
Gigi was also plastered on a Courtenay Place billboard, which Gallery director Elizabeth Caldwell explained was “to spark public interest and to pique viewers’ curiosity” in the venue. In other words, pornography gets foot traffic. Massey’s student magazine, Massive pulled the same stunt in March this year, to get readers. It was gross, and despite all the claims made by editor Carwyn Walsh, there’s nothing new, progressive or avant-garde about porn endorsement or the resulting controversy. Pornography and sexism are absolutely everywhere, it’s simply more disappointing than usual when publicly funded organisations get on the bandwagon. It is institutions like the City Gallery, too, whose actions and positions on pornography and gender will inform and encourage the likes of Massive.
Massive got away with their image because, as everyday as objectification is, its editor decided the controversy made him look cutting edge, exciting and effective, because a student magazine is supposed to be controversial. The tired reinforcement of gender stereotypes feels about this exciting to me.
Yvonne Todd, Goat Sluice, 2008. Photo: CGW
An art gallery can similarly sidestep social responsibility, by way of semantic acrobatics and conceptual manoeuvring. Lister understands Gigi like so:
By selecting and rephotographing individual images from the original proof sheets, Pardington liberates these women from the pornographic context. The women are given new life in a public and contemporary context, and new narrative possibilities. In re-presenting and often renaming each woman—in this case, the subject is named Gigi — Pardington humanises and returns agency to her subjects.
Is this the Emperor’s Clothes parade? I would like to know where Lister gets the notion that any woman is “liberated”, “humanised” or granted “agency” by having her image walked over on the floor; by the lining of strange pockets through its continued reproduction; by a man’s use of his public platform to endorse pornography; by his dressing up said porn in the language of postmodernism to sell it as “fine art”; or by being called “Gigi” irrespective of what her name or circumstance actually is. I would like to know where Lister gets the notion that any woman is “liberated” by the endorsement or reproduction of pornography anywhere.
What I do know is that pornography today is even more pervasive, violent, normalised and in demand than it was in the 1980s, and that that should be any curator’s primary consideration in placing these images in a “contemporary context” – particularly in the name of women’s liberation. 88% of pornographic films contain physical violence toward women, and pornography is not only highly available, but heavily promoted, actively normalised, pervasive, and fuelling rape culture. This all worst affects the very girls that Shona Rapira Davies was encouraging us care for enough to critique social norms like the routine degradation, commodification and objectification of women, while the City Gallery stuck Gigi on the floor and on its marketing, just across the City to Sea bridge.
Pardington’s Choker – according to the City Gallery, this woman’s neck is “lovingly bruised”.
It seems as though the City Gallery is not as interested in challenging these norms as it is in how they can be used to market the venue as saucy, risqué and flirtatious. The same pornographic ideas are recycled and endorsed again for the current show Bullet Time, this time without requiring any notable contribution from female collaborators.
When I first entered Bullet Time, I found it captivating. Like Davies’ Nga Morehu, it explores the wonder and vastness of time, the way we each etch our every movement irreversibly within it, while it constantly offers the possibility of radical transformation. It also presents a fascinating historical, intergenerational conversation about the recording of motion. Eadweard Muybridge’s late nineteenth century photographic studies of birds in flight and nude women washing and climbing ladders speak to Harold Edgerton’s wartime images of gunshots penetrating fruit, and Steve Carr and Daniel Crooks’ current work with video.
One of Carr’s videos depicts an upright watermelon being wrapped one-by-one with rubber bands, placed round its middle by two pairs of women’s manicured hands. The most amusing part of the video is how viewers who gather to watch it become rooted to the floor, even though its content is essentially inane. Someone will lean in to determine whether the watermelon is gaining a waist or not; someone else will flinch at the loud snap of a rubber band, as they wait for the one that makes the melon explode. It gets harder to leave the longer you remain – surely the minute you turn away the transformation will happen, and despite your investment of time you’ll have missed it. It seems so silly to feel so compelled to see a melon pop, that the installation made me laugh and freed me to wonder what preoccupations I might carry around that I could be liberated from, that I might hold on to, for no other reason than that I’ve invested time.
Steve Carr, Watermelon. Photo: CGW
I was far from considering what chief curator Robert Leonard does in his catalogue essay, that the video is about castration. Quite far. I also hadn’t considered the essay’s explanation of the adjacent works by Carr, Screen Shots, which are also hypnotic. Across several screens, colours ripple round each other in slow motion, as a man’s hand bursts paint-filled balloons with a needle.
The generic-anonymous male demonstrator may not wear a lab coat, but his crisp, clean white-cuffed shirt means business. Because he is male, it is easy to understand the pendulous balloons as female and their rupture and release as orgasmic. Is this a portrayal of male prowess (he always bursts her bubble)…? Screen Shots is a compilation of orgasms, of feminine money shots.
This statement is not just an incidental, harmless, casual association with “popping cherries”. It actually tells us something central about the sexual politics and framing of the exhibition in question, and because of its consistency with that of previous shows, makes me concerned about what seems to be a repeated, explicit, implicit and subliminal endorsement of male entitlement, female subjugation and rape culture at the City Gallery – that’s what bursts my bubble.
Bullet Time’s catalogue essay facilitates a conversation between its male artists, looking for the commonalities and distinctions between them. It concludes with the statement that “Each offers an antidote to the other, but each, in his way, is a seducer”. The male artist of course, cannot be content with being a metaphysical philosopher and technical master of his craft, alone – he must also affirm his sexual superiority and “prowess”.
Leonard’s essay seems to affirm that Carr and Crooks have got behind it, behind all creation, to “make time and space their bitch”. The language is not coincidental – female subordination is corollary to the idea of male conquest that is at this exhibition’s nucleus. We live in society, not on some astral plane or inside the Matrix, and Bullet Time‘s artists are invested in ideas of male supremacy. The show is a boys’ club affirmation of this masculinity, which positions women as sexual subordinates. Locomotion studies of female nudes offer “an alibi for voyeurism”, apples are shot, balloons pricked, milk is Freudian, tunnels wait passively for trains to power through them.
From Steve Carr’s Screen Shots. Photo: Circuit
Leonard says that Carr “picks up on the erotic subtext” of wartime photographer Harold Edgerton. Leonard mentions that Edgerton also documented atomic-bomb tests in the Marshall islands in 1952, after having developed technology for aerial reconnaissance during World War Two – but only in passing. Its these artists’ prowess, their technical mastery and philosophical profundity that is meaningful to Leonard – not what their depictions of guns have to do with militarism or male violence. As Leonard writes,
Edgerton’s images were often sexually loaded: a gun discharging with an ejaculatory puff of smoke, an exploded apple (tempting forbidden fruit), a ruptured banana (a phallus), milk splashes (mummy!). They suggest those movie cutaways that signify sex without showing it—steam trains entering tunnels and fireworks exploding.
This might be a good time to reference Howard Zinn’s The Bomb, or Jock Phillips A Man’s Country, to problematize Edgerton’s simultaneous eroticisation of military and sexual violence. To examine how the ideas of sexual conquest, military ambition and technological fanaticism are related – and indeed also to the nuclear devastation in the Marshall islands and wider Pacific that Edgerton recorded, and to the colonisation that Shona Rapira Davies and Emily Karaka so recently called attention to at Te Papa.
In The Bomb, Zinn, a World War Two combat soldier turned critical historian, writes how the dropping of the bomb Enola Gay on Hiroshima occurred in haste after Japan had effectively surrendered. He says, pertinently,
It seems that there was no specific decision to drop the bomb on Nagasaki… three days later… One reason for the absence of discussion may well have been that while the Hiroshima bomb fissioned only uranium atoms, the Nagasaki bomb used plutonium, and there was a question whether plutonium would work as well. Military operations have often been undertaken not out of military necessity but to try out new weaponry. Human life sacrificed for technological “progress” – that is part of the history of modern “civilisation”.
Harold Edgerton, Bullet Through Apple, 1964
Phillips’ A Man’s Country provides an extraordinary analysis of how militarism, male violence and their concomitant misogyny have shaped New Zealand since colonisation, while women are often laid blame. Leonard provides two telling illustrations of how this blaming works, in his Bullet Time essay. One as he rationalises a homicide committed by photographer Eadweard Muybridge not as an act of male violence, but of “envy” – in short, caused by Muybridge’s wife; another as he relays Carr’s explanation of how his Watermelon video signifies castration. Unlike male violence, castration performed by women barely ever happens, but the mythologising of it does provide some abstract justification for real misogyny.
What does it mean that the City Gallery will consider porn reproduction to be feminist, while it will not acknowledge rape or rape culture? That it considers “money shots” sexy and subversive, but will not touch porn’s routine violation of women or the sex trafficking that it feeds on? That it is interested in the technology that precisely and aesthetically performs aerial reconnaissance and records gunshots and explosions of flesh, but not in challenging militarism, white supremacy or colonisation? Or that it salivates over a bullet pulping the representation of a woman as a primordial metaphor, but will make no mention of the actual male violence that injures and kills thousands of women each year at the hands of partners alone, some of whom are indeed armed with guns?
It feels a lot like hearing Margaret Thatcher insist that there is “no such thing as society”. Exhibition titles like Inhabiting Space and Just the Right White often feel that way as well.
Yet the battering and killing of women, our treatment as objects meant for sexual gratification, is not a metaphor for women – Rebecca Solnit calls it the Longest War. I long to see a platform that gives due voice to artists like Emily Karaka and Shona Rapira Davies, women who reject the perpetual repetition of sexist norms, who challenge them, who resist them with fierce loving compassion and teach us all how to find the same fight in ourselves. Whose work is neither conformist nor escapist. That’s art.
Rape culture is a black hole. It’s the black hole of humanity. It depletes us for the sake of men who insist on making themselves appear as Gods.
1 in 3 women in this country experience sexual assault, with a higher rate for Pasifika. In that context, in the face of this violation, does a male artist or curator really have the right to position himself as some kind of prime mover and seducer, making “time and space his bitch”?
This is the culture that sees Women’s Refuge and Rape Crisis centres and safehouses a mundane necessity in every town. In the U.S., a rape occurs every 107 seconds, a woman is beaten every 9, and one thousand women each year killed at the hands of male partners. New Zealand suffers such high rates of teenage pregnancy that the government has looked at effectively forcing contraceptive injections on school girls, while it keeps telling them to lengthen their skirts. Again: as if women bring it all on themselves. With our female fertility, our skirts, our production of envy in men, our unconscious desire to castrate, our primordial kinship with tunnels. Consider too that while we generally perceive the men who impregnate adolescent girls to be their school peers, most of them are adult male predators.
Wellington’s Westpac stadium could fill every year with the number of women who undergo abortions. And while we are contemplating time and sexual politics – I happen to know something about how this experience can make a woman confront time. That “gun” is fired and suddenly she has an infinite potential for life inside her – which ultrasound indeed makes look a bit like a bullet, or the pupil of an eye in her womb. Or a black pearl, an astounding Pacific black pearl in its surrounding ocean. Or the full stop concluding a sentence, or that camera lens that so fascinates champions of photography, for all it sees and swallows, documents, fossilises, and hesitates over.
The small window a woman has to decide what to do with this mysterious cluster of cells inside her, society celebrates on her behalf as her “choice”, when it isn’t busy telling her she’s contemplating cold-blooded murder. She faces the generations of mothers who have raised her, expecting her to be one of them, the best yet; centuries of feminists who have fought for her to live a safe, autonomous, creative life. This society will listen to her and support her adequately neither in motherhood nor grief. Part of her own life has been stolen, while the value of his time weighs heavily.
If she opts for vacuum aspiration, as I have done, it is not something that happens to her because she is as a person who is innately analogous to fruit or flowers or a balloon. Experiences like this, for women, stem from our being part of a class of people who are subject daily to the violence of men who use their positions of power to sustain the idea that such metaphors reflect a natural hierarchy, rather than the myths of an unjust caste system, and that it’s a woman’s real purpose to serve them like a tunnel does a train.
The reason it is really so important to include reflections on gender in art is not because it makes you look sexy, but because women constitute half the population, and these deeply held beliefs about our purpose are part of our experience not because they constitute our natural destiny, but because they are so sacrosanct to male supremacy and to the rape culture that destroys us. Perhaps the true realities that women face get written off as too banal for reflection, too close to the ground, not intellectual, conceptual, ambiguous or sophisticated enough for fine art displays. That is what Davies’ Nga Morehu calls out, where Creamy Psychology, Beautiful Hesitation and Bullet Time are painfully silent.
This silence is a tension in all of Davies’ work. She not only deals with the injustices of colonialism, systemic racism, rape culture and domestic violence, she grapples with the problems of talking about them: with love and agitation, anger and faith, heartbreak and union, violence and prayer, betrayal and courage.
Because these are our human problems. Profound, earth-bound, definitive, necessary, inescapable problems. The type that artists and public institutions must be driven to creatively examine and to radically transform. Privilege can make us feel we are exempt from confronting these challenges, from listening to artists like Davies, as though we are above what she lives, as though we live in another realm.
But we aren’t and we don’t. So listen, and confront, we must – and the time is now.
Image: National Library
9 thoughts on “"An alibi for voyeurism": sexual politics at the Wellington City Gallery”
Andrew Paul Wood
In the case of the Fiona Pardington image on the floor, it was a deliberate decision by the artist to evoke a direct connection between the objectification of the male gaze and the physical act of domination by walking on the image, also with specific reference to Maori tikanga in which such an act would be considered a violation of tapu. The intent was to make the viewer consciously consider the relationship between their actions, reactions and the images rather than crude shock value or titillation. I specifically asked Fiona about this because the set up was so confrontational and troubling, and I have a bit more respect for City Gallery and Aaron Lister as a curator than to assume it was just a casual afterthought.
Hi Andrew, nga mihi. Thank you so much for reading my blog, I appreciate it.
I don’t assume that placing “Gigi” on the floor was an afterthought, at all, and I also respect both the City Gallery and Aaron Lister. Lister was actually one of my undergraduate art history tutors, and I know that he is clever, committed and engaging. My respect for Lister and the Gallery however, does nothing to alter the fact that the repeated objectification and literal trampling of representational and metaphorical images of women by a public institution endorses rape culture. It also does nothing to negate how much this repeated activity offends me. It also offends me that any man, no matter how much I respect him, would call “liberating” an action that reflects something feminists have been fighting tooth and nail for the sake of real, material, actual women’s liberation for centuries. So, I realise that the Fiona Pardington image on the floor was a deliberate decision by all involved, and with all due respect, I am questioning that decision – particularly in the context of ongoing similar decisions to embrace and fetishise rather than challenge the idea of women’s subjugation at this venue. Evoking “violation” and the “direct connection between the objectification of the male gaze and the physical act of domination by walking on the image” is not critical. Evocation is not a challenge. These decisions and actions do absolutely nothing to challenge rape culture, or encourage viewers to be self-critical, at all. The decisions and actions endorse objectification by practising it – to make any other claim is simply word play, and I think also highly evasive.
Did you read the hyperlinks I placed in this article relating to pornography? I recommend them highly, as well as Gail Dines’ book “Pornland”. Many articles have also been published just recently following the Stanford rape trial, showing the connection between rape, rape culture, and pornography (which as I stated is becoming increasingly violent, and which boys begin to watch at the average age of eleven, nowadays).
Brock Turner actually photographed his victim while she was down on the ground and he was attacking her, or perhaps as he was about to.
Here is an article showing the connections between what he did, and the prevalence of pornography in our culture:
http://verilymag.com/2016/06/stanford-rape-case-sexual-assault-porn-news-0906
I also recommend seeking out the art of feminists who actively challenge rape culture and pornography. I consider Shona Davies one of them, and I do not think it is possible to listen to her message deeply, and still stick porn on the floor for people to walk on.
I do hope you consider these reflections, and thank you again for commenting on my blog, Andrew!
Nga mihi,
I am intrigued yet also sickened and angry about the city gallery kaupapa. I find it so very hard to grasp their perpetuation of women as passive/ naked / sexualised objects (with the implication of violent or implied subjugation and/ or penetration occuring), in a setting such as this where stereotypes, myths and social constructs can so readily be challenged. And I have no words for Fiona Pardingtons’ renaming and framing of Gigi – strangulation is a strong indicator of a very real threat of death for women experiencing IPV. Nothing loving about bruising to the throat – the hold only needs to last a very short time for long-term injury or death to occur (compliance is not consent with many of these forms of sexualised violence).
Disappointed – yes – I expect educated artists and curators who choose to work with subject matter like this to have a sturdy analysis of violence, feminism, gender and sexual politics, representation etc… and to use the privilege of their positions as a platform to challenge the ongoing patriarchal colonisation of women. It may be a titillating, crowd drawing, and erotic, intellectual dialogue for some (mostly men?) but for so many of us it is a devastating indictment of what is very real violence – after all the word rape can never fully describe the reality of being raped. This kaupapa reinforces all of the deficit, legitimating and victim blaming discourses we have fought so hard to shift.
I also love Shona Rapira Davies, 1983 work – Ma te wahine ka tupu ai te hanga nei, te tangata, ma te whenua kawhai opanga ai/ Woman found raped, wrapped in a threadbare cloak. Real, honest, gritty, humanising artwork – dignifying who we are as women in spite of the humiliation and degradation we face in society, in organisations and in everyday interactions. Nga Morehu is very special – delivering the karanga is often described as ‘lifting the veil’ – I feel like City Gallery are dropping the veil over eyes that already struggle to see.
Not sure what else to say… not erotic, just oppressive. So glad that you are responding like this for those of us who can’t
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Reblogged this on Black Stone.
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by The Manimal
Cops DEFEND arrest of jogger who was tackled and handcuffed ‘when she didn’t hear cops because of headphones’
February 23, 2014 in News by The Manimal
Source: Daily Mail
Amanda Jo Stephen, 24, charged with failure to identify and traffic signal violation in Austin, Texas
Eyewitness said Stephen was jogging with headphones on and didn’t hear police officer tell her to stop
Police were in the area giving tickets to pedestrians for crossing street on red light
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo defended his officers and laid the blame on Stephen for being uncooperative
The chief of police in Austin, Texas, addressed the controversial video showing a young jogger being arrested for jaywalking, insisting that his officers have done nothing wrong.
In a press conference held Saturday, a defiant Chief Art Acevedo came out swinging against the critics of his department and refused to apologize for the arrest of 24-year-old Amanda Jo Stephen.
Stephen was taken into custody while out for a run on 24th Street Thursday morning after she illegally crossed the street and then allegedly refused to give her name to police officers.
Stephen’s dramatic arrest marked by sobbing and yelling was captured by a bystander, Chris Quintero, whose video went viral after being posted on YouTube.
On Saturday, a visibly irritated Chief Acevedo downplayed the entire incident and brushed off words of censure directed at his officers by social media users.
‘Thank you, lord, that it is a controversy in Austin, Texas — that we actually have the audacity to touch somebody by the arm and tell them, “Oh my goodness, Austin police we’re trying to get your attention,”’ Acevedo remarked sarcastically.
‘Whew! In other cities, cops are actually committing sexual assaults on duty, so I thank God that this is what passes for a controversy in Austin, Texas.’
Scroll down for videos
She had it coming: Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo responded to the controversy surrounding the jogger’s arrest, saying that Stephen was uncooperative and left officers no choice but to grab her hand and cuff her
Sarcastic: Chief Acevedo told reporters he thanks God that a jaywalker’s arrest passes for controversy in Austin, while elsewhere in the country cops commit serious crimes on duty
Combative mood: Acevedo insisted that his officers have done nothing wrong, and that Stephen should consider herself lucky that she wasn’t slapped with a charge of resisting arrest
The chief explained that two uniformed officers screamed at Stephen to stop, but the woman, who allegedly didn’t hear them because she had her headphone on, continued on her way.
Only then, Acevedo said, did one of the cops grab her arm from behind.
The chief also challenged the claim that the woman couldn’t hear the cops because of the pink earbuds seen in photos of her arrest.
According to police, the 24-year-old runner refused to divulge her name and was uncooperative.
Quintero, who wrote a post of his blog lambasting police for startling the woman, later toned down his rhetoric, telling the station KTBC that even if the officer came up from behind, at some point Stephen must have realized that he was a law enforcement agent.
While it was suggested earlier that the woman was dragged to the ground after being handcuffed, Acevedo revealed that Stephen sat down on her own accord and went limp, the Austin American Statesman reported.
‘She did the limp routine, and in 28 years of law enforcement, I can tell you it happens all the time,’ Acevedo said.
Austin’s top cop added that the 24-year-old should consider herself lucky that he was not among the officers on the scene, who let her walk away with a failure to identify charge rather than the more serious count of resisting arrest.
‘I wouldn’t have been as generous,’ he warned.
Stephen was one of 28 people who were stopped for jaywalking Thursday. A total of seven pedestrians were issued citations.
Stephen’s headline-making arrest took place just before 11am outside a fast-food eatery near the intersection of 24th Street and San Antonio Street in Austin.
Busted: Amanda Jo Stephen, 24, is seen handcuffed and in tears following Thursday’s arrest for a traffic violation in Austin
Caught on camera: Chris Quintero took pictures and video of the jogger’s arrest; the college student said the 24-year-old crossed the street without waiting to the light to switch and was ordered to stop by police
Sporting a black crop top, shorts and toe sneakers, 24-year-old Amanda Jo Stephen was running across the street when an officer yelled for her to stop.
According to Quintero, who saw the arrest play out from a nearby Starbucks, the jogger got caught in a police operation targeting jaywalkers, University of Texas’ student newspaper The Daily Texan reported.
Since Stephen had her headphones on, she allegedly didn’t hear the officer and continued on her way.
The officer quickly caught up with her and grabbed Stephen’s hand from behind, prompting her to push his hand away.
Desperate pleas: A sobbing Stephen repeatedly told the officers that she did nothing wrong and was simply exercising
Lawbreaker: Austin PD said the woman has been charged with failure to identify herself to police and a class B traffic signal violation
An Austin police spokesperson told MailOnline Friday that Miss Stephen was handcuffed and taken into custody for failing to give her name to police.
In Quintero’s 2-minute video, the young woman with blond hair arranged in two braids in seen weeping on the ground with her hands restrained behind her back and two officers towering over her.
At one point, the apprehended jogger notices Quintero taking pictures of her and declares: ‘I was doing nothing wrong. I was crossing the street.’
A moment later, a pair of uniformed cops, joined by two more cops on bikes, could be seen placing the sobbing woman into the back of a squad car, with her pleading and shrieking at the top of her lungs.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t do anything wrong! she said repeatedly. ‘I didn’t f***ing do anything wrong! I just crossed the street.’
Since going up on YouTube Thursday, Quintero’s video has gone viral, drawing more than 17,000 views, and counting.
Internet hit: Quintero’s video showing the four burly man overpowering the slender young jogger has gone viral in a day
The Austin Police Department has denied that the officers seen in the video were specifically targeting jaywalkers, claiming instead that they were working ‘pedestrian enforcement’ to ensure traffic safety.
The agency spokesperson told MailOnline Miss Stephen has been charged with failure to identify and a class B traffic signal violation.
As of Friday, she was not listed as an inmate in the local jail, suggesting that she has been released on bond.
‘Maybe the plus size cops should follow her lead, and go on a jog instead of wasting tax dollars on trivial matters… just a thought,’ Quintero wrote in his blog.
Tags: Amanda Jo Stephen, Austin, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, Chief Acevedo, jaywalking, Police Brutality, police state
Comments Off on Cops DEFEND arrest of jogger who was tackled and handcuffed ‘when she didn’t hear cops because of headphones’
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The effect of a barrier to gene flow on patterns of geographic variation
N.H. Barton, Genetical Research 90 (2008) 139–149.
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Explicit formulae are given for the effects of a barrier to gene flow on random fluctuations in allele frequency; these formulae can also be seen as generating functions for the distribution of coalescence times. The formulae are derived using a continuous diffusion approximation, which is accurate over all but very small spatial scales. The continuous approximation is confirmed by comparison with the exact solution to the stepping stone model. In both one and two spatial dimensions, the variance of fluctuations in allele frequencies increases near the barrier; when the barrier is very strong, the variance doubles. However, the effect on fluctuations close to the barrier is much greater when the population is spread over two spatial dimensions than when it occupies a linear, one-dimensional habitat: barriers of strength comparable with the dispersal range (B≈σ) can have an appreciable effect in two dimensions, whereas only barriers with strength comparable with the characteristic scale (B\! \approx\! L \equals \sigma \sol \sqrt {2 \mu}\hskip2) are significant in one dimension (μ is the rate of mutation or long-range dispersal). Thus, in a two-dimensional population, barriers to gene flow can be detected through their effect on the spatial pattern of genetic marker alleles.
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Barton NH. The effect of a barrier to gene flow on patterns of geographic variation. Genetical Research. 2008;90(1):139-149. doi:10.1017/S0016672307009081
Barton, N. H. (2008). The effect of a barrier to gene flow on patterns of geographic variation. Genetical Research, 90(1), 139–149. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016672307009081
Barton, Nicholas H. “The Effect of a Barrier to Gene Flow on Patterns of Geographic Variation.” Genetical Research 90, no. 1 (2008): 139–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016672307009081.
N. H. Barton, “The effect of a barrier to gene flow on patterns of geographic variation,” Genetical Research, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 139–149, 2008.
Barton NH. 2008. The effect of a barrier to gene flow on patterns of geographic variation. Genetical Research. 90(1), 139–149.
Barton, Nicholas H. “The Effect of a Barrier to Gene Flow on Patterns of Geographic Variation.” Genetical Research, vol. 90, no. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 139–49, doi:10.1017/S0016672307009081.
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Every so often unplanned incidents cause service interuptions. Depending on the type of emergency, we work closely with the federal and state police, the fire department, emergency physicians, and our DB partners.
Should an emergency situation arise, we do not lose sight of the safety of our passengers, and we strive to resume regular S-Bahn service as quickly as possible. We realize the inconveniences that may incur with service interruptions in the S-Bahn network; however, they cannot always be avoided. We hope to shed some light on the various factors that may lead to service interruptions and how we keep our passengers safe.
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How often does it occur? Emergency situations happen almost daily at the S-Bahn.
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There are many reasons for police intervention in the S-Bahn network: people walking on the tracks, violent clashes between passengers, attacks on employees, cable theft, objects thrown on to the track, damage to trains, and so on.
The train operator must drive to the next station to ensure police and first responders can easily access the crime or emergency scene onboard. Another example: when people appear on the tracks, the train conductor must slow the train down to walking speed.
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How long does it take? Situations, where police intervention is needed, take on average 30 minutes to carryout. However, depending on the gravity of the case, it could take up to a few hours until trains are back in service. For example, a police search for children or adults on the tracks.
Who is involved? Usually, both the police and DB Netz emergency control center are on the scene.
How often does it occur? Situations, where police intervention is needed, happen a few times a week.
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Figherfighters are needed when severe weather and storms cause damage. In addition to the Berlin rescue teams, our teams and those of our DB partners are on duty in the S-Bahn network, ready for any acute weather conditions. In such cases, they work hard to repair damages, such as clearing fallen trees off the tracks.
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How long does it take? The damage repairs to infrastructure such as switches or signals range from one hour to several days. Prolonged disruptions arise when, for example, a switch part has to be replaced.
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We strive always to be prepared beforehand; however, sometimes the S-Bahn experiences train delays when thousands of guests arrive and depart an event at the same time. In our planning, we take into account significant events, such as the FIFA World Cup or church congress.
For this purpose, we regularly coordinate with the Senate and the event organizers to be well informed before the big day. We train a special team that coordinates the staff and ensures that the operation runs smoothly, including keeping the tracks as clean as possible during these events.
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Short story where protagonist's job is to exorcise/fight “shadows” that inhabit houses. Becomes obsolete at story's end?
Plot Summary/Details
As best I can remember, the setting for this one was contemporary Earth, or a human off-world colony with contemporary technology. Whatever the exact location, there are creatures of shadow that present a threat to the world. I can't remember if they are undead creatures, or alien beings, or if their true nature is unknown. I also can't remember exactly what harm they can do to people. What I do remember for certain is that the protagonist is of a particular occupation/class that fights these shadows to protect the rest of society.
The method by which the protagonist and his fellows battle the shadows is something of a psychic duel. The protagonist enters a house, and reaches out mentally against the shadow. The two entities become locked in a mental struggle, with the task of the protagonist to be able to out-darkness the creature of darkness. Something like that. If successful, the shadow is dispelled, and the weary shadow fighter emerges victorious. The cost of victory, however, is quite high. The protagonist talks at length the strain of going into the darkness, and the toll fighting shadows takes on a human being. He and his kind age and become "burned out" far sooner than a human being otherwise would. Eventually, a shadow-fighter becomes too weak to fight on against the darkness. I think the protagonist is nearing the end of his ability to fight, but is not quite finished yet.
About mid-story, the protagonist encounters a man and several followers. They claim to have found a new way to destroy the shadows. The protagonist wearily dismisses the man and his group. For generations, alternative approaches have been proposed and tried. Some come from well-meaning fools, while others are snake-oil propositions from con-men. All, however, have failed. There is only one way to destroy a shadow, and that is the grueling, debilitating method the protagonist uses.
The story's final act comes when the new man and his followers join hands in a circle. I believe they do so around and infested house. They channel positive emotions or something like that. There is a flash of light, and the darkness from this infested house is gone. The new method worked, and it did so without any harm or ill-effect to the man or his followers.
The story closes with the protagonist realizing that his entire life has been spent sacrificing himself, his youth, and his vitality. And now, he and his ways are completely obsolete.
Timeframe of Publication
Not really sure. I'd say 1980's or earlier. I think I read it in a sci-fi mag, rather than an anthology of some sort.
story-identification short-stories
Helbent IVHelbent IV
This definitely sounds like a short story by Timothy Zahn called "The Shadows of Evening". It was published in the book Cascade Point in 1987.
The story (and it's equal "Not Always the Strong", also in Cascade Point) is about a Shadow Warrior named Turek. It's set on a human colony that's stuck at a pre-industrial technology because the Shadows are attracted to any kind of technology.
Humans can't really see the Shadows (although the Warriors have tricks to get a quick afterimage of them), but entering an area with Shadows is described as
... it started as a vaguely uncomfortable feeling, a sort of exaggerated nervousness. But as..it increased, and Turek could feel sweat popping out as his skin began to creep uncontrollably. A feeling of nausea get steadily in the pit of his stomach; his heart was already pounding loudly. His eyes felt like they were being squeezed into his skull.
In order to fight the Shadows, Turek:
... set his teeth and focused his mind just so... For a moment he felt nothing but the sickness in his body. Then, abruptly, something seemed to click. And he was in union with the Shadow. The darkness came like a wave, threatening to overwhelm him, to drag him into some nameless place where light never pierced. With practiced ease he deflected the assault and launched his counterattack. Be destroyed! Scatter to the winds! It resisted his blow, and for an instant Turek seemed to hear something: like voices, but faint and wordless and inhuman. And then he felt the resistance break, and he was back in the jewelry shop. Clearly the Shadow still existed; he hadn't expected to destroy it completely with a single assault. But his body told him it had reached its limit, and he knew better than to push Shadow-contact past that point.
Turek meets a man named Javan and his followers when he hears they've gone to the old ship (that brought the colonists to this planet) that is surrounded by the 8 mile diameter Shadow. Turek thinks they must be charlatans. He issues a challenge, and they go back to the shop that Turek knew would take days to clear of the Shadow. And Javan's technique works.
Javan walked forward, slowly, stoping at the end of the Shadow. For a moment he stood quietly, and Turek saw use what seemed to be a slight modification of the Shadow Warrior afterimage technique. He raised his right hand, open palm just touching the Shadow, and the faint murmuring of the crowd cut off into an expectant silence. Turek watched his closely, ever sense alert for whatever trickery he was about to use. -- And suddenly Javan blazed with light!
The single encounter destroyed the Shadow (and knocked out Turek).
Javan pleads with Turek to realize that the new method was better, would be good for everyone. Turek knows this, but the story ends with him going off on his own.
He'd given his entire life to battle...but now Javan had proved that the sacrifice hadn't been necessary, that an easier way was possible. And Turek had wasted his life for nothing.
DinaeDinae
That's the one. I remember now the point about technology attracting the shadows, thanks to your very detailed answer. Poor Turek... – Helbent IV Mar 14 '17 at 3:46
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TV Academy Says Non-Binary ‘Billions’ Star Asia Kate Dillon Can Choose Their Emmy Category
E. Oliver Whitney
Asia Kate Dillon has made TV history not just once, but twice this year. The star, known as one of the neo-Nazi inmates from Orange Is the New Black, became the first non-binary performer to play a non-binary character in a recurring TV role. And today Dillon sparked a massively progressive conversation around the Emmys.
In Showtime’s Billions, Dillon plays Taylor Mason, a financial intern at the hedge fund run by Damien Lewis’ Bobby Axelrod. When the network asked Dillon, who uses they, them, and their pronouns, how they wanted to submit their performance for Emmys consideration, they realized the inherent problem of the binary awards system: Would they have to submit for Supporting Actor or Supporting Actress? Dillon decided to send the Television Academy a personal letter to find out how the guidelines determined eligibility in either category. Variety published an excerpt from Dillon’s letter:
I’d like to know if in your eyes ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ denote anatomy or identity and why it is necessary to denote either in the first place? The reason I’m hoping to engage you in a conversation about this is because if the categories of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are in fact supposed to represent ‘best performance by a person who identifies as a woman’ and ‘best performance by a person who identifies as a man’ then there is no room for my identity within that award system binary. Furthermore, if the categories of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are meant to denote assigned sex I ask, respectfully, why is that necessary?
The TV Academy responded immediately and told Dillon they were free to choose the category they wanted to submit in. After having a conversation with the Academy, Dillon was told “anyone can submit under either category for any reason” and that there are no specific gender qualifications for either. The Billions star was pleased with the response telling Variety, “I found them to be 100% supportive. I really couldn’t have been happier.” Dillon chose to submit under Supporting Actor, preferring the non-gendered word to “actress.”
It’s huge that the Academy so quickly engaged in a conversation with Dillon about their letter and allowed the actor to make their own choice. While the lack of rules specifying gender categories for the awards show isn’t history-making in itself, the fact that Dillon so boldly questioned them about it, is able to choose their category, and is starting a conversation is. They may be the only out non-binary actor on a major television series right now, but there are more gender non-conforming actors out there waiting for their big break.
Dillon is helping create space for those performers to get roles, inspiring more screenwriters to write non-binary characters, and most incredibly, they’re helping spark necessary conversations around gender identity in film and TV. Though trans visibility has been increasing in the media over the past few years, non-binary folks are often omitted from discussions and portrayals. But things are changing, little by little. It was a big step earlier this year when Laverne Cox included non-binary people in her Grammys shout out for Gavin Grimm, followed by Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney dedicating his Oscar to folks who don’t identify as male or female.
It’s exciting to see mention of non-binary folks in the context of awards ceremonies, which inherently reinforce the gender binary. After all, how exactly does gender factor into a performance? And how much should the recognition of talent be defined by the way the person behind the role identities? Those are bigger questions for a larger conversation, but hopefully ones we can start to critically engage with as more non-cisgender performers get opportunities.
2017 GLAAD Media Awards Has the Fewest LGBTQ Film Nominees Since 2004
Filed Under: Asia Kate Dillon, Billions, Emmys
Categories: Awards, TV News
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Colony: Josh Holloway On His New Sci-Fi Series & Reuniting With Carlton Cuse
by Melissa Unger
Fan-favorite actor Josh Holloway returns to TV in a big way. Since the hit show Lost vanished from prime time in 2010, Holloway has gone on to play various roles. But this time he plays nothing like James 'Sawyer' Ford in USA's new sci-fi series Colony. However, Holloway does reunite with his legendary Lost executive producer, Carlton Cuse.
Colony is set in a future Los Angeles, where the city is seized and occupied by an alien force. Naturally, there is a clash between the city's residents and those who seek to control it. Some residents choose to fight and rebel against the occupation, while others choose to collaborate with the intruders. Holloway plays Will Bowman, a former FBI agent and father who feels he doesn't have much of a choice about how to deal with these interlopers. During the invasion, Bowman's son Bram (Alex Neustaedter) is taken and is used as a means of forcing his father to cooperate with his captors.
Screen Rant spoke with the cast and crew of Colony at NYCC, and the following is their impression of the series so far. For Holloway, it was the moral dilemma his character faces that drew him to the show:
"What is so rich about the storytelling [in this show] is [it's based] in reality." He adds, "What would you do if they had [taken] your family? What decisions would you make if you were put in that situation? Who comes first your family or your humanity?"
Show creator Carlton Cuse echoes the significance of the human and moral aspects of this sci-fi show:
"The human story kicks off in the very first episode of the show when Josh’s character...is sort of forced into becoming a collaborator and hunt down the resistance. There are a lot of twists and turns that occur and a lot of moral dilemmas that come up for him and his family members as he is on that quest."
Bowman's quest, or really, the show's concept, grew out of the historical interest writer Ryan Condal and Cuse have with World War II and Nazi Germany. Condal confesses the war "…was a big inspiration. I mean Carlton and I both are huge fans of history, particularly World War II history." Condal explains what aspects of the war inspired the kinds of storytelling that will be seen in Colony, specifically pinpointing the occupation of Nazi forces around Europe:
"We were really, really fascinated by the Nazi occupation of Europe because you had this massive overwhelming technological force that took over all these countries and very quickly the people adapted and tried to survive in this world. Life in these places went on...[and] very quickly people adapted and moved on. The thing that really fascinated us as drama storytellers was the villains in these stories. See, everyone knew the Nazis were bad, but the really interesting thing were collaborators within those places that allied with the Nazis... They would all have their own stories and justifications for that, and that felt just like a really rich place for storytelling for us."
So expect that, through Colony, Condal and Cuse will explore the dilemmas and reactions that basically moral people must face when they find themselves in a threatening, oppressive situation like a military occupation. Understanding that will offer viewers some insight into the justifications the characters have for making the choices they ultimately make.
For his part, Holloway admits that part of the series' draw was the opportunity to reunite with Lost executive producer, Carlton Cuse. "It was like putting on an old pair of jeans after working with this guy and not knowing anything for 6 years," he says. As for the his approach to playing a character that is demonstrably different than Sawyer, and one who finds himself in a storyline that really bears no resemblance to Lost, Holloway says he's ready for the challenges that presents.
"I am trained for this. I love a story where the audience knows as much about what is going on as the characters, and it is a slow reveal of the mystery and what is happening and you take the ride with me."
As for Cuse, he's just happy to be working with Holloway once more, saying he didn’t have anyone else in mind for the role of Bowman. "We wrote the role for Josh," he says. "We totally did. We specifically talk about [him and] we would actually refer to the character as " Joshed" in story meeting. We were kind of all in on this idea."
So, what would have happened if Holloway hadn't taken the role? "I would have been killed," Holloway says. With that kind of incentive it seems like he is definitely up for making the show a success.
The Colony series premiere airs Thursday, January 14 @10pm on USA.
Tags: lost, colony
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Special Halloween Film Review:
Deathwatch: Religious Allegory or Great War Zombie Film – Or Both?
Deathwatch: Deliver Them From Evil
Lionsgate Films, DVD, 2003
Deathwatch Does an Excellent Job Depicting the Standard Trench Warfare Scenery
Our regular contributor on literary matters, David Beer – in his usual serious and insightful manner — has contributed, a review of what is, to our mutual understanding, the only known cross-genre World War One/ghoul film, Deathwatch, for our special Halloween posting. David's review, which focuses on the movie's religious implications, stands alone and is worthy of your attention. However, after your editor read the draft of the review, he came to the conclusion that David, who is usually au courant with the latest developments in popular culture, had overlooked (or chosen to avert his gaze from) a dimension of the film that is part of a truly big phenomenon these days. His review sidesteps the "living dead," that is to say, the zombie, elements of Deathwatch. While being a little subtle in its "Z" symbolism and avoiding any use of the "Z" word in the script, Deathwatch, nevertheless, has earned a place on various lists of "Best Zombie" productions—right up there with Walking Dead, World War Z, and my personal favorite, Zombieland. Since David passed over the zombie clues in his review, your editor has supplemented his text below with stills from the film that capture the film's zombie essence. MH
Review by David F. Beer
This film brought to mind two lines from the last poem Isaac Rosenberg wrote before he was killed in action. The poem, “Through These Pale Cold Days,” describes suffering soldiers and states how "They see with living eyes/How long they have been dead." This is about as close to a spoiler as I want to go in discussing this horror film based on WWI. The surface plot is easily described. A group of British soldiers go over the top at night into the face of intense machine gun fire and exploding shells. Several standard trench warfare motifs are provided: the fear before the attack, the youngest soldier panicking and refusing to go over until threatened at gunpoint by an officer and helped by a sympathetic comrade, tangles of barbed wire to negotiate or get caught up in, mud containing bloated corpses, and the inevitable mowing down of men by the enemy’s furious fire power.
The Corpses Have a Peculiar Look to Them, However
It’s almost unbelievable that anyone could live through such a "stunt" but surprisingly the next scene shows a group of apparent survivors trudging over no man’s land in thick fog that they mistake for gas. When they discover it’s only fog and remove their masks, one soldier wonders what happened to the night — he can’t understand how it suddenly became light. Apart from the ominous and eerie background music we've heard from the beginning of the film, this is the first hint we get that all is not normal. Further hints will occur, however, such as a compass that no longer works, barbed wire that seems to have a life of its own, and blood that seeps from the mud in the German trench the survivors now occupy.
All but one of the Germans in the trench are dispatched quickly enough, but not before it’s apparent that they are paralyzed with fear not of the British soldiers but of a nameless and invisible force that has already been decimating them. They try to warn the British about it but to no avail. Gradually it overcomes all but the youngest and most innocent soldier, named Charlie Shakespeare, who in the end is able to leave the dark trench and walk out into the light — but not before he glimpses all his dead comrades sitting around a fire in a dark corner of the trench, seemingly alive.
Motion Detected Among the Dead
To arrive at an understanding of what director/writer Michael J. Bassett seems to have in mind in this film (and it’s admittedly open to interpretation) we have to absorb numerous oblique hints. Why, for example, is the subtitle of the film “Deliver them from evil”? Why the quick focus on a cross one of the soldiers is wearing? What is the significance of the Bible passage read over the pile of corpses? What are the ghostly voices that are heard at one point above the trench? Why such comments by the soldiers as "There’s so many dead," "God isn't here," "We are still alive," "We’re dead, Charlie, I know that now," and Charlie Shakespeare’s exclamation as he leaves the trench after seeing all his dead comrades sitting around a fire — "I’m not dead!"? And what do we make of the German soldier at the very end waiting, with a knowing look in his eyes, for the next squad of British soldiers who are about to occupy the trench?
Zombie Film Convention: The Living Dead Need a Shot to the Head to Be Truly Dead
Film enthusiasts will enjoy Deathwatch — even though it’s considered a fairly low-budget B film — not only for its combination of supernatural horror mixed with a WWI movie, but also for the parts played by actors such as Andy Serkis of Planet of the Apes and Lord of the Rings among other accomplishments, by Jamie Bell as the young and decent Charlie Shakespeare who had lied about his age to get into the army, and by Laurence Fox, whom I last saw as Inspector Lewis’s assistant in the spin-off of the Inspector Morse series. No spoilers, or not too many, I hope, in this short review, but I can’t help concluding with part of another poem this film brought to mind — the opening lines of Wilfred Owen’s “Strange Meeting”:
It seemed that out of the battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which Titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall,—
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.
By David F. Beer (with a little help from the Editor)
The best WWI horror film is still The Black Cat:
http://www.worldwar1.com/tgws/smtw1203.htm
Less obvious than Deathwatch, but still disturbing.
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Two Classic American World War I Posters
The Big Issue of 1918
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Richard Sorge: Soldier of the Kaiser, Master Spy ...
To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First ...
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Ninety-nine Years Ago: Quotes from October 1914
A Forgotten Battlefield: Le Linge
The Great War and Modernism Series Rites of Spring...
The 1918 Road to Damascus: Over the Golan Heights
Panoramic Images from the American Memory Collecti...
HMS Dreadnought at War
Hollywood and the Great War
Rudyard Kipling's Views on War Propaganda
The Centennial at the Grass Roots Series: Frank Bu...
Remembering a Veteran: Sgt. Stubby
The Circling Song Reviewed by David F. Beer
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The T.E. Lawrence – Robert Graves Connection
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St. George's Memorial Church, Ypres
Good-Bye to All That Reviewed by Michael Kihntopf
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A Halloween tale of possessed TV’s
Our TV bagan acting strangely today, which was sort of funny being that it’s Halloween. We were joking that the set was “possessed” (which is not the same as being repossessed). All we could get when we turned on the TV was a screen telling us in a sort of DOS/old video game mode that there were great features on this television set.
My son was calling it “Pac Man Mode” because at one point a graph showed up that looked a bit like a Pac Man game. We didn’t know how it got into that mode, or how to get it out. We long ago lost the original remote to this thing. And we bought it used, so we never had an owner’s manual.
What made things worse was that we couldn’t turn the thing OFF. You could hit the power button until the cows came home and that demo mode would just continue from screen to screen, oblivious to our frustration.
So the kids got involved. They’re the ones who know how to work the digital cable remote anyway, I have no clue. They pressed buttons and tried everything and nobody could shut off the thing. Finally the only solution was to just unplug it. We hoped that maybe when it was plugged in once more, demo mode would be gone, but that was a vain hope.
Finally I got online and Googled “magnavox tv” and the words “demo mode” came up as alternate search terms. Aha! That must be what it’s called! And apparently lots of other people have had this issue because it’s a common search term!
What we discovered was that chasing away the demons from our TV was as easy as simultaneously holding down the volume up and volume down buttons. And one more time my belief that “the internet is like a library that never closes” was vindicated.
When things malfunction… Don’t Leave it to the Experts
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Reich College of Education Faculty/Staff Awards
2018-19 RCOE Faculty/Staff Award Nominations
Please consider submitting a nomination for one of the college's faculty and/or staff awards. Nomination forms are available under each award description.
Note: Eligibility of candidates will be restricted to those individuals who are employed in the Reich College of Education at Appalachian State University.
Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations:
Click below on the appropriate "Submit Nomination" link
Submit a paragraph describing why you believe your candidate qualifies for the award
The nomination period will open February 4, 2019
Nominations are due by February 25, 2019
Award candidates will receive notification of their nomination along with a request for supporting materials by February 28, 2019.
Candidates will be asked to submit materials by March 22, 2019.
Overview of RCOE Faculty/Staff Awards
Please submit nominations for RCOE Faculty/Staff Awards. Nominations are accepted in the following categories:
*NEW* Inclusive Excellence Award
Outstanding Teaching Award
Community Practice Award
Outstanding Mentoring Award
Outstanding Service Award
Outstanding Staff Award
Outstanding Administrator Award
Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Achievement Award
Adjunct or Instructor/Clinical Faculty Award
This award recognizes and honors exemplary achievements and contributions toward Inclusive Excellence and institutional transformation. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
About Inclusive Excellence
The Reich College of Education is committed to Inclusive Excellence and recognizes that inclusion and excellence are one and the same. Inclusive Excellence is fundamental to scholarly rigor and academic success. Inclusive Excellence is the intentional inclusion of cultures, worldviews, gifts, talents, history, and traditions of all people and places.
The candidate meets all the following:
Holds a faculty or staff position in the college
Has a record of superior contribution to Inclusive Excellence through positive impact on the culture of students, faculty, staff, the RCOE, Appalachian State University, and/or the community
Submit Nomination
This award is designed to recognize and encourage outstanding teaching. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
Holds a tenure-track position in the college
Uses innovative and/or creative approaches in teaching
Fosters effective student learning
Demonstrates that s/he stays current with best practices (i.e., evidence-based practices) and implements those practices in his/her teaching
Community of Practice Award
This award is designed to recognize and encourage collaboration among faculty, practitioners, students, and/or staff, and, in doing so, to honor the core principle of the RCOE Conceptual Framework: Learning occurs through participation in a community of practice. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
The candidates meet all of the following:
Engage in collaboration that results in significant contributions to teaching, scholarship/creative achievement, or mentoring/service
Meet other criteria specified under the appropriate area of emphasis in the collaboration: teaching, scholarship/creative achievement, mentoring/service
This award is designed to recognize and encourage outstanding mentoring achievement. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
Is a fulltime RCOE faculty member
Shares wisdom and knowledge consistently with students and/or faculty members
Engages in mentoring that is sustained and on-going over time and populations
This award is designed to recognize and encourage outstanding service achievement. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
Provides outstanding service consistently to appropriate agencies (e.g., schools, agencies, post-secondary institutions, organizations)
Makes consistently significant contributions to the department, college, university, and/or profession
Provides significant impact in roles of professional leadership
This award is designed to recognize outstanding contributions by a staff member. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
Is a fulltime RCOE staff member (SHRA or EHRA staff member)
Has a record of outstanding service to his or her department or the RCOE at large
This award is designed to recognize outstanding contributions by an administrator. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
Holds an RCOE administrative position, such as Dean, Associate Dean, Chair, Assistant Chair, Program Director, Center Director, etc.
Has a record of superior leadership and/or service to his or her department or the RCOE at large.
This award is designed to recognize and encourage outstanding scholarship and creative achievement. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
Is a fulltime RCOE faculty member and has been for at least three years
Engages in and sustains peer-reviewed scholarship that significantly contributes to the knowledge base in the field on a consistent basis
Follows sound scholarly practices
Uses and sustains scholarship consistently to enhance service and/or student learning
Disseminates results of scholarship consistently in appropriate settings and venues
This award is designed to recognize and encourage outstanding teaching/supervision among adjunct or instructor/clinical faculty. Any student, faculty member, or staff member may make nominations.
The candidate meets all of the following:
Currently serves as either a full or part-time (teaching/supervising three or more credits per semester) adjunct in the college and has done so for at least two consecutive years
Uses innovative and/or creative approaches in teaching/supervision
Demonstrates that s/he engages students in leading-edge content research and good practices from the discipline and profession
Professional Education Council
RCOE Faculty/Staff Awards
Outstanding Teaching Award Nomination
Community of Practice Award Nomination
Outstanding Mentoring Award Nomination
Outstanding Service Award Nomination
Outstanding Staff Award Nomination
Outstanding Administrator Award Nomination
Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Achievement Award Nomination
Adjunct or Intructor/Clinical Faculty Award Nomination
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SETIS
Strategic Energy Technologies Information System
European CommissionSETISSETIS in the Energy Union landscapeCommunity
SETIS in the Energy Union landscape
Citizens summary
Energy Union links
Actions towards implementing the Integrated SET Plan
No 1 in Renewables
Smart Solutions for Consumer
Smart Resilience and Secure Energy System
Energy Efficiency in Industry
Batteries and e-Mobility
Renewable Fuels and Bioenergy
Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage
Towards an Integrated Roadmap
Low Carbon Energy Technologies
No1 in Renewables
Smart Systems and Consumers
Efficient Energy Systems
SET Plan Implementation Progress Reports
SETIS Research & Innovation data
SETIS Magazine
Relevant reports
The page you requested is not available
The two main implementation mechanisms of the SET Plan are the European Technology and Innovation Platforms (ETIPs) and the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), which together with the SET Plan Steering Group shape the core actors of the SET Plan core community.
The SET Plan Steering Group
The Steering Group is the SET Plan decision-making body. It gathers representatives from the European Commission and representatives from the 28 EU Member States and four associated countries –Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. Its main responsibility is to ensure an increased alignment between their respective R&I programmes (i.e. at EU and national level) and the SET Plan priorities, as well as an increased cooperation between national programmes, in order to avoid duplication wherever appropriate, and thus to increase the impact of public investment.
Acting in partnership with stakeholders (industry and research sectors) the Steering Group has been instrumental to deliver all SET Plan achievements in the last three years: (1) the SET Plan Integrated Roadmap in 2014; (2) the R&I core and additional priorities of the Energy Union strategy and the 10 key related actions of the SET Plan in 2015; (3) and ambitious targets to accelerate the energy system transformation and place Europe at the forefront of the next generation of low-carbon energy technologies in 2016. The portfolio ownership of the SET Plan countries has been demonstrated by their active participation, in 2016, to the establishment of the targets as well as leading the implementation phase where specific R&I activities will be identified to reach the agreed targets. This process benefits from the increased number of coordination activities among the SET Plan countries.
Streamlining industry-led stakehorders' structures - ETIPs
The industrial platforms of the initial SET Plan governance structure were simplified in 2016. The 6 European Industrial Initiatives have been merged with the 8 European Technology Platforms to form 9 distinct entities called the European Technology and Innovation Platforms (ETIPs). These ETIPs are recognised as key industry-led communities for the implementation of SET Plan priorities along the innovation chain. They have been directly involved in the 2016 target setting process.
European Technology and Innovation Platforms (ETIPs)
ETIP Bioenergy: http://biofuelstp.eu/
ETIP Wind: https://etipwind.eu/
ETIP Deep Geothermal: http://www.geoelec.eu/etip-dg/
ETIP Ocean energy: http://www.oceanenergy-europe.eu/
ETIP PV: http://www.etip-pv.eu/homepage.html
ETIP Renewable Heating and Cooling: http://www.rhc-platform.org/home/
ETIP Smart Networks for Energy Transition (SNET): http://etip-snet.eu
ETIP Sustainable Nuclear Energy (SNETP): http://www.snetp.eu/
ETIP Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power (ZEP): http://www.zeroemissionsplatform.eu/
A strategic partnership with the research community – EERA
The European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) brings together more than 175 research organisations from 27 SET Plan countries that are involved in 17 joint programmes. It plays an important role in promoting coordination among energy researchers along the SET Plan objectives and in the technology transfer to the industry. In addition, it has been directly involved in the 2016 SET Plan target-setting process. It delivered a new strategy plan for the Alliance up to 2020, where its contribution to the SET Plan is clarified and where cross-actions between the 17 joint programmes will be fostered, in an attempt to better address the challenges of an integrated energy system.
EERA Joint Programme Technology Portfolio – European research coordination & shared priority setting
[1] New structures that were established after merging the former ETP (European Technology Platforms) and EIIs (European Industrial Initiatives)
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WWIOnline > Home > Blog > July 4th: Uncle Sam and Uncle Dan
July 4th: Uncle Sam and Uncle Dan
Author: Michael Foight
The iconic 1917 United States Army recruiting poster done by James M. Flag – was based on the 1914 United Kingdom “Lord Kitchner Wants You” poster.
Currently displayed on the wall outside of Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library Rare Book Room, a reproduction of this poster shows “Uncle Sam” as a personified manifestation of the national identity.
p. 12, Uncle Sam, “The Fable of John Bull and Uncle Sam”
p. 40, The Press Corrupted, “The Fable of John Bull and Uncle Sam”
Already widely deployed in popular imagery, as can be seen in the 1900 patriotic “The Fable of John Bull and Uncle Sam“, available in Villanova University’s Digital Library, who was this “Uncle Sam” based upon? Some researcher’s have identified Samuel Wilson; a more likely candidate however is “Dan Rice“.
David Carlyon in his 2001 biography Dan Rice: the most famous man you’ve never heard of, noted on page 411:
“Dan Rice is the closest thing America has had to an embodiment of Uncle Sam. He traveled nearly all the country, and the country knew him as well as it knew anyone else. His signature goatee and top hat made him an instantly recognizable symbol. … Mythic truth aside, Rice looked the part, or rather the part looked like him. Top-hatted, goateed Uncle Sam could be a caricature of Rice, including those formal clothes. Rice himself had adopted a visually patriotic image. His Pictorial of 1858 pictured him in striped pants and a starred top, and his 1860 songster put him in another flag suit. (That songster also included the lyrics to Rice’s song, “Uncle Sam,” to the tune of “Brother Jonathan.”) If American had an actual Uncle Sam, it was Dan Rice.”
In 1856, ‘Uncle Dan” came to town. As seen in the advertisement in the recently digitized Tuesday, August 26, 1856 issue of the National Defender, “Dan Rice’s Great Show!” was being exhibited in Norristown, Pottstown and Doylestown.
p. [3], National Defender, v. I, no. 3, Tuesday, August 26, 1856
Take a moment this July 4th and remember Dan Rice, “Uncle Dan”, the one-and-only true model for Uncle Sam!
p. 78, Uncle Sam demands his money back, “Fable of John Bull and Uncle Sam”
Last Modified: July 1, 2016
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Kategorie-Archiv: Leviathan
The Betreuungsgeld or The Idea of a Christian Society AND Notes towards the Definition of Culture
Murat Altuglu 31.07.2015 Achgut.com
The Betreuungsgeld
In 2012, the Merkel government introduced an infant support scheme, called the Betreuungsgeld. The aim of it was to assist families in taking care of their child between the ages of one and three.
The reader outside Germany might come to the conclusion that this propitious policy would have received universal acclaim in Germany. What is more natural than to support a mother looking after her child?
Well, one must not know that the German elite is dominated by leftist, and that the moral decay of this elite is at terminal stage. From the very beginning, this ostensibly benevolent bill was viciously attacked by the German state and private media and the leftist parties, particularly the Greens and the SPD, and even from within the CDU. One can visit the respective media websites and just type in Betreuungsgeld and click search.
One will be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of negative and demagogic attacks on supporting families who look after their children at home. In the words of the secretary-general of the SPD, this type of support for families is “bonkers.” (An expression that is quite revealing on the intellectual exiguity of the secretary-general of Germany’s second largest party.)
Despite this public lynching – to use a most apposite metaphor – of the bill, the Merkel government was reelected, and the opposition lost. Thus the Greens and the SPD lost the opportunity to kill this bill democratically.
Hence, the German left had to resort to its secret weapon; the German constitutional court, which ruled the child support scheme unconstitutional.
More important to discuss than the legalistic fiat of the German constitutional court is the prevalent mindset in Germany that taking care of one’s child at home is something bad. The ruling merely exemplifies to what extent the democratic process is interjected and circumvented. Thus a few sentences on the ruling have to suffice.
Now, the ruling of the constitutional court is not a legal but a political ruling. If a family receives 150 Euros per month for a child, is at the discretion of the elected and accountable legislators, who have the so called power of the purse. The Federal government provides all kinds of subsidies to specific groups.
Reading the briefs of the Bavarian state government and the Federal government, arguments are provided for why it is OK for the Federal government to support families.
Yet if the ruling of the court is read, not a single argument against the child support subsidy is given. Instead, behind the typical verbal virtuosity and obscurantist language of the intellectual elite is the simple admission hidden: ‘It ain’t gonna happen, ‘cause I say so.’ http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2015/07/fs20150721_1bvf000213.html
That the decision was nothing else than sheer abuse of power by overriding the legislative act of the Bundestag, was inadvertently admitted in a Freudian slip by a journalist in the state media: The judiciary “made politics.” http://www.tagesschau.de/kommentar/kommentar-csu-betreuungsgeld-101.html
Consequently, the government can give incentives to send infants to state run daycare, but it is verboten to give incentives to look after your child in your own home. If someone can find common sense in this, please drop me a line.
Why then this aversion, in fact hysteria at the idea of having a normal family relationship, especially that between a mother and a child?
Now, it is not possible to answer this question within the boundaries of a blog-article. A magnum opus of the type of Erich Fromm and Sigmund Freud is necessary to address the psychological underpinnings of this moral decay. Thus I have to confine myself to a few preliminary answers.
The axiomatic cause for the moral breakdown among the German intelligentsia is a cultural, particularly religious disintegration in German society, and especially – yet not exclusively – among the left.
William II, the last German emperor, had expressed his worries that “his” people should remain a Christian people and not slide into atheism. But this is exactly what happened over the last hundred years.
In the aftermath of the Great War, the elite in Germany was transformed. This was accompanied by a socialist-collectivist re-education of the masses. Through a nationalist socialism in the 30s and 40s, a Soviet-type socialism in East Germany, and a cultural Marxism beginning in the 60s in West Germany, all had part in altering German society, i.e. the German family.
Today’s political, educational, cultural, and media elite is the outcome of this (ongoing) process of extirpating family values. Hence, a minister for education in a West German state is able to utter a sentence like: “No mother can offer to her child what a daycare center can.” (It was Vera Reiß, SPD, from Rhineland-Palatinate, not that the person matters.)
This statement is not exemplary for the lack of morals of one person, but is symptomatic for an entire stratum of German society.
A person, who is capable of uttering such nonsense, is not shunned but promoted in public life.
A body of people must have said: “Hey, let’s put her in a leading position within the party.”
A body of people must have said: “Hey, let’s make her a candidate for state parliament.”
A body of people must have said: “Hey, let’s vote for a party that makes her a candidate for public office.”
A body of people must have said: “Hey, let’s make her a minister of education.”
Thus, what we are confronted with are not simply individual anomalies but a systemic change and decline of moral values.
I recommend reading T.S. Eliot’s Christianity and Culture, to find excellent explanations for the cultural transformation mentioned here. While Eliot was addressing events in English society, his insights are more than applicable to the German case, too.
The socialist and collectivist remaking of society, in any of the three versions mentioned above, requires to reduce the value of the family (and by default of faith), and replace it with different “values.”
With religious zeal (and the ideology of the left is nothing but a god-less religion in its own way) is the left enforcing its ideology. The left cannot and does not allow any deviation from its belief system. This is why the family support scheme was doomed from the start – it went against one of the precepts of the left – thou shall not raise thy child, but rather the state.
http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/the_betreuungsgeld
The Idea of a Christian Society AND
Notes towards the Definition of Culture
The Idea of a Christian Society
The Three Senses of “Culture”
The Class and the Elite
III. Unity and Diversity: The Region
Unity and Diversity: Sect and Cult
A Note on Culture and Politics
Notes on Education and Culture: and Conclusion
APPENDIX: The Unity of European Culture
has appeared too recently for me to have made use of it). And I am deeply indebted to the works of Jacques Maritain, especially his Humanisme intégral.
I trust that the reader will understand from the beginning that this book does not make any plea for a “religious revival” in a sense with which we are already familiar. That is a task for which I am incompetent, and the term seems to me to imply a possible separation of religious feeling from religious thinking which I do not accept—or which I do not find acceptable for our present difficulties. An anonymous writer has recently observed in The New English Weekly (July 13, 1939) that
“men have lived by spiritual institutions (of some kind) in every society, and also by political institutions and, indubitably, by economic activities. Admittedly, they have, at different periods, tended to put their trust mainly in one of the three as the real cement of society, but at no time have they wholly excluded the others, because it is impossible to do so.”
This is an important, and in its context valuable, distinction; but it should be clear that what I am concerned with here is not spiritual institutions in their separated aspect, but the organisation of values, and a direction of religious thought which must inevitably proceed to a criticism of political and economic systems.
THE fact that a problem will certainly take a long time to solve, and that it will demand the attention of many minds for several generations, is no justification for postponing the study. And, in times of emergency, it may prove in the long run that the problems we have postponed or ignored, rather than those we have failed to attack successfully, will return to plague us. Our difficulties of the moment must always be dealt with somehow: but our permanent difficulties are difficulties of every moment. The subject with which I am concerned in the following pages is one to which I am convinced we ought to turn our attention now, if we hope ever to be relieved of the immediate perplexities that fill our minds. It is urgent because it is fundamental; and its urgency is the reason for a person like myself attempting to address, on a subject beyond his usual scope, that public which is likely to read what he writes on other subjects. This is a subject which I could, no doubt, handle much better were I a profound scholar in any of several fields. But I am not writing for scholars, but for people like myself; some defects may be compensated by some advantages; and what one must be judged by, scholar or no, is not particularised knowledge but one’s total harvest of thinking, feeling, living and observing human beings.
While the practice of poetry need not in itself confer wisdom or accumulate knowledge, it ought at least to train the mind in one habit of universal value: that of analysing the meanings of words: of those that one employs oneself, as well as the words of others. In using the term “Idea” of a Christian Society I do not mean primarily a concept derived from the study of any societies which we may choose to call Christian; I mean something that can only be found in an understanding of the end to which a Christian Society, to deserve the name, must be directed. I do not limit the application of the term to a perfected Christian Society on earth; and I do not comprehend in it societies merely because some profession of Christian faith, or some vestige of Christian practice, is retained. My concern with contemporary society, accordingly, will not be primarily with specific defects, abuses or injustices but with the question, what—if any—is the “idea” of the society in which we live? to what end is it arranged?
The Idea of a Christian Society is one which we can accept or reject; but if we are to accept it, we must treat Christianity with a great deal more intellectual respect than is our wont; we must treat it as being for the individual a matter primarily of thought and not of feeling. The consequences of such an attitude are too serious to be acceptable to everybody: for when the Christian faith is not only felt, but thought, it has practical results which may be inconvenient. For to see the Christian faith in this way—and to see it in this way is not necessarily to accept it, but only to understand the real issues—is to see that the difference between the Idea of a Neutral Society (which is that of the society in which we live at present) and the Idea of a Pagan Society (such as the upholders of democracy abominate) is, in the long run, of minor importance. I am not at this moment concerned with the means for bringing a Christian Society into existence; I am not even primarily concerned with making it appear desirable; but I am very much concerned with making clear its difference from the kind of society in which we are now living. Now, to understand the society in which he lives, must be to the interest of every conscious thinking person. The current terms in which we describe our society, the contrasts with other societies by which we—of the “Western Democracies”—eulogise it, only operate to deceive and stupefy us. To speak of ourselves as a Christian Society, in contrast to that of Germany or Russia, is an abuse of terms. We mean only that we have a society in which no one is penalised for the formal profession of Christianity; but we conceal from ourselves the unpleasant knowledge of the real values by which we live. We conceal from ourselves, moreover, the similarity of our society to those which we execrate: for we should have to admit, if we recognised the similarity, that the foreigners do better. I suspect that in our loathing of totalitarianism, there is infused a good deal of admiration for its efficiency.
The political philosopher of the present time, even when he is a Christian himself, is not usually concerned with the possible structure of a Christian state. He is occupied with the possibility of a just State in general, and when he is not an adherent of one or another secular system, is inclined to accept our present system as one to be improved, but not fundamentally altered. Theological writers have more to say that is relevant to my subject. I am not alluding to those writers who endeavour to infuse a vague, and sometimes debased, Christian spirit into the ordinary conduct of affairs; or to those who endeavour, at moments of emergency, to apply Christian principles to particular political situations. Relevant to my subject are the writings of the Christian sociologists—those writers who criticise our economic system in the light of Christian ethics. Their work consists in proclaiming in general, and demonstrating in particular, the incompatibility of Christian principle and a great deal of our social practice. They appeal to the spirit of justice and humanity with which most of us profess to be inspired; they appeal also to the practical reason, by demonstrating that much in our system is not only iniquitous, but in the long run unworkable and conducive to disaster. Many of the changes which such writers advocate, while deducible from Christian principles, can recommend themselves to any intelligent and disinterested person, and do not require a Christian society to carry them into effect, or Christian belief to render them acceptable: though they are changes which would make it more possible for the individual Christian to live out his Christianity. I am here concerned only secondarily with the changes in economic organisation, and only secondarily with the life of the devout Christian: my primary interest is a change in our social attitude, such a change only as could bring about anything worthy to be called a Christian Society. That such a change would compel changes in our organisation of industry and commerce and financial credit, that it would facilitate, where it now impedes, the life of devotion for those who are capable of it, I feel certain. But my point of departure is different from that of the sociologists and economists; though I depend upon them for enlightenment, and a test of my Christian Society would be that it should bring about such reforms as they propose; and though the kind of “change of spirit” which can testify for itself by nothing better than a new revivalistic vocabulary, is a danger against which we must be always on guard.
My subject touches also upon that of another class of Christian writer: that of the ecclesiastical controversialists. The subject of Church and State is, again, not my primary concern. It is not, except at moments which lend themselves to newspaper exploitation, a subject in which the general public takes much interest; and at the moments when the public’s interest is aroused, the public is never well enough informed to have the right to an opinion. My subject is a preliminary to the problem of Church and State: it involves that problem in its widest terms and in its most general interest. A usual attitude is to take for granted the existing State, and ask “What Church?” But before we consider what should be the relation of Church and State, we should first ask: “What State?” Is there any sense in which we can speak of a “Christian State,” any sense in which the State can be regarded as Christian? for even if the nature of the State be such, that we cannot speak of it in its Idea as either Christian or non-Christian, yet is it obvious that actual States may vary to such an extent that the relation of the Church to the State may be anything from overt hostility to a more or less harmonious co-operation of different institutions in the same society. What I mean by the Christian State is not any particular political form, but whatever State is suitable to a Christian Society, whatever State a particular Christian Society develops for itself. Many Christians there are, I know, who do not believe that a Church in relation to the State is necessary for a Christian Society; and I shall have to give reasons, in later pages, for believing that it is. The point to be made at this stage is that neither the classical English treaties on Church and State, nor contemporary discussion of the subject, give me the assistance that I need. For the earlier treatises, and indeed all up to the present time, assume the existence of a Christian Society; modern writers sometimes assume that what we have is a pagan society: and it is just these assumptions that I wish to question.
Your opinion of what can be done for this country in the future, and incidentally your opinion of what ought to be the relations of Church and State, will depend upon the view you take of the contemporary situation. We can abstract three positive historical points: that at which Christians are a new minority in a society of positive pagan traditions—a position which cannot recur within any future with which we are concerned; the point at which the whole society can be called Christian, whether in one body or in a prior or subsequent stage of division into sects; and finally the point at which practising Christians must be recognised as a minority (whether static or diminishing) in a society which has ceased to be Christian. Have we reached the third point? Different observers will give different reports; but I would remark that there are two points of view for two contexts. The first is that a society has ceased to be Christian when religious practices have been abandoned, when behaviour ceases to be regulated by reference to Christian principle, and when in effect prosperity in this world for the individual or for the group has become the sole conscious aim. The other point of view, which is less readily apprehended, is that a society has not ceased to be Christian until it has become positively something else. It is my contention that we have today a culture which is mainly negative, but which, so far as it is positive, is still Christian. I do not think that it can remain negative, because a negative culture has ceased to be efficient in a world where economic as well as spiritual forces are proving the efficiency of cultures which, even when pagan, are positive; and I believe that the choice before us is between the formation of a new Christian culture, and the acceptance of a pagan one. Both involve radical changes; but I believe that the majority of us, if we could be faced immediately with all the changes which will only be accomplished in several generations, would prefer Christianity.
I do not expect everyone to agree that our present organisation and temper of society—which proved, in its way, highly successful during the nineteenth century—is “negative”: many will maintain that British, French and American civilisation still stands integrally for something positive. And there are others who will insist, that if our culture is negative, then a negative culture is the right thing to have. There are two distinct arguments to be employed in rebuttal: one, an argument of principle, that such a culture is undesirable; the other, a judgment of fact, that it must disappear anyway. The defenders of the present order fail to perceive either how far it is vestigial of a positive Christianity, or how far it has already advanced towards something else.
There is one class of persons to which one speaks with difficulty, and another to which one speaks in vain. The second, more numerous and obstinate than may at first appear, because it represents a state of mind into which we are all prone through natural sloth to relapse, consists of those people who cannot believe that things will ever be very different from what they are at the moment. From time to time, under the influence perhaps of some persuasive writer or speaker, they may have an instant of disquiet or hope; but an invincible sluggishness of imagination makes them go on behaving as if nothing would ever change. Those to whom one speaks with difficulty, but not perhaps in vain, are the persons who believe that great changes must come, but are not sure either of what is inevitable, or of what is probable, or of what is desirable.
What the Western world has stood for—and by that I mean the terms to which it has attributed sanctity—is “Liberalism” and “Democracy.” The two terms are not identical or inseparable. The term “Liberalism” is the more obviously ambiguous, and is now less in favour; but the term “Democracy” is at the height of its popularity. When a term has become so universally sanctified as “democracy” now is, I begin to wonder whether it means anything, in meaning too many things: it has arrived perhaps at the position of a Merovingian Emperor, and wherever it is invoked, one begins to look for the Major of the Palace. Some persons have gone so far as to affirm, as something self-evident, that democracy is the only régime compatible with Christianity; on the other hand, the word is not abandoned by sympathisers with the government of Germany. If anybody ever attacked democracy, I might discover what the word meant. Certainly there is a sense in which Britain and America are more democratic than Germany; but on the other hand, defenders of the totalitarian system can make out a plausible case for maintaining that what we have is not democracy, but financial oligarchy.
Mr. Christopher Dawson considers that “what the non-dictatorial States stand for today is not Liberalism but Democracy,” and goes on to foretell the advent in these States of a kind of totalitarian democracy. I agree with his prediction, but if one is considering, not merely the non-dictatorial States, but the societies to which they belong, his statement does less than justice to the extent to which Liberalism still permeates our minds and affects our attitude towards much of life. That Liberalism may be a tendency towards something very different from itself, is a possibility in its nature. For it is something which tends to release energy rather than accumulate it, to relax, rather than to fortify. It is a movement not so much defined by its end, as by its starting point; away from, rather than towards, something definite. Our point of departure is more real to us than our destination; and the destination is likely to present a very different picture when arrived at, from the vaguer image formed in imagination. By destroying traditional social habits of the people, by dissolving their natural collective consciousness into individual constituents, by licensing the opinions of the most foolish, by substituting instruction for education, by encouraging cleverness rather than wisdom, the upstart rather than the qualified, by fostering a notion of getting on to which the alternative is a hopeless apathy, Liberalism can prepare the way for that which is its own negation: the artificial, mechanised or brutalised control which is a desperate remedy for its chaos.
It must be evident that I am speaking of Liberalism in a sense much wider than any which can be fully exemplified by the history of any political party, and equally in a wider sense than any in which it has been used in ecclesiastical controversy. True, the tendency of Liberalism can be more clearly illustrated in religious history than in politics, where principle is more diluted by necessity, where observation is more confused by detail and distracted by reforms each valid within its own limited reference. In religion, Liberalism may be characterised as a progressive discarding of elements in historical Christianity which appear superfluous or obsolete, confounded with practices and abuses which are legitimate objects of attack. But as its movement is controlled rather by its origin than by any goal, it loses force after a series of rejections, and with nothing to destroy is left with nothing to uphold and with nowhere to go. With religious Liberalism, however, I am no more specifically concerned than with political Liberalism: I am concerned with a state of mind which, in certain circumstances, can become universal and infect opponents as well as defenders. And I shall have expressed myself very ill if I give the impression that I think of Liberalism as something simply to be rejected and extirpated, as an evil for which there is a simple alternative. It is a necessary negative element; when I have said the worst of it, that worst comes only to this, that a negative element made to serve the purpose of a positive is objectionable. In the sense in which Liberalism is contrasted with Conservatism, both can be equally repellant: if the former can mean chaos, the latter can mean petrifaction. We are always faced both with the question “what must be destroyed?” and with the question “what must be preserved?” and neither Liberalism nor Conservatism, which are not philosophies and may be merely habits, is enough to guide us.
In the nineteenth century the Liberal Party had its own conservatism, and the Conservative Party had its own liberalism; neither had a political philosophy. To hold a political philosophy is in fact not the function of a political, that is, a Parliamentary party: a party with a political philosophy is a revolutionary party. The politics of political parties is not my concern. Nor am I concerned with the politics of a revolutionary party. If a revolutionary party attains its true end, its political philosophy will, by a process of growth, become that of a whole culture; if it attains its more facile end, its political philosophy will be that of a dominant class or group, in a society in which the majority will be passive, and the minority oppressed. But a political philosophy is not merely a formalised system set forth by a theorist. The permanent value of such treaties as Aristotle’s Politics and Poetics is found at the opposite extreme to anything that we can call doctrinaire. Just as his views on dramatic poetry were derived from a study of the existing works of Attic drama, so his political theory was founded on a perception of the unconscious aims implicit in Athenian democracy at its best. His limitations are the condition of his universality; and instead of ingenious theories spun out of his head, he wrote studies full of universal wisdom. Thus, what I mean by a political philosophy is not merely even the conscious formulation of the ideal aims of a people, but the substratum of collective temperament, ways of behaviour and unconscious values which provides the material for the formulation. What we are seeking is not a programme for a party, but a way of life for a people: it is this which totalitarianism has sought partly to revive, and partly to impose by force upon its peoples. Our choice now is not between one abstract form and another, but between a pagan, and necessarily stunted culture, and a religious, and necessarily imperfect culture.
The attitudes and beliefs of Liberalism are destined to disappear, are already disappearing. They belong to an age of free exploitation which has passed; and our danger now is, that the term may come to signify for us only the disorder the fruits of which we inherit, and not the permanent value of the negative element. Out of Liberalism itself come philosophies which deny it. We do not proceed, from Liberalism to its apparent end of authoritarian democracy, at a uniform pace in every respect. There are so many centres of it—Britain, France, America and the Dominions—that the development of Western society must proceed more slowly than that of a compact body like Germany, and its tendencies are less apparent. Furthermore, those who are the most convinced of the necessity of étatisme as a control of some activities of life, can be the loudest professors of libertarianism in others, and insist upon the preserves of “private life” in which each man may obey his own convictions or follow his own whim: while imperceptibly this domain of “private life” becomes smaller and smaller, and may eventually disappear altogether. It is possible that a wave of terror of the consequences of depopulation might lead to legislation having the effect of compulsory breeding.
If, then, Liberalism disappears from the philosophy of life of a people, what positive is left? We are left only with the term “democracy,” a term which, for the present generation, still has a Liberal connotation of “freedom.” But totalitarianism can retain the terms “freedom” and “democracy” and give them its own meaning: and its right to them is not so easily disproved as minds inflamed by passion suppose. We are in danger of finding ourselves with nothing to stand for except a dislike of everything maintained by Germany and/or Russia: a dislike which, being a compost of newspaper sensations and prejudice, can have two results, at the same time, which appear at first incompatible. It may lead us to reject possible improvements, because we should owe them to the example of one or both of these countries; and it may equally well lead us to be mere imitators à rebours, in making us adopt uncritically almost any attitude which a foreign nation rejects.
We are living at present in a kind of doldrums between opposing winds of doctrine, in a period in which one political philosophy has lost its cogency for behaviour, though it is still the only one in which public speech can be framed. This is very bad for the English language: it is this disorder (for which we are all to blame) and not individual insincerity, which is responsible for the hollowness of many political and ecclesiastical utterances. You have only to examine the mass of newspaper leading articles, the mass of political exhortation, to appreciate the fact that good prose cannot be written by a people without convictions. The fundamental objection to fascist doctrine, the one which we conceal from ourselves because it might condemn ourselves as well, is that it is pagan. There are other objections too, in the political and economic sphere, but they are not objections that we can make with dignity until we set our own affairs in order. There are still other objections, to oppression and violence and cruelty, but however strongly we feel, these are objections to means and not to ends. It is true that we sometimes use the word “pagan,” and in the same context refer to ourselves as “Christian.” But we always dodge the real issue. Our newspapers have done all they could with the red herring of the “German national religion,” an eccentricity which is after all no odder than some cults held in Anglo-Saxon countries: this “German national religion” is comforting in that it persuades us that we have a Christian civilisation; it helps to disguise the fact that our aims, like Germany’s, are materialistic. And the last thing we should like to do would be to examine the “Christianity” which, in such contexts as this, we say we keep.
If we have got so far as accepting the belief that the only alternative to a progressive and insidious adaptation to totalitarian worldliness for which the pace is already set, is to aim at a Christian society, we need to consider both what kind of a society we have at this time, and what a Christian society would be like. We should also be quite sure of what we want: if your real ideals are those of materialistic efficiency, then the sooner you know your own mind, and face the consequences, the better. Those who, either complacently or despairingly, suppose that the aim of Christianisation is chimerical, I am not here attempting to convert. To those who realise what a well-organised pagan society would mean for us, there is nothing to say. But it is as well to remember that the imposition of a pagan theory of the State does not necessarily mean a wholly pagan society. A compromise between the theory of the State and the tradition of society exists in Italy, a country which is still mainly agricultural and Catholic. The more highly industrialised the country, the more easily a materialistic philosophy will flourish in it, and the more deadly that philosophy will be. Britain has been highly industrialised longer than any other country. And the tendency of unlimited industrialism is to create bodies of men and women—of all classes—detached from tradition, alienated from religion and susceptible to mass suggestion: in other words, a mob. And a mob will be no less a mob if it is well fed, well clothed, well housed, and well disciplined.
The Liberal notion that religion was a matter of private belief and of conduct in private life, and that there is no reason why Christians should not be able to accommodate themselves to any world which treats them good-naturedly, is becoming less and less tenable. This notion would seem to have become accepted gradually, as a false inference from the subdivision of English Christianity into sects, and the happy results of universal toleration. The reason why members of different communions have been able to rub along together, is that in the greater part of the ordinary business of life they have shared the same assumptions about behaviour. When they have been wrong, they have been wrong together. We have less excuse than our ancestors for un-Christian conduct, because the growth of an un-Christian society about us, its more obvious intrusion upon our lives, has been breaking down the comfortable distinction between public and private morality. The problem of leading a Christian life in a non-Christian society is now very present to us, and it is a very different problem from that of the accommodation between an Established Church and dissenters. It is not merely the problem of a minority in a society of individuals holding an alien belief. It is the problem constituted by our implication in a network of institutions from which we cannot dissociate ourselves: institutions the operation of which appears no longer neutral, but non-Christian. And as for the Christian who is not conscious of his dilemma—and he is in the majority—he is becoming more and more de-Christianised by all sorts of unconscious pressure: paganism holds all the most valuable advertising space. Anything like Christian traditions transmitted from generation to generation within the family must disappear, and the small body of Christians will consist entirely of adult recruits. I am saying nothing at this point that has not been said before by others, but it is relevant. I am not concerned with the problem of Christians as a persecuted minority. When the Christian is treated as an enemy of the State, his course is very much harder, but it is simpler. I am concerned with the dangers to the tolerated minority; and in the modern world, it may turn out that the most tolerable thing for Christians is to be tolerated.
To attempt to make the prospect of a Christian society immediately attractive to those who see no prospect of deriving direct personal benefit from it, would be idle; even the majority of professing Christians may shrink from it. No scheme for a change of society can be made to appear immediately palatable, except by falsehood, until society has become so desperate that it will accept any change. A Christian society only becomes acceptable after you have fairly examined the alternatives. We might, of course, merely sink into an apathetic decline: without faith, and therefore without faith in ourselves; without a philosophy of life, either Christian or pagan; and without art. Or we might get a “totalitarian democracy,” different but Having much in common with other pagan societies, because we shall have changed step by step in order to keep pace with them: a state of affairs in which we shall have regimentation and conformity, without respect for the needs of the individual soul; the puritanism of a hygienic morality in the interest of efficiency; uniformity of opinion through propaganda, and art only encouraged when it flatters the official doctrines of the time. To those who can imagine, and are therefore repelled by, such a prospect, one can assert that the only possibility of control and balance is a religious control and balance; that the only hopeful course for a society which would thrive and continue its creative activity in the arts of civilisation, is to become Christian. That prospect involves, at least, discipline, inconvenience and discomfort: but here as hereafter the alternative to hell is purgatory.
MY thesis has been, simply, that a liberalised or negative condition of society must either proceed into a gradual decline of which we can see no end, or (whether as a result of catastrophe or not) reform itself into a positive shape which is likely to be effectively secular. We need not assume that this secularism will approximate closely to any system in the past or to any that can now be observed in order to be apprehensive about it: the Anglo-Saxons display a capacity for diluting their religion, probably in excess of that of any other race. But unless we are content with the prospect of one or the other of these issues, the only possibility left is that of a positive Christian society. The third will only commend itself to those who agree in their view of the present situation, and who can see that a thoroughgoing secularism would be objectionable, in its consequences, even to those who attach no positive importance to the survival of Christianity for its own sake.
I am not investigating the possible lines of action by which such a Christian society could be brought into being. I shall confine myself to a slight outline of what I conceive to be essential features of this society, bearing in mind that it can neither be mediaeval in form, nor be modelled on the seventeenth century or any previous age. In what sense, if any, can we speak of a “Christian State”? I would ask to be allowed to use the following working distinctions: the Christian State, the Christian Community, and the Community of Christians, as elements of the Christian Society.
I conceive then of the Christian State as of the Christian Society under the aspect of legislation, public administration, legal tradition, and form. Observe that at this point I am not approaching the problem of Church and State except with the question: with what kind of State can the Church have a relation? By this I mean a relation of the kind which has hitherto obtained in England; which is neither merely reciprocal tolerance, nor a Concordat. The latter seems to me merely a kind of compromise, of doubtful durability, resting on a dubious division of authority, and often a popular division of loyalty; a compromise which implies perhaps a hope on the part of the rulers of the State that their rule will outlast Christianity, and a faith on the part of the Church that it will survive any particular form of secular organisation. A relation between Church and State such as is, I think, implied in our use of the term, implies that the State is in some sense Christian. It must be clear that I do not mean by a Christian State one in which the rulers are chosen because of their qualifications, still less their eminence, as Christians. A regiment of Saints is apt to be too uncomfortable to last. I do not deny that some advantages may accrue from persons in authority, in a Christian State, being Christians. Even in the present conditions, that sometimes happens; but even if, in the present conditions, all persons in positions of the highest authority were devout and orthodox Christians, we should not expect to see very much difference in the conduct of affairs. The Christian and the unbeliever do not, and cannot, behave very differently in the exercise of office; for it is the general ethos of the people they have to govern, not their own piety, that determines the behaviour of politicians. One may even accept F. S. Oliver’s affirmation—following Buelow, following Disraeli—that real statesmen are inspired by nothing else than their instinct for power and their love of country. It is not primarily the Christianity of the statesmen that matters, but their being confined, by the temper and traditions of the people which they rule, to a Christian framework within which to realise their ambitions and advance the prosperity and prestige of their country. They may frequently perform un-Christian acts; they must never attempt to defend their actions on un-Christian principles.
The rulers and would-be rulers of modern states may be divided into three kinds, in a classification which cuts across the division of fascism, communism and democracy. There are such as have taken over or adapted some philosophy, as of Marx or Aquinas. There are those who, combining invention with eclecticism, have devised their own philosophy—not usually distinguished by either the profundity or the consistency one expects of a philosophy of life—and there are those who pursue their tasks without appearing to have any philosophy at all. I should not expect the rulers of a Christian State to be philosophers, or to be able to keep before their minds at every moment of decision the maxim that the life of virtue is the purpose of human society—in the sense of Thomas Von Aquin „virtuosa igitur vita est congregationis humanae finis“; but they would neither be self-educated, nor have been submitted in their youth merely to that system of miscellaneous or specialised instruction which passes for education: they would have received a Christian education. The purpose of a Christian education would not be merely to make men and women pious Christians: a system which aimed too rigidly at this end alone would become only obscurantist. A Christian education would primarily train people to be able to think in Christian categories, though it could not compel belief and would not impose the necessity for insincere profession of belief. What the rulers believed, would be less important than the beliefs to which they would be obliged to conform. And a skeptical or indifferent statesman, working within a Christian frame, might be more effective than a devout Christian statesman obliged to conform to a secular frame. For he would be required to design his policy for the government of a Christian Society.
The relation of the Christian State, the Christian Community, and the Community of Christians, may be looked at in connexion with the problem of belief. Among the men of state, you would have as a minimum, conscious conformity of behaviour. In the Christian Community that they ruled, the Christian faith would be ingrained, but it requires, as a minimum, only a largely unconscious behaviour; and it is only from the much smaller number of conscious human beings, the Community of Christians, that one would expect a conscious Christian life on its highest social level.
For the great mass of humanity whose attention is occupied mostly by their direct relation to the soil, or the sea, or the machine, and to a small number of persons, pleasures and duties, two conditions are required. The first is that, as their capacity for thinking about the objects of faith is small, their Christianity may be almost wholly realised in behaviour: both in their customary and periodic religious observances, and in a traditional code of behaviour towards their neighbours. The second is that, while they should have some perception of how far their lives fall short of Christian ideals, their religious and social life should form for them a natural whole, so that the difficulty of behaving as Christians should not impose an intolerable strain. These two conditions are really the same differently stated; they are far from being realised today.
The traditional unit of the Christian Community in England is the parish. I am not here concerned with the problem of how radically this system must be modified to suit a future state of things. The parish is certainly in decay, from several causes of which the least cogent is the division into sects: a much more important reason is urbanisation—in which I am including also sub-urbanisation, and all the causes and effects of urbanisation. How far the parish must be superseded will depend largely upon our view of the necessity of accepting the causes which tend to destroy it. In any case, the parish will serve my purpose as an example of community unit. For this unit must not be solely religious, and not solely social; nor should the individual be a member of two separate, or even overlapping units, one religious and the other social. The unitary community should be religious-social, and it must be one in which all classes, if you have classes, have their centre of interest. That is a state of affairs which is no longer wholly realised except in very primitive tribes indeed.
It is a matter of concern not only in this country, but has been mentioned with concern by the late Supreme Pontiff, speaking not of one country but of all civilised countries, that the masses of the people have become increasingly alienated from Christianity. In an industrialised society like that of England, I am surprised that the people retains as much Christianity as it does. For the great majority of the people—and I am not here thinking of social classes, but of intellectual strata—religion must be primarily a matter of behaviour and habit, must be integrated with its social life, with its business and its pleasures; and the specifically religious emotions must be a kind of extension and sanctification of the domestic and social emotions. Even for the most highly developed and conscious individual, living in the world, a consciously Christian direction of thought and feeling can only occur at particular moments during the day and during the week, and these moments themselves recur in consequence of formed habits; to be conscious, without remission, of a Christian and a non-Christian alternative at moments of choice, imposes a very great strain. The mass of the population, in a Christian society, should not be exposed to a way of life in which there is too sharp and frequent a conflict between what is easy for them or what their circumstances dictate and what is Christian. The compulsion to live in such a way that Christian behaviour is only possible in a restricted number of situations, is a very powerful force against Christianity; for behaviour is as potent to affect belief, as belief to affect behaviour.
I am not presenting any idyllic picture of the rural parish, either present or past, in taking as a norm, the idea of a small and mostly self-contained group attached to the soil and having its interests centred in a particular place, with a kind of unity which may be designed, but which also has to grow through generations. It is the idea, or ideal, of a community small enough to consist of a nexus of direct personal relationships, in which all iniquities and turpitudes will take the simple and easily appreciable form of wrong relations between one person and another. But at present not even the smallest community, unless so primitive as to present objectionable features of another kind, is so simplified as this; and I am not advocating any complete reversion to any earlier state of things, real or idealised. The example appears to offer no solution to the problem of industrial, urban and suburban life which is that of the majority of the population. In its religious organisation, we may say that Christendom has remained fixed at the stage of development suitable to a simple agricultural and piscatorial society, and that modern material organisation—or if “organisation” sounds too complimentary, we will say “complication”—has produced a world for which Christian social forms are imperfectly adapted. Even if we agree on this point, there are two simplifications of the problem which are suspect. One is to insist that the only salvation for society is to return to a simpler mode of life, scrapping all the constructions of the modern world that we can bring ourselves to dispense with. This is an extreme statement of the neo-Ruskinian view, which was put forward with much vigour by the late A. J. Penty. When one considers the large amount of determination in social structure, this policy appears Utopian: if such a way of life ever comes to pass, it will be—as may well happen in the long run—from natural causes, and not from the moral will of men. The other alternative is to accept the modern world as it is and simply try to adapt Christian social ideals to it. The latter resolves itself into a mere doctrine of expediency; and is a surrender of the faith that Christianity itself can play any part in shaping social forms. And it does not require a Christian attitude to perceive that the modern system of society has a great deal in it that is inherently bad.
We now reach a point from which there is a course that I do not propose to take; and as it is an obvious course, and to some may appear to be the main thoroughfare, I ought to explain as briefly as I can why I do not propose to take it. We are accustomed to make the distinction (though in practice we are frequently confused) between the evil which is present in human nature at all times and in all circumstances, and the evil in particular institutions at particular times and places, and which, though attributable to some individuals rather than others, or traceable to the cumulative deflection of the wills of many individuals throughout several generations, cannot at any moment be fastened upon particular persons. If we make the mistake of assuming that this kind of evil results from causes wholly beyond the human will, then we are liable to believe that only other non-human causes can change it. But we are equally likely to take another line, and to place all our hopes in the replacement of our machinery. Nevertheless, the lines of thought, which I am doing no more than indicate, for the realisation of a Christian society, must lead us inevitably to face such problems as the hypertrophy of the motive of Profit into a social ideal, the distinction between the use of natural resources and their exploitation, the use of labour and its exploitation, the advantages unfairly accruing to the trader in contrast to the primary producer, the misdirection of the financial machine, the iniquity of usury, and other features of a commercialised society which must be scrutinised on Christian principles. In ignoring these problems, I am not taking refuge in a mere admission of incompetence, though the suspicion that I am incompetent might operate against the acceptance of any observations that I made; nor am I simply resigning them to the supposed technical authorities, for that would be a surrender of the primacy of ethics. My point is that, while there is a considerable measure of agreement that certain things are wrong, the question of how they should be put right is so extremely controversial, that any proposal is immediately countered by a dozen others; and in this context, attention would be concentrated on the imperfections of my proposals, and away from my main concern, the end to be attained. I confine myself therefore to the assertion, which I think few will dispute, that a great deal of the machinery of modern life is merely a sanction for un-Christian aims, that it is not only hostile to the conscious pursuit of the Christian life in the world by the few, but to the maintenance of any Christian society of the world. We must abandon the notion that the Christian should be content with freedom of cultus, and with suffering no worldly disabilities on account of his faith. However bigoted the announcement may sound, the Christian can be satisfied with nothing less than a Christian organisation of society—which is not the same thing as a society consisting exclusively of devout Christians. It would be a society in which the natural end of man—virtue and well-being in community—is acknowledged for all, and the supernatural end—beatitude—for those who have the eyes to see it.
I do not wish, however, to abandon my previous point, that a Christian community is one in which there is a unified religious-social code of behaviour. It should not be necessary for the ordinary individual to be wholly conscious of what elements are distinctly religious and Christian, and what are merely social and identified with his religion by no logical implication. I am not requiring that the community should contain more “good Christians” than one would expect to find under favourable conditions. The religious life of the people would be largely a matter of behaviour and conformity; social customs would take on religious sanctions; there would no doubt be many irrelevant accretions and local emphases and observances—which, if they went too far in eccentricity or superstition, it would be the business of the Church to correct, but which otherwise could make for social tenacity and coherence. The traditional way of life of the community would not be imposed by law, would have no sense of outward constraint, and would not be the result merely of the sum of individual belief and understanding.
The rulers, I have said, will, qua rulers, accept Christianity not simply as their own faith to guide their actions, but as the system under which they are to govern. The people will accept it as a matter of behaviour and habit. In the abstraction which I have erected, it is obvious that the tendency of the State is toward expediency that may become cynical manipulation, the tendency of the people toward intellectual lethargy and superstition. We need therefore what I have called “the Community of Christians,” by which I mean, not local groups, and not the Church in any one of its senses, unless we call it “the Church within the Church.” These will be the consciously and thoughtfully practising Christians, especially those of intellectual and spiritual superiority. It will be remarked at once that this category bears some resemblance to what Coleridge has called “the clerisy”—a term recently revived, and given a somewhat different application, by Mr. Middleton Murry. I think that my “Community of Christians” is somewhat different from either use of the term “clerisy.” The content which Coleridge gave to the term, certainly, has been somewhat voided by time. You will remember that Coleridge included in the extension of meaning three classes: the universities and great schools of learning, the parochial pastorate, and the local schoolmasters. Coleridge’s conception of the clerical function, and of its relation to education, was formed in a world that has since been strangely altered: his insistence that clergy should be “in the rule married men and heads of families” and his dark references to a foreign ecclesiastical power, now sound merely quaint; and he quite failed to recognise the enormous value which monastic orders can and should have in the community. The term which I use is meant to be at once wider and more restricted. In the field of education it is obvious that the conformity to Christian belief and the possession of Christian knowledge, can no longer be taken for granted; nor can the supremacy of the theologian be either expected or imposed in the same way. In any future Christian society that I can conceive, the educational system will be formed according to Christian presuppositions of what education—as distinct from mere instruction—is for; but the personnel will inevitably be mixed: one may even hope that the mixture may be a benefit to its intellectual vitality. The mixture will include persons of exceptional ability who may be indifferent or disbelieving; there will be room for a proportion of other persons professing other faiths than Christianity. The limitations imposed upon such persons would be similar to those imposed by social necessity upon the politician who, without being able to believe the Christian faith, yet has abilities to offer in the public service, with which his country could ill dispense.
It would be still more rash of me to embark upon a criticism of the contemporary ideals of education, than it is for me to venture to criticise politics; but it is not impertinent to remark upon the close relationship of educational theory and political theory. One would indeed be surprised to find the educational system and the political system of any country in complete disaccord; and what I have said about the negative character of our political philosophy should suggest a parallel criticism of our education, not as it is found in practice here or there, but in the assumptions about the nature and purpose of education which tend to affect practice throughout the country. And I do not need to remind you that a pagan totalitarian government is hardly likely to leave education to look after itself, or to refrain from interfering with the traditional methods of the oldest institutions: of some of the results abroad of such interference on the most irrelevant grounds we are quite well aware. There is likely to be, everywhere, more and more pressure of circumstance towards adapting educational ideals to political ideals, and in the one as in the other sphere, we have only to choose between a higher and a lower rationalisation. In a Christian Society education must be religious, not in the sense that it will be administered by ecclesiastics, still less in the sense that it will exercise pressure, or attempt to instruct everyone in theology, but in the sense that its aims will be directed by a Christian philosophy of life. It will no longer be merely a term comprehending a variety of unrelated subjects undertaken for special purposes or for none at all.
My Community of Christians, then, in contrast to Coleridge’s clerisy, could hardly include the whole of the teaching body. On the other hand, it would include, besides many of the laity engaged in various occupations, many, but not all, of the clergy. A national clergy must of course include individual priests of different intellectual types and levels; and, as I suggested before, belief has a vertical as well as a horizontal measurement: to answer fully the question “What does A believe?” one must know enough about A to have some notion of the level on which he is capable of believing anything. The Community of Christians—a body of very nebulous outline—would contain both clergy and laity of superior intellectual and/or spiritual gifts. And it would include some of those who are ordinarily spoken of, not always with flattering intention, as “intellectuals.”
That culture and the cultivation of philosophy and the arts should be confined to the cloister would be a decline into a Dark Age that I shudder to contemplate; on the other hand, the segregation of lay “intellectuals” into a world of their own, which very few ecclesiastics or politicians either penetrate or have any curiosity about, is not a progressive situation either. A good deal of waste seems to me to occur through pure ignorance; a great deal of ingenuity is expended on half-baked philosophies, in the absence of any common background of knowledge. We write for our friends—most of whom are also writers—or for our pupils—most of whom are going to be writers; or we aim at a hypothetical popular audience which we do not know and which perhaps does not exist. The result, in any case, is apt to be a refined provincial crudity. What are the most fruitful social conditions for the production of works of the first order, philosophical, literary or in the other arts, is perhaps one of those topics of controversy more suitable for conversation than for writing about. There may perhaps be no one set of conditions most suitable for the efflorescence of all these activities; it is equally possible that the necessary conditions may vary from one country and civilisation to another. The régime of Louis XIV or of the Tudors and Stuarts could hardly be called libertarian; on the other hand, the rule of authoritarian governments in our time does not appear conducive to a renascence of the arts. Whether the arts flourish best in a period of growth and expansion, or in one of decay, is a question that I cannot answer. A strong and even tyrannous government may do no harm, so long as the sphere of its control is strictly limited; so long as it limits itself to restricting the liberties, without attempting to influence the minds, of its subjects; but a régime of unlimited demagogy appears to be stultifying. I must restrict my consideration to the position of the arts in our present society, and to what it should be in such a future society as I envisage.
It may be that the conditions unfavourable to the arts today lie too deep and are too extensive to depend upon the differences between one form of government and another; so that the prospect before us is either of slow continuous decay or of sudden extinction. You cannot, in any scheme for the reformation of society, aim directly at a condition in which the arts will flourish: these activities are probably by-products for which we cannot deliberately arrange the conditions. On the other hand, their decay may always be taken as a symptom of some social ailment to be investigated. The future of art and thought in a democratic society does not appear any brighter than any other, unless democracy is to mean something very different from anything actual. It is not that I would defend a moral censorship: I have always expressed strong objections to the suppression of books possessing, or even laying claim to literary merit. But what is more insidious than any censorship, is the steady influence which operates silently in any mass society organised for profit, for the depression of standards of art and culture. The increasing organisation of advertisement and propaganda—or the influencing of masses of men by any means except through their intelligence—is all against them. The economic system is against them; the chaos of ideals and confusion of thought in our large scale mass education is against them; and against them also is the disappearance of any class of people who recognise public and private responsibility of patronage of the best that is made and written. At a period in which each nation has less and less “culture” for its own consumption, all are making furious efforts to export their culture, to impress upon each other their achievements in arts which they are ceasing to cultivate or understand. And just as those who should be the intellectuals regard theology as a special study, like numismatics or heraldry, with which they need not concern themselves, and theologians observe the same indifference to literature and art, as special studies which do not concern them, so our political classes regard both fields as territories of which they have no reason to be ashamed of remaining in complete ignorance. Accordingly the more serious authors have a limited, and even provincial audience, and the more popular write for an illiterate and uncritical mob.
You cannot expect continuity and coherence in politics, you cannot expect reliable behaviour on fixed principles persisting through changed situations, unless there is an underlying political philosophy: not of a party, but of the nation. You cannot expect continuity and coherence in literature and the arts, unless you have a certain uniformity of culture, expressed in education by a settled, though not rigid agreement as to what everyone should know to some degree, and a positive distinction—however undemocratic it may sound—between the educated and the uneducated. I observed in America, that with a very high level of intelligence among undergraduates, progress was impeded by the fact that one could never assume that any two, unless they had been at the same school under the influence of the same masters at the same moment, had studied the same subjects or read the same books, though the number of subjects in which they had been instructed was surprising. Even with a smaller amount of total information, it might have been better if they had read fewer, but the same books. In a negative liberal society you have no agreement as to there being any body of knowledge which any educated person should have acquired at any particular stage: the idea of wisdom disappears, and you get sporadic and unrelated experimentation. A nation’s system of education is much more important than its system of government; only a proper system of education can unify the active and the contemplative life, action and speculation, politics and the arts. But “education,” said Coleridge, “is to be reformed, and defined as synonymous with instruction.” This revolution has been effected: to the populace education means instruction. The next step to be taken by the clericalism of secularism, is the inculcation of the political principles approved by the party in power.
I may seem to have wandered from my course, but it seemed necessary to mention the capital responsibility of education in the condition which we find or anticipate: a state secularised, a community turned into a mob, and a clerisy disintegrated. The obvious secularist solution for muddle is to subordinate everything to political power: and in so far as this involves the subordination of the money-making interests to those of the nation as a whole, it offers some immediate, though perhaps illusory relief: a people feels at least more dignified if its hero is the statesman however unscrupulous, or the warrior however brutal, rather than the financier. But it also means the confinement of the clergy to a more and more restricted field of activity, the subduing of free intellectual speculation, and the debauching of the arts by political criteria. It is only in a society with a religious basis—which is not the same thing as an ecclesiastical despotism—that you can get the proper harmony and tension, for the individual or for the community.
In any Christian society which can be imagined for the future—in what M. Maritain calls a pluralist society—my “Community of Christians” cannot be a body of the definite vocational outline of the “clerisy” of Coleridge: which, viewed in a hundred years’ perspective, appears to approximate to the rigidity of a caste. The Community of Christians is not an organisation, but a body of indefinite outline; composed of both clergy and laity, of the more conscious, more spiritually and intellectually developed of both. It will be their identity of belief and aspiration, their background of a common system of education and a common culture, which will enable them to influence and be influenced by each other, and collectively to form the conscious mind and the conscience of the nation.
The Spirit descends in different ways, and I cannot foresee any future society in which we could classify Christians and non-Christians simply by their professions of belief, or even, by any rigid code, by their behaviour. In the present ubiquity of ignorance, one cannot but suspect that many who call themselves Christians do not understand what the word means, and that some who would vigorously repudiate Christianity are more Christian than many who maintain it. And perhaps there will always be individuals who, with great creative gifts of value to mankind, and the sensibility which such gifts imply, will yet remain blind, indifferent, or even hostile. That must not disqualify them from exercising the talents they have been given.
The foregoing sketch of a Christian society, from which are omitted many details that will be considered essential, could not stand even as a rough sketch—an ébauche—without some treatment, according to the same economy, of the relation of Church and State in such a society. So far, nothing has suggested the existence of an organised Church at all. But the State would remain under the necessity of respecting Christian principles, only so far as the habits and feelings of the people were not too suddenly affronted or too violently outraged, or so far as it was deterred by any univocal protest of the most influential of the Community of Christians. The State is Christian only negatively; its Christianity is a reflection of the Christianity of the society which it governs. We have no safeguard against its proceeding, from un-Christian acts, to action on implicitly un-Christian principles, and thence to action on avowedly un-Christian principles. We have no safeguard for the purity of our Christianity; for, as the State may pass from expediency to lack of principle, and as the Christian Community may sink into torpor, so the Community of Christians may be debilitated by group or individual eccentricity and error. So far, we have only a society such that it can have a significant relation to a Church; a relationship which is not of hostility or even of accommodation. And this relation is so important that without discussing it we have not even shown the assembled skeleton of a Christian Society, we have only exposed the unarticulated bones.
I HAVE spoken of this essay as being, in one aspect, a kind of preface to the problem of Church and State; it is as well, at this point, to indicate its prefatorial limitations. The problem is one of concern to every Christian country—that is, to every possible form of Christian society. It will take a different form according to the traditions of that society—Roman, Orthodox, or Lutheran. It will take still another form in those countries, obviously the United States of America and the Dominions, where the variety of races and religious communions represented appears to render the problem insoluble. Indeed, for these latter countries the problem might not appear even to exist; these countries might appear to be committed from their origin to a neutral form of society. I am not ignoring the possibility of a neutral society, under such conditions, persisting indefinitely. But I believe that if these countries are to develop a positive culture of their own, and not remain merely derivatives of Europe, they can only proceed either in the direction of a pagan or of a Christian society. I am not suggesting that the latter alternative must lead to the forcible suppression, or to the complete disappearance of dissident sects; still less, I hope, to a superficial union of Churches under an official exterior, a union in which theological differences would be so belittled that its Christianity might become wholly bogus. But a positive culture must have a positive set of values, and the dissentients must remain marginal, tending to make only marginal contributions.
However dissimilar the local conditions, therefore, this question of Church and State is of importance everywhere. Its actuality in Europe may make it appear all the more remote in America, just as its actuality in England raises a number of considerations remote to the rest of Europe. But if what I say in the following pages has its direct application only in England, it is not because I am thinking of local matters without relation to Christendom as a whole. It is partly that I can only discuss profitably the situations with which I am most familiar, and partly that a more generalised consideration would appear to deal only with figments and fancies. I have therefore limited my field to the possibility of a Christian society in England, and in speaking of Church and State it is the Anglican Church that I have in mind. But it must be remembered that such terms as “Establishment” and “Established Church” can have a wider meaning than we ordinarily give them. On the other hand, I only mean such a Church as can claim to represent the traditional form of Christian belief and worship of the great mass of people of a particular country.
If my outline of a Christian society has commanded the assent of the reader, he will agree that such a society can only be realised when the great majority of the sheep belong to one fold. To those who maintain that unity is a matter of indifference, to those who maintain even that a diversity of theological views is a good thing to an indefinite degree, I can make no appeal. But if the desirability of unity be admitted, if the idea of a Christian society be grasped and accepted, then it can only be realised, in England, through the Church of England. This is not the place for discussing the theological position of that Church: if in any points it is wrong, inconsistent, or evasive, these are matters for reform within the Church. And I am not overlooking the possibility and hope of eventual reunion or reintegration, on one side and another; I am only affirming that it is this Church which, by reason of its tradition, its organisation, and its relation in the past to the religious-social life of the people, is the one for our purpose—and that no Christianisation of England can take place without it.
The Church of a Christian society, then, should have some relation to the three elements in a Christian society that I have named. It must have a hierarchical organisation in direct and official relation to the State: in which relation it is always in danger of sinking into a mere department of State. It must have an organisation, such as the parochial system, in direct contact with the smallest units of the community and their individual members. And finally, it must have, in the persons of its more intellectual, scholarly and devout officers, its masters of ascetic theology and its men of wider interests, a relation to the Community of Christians. In matters of dogma, matters of faith and morals, it will speak as the final authority within the nation; in more mixed questions it will speak through individuals. At times, it can and should be in conflict with the State, in rebuking derelictions in policy, or in defending itself against encroachments of the temporal power, or in shielding the community against tyranny and asserting its neglected rights, or in contesting heretical opinion or immoral legislation and administration. At times, the hierarchy of the Church may be under attack from the Community of Christians, or from groups within it: for any organisation is always in danger of corruption and in need of reform from within.
Although I am not here concerned with the means by which a Christian society could be brought about, it is necessary always to consider the idea in relation to particular existing societies; because one does not expect or desire that its constitution would be identical in all Christian countries. I do not assume that the relation of Church and State in England, either as it is or as it might be, is a model for all other communities. Whether an “Establishment” is the best relation in the abstract, is nowhere my question. Were there no Establishment in England, we should have to examine its desirability. But as we have the Establishment, we must take the situation as we find it, and consider for a moment the merits of the problem of Disestablishment. The advocates of this course, within the Church, have many cogent reasons to expose: the abuses and scandals which such a change might remedy, the inconsistencies which might be removed, and the advantages which might accrue, are too patent to require mention. That abuses and defects of another kind might make their appearance in a disestablished Church, is a possibility which has not perhaps received enough attention. But what is much more to my point is the gravity of the abdication which the Church—whether voluntarily or under pressure—would be making. Setting aside the anomalies which might be corrected without going to that length, I will admit that an Established Church is exposed to peculiar temptations and compulsions: it has greater advantages and greater difficulties. But we must pause to reflect that a Church, once disestablished, cannot easily be re-established, and that the very act of disestablishment separates it more definitely and irrevocably from the life of the nation than if it had never been established. The effect on the mind of the people of the visible and dramatic withdrawal of the Church from the affairs of the nation, of the deliberate recognition of two standards and ways of life, of the Church’s abandonment of all those who are not by their wholehearted profession within the fold—this is incalculable; the risks are so great that such an act can be nothing but a desperate measure. It appears to assume something which I am not yet ready to take for granted: that the division between Christians and non-Christians in this country is already, or is determined to become, so clear that it can be reduced to statistics. But if one believes, as I do, that the great majority of people are neither one thing nor the other, but are living in a no man’s land, then the situation looks very different; and disestablishment instead of being the recognition of a condition at which we have arrived, would be the creation of a condition the results of which we cannot foresee.
With the reform of the Establishment I am not here concerned: the discussion of that requires a familiarity with constitutional, canon, and civil law. But I do not think that the argument from the prosperity of the disestablished Church of Wales, sometimes brought forward by advocates of disestablishment, is to the point. Apart from the differences of racial temperament which must be taken into account, the full effect of disestablishment cannot be seen from the illustration of a small part of the island; and, if disestablishment were made general, the full effect would not appear at once. And I think that the tendency of the time is opposed to the view that the religious and the secular life of the individual and the community can form two separate and autonomous domains. I know that a theology of the absolute separation of the life of the Spirit and the life of the World has spread from Germany. Such a doctrine appears more plausible, when the Church’s position is wholly defensive, when it is subject to daily persecution, when its spiritual claims are questioned and when its immediate necessity is to keep itself alive and to keep its doctrine pure. But this theology is incompatible with the assumptions underlying everything that I have been saying. The increasing complexity of modern life renders it unacceptable, for, as I have already said, we are faced with vital problems arising not merely out of the necessity of cooperating with non-Christians, but out of our unescapable implication in non-Christian institutions and systems. And finally, the totalitarian tendency is against it, for the tendency of totalitarianism is to re-affirm, on a lower level, the religious-social nature of society. And I am convinced that you cannot have a national Christian society, a religious-social community, a society with a political philosophy founded upon the Christian faith, if it is constituted as a mere congeries of private and independent sects. The national faith must have an official recognition by the State, as well as an accepted status in the community and a basis of conviction in the heart of the individual.
Heresy is often defined as an insistence upon one half of the truth; it can also be an attempt to simplify the truth, by reducing it to the limits of our ordinary understanding, instead of enlarging our reason to the apprehension of truth. Monotheism or tritheism is easier to grasp than trinitarianism. We have observed the lamentable results of the attempt to isolate the Church from the World; there are also instances of the failure of the attempt to integrate the World in the Church; we must also be on guard against the attempt to integrate the Church in the World. A permanent danger of an established Church is Erastianism: we do not need to refer to the eighteenth century, or to prewar Russia, to remind ourselves of that. Deplorable as such a situation is, it is not so much the immediate and manifest scandals but the ultimate consequences of Erastianism that are the most serious offences. By alienating the mass of the people from orthodox Christianity, by leading them to identify the Church with the actual hierarchy and to suspect it of being an instrument of oligarchy or class, it leaves men’s minds exposed to varieties of irresponsible and irreflective enthusiasm followed by a second crop of paganism.
The danger of a National Church becoming a class Church, is not one that concerns us immediately today; for now that it is possible to be respectable without being a member of the Church of England, or a Christian of any kind, it is also possible to be a member of the Church of England without being—in that sense—respectable. The danger that a National Church might become also a nationalistic Church is one to which our predecessors theorising about Church and State could hardly have been expected to devote attention, since the danger of nationalism itself, and the danger of the super-session of every form of Christianity, could not have been very present to their minds. Yet the danger was always there: and, for some persons still, Rome is associated with the Armada and Kingsley’s Westward Ho! For a National Church tends to reflect only the religious-social habits of the nation; and its members, in so far as they are isolated from the Christian communities of other nations, may tend to lose all criteria by which to distinguish, in their own religious-social complex, between what is universal and what is local, accidental, and erratic. Within limits, the cultus of the universal Church may quite properly vary according to the racial temperaments and cultural traditions of each nation. Roman Catholicism is not quite the same thing (to the eye of the sociologist, if not to that of the theologian) in Spain, France, Ireland and the United States of America, and but for central authority it would differ much more widely. The tendency to differ may be as strong among bodies of the same communion in different countries, as among various sects within the same country; and, indeed, the sects within one country may be expected to show traits in common, which none of them will share with the same communion abroad.
The evils of nationalistic Christianity have, in the past, been mitigated by the relative weakness of national consciousness and the strength of Christian tradition. They have not been wholly absent: missionaries have sometimes been accused of propagating (through ignorance, not through cunning) the customs and attitudes of the social groups to which they have belonged, rather than giving the natives the essentials of the Christian faith in such a way that they might harmonise their own culture with it. On the other hand, I think that some events during the last twenty-five years have led to an increasing recognition of the supra-national Christian society: for if that is not marked by such conferences as those of Lausanne, Stockholm, Oxford, Edinburgh—and also Malines—then I do not know of what use these conferences have been. The purpose of the labours involved in arranging intercommunion between the official Churches of certain countries is not merely to provide reciprocal sacramental advantages for travellers, but to affirm the Universal Church on earth. Certainly, no one today can defend the idea of a National Church, without balancing it with the idea of the Universal Church, and without keeping in mind that truth is one and that theology has no frontiers.
I think that the dangers to which a National Church is exposed, when the Universal Church is no more than a pious ideal, are so obvious that only to mention them is to command assent. Completely identified with a particular people, the National Church may at all times, but especially at moments of excitement, become no more than the voice of that people’s prejudice, passion or interest. But there is another danger, not quite so easily identified. I have maintained that the idea of a Christian society implies, for me, the existence of one Church which shall aim at comprehending the whole nation. Unless it has this aim, we relapse into that conflict between citizenship and church-membership, between public and private morality, which today makes moral life so difficult for everyone, and which in turn provokes that craving for a simplified, monistic solution of statism or racism which the National Church can only combat if it recognises its position as a part of the Universal Church. But if we allowed ourselves to entertain for Europe (to confine our attention to that continent) the ideal merely of a kind of society of Christian societies, we might tend unconsciously to treat the idea of the Universal Church as only the idea of a supernatural League of Nations. The direct allegiance of the individual would be to his National Church alone, and the Universal Church would remain an abstraction or become a cockpit for conflicting national interests. But the difference between the Universal Church and a perfected League of Nations is this, that the allegiance of the individual to his own Church is secondary to his allegiance to the Universal Church. Unless the National Church is a part of the whole, it has no claim upon me: but a League of Nations which could have a claim upon the devotion of the individual, prior to the claim of his country, is a chimaera which very few persons can even have endeavoured to picture to themselves. I have spoken more than once of the intolerable position of those who try to lead a Christian life in a non-Christian world. But it must be kept in mind that even in a Christian society as well organised as we can conceive possible in this world, the limit would be that our temporal and spiritual life should be harmonised: the temporal and spiritual would never be identified. There would always remain a dual allegiance, to the State and to the Church, to one’s countrymen and to one’s fellow-Christians everywhere, and the latter would always have the primacy. There would always be a tension; and this tension is essential to the idea of a Christian society, and is a distinguishing mark between a Christian and a pagan society.
IT SHOULD be obvious that the form of political organisation of a Christian State does not come within the scope of this discussion. To identify any particular form of government with Christianity is a dangerous error: for it confounds the permanent with the transitory, the absolute with the contingent. Forms of government, and of social organisation, are in constant process of change, and their operation may be very different from the theory which they are supposed to exemplify. A theory of the State may be, explicitly or implicitly, anti-Christian: it may arrogate rights which only the Church is entitled to claim, or pretend to decide moral questions on which only the Church is qualified to pronounce. On the other hand, a régime may in practice claim either more or less than it professes, and we have to examine its working as well as its constitution. We have no assurance that a democratic régime might not be as inimical to Christianity in practice, as another might be in theory: and the best government must be relative to the character and the stage of intelligence and education of a particular people in a particular place at a particular time. Those who consider that a discussion of the nature of a Christian society should conclude by supporting a particular form of political organisation, should ask themselves whether they really believe our form of government to be more important than our Christianity; and those who are convinced that the present form of government of Britain is the one most suitable for any Christian people, should ask themselves whether they are confusing a Christian society with a society in which individual Christianity is tolerated.
This essay is not intended to be either an anti-communist or an anti-fascist manifesto; the reader may by this time have forgotten what I said at the beginning, to the effect that I was less concerned with the more superficial, though important differences between the regimens of different nations, than with the more profound differences between pagan and Christian society. Our preoccupation with foreign politics during the last few years has induced a surface complacency rather than a consistent attempt at self-examination of conscience. Sometimes we are almost persuaded that we are getting on very nicely, with a reform here and a reform there, and would have been getting on still better, if only foreign governments did not insist upon breaking all the rules and playing what is really a different game. What is more depressing still is the thought that only fear or jealousy of foreign success can alarm us about the health of our own nation; that only through this anxiety can we see such things as depopulation, malnutrition, moral deterioration, the decay of agriculture, as evils at all. And what is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might be beneficial. Towards the end of 1938 we experienced a wave of revivalism which should teach us that folly is not the prerogative of any one political party or any one religious communion, and that hysteria is not the privilege of the uneducated. The Christianity expressed has been vague, the religious fervour has been a fervour for democracy. It may engender nothing better than a disguised and peculiarly sanctimonious nationalism, accelerating our progress towards the paganism which we say we abhor. To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion; and we may reflect, that a good deal of the attention of totalitarian states has been devoted, with a steadiness of purpose not always found in democracies, to providing their national life with a foundation of morality—the wrong kind perhaps, but a good deal more of it. It is not enthusiasm, but dogma, that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society.
I have tried to restrict my ambition of a Christian society to a social minimum: to picture, not a society of saints, but of ordinary men, of men whose Christianity is communal before being individual. It is very easy for speculation on a possible Christian order in the future to tend to come to rest in a kind of apocalyptic vision of a golden age of virtue. But we have to remember that the Kingdom of Christ on earth will never be realised, and also that it is always being realised; we must remember that whatever reform or revolution we carry out, the result will always be a sordid travesty of what human society should be—though the world is never left wholly without glory. In such a society as I imagine, as in any that is not petrified, there will be innumerable seeds of decay. Any human scheme for society is realised only when the great mass of humanity has become adapted to it; but this adaptation becomes also, insensibly, an adaptation of the scheme itself to the mass on which it operates: the overwhelming pressure of mediocrity, sluggish and indomitable as a glacier, will mitigate the most violent, and depress the most exalted revolution, and what is realised is so unlike the end that enthusiasm conceived, that foresight would weaken the effort. A wholly Christian society might be a society for the most part on a low level; it would engage the cooperation of many whose Christianity was spectral or superstitious or feigned, and of many whose motives were primarily worldly and selfish. It would require constant reform.
I should not like it to be thought, however, that I considered the presence of the higher forms of devotional life to be a matter of minor importance for such a society. I have, it is true, insisted upon the communal, rather than the individual aspect: a community of men and women, not individually better than they are now, except for the capital difference of holding the Christian faith. But their holding the Christian faith would give them something else which they lack: a respect for the religious life, for the life of prayer and contemplation, and for those who attempt to practise it. In this I am asking no more of the British Christian, than is characteristic of the ordinary Moslem or Hindu. But the ordinary man would need the opportunity to know that the religious life existed, that it was given its due place, would need to recognise the profession of those who have abandoned the world, as he recognises the professions practised in it. I cannot conceive a Christian society without religious orders, even purely contemplative orders, even enclosed orders. And, incidentally, I should not like the “Community of Christians” of which I have spoken, to be thought of as merely the nicest, most intelligent and public-spirited of the upper middle class—it is not to be conceived on that analogy.
We may say that religion, as distinguished from modern paganism, implies a life in conformity with nature. It may be observed that the natural life and the supernatural life have a conformity to each other which neither has with the mechanistic life: but so far has our notion of what is natural become distorted, that people who consider it “unnatural” and therefore repugnant, that a person of either sex should elect a life of celibacy, consider it perfectly “natural” that families should be limited to one or two children. It would perhaps be more natural, as well as in better conformity with the Will of God, if there were more celibates and if those who were married had larger families. But I am thinking of “conformity to nature” in a wider sense than this. We are being made aware that the organisation of society on the principle of private profit, as well as public destruction, is leading both to the deformation of humanity by unregulated industrialism, and to the exhaustion of natural resources, and that a good deal of our material progress is a progress for which succeeding generations may have to pay dearly. I need only mention, as an instance now very much before the public eye, the results of “soil-erosion”—the exploitation of the earth, on a vast scale for two generations, for commercial profit: immediate benefits leading to dearth and desert. I would not have it thought that I condemn a society because of its material ruin, for that would be to make its material success a sufficient test of its excellence; I mean only that a wrong attitude towards nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude towards God, and that the consequence is an inevitable doom. For a long enough time we have believed in nothing but the values arising in a mechanised, commercialised, urbanised way of life: it would be as well for us to face the permanent conditions upon which God allows us to live upon this planet. And without sentimentalising the life of the savage, we might practise the humility to observe, in some of the societies upon which we look down as primitive or backward, the operation of a social-religious-artistic complex which we should emulate upon a higher plane. We have been accustomed to regard “progress” as always integral; and have yet to learn that it is only by an effort and a discipline, greater than society has yet seen the need of imposing upon itself, that material knowledge and power is gained without loss of spiritual knowledge and power. The struggle to recover the sense of relation to nature and to God, the recognition that even the most primitive feelings should be part of our heritage, seems to me to be the explanation and justification of the life of D. H. Lawrence, and the excuse for his aberrations. But we need not only to learn how to look at the world with the eyes of a Mexican Indian—and I hardly think that Lawrence succeeded—and we certainly cannot afford to stop there. We need to know how to see the world as the Christian Fathers saw it; and the purpose of re-ascending to origins is that we should be able to return, with greater spiritual knowledge, to our own situation. We need to recover the sense of religious fear, so that it may be overcome by religious hope.
I should not like to leave the reader supposing that I have attempted to contribute one more amateur sketch of an abstract and impracticable future: the blue-print from which the doctrinaire criticises the piecemeal day to day efforts of political men. These latter efforts have to go on; but unless we can find a pattern into which all problems of life can have their place, we are only likely to go on complicating chaos. So long, for instance, as we consider finance, industry, trade, agriculture merely as competing interests to be reconciled from time to time as best they may, so long as we consider “education” as a good in itself of which everyone has a right to the utmost, without any ideal of the good life for society or for the individual, we shall move from one uneasy compromise to another. To the quick and simple organisation of society for ends which, being only material and worldly, must be as ephemeral as worldly success, there is only one alternative. As political philosophy derives its sanction from ethics, and ethics from the truth of religion, it is only by returning to the eternal source of truth that we can hope for any social organisation which will not, to its ultimate destruction, ignore some essential aspect of reality. The term “democracy,” as I have said again and again, does not contain enough positive content to stand alone against the forces that you dislike—it can easily be transformed by them. If you will not have God (and He is a jealous God) you should pay your respects to Hitler or Stalin.
I believe that there must be many persons who, like myself, were deeply shaken by the events of September 1938, in a way from which one does not recover; persons to whom that month brought a profounder realisation of a general plight. It was not a disturbance of the understanding: the events themselves were not surprising. Nor, as became increasingly evident, was our distress due merely to disagreement with the policy and behaviour of the moment. The feeling which was new and unexpected was a feeling of humiliation, which seemed to demand an act of personal contrition, of humility, repentance and amendment; what had happened was something in which one was deeply implicated and responsible. It was not, I repeat, a criticism of the government, but a doubt of the validity of a civilisation. We could not match conviction with conviction, we had no ideas with which we could either meet or oppose the ideas opposed to us. Was our society, which had always been so assured of its superiority and rectitude, so confident of its unexamined premises, assembled round anything more permanent than a congeries of banks, insurance companies and industries, and had it any beliefs more essential than a belief in compound interest and the maintenance of dividends? Such thoughts as these formed the starting point, and must remain the excuse, for saying what I have to say.
September 6th, 1939. The whole of this book, with Preface and Notes, was completed before it was known that we should be at war. But the possibility of war, which has now been realised, was always present to my mind, and the only additional observations which I feel called upon to make are these: first, that the alignment of forces which has now revealed itself should bring more clearly to our consciousness the alternative of Christianity or paganism; and, second, that we cannot afford to defer our constructive thinking to the conclusion of hostilities—a moment when, as we should know from experience, good counsel is liable to be obscured.
Page 6. In using the term “Idea” I have of course had in mind the definition given by Coleridge, when he lays down at the beginning of his Church and State that: “By an idea I mean (in this instance) that conception of a thing, which is not abstracted from any particular state, form or mode, in which the thing may happen to exist at this or that time; nor yet generalised from any number or succession of such forms or modes; but which is given by the knowledge of its ultimate aim.”
7. Christian sociologists. I am deeply indebted to several Christian economists and sociologists, both in England and elsewhere, and notably to R. H. Tawney. My difference of approach in these pages need not be further elaborated, but it is interesting to compare the treatment of the problem of Church and State by V. A. Demant in his very valuable Christian Polity, p. 120 ff. and p. 135 ff. Fr. Demant observes that the authority of the Church “cannot now be claimed on the ground that it represents all citizens.” But while the Church does not represent all citizens in the sense in which a Member of Parliament may be said to “represent” his constituents, even those who vote consistently against him, yet its function seems to me wider than only to “safeguard the individual in his right to pursue certain purposes which are not political purposes”; what I am primarily concerned with throughout is not the responsibility of the Church towards the individual but towards the community. The relation of the Church with the State may be one of checks and balances, but the background and justification of this relation is the Church’s relation to Society. Fr. Demant gives a very good account of the forces tending towards acceptance of the absolutist State, and remarks truly that: “This fact of the secularisation of human life does not arise mainly from the extension of the State’s powers. This is rather the effort of the State to recover significance in the life of a people which has become disintegrated through the confusion of social means and ends which is its secularisation.”
One of the causes of the totalitarian State is an effort of the State to supply a function which the Church has ceased to serve; to enter into a relation to the community which the Church has failed to maintain; which leads to the recognition as full citizens only of those who are prepared to accept it in this relation.
I agree cordially with Fr. Demant’s observation that: “The fact which renders most of our theories of Church and State irrelevant is the domination of politics by economics and finance; and this is most true in democratic states. The subservience of politics to plutocracy is the main fact about the State confronting the Church today.”
Fr. Demant is concerned with the reform of this situation, in a secular society; and with the right position of the Church in a secular society. But unless I have misunderstood him, he appears to me to take this secularisation for granted. Assuming that our present society is neutral rather than non-Christian, I am concerned with enquiring what it might be like if it took the Christian direction.
15. “Totalitarianism can retain the terms ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ and give them its own meaning.” A letter appeared in The Times (April 24, 1939) from General J. F. C. Fuller, who, as The Times had previously stated, was one of the two British visitors invited to Herr Hitler’s birthday celebrations. General Fuller states that he is “a firm believer in the democracy of Mazzini, because he places duty to the nation before individual rights.” General Fuller calls himself a “British Fascist,” and believes that Britain “must swim with the out-flowing tide of this great political change” (i.e. to a fascist system of government).
From my point of view, General Fuller has as good a title to call himself a “believer in democracy” as anyone else.
15. Imitation à rebours. A column in the Evening Standard of May 10, 1939, headed “Back to the Kitchen Creed Denounced,” reported the annual conference of the Civil Service Clerical Association.
“Miss Bower of the Ministry of Transport, who moved that the association should take steps to obtain the removal of the ban (i.e. against married women Civil Servants) said it was wise to abolish an institution which embodied one of the main tenets of the Nazi creed—the relegation of women to the sphere of the kitchen, the children and the church.”
The report, by its abbreviation, may do less than justice to Miss Bower, but I do not think that I am unfair to the report, in finding the implication that what is Nazi is wrong, and need not be discussed on its own merits. Incidentally, the term “relegation of women” prejudices the issue. Might one suggest that the kitchen, the children and the church could be considered to have a claim upon the attention of married women? or that no normal married woman would prefer to be a wage-earner if she could help it? What is miserable is a system that makes the dual wage necessary.
15. Fascist doctrine. I mean only such doctrine as asserts the absolute authority of the state, or the infallibility of a ruler. “The corporative state,” recommended by Quadrigesimo Anno, is not in question. The economic organisation of totalitarian states is not in question. The ordinary person does not object to fascism because it is pagan, but because he is fearful of authority, even when it is pagan.
16. The red herring of the German national religion. I cannot hold such a low opinion of German intelligence as to accept any stories of the revival of pre-Christian cults. I can, however, believe that the kind of religion expounded by Professor Wilhelm Hauer is really in existence—and I am very sorry to believe it. I rely upon the essay contributed by Dr. Hauer to a very interesting volume, Germany’s New Religion (Allen and Unwin, 1937), in which orthodox Lutheranism is defended by Karl Heim, and Catholicism by Karl Adam.
The religion of Hauer is deistic, claiming to “worship a more than human God.” He believes it to be “an eruption from the biological and spiritual depths of the German nation,” and unless one is prepared to deny that the German nation has such depths, I do not see that the statement can be ridiculed. He believes that “each new age must mold its own religious forms”—alas, many persons in Anglo-Saxon countries hold the same belief. He professes himself to be particularly a disciple of Eckhart; and whether or not one believes that the doctrines condemned by the Church were what Eckhart strove to propagate, it is certainly the condemned doctrine that Hauer holds. He considers that the “revolt of the German from Christianity reached its culmination in Nietzsche”: many people would not limit that revolt to the German. He advocates tolerance. He objects to Christianity because “it claims to possess the absolute truth, and with this daim is bound up the idea that men can only achieve salvation in one way, through Christ, and that it must send to the stake those whose faith and life do not conform, or pray for them till they quit the error of their ways for the kingdom of God.” Thousands of people in Western countries would agree with this attitude. He objects to sacramental religion, because “everyone has an immediate relation to God, is, in fact, in the depths of his heart one with the eternal Ground of the world.” Faith comes not from revelation but from “personal experience.” He is not interested in “the mass of intellectuals,” but in the “multitudes of ordinary people” who are looking for “Life.” “We believe,” he says, “that God has laid a great task on our nation, and that he has therefore revealed himself specially in its history and will continue to do so.” To my ear, such phrases have a not altogether unfamiliar ring. Hauer believes also in something very popular in this country, the religion of the blue sky, the grass and flowers. He believes that Jesus (even if he was wholly Semitic on both sides) is one of the “great figures who soar above the centuries.”
I have quoted so much, in order to let Professor Hauer declare himself for what he is: the end product of German Liberal Protestantism, a nationalistic Unitarian. Translated into English terms, he might be made to appear as simply a patriotic Modernist. The German National Religion, as Hauer expounds it, turns out to be something with which we are already familiar. So, if the German Religion is also your religion, the sooner you realise the fact the better.
18. “Hygienic morality.” M. Denis de Rougemont, in his remarkable book L’Amour et l’occident, has this sentence (p. 269) which is to the point: “L’anarchie des moeurs et l’hygiène authoritaire agissent à peu près dans le même sens: elles déçoivent le besoin de passion, héréditaire ou acquis par la culture; elles détendent ses ressorts intimes et personnels.”
18. It may be opportune at this point to say a word about the attitude of a Christian Society towards Pacifism. I am not concerned with rationalistic pacifism, or with humanitarian pacifism, but with Christian pacifism—that which asserts that all warfare is categorically forbidden to followers of Our Lord. This absolute Christian pacifism should be distinguished again from another: that which would assert that only a Christian society is worth fighting for, and that a particular society may fall so far short, or may be so positively anti-Christian, that no Christian will be justified or excused for fighting for it. With this relative Christian pacifism I cannot be concerned, because my hypothesis is that of a Christian Society. In such a society, what will be the place of the Christian pacifist?
Such a person would continue to exist, as sects and individual vagaries would probably continue to exist; and it would be the duty of the Christian who was not a pacifist to treat the pacifist with consideration and respect. It would also be the duty of the State to treat him with consideration and respect, having assured itself of his sincerity. The man who believes that a particular war in which his country proposes to engage is an aggressive war, who believes that his country could refuse to take part in it without its legitimate interests being imperilled, and without failing in its duty to God and its neighbours, would be wrong to remain silent (the attitude of the late Charles Eliot Norton in regard to the Spanish-American War of 1898 is to the point). But I cannot but believe that the man who maintains that war is in all circumstances wrong, is in some way repudiating an obligation towards society; and in so far as the society is a Christian society the obligation is so much the more serious. Even if each particular war proves in turn to have been unjustified, yet the idea of a Christian society seems incompatible with the idea of absolute pacifism; for pacifism can only continue to flourish so long as the majority of persons forming a society are not pacifists; just as sectarianism can only flourish against the background of orthodoxy. The notion of communal responsibility, of the responsibility of every individual for the sins of the society to which he belongs, is one that needs to be more firmly apprehended; and if I share the guilt of my society in time of “peace,” I do not see how I can absolve myself from it in time of war, by abstaining from the common action.
20. The Community of Christians. This term is perhaps open to objection. I did not wish to employ Coleridge’s term “clerisy” while altering its meaning, but I assume that the reader is familiar with “clerisy” in his Church and State, and with Mr. Middleton Murry’s use of the same word. Perhaps the term “Community of Christians” may connote to some a kind of esoteric chapelle or fraternity of the self-appointed, but I hope that what is said later in this chapter may prevent that inference. I wished to avoid excessive emphasis on nominal function, as it seemed to me that Coleridge’s “clerisy” might tend to become merely a brahminical caste.
I should add, as a note on the use of the phrase “superior intellectual and/or spiritual gifts” (p. 30), that the possession of intellectual or spiritual gifts does not necessarily confer that intellectual understanding of spiritual issues which is the qualification for exerting the kind of influence here required. Nor is the person who possesses this qualification necessarily a “better Christian” in his private life than the man whose insight is less profound; nor is he necessarily exempt from doctrinal error. I prefer that the definition should be, provisionally, too comprehensive rather than too narrow.
29. Christian Education. This note, as well as that on “The Community of Christians,” is elicited by a searching comment by Bro. George Every, S.S.M., who has been so kind as to read this book in proof. Those who have read a paper called “Modern Education and the Classics,” written in a different context, and published in a volume entitled Essays Ancient and Modern, may assume that what I have in mind is simply the “classical education” of earlier times. The problem of Education is too large to be considered in a brief book like this, and the question of the best curriculum is not here raised. I limit myself to the assertion that the miscellaneous curriculum will not do, and that education must be something more than the acquisition of information, technical competence, or superficial culture. Furthermore, I am not here concerned with what must occupy the mind of anyone approaching the subject of Education directly, that is the question of what should be done now. The point upon which all who are dissatisfied with contemporary Education can agree, is the necessity for criteria and values. But one must start by expelling-from one’s mind any mere prejudice or sentiment in favour of any previous system of education, and recognising the differences between the society for which we have to legislate, and any form of society which we have known in the past.
33. Uniformity of culture. In an important passage in Beyond Politics (pp. 23-31) Mr. Christopher Dawson discusses the possibility of an “organisation of culture.” He recognises that it is impossible to do this “by any kind of philosophic or scientific dictatorship,” or by a return “to the old humanist discipline of letters, for that is inseparable from the aristocratic ideal of a privileged caste of scholars.” He asserts that “a democratic society must find a correspondingly democratic organisation of culture”; and finds that “the form of organisation appropriate to our society in the field of culture as well as in that of politics is the party—that is to say a voluntary organisation for common ends based on a common ‘ideology.’”
I think that I am in close sympathy with Mr. Dawson’s aims, and yet I find it difficult to apprehend the meaning of this “culture” which will have no philosophy (for philosophy, he reminds us, has lost its ancient prestige) and which will not be specifically religious. What, in the kind of society to which we are approximating, will be a “democratic organisation of culture”? To substitute for “democratic” a term which for me has greater concreteness, I should say that the society which is coming into existence, and which is advancing in every country whether “democratic” or “totalitarian,” is a lower middle class society: I should expect the culture of the twentieth century to belong to the lower middle class as that of the Victorian age belonged to the upper middle class or commercial aristocracy. If then for Mr. Dawson’s phrase we substitute the words “a lower middle class society must find a correspondingly lower middle class organisation of culture” we have something which seems to me to possess more meaning, though it leaves us in greater perplexity. And if Mr. Dawson’s Culture Party—about which, however, our information is still meagre—is to be representative of this future society, is it likely to provide anything more important than, for example, a lower middle class Royal Academy instead of one supplying portrait painters for aldermen?
It may be that I have wholly failed to understand what Mr. Dawson is after: if so, I can only hope that he will let us have a fuller exposition of his ideas. Unless some useful analogy can be given from the past, I cannot understand the “organisation of culture,” which appears to be without precedent; and in isolating culture from religion, politics and philosophy we seem to be left with something no more apprehensible than the scent of last year’s roses. When we speak of culture, I suppose that we have in mind the existence of two classes of people: the producers and the consumers of culture—the existence of men who can create new thought and new art (with middlemen who can teach the consumers to like it) and the existence of a cultivated society to enjoy and patronise it. The former you can only encourage, the latter you can only educate.
I would not belittle the importance, in a period of transition, of the rearguard action; of such institutions, in their various special ways, as the National Trust, the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, even the National Society. We ought not to cut down old trees until we have learned to plant new ones. But Mr. Dawson is concerned with something more important than the preservation of relics of former culture. My provisional view can only be that “culture” is a by-product, and that those who sympathise with Mr. Dawson in resenting the tyranny of politics, must direct their attention to the problem of Education, and of how, in the lower middle class society of the future, to provide for the training of an élite of thought, conduct and taste.
When I speak of a probable “lower middle class society” I do not anticipate—short of some at present unpredictable revolution—the rise in Britain of a lower middle class political hierarchy, though our ruling class will have to cultivate, in its dealings with foreign countries, an understanding of that mentality. Britain will presumably continue to be governed by the same mercantile and financial class which, with a continual change of personnel, has been increasingly important since the fifteenth century. I mean by a “lower middle class society” one in which the standard man legislated for and catered for, the man whose passions must be manipulated, whose prejudices must be humoured, whose tastes must be gratified, will be the lower middle class man. He is the most numerous, the one most necessary to flatter. I am not necessarily implying that this is either a good or a bad thing: that depends upon what lower middle class Man does to himself, and what is done to him.
40. Advocates of Disestablishment. It is interesting to compare Bishop Hensley Henson’s vigorous defence of the Establishment, Cut Bono?, published more than forty years ago, with his more recent Disestablishment, in which he took a contrary view, but too great importance could be attached, by one side or the other, to this recantation. The argument for Establishment in the early essay, and the argument against it in the later, are both well presented, and both deserve study. What has happened seems to me to be simply that Bishop Hensley Henson has come to take a different view of the tendencies of modern society; and the changes since the end of the last century are great enough to excuse such a change of opinion. His early argument is not invalidated; he might say that the situation is now such that it cannot be applied.
I must take this occasion for calling attention to the great excellence of Bishop Hensley Henson’s prose, whether it is employed in a volume prepared at leisure, or in an occasional letter to The Times. For vigour and purity of controversial English, he has no superior today, and his writings should long continue to be studied by those who aspire to write well.
41. The dangers of a nationalistic Church. Doubts about the doctrinal security of a national Church must come to the mind of any reader of Mr. Middleton Murry’s The Price of Leadership. The first part of this book I read with the warmest admiration, and I can support all that Mr. Murry says in favour of a National Church against sectarianism and private Christianity. But at the point at which Mr. Murry allies himself with Dr. Thomas Arnold I begin to hesitate. I have no first-hand acquaintance with the doctrines of Dr. Arnold, and must rely upon Mr. Murry’s exposition of them. But Mr. Murry does not engage my complete confidence in Arnold; nor do the citations of Arnold reassure me about the orthodoxy of Mr. Murry. Mr. Murry holds that “the real conflict that is preparing is the conflict between Christianity and anti-Christian nationalism”: but surely a nationalism which is overtly antagonistic to Christianity is a less dangerous menace for us than a nationalism which professes a Christianity from which all Christian content has been evacuated. That the Church in England should be identical with the nation—a view which Mr. Murry believes he has found in Arnold and before him in Coleridge, and which Mr. Murry himself accepts—is a laudable aim so long as we keep in mind that we are speaking of one aspect of the Church; but unless this is balanced by the idea of the relation of the Church in England to the Universal Church, I see no safeguard for the purity or the catholicity of its doctrine. I am not even sure that Mr. Murry desires such a safeguard. He quotes, with apparent approval, this sentence by Matthew Arnold: “Will there never arise among Catholics some great soul, to perceive that the eternity and universality, which is vainly claimed for Catholic dogma and the ultramontane system, might really be possible for Catholic worship?”
Well! if eternity and universality is to be found, not in dogma, but in worship—that means, in a common form of worship which will mean to the worshippers anything that they like to fancy, then the result seems to me to be likely to be the most corrupt form of ritualism. What does Mr. Murry mean by Christianity in his National Church, except whatever the nation as such may decide to call Christianity, and what is to prevent the Christianity from being degraded to the nationalism, rather than the nationalism being raised to Christianity?
Mr. Murry holds that Dr. Arnold introduced a new Christian spirit into the public schools. I would not deny to Dr. Arnold the honour of having reformed and improved the moral standards inculcated by public schools, or dispute the assertion that to him and to his son “we owe the tradition of disinterested public service.” But at what price? Mr. Murry believes that the ideals of Dr. Arnold have been degraded and adulterated by a subsequent generation: I would like to be sure that the results were not implicit in the principles. To me there appear to be further possible results. Mr. Murry says: “The main organ of this new national and Christian society is the state; the state is, indeed, the organ indispensable to its manifestation. For this reason it is inevitable that in the new national society, if it is to be in some real sense a Christian society, the Church and the state should draw together. On the nature of this drawing together of Church and state, everything depends.”
This paragraph, especially in conjunction with Mr. Murry’s suggestion that the public schools should be taken over by the State, makes me suspect that Mr. Murry is ready to go a long way towards totalitarianism; and without any explicit statement on his part about the Christian beliefs which are necessary for salvation, or about the supernatural reality of the Church, we might even conclude that he would go some way in the direction of an English National Religion, the formulation of which would be taken in hand by the moral re-armament manufacturers.
Mr. Murry appears (p. 111) to follow Dr. Arnold in attaching little importance to the apostolical succession. With regard to the position of Matthew Arnold, he says (p. 125), “in this situation no mere revival of Christian piety could possibly avail: not even a rebirth of Christian saintliness (such as he admired in Newman) could be efficacious against it.” It is only a short step from employing the adjective mere to ignoring Christian piety. He continues, “What was required was a renovation of Christian understanding, an enlarged conception of the spiritual life itself.”
How such an enlargement of the conception of the spiritual life is to take place without spiritual masters, without the re-birth of saintliness, I cannot conceive.
46. Wave of revivalism. “Moral re-armament” has been competently and authoritatively analysed from the theological point of view by Fr. Hilary Carpenter, O.P., in the April 1939 issue of Blackfriars, and by Professor H. A. Hodges in the May issue of Theology. But I feel that everything that remains of clear thinking in this country should be summoned to protest against this abuse of Christianity and of English. A reading of Mr. H. W. Austin’s compilation Moral Re-Armament suggests several lines of thought. Our immediate reflection is upon the extraordinary facility with which men of the greatest eminence will lend their names to any public appeal, however obscure or ambiguous. Another thought is that the kind of mental activity exposed by these letters must have a very demoralising effect upon the language. Coleridge remarked that “in a language like ours, where so many words are derived from other languages, there are few modes of instruction more useful or more amusing than that of accustoming young people to seek for the etymology, or primary meaning, of the words they use. There are cases, in which more knowledge of more value may be conveyed by the history of a word, than by the history of a campaign.” For instance, in a letter to The Times reprinted in Mr. Austin’s pamphlet, it is said that “national security at home and abroad can only be gained through moral regeneration.” Even allowing that “moral regeneration” is intended to represent some milder form of parturition than regeneration, it is a very striking adaptation of the words of the Gospel to declare that unless a nation be born again it cannot achieve national security. The word regeneration appears to have degenerated. In the next paragraph “regeneration” has been replaced by “re-armament.” I do not doubt that the term “moral and spiritual re-armament” was originally coined merely as a striking reminder that we need something more than material equipment, but it has quickly shrunk to imply another kind of equipment on the same plane: that is, for ends which need be no better than worldly.
In spite of the fervour which tinges the whole correspondence, I cannot find anything to suggest that Christianity is needed. Some of the signers, at least, I know to be Christians, but the movement in itself, to judge by this pamphlet, is no more essentially Christian than the German National Religion of Professor Hauer. I have no first-hand experience of the Buchmanite Movement, by which this pamphlet appears to be inspired, but I have never seen any evidence that to be a Buchmanite it was necessary to hold the Christian Faith according to the Creeds, and until I have seen a statement to that effect, I shall continue to doubt whether there is any reason to call Buchmanism a Christian movement.
I am alarmed, by what are not necessary implications, but are certainly possibilities, and to my mind probabilities, of further development of this kind. It is the possibility of gradually adapting our religion to fit our secular aims—some of which may be worthy aims, but none of which will be criticised by a supernatural measure. Moral re-armament in my opinion may easily lead to a progressive Germanisation of our society. We observe the efficiency of the German machine, and we perceive that we cannot emulate it without a kind of religious enthusiasm. Moral re-armament will provide the enthusiasm, and be the most useful kind of political drug—that is to say, having the potency at once of a stimulant and a narcotic: but it will supply this function to the detriment of our religion.
“There is a tendency, especially among the English-speaking Protestant peoples, to treat religion as a kind of social tonic that can be used in times of national emergency in order to extract a further degree of moral effort from the people. But apart from the Pelagian conception of religion that this view implies, it is not wholly sound from the psychological point of view, since it merely heightens the amount of moral tension without increasing the sources of spiritual vitality or resolving the psychological conflicts from which the society suffers.”
Christopher Dawson: Beyond Politics, p. 21.
“While the humanistic religious sentiment which expresses itself by the catch in the throat at the last Evensong in the old School Chapel, the community singing of Abide with me at a torchlight tattoo, and the standing to attention during the Two Minutes’ Silence, can be utilised by totalitarianism, a religion which speaks of redemption by the incarnate Son of God, which offers mankind the sacramental means of union with the eternal life of the God-Man Jesus Christ, and which makes the perpetual representation of His atoning Sacrifice its essential act of worship must be the declared enemy of all who see in the state the be-all and end-all of man’s life.”
Humphrey Beevor: Peace and Pacifism p. 207.
51. I have permission to reprint, from The Times of October 5, 1938, the following letter, which might serve either as prologue or epilogue to all that I have said, and which provided the immediate stimulus for the lectures which form this book.
3rd October, 1938.
The lessons which are being drawn from the unforgettable experiences through which we have lived during the past few days do not for the most part seem to me to go deep enough. The period of grace that has been given us may be no more than a postponement of the day of reckoning unless we make up our minds to seek a radical cure. Our civilisation can recover only if we are determined to root out the cancerous growths which have brought it to the verge of complete collapse. Whether truth and justice or caprice and violence are to prevail in human affairs is a question on which the fate of mankind depends. But to equate the conflict between these opposing forces with the contrast between democracies and dictatorships, real and profound as is this difference, is a dangerous simplification of the problem. To focus our attention on evil in others is a way of escape from the painful struggle of eradicating it from our own hearts and lives and an evasion of our real responsibilities.
The basal truth is that the spiritual foundations of western civilisation have been undermined. The systems which are in the ascendant on the continent may be regarded from one point of view as convulsive attempts to arrest the process of disintegration. What clear alternative have we in this country? The mind of England is confused and uncertain. Is it possible that a simple question, an affirmative answer to which is for many a matter of course and for many others an idle dream or sheer lunacy, might in these circumstances become a live and serious issue? May our salvation lie in an attempt to recover our Christian heritage, not in the sense of going back to the past but of discovering in the central affirmations and insights of the Christian faith new spiritual energies to regenerate and vitalise our sick society? Does not the public repudiation of the whole Christian scheme of life in a large part of what was once known as Christendom force to the front the question whether the path of wisdom is not rather to attempt to work out a Christian doctrine of modern society and to order our national life in accordance with it?
Those who would give a quick, easy or confident answer to this question have failed to understand it. It cannot even be seriously considered without a profound awareness of the extent to which Christian ideas have lost their hold over, or faded from the consciousness of, large sections of the population; of the far-reaching changes that would be called for in the structure, institutions and activities of existing society, which is in many of its features a complete denial of the Christian understanding of the meaning and end of man’s existence; and of the stupendous and costly spiritual, moral and intellectual effort that any genuine attempt to order the national life in accordance with the Christian understanding of life would demand. Realistically viewed the task is so far beyond the present capacity of our British Christianity that I write as a fool. But if the will were there, I believe that the first steps to be taken are fairly clear. The presupposition of all else, however, is the recognition that nothing short of a really heroic effort will avail to save mankind from its present evils and the destruction which must follow in their train.
I am, Sir,
Yours etc.
(Signed) J. H. OLDHAM
A distinguished theologian, who has been so kind as to read the proofs of this book, has made criticisms of which I should have liked to avail myself by a thorough revision of the text. He has allowed me to quote the following passage from his criticism, which the reader may find helpful in correcting some of the defects of my presentation:
“The main theses of this book seem to me so important, and their application so urgently necessary, that I want to call attention to two points which I think need further emphasis, lest the point of the argument should be missed.
“A main part of the problem, as regards the actual Church and its existing members, is the defective realisation among us of the fundamental fact that Christianity is primarily a Gospel-message, a dogma, a belief about God and the world and man, which demands of man a response of faith and repentance. The common failure lies in putting the human response first, and so thinking of Christianity as primarily a religion. Consequently there is among us a tendency to view the problems of the day in the light of what is practically possible, rather than in the light of what is imposed by the principles of that truth to which the Church is set to bear witness.
“Secondly, there is a general vagueness about ‘the Community of Christians.’ I fear the phrase will be interpreted to mean nice Christianly-minded people of the upper middle class (p. 48). But the Community of Christians ought to mean those who are gathered into unity in the sacramental life of the visible Church: and this community in the life of faith ought to be producing something of a common mind about the questions of the day. It cannot indeed be assumed that the mind of the Community of Christians is truly reflected in the ecclesiastical pronouncements which from time to time appear: that mind does not form itself quickly, in these matters in which it is so hard to see the way. There ought however to be, and to some real extent there is now, in the minds of Christian people a sense of the proportion of things and a spirit of discipline, which are direct fruits of the life of faith: and it is these that need to be brought to bear if the questions are to be answered in the light of Christian principles.”
The following broadcast talk, delivered in February 1937 in a series on “Church, Community and State,” and printed in “The Listener,” has some relevance to the matter of the preceding pages of this book.
THAT there is an antithesis between the Church and the World is a belief we derive from the highest authority. We know also from our reading of history, that a certain tension between Church and State is desirable. When Church and State fall out completely, it is ill with the commonwealth; and when Church and State get on too well together, there is something wrong with the Church. But the distinction between the Church and the World is not so easy to draw as that between Church and State. Here we mean not any one communion or ecclesiastical organisation but the whole number of Christians as Christians; and we mean not any particular State, but the whole of society, the world over, in its secular aspect. The antithesis is not simply between two opposed groups of individuals: every individual is himself a field in which the forces of the Church and the world struggle.
By “the Church’s message to the World” you might think that what was meant was only the business of the Church to go on talking. I should like to make it more urgent by expanding the title to “the Church’s business to interfere with the World.” What is often assumed, and it is a principle that I wish to oppose, is the principle of live-and-let-live. It is assumed that if the State leaves the Church alone, and to some extent protects it from molestation, then the Church has no right to interfere with the organisation of society, or with the conduct of those who deny its beliefs. It is assumed that any such interference would be the oppression of the majority by a minority. Christians must take a very different view of their duty. But before suggesting how the Church should interfere with the World, we must try to answer the question: why should it interfere with the World?
It must be said bluntly that between the Church and the World there is no permanent modus-vivendi possible. We may unconsciously draw a false analogy between the position of the Church in a secular society and the position of a dissenting sect in a Christian society. The situation is very different. A dissenting minority in a Christian society can persist because of the fundamental beliefs it has in common with that society, because of a common morality and of common grounds of Christian action. Where there is a different morality there is conflict. I do not mean that the Church exists primarily for the propagation of Christian morality: morality is a means and not an end. The Church exists for the glory of God and the sanctification of souls: Christian morality is part of the means by which these ends are to be attained. But because Christian morals are based on fixed beliefs which cannot change they also are essentially unchanging: while the beliefs and in consequence the morality of the secular world can change from individual to individual, or from generation to generation, or from nation to nation. To accept two ways of life in the same society, one for the Christian and another for the rest, would be for the Church to abandon its task of evangelising the world. For the more alien the non-Christian world becomes, the more difficult becomes its conversion.
The Church is not merely for the elect—in other words, those whose temperament brings them to that belief and that behaviour. Nor does it allow us to be Christian in some social relations and non-Christian in others. It wants everybody, and it wants each individual as a whole. It therefore must struggle for a condition of society which will give the maximum of opportunity for us to lead wholly Christian lives, and the maximum of opportunity for others to become Christians. It maintains the paradox that while we are each responsible for our own souls, we are all responsible for all other souls, who are, like us, on their way to a future state of heaven or hell. And—another paradox—as the Christian attitude towards peace, happiness and well-being of peoples is that they are a means and not an end in themselves, Christians are more deeply committed to realising these ideals than are those who regard them as ends in themselves.
Now, how is the Church to interfere in the World? I do not propose to take up the rest of my time by denouncing Fascism and Communism. This task has been more ably performed by others, and the conclusions may be taken for granted. By pursuing this charge, I might obtain from you a kind of approval that I do not want. I suspect that a good deal of the dislike of these philosophies in this country is due to the wrong reasons as well as the right, and is coloured with complacency and sanctimony. It is easy, safe and pleasant to criticise foreigners; and it has the advantage of distracting attention from the evils of our own society. We must distinguish also between our opposition to ideas and our disapproval of practices. Both Fascism and Communism have fundamental ideas which are incompatible with Christianity. But in practice, a Fascist or a Communist State might realise its idea more or less, and it might be more or less tolerable. And on the other hand, the practices, or others equally objectionable, might easily intrude themselves into a society nominally attached to quite different principles. We need not assume that our form of constitutional democracy is the only one suitable for a Christian people, or that it is in itself a guarantee against an anti-Christian world. Instead of merely condemning Fascism and Communism, therefore, we might do well to consider that we also live in a mass-civilisation following many wrong ambitions and wrong desires, and that if our society renounces completely its obedience to God, it will become no better, and possibly worse, than some of those abroad which are popularly execrated.
By “the World,” then, I mean for my present purpose particularly the world in this island. The influence of the Church can be exerted in several ways. It may oppose, or it may support, particular actions at particular times. It is acclaimed when it supports any cause that is already assured of a good deal of secular support: it is attacked, quite naturally, when it opposes anything that people think they want. Whether people say that the Church ought to interfere, or whether they say it ought to mind its own business, depends mostly on whether they agree or disagree with its attitude upon the issue of the moment. A very difficult problem arises whenever there is occasion for the Church to resist any innovation—either in legislation or in social practice—which is contrary to Christian principles. To those who deny, or do not fully accept, Christian doctrine, or who wish to interpret it according to their private lights such resistance often appears oppressive. To the unreasoning mind the Church can often be made to appear to be the enemy of progress and enlightenment. The Church may not always be strong enough to resist successfully: but I do not see how it can ever accept as a permanent settlement one law for itself and another for the world.
I do not wish, however, to pursue the question of the kinds of issue which may arise from time to time. I want to suggest that a task for the Church in our age is a more profound scrutiny of our society, which shall start from the question: to what depth is the foundation of our society not merely neutral but positively anti-Christian?
It ought not to be necessary for me to insist that the final aims of the churchman, and the aims of the secular reformer, are very different. So far as the aims of the latter are for true social justice, they ought to be comprehended in those of the former. But one reason why the lot of the secular reformer or revolutionist seems to me to be the easier is this: that for the most part he conceives of the evils of the world as something external to himself. They are thought of either as completely impersonal, so that there is nothing to alter but machinery; or if there is evil incarnate, it is always incarnate in the other people—a class, a race, the politicians, the bankers, the armament makers, and so forth—never in oneself. There are individual exceptions: but so far as a man sees the need for converting himself as well as the World, he is approximating to the religious point of view. But for most people, to be able to simplify issues so as to see only the definite external enemy, is extremely exhilarating, and brings about the bright eye and the springy step that go so well with the political uniform. This is an exhilaration that the Christian must deny himself. It comes from an artificial stimulant bound to have bad after-effects. It causes pride, either individual or collective, and pride brings its own doom. For only in humility, charity and purity—and most of all perhaps humility—can we be prepared to receive the grace of God without which human operations are vain.
It is not enough simply to see the evil and injustice and suffering of this world, and precipitate oneself into action. We must know, what only theology can tell us, why these things are wrong. Otherwise, we may right some wrongs at the cost of creating new ones. If this is a world in which I, and the majority of my fellow-beings, live in that perpetual distraction from God which exposes us to the one great peril, that of final and complete alienation from God after death, there is some wrong that I must try to help to put right. If there is any profound immorality to which we are all committed as a condition of living in society at all, that is a matter of the gravest concern to the Church. I am neither a sociologist nor an economist, and in any case it would be inappropriate, in this context, to produce any formula for setting the world right. It is much more the business of the Church to say what is wrong, that is, what is inconsistent with Christian doctrine, than to propose particular schemes of improvement. What is right enters the realm of the expedient and is contingent upon place and time, the degree of culture, the temperament of a people. But the Church can say what is always and everywhere wrong. And without this firm assurance of first principles which it is the business of the Church to repeat in and out of season, the World will constantly confuse the right with the expedient. In a society based on the use of slave labour men tried to prove from the Bible that slavery was something ordained by God. For most people, the actual constitution of Society, or that which their more generous passions wish to bring about, is right, and Christianity must be adapted to it. But the Church cannot be, in any political sense, either conservative, or liberal, or revolutionary. Conservatism is too often conservation of the wrong things: liberalism a relaxation of discipline; revolution a denial of the permanent things.
Perhaps the dominant vice of our time, from the point of view of the Church, will be proved to be Avarice. Surely there is something wrong in our attitude towards money. The acquisitive, rather than the creative and spiritual instincts, are encouraged. The fact that money is always forthcoming for the purpose of making more money, whilst it is so difficult to obtain for purposes of exchange, and for the needs of the most needy, is disturbing to those who are not economists. I am by no means sure that it is right for me to improve my income by investing in the shares of a company, making I know not what, operating perhaps thousands of miles away, and in the control of which I have no effective voice—but which is recommended as a sound investment. I am still less sure of the morality of my being a money-lender: that is, of investing in bonds and debentures. I know that it is wrong for me to speculate: but where the line is to be drawn between speculation and what is called legitimate investment is by no means clear. I seem to be a petty usurer in a world manipulated largely by big usurers. And I know that the Church once condemned these things. And I believe that modern war is chiefly caused by some immorality of competition which is always with us in times of “peace”; and that until this evil is cured, no leagues or disarmaments or collective security or conferences or conventions or treaties will suffice to prevent it.
Any machinery, however beautiful to look at and however wonderful a product of brains and skill, can be used for bad purposes as well as good: and this is as true of social machinery as of constructions of steel. I think that, more important than the invention of a new machine, is the creation of a temper of mind in people such that they can learn to use a new machine rightly. More important still at the moment would be the diffusion of knowledge of what is wrong—morally wrong—and of why it is wrong. We are all dissatisfied with the way in which the world is conducted: some believe that it is a misconduct in which we all have some complicity; some believe that if we trust ourselves entirely to politics, sociology or economics we shall only shuffle from one makeshift to another. And here is the perpetual message of the Church: to affirm, to teach and to apply, true theology. We cannot be satisfied to be Christians at our devotions and merely secular reformers all the rest of the week, for there is one question that we need to ask ourselves every day and about whatever business. The Church has perpetually to answer this question: to what purpose were we born? What is the end of Man?
Notes towards
the Definition of Culture
DEFINITION: 1. The setting of bounds; limitation (rare)—1483
PHILIP MAIRET
in gratitude and admiration
THIS essay was begun four or five years ago. A preliminary sketch, under the same title, was published in three successive numbers of The New English Weekly. From this sketch took shape a paper called “Cultural Forces in the Human Order,” which appeared in the volume Prospect for Christendom, edited by Mr. Maurice B. Reckitt (Faber, 1945): a revision of this paper forms the first chapter of the present book. The second chapter is a revision of a paper published in The New English Review in October, 1945.
I have added as an appendix the English text of three broadcast talks to Germany which have appeared under the title of “Die Einheit der Europaeischen Kultur” (Carl Habel Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin, 1946).
Throughout this study, I recognise a particular debt to the writings of Canon V. A. Demant, Mr. Christopher Dawson, and the late Professor Karl Mannheim. It is the more necessary to acknowledge this debt in general, since I have not in my text referred to the first two of these writers, and since my debt to the third is much greater than appears from the one context in which I discuss his theory.
I have also profited by reading an article by Mr. Dwight Macdonald in Politics (New York) for February 1944, entitled “A Theory of ‘Popular Culture’ ”; and an anonymous critique of this article in the issue of the same periodical for November 1946. Mr. Macdonald’s theory strikes me as the best alternative to my own that I have seen.
S. E.
January, 1948.
I think our studies ought to be all but purposeless. They want to be pursued with chastity like mathematics.—ACTON.
MY purpose in writing the following chapters is not, as might appear from a casual inspection of the table of contents, to outline a social or political philosophy; nor is the book intended to be merely a vehicle for my observations on a variety of topics. My aim is to help to define a word, the word culture.
Just as a doctrine only needs to be defined after the appearance of some heresy, so a word does not need to receive this attention until it has come to be misused. I have observed with growing anxiety the career of this word culture during the past six or seven years. We may find it natural, and significant, that during a period of unparalleled destructiveness, this word should come to have an important role in the journalistic vocabulary. Its part is of course doubled by the word civilisation. I have made no attempt in this essay to determine the frontier between the meanings of these two words: for I came to the conclusion that any such attempt could only produce an artificial distinction, peculiar to the book, which the reader would have difficulty in retaining; and which, after closing the book, he would abandon with a sense of relief. We do use one word, frequently enough, in a context where the other would do as well; there are other contexts where one word obviously fits and the other does not; and I do not think that this need cause embarrassment. There are enough inevitable obstacles, in this discussion, without erecting unnecessary ones.
In August, 1945, there was published the text of a draft constitution for a “United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.” The purpose of this organisation was, in Article I, defined as follows:
To develop and maintain mutual understanding and appreciation of the life and culture, the arts, the humanities, and the sciences of the peoples of the world, as a basis for effective international organisation and world peace.
To co-operate in extending and in making available to all peoples for the service of common human needs the world’s full body of knowledge and culture, and in assuring its contribution to the economic stability, political security, and general well-being of the peoples of the world.
I am not at the moment concerned to extract a meaning from these sentences: I only quote them to call attention to the word culture, and to suggest that before acting on such resolutions we should try to find out what this one word means. This is only one of innumerable instances which might be cited, of the use of a word which nobody bothers to examine. In general, the word is used in two ways: by a kind of synecdoche, when the speaker has in mind one of the elements or evidences of culture—such as “art”; or, as in the passage just quoted, as a kind of emotional stimulant—or anaesthetic.1
At the beginning of my first chapter I have endeavoured to distinguish and relate the three principal uses of the word: and to make the point, that when we use the term in one of these three ways we should do so in awareness of the others. I then try to expose the essential relation of culture to religion, and to make clear the limitations of the word relation as an expression of this “relation.” The first important assertion is that no culture has appeared or developed except together with a religion: according to the point of view of the observer, the culture will appear to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture.
In the next three chapters I discuss what seem to me to be three important conditions for culture. The first of these is organic (not merely planned, but growing) structure, such as will foster the hereditary transmission of culture within a culture: and this requires the persistence of social classes. The second is the necessity that a culture should be analysable, geographically, into local cultures: this raises the problem of “regionalism.” The third is the balance of unity and diversity in religion—that is, universality of doctrine with particularity of cult and devotion. The reader must keep in mind that I am not pretending to account for all the necessary conditions for a flourishing culture; I discuss three which have especially struck my attention.1 He must also remember that what I offer is not a set of directions for fabricating a culture. I do not say that by setting about to produce these, and any other additional conditions, we can confidently expect to improve our civilisation. I say only that, so far as my observation goes, you are unlikely to have a high civilisation where these conditions are absent.
The remaining two chapters of the book make some slight attempt to disentangle culture from politics and education.
I dare say that some readers will draw political inferences from this discussion: what is more likely is that particular minds will read into my text a confirmation or repudiation of their own political convictions and prejudices. The writer himself is not without political convictions and prejudices; but the imposition of them is no part of his present intention. What I try to say is this: here are what I believe to be essential conditions for the growth and for the survival of culture. If they conflict with any passionate faith of the reader—if, for instance, he finds it shocking that culture and equalitarianism should conflict, if it seems monstrous to him that anyone should have “advantages of birth”—I do not ask him to change his faith, I merely ask him to stop paying lip-service to culture. If the reader says: “the state of affairs which I wish to bring about is right (or is just,1 or is inevitable); and if this must lead to a further deterioration of culture, we must accept that deterioration”—then I can have no quarrel with him. I might even, in some circumstances, feel obliged to support him. The effect of such a wave of honesty would be that the word culture would cease to be abused, cease to appear in contexts where it does not belong: and to rescue this word is the extreme of my ambition.
As things are, it is normal for anybody who advocates any social change, or any alteration of our political system, or any expansion of public education, or any development of social service, to claim confidently that it will lead to the improvement and increase of culture. Sometimes culture, or civilisation, is set in the forefront, and we are told that what we need, must have, and shall get, is a “new civilisation.” In 1944 I read a symposium in The Sunday Times (November 31) in which Professor Harold Laski, or his headline writer, affirmed that we were fighting the late war for a “new civilisation.” Mr. Laski at least asserted this:
If it is agreed that these who seek to rebuild what Mr. Churchill likes to call “traditional” Britain have no hope of fulfilling that end, it follows that there must be a new Britain in a new civilisation.
We might murmur “it is not agreed,” but that would be to miss my point. Mr. Laski is right to this extent, that if we lose anything finally and irreparably, we must make do without it: but I think he meant to say something more than that.
Mr. Laski is, or was convinced that the particular political and social changes which he desires to bring about, and which he believes to be advantageous for society, will, because they are so radical, result in a new civilisation. That is quite conceivable: what we are not justified in concluding, with regard to his or any other changes in the social framework which anybody advocates, is that the “new civilisation” is itself desirable. For one thing, we can have no notion of what the new civilisation will be like: so many other causes operate than those we may have in mind, and the results of these and the others, operating together, are so incalculable, that we cannot imagine what it would feel like to live in that new civilisation. For another thing, the people who live in that new civilisation will, by the fact of belonging to it, be different from ourselves, and they will be just as different from Mr. Laski. Every change we make is tending to bring about a new civilisation of the nature of which we are ignorant, and in which we should all of us be unhappy. A new civilisation is, in fact, coming into being all the time: the civilisation of the present day would seem very new indeed to any civilised man of the eighteenth century, and I cannot imagine the most ardent or radical reformer of that age taking much pleasure in the civilisation that would meet his eye now. All that a concern for civilisation can direct us to do, is to improve such civilisation as we have, for we can imagine no other. On the other hand, there have always been people who have believed in particular changes as good in themselves, without worrying about the future of civilisation, and without finding it necessary to recommend their innovations by the specious glitter of unmeaning promises.
A new civilisation is always being made: the state of affairs that we enjoy today illustrates what happens to the aspirations of each age for a better one. The most important question that we can ask, is whether there is any permanent standard, by which we can compare one civilisation with another, and by which we can make some guess at the improvement or decline of our own. We have to admit, in comparing one civilisation with another, and in comparing the different stages of our own, that no one society and no one age of it realises all the values of civilisation. Not all of these values may be compatible with each other: what is at least as certain is that in realising some we lose the appreciation of others. Nevertheless, we can distinguish between higher and lower cultures; we can distinguish between advance and retrogression. We can assert with some confidence that our own period is one of decline; that the standards of culture are lower than they were fifty years ago; and that the evidences of this decline are visible in every department of human activity.1 I see no reason why the decay of culture should not proceed much further, and why we may not even anticipate a period, of some duration, of which it is possible to say that it will have no culture. Then culture will have to grow again from the soil; and when I say it must grow again from the soil, I do not mean that it will be brought into existence by any activity of political demagogues. The question asked by this essay, is whether there are any permanent conditions, in the absence of which no higher culture can be expected.
If we succeed even partially in answering this question, we must then put ourselves on guard against the delusion of trying to bring about these conditions for the sake of the improvement of our culture. For if any definite conclusions emerge from this study, one of them is surely this, that culture is the one thing that we cannot deliberately aim at. It is the product of a variety of more or less harmonious activities, each pursued for its own sake: the artist must concentrate upon his canvas, the poet upon his typewriter, the civil servant upon the just settlement of particular problems as they present themselves upon his desk, each according to the situation in which he finds himself. Even if these conditions with which I am concerned, seem to the reader to represent desirable social aims, he must not leap to the conclusion that these aims can be fulfilled solely by deliberate organisation. A class division of society planned by an absolute authority would be artificial and intolerable; a decentralisation under central direction would be a contradiction; an ecclesiastical unity cannot be imposed in the hope that it will bring about unity of faith, and a religious diversity cultivated for its own sake would be absurd. The point at which we can arrive, is the recognition that these conditions of culture are “natural” to human beings; that although we can do little to encourage them, we can combat the intellectual errors and the emotional prejudices which stand in their way. For the rest, we should look for the improvement of society, as we seek our own individual improvement, in relatively minute particulars. We cannot say: “I shall make myself into a different person”; we can only say: “I will give up this bad habit, and endeavour to contract this good one.” So of society we can only say: “We shall try to improve it in this respect or the other, where excess or defect is evident; we must try at the same time to embrace so much in our view, that we may avoid, in putting one thing right, putting something else wrong.” Even this is to express an aspiration greater than we can achieve: for it is as much, or more, because of what we do piecemeal without understanding or foreseeing the consequences, that the culture of one age differs from that of its predecessor.
1 The use of the word culture, by those who have not, as it seems to me, pondered deeply on the meaning of the word before employing it, might be illustrated by countless examples. Another instance may suffice. I quote from the Times Educational Supplement of November 3, 1945 (p. 522):
“‘Why should we bring into our scheme for international collaboration machinery concerning education and culture?’ Such was the question asked by the Prime Minister when, in addressing the delegates of nearly 40 nations attending the United Nations Conference to establish an Educational and Cultural Organisation in London on Thursday afternoon, he extended to them the greetings of His Majesty’s Government. . . . Mr. Attlee concluded with a plea that if we were to know our neighbours we must understand their culture, through their books, newspapers, radio and films.”
The Minister of Education committed herself to the following:
“Now we are met together: workers in education, in scientific research, and in the varied fields of culture. We represent those who teach, those who discover, those who write, those who express their inspiration in music or in art. . . . Lastly we have culture. Some may argue that the artist, the musician, the writer, all the creative workers in the humanities and the arts, cannot be organised either nationally or internationally. The artist, it has been said, works to please himself. That might have been a tenable argument before the war. But those of us who remember the struggle in the Far East and in Europe in the days preceding the open war know how much the fight against Fascism depended upon the determination of writers and artists to keep their international contacts that they might reach across the rapidly rising frontier barriers.”
It is only fair to add, that when it comes to talking nonsense about culture, there is nothing to choose between politicians of one stripe or another. Had the election of 1945 brought the alternative party into power, we should have heard much the same pronouncements in the same circumstances. The pursuit of politics is incompatible with a strict attention to exact meanings on all occasions. The reader should therefore abstain from deriding either Mr. Attlee or the late regretted Miss Wilkinson.
1 In an illuminating supplement to the Christian News-Letter of July 24, 1946, Miss Marjorie Reeves has a very suggestive paragraph on “The Culture of an Industry.” If she somewhat enlarged her meaning, what she says would fit in with my own wáy of using the word “culture.” She says, of the culture of an industry, which she believes quite rightly should be presented to the young worker: “it includes the geography of its raw materials and final markets, its historical evolution, inventions and scientific background, its economics and so forth.” It includes all this, certainly; but an industry, if it is to engage the interest of more than the conscious mind of the worker, should also have a way of life somewhat peculiar to its initiates, with its own forms of festivity and observances. I mention this interesting reminder of the culture of industry, however, as evidence that I am aware of other nuclei of culture than those discussed in this book.
1 I must introduce a parenthetical protest against the abuse of the current term “social justice.” From meaning “justice in relations between groups or classes” it may slip into meaning a particular assumption as to what these relations should be; and a course of action might be supported because it represented the aim of “social justice,” which from the point of view of “justice” was not just. The term “social justice” is in danger of losing its rational content—which would be replaced by a powerful emotional charge. I believe that I have used the term myself: it should never be employed unless the user is prepared to define dearly what social justice means to him, and why he thinks it just.
1 For confirmation from a point of view very different from that from which this essay is written, see Our Threatened Values by Victor Gollancz (1946).
THE term culture has different associations according to whether we have in mind the development of an individual, of a group or class, or of a whole society. It is a part of my thesis that the culture of the individual is dependent upon the culture of a group or class, and that the culture of the group or class is dependent upon the culture of the whole society to which that group or class belongs. Therefore it is the culture of the society that is fundamental, and it is the meaning of the term “culture” in relation to the whole society that should be examined first. When the term “culture” is applied to the manipulation of lower organisms—to the work of the bacteriologist or the agriculturalist—the meaning is clear enough, for we can have unanimity in respect of the ends to be attained, and we can agree when we have or have not attained them. When it is applied to the improvement of the human mind and spirit, we are less likely to agree as to what culture is. The term itself, as signifying something to be consciously aimed at in human affairs, has not a long history. As something to be achieved by deliberate effort, “culture” is relatively intelligible when we are concerned with the self-cultivation of the individual, whose culture is seen against the background of the culture of the group and of the society. The culture of the group also has a definite meaning in contrast to the less developed culture of the mass of society. The difference between the three applications of the term can be best apprehended by asking how far, in relation to the individual, the group, and society as a whole the conscious aim to achieve culture has any meaning. A good deal of confusion could be avoided, if we refrained from setting before the group, what can be the aim only of the individual; and before society as a whole, what can be the aim only of a group.
The general, or anthropological sense of the word culture, as used for instance by E. B. Tylor in the title of his book Primitive Culture, has flourished independently of the other senses: but if we are considering highly developed societies, and especially our own contemporary society, we have to consider the relationship of the three senses. At this point anthropology passes over into sociology. Amongst men of letters and moralists, it has been usual to discuss culture in the first two senses, and especially the first, without relation to the third. The most easily remembered example of this selection is Matthew Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy. Arnold is concerned primarily with the individual and the “perfection” at which he should aim. It is true that in his famous classification of “Barbarians, Philistines, Populace” he concerns himself with a critique of classes; but his criticism is confined to an indictment of these classes for their shortcomings, and does not proceed to consider what should be the proper function or “perfection” of each class. The effect, therefore, is to exhort the individual who would attain the peculiar kind of “perfection” which Arnold calls “culture,” to rise superior to the limitations of any class, rather than to realise its highest attainable ideals.
The impression of thinness which Arnold’s “culture” conveys to a modern reader is partly due to the absence of social background to his picture. But it is also due, I think, to his failure to take account of another way in which we use the word “culture,” besides the three already mentioned. There are several kinds of attainment which we may have in mind in different contexts. We may be thinking of refinement of manners—or urbanity and civility: if so, we shall think first of a social class, and of the superior individual as representative of the best of that class. We may be thinking of learning and a close acquaintance with the accumulated wisdom of the past: if so, our man of culture is the scholar. We may be thinking of philosophy in the widest sense—an interest in, and some ability to manipulate, abstract ideas: if so, we may mean the intellectual (recognising the fact that this term is now used very loosely, to comprehend many persons not conspicuous for strength of intellect). Or we may be thinking of the arts: if so, we mean the artist and the amateur or dilettante. But what we seldom have in mind is all of these things at the same time. We do not find, for instance, that an understanding of music or painting figures explicitly in Arnold’s description of the cultured man: yet no one will deny that these attainments play a part in culture.
If we look at the several activities of culture listed in the preceding paragraph, we must conclude that no perfection in any one of them, to the exclusion of the others, can confer culture on anybody. We know that good manners, without education, intellect or sensibility to the arts, tends towards mere automatism; that learning without good manners or sensibility is pedantry; that intellectual ability without the more human attributes is admirable only in the same way as the brilliance of a child chess prodigy; and that the arts without intellectual context are vanity. And if we do not find culture in any one of these perfections alone, so we must not expect any one person to be accomplished in all of them; we shall come to infer that the wholly cultured individual is a phantasm; and we shall look for culture, not in any individual or in any one group of individuals, but more and more widely; and we are driven in the end to find it in the pattern of the society as a whole. This seems to me a very obvious reflection: but it is frequently overlooked. People are always ready to consider themselves persons of culture, on the strength of one proficiency, when they are not only lacking in others, but blind to those they lack. An artist of any kind, even a very great artist, is not for this reason alone a man of culture: artists are not only often insensitive to other arts than those which they practise, but sometimes have very bad manners or meagre intellectual gifts. The person who contributes to culture, however important his contribution may be, is not always a “cultured person.”
It does not follow from this that there is no meaning in speaking of the culture of an individual, or of a group or class. We only mean that the culture of the individual cannot be isolated from that of the group, and that the culture of the group cannot be abstracted from that of the whole society; and that our notion of “perfection” must take all three senses of “culture” into account at once. Nor does it follow that in a society, of whatever grade of culture, the groups concerned with each activity of culture will be distinct and exclusive: on the contrary, it is only by an overlapping and sharing of interests, by participation and mutual appreciation, that the cohesion necessary for culture can obtain. A religion requires not only a body of priests who know what they are doing, but a body of worshippers who know what is being done.
It is obvious that among the more primitive communities the several activities of culture are inextricably interwoven. The Dyak who spends the better part of a season in shaping, carving and painting his barque of the peculiar design required for the annual ritual of head-hunting, is exercising several cultural activities at once—of art and religion, as well as of amphibious warfare. As civilisation becomes more complex, greater occupational specialisation evinces itself: in the “stone age” New Hebrides, Mr. John Layard says, certain islands specialise in particular arts and crafts, exchanging their wares and displaying their accomplishments to the reciprocal satisfaction of the members of the archipelago. But while the individuals of a tribe, or of a group of islands or villages, may have separate functions—of which the most peculiar are those of the king and the witch-doctor—it is only at a much further stage that religion, science, politics and art become abstractly conceived apart from each other. And just as the functions of individuals become hereditary, and hereditary function hardens into class or caste distinction, and class distinction leads to conflict, so do religion, politics, science and art reach a point at which there is conscious struggle between them for autonomy or dominance. This friction is, at some stages and in some situations, highly creative: how far it is the result, and how far the cause, of increased consciousness need not here be considered. The tension within the society may become also a tension within the mind of the more conscious individual: the clash of duties in Antigone, which is not simply a clash between piety and civil obedience, or between religion and politics, but between conflicting laws within what is still a religious-political complex, represents a very advanced stage of civilisation: for the conflict must have meaning in the audience’s experience before it can be made articulate by the dramatist and receive from the audience the response which the dramatist’s art requires.
As a society develops towards functional complexity and differentiation, we may expect the emergence of several cultural levels: in short, the culture of the class or group will present itself. It will not, I think, be disputed that in any future society, as in every civilised society of the past, there must be these different levels. I do not think that the most ardent champions of social equality dispute this: the difference of opinion turns on whether the transmission of group culture must be by inheritance—whether each cultural level must propagate itself—or whether it can be hoped that some mechanism of selection will be found, so that every individual shall in due course take his place at the highest cultural level for which his natural aptitudes qualify him. What is pertinent at this point is that the emergence of more highly cultured groups does not leave the rest of society unaffected: it is itself part of a process in which the whole society changes. And it is certain—and especially obvious when we turn our attention to the arts—that as new values appear, and as thought, sensibility and expression become more elaborate, some earlier values vanish. That is only to say that you cannot expect to have all stages of development at once; that a civilisation cannot simultaneously produce great folk poetry at one cultural level and Paradise Lost at another. Indeed, the one thing that time is ever sure to bring about is the loss: gain or compensation is almost always conceivable but never certain.
While it appears that progress in civilisation will bring into being more specialised culture groups, we must not expect this development to be unattended by perils. Cultural disintegration may ensue upon cultural specialisation: and it is the most radical disintegration that a society can suffer. It is not the only kind, or it is not the only aspect, under which disintegration can be studied; but, whatever be cause or effect, the disintegration of culture is the most serious and the most difficult to repair. (Here, of course, we are emphasising the culture of the whole society.) It must not be confused with another malady, ossification into caste, as in Hindu India, of what may have been originally only a hierarchy of functions: even though it is possible that both maladies have some hold upon British society today. Cultural disintegration is present when two or more strata so separate that these become in effect distinct cultures; and also when culture at the upper group level breaks into fragments each of which represents one cultural activity alone. If I am not mistaken, some disintegration of the classes in which culture is, or should be, most highly developed, has already taken place in one level of society and another. Religious thought and practice, philosophy and art, all tend to become isolated areas cultivated by groups in no communication with each other. The artistic sensibility is impoverished by its divorce from the religious sensibility, the religious by its separation from the artistic; and the vestige of manners may be left to a few survivors of a vanishing class who, their sensibility untrained by either religion or art and their minds unfurnished with the material for witty conversation, will have no context in their lives to give value to their behaviour. And deterioration on the higher levels is a matter of concern, not only to the group which is visibly affected, but to the whole people.
The causes of a total decline of culture are as complex as the evidence of it is various. Some may be found in the accounts given, by various specialists, of the causes of more readily apprehended social ailments for which we must continue to seek specific remedies. Yet we become more and more aware of the extent to which the baffling problem of “culture” underlies the problems of the relation of every part of the world to every other. When we concern ourselves with the relation of the great nations to each other; the relation of the great to the small nations;1 the relation of intermixed “communities,” as in India, to each other; the relation of parent nations to those which have originated as colonies; the relation of the colonist to the native; the relation between peoples of such areas as the West Indies, where compulsion or economic inducement has brought together large numbers of different races: behind all these perplexing questions, involving decisions to be made by many men every day, there is the question of what culture is, and the question whether it is anything that we can control or deliberately influence. These questions confront us whenever we devise a theory, or frame a policy, of education. If we take culture seriously, we see that a people does not need merely enough to eat (though even that is more than we seem able to ensure) but a proper and particular cuisine: one symptom of the decline of culture in Britain is indifference to the art of preparing food. Culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living. And it is what justifies other peoples and other generations in saying, when they contemplate the remains and the influence of an extinct civilisation, that it was worth while for that civilisation to have existed.
I have already asserted, in my introduction, that no culture can appear or develop except in relation to a religion. But the use of the term relation here may easily lead us into error. The facile assumption of a relationship between culture and religion is perhaps the most fundamental weakness of Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy. Arnold gives the impression that Culture (as he uses the term) is something more comprehensive than religion; that the latter is no more than a necessary element, supplying ethical formation and some emotional colour, to Culture which is the ultimate value.
It may have struck the reader that what I have said about the development of culture, and about the dangers of disintegration when a culture has reached a highly developed stage, may apply also in the history of religion. The development of culture and the development of religion, in a society uninfluenced from without, cannot be clearly isolated from each other: and it will depend upon the bias of the particular observer, whether a refinement of culture is held to be the cause of progress in religion, or whether a progress in religion is held to be the cause of a refinement of the culture. What perhaps influences us towards treating religion and culture as two different things is the history of the penetration of Graeco-Roman culture by the Christian Faith—a penetration which had profound effects both upon that culture and upon the course of development taken by Christian thought and practice. But the culture with which primitive Christianity came into contact (as well as that of the environment in which Christianity took its origins) was itself a religious culture in decline. So, while we believe that the same religion may inform a variety of cultures, we may ask whether any culture could come into being, or maintain itself, without a religious basis. We may go further and ask whether what we call the culture, and what we call the religion, of a people are not different aspects of the same thing: the culture being, essentially, the incarnation (so to speak) of the religion of a people. To put the matter in this way may throw light on my reservations concerning the word relation.
As a society develops, a greater number of degrees and kinds of religious capacity and function—as well as of other capacities and functions—will make their appearance. It is to be noticed that in some religions the differentiation has been so wide that there have resulted in effect two religions—one for the populace and one for the adepts. The evils of “two nations” in religion are obvious. Christianity has resisted this malady better than Hinduism. The schisms of the sixteenth century, and the subsequent multiplication of sects, can be studied either as the history of division of religious thought, or as a struggle between opposing social groups—as the variation of doctrine, or as the disintegration of European culture. Yet, while these wide divergences of belief on the same level are lamentable, the Faith can, and must, find room for many degrees of intellectual, imaginative and emotional receptivity to the same doctrines, just as it can embrace many variations of order and ritual. The Christian Faith also, psychologically considered—as systems of beliefs and attitudes in particular embodied minds—will have a history: though it would be a gross error to suppose that the sense in which it can be spoken of as developing and changing, implies the possibility of greater sanctity or divine illumination becoming available to human beings through collective progress. (We do not assume that there is, over a long period, progress even in art, or that “primitive” art is, as art, necessarily inferior to the more sophisticated.) But one of the features of development, whether we are taking the religious or the cultural point of view, is the appearance of scepticism—by which, of course, I do not mean infidelity or destructiveness (still less the unbelief which is due to mental sloth) but the habit of examining evidence and the capacity for delayed decision. Scepticism is a highly civilised trait, though, when it declines into pyrrhonism, it is one of which civilisation can die. Where scepticism is strength, pyrrhonism is weakness: for we need not only the strength to defer a decision, but the strength to make one.
The conception of culture and religion as being, when each term is taken in the right context, different aspects of the same thing, is one which requires a good deal of explanation. But I should like to suggest first, that it provides us with the means of combating two complementary errors. The one more widely held is that culture can be preserved, extended and developed in the absence of religion. This error may be held by the Christian in common with the infidel, and its proper refutation would require an historical analysis of considerable refinement, because the truth is not immediately apparent, and may seem even to be contradicted by appearances: a culture may linger on, and indeed produce some of its most brilliant artistic and other successes after the religious faith has fallen into decay. The other error is the belief that the preservation and maintenance of religion need not reckon with the preservation and maintenance of culture: a belief which may even lead to the rejection of the products of culture as frivolous obstructions to the spiritual life. To be in a position to reject this error, as with the other, requires us to take a distant view; to refuse to accept the conclusion, when the culture that we see is a culture in decline, that culture is something to which we can afford to remain indifferent. And I must add that to see the unity of culture and religion in this way neither implies that all the products of art can be accepted uncritically, nor provides a criterion by which everybody can immediately distinguish between them. Esthetic sensibility must be extended into spiritual perception, and spiritual perception must be extended into esthetic sensibility and disciplined taste before we are qualified to pass judgment upon decadence or diabolism or nihilism in art. To judge a work of art by artistic or by religious standards, to judge a religion by religious or artistic standards should come in the end to the same thing: though it is an end at which no individual can arrive.
The way of looking at culture and religion which I have been trying to adumbrate is so difficult that I am not sure I grasp it myself except in flashes, or that I comprehend all its implications. It is also one which involves the risk of error at every moment, by some unperceived alteration of the meaning which either term has when the two are coupled in this way, into some meaning which either may have when taken alone. It holds good only in the sense in which people are unconscious of both their culture and their religion. Anyone with even the slightest religious consciousness must be afflicted from time to time by the contrast between his religious faith and his behaviour; anyone with the taste that individual or group culture confers must be aware of values which he cannot call religious. And both “religion” and “culture,” besides meaning different things from each other, should mean for the individual and for the group something towards which they strive, not merely something which they possess. Yet there is an aspect in which we can see a religion as the whole way of life of a people, from birth to the grave, from morning to night and even in sleep, and that way of life is also its culture. And at the same time we must recognise that when this identification is complete, it means in actual societies both an inferior culture and an inferior religion. A universal religion is at least potentially higher than one which any race or nation claims exclusively for itself; and a culture realising a religion also realised in other cultures is at least potentially a higher culture than one which has a religion exclusively to itself. From one point of view we may identify: from another, we must separate.
Taking now the point of view of identification, the reader must remind himself, as the author has constantly to do, of how much is here embraced by the term culture. It includes all the characteristic activities and interests of a people: Derby Day, Henley Regatta, Cowes, the twelfth of August, a cup final, the dog races, the pin table, the dart board, Wensleydale cheese, boiled cabbage cut into sections, beetroot in vinegar, nineteenth-century Gothic churches and the music of Elgar. The reader can make his own list. And then we have to face the strange idea that what is part of our culture is also a part of our lived religion.
We must not think of our culture as completely unified—my list above was designed to avoid that suggestion. And the actual religion of no European people has ever been purely Christian, or purely anything else. There are always bits and traces of more primitive faiths, more or less absorbed; there is always the tendency towards parasitic beliefs; there are always perversions, as when patriotism, which pertains to natural religion and is therefore licit and even encouraged by the Church, becomes exaggerated into a caricature of itself. And it is only too easy for a people to maintain contradictory beliefs and to propitiate mutually antagonistic powers.
The reflection that what we believe is not merely what we formulate and subscribe to, but that behaviour is also belief, and that even the most conscious and developed of us live also at the level on which belief and behaviour cannot be distinguished, is one that may, once we allow our imagination to play upon it, be very disconcerting. It gives an importance to our most trivial pursuits, to the occupation of our every minute. which we cannot contemplate long without the horror of nightmare. When we consider the quality of the integration required for the full cultivation of the spiritual life, we must keep in mind the possibility of grace and the exemplars of sanctity in order not to sink into despair. And when we consider the problem of evangelisation, of the development of a Christian society, we have reason to quail. To believe that we are religious people and that other people are without religion is a simplification which approaches distortion. To reflect that from one point of view religion is culture, and from another point of view culture is religion, can be very disturbing. To ask whether the people have not a religion already, in which Derby Day and the dog track play their parts, is embarrassing; so is the suggestion that part of the religion of the higher ecclesiastic is gaiters and the Athenaeum. It is inconvenient for Christians to find that as Christians they do not believe enough, and that on the other hand they, with everybody else, believe in too many things: yet this is a consequence of reflecting, that bishops are a part of English culture, and horses and dogs are a part of English religion.
It is commonly assumed that there is culture, but that it is the property of a small section of society; and from this assumption it is usual to proceed to one of two conclusions: either that culture can only be the concern of a small minority, and that therefore there is no place for it in the society of the future; or that in the society of the future the culture which has been the possession of the few must be put at the disposal of everybody. This assumption and its consequences remind us of the Puritan antipathy to monasticism and the ascetic life: for just as a culture which is only accessible to the few is now deprecated, so was the enclosed and contemplative life condemned by extreme Protestantism, and celibacy regarded with almost as much abhorrence as perversion.
In order to apprehend the theory of religion and culture which I have endeavoured to set forth in this chapter, we have to try to avoid the two alternative errors: that of regarding religion and culture as two separate things between which there is a relation, and that of identifying religion and culture. I spoke at one point of the culture of a people as an incarnation of its religion; and while I am aware of the temerity of employing such an exalted term, I cannot think of any other which would convey so well the intention to avoid relation on the one hand and identification on the other. The truth, partial truth, or falsity of a religion neither consists in the cultural achievements of the peoples professing that religion, nor submits to being exactly tested by them. For what a people may be said to believe, as shown by its behaviour, is, as I have said, always a great deal more and a great deal less than its professed faith in its purity. Further-more, a people whose culture has been formed together with a religion of partial truth, may live that religion (at some period in its history, at least) with greater fidelity than another people which has a truer light. It is only when we imagine our culture as it ought to be, if our society were a really Christian society, that we can dare to speak of Christian culture as the highest culture; it is only by referring to all the phases of this culture, which has been the culture of Europe, that we can affirm that it is the highest culture that the world has ever known. In comparing our culture as it is today, with that of non-Christian peoples, we must be prepared to find that ours is in one respect or another inferior. I do not overlook the possibility that Britain, if it consummated its apostasy by reforming itself according to the prescriptions of some inferior or materialistic religion, might blossom into a culture more brilliant than that we can show today. That would not be evidence that the new religion was true, and that Christianity was false. It would merely prove that any religion, while it lasts, and on its own level, gives an apparent meaning to life, provides the framework for a culture, and protects the mass of humanity from boredom and despair.
1 This point is touched upon, though without any discussion of the meaning of “culture,” by E. H. Carr: Conditions of Peace, Part I, ch. iii. He says: “In a clumsy but convenient terminology which originated in Central Europe, we must distinguish between ‘cultural nation’ and ‘state nation.’ The existence of a more or less homogeneous racial or linguistic group bound together by a common tradition and the cultivation of a common culture must cease to provide a prima facie case for the setting up or the maintenance of an independent political unit.” But Mr. Carr is here concerned with the problem of political unity, rather than with that of the preservation of cultures, or the question whether they are worth preserving, in the political unit.
IT would appear, according to the account of levels of culture put forward in the previous chapter, that among the more primitive societies, the higher types exhibit more marked differentiations of function amongst their members than the lower types.1 At a higher stage still, we find that some functions are more honoured than others, and this division promotes the development of classes, in which higher honour and higher privilege are accorded, not merely to the person as functionary but as member of the class. And the class itself possesses a function, that of maintaining that part of the total culture of the society which pertains to that class. We have to try to keep in mind, that in a healthy society this maintenance of a particular level of culture is to the benefit, not merely of the class which maintains it, but of the society as a whole. Awareness of this fact will prevent us from supposing that the culture of a “higher” class is something superfluous to society as a whole, or to the majority, and from supposing that it is something which ought to be shared equally by all other classes. It should also remind the “higher” class, in so far as any such exists, that the survival of the culture in which it is particularly interested is dependent upon the health of the culture of the people.
It has now become a commonplace of contemporary thinking, that a society thus articulated is not the highest type to which we may aspire; but that it is indeed in the nature of things for a progressive society eventually to overcome these divisions, and that it is also within the power of our conscious direction, and therefore a duty incumbent upon us, to bring about a classless society. But while it is generally supposed that class, in any sense which maintains associations of the past, will disappear, it is now the opinion of some of the most advanced minds that some qualitative differences between individuals must still be recognised, and that the superior individuals must be formed into suitable groups, endowed with appropriate powers, and perhaps with varied emoluments and honours. Those groups, formed of individuals apt for powers of government and administration, will direct the public life of the nation; the individuals composing them will be spoken of as “leaders.” There will be groups concerned with art, and groups concerned with science, and groups concerned with philosophy, as well as groups consisting of men of action: and these groups are what we call élites.
It is obvious, that while in the present state of society there is found the voluntary association of like-minded individuals, and association based upon common material interest, or common occupation or profession, the élites of the future will differ in one important respect from any that we know: they will replace the classes of the past, whose positive functions they will assume. This transformation is not always explicitly stated. There are some philosophers who regard class divisions as intolerable, and others who regard them merely as moribund. The latter may simply ignore class, in their design for an élite-governed society, and say that the élites will “be drawn from all sections of society.” But it would seem that as we perfect the means for identifying at an early age, educating for their future role, and settling into positions of authority, the individuals who will form the élites, all former class distinctions will become a mere shadow or vestige, and the only social distinction of rank will be between the élites and the rest of the community, unless, as may happen, there is to be an order of precedence and prestige amongst the several élites themselves.
However moderately and unobtrusively the doctrine of élites is put, it implies a radical transformation of society. Superficially, it appears to aim at no more than what we must all desire—that all positions in society should be occupied by those who are best fitted to exercise the functions of the positions. We have all observed individuals occupying situations in life for which neither their character nor their intellect qualified them, and so placed only through nominal education, or birth or consanguinity. No honest man but is vexed by such a spectacle. But the doctrine of élites implies a good deal more than the rectification of such injustice. It posits an atomic view of society.
The philosopher whose views on the subject of élites deserve the closest attention, both for their own value and because of the influence they exert, is the late Dr. Karl Mannheim. It is, for that matter, Dr. Mannheim who has founded the fortunes, in this country, of the term élite. I must remark that Dr. Mannheim’s description of culture is different from that given in the previous chapter of this essay. He says:
A sociological investigation of culture in liberal society must begin with the life of those who create culture, i.e. the intelligentsia and their position within society as a whole.1
According to the account which I have given, a “culture” is conceived as the creation of the society as a whole: being, from another aspect, that which makes it a society. It is not the creation of any one part of that society. The function of what Dr. Mannheim would call the culture-creating groups, according to my account, would be rather to bring about a further development of the culture in organic complexity: culture at a more conscious level, but still the same culture. This higher level of culture must be thought of both as valuable in itself, and as enriching the lower levels: thus the movement of culture would proceed in a kind of cycle, each class nourishing the others.
This is, already, a difference of some importance. My next observation is that Dr. Mannheim is concerned rather with élites than with an élite.
We may distinguish [he says, in Man and Society, p. 82] the following types of élites: the political, the organising, the intellectual, the artistic, the moral and the religious. Whereas the political and organising élites aim at integrating a great number of individual wills, it is the function of the intellectual, aesthetic, and moral-religious élites to sublimate those psychic energies which society, in the daily struggle for existence, does not fully exhaust.
This departmentalisation of élites already exists, to some extent; and to some extent it is a necessary and a good thing. But, so far as it can be observed to exist, it is not altogether a good thing. I have suggested elsewhere that a growing weakness of our culture has been the increasing isolation of élites from each other, so that the political, the philosophical, the artistic, the scientific, are separated to the great loss of each of them, not merely through the arrest of any general circulation of ideas, but through the lack of those contacts and mutual influences at a less conscious level, which are perhaps even more important than ideas. The problem of the formation, preservation and development of the élites is therefore also the problem of the formation, preservation and development of the élite, a problem upon, which Dr. Mannheim does not touch.
As an introduction to this problem, I must draw attention to another difference between my view and that of Dr. Mannheim. He observes, in a passage which I think contains an important truth (p. 85):
The crisis of culture in liberal-democratic society is due, in the first place, to the fact that the fundamental social processes, which previously favoured the development of the culturally creative élites, now have the opposite effect, i.e. have become obstacles to the forming of élites because wider sections of the population take an active part in cultural activities.
I cannot, of course, admit the last clause of this sentence as it stands. According to my view of culture, the whole of the population should “take an active part in cultural activities”—not all in the same activities or on the same level. What this clause means, in my terms, is that an increasing proportion of the population is concerned with group culture. This comes about, I think Dr. Mannheim would agree, through the gradual alteration of the class-structure. But at this point it seems to me that Dr. Mannheim begins to confuse élite with class. For he says (p. 89):
If one calls to mind the essential forms of selecting élites which up to the present have appeared on the historical scene, three principles can be distinguished: selection on the basis of blood, property and achievement. Aristocratic society, especially after it had entrenched itself, chose its élites primarily on the blood principle. Bourgeois society gradually introduced, as a supplement, the principle of wealth, a principle which also obtained for the intellectual élite, inasmuch as education was more or less available only to the offspring of the well-to-do. It is, of course, true that the principle of achievement was combined with the two other principles in earlier periods, but it is the important contribution of modern democracy as long as it is rigorous, that the achievement principle increasingly tends to become the criterion of social success.
I am ready to accept, in a rough and ready way, this account of three historical periods. But I would remark that we are here not concerned with élites but with classes or, more precisely, with the evolution from a class to a classless society. It seems to me that at the stage of the sharpest division into classes we can distinguish an élite also. Are we to believe that the artists of the Middle Ages were all men of noble rank, or that the hierarchy and the statesmen were all selected according to their pedigrees?
I do not think that this is what Dr. Mannheim wishes us to believe; but I think that he is confusing the élites with the dominant section of society which the élites served, from which they took their colour, and into which some of their individual members were recruited. The general scheme of the transition of society, in the last five hundred years or so, is usually accepted, and I have no interest in questioning it. I would only propose one qualification. At the stage of dominance of bourgeois society (I think it would be more exact to say here, “upper middle class society”) there is a difference applying particularly to England. However powerful it was—for its power is now commonly said to be passing—it would not have been what it was, without the existence of a class above it, from which it drew some of its ideals and some of its criteria, and to the condition of which its more ambitious members aspired. This gives it a difference in kind from the aristocratic society which preceded it, and from the mass-society which is expected to follow it.
I now come to another passage in Dr. Mannheim’s discussion, which seems to me true. His intellectual integrity prevents him from dissimulating the gloom of our present position; but he succeeds, so far as I can judge, in communicating to most of his readers a feeling of active hopefulness, by infecting them with his own passionate faith in the possibilities of “planning.” Yet he says quite clearly:
We have no clear idea how the selection of élites would work in an open mass society in which only the principle of achievement mattered. It is possible that in such a society the succession of the élites would take place much too rapidly, and social continuity which is essentially due to the slow and gradual broadening of the influence of the dominant groups would be lacking in it.1
This raises a problem of the first importance to my present discussion, with which I do not think Dr. Mannheim has dealt in any detail: that of the transmission of culture.
When we are concerned with the history of certain parts of culture, such as the history of art, or of literature, or of philosophy, we naturally isolate a particular class of phenomena; though there has been a movement, which has produced books of interest and value, to relate these subjects more closely to a general social history. But even such accounts are usually only the history of one class of phenomena interpreted in the light of the history of another class of phenomena and, like that of Dr. Mannheim, tend to take a more limited view of culture than that adopted here. What we have to consider is the parts played by the élite and by the class in the transmission of culture from one generation to the next.
We must remind ourselves of the danger, mentioned in the previous chapter, of identifying culture with the sum of distinct cultural activities; and if we avoid this identification we shall also decline to identify our group culture with the sum of the activities of Dr. Mannheim’s élites. The anthropologist may study the social system, the economics, the arts, and the religion of a particular tribe, he may even study their psychological peculiarities: but it is not merely by observing in detail all of these manifestations, and grasping them together, that he will approach to an understanding of the culture. For to understand the culture is to understand the people, and this means an imaginative understanding. Such understanding can never be complete: either it is abstract—and the essence escapes—or else it is lived; and in so far as it is lived, the student will tend to identify himself so completely with the people whom he studies, that he will lose the point of view from which it was worth while and possible to study it. Understanding involves an area more extensive than that of which one can be conscious; one cannot be outside and inside at the same time. What we ordinarily mean by understanding of another people, of course, is an approximation towards understanding which stops short at the point at which the student would begin to lose some essential of his own culture. The man who, in order to understand the inner world of a cannibal tribe, has partaken of the practice of cannibalism, has probably gone too far: he can never quite be one of his own folk again.1
I have raised this question, however, solely in support of my contention that culture is not merely the sum of several activities, but a way of life. Now the specialist of genius, who may be fully qualified on the ground of his vocational attainment for membership of one of Dr. Mannheim’s élites, may very well not be one of the “cultured persons” representative of group culture. As I have said before, he may be only a highly valued contributor to it. Yet group culture, as observable in the past, has never been co-extensive with class, whether an aristocracy or an upper middle class. A very large number of members of these classes always have been conspicuously deficient in “culture.” I think that in the past the repository of this culture has been the élite, the major part of which was drawn from the dominant class of the time, constituting the primary consumers of the work of thought and art produced by the minority members, who will have originated from various classes, including that class itself. The units of this majority will, some of them, be individuals; others will be families. But the individuals from the dominant class who compose the nucleus of the cultural élite must not thereby be cut off from the class to which they belong, for without their membership of that class they would not have their part to play. It is their function, in relation to the producers, to transmit the culture which they have inherited; just as it is their function, in relation to the rest of their class, to keep it from ossification. It is the function of the class as a whole to preserve and communicate standards of manners—which are a vital element in group culture.1 It is the function of the superior members and superior families to preserve the group culture, as it is the function of the producers to alter it.
In an élite composed of individuals who find their way into it solely for their individual pre-eminence, the differences of background will be so great, that they will be united only by their common interests, and separated by everything else. An élite must therefore be attached to some class, whether higher or lower: but so long as there are classes at all it is likely to be the dominant class that attracts this élite to itself. What would happen in a classless society—which is much more difficult to envisage than people think—brings us into the area of conjecture. There are, however, some guesses which seem to me worth venturing.
The primary channel of transmission of culture is the family: no man wholly escapes from the kind, or wholly surpasses the degree, of culture which he acquired from his early environment. It would not do to suggest that this can be the only channel of transmission: in a society of any complexity it is supplemented and continued by other conduits of tradition. Even in relatively primitive societies this is so. In more civilised communities of specialised activities, in which not all the sons would follow the occupation of their father, the apprentice (ideally, at least) did not merely serve his master, and did not merely learn from him as one would learn at a technical school—he became assimilated into a way of life which went with that particular trade or craft; and perhaps the lost secret of the craft is this, that not merely a skill but an entire way of life was transmitted. Culture—distinguishable from knowledge about culture—was transmitted by the older universities: young men have profited there who have been profitless students, and who have acquired no taste for learning, or for Gothic architecture, or for college ritual and form. I suppose that something of the same sort is transmitted also by societies of the masonic type: for initiation is an introduction into a way of life, of however restricted viability, received from the past and to be perpetuated in the future. But by far the most important channel of transmission of culture remains the family: and when family life fails to play its part, we must expect our culture to deteriorate. Now the family is an institution of which nearly everybody speaks well: but it is advisable to remember that this is a term that may vary in extension. In the present age it means little more than the living members. Even of living members, it is a rare exception when an advertisement depicts a large family or three generations: the usual family on the hoardings consists of two parents and one or two young children. What is held up for admiration is not devotion to a family, but personal affection between the members of it: and the smaller the family, the more easily can this personal affection be sentimentalised. But when I speak of the family, I have in mind a bond which embraces a longer period of time than this: a piety towards the dead, however obscure, and a solicitude for the unborn, however remote. Unless this reverence for past and future is cultivated in the home, it can never be more than a verbal convention in the community. Such an interest in the past is different from the vanities and pretensions of genealogy; such a responsibility for the future is different from that of the builder of social programmes.
I should say then that in a vigorous society there will be both class and élite, with some overlapping and constant interaction between them. An élite, if it is a governing élite, and so far as the natural impulse to pass on to one’s offspring both power and prestige is not artificially checked, will tend to establish itself as a class—it is this metamorphosis, I think, which leads to what appears to me an oversight on the part of Dr. Mannheim. But an élite which thus transforms itself tends to lose its function as élite, for the qualities by which the original members won their position will not all be transmitted equally to their descendants. On the other hand, we have to consider what would be the consequence when the converse took place, and we had a society in which the functions of class were assumed by élites. Dr. Mannheim seems to have believed that this will happen; he showed himself, as a passage which I have quoted indicates, aware of the dangers; and he does not appear to have been ready to propose definite safeguards against them.
The situation of a society without classes, and dominated exclusively by élites is, I submit, one about which we have no reliable evidence. By such a society, I suppose we must mean one in which every individual starts without advantage or handicap; and in which, by some mechanism set up by the best designers of such machinery, everybody will find his way, or be directed, to that station of life which he is best fitted to fill, and every position will be occupied by the man or woman best fitted for it. Of course, not even the most sanguine would expect the system to work as well as that: if, by and large, it seemed to come nearer to putting the right people in the right places than any previous system, we should all be satisfied. When I say “dominated,” rather than “governed” by élites, I mean that such a society must not be content to be governed by the right people: it must see that the ablest artists and architects rise to the top, influence taste, and execute the important public commissions; it must do the same by the other arts and by science; and above all, perhaps, it must be such that the ablest minds will find expression in speculative thought. The system must not only do all this for society in a particular situation—it must go on doing it, generation after generation. It would be folly to deny that in a particular phase of a country’s development, and for a limited purpose, an élite can do a very good job. It may, by expelling a previous governing group, which in contrast to itself may be a class, save or reform or revitalise the national life. Such things have happened. But we have very little evidence about the perpetuation of government by élite, and such as we have is unsatisfactory. A considerable time must elapse before we can draw any illustration from Russia. Russia is a rude and vigorous country; it is also a very big country; and it will need a long period of peace and internal development. Three things may happen. Russia may show us how a stable government and a flourishing culture can be transmitted only through élites; it may lapse into oriental lethargy; or the governing élite may follow the course of other governing élites and become a governing class. Nor can we rely upon any evidence from the United States of America. The real revolution in that country was not what is called the Revolution in the history books, but is a consequence of the Civil War; after which arose a plutocratic élite; after which the expansion and material development of the country was accelerated; after which was swollen that stream of mixed immigration, bringing (or rather multiplying) the danger of development into a caste system1 which has not yet been quite dispelled. For the sociologist, the evidence from America is not yet ripe. Our other evidence for government by élite comes chiefly from France. A governing class, which, during a long period in which the Throne was all-powerful, had ceased to govern, was reduced to the ordinary level of citizenship. Modern France has had no governing class: her political life in the Third Republic, whatever else we may say of it, was unsettled. And here we may remark that when a dominant class, however badly it has performed its function, is forcibly removed, its function is not wholly taken over by any other. The “flight of the wild geese” is perhaps a symbol of the harm that England has done to Ireland—more serious, from this point of view, than the massacres of Cromwell, or any of the grievances which the Irish most gladly recall. It may be, too, that England has done more harm to Wales and Scotland by gently attracting their upper classes to certain public schools, than by the wrongs (some real, some imaginary, some misunderstood) voiced by their respective nationalists. But here again, I wish to reserve judgment about Russia. That country, at the time of its revolution, may still have been at so early a stage of its development, that the removal of its upper class may prove not only not to have arrested that development but to have stimulated it. There are, however, some grounds for believing that the elimination of an upper class at a more developed stage can be a disaster for a country: and most certainly when that removal is due to the intervention of another nation.
I have, in the preceding paragraphs, been speaking mainly of the “governing class” and the “governing élite.” But I must remind the reader again that in concerning ourselves with class versus élite, we are concerned with the total culture of a country, and that involves a good deal more than government. We can yield ourselves with some confidence to a governing élite, as the republican Romans surrendered power to dictators, so long as we have in view a defined purpose in a crisis—and a crisis may last a long time. This limited purpose also makes it possible to choose the élite, for we know what we are choosing it for. But, if we are looking for a way to select the right people to constitute every élite, for an indefinite future, by what mechanism are we to do this? If our “purpose” is only to get the best people, in every walk of life, to the top, we lack a criterion of who are the best people; or, if we impose a criterion, it will have an oppressive effect upon novelty. The new work of genius, whether in art, science or philosophy, frequently meets with opposition.
All that concerns me at the moment is the question whether, by education alone, we can ensure the transmission of culture in a society in which some educationists appear indifferent to class distinctions, and from which some other educationists appear to want to remove class distinctions altogether. There is, in any case, a danger of interpreting “education” to cover both too much and too little: too little, when it implies that education is limited to what can be taught; too much, when it implies that everything worth preserving can be transmitted by teaching. In the society desired by some reformers, what the family can transmit will be limited to the minimum, especially if the child is to be, as Mr. H. C. Dent hopes, manipulated by a unified educational system “from the cradle to the grave.” And unless the child is classified, by the officials who will have the task of sorting him out, as being just like his father, he will be brought up in a different—not necessarily a better, because all will be equally good, but a different—school environment, and trained on what the official opinion of the moment considers to be “the genuinely democratic lines.” The élites, in consequence, will consist solely of individuals whose only common bond will be their professional interest: with no social cohesion, with no social continuity. They will be united only by a part, and that the most conscious part, of their personalities; they will meet like committees. The greater part of their “culture” will be only what they share with all the other individuals composing their nation.
The case for a society with a class structure, the affirmation that it is, in some sense, the “natural” society, is prejudiced if we allow ourselves to be hypnotised by the two contrasted terms aristocracy and democracy. The whole problem is falsified if we use these terms antithetically. What I have advanced is not a “defence of aristocracy”–an emphasis upon the importance of one organ of society. Rather it is a plea on behalf of a form of society in which an aristocracy should have a peculiar and essential function, as peculiar and essential as the function of any other part of society. What is important is a structure of society in which there will be, from “top” to “bottom,” a continuous gradation of cultural levels: it is important to remember that we should not consider the upper levels as possessing more culture than the lower, but as representing a more conscious culture and a greater specialisation of culture. I incline to believe that no true democracy can maintain itself unless it contains these different levels of culture. The levels of culture may also be seen as levels of power, to the extent that a smaller group at a higher level will have equal power with a larger group at a lower level; for it may be argued that complete equality means universal irresponsibility; and in such a society as I envisage, each individual would inherit greater or less responsibility towards the commonwealth, according to the position in society which he inherited–each class would have somewhat different responsibilities. A democracy in which everybody had an equal responsibility in everything would be oppressive for the conscientious and licentious for the rest.
There are other grounds upon which a graded society can be defended; and I hope, in general, that this essay will suggest lines of thought that I shall not myself explore; but I must constantly remind the reader of the limits of my subject. If we agree that the primary vehicle for the transmission of culture is the family, and if we agree that in a more highly civilised society there must be different levels of culture, then it follows that to ensure the transmission of the culture of these different levels there must be groups of families persisting, from generation to generation, each in the same way of life.
And once again I must repeat, that the “conditions of culture” which I set forth do not necessarily produce the higher civilisation: I assert only that when they are absent, the higher civilisation is unlikely to be found.
1 I am anxious to avoid speaking as if the evolution of primitive culture to higher forms was a process which we knew by observation. We observe the differences, we infer that some have developed from a stage similar to that of the lower stages which we observe: but however legitimate our inference, I am here not concerned with that development.
1 P. 81, Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction, 1940, New York, Harcourt, Brace.
1 Dr. Mannheim proceeds to call attention to a tendency in mass-society to renounce even the achievement principle. This passage is important; but as I agree with him that the dangers from this are still more alarming, it is unnecessary to quote it here.
1 Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness gives a hint of something similar.
1 To avoid misunderstanding at this point, it should be observed that I do not assume that “good manners” should be peculiar to any one stratum of society. In a healthy society, good manners should be found throughout. But as we distinguish between the meanings of “culture” at the several levels, so we distinguish also between the meanings of more and less conscious “good manners.”
1 I believe that the essential difference between a caste and a class system is that the basis of the former is a difference such that the dominant class comes to consider itself a superior race.
Unity and Diversity: The Region
A diversification among human communities is essential for the provision of the incentive and material for the Odyssey of the human spirit. Other nations of different habits are not enemies: they are godsends. Men require of their neighbours something sufficiently akin to be understood, something sufficiently different to provoke attention, and something great enough to command admiration.
N. WHITEHEAD: Science and the Modern World
IT is a recurrent theme of this essay, that a people should be neither too united nor too divided, if its culture is to flourish. Excess of unity may be due to barbarism and may lead to tyranny; excess of division may be due to decadence and may also lead to tyranny: either excess will prevent further development in culture. The proper degree of unity and of diversity cannot be determined for all peoples at all times. We can only state and illustrate some departments in which excess or defect is dangerous: what is necessary, beneficial or deleterious for a particular people at a particular time, must be left to the wisdom of the sage and the insight of the statesman. Neither a classless society, nor a society of strict and impenetrable social barriers is good; each class should have constant additions and defections; the classes, while remaining distinct, should be able to mix freely; and they should all have a community of culture with each other which will give them something in common, more fundamental than the community which each class has with its counterpart in another society. In the previous chapter we considered the special developments of culture by class: we have now to consider the special developments of culture by region.
Of the advantages of administrative and sentimental unity we hardly need to be reminded, after the experience of war; but it is often assumed that the unity of wartime should be preserved in time of peace. Amongst any people engaged in warfare, especially when the war appears, or can be made to appear, purely defensive, we may expect a spontaneous unity of sentiment which is genuine, an affectation of it on the part of those who merely wish to escape odium, and, from all, submission to the commands of the constituted authorities. We should hope to find the same harmony and docility among the survivors of a shipwreck adrift in a lifeboat. People often express regret that the same unity, self-sacrifice and fraternity which prevail in an emergency, cannot survive the emergency itself. Most audiences at Barrie’s play, The Admirable Crichton, have drawn the inference that the social organisation on the island was right, and that the social organisation at the country seat was wrong: I am not sure that Barrie’s play is not susceptible of a different interpretation. We must distinguish at all events between the kind of unity which is necessary in an emergency, and that which is appropriate for the development of culture in a nation at peace. It is conceivable, of course, that a period of “peace” may be a period of preparation for war, or of continuation of warfare in another form: in which situation we may expect a deliberate stimulation of patriotic sentiment and a rigorous central government control. It might be expected, too, in such a period, that “economic warfare” would be conducted by strict government discipline, not left to the guerillas and privateers of enterprise. But I am concerned here with the kind and degree of unity desirable in a country which is at peace with other countries: for if we cannot have periods of real peace, it is futile to hope for culture at all. The kind of unity with which I am concerned is not expressible as a common enthusiasm or a common purpose: enthusiasms and purposes are always transient.
The unity with which I am concerned must be largely unconscious, and therefore can perhaps be best approached through a consideration of the useful diversities. Here I have to do with diversity of region. It is important that a man should feel himself to be, not merely a citizen of a particular nation, but a citizen of a particular part of his country, with local loyalties. These, like loyalty to class, arise out of loyalty to the family. Certainly, an individual may develop the warmest devotion to a place in which he was not born, and to a community with which he has no ancestral ties. But I think we should agree that there would be something artificial, something a little too conscious, about a community of people with strong local feeling, all of whom had come from somewhere else. I think we should say that we must wait for a generation or two for a loyalty which the inhabitants had inherited, and which was not the result of a conscious choice. On the whole, it would appear to be for the best that the great majority of human beings should go on living in the place in which they were born. Family, class and local loyalty all support each other; and if one of these decays, the others will suffer also.
The problem of “regionalism” is seldom contemplated in its proper perspective. I introduce the term “regionalism” deliberately, because of the associations which it is apt to conjure up. It means, I think, to most people, the conception of some small group of local malcontents conducting a political agitation which, because it is not formidable, is regarded as ludicrous–for any movement for what is assumed to be a lost cause always excites ridicule. We expect to find “regionalists” attempting to revive some language which is disappearing and ought to disappear; or to revive customs of a bygone age which have lost all significance; or to obstruct the inevitable and accepted progress of mechanisation and large-scale industry. The champions of local tradition, indeed, often fail to make the best of their case; and when, as sometimes happens, they are most vigorously opposed and derided by others among their own people, the outsider feels that he has no reason to take them seriously. They sometimes misconceive their own case. They are inclined to formulate the remedy wholly in political terms; and as they may be politically inexperienced, and at the same time are agitated by deeper than political motives, their programmes may be patently impracticable. And when they put forward an economic programme, there, too, they are handicapped by having motives which go deeper than economics, in contrast with men who have the reputation of being practical. Furthermore, the usual regionalist is concerned solely with the interests of his own region, and thereby suggests to his neighbour across the border, that what is to the interest of one must be to the disadvantage of the other. The Englishman, for instance, does not ordinarily think of England as a “region” in the way that a Scottish or Welsh national can think of Scotland or Wales; and as it is not made clear to him that his interests also are involved, his sympathies are not enlisted. Thus the Englishman may identify his own interests with a tendency to obliterate local and racial distinctions, which is as harmful to his own culture as to those of his neighbours. Until the case is generalised, therefore, it is not likely to meet with a fair hearing.
At this point the professed regionalist, if he reads these pages, may suspect that I am playing a trick which he sees through. What I am up to, he may think, is trying to deny him the political and economic autonomy of his region, and appease him by offering him a substitute, “cultural autonomy,” which, because it is divorced from political and economic power, will only be a shadow of the real thing. I am quite aware that the political, the economic and the cultural problems cannot be isolated from each other. I am quite aware that any local “cultural revival” which left the political and economic framework unaffected, would hardly be more than an artificially sustained antiquarianism: what is wanted is not to restore a vanished, or to revive a vanishing culture under modern conditions which make it impossible, but to grow a contemporary culture from the old roots. But the political and economic conditions of healthy regionalism are not the concern of the present essay; nor are they matters on which I am qualified to pronounce. Nor, I think, should the political or the economic problem be the primary concern of the true regionalist. The absolute value is that each area should have its characteristic culture, which should also harmonise with, and enrich, the cultures of the neighbouring areas. In order to realise this value it is necessary to investigate political and economic alternatives to centralisation in London or elsewhere: and here, it is a question of the possible–of what can be done which will support this absolute value of culture, without injury to the island as a whole and by consequence to that part of it also in which the regionalist is interested. But this is beyond my scope.
We are, you will have noticed, primarily concerned with the particular constellation of cultures which is found in the British Isles. The clearest among the differences to be considered is that of the areas which still possess languages of their own. Even this division is not so simple as it looks: for a people (like the English-speaking Irish) which has lost its language may preserve enough of the structure, idiom, intonation and rhythm of its original tongue (vocabulary is of minor importance) for its speech and writing to have qualities not elsewhere found in the language of its adoption. And on the other hand a “dialect” may preserve the vestiges, on the lowest level of culture, of a variety of the language which once had equal status with any. But the unmistakable satellite culture is one which preserves its language, but which is so closely associated with, and dependent upon, another, that not only certain classes of the population, but all of them, have to be bi-lingual. It differs from the culture of the independent small nation in this respect, that in the latter it is usually only necessary for some classes to know another language; and in the independent small nation, those who need to know one foreign language are likely to need two or three: so that the pull towards one foreign culture will be balanced by the attraction of at least one other. A nation of weaker culture may be under the influence of one or another stronger culture at different periods: a true satellite culture is one which, for geographical and other reasons, has a permanent relation to a stronger one.
When we consider what I call the satellite culture, we find two reasons against consenting to its complete absorption into the stronger culture. The first objection is one so profound that it must simply be accepted: it is the instinct of every living thing to persist in its own being. The resentment against absorption is sometimes most strongly felt, and most loudly voiced, by those individuals in whom it is united with an unacknowledged awareness of inferiority or failure; and on the other hand it is often repudiated by those individuals for whom adoption into the stronger culture has meant success–greater power, prestige or wealth than could have been theirs had their fortunes been circumscribed by their area of origin.1 But when the testimony of both these types of individual has been discounted, we may say that any vigorous small people wants to preserve its individuality.
The other reason for the preservation of local culture is one which is also a reason for the satellite culture continuing to be satellite, and not going so far as to try to cut itself off completely. It is that the satellite exercises a considerable influence upon the stronger culture; and so plays a larger part in the world at large than it could in isolation. For Ireland, Scotland and Wales to cut themselves off completely from England would be to cut themselves off from Europe and the world, and no talk of auld alliances would help matters. But it is the other side of the question that interests me more, for it is the side that has received less acknowledgment. It is that the survival of the satellite culture is of very great value to the stronger culture. It would be no gain whatever for English culture, for the Welsh, Scots and Irish to become indistinguishable from Englishmen–what would happen, of course, is that we should all become indistinguishable featureless “Britons,” at a lower lever of culture than that of any of the separate regions. On the contrary, it is of great advantage for English culture to be constantly influenced from Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
A people is judged by history according to its contribution to the culture of other peoples flourishing at the same time and according to its contribution to the cultures which arise afterwards. It is from this point of view that I look at the question of the preservation of languages–I am not interested in languages in an advanced state of decay (that is to say, when they are no longer adequate to the needs of expression of the more educated members of the community). It is sometimes considered an advantage, and a source of glory, that one’s own language should be a necessary medium for as many foreigners as possible: I am not sure that this popularity is without grave dangers for any language. A less dubious advantage of certain languages which are native to large numbers of people, is that they have become, because of the work done by scientists and philosophers who have thought in those languages, and because of the traditions thus created, better vehicles than others for scientific and abstract thought. The case for the more restricted languages must be put on grounds which have less immediate appeal.
The question we may ask about such a language as Welsh, is whether it is of any value to the world at large, that it should be used in Wales. But this is really as much as to ask whether the Welsh, qua Welsh, are of any use? not, of course, as human beings, but as the preservers and continuers of a culture which is not English. The direct contribution to poetry by Welshmen and men of Welsh extraction, writing in English, is very considerable; and considerable also is the influence of their poetry upon poets of different racial origins. The fact that an extensive amount of poetry has been written in the Welsh language, in the ages when the English language was unknown in Wales, is of less direct importance: for there appears no reason why this should not be studied by those who will take the trouble to learn the language, on the same terms as poetry written in Latin or Greek. On the surface, there would seem to be every reason why Welsh poets should compose in the English language exclusively: for I know of no instance of a poet having reached the first rank in both languages; and the Welsh influence upon English poetry has been the work chiefly of Welsh poets who wrote only in English. But it must be remembered, that for the transmission of a culture–a peculiar way of thinking, feeling and behaving–and for its maintenance, there is no safeguard more reliable than a language. And to survive for this purpose it must continue to be a literary language–not necessarily a scientific language but certainly a poetic one: otherwise the spread of education will extinguish it. The literature written in that language will not, of course, make any direct impact upon the world at large; but if it is no longer cultivated, the people to whom it belongs (we are considering particularly the Welsh) will tend to lose their racial character. The Welsh will be less Welsh; and their poets will cease to have any contribution to make to English literature, beyond their individual genius. And I am of opinion, that the benefits which Scottish, Welsh and Irish writers have conferred upon English literature are far in excess of what the contribution of all these individual men of genius would have been had they, let us say, all been adopted in early infancy by English foster-parents.
I am not concerned, in an essay which aims at least at the merit of brevity, to defend the thesis, that it is desirable that the English should continue to be English. I am obliged to take that for granted: and if this assumption is called into question, I must defend it on another occasion. But if I can defend with any success the thesis, that it is to the advantage of England that the Welsh should continue to be Welsh, the Scots Scots and the Irish Irish, then the reader should be disposed to agree that there may be some advantage to other peoples in the English continuing to be English. It is an essential part of my case, that if the other cultures of the British Isles were wholly superseded by English culture, English culture would disappear too. Many people seem to take for granted that English culture is something self-sufficient and secure; that it will persist whatever happens. While some refuse to admit that any foreign influence can be bad, others assume complacently that English culture could flourish in complete isolation from the Continent. To many it has never occurred to reflect that the disappearance of the peripheral cultures of England (to say nothing of the more humble local peculiarities within England itself) might be a calamity. We have not given enough attention to the ecology of cultures. It is probable, I think, that complete uniformity of culture throughout these islands would bring about a lower grade of culture altogether.
It should be clear that I attempt no solution of the regional problem; and the “solution” would have in any case to vary indefinitely according to local needs and possibilities. I am trying only to take apart, and leave to others to reassemble, the elements in the problem. I neither support nor dispute any specific proposals for particular regional reforms. Most attempts to solve the problem seem to me to suffer from a failure to examine closely either the unity, or the differences, between the cultural, political and economic aspects. To deal with one of these aspects, to the exclusion of the others, is to produce a programme which will, because of its inadequacy, appear a little absurd. If the nationalistic motive in regionalism were pushed very far, it certainly would lead to absurdity. The close association of the Bretons with the French, and of the Welsh with the English, is to the advantage of everybody: an association of Brittany and Wales which ruptured their connexions with France and England respectively, would be an unqualified misfortune. For a national culture, if it is to flourish, should be a constellation of cultures, the constituents of which, benefiting each other, benefit the whole.
At this point I introduce a new notion: that of the vital importance for a society of friction between its parts. Accustomed as we are to think in figures of speech taken from machinery, we assume that a society, like a machine, should be as well oiled as possible, provided with ball bearings of the best steel. We think of friction as waste of energy. I shall not attempt to substitute any other imagery: perhaps at this point the less we think in analogies the better. In the last chapter I suggested that in any society which became permanently established in either a caste or a classless system, the culture would decay: one might even put it that a classless society should always be emerging into class, and a class society should be tending towards obliteration of its class distinctions. I now suggest that both class and region, by dividing the inhabitants of a country into two different kinds of groups, lead to a conflict favourable to creativeness and progress. And (to remind the reader of what I said in my introduction) these are only two of an indefinite number of conflicts and jealousies which should be profitable to society. Indeed, the more the better: so that everyone should be an ally of everyone else in some respects, and an opponent in several others, and no one conflict, envy or fear will dominate.
As individuals, we find that our development depends upon the people whom we meet in the course of our lives. (These people include the authors whose books we read, and characters in works of fiction and history.) The benefit of these meetings is due as much to the differences as to the resemblances; to the conflict, as well as the sympathy, between persons. Fortunate the man who, at the right moment, meets the right friend; fortunate also the man who at the right moment meets the right enemy. I do not approve the extermination of the enemy: the policy of exterminating or, as is barbarously said, liquidating enemies, is one of the most alarming developments of modern war and peace, from the point of view of those who desire the survival of culture. One needs the enemy. So, within limits, the friction, not only between individuals but between groups, seems to me quite necessary for civilisation. The universality of irritation is the best assurance of peace. A country within which the divisions have gone too far is a danger to itself: a country which is too well united–whether by nature or by device, by honest purpose or by fraud and oppression–is a menace to others. In Italy and in Germany, we have seen that a unity with politico-economic aims, imposed violently and too rapidly, had unfortunate effects upon both nations. Their cultures had developed in the course of a history of extreme, and extremely sub-divided regionalism: the attempt to teach Germans to think of themselves as Germans first, and the attempt to teach Italians to think of themselves as Italians first, rather than as natives of a particular small principality or city, was to disturb the traditional culture from which alone any future culture could grow.
I may put the idea of the importance of conflict within a nation more positively, by insisting on the importance of various and sometimes conflicting loyalties. If we consider these two divisions alone, of class and region, these ought to some extent to operate against each other: a man should have certain interests and sympathies in common with other men of the same local culture as against those of his own class elsewhere; and interests and sympathies in common with others of his class, irrespective of place. Numerous cross-divisions favour peace within a nation, by dispersing and confusing animosities; they favour peace between nations, by giving every man enough antagonism at home to exercise all his aggressiveness. The majority of men commonly dislike foreigners, and are easily inflamed against them; and it is not possible for the majority to know much about foreign peoples. A nation which has gradations of class seems to me, other things being equal, likely to be more tolerant and pacific than one which is not so organised.
So far, we have proceeded from the greater to the less, finding a national culture to be the resultant of an indefinite number of local cultures which, when themselves analysed, are composed of still smaller local cultures. Ideally, each village, and of course more visibly the larger towns, should have each its peculiar character. But I have already suggested that a national culture is the better for being in contact with outside cultures, both giving and receiving: and we shall now proceed in the opposite direction, from the smaller to the larger. As we go in this direction, we find that the content of the term culture undergoes some change: the word means something rather different, if we are speaking of the culture of a village, of a small region, of an island like Britain which comprehends several distinct racial cultures; and the meaning is altered much more when we come to speak of “European culture.” We have to abandon most of the political associations, for whereas in such smaller units of culture as I have just mentioned there is normally a certain unity of government, the unity of government of the Holy Roman Empire was, throughout most of the period covered by the term, both precarious and largely nominal. Of the nature of the unity of culture in Western Europe, I have written in the three broadcast talks–composed for another audience and therefore in a somewhat different style from the body of this essay–which I have added as an appendix under the title of “The Unity of European Culture.” I shall not attempt to cover the same ground in this chapter, but shall proceed to enquire what meaning, if any, can be attached to the term “world culture.” The investigation of a possible “world culture” should be of particular interest to those who champion any of the various schemes for world-federation, or for a world government: for, obviously, so long as there exist cultures which are beyond some point antagonistic to each other, antagonistic to the point of irreconcilability, all attempts at politico-economic unification will be in vain. I say “beyond some point,” because in the relations of any two cultures there will be two opposite forces balancing each other: attraction and repulsion–without the attraction they could not affect each other, and without the repulsion they could not survive as distinct cultures; one would absorb the other, or both would be fused into one culture. Now the zealots of world-government seem to me sometimes to assume, unconsciously, that their unity of organisation has an absolute value, and that if differences between cultures stand in the way, these must be abolished. If these zealots are of the humanitarian type, they will assume that this process will take place naturally and painlessly: they may, without knowing it, take for granted that the final world-culture will be simply an extension of that to which they belong themselves. Our Russian friends, who are more realistic, if not in the long run any more practical, are much more conscious of irreconcilability between cultures; and appear to hold the view that any culture incompatible with their own should be forcibly uprooted.
The world-planners who are both serious and humane, however, might–if we believed that their methods would succeed–be as grave a menace to culture as those who practise more violent methods. For it must follow from what I have already pleaded about the value of local cultures, that a world culture which was simply a uniform culture would be no culture at all. We should have a humanity de-humanised. It would be a nightmare. But on the other hand, we cannot resign the idea of world-culture altogether. For if we content ourselves with the ideal of “European culture” we shall still be unable to fix any definite frontiers. European culture has an area, but no definite frontiers: and you cannot build Chinese walls. The notion of a purely self-contained European culture would be as fatal as the notion of a self-contained national culture: in the end as absurd as the notion of preserving a local uncontaminated culture in a single county or village of England. We are therefore pressed to maintain the ideal of a world culture, while admitting that it is something we cannot imagine. We can only conceive it, as the logical term of relations between cultures. Just as we recognise that the parts of Britain must have in one sense, a common culture, though this common culture is only actual in diverse local manifestations, so we must aspire to a common world culture, which will yet not diminish the particularity of the constituent parts. And here, of course, we are finally up against religion, which so far, in the consideration of local differences within the same area, we have not had to face. Ultimately, antagonistic religions must mean antagonistic cultures; and ultimately, religions cannot be reconciled. From the official Russian point of view there are two objections to religion: first, of course, that religion is apt to provide another loyalty than that claimed by the State; and second, that there are several religions in the world still firmly maintained by many believers. The second objection is perhaps even more serious than the first: for where there is only one religion, it is always possible that that religion may be subtly altered, so that it will enjoin conformity rather than stimulate resistance to the State.
We are the more likely to be able to stay loyal to the ideal of the unimaginable world culture, if we recognise all the difficulties, the practical impossibility, of its realisation. And there are further difficulties which cannot be ignored. We have so far considered cultures as if they had all come into being by the same process of growth: the same people in the same place. But there is the colonial problem, and the colonisation problem: it is a pity that the world “colony” has had to do duty for two quite different meanings. The colonial problem is that of the relation between an indigenous native culture and a foreign culture, when a higher foreign culture has been imposed, often by force, upon a lower. This problem is insoluble, and takes several forms. There is one problem when we come into contact with a lower culture for the first time: there are very few places in the world where this is still possible. There is another problem where a native culture has already begun to disintegrate under foreign influence, and where a native population has already taken in more of the foreign culture than it can ever expel. There is a third problem where, as in some of the West Indies, several uprooted peoples have been haphazardly mixed. And these problems are insoluble, in the sense that, whatever we do towards their solution or mitigation, we do not altogether know what we are doing. We must be aware of them; we must do what we can, so far as our understanding will take us; but many more forces enter into the changes of the culture of a people than we can grasp and control; and any positive and excellent development of culture is always a miracle when it happens.
The colonisation problem arises from migration. When peoples migrated across Asia and Europe in pre-historic and early times, it was a whole tribe, or at least a wholly representative part of it, that moved together. Therefore, it was a total culture that moved. In the migrations of modern times, the emigrants have come from countries already highly civilised. They came from countries where the development of social organisation was already complex. The people who migrated have never represented the whole of the culture of the country from which they came, or they have represented it in quite different proportions. They have transplanted themselves according to some social, religious, economic or political determination, or some peculiar mixture of these. There has therefore been something in the removements analogous in nature to religious schism. The people have taken with them only a part of the total culture in which, so long as they remained at home, they participated. The culture which develops on the new soil must therefore be bafflingly alike and different from the parent culture: it will be complicated sometimes by whatever relations are established with some native race, and further by immigration from other than the original source. In this way, peculiar types of culture-sympathy and culture-clash appear, between the areas populated by colonisation and the countries of Europe from which the migrants came.
There is finally the peculiar case of India, where almost every complication is found to defeat the culture-planner. There is stratification of society which is not purely social but to some extent racial, in a Hindu world which comprehends peoples with an ancient tradition of high civilisation, and tribesmen of very primitive culture indeed. There is Brahminism and there is Islam. There are two or more important cultures on completely different religious foundations. Into this confused world came the British, with their assurance that their own culture was the best in the world, their ignorance of the relation between culture and religion, and (at least since the nineteenth century) their bland assumption that religion was a secondary matter. It is human, when we do not understand another human being, and cannot ignore him, to exert an unconscious pressure on that person to turn him into something that we can understand: many husbands and wives exert this pressure on each other. The effect on the person so influenced is liable to be the repression and distortion, rather than the improvement, of the personality; and no man is good enough to have the right to make another over in his own image. The benefits of British rule will soon be lost, but the ill effects of the disturbance of a native culture by an alien one will remain. To offer another people your culture first, and your religion second, is a reversal of values: and while every European represents, for good or ill, the culture to which he belongs, only a small minority are worthy representatives of its religious faith.1 The only prospect of stability in India seems the alternative of a development, let us hope under peaceful conditions, into a loose federation of kingdoms, or to a mass uniformity attainable only at the price of the abolition of class distinctions and the abandonment of all religion–which would mean the disappearance of Indian culture.
I have thought it necessary to make this brief excursion into the several types of culture relation between one nation and the different kinds of foreign area, because the regional problem within the nation has to be seen in this larger context. There can be, of course, no one simple solution. As I have said, the improvement and transmission of culture can never be the direct object of any of our practical activities: all we can do is to try to keep in mind that whatever we do will affect our own culture or that of some other people. We can also learn to respect every other culture as a whole, however inferior to our own it may appear, or however justly we may disapprove of some features of it: the deliberate destruction of another culture as a whole is an irreparable wrong, almost as evil as to treat human beings like animals. But it is when we give our attention to the question of unity and diversity within the limited area that we know best, and within which we have the most frequent opportunities for right action, that we can combat the hopelessness that invades us, when we linger too long upon perplexities so far beyond our measure.
It was necessary to remind ourselves of those considerable areas of the globe, in which the problem takes a different form from ours: of those areas particularly, in which two or more distinct cultures are so inextricably involved with each other, in propinquity and in the ordinary business of living, that “regionalism,” as we conceive it in Britain, would be a mockery. For such areas it is probable that a very different type of political philosophy should inspire political action, from that in terms of which we are accustomed to think and act in this part of the world. It is as well to have these differences at the back of our mind, that we may appreciate better the conditions with which we have to deal at home. These conditions are those of a homogeneous general culture, associated with the traditions of one religion: given these conditions, we can maintain the conception of a national culture which will draw its vitality from the cultures of its several areas, within each of which again there will be smaller units of culture having their own local peculiarities.
1 It is not unknown, however, that the successful self-exile sometimes manifests an exaggerated sentiment towards his native region, to which he may return for his holidays, or to enjoy the affluent retirement of his declining years.
1 It is interesting to speculate, even though we cannot prove our conclusions, what would have happened to Western Europe had the Roman conquest imposed a culture pattern which left the religious beliefs and practices unaffected.
IN the first chapter I tried to place myself at a point of view from which the same phenomena appear both religious and cultural. In this chapter I shall be concerned with the cultural significance of religious divisions. While the considerations put forward should, if worthy of being taken seriously, have a particular interest for those Christians who are perplexed over the problem of Christian reunion, they are primarily intended to show that Christian divisions, and therefore schemes for Christian reunion, should be of concern not only to Christians, but to everybody except those who advocate a kind of society which would break completely with the Christian tradition.
I asserted, in the first chapter, that in the most primitive societies no clear distinction is visible between religious and non-religious activities; and that as we proceed to examine the more developed societies, we perceive a greater distinction, and finally contrast and opposition, between these activities. The sort of identity of religion and culture which we observe amongst peoples of very low development cannot recur except in the New Jerusalem. A higher religion is one which is much more difficult to believe. For the more conscious becomes the belief, so the more conscious becomes unbelief: indifference, doubt and scepticism appear, and the endeavour to adapt the tenets of religion to what people in each age find easiest to believe. In the higher religion, it is more difficult also to make behaviour conform to the moral laws of the religion. A higher religion imposes a conflict, a division, torment and struggle within the individual; a conflict sometimes between the laity and the priesthood; a conflict eventually between Church and State.
The reader may have difficulty in reconciling these assertions with the point of view set forth in my first chapter, according to which there is always, even in the most conscious and highly developed societies that we know, an aspect of identity between the religion and the culture. I wish to maintain both these points of view. We do not leave the earlier stage of development behind us: it is that upon which we build. The identity of religion and culture remains on the unconscious level, upon which we have superimposed a conscious structure wherein religion and culture are contrasted and can be opposed. The meaning of the terms “religion” and “culture” is of course altered between these two levels. To the unconscious level we constantly tend to revert, as we find consciousness an excessive burden; and the tendency towards reversion may explain the powerful attraction which totalitarian philosophy and practice can exert upon humanity. Totalitarianism appeals to the desire to return to the womb. The contrast between religion and culture imposes a strain: we escape from this strain by attempting to revert to an identity of religion and culture which prevailed at a more primitive stage; as when we indulge in alcohol as an anodyne, we consciously seek unconsciousness. It is only by unremitting effort that we can persist in being individuals in a society, instead of merely members of a disciplined crowd. Yet we remain members of the crowd, even when we succeed in being individuals. Hence, for the purposes of this essay, I am obliged to maintain two contradictory propositions: that religion and culture are aspects of one unity, and that they are two different and contrasted things.
I attempt, as far as possible, to contemplate my problems from the point of view of the sociologist, and not from that of the Christian apologist. Most of my generalisations are intended to have some applicability to all religion, and not only to Christianity; and when, as in what follows in this chapter, I discuss Christian matters, that is because I am particularly concerned with Christian culture, with the Western World, with Europe, and with England. In saying that I aim at taking, as consistently as I can, the sociological point of view, I must make clear that I do not think that the difference between the religious and the sociological point of view is so easily maintained as the difference between a couple of adjectives might lead us to suppose. We may here define the religious point of view, as that from which we ask the question, whether the tenets of a religion are true or false. It follows that we shall be taking the religious point of view, if we are atheists whose thinking is based on the assumption that all religions are untrue. From the sociological point of view, the truth or falsity is irrelevant: we are concerned only with the comparative effects of different religious structures upon culture. Now, if students of the subject could be neatly divided into theologians, including atheists, and sociologists, the problem would be very different from what it is. But, for one thing, no religion can be wholly “understood” from the outside—even the sociologist’s purposes. For another, no one can wholly escape the religious point of view, because in the end one either believes or disbelieves. Therefore, no one can be as wholly detached and disinterested as the ideal sociologist should be. The reader accordingly must try, not only to make allowance for the religious views of the author, but, what is more difficult, to make allowance for his own—and he may never have examined thoroughly his own mind. So both writer and reader must be on guard against assuming that they are wholly detached.1
We have now to consider unity and diversity in religious belief and practice, and enquire what is the situation most favourable to the preservation and improvement of culture. I have suggested in my first chapter that those among the “higher religions” which are most likely to continue to stimulate culture, are those which are capable of being accepted by peoples of different cultures: those which have the greatest universality—though potential universality by itself may be no criterion of a “higher religion.” Such religions can provide a ground pattern of common belief and behaviour, upon which a variety of local patterns can be embroidered; and they will encourage a reciprocal influence of peoples upon each other, such that any cultural progress in one area may quicken development in another. In certain historical conditions, a fierce exclusiveness may be a necessary condition for the preservation of a culture: the Old Testament bears witness to this.2 In spite of this particular historical situation, we should be able to agree that the practice of a common religion, by peoples each having its own cultural character, should usually promote the exchange of influence to their reciprocal advantage. It is of course conceivable that a religion may be too easily accommodated to a variety of cultures, and become assimilated without assimilating; and that this weakness may tend to bring about the opposite result, if the religion breaks up into branches or sects so opposed that they cease to influence each other. Christianity and Buddhism have been exposed to this danger.
From this point it is with Christianity alone that I am to be concerned; in particular with the relation of Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe and the diversity of sects within Protestantism. We must try to start without any bias for, or against, unity or reunion or the maintenance of the separate corporate identity of religious denominations. We must take note of whatever injury appears to have been done to European culture, and to the culture of any part of Europe, by division into sects. On the other hand, we must acknowledge that many of the most remarkable achievements of culture have been made since the sixteenth century, in conditions of disunity: and that some, indeed, as in nineteenth-century France, appear after the religious foundations for culture seem to have crumbled away. We cannot affirm that if the religious unity of Europe had continued, these or equally brilliant achievements would have been realised. Either religious unity or religious division may coincide with cultural efflorescence or cultural decay.
From this point of view, we may take a moderate satisfaction, which should not be allowed to settle into complacency, when we review the history of England. In a nation in which no tendency to Protestantism appeared, or in which it was negligible, there must always be a danger of religious petrifaction, and of aggressive unbelief. In a nation in which the relations of Church and State run too smoothly, it does not matter much, from our present point of view, whether the cause is ecclesiasticism, the dominance of State by Church, or erastianism, the dominance of Church by State. Indeed, it is not always easy to distinguish between the two conditions. The effect equally may be, that every disaffected person, and every sufferer from injustice, will attribute his misfortunes to the inherent evil of the Church, or to an inherent evil in Christianity itself. Formal obedience to the Roman See is itself no assurance that, in a wholly Catholic nation, religion and culture will not become too closely identified. Elements of local culture—even of local barbarism—may become invested with the sanctity of religious observances, and superstition may flourish under the guise of piety: a people may tend to slip back towards the unity of religion and culture that pertains to primitive communities. The result of the unquestioned dominance of one cult, when a people is passive, may be torpor: when a people is quick and self-assertive, the result may be chaos. For, as discontent turns to disaffection, the anticlerical bias may become an anti-religious tradition; a distinct and hostile culture grows and flourishes, and a nation is divided against itself. The factions have to continue to live with each other; and the common language and ways of life which they retain, far from mollifying animosity, may only exasperate it. The religious division becomes a symbol for a group of associated differences, often rationally unrelated; around these differences swarm a host of private grievances, fears and interests; and the contest for an indivisible heritage may terminate only in exhaustion.
It would here be irrelevant to review those sanguinary passages of civil strife, such as the Thirty Years War, in which Catholics and Protestants fought over such an heritage. Explicit theological contentions between Christians no longer attract to themselves those other irreconcilable interests which seek a decision by arms. The deepest causes of division may still be religious, but they become conscious, not in theological but in political, social and economic doctrines. Certainly, in those countries in which the prevailing faith has been Protestant, anti-clericalism seldom takes a violent form. In such countries, both faith and infidelity tend to be mild and inoffensive; as the culture has become secularised, the cultural differences between faithful and infidel are minimal; the boundary between belief and unbelief is vague; the Christianity is more pliant, the atheism more negative; and all parties live in amity, so long as they continue to accept some common moral conventions.
The situation in England, however, differs from that in other countries, whether Catholic or Protestant. In England, as in other Protestant countries, atheism has been mostly of a passive kind. No statistician could produce an estimate of the numbers of Christians and non-Christians. Many people live on an unmarked frontier enveloped in dense fog; and those who dwell beyond it are more numerous in the dark waste of ignorance and indifference, than in the well-lighted desert of atheism. The English unbeliever, of some social status however humble, is likely to conform to the practices of Christianity on the occasions of birth, death and the first venture in matrimony. Atheists in this country are not yet culturally united: their types of atheism will vary according to the culture of the religious communion in which they, or their parents, or their grandparents were reared. The chief cultural differences in England have, in the past, been those between Anglicanism and the more important Protestant sects; and even these differences are far from clearly defined: first, because the Church of England itself has comprehended wider variations of belief and cult than a foreign observer would believe it possible for one institution to contain without bursting; and second, because of the number and variety of the sects separated from it.
If my contentions in the first chapter are accepted, it will be agreed that the formation of a religion is also the formation of a culture. From this it should follow that, as a religion divides into sects, and as these sects develop from generation to generation, a variety of cultures will be propagated. And, as the intimacy of religion and culture is such that we may expect what happens one way to happen the other, we are prepared to find that the division between Christian cultures will stimulate further differentiations of belief and cult. It does not fall within my purpose to consider the Great Schism between East and West which corresponds to the shifting geographical boundary between two cultures. When we consider the Western World, we must recognise that the main cultural tradition has been that corresponding to the Church of Rome. Only within the last four hundred years has any other manifested itself; and anyone with a sense of centre and periphery must admit that the western tradition has been Latin, and Latin means Rome. There are countless testimonies of art and thought and manners; and among these we must include the work of all men born and educated in a Catholic society, whatever their individual beliefs. From this point of view, the separation of Northern Europe, and of England in particular, from communion with Rome represents a diversion from the main stream of culture. To pronounce, upon this separation, any judgment of value, to assume that it was a good or a bad thing, is what in this investigation we must try to avoid; for that would be to pass from the sociological to the theological point of view. And as I must at this point introduce the term sub-culture to signify the culture which pertains to the area of a divided part of Christendom, we must be careful not to assume that a sub-culture is necessarily an inferior culture; remembering also that while a sub-culture may suffer loss in being separated from the main body, the main body may also be mutilated by the loss of a member of itself.
We must recognise next, that where a sub-culture has in time become established as the main culture of a particular territory, it tends to change places, for that territory, with the main European culture. In this respect it differs from those sub-cultures representing sects the members of which share a region with the main culture. In England, the main cultural tradition has for several centuries been Anglican. Roman Catholics in England are, of course, in a more central European tradition than are Anglicans; yet, because the main tradition of England has been Anglican, they are in another aspect more outside of the tradition than are Protestant dissenters. It is Protestant dissent which is, in relation to Anglicanism, a congeries of sub-cultures: or, when we regard Anglicanism itself as a sub-culture, we might refer to it as a congeries of “sub-sub-cultures”—as this term is too clownish to be admitted into good company, we can only say “secondary sub-cultures.” By Protestant dissent I mean those bodies which recognise each other as “the Free Churches,” together with the Society of Friends, which has an isolated but distinguished history: all minor religious entities are culturally negligible. The variations of character among the chief religious bodies, have to some extent to do with the peculiar circumstances of their origins, and the length of the separation. It is of some interest that Congregationalism, which has a long history, numbers several distinguished theologians; whereas Methodism, with a briefer history, and less theological justification for its separate existence, appears to rely chiefly on its hymnology, and to need no independent theological structure of its own. But whether we consider a territorial sub-culture, or a secondary sub-culture within a territory or scattered over several territories, we may find ourselves led to the conclusion, that every sub-culture is dependent upon that from which it is an offshoot. The life of Protestantism depends upon the survival of that against which it protests; and just as the culture of Protestant dissent would perish of inanition without the persistence of Anglican culture, so the maintenance of English culture is contingent upon the health of the culture of Latin Europe, and upon continuing to draw sustenance from that Latin culture.
There is, however, a difference between the division of Canterbury from Rome, and the division of Free Protestantism from Canterbury, which is important for my purposes. It corresponds to a difference presented in the previous chapter, between colonisation by mass migration (as in the early movements westwards across Europe) and colonisation by certain elements separating themselves from a culture which remains at home (as in the colonisation of the Dominions and the Americas). The separation precipitated by Henry VIII had the immediate cause of personal motives in high quarters; it was reinforced by tendencies strong in England and in Northern Europe, of more respectable origin. Once released, the forces of Protestantism went further than Henry himself intended or would have approved. But, although the Reformation in England was, like any other revolution, the work of a minority, and although it met with several local movements of stubborn resistance, it eventually carried with it the greater part of the nation irrespective of class or region. The Protestant sects, on the other hand, represent certain elements in English culture to the exclusion of others: class and occupation played a large part in their formation. It would probably be impossible for the closest student to pronounce how far it is adherence to dissenting tenets that forms a sub-culture, and how far it is the formation of a sub-culture that inspires the finding of reasons for dissent. The solution of that enigma is fortunately not necessary for my purpose. The result, in any case, was a stratification of England by sects, in some measure proceeding from, in some measure aggravating, the cultural distinctions between classes.
It might be possible for a profound student of ethnology and of the history of early settlement in this island, to argue the existence of causes of a more stubborn and more primitive nature, for the tendencies to religious fission. He might trace them to ineradicable differences between the culture of the several tribes, races and languages which from time to time held sway or contested for supremacy. He might, furthermore, take the view that cultural mixture does not necessarily follow the same course as biological mixture; and that, even if we assumed every person of purely English descent to have the blood of all the successive invaders mingled in his veins in exactly the same proportions, it need not follow that cultural fusion ensued. He might therefore discover, in the tendency of various elements in the population to express their faith in different ways, to prefer different types of communal organisation and different styles of worship, a reflection of early divisions between dominant and subject races. Such speculations, which I am too unlearned to support or oppose, lie outside of my scope; but it is as well for both writer and readers to remind themselves that there may be deeper levels than that upon which the enquiry is being conducted. If differences persisting to the present day could be established in descent from primitive differences of culture, this would only reinforce the case for the unity of religion and culture propounded in my first chapter.
However this may be, there are curiosities enough to occupy our attention in the mixture of motives and interests in the dissensions of religious parties within the period of modern history. One need not be a cynic to be amused, or a devotee to be saddened, by the spectacle of the self-deception, as well as the frequent hypocrisy, of the attackers and defenders of one or another form of the Christian Faith. But from the point of view of my essay, both mirth and sorrow are irrelevant, because this confusion is just what one must expect, being inherent in the human condition. There are, certainly, situations in history in which a religious contest can be attributed to a purely religious motive. The life-long battle of St. Athanasius against the Arians and Eutychians need not be regarded in any other light than the light of theology: the scholar who endeavoured to demonstrate that it represented a culture-clash between Alexandria and Antioch, or some similar ingenuity, would appear to us at best to be talking about something else. Even the purest theological issue, however, will in the long run have cultural consequences: a superficial acquaintance with the career of Athanasius should be enough to assure us that he was one of the great builders of western civilisation. And, for the most part, it is inevitable that we should, when we defend our religion, be defending at the same time our culture, and vice versa: we are obeying the fundamental instinct to preserve our existence. And in so doing, in the course of time we make many errors and commit many crimes—most of which may be simplified into the one error, of identifying our religion and our culture on a level on which we ought to distinguish them from each other.
Such considerations are relevant not only to the history of religious strife and separation: they are equally pertinent when we come to entertain schemes for reunion. The importance of stopping to examine cultural peculiarities, to disentangle religious from cultural hindrances, has hitherto been overlooked—and I should say more than overlooked: deliberately though unconsciously ignored—in the schemes of reunion between Christian bodies adopted or put forward. Hence the appearance of disingenuousness, of agreement upon formulae to which the contracting parties can give different interpretations, which provokes a comparison with treaties between governments.
The reader unacquainted with the details of “oecumenicity,” should be reminded of the difference between inter-communion and reunion. An arrangement of inter-communion between two national churches—such as the Church of England and the Church of Sweden—or between the Church of England and one of the Eastern Churches, or between the Church of England and a body such as the “Old Catholics” found in Holland and elsewhere on the Continent, does not necessarily look any further than what the term implies: a reciprocal recognition of the “validity of orders” and of the orthodoxy of tenets; with the consequence that the members of each church can communicate, the priests celebrate and preach, in the churches of the other country. An agreement of inter-communion could only lead toward reunion in one of two events: the unlikely event of a political union of the two nations, or the ultimate event of a world-wide reunion of Christians. Reunion, on the other hand, means in effect either reunion of one or another body having episcopal government, with the Church of Rome, or reunion between bodies separated from each other in the same areas. The movements towards reunion which are at the present time most active, are of the second kind: reunion between the Anglican Church and one or more of the “Free Church” bodies. It is with the cultural implications of this latter kind of reunion that we are here specially concerned. There can be no question of reunion between the Church of England and, let us say, the Presbyterians or Methodists in America: any reunion would be of American Presbyterians with the Episcopal Church in America, and of English Presbyterians with the Church of England.
It should be obvious, from the considerations advanced in my first chapter, that complete reunion involves community of culture—some common culture already existing, and the potentiality of its further development consequent upon official reunion. The ideal reunion of all Christians does not, of course, imply an eventual uniform culture the world over: it implies simply a “Christian culture” of which all local cultures should be variants—and they would and should vary very widely indeed. We can already distinguish between a “local culture” and a “European culture”; when we use the latter term we recognise the local differences; similarly a universal “Christian culture” should not be taken to ignore or override the differences between the cultures of the several continents. But the existence of a strong community of culture between various Christian bodies in the same area (we must remember that we here mean “culture” as distinguished from “religion”) not only facilitates reunion of Christians in that area, but exposes such reunion to peculiar dangers.
I have put forward the view that every division of a Christian people into sects brings about or aggravates the development of “sub-cultures” amongst that people; and I have asked the reader to examine Anglicanism and the Free Churches for confirmation of this view. But it should now be added, that the cultural divisions between Anglicans and Free Churchmen have, under changing social and economic conditions, become attenuated. The organisation of rural society from which the Church of England drew much of its cultural strength is in decay; the landed gentry have less security, less power and less influence; the families which have risen in trade and in many places succeeded to territorial proprietorship are themselves progressively reduced and impoverished. A diminishing number of Anglican clergy come from public schools or the old universities, or are educated at their families’ expense; bishops are not wealthy men, and are embarrassed in keeping up palaces. Anglican and Free Church laymen have been educated at the same universities and often at the same schools. And finally, they are all exposed to the same environment of a culture severed from religion. When men of different religious persuasions are drawn together by common interests and common anxieties, by their awareness of an increasingly oppressive non-Christian world, and by their unawareness of the extent to which they are themselves penetrated by non-Christian influences and by a neutral culture, it is only to be expected that the vestiges of the distinctions between their several Christian cultures should seem to them of minor significance.
With the dangers of reunion on erroneous or evasive terms I am not here concerned; but I am much concerned with the danger that reunion facilitated by the disappearance of the cultural characteristics of the several bodies reunited might accelerate and confirm the general lowering of culture. The refinement or crudity of theological and philosophical thinking is itself, of course, one of the measures of the state of our culture; and the tendency in some quarters to reduce theology to such principles as a child can understand or a Socinian further danger, from our point of view, in schemes of reunion which attempt to remove the difficulties, and protect the self-assertiveness, of everybody. In an age like our own, when it has become a point of politeness to dissimulate social distinctions, and to pretend that the highest degree of “culture” ought to be made accessible to everybody—in an age of cultural levelling, it will be denied that the several Christian fragments to be re-united represent any cultural differences. There is certain to be a strong pressure towards a reunion on terms of complete cultural equality. Too much account may even be taken of the relative numbers of the membership of the uniting bodies: for a main culture will remain a main culture, and a sub-culture will remain a sub-culture, even if the latter attracts more adherents than the former. It is always the main religious body which is the guardian of more of the remains of the higher developments of culture preserved from a past time before the division took place. Not only is it the main religious body which has the more elaborated theology; it is the main religious body which is the least alienated from the best intellectual and artistic activity of its time. Hence it is that the convert—and I think not only of conversion from one form of Christianity to another, but indeed primarily of conversion from indifference to Christian belief and practice—the convert of the intellectual or sensitive type is drawn towards the more Catholic type of worship and doctrine. This attraction, which may occur before the prospective convert has begun to inform himself about Christianity at all, may be cited by the outsider as evidence that the convert has become a Christian for the wrong reasons, or that he is guilty of insincerity and affectation. Every sin that can be imagined has been practised, and the pretence of religious faith may often enough have cloaked intellectual or esthetic vanity and self-indulgence; but, on the view of the intimacy of religion and culture which is the starting point of my examination, such phenomena as the progress to religious faith through cultural attraction are both natural and acceptable.
After the considerations now reviewed, I must attempt to link the chapter to the two preceding chapters, by enquiring what is the ideal pattern of unity and diversity between Christian nations and between the several strata in each nation. It should be obvious that the sociological point of view cannot lead us to those conclusions which can properly be reached only by theological premisses; and the reader of the previous chapters will be prepared to find no solution in any rigid and unchangeable scheme. No security against cultural deterioration is offered by any of the three chief types of religious organisation: the international church with a central government, the national church, or the separated sect. The danger of freedom is deliquescence; the danger of strict order is petrifaction. Nor can we judge from the history of any particular society, whether a different religious history would have resulted in a more healthy culture today. The disastrous effects of armed religious strife within a people, as in England in the seventeenth century or in the German States in the sixteenth, need no emphasis; the disintegrating effect of sectarian division has already been touched upon. Yet we may ask whether Methodism did not, in the period of its greatest fervour, revive the spiritual life of the English, and prepare the way for the Evangelical Movement and even for the Oxford Movement. Furthermore, Dissent made it possible for “working class” Christians (though perhaps it might have done more than it has for “labouring class” Christians) to play that part, which all zealous and socially active Christians should wish to play, in the conduct of their local church and the social and charitable organisations connected with it.1 The actual choice, at times, has been between sectarianism and indifference; and those who chose the former were, in so doing, keeping alive the culture of certain social strata. And, as I have said at the beginning, the appropriate culture of each stratum is of equal importance.
As in the relation between the social classes, and as in the relation of the several regions of a country to each other and to the central power, it would seem that a constant struggle between the centripetal and the centrifugal forces is desirable. For without the struggle no balance can be maintained; and if either force won the result would be deplorable. The conclusions to which we are justified in coming, from our premisses and from the sociologist’s point of view, appear to me to be as follows. Christendom should be one: the form of organisation and the locus of powers in that unity are questions upon which we cannot pronounce. But within that unity there should be an endless conflict between ideas—for it is only by the struggle against constantly appearing false ideas that the truth is enlarged and clarified, and in the conflict with heresy that orthodoxy is developed to meet the needs of the times; an endless effort also on the part of each region to shape its Christianity to suit itself, an effort which should neither be wholly suppressed nor left wholly unchecked. The local temperament must express its particularity in its form of Christianity, and so must the social stratum, so that the culture proper to each area and each class may flourish; but there must also be a force holding these areas and these classes together. If this corrective force in the direction of uniformity of belief and practice is lacking, then the culture of each part will suffer. We have already found that the culture of a nation prospers with the prosperity of the culture of its several constituents, both geographical and social; but that it also needs to be itself a part of a larger culture, which requires the ultimate ideal, however unrealisable, of a “world culture” in a sense different from that implicit in the schemes of worldfederationists. And without a common faith, all efforts towards drawing nations closer together in culture can produce only an illusion of unity.
1 See a valuable article by Professor Evans-Pritchard on “Social Anthropology” in Blackfriars for November 1946. He remarks: “The answer would seem to be that the sociologist should also be a moral philosopher and that, as such, he should have a set of definite beliefs and values in terms of which he evaluates the facts he studies as a sociologist.”
2 Since the diaspora, and the scattering of Jews amongst peoples holding the Christian Faith, it may have been unfortunate both for these peoples and for the Jews themselves, that the culture-contact between them has had to be within those neutral zones of culture in which religion could be ignored: and the effect may have been to strengthen the illusion that there can be culture without religion.
1 See two valuable Supplements to The Christian News-Letter: “Ecumenical Christianity and the Working Classes” by W. G. Symons, July 30, 1941; and “The Free Churches and Working Class Culture” by John Marsh, May 20, 1942.
Politics did not, however, so much engage him as to withhold his thoughts from things of more importance.
SAMUEL JOHNSON on GEORGE LYTTELTON
WE observe nowadays that “culture” attracts the attention of men of politics: not that politicians are always “men of culture,” but that “culture” is recognised both as an instrument of policy and as something socially desirable which it is the business of the State to promote. We not only hear, from high political quarters, that “cultural relations” between nations are of great importance, but find that bureaux are founded, and officials appointed, for the express purpose of attending to these relations, which are presumed to foster international amity. The fact that culture has become, in some sense, a department of politics, should not obscure in our memory the fact that at other periods politics has been an activity pursued within a culture, and between representatives of different cultures. It is therefore not impertinent to attempt to indicate the place of politics within a culture united and divided according to the kind of unity and division which we have been considering.
We may assume, I think, that in a society so articulated the practice of politics and an active interest in public affairs would not be the business of everybody, or of everybody to the same degree; and that not everybody should concern himself, except at moments of crisis, with the conduct of the nation as a whole. In a healthily regional society, public affairs would be the business of everybody, or of the great majority, only within very small social units; and would be the business of a progressively smaller number of men in the larger units within which the smaller were comprehended. In a healthily stratified society, public affairs would be a responsibility not equally borne: a greater responsibility would be inherited by those who inherited special advantages, and in whom self-interest, and interest for the sake of their families (“a stake in the country”) should cohere with public spirit. The governing élite, of the nation as a whole, would consist of those whose responsibility was inherited with their affluence and position, and whose forces were constantly increased, and often led, by rising individuals of exceptional talents. But when we speak of a governing élite, we must safeguard ourselves against thinking of an élite sharply divided from the other élites of society.
The relation of the political élite—by which we mean the leading members of all the effective and recognised political groups: for the survival of a parliamentary system requires a constant dining with the Oppositions1—to the other élites would be put too crudely if described as communication between men of action and men of thought. It is rather a relation between men of different types of mind and different areas of thought and action. A sharp distinction between thought and action is no more tenable for the political than for the religious life, in which the contemplative must have his own activity, and the secular priest must not be wholly unpractised in meditation. There is no plane of active life on which thought is negligible, except that of the merest automatic execution of orders; and there is no species of thinking which can be quite without effect upon action.
I have suggested elsewhere1 that a society is in danger of disintegration when there is a lack of contact between people of different areas of activity—between the political, the scientific, the artistic, the philosophical and the religious minds. This separation cannot be repaired merely by public organisation. It is not a question of assembling into committees representatives of different types of knowledge and experience, of calling in everybody to advise everybody else. The élite should be something different, something much more organically composed, than a panel of bonzes, caciques and tycoons. Men who meet only for definite serious purposes, and on official occasions, do not wholly meet. They may have some common concern very much at heart; they may, in the course of repeated contacts, come to share a vocabulary and an idiom which appear to communicate every shade of meaning necessary for their common purpose; but they will continue to retire from these encounters each to his private social world as well as to his solitary world. Everyone has observed that the possibilities of contented silence, of a mutual happy awareness when engaged upon a common task, or an underlying seriousness and significance in the enjoyment of a silly joke, are characteristics of any close personal intimacy; and the congeniality of any circle of friends depends upon a common social convention, a common ritual, and common pleasures of relaxation. These aids to intimacy are no less important for the communication of meaning in words, than the possession of a common subject upon which the several parties are informed. It is unfortunate for a man when his friends and his business associates are two unrelated groups; it is also narrowing when they are one and the same group.
Such observations upon personal intimacy cannot pretend to any novelty: the only possible novelty is in calling attention to them in this context. They point to the desirability of a society in which persons of every superior activity can meet without merely talking shop or being at pains to talk each other’s shop. In order correctly to appraise a man of action we must meet him: or we must at least have known enough men of similar pursuits to be able to draw a shrewd guess about one whom we have not met. And to meet a man of thought, and to form an impression of his personality, may be of great assistance in judging his ideas. This is not wholly improper even in the field of art, though with important reservations, and though the impressions of an artist’s personality often affect opinion of his work quite irrelevantly—for every artist must have remarked, that while a small number of people dislike his work more strongly after meeting him, there are also many who are more friendly disposed towards his work if they find him a pleasant fellow. These advantages persist however they may offend the reason, and in spite of the fact that in modern societies of large numbers, it is impossible for everyone to know everyone else.
In our time, we read too many new books, or are oppressed by the thought of the new books which we are neglecting to read; we read many books, because we cannot know enough people; we cannot know everybody whom it would be to our benefit to know, because there are too many of them. Consequently, if we have the skill to put words together and the fortune to get them printed, we communicate by writing more books. It is often those writers whom we are lucky enough to know, whose books we can ignore; and the better we know them personally, the less need we may feel to read what they write. We are encumbered not only with too many new books: we are further embarrassed by too many periodicals, reports and privately circulated memoranda. In the endeavour to keep up with the most intelligent of these publications we may sacrifice the three permanent reasons for reading: the acquisition of wisdom, the enjoyment of art, and the pleasure of entertainment. Meanwhile, the professional politician has too much to do to have leisure for serious reading, even on politics. He has far too little time for exchange of ideas and information with men of distinction in other walks of life. In a society of smaller size (a society, therefore, which was less feverishly busy) there might be more conversation and fewer books; and we should not find the tendency—of which this essay provides one example—for those who have acquired some reputation, to write books outside the subject on which they have made that reputation.
It is unlikely, in all the mass of letterpress, that the profoundest and most original works will reach the eye or command the attention of a large public, or even of a good number of the readers who are qualified to appreciate them. The ideas which flatter a current tendency or emotional attitude will go farthest; and some others will be distorted to fit in with what is already accepted. The residuum in the public mind is hardly likely to be a distillation of the best and wisest: it is more likely to represent the common prejudices of the majority of editors and reviewers. In this way are formed the idées reçues—more precisely the mots reçus—which, because of their emotional influence upon that part of the public which is influenced by printed matter, have to be taken into account by the professional politician, and treated with respect in his public utterances. It is unnecessary, for the simultaneous reception of these “ideas,” that they should be consistent among themselves; and, however they contradict each other, the practical politician must handle them with as much deference as if they were the constructions of informed sagacity, the intuitions of genius, or the accumulated wisdom of ages. He has not, as a rule, inhaled any fragrance they may have had when they were fresh; he only noses them when they have already begun to stink.
In a society so graded as to have several levels of culture, and several levels of power and authority, the politician might at least be restrained, in his use of language, by his respect for the judgment, and fear of the ridicule, of a smaller and more critical public, among which was maintained some standard of prose style. If it were also a decentralised society, a society in which local cultures continued to flourish, and in which the majority of problems were local problems on which local populations could form an opinion from their own experience and from conversation with their neighbours, political utterances might also tend to manifest greater clarity and be susceptible of fewer variations of interpretation. A local speech on a local issue is likely to be more intelligible than one addressed to a whole nation, and we observe that the greatest muster of ambiguities and obscure generalities is usually to be found in speeches which are addressed to the whole world.
It is always desirable that a part of the education of those persons who are either born into, or qualified by their abilities to enter, the superior political grades of society, should be instruction in history, and that a part of the study of history should be the history of political theory. The advantage of the study of Greek history and Greek political theory, as a preliminary to the study of other history and other theory, is its manageability: it has to do with a small area, with men rather than masses, and with the human passions of individuals rather than with those vast impersonal forces which in our modern society are a necessary convenience of thought, and the study of which tends to obscure the study of human beings. The reader of Greek philosophy, moreover, is unlikely to be over-sanguine about the effects of political theory; for he will observe that the study of political forms appears to have arisen out of the failure of political systems; and that neither Plato nor Aristotle was much concerned with prediction, or very optimistic about the future.
The kind of political theory which has arisen in quite modern times is less concerned with human nature, which it is inclined to treat as something which can always be re-fashioned to fit whatever political form is regarded as most desirable. Its real data are impersonal forces which may have originated in the conflict and combination of human wills but have come to supersede them. As a part of academic discipline for the young, it suffers from several drawbacks. It tends, of course, to form minds which will be set to think only in terms of impersonal and inhuman forces, and thereby to de-humanise its students. Being occupied with humanity only in the mass, it tends to separate itself from ethics; being occupied only with that recent period of history during which humanity can most easily be shown to have been ruled by impersonal forces, it reduces the proper study of mankind to the last two or three hundred years of man. It too often inculcates a belief in a future inflexibly determined and at the same time in a future which we are wholly free to shape as we like. Modern political thought, inextricably involved with economics and with sociology, preempts to itself the position of queen of the sciences. For the exact and experimental sciences are judged according to their utility, and are valued in so far as they produce results—either for making life more comfortable and less laborious, or for making it more precarious and ending it more quickly. Culture itself is regarded either as a negligible by-product which can be left to itself, or as a department of life to be organised in accordance with the particular scheme we favour. I am thinking not only of the more dogmatic and totalitarian philosophies of the present day, but of assumptions which colour thinking in every country and tend to be shared by the most opposed parties.
An important document in the history of the political direction of culture will be Leon Trotsky’s essay, Literature and Revolution, of which an English translation appeared in 1925.1 The conviction, which seems to be deeply implanted in the Muscovite mind, that it is the role of Mother Russia to contribute not merely ideas and political forms, but a total way of life for the rest of the world, has gone far to make us all more politically culture-conscious. But there have been other causes than the Russian Revolution for this consciousness. The researches and the theories of anthropologists have played their part, and have led us to study the relations of imperial powers and subject peoples with a new attention. Governments are more aware of the necessity of taking account of cultural differences; and to the degree to which colonial administration is controlled from the imperial centre, these differences become of increasing importance. One people in isolation is not aware of having a “culture” at all. And the differences between the several European nations in the past were not wide enough to make their peoples see their cultures as different to the point of conflict and incompatibility: culture-consciousness as a means of uniting a nation against other nations was first exploited by the late rulers of Germany. Today, we have become culture-conscious in a way which nourishes nazism, communism and nationalism all at once; in a way which emphasises separation without helping us to overcome it. At this point a few remarks on the cultural effects of empire (in the most comprehensive sense) may not be amiss.
The early British rulers of India were content to rule; some of them, through long residence and continuous absence from Britain, assimilated themselves to the mentality of the people they governed. A later type of rulers, explicitly and increasingly the servants of Whitehall, and serving only for a limited period (after which they returned to their native country, either to retirement or to some other activity) aimed rather to bring to India the benefits of western civilisation. They did not intend to uproot, or to impose, a total “culture”: but the superiority of western political and social organisation, of English education, of English justice, of western “enlightenment” and science seemed to them so self-evident that the desire to do good would alone have been a sufficient motive for introducing these things. The Briton, unconscious of the importance of religion in the formation of his own culture, could hardly be expected to recognise its importance in the preservation of another. In the piece-meal imposition of a foreign culture—an imposition in which force plays only a small part: the appeal to ambition, and the temptation to which the native is exposed, to admire the wrong things in western civilisation, and for the wrong reasons, are much more decisive—the motives of arrogance and generosity are always inextricably mixed; there is at the same time an assertion of superiority and a desire to communicate the way of life upon which that assumed superiority is based; so that the native acquires a taste for western ways, a jealous admiration of material power, and a resentment against his tutors. The partial success of westernisation, of which some members of an Eastern society are quick to seize the apparent advantages, has tended to make the Oriental more discontented with his own civilisation and more resentful of that which has caused this discontent; has made him more conscious of differences, at the same time that it has obliterated some of these differences; and has broken up the native culture on its highest level, without penetrating the mass. And we are left with the melancholy reflection that the cause of this disintegration is not corruption, brutality or maladministration: such ills have played but a small part, and no ruling nation has had less to be ashamed of than Britain in these particulars; corruption, brutality and maladministration were too prevalent in India before the British arrived, for commission of them to disturb the fabric of Indian life. The cause lies in the fact that there can be no permanent compromise between the extremes of an external rule which is content to keep order and leave the social structure unaltered, and a complete cultural assimilation. The failure to arrive at the latter is a religious failure.1
To point to the damage that has been done to native cultures in the process of imperial expansion is by no means an indictment of empire itself, as the advocates of imperial dissolution are only too apt to infer. Indeed, it is often these same anti-imperialists who, being liberals, are the most complacent believers in the superiority of western civilisation, and at one and the same time blind to the benefits conferred by imperial government and to the injury done by the destruction of native culture. According to such enthusiasts, we do well to intrude ourselves upon another civilisation, equip the members of it with our mechanical contrivances, our systems of government, education, law, medicine and finance, inspire them with a contempt for their own customs and with an enlightened attitude towards religious superstition—and then leave them to stew in the broth which we have brewed for them.
It is noticeable that the most vehement criticism, or abuse, of British imperialism often comes from representatives of societies which practise a different form of imperialism—that is to say, of expansion which brings material benefits and extends the influence of culture. America has tended to impose its way of life chiefly in the course of doing business, and creating a taste for its commodities. Even the humblest material artefact, which is the product and the symbol of a particular civilisation, is an emissary of the culture out of which it comes: I mention that influential and inflammable article the celluloid film. American economic expansion can be also, in its way, the cause of disintegration of cultures which it touches.
The newest type of imperialism, that of Russia, is probably the most ingenious, and the best calculated to flourish according to the temper of the present age. The Russian Empire appears to be sedulous to avoid the weaknesses of the empires which have preceded it: it is at the same time more ruthless and more careful of the vanity of subject peoples. The official doctrine is one of complete racial equality—an appearance easier for Russia to preserve in Asia, because of the oriental cast of the Russian mind and because of the backwardness of Russian development according to western standards. Attempts appear to be made to preserve the similitude of local self-government and autonomy: the aim, I suspect, is to give the several local republics and satellite states the illusion of a kind of independence, while the real power is exercised from Moscow. The illusion must sometimes fade, when a local republic is suddenly and ignominiously reduced to the status of a kind of province or crown colony; but it is maintained—and this is what is most interesting from our point of view—by a careful fostering of local “culture,” culture in the reduced sense of the word, as everything that is picturesque, harmless and separable from politics, such as language and literature, local arts and customs. But as Soviet Russia must maintain the subordination of culture to political theory, the success of her imperialism seems likely to lead to a sense of superiority on the part of that one of her peoples in which her political theory has been formed; so that we might expect, so long as the Russian Empire holds together, to find the increasing assertion of one dominant Muscovite culture, with subordinate races surviving, not as peoples each with its own cultural pattern, but as inferior castes. However that may be, the Russians have been the first modern people to practise the political direction of culture consciously, and to attack at every point the culture of any people whom they wish to dominate. The more highly developed is any alien culture, the more thorough the attempts to extirpate it by elimination of those elements in the subject population in which that culture is most conscious.
The dangers arising from “culture-consciousness” in the West are at present of a different kind. Our motives, in attempting to do something about our culture, are not yet consciously political. They arise from the consciousness that our culture is not in very good health and from the feeling that we must take steps to improve its condition. This consciousness has transformed the problem of education, by either identifying culture with education, or turning to education as the one instrument for improving our culture. As for the intervention of the State, or of some quasi-official body subventioned by the State, in assistance of the arts and sciences, we can see only too well the need, under present conditions, for such support. A body like the British Council, by constantly sending representatives of the arts and sciences abroad, and inviting foreign representatives to this country, is in our time invaluable—but we must not come to accept as permanent or normal and healthy the conditions which make such direction necessary. We are prepared to believe that there will, under any conditions, be useful work for the British Council to perform; but we should not like to be assured that never again will it be possible for the intellectual élite of all countries to travel as private citizens and make each other’s acquaintance without the approval and support of some official organisation. Some important activities, it is likely enough, will never again be possible without official backing of some kind. The progress of the experimental sciences now requires vast and expensive equipment; and the practice of the arts has no longer, on any large scale, the benefit of private patronage. Some safeguard may be provided, against increasing centralisation of control and politicisation of the arts and sciences, by encouraging local initiative and responsibility; and, as far as possible, separating the central source of funds from control over their use. We should do well also to refer to the subsidised and artificially stimulated activities each by its name: let us do what is necessary for painting and sculpture, or architecture, or the theatre, or music, or one or another science or department of intellectual exercise, speaking of each by its name, and restraining ourselves from using the word “culture” as a comprehensive term. For thus we slip into the assumption that culture can be planned. Culture can never be wholly conscious—there is always more to it than we are conscious of; and it cannot be planned because it is also the unconscious background of all our planning.
1 I seem to remember that some such phrase was either attributed to Sir William Vernon Harcourt, or used about him.
1The Idea of a Christian Society, p. 32.
1 Published by International Publishers, New York. A book which merits republication. It does not give the impression that Trotsky was very sensitive to literature; but he was, from his own point of view, very intelligent about it. Like all his writings, the book is encumbered with discussion of minor Russian personalities of which the foreigner is ignorant and in which he is not interested; but this indulgence in detail, while it contributes a flavour of provinciality, gives the work all the more appearance of genuineness, as having been written rather to speak his mind than with an eye to a foreign audience.
1 An interesting survey of the effects of culture-contact in the East is to be found in The British in Asia by Guy Wint. Mr. Wint’s occasional suggestions of the effect of India upon the British are no less suggestive than his account of the effect of the British upon India. For example:
“How the English colour prejudice began—whether it was inherited from the Portuguese in India, or was an infection from the Hindu caste system or, as has been suggested, began with the arrival of insular and suburban wives of civil servants, or came from some other cause—is not certain. The British in India were the British middle class living in the artificial condition of having above them no upper class of their own people, and below them no lower class of their own people. It was a state of existence which led to a combined arrogance and defensiveness.” P. 209.
DURING the recent war an exceptional number of books were published on the subject of education; there were also voluminous reports of commissions, and an incalculable number of contributions on this subject in periodicals. It is not my business, nor is it within my competence, to review the whole of current educational theory; but a few comments on it are in place, because of the close association, in many minds, between education and culture. What is of interest to my thesis is the kind of assumption which is made by those who write about education. The notes which follow comment on a few such prevalent assumptions.
1. That, before entering upon any discussion of Education, the purpose of Education must be stated.
This is a very different thing from defining the word “education.” The Oxford Dictionary tells us that education is “the process of bringing up (young persons)”; that it is “the systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young (and, by extension, to adults) in preparation for the work of life”; that it is also “culture or development of powers, formation of character.” We learn that the first of these definitions is according to the use of the sixteenth century; and that the third use appears to have arisen in the nineteenth. In short, the dictionary tells you what you know already, and I do not see how a dictionary could do more. But when writers attempt to state the purpose of education, they are doing one of two things: they are eliciting what they believe to have been the unconscious purpose always, and thereby giving their own meaning to the history of the subject; or they are formulating what may not have been, or may have been only fitfully, the real purpose in the past, but should in their opinion be the purpose directing development in the future. Let us look at a few of these statements of the purpose of education. In The Churches Survey Their Task, a volume published in connexion with the Oxford Conference on Church, Community and State in 1937, we find the following:
Education is the process by which the community seeks to open its life to all the individuals within it and enable them to take their part in it. It attempts to pass on to them its culture, including the standards by which it would have them live. Where that culture is regarded as final, the attempt is made to impose it on younger minds. Where it is viewed as a stage in development, younger minds are trained both to receive it and to criticise and improve upon it.
This culture is composed of various elements. It runs from rudimentary skill and knowledge up to the interpretation of the universe and of man by which the community lives . . .
The purpose of education, it seems, is to transmit culture: so culture (which has not been defined) is likely to be limited to what can be transmitted by education. While “education” is perhaps allowed to be more comprehensive than “the educational system,” we must observe that the assumption that culture can be summed up as skills and interpretations controverts the more comprehensive view of culture which I have endeavoured to take. Incidentally, we should keep a sharp eye on this personified “community” which is the re pository of authority.
Another account of the purpose of education is that which sees it in terms of political and social change. This, if I have understood him, is the purpose which fires Mr. H. C. Dent. “Our ideal,” he says in A New Order in English Education, “is a full democracy.” Full democracy is not defined; and, if full democracy is attained, we should like to know what is to be our next ideal for education after this ideal has been realised.
Mr. Herbert Read gives his account of the purpose of education in Education Through Art. I do not think that Mr. Read could see quite eye to eye with Mr. Dent, for whereas Mr. Dent wants a “full democracy,” Mr. Read says that he “elects for a libertarian conception of democracy,” which I suspect is a very different democracy from Mr. Dent’s. Mr. Read (in spite of elects for) is a good deal more precise in his use of words than Mr. Dent; so, while he is less likely to confuse the hasty reader, he is more likely to confound the diligent one. It is in electing for a libertarian conception of democracy, he says, that we answer the question, “What is the purpose of education?” This purpose is further defined as “the reconciliation of individual uniqueness with social unity.”
Another kind of account of the purpose of education is the uncompleted account, of which Dr. F. C. Happold (in Towards a New Aristocracy) gives us a specimen. The fundamental task of education, he tells us, is “training the sort of men and women the age needs.” If we believe that there are some sorts of men and women which are needed by every age, we may remark that there should be permanence as well as change in education. But the account is incomplete, in that we are left wondering who is to determine what are the needs of the age.
One of the most frequent answers to the question “what is the purpose of education?” is “happiness.” Mr. Herbert Read gives us this answer too, in a pamphlet called The Education of Free Men, by saying that he knows of no better definition of the aims of education than that of William Godwin: “the true object of education . . . is the generation of happiness.” “The Government’s purpose,” said the White Paper which heralded the latest Education Act, “is to secure for children a happier childhood and a better start in life.” Happiness is often associated with “the full development of personality.”
Dr. C. E. M. Joad, showing more prudence than most of those who attempt to answer this question, holds the view, which seems to me a very sensible one, that education has a number of ends. Of these he lists three (in About Education, one of the most readable books on the subject that I have consulted):
To enable a boy or girl to earn his or her living. . . .
To equip him to play his part as the citizen of a democracy.
To enable him to develop all the latent powers and faculties of his nature and so enjoy a good life.
It is a relief, at this point, to have presented to us the simple and intelligible notion that equipment to earn one’s living is one of the purposes of education. We again note the close association between education and democracy; here also Dr. Joad is perhaps more prudent than Mr. Dent or Mr. Read in not qualifying his “democracy” by an adjective. “To develop all the latent powers and faculties” appears to be a variant of “the full development of personality”: but Dr. Joad is sagacious in avoiding the use of that puzzling word “personality.”
Some, no doubt, will disagree with Dr. Joad’s selection of purposes. And we may, with more reason, complain that none of them takes us very far without getting us into trouble. They all contain some truth: but as each of them needs to be corrected by the others, it is possible that they all need to be adjusted to other purposes as well. Each of them needs some qualification. A particular course of education may, in the world in which a young person finds himself, be exactly what is needed to develop his peculiar gifts and yet impair his ability to earn a living. Education of the young to play their part in a democracy is a necessary adaptation of individual to environment, if a democracy is what they are going to play their part in: if not, it is making the pupil instrumental to the accomplishment of a social change which the educator has at heart—and this is not education but something else. I am not denying that a democracy is the best form of society, but by introducing this standard for education, Dr. Joad, with other writers, is leaving it open to those who believe in some other form of society which Dr. Joad might not like, to substitute (and so far as he is talking about education only, Dr. Joad could not confute them) some account like the following: “One of the purposes of education is to equip a boy or girl to play his or her part as the subject of a despotic government.” Finally, as for developing all the latent powers and faculties of one’s nature, I am not sure that anyone should hope for that: it may be that we can only develop some powers and faculties at the expense of others, and that there must be some choice, as well as inevitably some accident, in the direction which anyone’s development takes. And as for the good life, there is some ambiguity in the sense in which we shall “enjoy” it; and what the good life is, has been a subject of discussion from early times to the present day.
What we remark especially about the educational thought of the last few years, is the enthusiasm with which education has been taken up as an instrument for the realisation of social ideals. It would be a pity if we overlooked the possibilities of education as a means of acquiring wisdom; if we belittled the acquisition of knowledge for the satisfaction of curiosity, without any further motive than the desire to know; and if we lost our respect for learning. So much for the purpose of education. I proceed to the next assumption.
2. That Education makes people happier.
We have already found that the purpose of education has been defined as the making people happier. The assumption that it does make people happier needs to be considered separately. That the educated person is happier than the uneducated is by no means self-evident. Those who are conscious of their lack of education are discontented, if they cherish ambitions to excel in occupations for which they are not qualified; they are sometimes discontented, simply because they have been given to understand that more education would have made them happier. Many of us feel some grievance against our elders, our schools or our universities for not having done better by us: this can be a way of extenuating our own shortcomings and excusing our failures. On the other hand, to be educated above the level of those whose social habits and tastes one has inherited, may cause a division within a man which interferes with happiness; even though, when the individual is of superior intellect, it may bring him a fuller and more useful life. And to be trained, taught or instructed above the level of one’s abilities and strength may be disastrous; for education is a strain, and can impose greater burdens upon a mind than that mind can bear. Too much education, like too little education, can produce unhappiness.
3. That Education is something that everyone wants.
People can be persuaded to desire almost anything, for a time, if they are constantly told that it is something to which they are entitled and which is unjustly withheld from them. The spontaneous desire for education is greater in some communities than in others; it is generally agreed to be stronger in the North than in the South of England, and stronger still in Scotland. It is possible that the desire for education is greater where there are difficulties in the way of obtaining it—difficulties not insuperable but only to be surmounted at the cost of some sacrifice and privation. If this is so, we may conjecture that facility of education will lead to indifference to it; and that the universal imposition of education up to the years of maturity will lead to hostility towards it. A high average of general education is perhaps less necessary for a civil society than is a respect for learning.
4. That Education should be organised so as to give “equality of opportunity.”1
It follows from what has been said in an earlier chapter about classes and élites, that education should help to preserve the class and to select the élite. It is right that the exceptional individual should have the opportunity to elevate himself in the social scale and attain a position in which he can exercise his talents to the greatest benefit of himself and of society. But the ideal of an educational system which would automatically sort out everyone according to his native capacities is unattainable in practice; and if we made it our chief aim, would disorganise society and debase education. It would disorganise society, by substituting for classes, élites of brains, or perhaps only of sharp wits. Any educational system aiming at a complete adjustment between education and society will tend both to restrict education to what will lead to success in the world, and to restrict success in the world to those persons who have been good pupils of the system. The prospect of a society ruled and directed only by those who have passed certain examinations or satisfied tests devised by psychologists is not reassuring: while it might give scope to talents hitherto obscured, it would probably obscure others, and reduce to impotence some who should have rendered high service. Furthermore, the ideal of a uniform system such that no one capable of receiving higher education could fail to get it, leads imperceptibly to the education of too many people, and consequently to the lowering of standards to whatever this swollen number of candidates is able to reach.
Nothing is more moving in Dr. Joad’s treatise than the passage in which he expatiates on the amenities of Winchester and Oxford. Dr. Joad paid a visit to Winchester; and while there, he wandered into a delightful garden. One suspects that he may have got into the garden of the Deanery, but he does not know what garden it was. This garden set him to ruminating about the College, and its “blend of the works of nature and man.” “What I see,” he said to himself, “is the end-product of a long-continuing tradition, running back through our history, in this particular case, to the Tudors.” (I cannot see why he stopped at the Tudors, but that was far enough to sustain the emotion with which his mind was suffused.) It was not only nature and architecture that impressed him; he was aware also of “a long tradition of secure men leading dignified and leisured lives.” From Winchester his mind passed to Oxford, to the Oxford which he had known as an undergraduate; and again, it was not merely architecture and gardens upon which his mind dwelt, but also men:
But even in my own time . . . when democracy was already knocking at the gates of the citadel it was so soon to capture, some faint aftermath of the Greek sunset could be observed. At Balliol, in 1911 there was a group of young men centring upon the Grenfells and John Manners, many of whom were killed in the last war, who took it for granted that they should row in the College boat, play hockey or rugger for the College or even for the University, act for the O.U.D.S., get tight at College Gaudies, spend part of the night talking in the company of their friends, while at the same time getting their scholarships and prizes and Firsts in Greats. The First in Greats was taken, as it were, in their stride. I have not seen such men before or since. It may be that they were the last representatives of a tradition which died with them. . . .
It seems strange, after these wistful reflections, that Dr. Joad should end his chapter by supporting a proposal of Mr. R. H. Tawney: that the public schools should be taken over by the State and used as boarding schools to accommodate for two or three years the intellectually abler secondary school boys from the ages of sixteen to eighteen. For the conditions over which he pronounces such a tearful valedictory were not brought about by equality of opportunity. They were not brought about, either, by mere privilege; but by a happy combination of privilege and opportunity, in the blend he so savours, of which no Education Act will ever find the secret.
5. The Mute Inglorious Milton dogma.
The Equality of Opportunity dogma, which is associated with the belief that superiority is always superiority of intellect, that some infallible method can be designed for the detection of intellect, and that a system can be devised which will infallibly nourish it, derives emotional reinforcement from the belief in the mute inglorious Milton. This myth assumes that a great deal of first-rate ability—not merely ability, but genius—is being wasted for lack of education; or, alternatively, that if even one potential Milton has been suppressed in the course of centuries, from deprivation of formal teaching, it is still worth while to turn education topsy-turvy so that it may not happen again. (It might be embarrassing to have a great many Miltons and Shakespeares, but that danger is remote.) In justice to Thomas Gray, we should remind ourselves of the last and finest line of the quatrain, and remember that we may also have escaped some Cromwell guilty of his country’s blood. The proposition that we have lost a number of Miltons and Cromwells through our tardiness in providing a comprehensive state system of education, cannot be either proved or disproved: it has a strong attraction for many ardent reforming spirits.
This completes my brief list—which is riot intended to be exhaustive—of current beliefs. The dogma of equal opportunity is the most influential of all, and is maintained stoutly by some who would shrink from what seem to me its probable consequences. It is an ideal which can only be fully realised when the institution of the family is no longer respected, and when parental control and responsibility passes to the State. Any system which puts it into effect must see that no advantages of family fortune, no advantages due to the foresight, the self-sacrifice or the ambition of parents are allowed to obtain for any child or young person an education superior to that to which the system finds him to be entitled. The popularity of the belief is perhaps an indication that the depression of the family is accepted, and that the disintegration of classes is far advanced. This disintegration of classes had already led to an exaggerated estimate of the social importance of the right school and the right college at the right university, as giving a status which formerly pertained to mere birth. In a more articulated society—which is not a society in which social classes are isolated from each other: that is itself a kind of decay—the social distinction of the right school or college would not be so coveted, for social position would be marked in other ways. The envy of those who are “better born” than oneself is a feeble velleity, with only a shadow of the passion with which material advantages are envied. No sane person can be consumed with bitterness at not having had more exalted ancestors, for that would be to wish to be another person than the person one is: but the advantage of the status conferred by education at a more fashionable school is one which we can readily imagine ourselves as having enjoyed also. The disintegration of class has induced the expansion of envy, which provides ample fuel for the flame of “equal opportunity.”
Besides the motive of giving everyone as much education as possible, because education is in itself desirable, there are other motives affecting educational legislation: motives which may be praiseworthy, or which simply recognise the inevitable, and which we need mention here only as a reminder of the complexity of the legislative problem. One motive, for instance, for raising the age-limit of compulsory schooling is the laudable desire to protect the adolescent, and fortify him against the more degrading influences to which he is exposed on entering the ranks of industry. We should be candid about such a motive; and instead of affirming what is to be doubted, that everyone will profit by as many years of tuition as we can give him, admit that the conditions of life in modern industrial society are so deplorable, and the moral restraints so weak, that we must prolong the schooling of young people simply because we are at our wits’ end to know what to do to save them. Instead of congratulating ourselves on our progress, whenever the school assumes another responsibility hitherto left to parents, we might do better to admit that we have arrived at a stage of civilisation at which the family is irresponsible, or incompetent, or helpless; at which parents cannot be expected to train their children properly; at which many parents cannot afford to feed them properly, and would not know how, even if they had the means; and that Education must step in and make the best of a bad job.1
Mr. D. R. Hardman1 observed that:
The age of industrialism and democracy had brought to an end most of the great cultural traditions of Europe, and not least that of architecture. In the contemporary world, in which the majority were half-educated and many not even a quarter-educated, and in which large fortunes and enormous power could be obtained by exploiting ignorance and appetite, there was a vast cultural breakdown which stretched from America to Europe and from Europe to the East.
This is true, though there are a few inferences which might be improperly drawn. The exploitation of ignorance and appetite is not an activity only of commercial adventurers making large fortunes: it can be pursued more thoroughly and on a larger scale by governments. The cultural breakdown is not a kind of infection which began in America, spread to Europe, and from Europe has contaminated the East (Mr. Hardman may not have meant that, but his words might be so interpreted). But what is important is to remember that “half-education” is a modern phenomenon. In earlier ages the majority could not be said to have been “half-educated” or less: people had the education necessary for the functions they were called upon to perform. It would be incorrect to refer to a member of a primitive society, or to a skilled agricultural labourer in any age, as half-educated or quarter-educated or educated to any smaller fraction. Education in the modern sense implies a disintegrated society, in which it has come to be assumed that there must be one measure of education according to which everyone is educated simply more or less. Hence Education has become an abstraction.
Once we have arrived at this abstraction, remote from life, it is easy to proceed to the conclusion—for we all agree about the “cultural breakdown”—that education for everybody is the means we must employ for putting civilisation together again. Now so long as we mean by “education” everything that goes to form the good individual in a good society, we are in accord, though the conclusion does not appear to get us anywhere; but when we come to mean by “education” that limited system of instruction which the Ministry of Education controls, or aims to control, the remedy is manifestly and ludicrously inadequate. The same may be said of the definition of the purpose of education which we have already found in The Churches Survey Their Task. According to this definition, education is the process by which the community attempts to pass on to all its members its culture, including the standards by which it would have them live. The community, in this definition, is an unconscious collective mind, very different from the mind of the Ministry of Education, or the Head Masters’ Association, or the mind of any of the numerous bodies concerned with education. If we include as education all the influences of family and environment, we are going far beyond what professional educators can control—though their sway can extend very far indeed; but if we mean that culture is what is passed on by our elementary and secondary schools, or by our preparatory and public schools, then we are asserting that an organ is a whole organism. For the schools can transmit only a part, and they can only transmit this part effectively, if the outside influences, not only of family and environment, but of work and play, of newsprint and spectacles and entertainment and sport, are in harmony with them.
Error creeps in again and again through our tendency to think of culture as group culture exclusively, the culture of the “cultured” classes and élites. We then proceed to think of the humbler part of society as having culture only in so far as it participates in this superior and more conscious culture. To treat the “uneducated” mass of the population as we might treat some innocent tribe of savages to whom we are impelled to deliver the true faith, is to encourage them to neglect or despise that culture which they should possess and from which the more conscious part of culture draws vitality; and to aim to make everyone share in the appreciation of the fruits of the more conscious part of culture is to adulterate and cheapen what you give. For it is an essential condition of the preservation of the quality of the culture of the minority, that it should continue to be a minority culture. No number of Young Peoples’ Colleges will compensate for the deterioration of Oxford and Cambridge, and for the disappearance of that “blend” which Dr. Joad relishes. A “mass-culture” will always be a substitute-culture; and sooner or later the deception will become apparent to the more intelligent of those upon whom this culture has been palmed off.
I am not questioning the usefulness, or deriding the dignity of Young Peoples’ Colleges, or of any other particular new construction. In so far as these institutions can be good, they are more likely to be good, and not to deliver disappointment, if we are frankly aware of the limits of what we can do with them, and if we combat the delusion that the maladies of the modern world can be put right by a system of instruction. A measure which is desirable as a palliative, may be injurious if presented as a cure. My main point is the same as that which I tried to make in the previous chapter, when I spoke of the tendency of politics to dominate culture, instead of keeping to its place within a culture. There is also the danger that education—which indeed comes under the influence of politics—will take upon itself the reformation and direction of culture, instead of keeping to its place as one of the activities through which a culture realises itself. Culture cannot altogether be brought to consciousness; and the culture of which we are wholly conscious is never the whole of culture: the effective culture is that which is directing the activities of those who are manipulating that which they call culture.
So the instructive point is this, that the more education arrogates to itself the responsibility, the more systematically will it betray culture. The definition of the purpose of education in The Churches Survey Their Task returns to plague us like the laughter of hyaenas at a funeral. Where that culture is regarded as final, the attempt is made to impose it on younger minds. Where it is viewed as a stage in development, younger minds are trained to receive it and to improve upon it. These are cosseting phrases which reprove our cultural ancestors—including those of Greece, Rome, Italy and France—who had no notion of the extent to which their culture was going to be improved upon after the Oxford Conference on Church, Community and State in 1937. We know now that the highest achievements of the past, in art, in wisdom, in holiness, were but “stages in development” which we can teach our springalds to improve upon. We must not train them merely to receive the culture of the past, for that would be to regard the culture of the past as final. We must not impose culture upon the young, though we may impose upon them whatever political and social philosophy is in vogue. And yet the culture of Europe has deteriorated visibly within the memory of many who are by no means the oldest among us. And we know, that whether education can foster and improve culture or not, it can surely adulterate and degrade it. For there is no doubt that in our headlong rush to educate everybody, we are lowering our standards, and more and more abandoning the study of those subjects by which the essentials of our culture—of that part of it which is transmissible by education—are transmitted; destroying our ancient edifices to make ready the ground upon which the barbarian nomads of the future will encamp in their mechanised caravans.
The previous paragraph is to be considered only as an incidental flourish to relieve the feelings of the writer and perhaps of a few of his more sympathetic readers. It is no longer possible, as it might have been a hundred years ago, to find consolation in prophetic gloom; and such a means of escape would betray the intentions of this essay as stated in my introduction. If the reader goes so far as to agree that the kind of organisation of society which I have indicated is likely to be that most favourable to the growth and survival of a superior culture, he should then consider whether the means are themselves desirable as ends: for I have maintained that we cannot directly set about to create or improve culture—we can only will the means which are favourable to culture, and to do this we must be convinced that these means are themselves socially desirable. And beyond that point, we must proceed to consider how far these conditions of culture are possible, or even, in a particular situation at a particular time, compatible with all the immediate and pressing needs of an emergency. For one thing to avoid is a universalised planning; one thing to ascertain is the limits of the plannable. My enquiry, therefore, has been directed on the meaning of the word culture: so that everyone should at least pause to examine what this word means to him, and what it means to him in each particular context before using it. Even this modest aspiration might, if realised, have consequences in the policy and conduct of our “cultural” enterprises.
1 This may be called Jacobinism in Education. Jacobinism, according to one who had given some attention to it, consisted “in taking the people as equal individuals, without any corporate name or description, without attention to property, without division of powers, and forming the government of delegates from a number of men, so constituted; in destroying or confiscating property, and bribing the public creditors, or the poor, with the spoils, now of one part of the community, now of another, without regard to prescription or profession.”—Burke: Remarks on the Policy of the Allies.
1 I hope, however, that the reader of these lines has read, or will immediately read, The Peckham Experiment, as an illustration of what can be done, under modern conditions, to help the family to help itself.
1 As Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education, speaking on January 12, 1946, at the general meeting of the Middlesex Head Teachers’ Association.
The Unity of European Culture
THIS is the first time that I have ever addressed a German-speaking audience, and before speaking on such a large subject, I think that I should present my credentials. For the unity of European culture is a very large subject indeed, and no one should try to speak about it, unless he has some particular knowledge or experience. Then he should start from that knowledge and experience and show what bearing it has on the general subject. I am a poet and a critic of poetry; I was also, from 1922 to 1939, the editor of a quarterly review. In this first talk I shall try to show what the first of these two professions has to do with my subject, and what conclusions my experience has led me to draw. So this is a series of talks about the unity of European culture from the point of view of a man of letters.
It has often been claimed that English, of all the languages of modern Europe, is the richest for the purposes of writing poetry. I think that this claim is justified. But please notice that when I say “richest for the purposes of writing poetry” I have been careful in my words: I do not mean that England has produced the greatest poets, or the greatest amount of great poetry. That is another question altogether. There are as great poets in other languages: Dante is certainly greater than Milton, and at least as great as Shakespeare. And even for the quantity of great poetry, I am not concerned to maintain that England has produced more. I simply say that the English language is the most remarkable medium for the poet to play with. It has the largest vocabulary: so large, that the command of it by any one poet seems meagre in comparison with its total wealth. But this is not the reason why it is the richest language for poetry: it is only a consequence of the real reason. This reason, in my opinion, is the variety of the elements of which English is made up. First, of course, there is the Germanic foundation, the element that you and we have in common. After this we find a considerable Scandinavian element, due in the first place to the Danish conquest. Then there is the Norman French element, after the Norman conquest. After this there followed a succession of French influences, traceable through words adopted at different periods. The sixteenth century saw a great increase of new words coined from the Latin; and the development of the language from the early sixteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth, was largely a process of testing new Latin words, assimilating some and rejecting others. And there is another element in English, not so easy to trace, but I think of considerable importance, the Celtic. But I am not thinking, in all this history, only of the Words, I am thinking, for poetry, primarily of the Rhythms. Each of these languages brought its own music: and the richness of the English language for poetry is first of all in its variety of metrical elements. There is the rhythm of early Saxon verse, the rhythm of the Norman French, the rhythm of the Welsh, and also the influence of generations of study of Latin and Greek poetry. And even today, the English language enjoys constant possibilities of refreshment from its several centres: apart from the vocabulary, poems by Englishmen, Welshmen, Scots and Irishmen, all written in English, continue to show differences in their Music.
I have not taken the trouble to talk to you in order to praise my own language; my reason for discussing it is that I think the reason why English is such a good language for poetry is that it is a composite from so many different European sources. As I have said, this does not imply that England must have produced the greatest poets. Art, as Goethe said, is in limitation: and a great poet is one who makes the most of the language that is given him. The truly great poet makes his language a great language. It is true, however, that we tend to think of each of the greater peoples as excelling in one art rather than another: Italy and then France in painting, Germany in music, and England in poetry. But, in the first place, no art has ever been the exclusive possession of any one country of Europe. And in the second place, there have been periods in which some other country than England has taken the lead in poetry. For instance, in the final years of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth, the Romantic movement in English poetry certainly dominated. But in the second half of the nineteenth century the greatest contribution to European poetry was certainly made in France. I refer to the tradition which starts with Baudelaire, and culminates in Paul Valéry. I venture to say that without this French tradition the work of three poets in other languages—and three very different from each other—I refer to W. B. Yeats, to Rainer Maria Rilke, and, if I may, to myself—would hardly be conceivable. And, so complicated are these literary influences, we must remember that this French movement itself owed a good deal to an American of Irish extraction: Edgar Allan Poe. And, even when one country and language leads all others, we must not assume that the poets to whom this is due are necessarily the greatest poets. I have spoken of the Romantic movement in England. But at that time Goethe was writing. I do not know of any standard by which one could gauge the relative greatness of Goethe and Wordsworth as poets, but the total work of Goethe has a scope which makes him a greater man. And no English poet contemporary with Wordsworth can enter into comparison with Goethe at all.
I have been leading up to another important truth about poetry in Europe. This is, that no one nation, no one language, would have achieved what it has, if the same art had not been cultivated in neighbouring countries and in different languages. We cannot understand any one European literature without knowing a good deal about the others. When we examine the history of poetry in Europe, we find a tissue of influences woven to and fro. There have been good poets who knew no language but their own, but even they have been subject to influences taken in and disseminated by other writers among their own people. Now, the possibility of each literature renewing itself, proceeding to new creative activity, making new discoveries in the use of words, depends on two things. First, its ability to receive and assimilate influences from abroad. Second, its ability to go back and learn from its own sources. As for the first, when the several countries of Europe are cut off from each other, when poets no longer read any literature but that in their own language, poetry in every country must deteriorate. As for the second, I wish to make this point especially: that every literature must have some sources which are peculiarly its own, deep in its own history; but, also, and at least equally important, are the sources which we share in common: that is, the literature of Rome, of Greece and of Israel.
There is a question which ought to be asked at this point, and which ought to be answered. What of the influences from outside Europe, of the great literature of Asia?
In the literature of Asia is great poetry. There is also profound wisdom and some very difficult metaphysics; but at the moment I am only concerned with poetry. I have no knowledge whatever of the Arabic, Persian, or Chinese languages. Long ago I studied the ancient Indian languages, and while I was chiefly interested at that time in Philosophy, I read a little poetry too; and I know that my own poetry shows the influence of Indian thought and sensibility. But generally, poets are not oriental scholars—I was never a scholar myself; and the influence of oriental literature upon poets is usually through translations. That there has been some influence of poetry of the East in the last century and a half is undeniable: to instance only English poetry, and in our own time, the poetical translations from the Chinese made by Ezra Pound, and those made by Arthur Waley, have probably been read by every poet writing in English. It is obvious that through individual interpreters, specially gifted for appreciating a remote culture, every literature may influence every other; and I emphasise this. For when I speak of the unity of European culture, I do not want to give the impression that I regard European culture as something cut off from every other. The frontiers of culture are not, and should not be, closed. But history makes a difference. Those countries which share the most history, are the most important to each other, with respect to their future literature. We have our common classics, of Greece and Rome; we have a common classic even in our several translations of the Bible.
What I have said of poetry is I think true of the other arts as well. The painter or the composer perhaps enjoys greater freedom, in that he is not limited by a particular language spoken only in one part of Europe: but in the practice of every art I think you find the same three elements: the local tradition, the common European tradition, and the influence of the art of one European country upon another. I only put this as a suggestion. I must limit myself to the art which I know most about. In poetry at least, no one country can be consistently highly creative for an indefinite period. Each country must have its secondary epochs, when no remarkable new development takes place: and so the centre of activity will shift to and fro between one country and another. And in poetry there is no such thing as complete originality, owing nothing to the past. Whenever a Virgil, a Dante, a Shakespeare, a Goethe is born, the whole future of European poetry is altered. When a great poet has lived, certain things have been done once for all, and cannot be achieved again; but, on the other hand, every great poet adds something to the complex material out of which future poetry will be written.
I have been speaking of the unity of European culture as illustrated by the arts and among the arts by the only one on which I am qualified to speak. I want to talk next time about the unity of European culture as illustrated by ideas. I mentioned at the beginning that during the period between the wars I had edited a quarterly review. My experience in this capacity, and my reflections upon it, will provide the starting point for my next talk.
I mentioned in my last talk that I had started and edited, between the wars, a literary review. I mentioned it first as one of my qualifications for speaking on this general subject. But also the history of this review illustrates some of the points that I want to make. So I hope that, after I have told you a little about it, you will begin to see its relevance to the subject of these talks.
We produced the first number of this review in the autumn of 1922, and decided to bring it to an end with the first number of the year 1939. So you see that its life covered nearly the same period that we call the years of peace. Except for a period of six months during which I tried the experiment of producing it monthly, its appearance was four times a year. In starting this review, I had the aim of bringing together the best in new thinking and new writing in its time, from all the countries of Europe that had anything to contribute to the common good. Of course it was designed primarily for English readers, and therefore all foreign contributions had to appear in an English translation. There may be a function for reviews published in two or more languages, and in two or more countries simultaneously. But even such reviews, searching all Europe for contributions, must contain some pieces of translation, if they are to be read by everybody. And they cannot take the place of those periodicals which appear in each country and which are intended primarily for the readers in that country. So my review was an ordinary English periodical, only of international scope. I sought, therefore, first to find out who were the best writers, unknown or little known outside of their own country, whose work deserved to be known more widely. Second, I tried to establish relations with those literary periodicals abroad, the aims of which corresponded most nearly to my own. I mention, as instances, the Nouvelle Revue Française (then edited by Jacques Rivière, and subsequently by Jean Paulhan), the Neue Rundschau, the Neue Schweizer Rundschau, the Revista de Occidente in Spain, Il Convegno and others in Italy. These connexions developed very satisfactorily, and it was no fault of any of the editors concerned, if they subsequently languished. I am still of the opinion, twenty-three years after I began, and seven years after I ended, that the existence of such a network of independent reviews, at least one in every capital of Europe, is necessary for the transmission of ideas—and to make possible the circulation of ideas while they are still fresh. The editors of such reviews, and if possible the more regular contributors, should be able to get to know each other personally, to visit each other, to entertain each other, and to exchange ideas in conversation. In any one such periodical, of course, there must be much that will be of interest only to readers of its own nation and language. But their co-operation should continually stimulate that circulation of influence of thought and sensibility, between nation and nation in Europe, which fertilises and renovates from abroad the literature of each one of them. And through such co-operation, and the friendships between men of letters which ensue from it, should emerge into public view those works of literature which are not only of local, but of European significance.
The particular point, however, of my talking about my aims, in relation to a review which has been dead for seven years, is that in the end they failed. And I attribute this failure chiefly to the gradual closing of the mental frontiers of Europe. A kind of cultural autarchy followed inevitably upon political and economic autarchy. This did not merely interrupt communications: I believe that it had a numbing effect upon creative activity within every country. The blight fell first upon our friends in Italy. And after 1933 contributions from Germany became more and more difficult to find. Some of our friends died; some disappeared; some merely became silent. Some went abroad, cut off from their own cultural roots. One of the latest found and the last lost, was that great critic and good European, who died a few months ago: Theodor Haecker. And, from much of the German writing that I saw in the 30’s, by authors previously unknown to me, I formed the opinion that the newer German writers had less and less to say to Europe; that they were more and more saying what could be understood, if understood at all, only in Germany. What happened in Spain is more confused; the tumult of the civil war was hardly favourable to thought and creative writing; and that war divided and scattered, even when it did not destroy, many of her ablest writers. In France there was still free intellectual activity, but more and more harassed and limited by political anxieties and forebodings, and by the internal divisions which political prepossessions set up. England, though manifesting some symptoms of the same malady, remained apparently intact. But I think that our literature of that period suffered by being more and more restricted to its own resources, as well as by the obsession with politics.
Now the first comment I have to make on this story of a literary review which had clearly failed of its purpose several years before events brought it to an end, is this. A universal concern with politics does not unite, it divides. It unites those politically minded folk who agree, across the frontiers of nations, against some other international group who hold opposed views. But it tends to destroy the cultural unity of Europe. The Criterion, for that is the name of the review which I edited, had, I believe, a definite character and cohesion, although its contributors were men holding the most diverse political, social and religious views. I think also that it had a definite congeniality with the foreign periodicals with which it associated itself. The question of a writer’s political, social or religious views simply did not enter into our calculations, or into those of our foreign colleagues. What the common basis was, both at home and abroad, is not easy to define. In those days it was unnecessary to formulate it; at the present time it becomes impossible to formulate. I should say that it was a common concern for the highest standards both of thought and of expression, that it was a common curiosity and openness of mind to new ideas. The ideas with which you did not agree, the opinions which you could not accept, were as important to you as those which you found immediately acceptable. You examined them without hostility, and with the assurance that you could learn from them. In other words, we could take for granted an interest, a delight, in ideas for their own sake, in the free play of intellect. And I think that also, among our chief contributors and colleagues, there was something which was not so much a consciously held belief, but an unconscious assumption. Something which had never been doubted, and therefore had no need to rise to the conscious level of affirmation. It was the assumption that there existed an international fraternity of men of letters, within Europe: a bond which did not replace, but was perfectly compatible with, national loyalties, religious loyalties, and differences of political philosophy. And that it was our business not so much to make any particular ideas prevail, as to maintain intellectual activity on the highest level.
I do not think that The Criterion, in its final years, wholly succeeded in living up to this ideal. I think that in the later years it tended to reflect a particular point of view, rather than to illustrate a variety of views on that plane. But I do not think that this was altogether the fault of the editor: I think that it came about partly from the pressure of circumstances of which I have spoken.
I am not pretending that politics and culture have nothing to do with each other. If they could be kept completely apart, the problem might be simpler than it is. A nation’s political structure affects its culture, and in turn is affected by that culture. But nowadays we take too much interest in each other’s domestic politics, and at the same time have very little contact with each other’s culture. The confusion of culture and politics may lead in two different directions. It may make a nation intolerant of every culture but its own, so that it feels impelled to stamp out, or to remould, every culture surrounding it. An error of the Germany of Hitler was to assume that every other culture than that of Germany was either decadent or barbaric. Let us have an end of such assumptions. The other direction in which the confusion of culture and politics may lead, is towards the ideal of a world state in which there will, in the end, be only one uniform world culture. I am not here criticising any schemes for world organisation. Such schemes belong to the plane of engineering, of devising machinery. Machinery is necessary, and the more perfect the machine the better. But culture is something that must grow; you cannot build a tree, you can only plant it, and care for it, and wait for it to mature in its due time; and when it is grown you must not complain if you find that from an acorn has come an oak, and not an elm-tree. And a political structure is partly construction, and partly growth; partly machinery, and the same machinery, if good, is equally good for all peoples; and partly growing with and from the nation’s culture, and in that respect different from that of other nations. For the health of the culture of Europe two conditions are required: that the culture of each country should be unique, and that the different cultures should recognise their relationship to each other, so that each should be susceptible of influence from the others. And this is possible because there is a common element in European culture, an interrelated history of thought and feeling and behaviour, an interchange of arts and of ideas.
In my last talk I shall try to define this common element more closely: and I think that will require my saying a little more about the meaning that I give to this word “Culture,” which I have been using so constantly.
I said at the end of my second talk that I should want to make a little clearer what I mean when I use the term culture. Like “democracy,” this is a term which needs to be, not only defined, but illustrated, almost every time we use it. And it is necessary to be clear about what we mean by “culture,” so that we may be clear about the distinction between the material organisation of Europe, and the spiritual organism of Europe. If the latter dies, then what you organise will not be Europe, but merely a mass of human beings speaking several different languages. And there will be no longer any justification for their continuing to speak different languages, for they will no longer have anything to say which cannot be said equally well in any language: they will, in short, have no longer anything to say in poetry. I have already affirmed that there can be no “European” culture if the several countries are isolated from each other: I add now that there can be no European culture if these countries are reduced to identity. We need variety in unity: not the unity of organisation, but the unity of nature.
By “culture,” then, I mean first of all what the anthropologists mean: the way of life of a particular people living together in one place. That culture is made visible in their arts, in their social system, in their habits and customs, in their religion. But these things added together do not constitute the culture, though we often speak for convenience as if they did. These things are simply the parts into which a culture can be anatomised, as a human body can. But just as a man is something more than an assemblage of the various constituent parts of his body, so a culture is more than the assemblage of its arts, customs, and religious beliefs. These things all act upon each other, and fully to understand one you have to understand all. Now there are of course higher cultures and lower cultures, and the higher cultures in general are distinguished by differentiation of function, so that you can speak of the less cultured and the more cultured strata of society, and finally, you can speak of individuals as being exceptionally cultured. The culture of an artist or a philosopher is distinct from that of a mine worker or field labourer; the culture of a poet will be somewhat different from that of a politician; but in a healthy society these are all parts of the same culture; and the artist, the poet, the philosopher, the politician and the labourer will have a culture in common, which they do not share with other people of the same occupations in other countries.
Now it is obvious that one unity of culture is that of the people who live together and speak the same language: because speaking the same language means thinking, and feeling, and having emotions, rather differently from people who use a different language. But the cultures of different peoples do affect each other: in the world of the future it looks as if every part of the world would affect every other part. I have suggested earlier, that the cultures of the different countries of Europe have in the past derived very great benefit from their influence upon each other. I have suggested that the national culture which isolates itself voluntarily, or the national culture which is cut off from others by circumstances which it cannot control, suffers from this isolation. Also, that the country which receives culture from abroad, without having anything to give in return, and the country which aims to impose its culture on another, without accepting anything in return, will both suffer from this lack of reciprocity.
There is something more than a general exchange of culture influences, however. You cannot even attempt to trade equally with every other nation: there will be some who need the kind of goods that you produce, more than others do, and there will be some who produce the goods you need yourselves, and others who do not. So cultures of people speaking different languages can be more or less closely related: and sometimes so closely related that we can speak of their having a common culture. Now when we speak of “European culture,” we mean the identities which we can discover in the various national cultures; and of course even within Europe, some cultures are more closely related than others. Also, one culture within a group of cultures can be closely related, on different sides, to two cultures which are not closely related to each other. Your cousins are not all cousins of each other, for some are on the father’s side and some on the mother’s. Now, just as I have refused to consider the culture of Europe simply as the sum of a number of unrelated cultures in the same area, so I refused to separate the world into quite unrelated cultural groups; I refused to draw any absolute line between East and West, between Europe and Asia. There are, however, certain common features in Europe, which make it possible to speak of a European culture. What are they?
The dominant force in creating a common culture between peoples each of which has its distinct culture, is religion. Please do not, at this point, make a mistake in anticipating my meaning. This is not a religious talk, and I am not setting out to convert anybody. I am simply stating a fact. I am not so much concerned with the communion of Christian believers today; I am talking about the common tradition of Christianity which has made Europe what it is, and about the common cultural elements which this common Christianity has brought with it. If Asia were converted to Christianity tomorrow, it would not thereby become a part of Europe. It is in Christianity that our arts have developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe have—until recently—been rooted. It is against a background of Christianity that all our thought has significance. An individual European may not believe that the Christian Faith is true, and yet what he says, and makes, and does, will all spring out of his heritage of Christian culture and depend upon that culture for its meaning. Only a Christian culture could have produced a Voltaire or a Nietzsche. I do not believe that the culture of Europe could survive the complete disappearance of the Christian Faith. And I am convinced of that, not merely because I am a Christian myself, but as a student of social biology. If Christianity goes, the whole of our culture goes. Then you must start painfully again, and you cannot put on a new culture ready made. You must wait for the grass to grow to feed the sheep to give the wool out of which your new coat will be made. You must pass through many centuries of barbarism. We should not live to see the new culture, nor would our great-great-great-grandchildren: and if we did, not one of us would be happy in it.
To our Christian heritage we owe many things besides religious faith. Through it we trace the evolution of our arts, through it we have our conception of Roman Law which has done so much to shape the Western World, through it we have our conceptions of private and public morality. And through it we have our common standards of literature, in the literatures of Greece and Rome. The Western World has its unity in this heritage, in Christianity and in the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome and Israel, from which, owing to two thousand years of Christianity, we trace our descent. I shall not elaborate this point. What I wish to say is, that this unity in the common elements of culture, throughout many centuries, is the true bond between us. No political and economic organisation, however much goodwill it commands, can supply what this culture unity gives. If we dissipate or throw away our common patrimony of culture, then all the organisation and planning of the most ingenious minds will not help us, or bring us closer together.
The unity of culture, in contrast to the unity of political organisation, does not require us all to have only one loyalty: it means that there will be a variety of loyalties. It is wrong that the only duty of the individual should be held to be towards the State; it is fantastic to hold that the supreme duty of every individual should be towards a Super-State. I will give one instance of what I mean by a variety of loyalties. No university ought to be merely a national institution, even if it is supported by the nation. The universities of Europe should have their common ideals, they should have their obligations towards each other. They should be independent of the governments of the countries in which they are situated. They should not be institutions for the training of an efficient bureaucracy, or for equipping scientists to get the better of foreign scientists; they should stand for the preservation of learning, for the pursuit of truth, and in so far as men are capable of it, the attainment of wisdom.
There is much more that I should have liked to say in this last talk, but I must now be very brief. My last appeal is to the men of letters of Europe, who have a special responsibility for the preservation and transmission of our common culture. We may hold very different political views: our common responsibility is to preserve our common culture uncontaminated by political influences. It is not a question of sentiment: it does not matter so much whether we like each other, or praise each other’s writings. What matters is that we should recognise our relationship and mutual dependence upon each other. What matters is our inability, without each other, to produce those excellent works which mark a superior civilisation. We cannot, at present, hold much communication with each other. We cannot visit each other as private individuals; if we travel at all, it can only be through government agencies and with official duties. But we can at least try to save something of those goods of which we are the common trustees: the legacy of Greece, Rome and Israel, and the legacy of Europe throughout the last 2,000 years. In a world which has seen such material devastation as ours, these spiritual possessions are also in imminent peril.
Ida, nie idź do Żyda.
Ida – der Film
Erscheinungsdatum: 25. Oktober 2013 (Polen)
Regisseur: Paweł Pawlikowski
Musik von: Kristian Eidnes Andersen
Auszeichnungen: Oscar / Bester fremdsprachiger Film
Nominierungen: César / Bester ausländischer Film
Wieder wird ein schlechter Film hochgelobt, weil er politischen Propagandakitsch transportiert.
Das Rezept für den Erfolg dieses Films ist einfach:
Für Antisemiten die Figur der jüdischen „blutigen“ Staatsanwältin im Nachkriegspolen, die Todesurteile gesprochen habe und im Film als eine alkoholkranke sexsüchtige Schlampe dargestellt wird, für Polenphobiker primitive polnische Bauer, die im Krieg vor Nazis geflüchtete Juden ausgeraubt und erschlagen haben. Sex darf natürlich nicht fehlen, als besonders pikant, verliert die jüdische Novizin ihre im Kloster gepflegte Unschuld nach einem Diskoabend an einen jungen Polen. Also für jeden etwas Leckeres. Der Film selbst ist grottenschlecht, die Geschichte ist erbärmlich schablonenhaft, die Schauspieler könnten vom Frankfurter „Schauspiel“ sein, so schlecht spielen sie, die Bilder sind keine Bilder, sondern schlechte Klischees, und der Film muß ja schwarz-weiß sein, denn im Kommunismus war ja alles schwarz-weiß, das weiß doch jeder. Wenn in einem amerikanischen Spionagefilm der Held aus buntem, fröhlichem Westberlin nach Ostberlin gewechselt hat, dann war nach dem Grenzübergang alles plötzlich schwarz-weiß geworden und es fing an zu schneien. Über ähnlichen Politfilm „Leviathan“ von Andrei Petrowitsch Swjaginzew,
nominiert für den Oscar als Bester fremdsprachiger Film und ausgezeichnet mit Golden Globe Award als Bester fremdsprachiger Film, habe ich bereits in meinem Artikel „Leviathan, oder was mir am Islam gefällt“ geschrieben, in dem angeblich „Putinkritik“ geübt wird. Wie in „Ida“, spielen die Schauupieler schlecht, die Story ist langweilig, die Bilder sind so la-la, ich habe bessere gesehen. Wie z.B. in „Die Rückkehr“.
Oder in „Die Sonne, die uns täuscht“.
Es gibt Filme, die das Politische übersteigen und überleben. Wie „Asche und Diamant“,
„Ich war 19“,
„Wer die Nachtigall stört“.
Aber „Ida“ gehört nicht dazu. Es ist ärgerlich, wenn die Tragödie des jüdischen und des polnischen Volkes für so einen Kitschfilm mißbraucht wird. Was wollte der Regisseur? Unterhalten? Der Film ist langweilig. Aufklären? Judeobolschewismus (zydokomuna) und Polen als Judenmörder sind Allgemeinplätze, pars pro toto, in ihrer klischeehaften Einschränkung der Geschichte ungerecht und unfair, gegenüber Polen, gegenüber Juden, gegenüber Kommunisten. Interessant: Deutsche, die für diese Tragödie verantwortlich sind, kommen in diesem Film gar nicht vor. Voila, Tartuffe vom Bellevue läßt grüßen!
Siehe auch: „Dyktatura gówniarzy / Dictatorship of the squirts oder: Grimms Märchen reloaded / Gaslighting / Gehirnwäsche“
“Das Feld, das russische Feld: Joseph Brodsky und Alexander Sergejewitsch Puschkin über Ukraine, Nikita Mikhailkov über Vladimir Putin / Field, Russian field: Nikita Mikhailkov’s speech on Vladimir Putin, Joseph Brodsky and Alexander Sergejewitsch Puschkin about Ukraine / Поле, русское поле: Никита Михалков о Владимире Путине, Иосиф Бродский и Александр Сергеевич Пушкин об Украине (german, english, russian)”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJhfcNKe5YU
Data wydania: 25 października 2013 (Polska)
Reżyseria: Paweł Pawlikowski
Muzyka: Kristian Andersen Eidnes
Nagrody: Oscar / Najlepszy Film Języków Obcych
Nominacje: César / Najlepszy film zagraniczny
Znowu zły film jest bardzo chwalony, ponieważ niesie kicz politycznej propagandy.
Przepis na sukces tego filmu jest prosty:
Dla antysemitów figura żydowskiej „krwawej“ prokuratorki, która w powojennej Polsce wydawała wyroki śmierci i jest reprezentowana w filmie jako alkoholiczka i głodna seksu dziwka, a dla dla polakożerców postać prymitywnego polskiego chłopa, który obrabowywał i mordował uciekającyh przed hitlerwcami Żydów. Seksunie można przegapić, zwłaszcza pikantnego, gdy nowicjuszka żydowska traci cnotę na imprezie w disco z młodym Polakiem. Tak więc dla każdego coś pysznego. Sam film jest bardzo kiepski, historia jest żałosnie stereotypowa, aktorzy mogliby z Frankfurtckiego Schauspiel teatru, bo tak źle grają, obrazy nie są obrazami, lecz złymi stereotypami, a film oczywiscie musi być czarno-biały, bo w komunizmie wszystko było tylko czarno-białe, to każdy wie. Jeśli bohater w amerykańskim filmie szpiegowskim przeszedł z kolorowego, wesołego Berlina Zachodniego do Berlina Wschodniego, to film stawał się po przejściu bohatera przez granicę nagle czarny i biały i zaczynał padać śnieg. O podobnem filmie „Lewiatan“ Andrieja Zwiagincewa,
nominowanego politycznie do Oscara w kategorii Najlepszy Film Nieanglojęzyczny i który zdobył Złoty Glob dla najlepszego filmu zagranicznego, pisałem w artykule „Lewiatan, lub to, co mi się podoba w islamie“, że zawdzięcza swe nagrody rzekomej „krytyce Putina.“ Jak w „Ida“, aktorzy grają słabo, historia jest nudna, zdjęcia są tak-tak, widziałem lepsze. Takie jak w „The Return“.
lub „Spaleni słońcem“.
Są filmy, które przekraczają i przetrwją swe polityczne aspekty, jako „Popiół i diament“
„Miałem 19 lat“
„Zabić drozda“.
Ale „Ida“ nie jest wśród nich. To jest irytujące, kiedy tragedia żydowska i Polaków jest nadużywan do takiego filmu jako kicz. Co zrobił reżyser? Zabawiał widzów? Film jest nudny. Pouczał? „Żydokomuna” i Polacyjako mordercy Żydów są popularnymi stereotypami, pars pro toto, w utartych niesprawiedliwychi nieuczciwych ograniczenia historycznych, wobec Polaków, wobec Żydw, wobec komunistów. Ciekawe: Niemców, którzy w pierwszym rzędzie ą odpowiedzialni za tę tragedię, w tym filmie wogóle nie ma. Voila, Tartuffe z Bellevue przesyła pozdrowienia!
Patrz także:
Patrz na:
https://psychosputnik.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/ida-nie-idz-do-zyda/
Ida – the movie
Release Date: October 25, 2013 (Poland)
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Music by: Kristian Andersen Eidnes
Awards: Oscar / Best Foreign Language Film
Nominations: César / Best Foreign Language Film
Again a bad movie is highly praised because it carries political propaganda kitsch.
The recipe for the success of this film is simple:
For Antisemites a figure of the stalinist prosecutor in post-war Poland the jewish „bloody“ alcoholic sex-hungry bitch, who have spoken the death sentences and for Poland phobics a primitive peasant who robbed and murdered Jews who were running away during the war from the Nazi. Sex can not be missed, particularly piquant, the Jewish novice loses its innocence cultivated in the monastery after a disco party to a young Pole. So for everybody something delicious. The film itself is extremely bad, the story is pathetic stereotyped, the actors could be from Frankfurts Schauspiel, they play so bad, the images are not images but bad clichés, and the film must indeed be black and white, because Communism was all black and white, everyone knows that. If the hero has changed from colorful, cheerful West Berlin to East Berlin in an American spy film, then it was after the border crossing suddenly turned black and white and it started to snow. About a similar political film „Leviathan“ by Andrey Zvyagintsev,
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and which won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, I wrote in my article „Leviathan, or what I like to Islam“, is practiced in the supposedly „Putin criticism.“ As in, „Ida“, the actors play poorly, the story is boring, the images are just so-so, I’ve seen better. Such as. in „The Return“.
or „Burnt by the Sun“.
There are films that transcend and survive the political message. As „Ashes and Diamonds“
„I was 19,“
„To Kill a Mockingbird“.
But „Ida“ is not among them. It is annoying when the tragedy of the Jewish and the Polish people is abused for such a kitschy film. What did the director? Entertain? The film is boring. Enlighten? Judeobolschewismus (zydokomuna( jewish stalinism) and Polesas murderers are generalities, pars pro toto, in its clichéd restriction of the story unjust and unfair, to Poland, against Jews, against communists. Interesting: German, who are responsible for this tragedy, did not show in this film. Voila, Tartuffe from Bellevue sends his regards!
See also: „Dyktatura gówniarzy / Dictatorship of the squirts oder: Grimms Märchen reloaded / Gaslighting / Gehirnwäsche“
More at.
Direkte Gewalt gegen strukturelle Gewalt – lediglich eine Rationalisierung der eigenen Lust als Rechtfertigung für eigene wilde, triebhafte Gewalt. Wer strukturelle Gewalt von Institutionen eines demokratischen Rechtstaates delegitimiert und direkte Gewalt gegen diese Institutionen legitimiert, der gibt jeglicher denkbaren Form von Gewalt freie Hand, denn jede Gewalt kann moralisch begründet werden. Der Teufel ist ein Moralist. Und ein Gewalttäter.
Wer sich für Kunst nicht interessiert, wem Kunst nichts bedeutet, der interessiert sich ebensowenig für Menschen, dem bedeuten Menschen nichts. Denn Kunst ist Ausdruck menschlicher Gefühle.
Direct violence against structural violence – only a rationalization of their own desire as justification for their own wild, instinctual violence. Who delegitimizes structural violence of institutions of a democratic state and legitimizes direct violence against these institutions gives any conceivable form of violence free hand, for any violence can be morally justified. The devil is a moralist. And a perpetrator of violence.
Those who are not interested in art, to whom art means nothing, those are not interested in people, to those people mean nothing. Because art is an expression of human feelings.
Auch Du bist arm / Von idiotischen Phrasen und politischer Faulheit
Auch Du bist arm!
von Hasso Mansfeld 26.02.2015
www.theeuropean.de
Die Armut in Deutschland sei so hoch wie noch nie, vermeldet der Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband. Doch das ist Panikmache. Und Politik. Die Medien als vierte Gewalt hätten dies erkennen müssen.
„Armut auf Höchststand: Studie belegt sprunghaften Armutsanstieg in Deutschland“ – so überschrieb der Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband eine „Pressemitteilung“, die die Ergebnisse des von eben diesem Verband herausgegebenen Armutsberichts lancierte. Wie schon in der Überschrift ist in der gesamten Pressemeldung dann marktschreierisch von einem Anstieg der Armut die Rede, ohne dass „Armut“ präzisiert würde. Man vertraut stattdessen auf die plakative Wirkung des Begriffes, den wir allgemein mit dem Schlimmsten assoziieren. Man zielt auf Affekte, nicht auf faktenbasierte Überzeugungsarbeit.
Das wäre nicht weiter schlimm, ist der Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband doch eine Vereinigung, die ihre „Mitgliedsorganisationen in ihrer fachlichen Zielsetzung und ihren rechtlichen, gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Belangen“ fördert, also ein Lobbyverband. Und dessen Mitglieder, das sollte man im Hinterkopf behalten, sind nicht in erster Linie die tatsächlich von Armut Betroffenen, sondern: „über 10.000 eigenständige Organisationen, Einrichtungen und Gruppierungen im Sozial- und Gesundheitsbereich“. Also das Who-is-Who der Helferindustrie, die ein deutliches Interesse daran hat, die soziale Lage in Deutschland in besonders düsteren Tönen zu malen. Aber gut: Lobbyisten machen Lobbyarbeit, und in diesem Sinne ist die Art, wie der Verband Aufmerksamkeit für den Armutsbericht heischt, erfolgreich.
Problematisch wird die Sache spätestens dann, wenn die Presse ihrer Aufgabe als „vierte Gewalt“ nicht nachkommt. Die Berichterstattung über den Armutsbericht ist ein Musterbeispiel für den Totalausfall einer kritischen Öffentlichkeit. Beinahe im Wortlaut übernahm zuerst dpa die Behauptungen des Paritätischen Wohlfahrtsverbandes, und flankierte diese mit O-Tönen der Vorsitzenden von gleich vier Sozialverbänden und Gewerkschaften. Nur die Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände durfte als Feigenblatt auch ihre Meinung sagen. Die deutschlandweite Presse wiederum schrieb größtenteils unkritisch von dpa ab, selbst wirtschaftsfreundliche Medien machen da keine Ausnahme. Nur wenige Titel wie etwa „Süddeutsche Zeitung“ und „FAZ“ scherten ein bisschen aus dem breiten Konsens aus. So kann Journalismus nicht funktionieren.
Von welcher Armut reden wir eigentlich?
Denn keineswegs sind die Fakten rund um den „sprunghaften Armutsanstieg“ so klar, wie es der Wohlfahrtsverband glauben macht. Wie kommen die Daten zustande? Sagen die Daten das aus, wovon behauptet wird, dass sie es aussagen? Und taugt der vom Verband verwendete Begriff der Armut tatsächlich dazu, das Phänomen Armut in Deutschland zu beschreiben? An all diesen Stellen hätte eine kritische Presse nachzuhaken und würde sogleich auf mehrere Ungereimtheiten stoßen.
Der Armutsbericht bezieht sich nämlich auf die sogenannte relative Armut, die in Deutschland bei 60 Prozent des Medianeinkommens veranschlagt wird. Der Median wiederum ist das Einkommen, das, listet man alle Einkommen der Größe nach auf, „genau in der Mitte steht“. So soll verhindert werden, dass Extreme die Skala beeinflussen. Bei einem solchen Armutsbegriff geht es nicht um absolute Not, sondern um „gesellschaftliche Teilhabe“. 1872 Euro monatlich seien demnach die Schwelle, die eine vierköpfige Familie zu überspringen habe, um angemessen am sozialen Leben teilnehmen zu können.
Offensichtlich, dass wir es hier mit einem hochkomplexen Begriff zu tun haben, der zur platten Agitation eigentlich nicht taugt. Insbesondere der Maßstab der Armutsgrenze scheint willkürlich gesetzt, und man vermag sich bildlich vorzustellen, wie interessengeleitete Mitglieder verschiedener Verbände auf Arbeitnehmerseite, auf Arbeitgeberseite und in der Helferindustrie um eine für alle Gruppierungen halbwegs annehmbare Grenze schachern, die mit den Bedürfnissen tatsächlich Notleidender wenig zu tun hat.
Methodisch steht das Konzept der relativen Armut zudem vor dem Problem, dass ein kurzfristiger Anstieg des allgemeinen Wohlstands, etwa durch den Zuzug einiger Wohlhabender, die Ergebnisse verfälscht. In Extremsituationen kann das zu absurden Befunden führen. Etwa gäbe es nach dieser Methode in Nordkorea kaum einen Armen. Zwar hat ein relativer Begriff durchaus seine Daseinsberechtigung, denn Menschen mit einem Einkommen unterhalb der absoluten Armutsgrenze der Weltbank könnten in Deutschland gar nicht überleben, und auch ein deutscher Begriff von absoluter Armut müsste regelmäßig an die Teuerung angepasst werden. Doch die Tücken und Fallstricke der relativen Armut wären zumindest zu thematisieren. Eine Presse, die das nicht tut, und die Verlautbarungen eines Lobbyverbandes abschreibt, versagt auf ganzer Linie.
Aber unterstellen wir einmal, es ginge dem Paritätischen Wohlfahrtsverband tatsächlich darum, die reale Problematik „Armut“ in Deutschland zu diskutieren. Dann müsste doch in erster Linie eine regionale Aufschlüsselung erfolgen, die in der Pressemitteilung des Verbandes gerade unterlassen wird. Sicher, mit 2000 € bekommt man in der Münchner Innenstadt derzeit nicht mal eine Wohnung. In einem rheinhessischen Vorort lebt es sich damit aber ganz gut, in einigen ländlichen Gegenden Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns gehört man schon beinahe zur Oberschicht (außen vor bleibt übrigens auch, ob jemand Wohneigentum oder Vermögen besitzt, ein bezüglich der Armut nicht ganz irrelevanter Faktor). Betrachtet man die dem Armutsbericht beigefügte Karte genauer, fällt auf, dass vor allem der Osten in Relation zum Westen „arm“ ist. Ein strukturelles Problem, sicher, dass noch immer fern von einer Lösung steht. Aber keine neue Erkenntnis. Würde man den gleichen relativen Armutsbegriff, den der Paritätische zugrunde legt, kleinteiliger anwenden, etwa auf einzelne Bundesländer oder sogar Städte und Regionen bezogen, verlören die Zahlen ihren Schrecken. Damit aber kann man längst nicht so gut politische Stimmung machen.
Die Erhöhung unterer Einkommen bringt nichts
Der politischen Polarisierung Abbruch täte es auch, würden die Erträge aus Schwarzarbeit in den Armutsbericht eingerechnet. Bei dieser kann man davon ausgehen, dass sie insbesondere in den einkommensschwächeren Sektoren verbreitet ist. In der Raumpflege, im Handwerk, in der Gärtnerei, in der medizinischen Pflege. „Sicher“, wird ein findiger Verteidiger des Armutsberichts nun einwenden, „aber dieses zusätzliche Einkommen würde doch den Median verschieben – die Leute blieben relativ arm.“ Und damit wären wir wieder bei der systemischen Problematik des Konzepts von der relativen Armut.
Die wird auch deutlich, nimmt man einige gut gemeinte Vorschläge beim Wort, wie Armut in Deutschland zu bekämpfen sei. Bildung etwa sei der sicherste Schutz vor Armut, heißt es immer wieder. Ich bin ganz dieser Meinung! Aber je mehr Zeit junge Menschen mit Schule und Studium verbringen, desto länger verdienen sie kein Geld. Fast alle Studenten heute gehören der Gruppe der relativ Armen an. Nach diesem Modell erhöhten Bildungsinitiativen die Armut, von etwaigen Verschiebungen des Medians wiederum abgesehen.
Diese Verschiebungen allerdings sind unbedingt zu beachten, will man die Erfolgsaussichten einer Methode beurteilen, die der Wohlfahrtsverband in rigoros absoluter Weise zur Bekämpfung relativer Armut fordert: Eine „deutliche Erhöhung der Regelsätze in Hartz IV“. Die scheinbar so einfache Lösung des Problems müsste nicht nur erst mal irgendwie finanziert werden, sondern ist innerhalb der vom Wohlfahrtsverband verwendeten Begrifflichkeiten geradezu hirnrissig. Eine Erhöhung aller unteren Einkommen verschöbe einfach das Einkommensgefüge als Ganzes, die Armut nähme nicht ab. Wie ja auch in der Schweiz erst ein Haushalt als arm gilt, der ein Einkommen von „weniger als 5100 Franken“ sein Eigen nennt. Zudem wäre volkswirtschaftlich davon auszugehen, dass die Preise aufgrund der gestiegenen Nachfrage in den unteren Einkommensschichten mit der Zeit kräftig anziehen würden. Auch ganz real wäre für die „Armen“ womöglich wenig gewonnen.
Einer vernünftigen lösungsorientierten Diskussion über tatsächlich vorhandene Armut in Deutschland stehen Betrachtungen wie die von der Masse der Presseorgane nachgebeteten des Wohlfahrtsverbands im Wege. Stattdessen werden Steroide des Sozialneids ins System gespritzt. Menschen, die sich vielleicht gar nicht als solche gesehen haben, wird gelehrt, sich als „Arme“ von „den Reichen“ abzugrenzen. Auf der anderen Seite ist bei einer ausreichend großen Zahl an relativ Armen der gegenteilige Effekt zu befürchten: Armut wird zur Normalität. Menschen, die durchaus Perspektiven haben, wird die Hoffnung genommen. Tatsächlich Notleidende werden als Teil einer großen Klasse von nur relativ Armen ignoriert.
Teilhabe ist wichtig. Neiddebatten helfen nicht weiter.
Gesellschaftliche Teilhabe! Das ist der Gedanke, der hinter all den Überlegungen zum Thema relative Armut steht. Und das zumindest ist lobenswert. Ein demokratisches Gemeinwesen, das immer mehr Menschen die Teilhabe an den kulturellen Errungenschaften erschwert, die überhaupt erst ein Bewusstsein dafür schaffen, dass dieses Gemeinwesen erhaltenswert ist, wird über kurz oder lang Probleme haben. Auch Wohlhabende, die ihr Vermögen und ihr Glück auch der freien Gesellschaft verdanken, sollten ein Interesse daran zeigen, dass die Masse der Menschen weder abgehängt wird noch sich abgehängt fühlt. Eine instabile Demokratie birgt sozialen Sprengstoff.
Es gäbe sicher Stellschrauben, an denen sich drehen ließe. Warum nicht beispielsweise in sowieso schon staatlich subventionierten Betrieben für Menschen unter einer noch genauer zu definierenden regionalen Armutsgrenze Rabatte einführen? Warum nicht Bürgertickets in großen Städten, damit „Arme“ aus den oft wirklich traurigen Vorortsiedlungen herauskommen? Warum nicht freien Eintritt in staatliche Theater? Mobilität und Zugang zu Kultur und Bildung, das sind zwei wichtige Aspekte, die es unter Umständen ermöglichen, Armut zu entkommen.
Vor allem aber ist der Begriff der Armut differenziert zu betrachten. Sonst helfen wir der Helferindustrie, die die Armut braucht, um ihr Geschäftsmodell zu legitimieren. Und nicht den Armen.
Von idiotischen Phrasen und politischer Faulheit
Die Diskussion, ob etwas zu Deutschland gehört oder nicht, ist genauso aktuell wie falsch. Was will man uns mit solchen Phrasen eigentlich sagen?
Das Sauerkraut gehört zu Deutschland. Die Currywurst gehört zu Deutschland. Der Döner gehört zu Deutschland. All das Aussagen, über die sich Streit kaum lohnen würde. Aussagen, die wohl die meisten Leser auch erst mal als faktisches Statement, nicht als eine Lobesbekundung oder Fürsprache auffassen würden.
Und wie diverse Speisen gehören auch der Klimawandel und die Leugnung des Klimawandels, der Nationalsozialismus und der Antifaschismus, Monarchie, Diktatur und, seit Neuerem, auch Demokratie zu Deutschland. Keine Widerworte?
Seit Wulff dreht sich die Diskussion im Kreis
Nur wenn man den Islam in diese Liste aufnimmt, wird die Debatte plötzlich hitzig.
Und das aus nachvollziehbaren, wenn vielleicht auch nicht ganz durchschauten Gründen. Denn als der damalige Bundespräsident Christian Wulff verkündete, dass mittlerweile der Islam zu Deutschland gehöre, war das ja gerade nicht im Sinne einer Auflistung von Dingen gemeint, die seit einer längeren oder kürzeren Zeitspanne im Gebiet der Bundesrepublik existieren und daher selbstverständlich als zu Deutschland gehörig zu betrachten sind. Sondern als qualitatives Statement, frei nach Wowereit: „Der Islam gehört zu Deutschland. Und das ist auch gut so.“
Seit Wulff dreht die Diskussion sich im Kreise und der ein oder andere scharfsinnige Vordenker der vielzitierten „westlichen Werte“ rotiert wahrscheinlich im Grabe. Weder die Pro- noch die Contrafraktion zum Thema „Deutschland und der Islam“ beherzigen, dass es, ehe man urteilt, erst einmal gelten sollte, die verwendeten Begriffe genau zu prüfen, und sich zu fragen, inwiefern sie zu einer lösungsorientierten Diskussion überhaupt beitragen.
Nein: Während unter anderem mit Sigmar Gabriel sowie, tatsächlich lange vor den Anschlägen auf „Charlie Hebdo“ auch bereits Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, führende Politiker die wohlfeile Äußerung nachplapperten, mehrten sich als Reaktion darauf ebenso zahlreich und mit tendenziell noch mehr Pathos die Gegenstimmen, die nun verkündeten: „Nein! Der Islam gehört nicht zu Deutschland.“
Und all dem die Krone auf setzte zuletzt wiederum Merkel, die meinte, mit einem sophistischen Taschenspielertrick nun alle Fraktionen zufriedenstellen zu können: Es gehöre nämlich zwar der Islam zu Deutschland, keinesfalls aber der Islamismus.
Rosinenpickerei und kollektivistische Migrationspolitik
Diese Volte ist feige, weil sie nichts anderes als eine opportunistische Rosinenpickerei darstellt. Weiter ist da schon der Islamforscher Bassam Tibi, der der „FAZ“ zufolge schlüssig darlegt, warum, wenn der Islam zu Deutschland gehöre, selbstverständlich auch der Islamismus zu Deutschland gehören muss: „Sie leben hier. Wir müssen uns mit ihnen auseinandersetzen.“
Recht hat er. Man sollte meinen, dass die langjährige Verdrängung deutscher Verantwortlichkeit für die Verbrechen des Nationalsozialismus heutige Generationen gelehrt hätte, dass Probleme sich nicht durch Totschweigen lösen lassen. So wenig es legitim ist, zwar der deutschen Romantik, dem Wartburgfest und dem Lyriker Stefan George zu huldigen, aber den Nationalsozialismus aus der deutschen Geschichte auszuklammern, so wenig können wir den Islam rhetorisch umarmen, und dabei den Islamismus als nicht dazugehörig aus deutschen Landen verschieben. Der Islamismus ist hier. Er ist verachtungswürdig. Er muss hier bekämpft werden.
Doch zielführenden Debatten weicht der Eiertanz, der um die Frage des zu oder nicht zu Deutschland gehörigen Islams regelmäßig veranstaltet wird, mit beeindruckender Beweglichkeit aus. Denn hier wird regelmäßig ein gar nicht zufriedenstellend beantwortbarer Nebenaspekt zum Kern der Debatte erklärt, was letztlich nur dadurch gelingen kann, dass dem Prädikat „zu Deutschland gehörig“ per se eine positive Konnotation beigelegt wird. „Der Islam gehört zu Deutschland“ heißt dann: „Ich finde den Islam im Großen und Ganzen o.k.“ „Der Islam gehört nicht zu Deutschland“ drückt spiegelbildlich eine Ablehnung des Islam an sich aus.
Gütesiegel „Gehört zu Deutschland“
Die obigen, aus der jüngeren deutschen Geschichte herausgegriffenen Beispiele sollten mehr als deutlich gemacht haben, dass es ein derartiges generelles Gütesiegel „Deutschland“ weder für den Islam noch für irgendein anderes zu Deutschland gehöriges Phänomen geben kann.
Mehr als das aber: Die Debatte über die Zugehörigkeit wird auf diese Weise von Anfang an als kollektivistische geführt. Hier steht das Kollektiv der Islam/die Muslime, dort das Kollektiv Deutschland, und irgendwie soll nun Ersteres in Zweitem mehr oder minder sauber aufgehen. Migranten als Individuen, die sowieso schon fälschlicherweise viel zu oft durch leichtfertige Zuschreibungen zu Muslimen gemacht werden, kommen nicht vor. Ebenso wenig all die Menschen mit einem deutschen Pass, die den implizit in der rauf und runter gebeteten Phrase enthaltenen euphorischen Deutschlandbezug nicht teilen.
Nein, liebe Islamfreunde und Islamgegner: „Gehört zu Deutschland“ ist keine qualitative Aussage, kann keine qualitative Aussage sein und ist höchstens als rein faktisches Statement in irgendeiner Weise sinnhaltig. Dann aber lohnt es sich nicht, sich darüber die Köpfe heißzureden.
Dumme Formel, aus politischer Faulheit geboren
Warum aber tut man es dennoch? Es sollte doch nicht allzu schwer sein, zu durchschauen, wie hohl die Rede vom Islam und seiner Zugehörigkeit ist: Es handelt sich um eine dumme Formel, geboren aus politischer Faulheit. Ich möchte weder Christian Wulff noch Sigmar Gabriel noch Angela Merkel noch Kritikern wie Stanislaw Tillich, der zuletzt betonte, Muslime seien zwar in Deutschland willkommen, aber keinesfalls gehöre der Islam zu Sachsen, böswillige Absichten unterstellen.
Mir scheint, die Sache ist deutlich einfacher gelagert: Es ist unglaublich bequem, in Phrasen zu reden. Auf lange Sicht kann das fatale Ergebnisse zeitigen, weil eine differenzierte Debatte über die Haltung eines demokratischen Rechtsstaats zur derzeit in ihren Extremen von allen Religionen eindeutig am aggressivsten auftretenden nicht geführt wird. Denn was Politiker, die sagen: „Der Islam gehört zu Deutschland“, eigentlich meinen, ist ja wahrscheinlich eher etwas in diese Richtung:
„Auch wenn man die Bedrohung durch islamistischen Terrorismus nicht hoch genug veranschlagen kann, so ist es doch wenig zielführend, zu generalisieren, im Zuge von gerechtfertigter Religionskritik auch überwunden geglaubte fremdenfeindliche Ressentiments wieder aufkommen zu lassen, und überhaupt war Angst schon immer ein schlechter Ratgeber.“
Und jene, die vehement auf der Nichtzugehörigkeit beharren, wollen vielleicht viel eher sagen: „Gut und schön. Aber islamistische und orthodox muslimische Gruppen sind bestrebt, gewisse Einflüsse auf der Straße und in den Institutionen der Republik zu erlangen. Bestrebungen, die übrigens auch längst nicht allen unter die Muslime subsumierten Migranten schmecken.
Ganz zu schweigen von Flüchtlingen aus der islamischen Welt, die hier vor islamistischem Terror Schutz suchen. Darüber muss gesprochen werden, es müssen klare Grenzen gesetzt werden.“ Vielleicht möchten beide Seiten auch etwas ganz anderes sagen. Dann sagt es doch! Aber versteckt eure politische Faulheit nicht hinter einer hohlen Phrase.
Migrationspolitik der Verdrängung
Denn das Kreisen um Lippenbekenntnisse muss beendet werden, egal welche Haltung zu Migration, Islam oder gar Islamismus man an den Tag legt. Die deutsche Migrationspolitik war meist eine der Verdrängung. Erst vertraute man darauf, dass Millionen Gastarbeiter nicht kommen würden, um zu bleiben, steckte sie in Gastarbeitersiedlungen und begünstigte das Entstehen abgesonderter Migrantenviertel.
„Deutschland ist kein Einwanderungsland“ blieb lange kontrafaktisch die ausgegebene Losung. Dann begann man, erst zögernd, bald umso eifriger, sich der Thematik zu stellen, indem man statt an Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund als Individuen mit Zielen und Bedürfnissen an kulturell oder ethnisch festgeschriebene Kollektive herantrat. So wurden aus türkischen Migranten mit kemalistischem, liberalem oder auch marxistischem Hintergrund – „die Muslime“. Und als sei das nicht genug, bestimmt heute ein Kollektivsubjekt namens „der Islam“ fast alle Debatten zum Thema Migration.
Schluss damit. Der Islam gehört zu Deutschland. Der Islamismus gehört zu Deutschland. Beides ist Fakt, beides ist bedeutungslos. Beides sind keine qualitativen Aussagen.
Fangen wir endlich an, über die wichtigen Dinge zu reden.
Alles darf sie – die Armut! Nur aufhören darf sie nicht!
Beitrag von Susanne Kablitz am 25. Februar 2015
http://liberalesinstitut.de/
Vor einigen Tagen „warnte“ der Paritätische Wohlfahrtverband vor einer „Lawine der Altersarmut“. Ulrich Schneider, der Chef des Vereins, wies mit dramatisch anklingenden Worten darauf hin, dass „die Armut in Deutschland noch nie so hoch wie heute und die Zerrissenheit in Deutschland so tief wie heute“ sei. Huch, dachte ich mir, das ist ja wirklich erschreckend und suchte in veröffentlichten Artikel nach genaueren Informationen, mit denen der gute Herr Schneider seine Feststellungen untermauert. Und was mich noch viel mehr interessierte, war, einen entsprechenden Hinweis darauf zu finden, wie er diesen, von ihm festgestellten bedauerlichen Zustand, zu beseitigen gedenkt. Wie er diesen zu beseitigen gedenkt, ohne auf die bekannten Phrasen eines Vereins zurückgreifen zu müssen, der maßgeblich aus staatlichen Mitteln und Leistungen zur Sozialversicherung finanziert wird. Also von Ihrem Geld!
Ich suchte vergebens. Das, was ich fand, war der typische Einheitsbrei gut dotierter Gutmenschen, die von der Betonierung der Armut bestens leben. Nun mag es zweifellos so sein, dass es in Deutschland Menschen gibt, die „arm“ sind. Menschen also, die neben einer warmen, eingerichteten Wohnung, einem Fernseher, fließendem, sauberen Wasser und Lebensmitteln, die man ruhig auch einmal saisongebunden verzehren darf, kaum etwas für den Konsum haben. Menschen, denn so wird „Armut“ definiert, die – sofern sie Single sind – nicht über 892 Euro im Monat verfügen, oder sich zu einer vierköpfigen Familie zählen dürfen, mit 1.873 Euro im Monat begnügen müssen.
Nun, so resümiert Herr Schneider angemessen betroffen, dies sei ein Resultat der „tief zerklüfteten Republik“ und umgehend zu beseitigen. Und ich gebe Herrn Schneider recht. Ja, von diesem Betrag den ganzen Monat über die Runden zu kommen, ist in der Tat bisweilen eine echte Herausforderung. Und auch ich bin der Meinung, dass diesem bedauerlichen Zustand ein Ende bereitet werden muss. So weit so gut.
Aber nun kommt der „Gutmensch“ bei Herrn Schneider zum Vorschein. Und wie es sich für Gutmenschen gehört, fordert er natürlich so dies und das. Zum Beispiel fordert er einen Mindestlohn von 11,50 Euro pro Stunde. Und die Anhebung der Hartz-4 Sätze! Fein, Herr Schneider ist ein Lehrstück der klassischen Spezies „Gutmensch“.
Es ist stets amüsant, wenn man den Begriff „Gutmensch“ verwendet, um mit einer unverhohlenen Ironie eben diesen Kreis unserer Zeitgenossen in Frage zu stellen. Also nicht die Zeitgenossen an sich – sondern deren Absichten. Wenn man deren Absichten ganz offen in Zweifel zieht. Wenn man ihnen unverhohlen und „Aug in Aug“ mitteilt, dass sie – aus einem minder entwickelten Selbstwertgefühl heraus – ihre Gutmenschenparolen nur dann in den Ring werfen, wenn zum einen jemand anderes „Wichtiges“ es hört, sie von ihrer zur Schau gestellten Selbstlosigkeit ausschließlich Vorteile haben und – ganz wichtig – jegliche Verantwortung ihrer eingeforderten Ansprüche an die Allgemeinheit auch bei genau dieser Allgemeinheit liegt. Dann ist der Teufel los – Hauen und Stechen sind da zarte Streicheleinheiten – weit und breit keine Toleranz. Toleranz scheint nur dann „hip“ zu sein, wenn die eigene Meinung anstandslos wiedergekäut und niemals – NIEMALS – gar negativ kritisiert wird.
Im Moment ist es gerade besonders chic, wenn wir so tun, als wären wir ausschließlich am Wohl des anderen interessiert. Wir selbst sind nichts – in der Gemeinschaft liegt das Heil verborgen! Hatten wir alles schon – es ändert aber nichts an der Tatsache, dass wir dieses Gebrabbel anscheinend immer wieder total erstrebenswert finden.
In der Politik und bei allen vom Staat abhängigen – und das werden jeden Tag mehr- Wohlfahrtsstaatsempfängern wächst die Begeisterung für die Allmacht. Auch das hatten wir schon – es ändert aber auch nichts an der Tatsache, dass wir es uns nicht verkneifen können, es immer wieder zu probieren.
Erstaunlich ist, wie Gutmenschen mit zweierlei Maß messen – entspricht man ihren Wünschen und Wertvorstellungen, so gehört man zu den Säulen dieser Gesellschaft, tut man dies nicht, ist der Teufel los. „Sozial ungerecht“, „egoistisch“, „rechts“. Suchen Sie sich bitte aus, was Sie sein möchten, wenn Sie dem Zeitgeist nicht entsprechen wollen und wenn sie nicht nach Ihren Regeln leben wollen. Suchen Sie sich etwas aus, womit sie am besten leben können – aber keine Sorge, der Rest kommt schon noch. Auf Dauer werden Sie mit allen „unfassbar schlechten“ Charaktereigenschaften in Verbindung gebracht.
Und so ist es auch im Falle von Herrn Schneider, der sich absolut sicher sein kann, dass er mit seiner Armuts-Tirade den Nerv der Zeit trifft und kaum einer näher nachfragt, wie sich dieses feine Clübchen eigentlich finanziert und welch ein „Wirtschafts“imperium inzwischen dort entstanden ist.
Dieses Imperium wird es niemals zulassen, dass die Armut in diesem Land kleiner wird. Warum auch? Es lässt sich doch für viele enorm gut davon leben. Der größte Posten im Bundeshaushalt ist der Sozialetat. Nun könnte man meinen, dass dies gut investierte Gelder sind, die den Betroffenen zugutekommen. Aber nicht doch! Nein, weniger als die Hälfte kommt bei denen an, die es „nötig“ haben. Wenn sie es denn nötig haben. Die Frage ist – WOLLEN sie alle es nötig haben? WOLLEN sie alle gern von „Papa Staat“ versorgt werden? Nein, natürlich nicht. Viele hassen ihren Zustand und tun alles, damit sie aus der Abhängigkeit entlassen werden.
ABER! Vergessen Sie das, liebe Wohlfahrtsstaats-Beglückte. Vergessen Sie das! Sie sind in Ihrem bedauernswerten Zustand viel mehr wert für diese Herrschaften. Stünden Sie nämlich auf eigenen Füßen, würden Sie diesen geistigen Zwergen, mit eben diesen, ganz gehörig in den Allerwertesten treten.
Diese Gutmenschen brauchen Sie so dringend wie die Luft zum Atmen, denn ohne Sie wären sie ohne Aufgabe, ohne Einkommen, ohne ihren Heiligenschein. Der gutbezahlte Heiligenschein ist ihnen ungemein wichtig. Und mit dem zeigen sie jedem den langen Finger, der außerhalb unseres wohlmeinenden „Sozialstaates“ etwas für einen anderen Menschen tun wollen. Die außerhalb des „Systems“ Nächstenliebe praktizieren. Die jenseits der „Steuerehrlichkeit“ anderen Geschenke machen. DAS, liebe Arme, DAS geht nun einmal gar nicht. Jeder Cent, der Euch zugutekommt, muss erst einmal durch die huldvollen Hände eines Gutmenschen fließen, der dann großzügig entscheidet, ob DU – lieber Armer – oder DU – lieber anderer Armer, davon einen Brotkrumen abkriegen soll.
Regulierungen, Strafen, Steuern und Abgaben sind alles Vehikel, womit Gutmenschen sich ein wundervolles Leben erschaffen. Existenzgründer, kleine und mittlere Betrieben werden von Gesetzen und Vorschriften ermordet und der zwangsweisen Armut zugeführt. Wer da raus will, muss ich erst einmal mit Behörden auseinandersetzen, wo dann Leute sitzen, die von Wirtschaft keinen blassen Schimmer haben, aber ihren Senf dazugeben.
Lieber Herr Schneider, arme Menschen brauchen kein Mitleid, arme Menschen brauchen Inspiration und Perspektive. Mitleid spendet ihnen ein Laib Brot, der sie nicht verhungern lässt oder man „gönnt“ ihnen Unterhaltung, so dass sie ihr Elend für einige Zeit vergessen können. Aber Inspiration kann sie dazu bringen, sich aus ihrer Not zu befreien. Herr Schneider, wenn man den Armen helfen will, dann sollte man ihnen zeigen, wie man wohlhabend wird. Dann sollte man ihnen ein Vorbild sein. Ein Vorbild in Sachen Selbstbewusstsein, Eigenständigkeit und Durchhaltevermögen. Dann sollte man ihnen zeigen, wie es möglich ist, aus seinem eigenen Leben etwas zu machen und unabhängig zu sein … unabhängig von Almosen, unabhängig von Brotkrumen, die „dem Armen“ hingeworfen werden – und für die er auch noch dankbar zu sein hat.
Aber dies ist nicht das Ziel, welches Sie verfolgen, denn die gesamte „Sozialdemokratie“ lebt von Rechtfertigungen, Umverteilung und moralischem Relativismus und ständig wollen Sie sich „um die Armen kümmern“. Und Sie „kümmern“ sich ja so gern; Sie finden es so erlösend für Ihren Selbstwert, wenn Sie andere unter Ihre Fittiche nehmen können.
Und warum machen Sie und Ihresgleichen das? Weil Sie alle besonders gute Menschen sind? Nein, keineswegs ist dies der Fall. Sie ziehen sich daran hoch, dass man Institutionen wie das Ihre „braucht“, dass Menschen wie Sie „Helden“ sein dürfen. Weil ein anderer von Ihresgleichen abhängig ist. Niemals wird unter dieser „Kümmerei“ die Armut aufhören, niemals. Denn dann wären Sie und Ihresgleichen überflüssig.
Und so nimmt es kein Ende, dass anstatt staatliche Wohltaten, Regulierungen und Energieverordnungen strikt einzugrenzen, eine Unmenge von Pseudo-Gefälligkeiten gießkannenmäßig verteilt wird, so dass auch nahezu jeder etwas von der Bestechung hat. Und die Rechnung geht auf! „Die Deutschen halten die Bundesrepublik für ein ungerechtes Land und wünschen sich mehr soziale Gerechtigkeit.“ Dass die Ungerechtigkeit in einem verbrecherischen Falschgeldsystem und einem darauf aufbauendem Steuermoloch zu suchen und zu finden ist – nicht ein klitzekleiner Gedankenblitzer!
Bei diesem ganzen Plan muss man eben nur dafür sorgen, dass es noch ein paar arme Tröpfe gibt, die für den Wohlstand arbeiten gehen. Die werden mit salbungsvollen Worten so lange bei Laune gehalten, bis die Profiteure sich mit dem finanziellen Ertrag – für den andere gesorgt haben – vollgesaugt haben. Dann werden sie ihr wahres Gesicht zeigen – dann, wenn nichts mehr zu holen ist.
Fragen Sie mal die – in Feierlaune leicht angeschickerten – Chefs von „Wohlstandsvereinigungen“, die sich – bis auf einige SEHR wenige Ausnahmen – keinen besseren Arbeitsplatz wünschen können als den, den sie haben. Gutmensch und reich! Gibt es ein schöneres Leben? Betrachten Sie nur einmal die Armutsindustrie – zu ihrem verdorbenen Magen kommt dann ein ganz schön dicker Kopf hinzu.
Wenn es nicht so bitter wäre, könnte man von Herzen lachen!
http://liberalesinstitut.de/alles-darf-sie-die-armut-nur-aufhoeren-darf-sie-nicht/
Alle sind benachteiligt, alle werden diskriminiert
Von René Scheu 09.04.2015 Achgut.com
Unsere Gesellschaft war kaum je offener und ausgeglichener. Und trotzdem fühlen sich alle als Opfer. Warum ist das so?
Wer die täglichen Nachrichten mit besonderem Augenmerk für Phänomene der Diskriminierung studiert, kommt aus dem Staunen nicht mehr heraus. Die Welt erscheint plötzlich als ein grosses Jammertal. Alle möglichen Gruppen fühlen sich notorisch herabgesetzt, benachteiligt, verunglimpft, diskriminiert: die Frauen, die Alten, die Jungen, die Ausländer, die Inländer, die Armen – und so weiter und so fort. Unzählige anwaltschaftliche Organisationen nehmen sich voller Verve der Schutzbedürftigen an. 1001 staatliche Beratungs-, Gleichstellungs- und Schlichtungsstellen widmen sich hingebungsvoll der Aufgabe, den Sich-benachteiligt-Fühlenden zu ihrem Recht zu verhelfen, sei es in der Familie, am Arbeitsplatz oder in der Öffentlichkeit.
Ich spreche hier nicht von echter Diskriminierung – der konsequenten Herabsetzung von Menschen aufgrund der Zuschreibung nicht selbstgewählter Eigenschaften wie Rasse, Ethnie oder Geschlecht. Vielmehr geht es mir um eine diffuse Grundbefindlichkeit des Sich-zurückgesetzt-Fühlens, die in den mitteleuropäischen Wohlstandszonen chronisch geworden ist. Für den kritischen Zonenbewohner stellt sich die interessante Frage: Wie kommt es, dass in den wohl egalitärsten und freizügigsten Gesellschaften aller Zeiten die Zahl der Klagen wegen Diskriminierung inflationäre Ausmasse angenommen hat?
Dieser Widerspruch lässt sich erklären, wenn man die Ideologie des Egalitarismus studiert, der den gesellschaftspolitischen Diskurs der Gegenwart prägt. Demnach stellt der Mensch eine Art Neutrum dar, ein abstammungsfreies, voraussetzungsloses, geschlechtsindifferentes Wesen. Jede Form der Mitgift, seien es Intelligenz, Vermögen oder kultureller Hintergrund, ist verpönt und gilt als unverdiente Privilegierung des Individuums. Was zählt, sind einzig die eigenen Ambitionen. Hier kippt der egalitäre Individualismus dann in eine neue Form des individualistischen Kollektivismus: Bleibt mein Status hinter meinen Ambitionen zurück, müssen es die anderen gewesen sein, die mich an der Selbstverwirklichung gehindert haben, auf die ich einen Anspruch habe. Sie haben mich zumindest insofern unterdrückt, als sie mich nicht befähigt haben, meinen Weg zu gehen. Kurz gesagt: Sie haben mich diskriminiert.
Die moderne Gesellschaft stellt sich in dieser Optik als Vergleichsraum dar, in dem sich erst einmal furchtlos jeder mit jedem misst. Die Vergleichsmanie produziert wenige Gewinner und eine Menge Verlierer, von denen viele nicht mit dem Ergebnis des Vergleichs leben können. Die Schuld an ihrem Versagen geben sie selbstbewusst den anderen – die Welt erscheint ihnen als eine grosse Verschwörung der Privilegierten gegen jene, die ihre Lebenschancen nicht nutzen konnten. Dagegen hilft nur eins: klagen. Und so wird die Welt trotz historisch beispiellosem Wohlstand, trotz riesigen Umverteilungsströmen und trotz individueller Förderung auf allen Stufen zum grossen Jammertal.
Der Beobachter staunt: Der Egalitarismus – die Gleichheit in allen Belangen nicht als Ideal, sondern als Obsession – bewirkt das Gegenteil des Beabsichtigten, nicht eine Begegnung der Menschen auf Augenhöhe, sondern ein überhebliches Herabblicken auf die anderen, nicht Toleranz, sondern Misstrauen. Ein Mittel gegen die breite gesellschaftliche Verdüsterung wäre ein neues, positives Wort für den Begriff der sozialen Ungleichheit. Das wäre eine ehrenwerte intellektuelle Arbeit für die nächsten Jahre. Allerdings auch eine riskante. Wer sie leisten will, muss damit rechnen, gevierteilt zu werden. Ich wage es zum Schluss trotzdem. Wie wäre es mit: Chancendynamik?
René Scheu ist Philosoph und Herausgeber des liberalen Magazins «Schweizer Monat».
http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/alle_sind_benachteiligt_alle_werden_diskriminiert
Reale Gewalt gegen strukturelle Gewalt – lediglich eine Rationalisierung der eigenen Lust als Rechtfertigung für eigene wilde, triebhaften Gewalt.
Wer sich für Kunst nicht interessiert, wem Kunst nichts bedeutet, der interessiert sich ebensowenig nicht für Menschen, dem bedeuten Menschen nichts. Denn Kunst ist Ausdruck menschlicher Gefühle.
Realistic violence against structural violence – only a rationalization of their own desire as justification for their own wild, instinctual violence.
Leviathan, oder was mir am Islam gefällt
Was mir am Islam gefällt.
An Islam gefällt mir, daß Islam sich überhaupt nicht für Kultur interessiert, nichts von der Kultur weiß und nichts von der Kultur, von der Literatur, Film, Bildenden Künsten, Musik anderer Länder, überhaupt von anderen Kulturen, wissen will. Das ist sehr sympathisch.
Anders als der Dummdeutsche, der seinen Russen- und Judenhaß in „israelkritische“ und „Putinkritische“ Propaganda zusammenmonologisiert, mit der er Kulturwerke für seine einseitigen politischen Zwecke instrumentalisiert, ab- und aufwertet, ganze Wissenschaftszweige, Soziologie, Politologie, Psychologie, Pädagogik, Psychotherapie, Psychoanalyse, Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften für die rot-rot-grüne politische Propaganda (antirussisch, antiisraelisch, diskussionsfeindlich) mißbraucht, benutzt Islam Kultur gar nicht, sie ist ihm egal, außer wenn er ab und an eine Fatwa ausspricht und immerwieder Menschen köpft, wenn sie ihren Kopf außerhalb des islamischen Tellerrands hinausstrecken. Dann gibt es Haue oder Schlimmeres. Islam interessiert sich nur für sich selbst und ist auf eigene Weise tolerant, denn er tangiert ansonsten andere Kulturen nicht, will andere Kulturen gar nicht beherrschen, sonders höchstens auslöschen und selbst dort den dann leeren Platz ausfüllen. Mittelmäßige Schriftsteller, wie Solschenizyn oder Herta Müller („parfümiert und kulissenhaft“) werden hochgelobt, nur weil sie antikommunistische Bücher geschrieben haben, Joseph Brodsky wird für sein Gedicht, in dem er Ukrainer nicht als das Heilige Volk preist, verdammt, weniger als mittelmäßige Schaustellerinnen, die weder singen noch tanzen können, die sich „PussyRiots“ nennen, werden hochgepriesen, nur weil sie angeblich gegen Putin sind, ein mediokrer Film „Leviathan“ erhält Preise in Cannes, weil er angeblich Korruption in Putins Rußland zeigt, Megagangster Chodorkowski, Timoschenko, Poroshenko werden zu Friedensaposteln ausgerufen, nur weil sie sich als Antiputinisten geben.
Leviathan (hebr. לִוְיָתָן liwjatan „der sich Windende“) ist der Name eines Seeungeheuers der jüdisch-christlichen Mythologie, aber auch ein berühmtes Buch Thomas Hobbes „Leviathan or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil“ (Leviathan oder Stoff, Form und Gewalt eines kirchlichen und staatlichen Gemeinwesens)
Titelblatt von Hobbes’ Leviathan. Zu sehen ist der Souverän, der über Land, Städte und deren Bewohner herrscht. Sein Körper besteht aus den Menschen, die in den Gesellschaftsvertrag eingewilligt haben. In seinen Händen hält er Schwert und Krummstab, die Zeichen für weltliche und geistliche Macht. Überschrieben ist die Abbildung durch ein Zitat aus dem Buch Hiob (41,25 EU): „Keine Macht auf Erden ist mit der seinen vergleichbar“.
Und nun auch ein in Cannes ausgezeichneter russischer Film unter diesem Titel „Leviathan“ / „Левиафан“, ein russisches Filmdrama des Regisseurs Andrei Swjaginzew aus dem Jahr 2014.
Sowohl die Geschichte eines aufrechten Siedlers, der vom korrupten und kriminellen Politiker vernichtet wird, um an sein Grundstück zu kommen, ist tausende Male in der ganzen Welt bereits erzählt, beschrieben und verfilmt worden, als auch die Aufnahmen, das Schauspiel der Filmdarsteller, die Dialoge, die Kameraführung sind mittelmäßig. Aber wie gesagt, es reicht daß in Rußland jemand eine Antiputinsauce in sein Zeug schmiert, damit die westlichen Medien in Begeisterungsrufe ausbrechen. So auch in diesem Fall. Die FAZ schreibt: „Russischer Film „Leviathan“ Die Wahrheit des heutigen Tages. Eine „antirussische politische Bestellung, gedreht mit russischen Budgetmitteln“? Im Westen wird Andrej Swjaginzews Film „Leviathan“ gefeiert, in der Heimat des Regisseurs verunglimpft. „ und Deutschlandradiokultur: „Film „Leviathan“International bejubelt, in Russland umstritten“
Dyktatura gówniarzy / Dictatorship of the squirts oder: Grimms Märchen reloaded / Gaslighting / Gehirnwäsche
Politikberichterstattung als märchenhaftes Spektakel / Political coverage as a fairy-tale-like spectacle (german/english)
Und wer bis hierher gelesen hat, der wird belohnt! Hier der Film (russisch mit englischen Untertiteln):
ARD tagesthemen: Miosga lügt und suggeriert politische Zensur in russischem Kinofilm “Leviathan”
propagandaschau.wordpress.com, 02 Montag Feb 2015
Für die westliche Propaganda befindet sich Russland in einer Catch23-Situation. Es ist vollkommen egal, was in Russland passiert, die westlichen Agitatoren werden es in jedem Fall gegen Russland drehen. Eine Vorzeigekünstlerin dieser politischen Agitation ist Golineh Atai. Diese Masche, alles ins Negative zu drehen, findet man bei ihr in nahezu jedem Beitrag. Beispielhaft sei hier an einen Kommentar von ihr anläßlich der Freilassung der als OSZE-Beobachter verbrämten NATO-Spione erinnert:
Atai: “Hat Moskau für die bedingungslose Freilassung der Geiseln gesorgt? Der Sprecher der Kreml sagte heute, man habe offenbar keinen Einfluss mehr auf die Separatisten in der Ostukraine und gab damit erstmals indirekt zu, der Kreml habe bislang DOCH Einfluss auf sie gehabt.” (Klick, ab 2:39m)
Diese Masche zieht sich durch die antirussische Hetze, wie die regelmäßigen PR-Berichte ohne Nachrichtenwert, die zur besten Sendezeit über die USA verbreitet werden. Aktuell kann man diese Methode des in-den-Dreck-ziehens anläßlich eines kritischen russischen Films beobachten: “Leviathan”.
Eigentlich wissen wir aus der Propaganda, dass es keine kritische Opposition in Russland gibt, keine kritischen Medien und dass kritische Künstler alle im Gulag sitzen und 16 Stunden am Tag bei Wasser und Brot Sträflingskleidung häkeln. Wenn dann plötzlich doch ein gesellschaftskritischer Film – obendrein staatlich gefördert – Furore macht, dann hat die Propaganda ein Problem, denn sowas gibt es doch gar nicht, in einem Land, in dem der Zar alles unter Kontrolle hat.
Was also machen?
Natürlich macht man sich den Film inhaltlich zu eigen – so wie man jede Opposition des “Feindes” umarmt und stellt die Kritik an dem Film ins Zentrum der Berichterstattung. So geschehen erwartungsgemäß in den gestrigen tagesthemen.
Caren Miosga lügt gleich zu Beginn frech in die Kamera, der Erfolg des Films würde in Russland totgeschwiegen.
Miosga: “Gemeint sind hier Korruption und Justiz in Russland, die ein russischer Regisseur so grandios seziert hat, dass er in Cannes ausgezeichnet wurde, den Golden Globe bekam und nun sogar für den Oskar nominiert ist. Nur in seiner Heimat wird dieser Triumph erst einmal totgeschwiegen und der Kulturminister ärgerte sich, man werde künftig keine Filme finanzieren, in denen die Zitat “Regierenden bespuckt werden”.
Die freche Lüge Miosgas zu entlarven ist ein Kinderspiel. Über den Film und seinen Erfolg wird selbstverständlich in den russischen Medien ausgiebig berichtet. Man findet massenhaft Berichte auf RT, der Moscow Times oder der Rossiyskaya Gazeta und anderen. Die Berichte reichen weit ins letzte Jahr zurück, was der Berufslügnerin Miosga entweder nicht bekannt ist oder vorsätzlich verschwiegen wird.
Ein (vermutlich 2 Wochen alter) Beitrag im staatlichen Rossiya1 listet sogar die Preise ausführlich auf, die der Film in den letzten Monaten eingeheimst hat:
10 февраля фильм выиграл главный приз международной федерации кинопрессы на фестивале в американском городе Палм-Спрингс, который неофициально считается стартом сезона наград и предвестником грядущей череды вручения главных американских кинопремий – “Золотого глобуса” и “Оскара”.
“Левиафан” вошел в пятерку номинантов в категории “Лучший неанглоязычный фильм” на премию Британской академии кино и телевизионных искусств BAFTA, церемония награждения которой состоится в Лондоне 8 февраля.
Кроме того, 11 декабря в австралийском городе Брисбене “Левиафан” получил главный приз как лучший фильм года на церемонии вручения премии Киноакадемии Азиатского-Тихоокеанского региона (Asia Pacific Screen Awards). 8 декабря британская газета “The Guardian” включила “Левиафан” в пятерку лучших фильмов мира за 2014 год.
Мировая премьера фильма “Левиафан” состоялась в основной конкурсной программе 67-го Каннского международного кинофестиваля, где картина была удостоена награды “За лучший сценарий”. Кроме того, фильм уже получил несколько наград европейских и мировых кинофестивалей: главные призы за лучший фильм на кинофестивалях в Мюнхене, Лондоне, сербском Паличе, Абу-Даби, Гоа, а также на фестивале операторского искусства Camerimage; приз Федерации кинокритиков Европы и Средиземноморья FEODORA на кинофестивале в Хайфе (Израиль), призы за лучшую операторскую работу на кинофестивале в Севилье (Испания). (LINK)
Damit nicht genug! Zum Schluss des verlogenen und politisch motivierten Beitrags suggeriert die Berufslügnerin Miosga auch noch, der Film käme in einer politisch zensierten Version in die russischen Kinos:
Miosga: “In Russland kommt Leviathan am 5. Februar in die Kinos – allerdings in einer anderen Variante.” (Link)
Was für eine andere “Variante” das sein soll, verschweigt Miosga vorsätzlich, obwohl es in einem Satz erklärt wäre. Sie will den Zuschauern suggerieren, der unbequeme und kritische Film würde politisch zensiert. Tatsächlich aber wird der Film – wie jeder andere auch – im Hinblick auf Flüche und Schimpfworte nachsynchronisiert. Diese sind seit einem neuen Gesetz aus dem Sommer letzten Jahres im Kino und auf der Bühne verboten. Das ist natürlich reaktionär und kleinkariert, hat aber nichts mit politischer Zensur zu tun, sondern vornehmlich mit dem Einfluß der Kirche und der mehrheitlich konservativen Bevölkerung.
Die beste Pointe kommt manchmal erst zum Schluss. Die Geschichte geht tatsächlich tatsächlich auf ein reales Ereignis in Colorado USA zurück. Auch in der wikipedia wird darauf verwiesen:
“Swjaginzew hörte im Jahr 2008 während der Dreharbeiten zu New York, I Love You von der Geschichte eines Mannes aus Colorado. „Marvin Heemeyer war Besitzer einer Reparaturwerkstatt. Als auf dem Gelände eine Zementfabrik errichtet wurde, war Heemeyer dagegen, denn die Zufahrt zu Heemeyers Werkstatt wurde durch die Fabrik blockiert. Heemeyer war verzweifelt und zerstörte daraufhin mehrere Gebäude seiner Stadt mit seinem Bulldozer. Anschließend brachte er sich um.” Zusammen mit Oleg Negin entwickelte er aus dieser Geschichte heraus und inspiriert durch die Lektüren von Heinrich Kleists Novelle Michael Kohlhaas, dem Buch Ijob und Thomas Hobbes Abhandlung Leviathan, die als Namensgeber für den Film fungierte, das Drehbuch zu Leviathan.”
Die erbärmlichen Hetzer der ARD benutzen also Korruption und die kaputten Zustände der US-Justiz, um gegen Russland Stimmung zu machen. Herrlich!
https://propagandaschau.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/miosga-verbreitet-lugen-und-suggeriert-politische-zensur-in-russischem-kinofilm-leviathan/
Helmut Dahmer über Jihadisten aus dem Westen
(22.3.2015) Helmut Dahmer gilt als kritische und gemäßigte Stimme in der Auseinandersetzung um Islamismus und Jihadismus, baut seine Analysen jedoch auf stereotypen Vorstellungen auf und blendet Strategien des Westens dabei aus. Dies wurde auch deutlich, als er bei der Präsentation der neuen Ausgabe der Zeitschrift „International“ seinen Beitrag vorstellte.“International“ erscheint seit 1979 in Wien und wird vor allem von PolitikerInnen, JournalistInnen, DiplomatInnen, BeamtInnen, StudentInnen und WissenschafterInnen gelesen. Die Zeitschrift setzt sich kritisch mit internationaler Politik auseinander und folgt nicht dem Mainstream, was bedeutet, dass es Beiträge gibt, die eine andere Sicht auf Griechenland, Syrien, die sogenannte Ukraine-Krise und die Rolle der Medien offenbaren (um nur ein paar der Themen in der aktuellen Ausgabe zu nennen).Herausgeber Fritz Edlinger meinte, man komme nach dem Attentat auf „Charlie Hedbo“ nicht umhin, sich damit auseinanderzusetzen. Er hätte sich am Cover von „International“ jedes Foto gewünscht, auf dem internationale PolitikerInnen für sich demonstrieren, aber so aufgenommen, dass man die Inszenierung (in einem abgesperrten Bereich) erkennen kann. Entsprechende Bilder fanden aber keine Gnade beim Grafiker, der das PolitikerInnen-Foto nun mit einer Aufnahme von einer Pegida-Kundgebung in Wien (und dem Text „Charlie und die Folgen“) kombinierte. „Die Spannung kommt darin aber gut zum Ausdruck“, meint Edlinger. Mehrere Beiträge (von Udo Bachmair, Hannes Hofbauer und Helmut Dahmer) befassen sich mit dem Titelthema.Edlinger kritisiert in Österreich gezogene Konsequenzen nach Anschlägen in anderen Ländern, etwa die Anschaffung von „Panzern und Helikoptern für die Polizei“ oder dass man „fehlgeleitete 16jährige“ nicht betreut, sondern einsperrt. Dahmer referierte dann über die „politische Psychologie“ von Jihadisten aus westlichen Ländern; ein Thema, mit dem er sich auch in Kommentaren für unterschiedliche anderen Medien von der Jungen Welt bis zum Standard auseinandersetzt.Dabei offenbarte er die privilegierte Weltsicht der reichen weißen Männer und geht davon aus, dass „die Menschenrechtserklärungen von 1776 und 1789“ eine „formelle Gleichstellung aller Klassenindividuen der modernen Gesellschaft als ‚Naturrecht‘ festgeschrieben“ haben. Ausbeutung, der Ausschluss von Frauen und Kolonisierten von Menschenrechten sind Dahmer sicher bewusst, aber anscheinend nicht wichtig genug, um „westliche Werte“ und deren Gültigkeit kritisch zu betrachten (was übrigens an die Gedenkkundgebung der Regierung am 11. Jänner 2015 erinnert).
Den Widerstand der Kolonisierten erwähnt er zwar, schreibt ihnen jedoch (die an Waffen und Mitteln meist heillos unterlegen waren) die gleiche „entsetzliche Grausamkeit „zu wie den Eroberern. Ein wenig scheint er zu bedauern, dass die unterworfenen Völker beim Versuch scheiterten, „sich der Einbeziehung in die moderne Wirtschaftsweise zu entziehen“ und dass ihre „sozioökonomischen Strukturen“ ruiniert wurden, aber letztlich ist die Welt der reichen weißen Männer ja auch moralisch überlegen.
Daher mißt er junge Muslime, die zu uns kommen oder hier aufwachsen, auch ausschliesslich daran, wie sehr sie sich anpassen und bereit sind, sich die Vorstellungen reicher weißer Männer anzueignen und zu begreifen, dass Religion in Europa nur eine untergeordnete Rolle spielt. Zwar würden Progressive in Ländern wie Spanien, Irland oder Polen u.a. angesichts von Auseinandersetzungen um das weibliche Selbstbestimmungsrecht einwenden, dass die katholische Kirche sehr wohl sehr einflussreich sein kann, doch darum geht es Dahmer nicht.
„Die Lebensweise der ‚ungläubigen‘ Mehrheit halten glaubenstreue Muslime (ob sie sich das eingestehen oder nicht) im Grunde für eine sündhafte, unmoralische (für ‚haram‘).“ Dieses Wort steht jedoch für mehrere Bedeutungen, da es „Tabu“, „verboten“ aber auch „heilig“ meinen kann. Bezogen auf den Koran gibt es den Gegensatz zwischen „halal“ (erlaubt, z.B. Speisen) und „haram“ (verboten, z.B. Schweinefleisch und Alkohol). Während in den Heimatländern hier lebender Muslime Religion sehr wichtig ist, gehört sie in Europa zum „kulturellen Gepäck“, das ImmigrantInnen mitbringen und das eine „religiöse, Gott wohlgefällige, disziplinatorische Regelung des Alltagslebens“ vorsieht. In der alten Heimat hat dies sehr gut gepasst, in den Gastländern jedoch keineswegs.
Dahmer spricht von „dauerbeleidigten“ Jugendlichen, die „alles“ in ihrem Milieu kränkt, meint damit muslimische Jugendliche und klammert aus, dass Frauen und Mädchen mit Frustrationen vielfach anders umgehen als änner und Burschen. Er realisiert auch nicht, dass keineswegs alle muslimischen Familien Jugendlichen keine Orientierung bieten, sondern im Gegenteil manche sie in einer Weise auffangen, die nichtmuslimische Elternhäuser in modernen Städten kaum zuwege bringen. Denn es ist z.B. bekannt, dass Familien, die kleine Geschäfte betreiben, Jugendliche durch Mithelfen einbinden, was für diese Struktur und Halt bedeutet.
Der Autor bezieht sich auf Freud und seine These von psychischen Instanzen, die „Realitätsprüfungen“ vornehmen, was er auf die Frage der Religion und damit verbundene Vorstellungen von Sündhaftigkeit umlegt. Wenn das Ich vor der „verinnerlichten väterlichen Gewalt“ kapituliere und „ein für allemal den Verlockungen der Welt der Ungläubigen entsagt und sich vornimmmt, die Schuld zu tilgen“, dann genüge es nicht, selbst ein „reines“ Leben zu führen. „Vielmehr muss er der unreinen Welt, in der er aufgewachsen ist, den Krieg erklären“, und schon haben wir ein paar tausend aus Europa kommende Jihadisten. Ehrlicherweise verwendet Dahmer nur die männliche Form, was jedoch nichts mit Bewusstsein für geschlechtergerechte Sprache zu tun hat.
Fritz Edlinger, Helmut Dahmer
Dass es irgendwo andere Perspektiven und andere Alltagserfahrungen von Frauen geben könnte, scheint ihm ebenso fremd zu sein wie die Vorstellung einer Welt, die weder von (patriarchalischen) monotheistischen Religionen noch vom Kapitalismus geprägt ist. Dass Wälder nicht mehr als „heilige Haine oder Idylle“ galten, sondern in Kubikmetern Nutzholz bewertet wurden, dient nur der Analyse in der Geschichte der modernen Marktwirtschaft. Dabei ist das „heiliger Hain“-Konzept die Urreligion der Völker nicht nur Europas, sondern auch des Nahen Ostens, und zwar in dem Sinn, dass die Natur heilig ist und daraus dann zuerst das göttlich Weibliche, dann Göttinnen und Götter entstanden sind. Was z.B. den einst in Vindobona lebenden KeltInnen der Nemeton war (also der heilige Hain), bedeutete den BeduinInnen in der arabischen Wüste Allat, die Mondgöttin, die jede Nacht lebenswichtigen Tau brachte.
Für Dahmer gibt es nur einen „Glauben der Väter“, ohne dass er dessen Entwicklung in Betracht zieht, die etwa im Iran durchaus noch lebendig ist, da vor dem Islam der Zoroastrismus weit verbreitet war. Heute bilden ZoroastrierInnen eine (anerkannte) Minderheit im Land, ebenso wie das Judentum (wobei ZoroastrierInnen sich zur Gleichberechtigung bekennen). Das Beispiel Iran steht Dahmers Thesen über „den Islam“ im Nahen Osten ebenso entgegen wie Syrien, wo viele Religionen friedlich zusammenlebten, ehe die USA und Golfstaaten zum „regime change“ schritten.
Geht man von durch westliche Lebensart „dauerbeleidigten“ jungen Männern aus, ist es einfach, die Rolle geostrategischer Interessen und verdeckter Operationen von Geheimdiensten auszublenden. Im Gegenteil, wenn man so schablonenartig argumentiert, trägt man dazu bei, diese Komponenten zu verschleiern und auf emotional gefärbte Bilder von „den“ Muslimen zu setzen. Dahmer fällt die Bedrohung der Meinungsfreiheit und ganz konkret von „Tausenden von Karikaturisten, Regisseuren, Dichtern, Journalisten, Schriftstellern“ ein, nicht aber der Umgang im „Westen“ mit jenen, die nicht auf US-Linie sind, sich weder kaufen noch instrumentalisieren lassen, sondern gegen Militäraktionen, „regime change“ und Propaganda auftreten, die für souveräne „westliche“ Staaten sind, die der eigenen Bevölkerung und nicht den reichen weißen US-Männern dienen.
Doppelstandards sind für den Autor kein Thema, obwohl/weil natürlich auch Muslime wissen, dass über „Menschenrechte“ entscheidet, um wessen Interessen es geht. Es ist keine Rebellion gegen „westliche Werte“, jene Heuchelei zu verabscheuen, mit der über Geheimgefängnisse, CIA-Folter, Drohnenmorde, Militärinterventionen, Umstürze und mediale Hetze hinweggegangen wird. All das verletzt Menschenrechte, all das verstösst gegen internationales Recht, all das bleibt ohne Konsequenzen für die Verantwortlichen. Dahmer gibt sich den Anschein, auch „destruktive Interventionskriege“ der „imperialistischen Mächte“ abzulehnen, lobt aber die „Kriegserklärung der Koalition der 60 Staaten und den Luftangriff auf IS-Truppen zur Unterstützung der kurdischen Kämpfer in und um Kobane“.
Nun ist Schutz für die KurdInnen eine Sache; eine andere ist aber, dass die USA und die Golfstaaten IS und Co. zugleich geschaffen und ermöglicht haben und es auch darum geht, offen mit Luftangriffen in Syrien zu intervenieren. Auf Nachfrage kann Dahmer kein Land nennen, in dem der US-„regime change“ Dinge zum Besseren gewandelt und nicht noch mehr Leid gebracht hat; aber von einem Professor, der ständig in den Medien präsent ist, würde man schon erwarten, dass er von sich aus kritisch reflektiert. Auch dass sowohl Religionszugehörigkeit als auch ethnischer Hintergund (siehe Ex-Jugoslawien, siehe Ukraine…) instrumentalisiert werden können, sprach er nicht selbst an.
Aus dem Publikum kamen vor allem von Frauen kritische Wortmeldungen, die darauf hinwiesen, dass es „den Islam“ nicht gibt (schon allein, weil er nicht wie das katholische Christentum zentral interpretiert wird). Sicher hat Religion in arabischen Ländern einen höheren Stellenwert als bei uns, da der Islam auch für nicht religiöse Menschen mit Identität zu tun hat. Man muss sich auch ansehen, wie die Mehrheitsgesellschaft mit Muslime umgeht: so setzt man in Frankreich auf Assimilation, während z.B. in London pakistanische Viertel mit eigener Infrastruktur existieren. Vielfach sind die Väter junger Männer keineswegs präsent, sondern fehlen, wie man dies etwa in Frankreich beobachten kann – da besteht dann oft die Tendenz, in der Moschee Halt zu suchen.
„Früher wussten viele nicht, ob sie Shiiten oder Sunniten waren“, erinnert sich eine Besucherin; junge Muslime, die sie kannte, riefen ihre Eltern an, um diese zu fragen. Sie weist auch darauf hin, dass man den Anschlag auf das Satiremagazin „Charlie Hebdo“ auch als „vorsätzlichen Mord“ bezeichnen kann, der eine Reaktion auf „ständige Blasphemie“ war (wenn man zumindest die permanent in anderen Medien gezeigten Cartoons betrachtet, so war „Charlie Hebdo“ oft ganz und gar nicht ironisch, sondern auch rassistisch und sexistisch – und eben blasphemisch, und dies besonders gegen den Islam).
Ausgeblendet wird auch, dass die Mehrheit der Muslime in Südostasien lebt, und zwar in Indonesien, während man sich bei uns auf arabische Staaten konzentriert (und auf Muslime bei uns). Helmut Dahmer beruft sich auf die aus seiner Sicht besten Zeitungen der Welt, „New York Times“ und „FAZ“, wenn er betont, dass 40% der Jihadisten aus Tunesien kamen; einem Land, in dem der „arabische Frühling“ zwar etwas besser verlief als in Libyen oder Ägypten, wo aber nach wie vor viele Junge ohne Job sind. Informationsquellen abseits des Mainstream scheinen Dahmer generell etwas suspekt zu sein, auch wenn einige Webseiten seit Jahren seriös über internationale Politik berichten. Er unterstellt Menschen, die auf das Internet hinweisen, dass sie in den von ihm geschätzten Zeitungen ja bloss Teile einer „Lügenpresse“ sehen. Freilich sind die genannten und andere Medien nicht das non plus ultra, bedenkt man ihre Rolle in Kampagnen der USA.
Weitere Beiträge in „International“: „Wien versucht die Kriegsteilnahme“ von Hannes Hofbauer (ebenfalls zu „Charlie Hebdo und die Folgen“), der bereits erwähnte Text von Udo Bachmair „Feindbild Islam von Medien und Politik neu belebt“, zum Schwerpunkt „20 Jahre EU-Beitritt Texte von Franz Vranitzky, Erhard Busek, Franz Fischler und Hannes Swoboda; zu Griechenland ein Artikel von Martin Konecny über „Erfolg und Hindernisse“ und eine Vorstellung der Kampagne „Griechenland entscheidet“.
Hannes Hofbauer hat auch den russischen Botschafter Sergej Netschajew interviewt, der kurz nach dem Abschluss des Minsk II-Abkommens (und vor Redaktionsschluss) optimisch war, was Frieden in der Ukraine betrifft. Ein von den deutschen NachDenkSeiten übernommener Beitrag setzt sich kritisch mit der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz auseinander (Reiner Braun und Jens Wernicke „Noch mehr Militarismus“). Weitere Themen sind: Syrien und Irak, Flüchtlinge, Wirtschaft, China, Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, eine Bücher- und Zeitschriftenschau.
http://www.ceiberweiber.at/index.php?type=review&area=1&p=articles&id=3369
Die Attraktion des „Kalifats“
Politik letzter Menschen.
Helmut Dahmer 20. Januar 2015 auf www.kritiknetz.de
Anlässlich der djihadistischen Attentate in Paris statt eines Vorspanns ein Kurzartikel von mir als Vorwort zum Essay von Helmut Dahmer.
Noch am Abend nach den islamistischen, antisemitischen Attentaten auf die Redaktion der – Satirezeitschrift „Charlie Hebdo“ und auf den jüdischen Supermarkt, denen siebzehn Menschen, davon sechs Juden, zum Opfer fielen, ließen der Innenminister De Maizière und die Kanzlerin Merkel verlauten, die Attentate hätten mit dem Islam nichts zu tun und gaben zu erkennen, dass wer anderer Auffassung sei als sie, ressentimentgeladene Islamfeindlichkeit und xenophoben Hass schürten.
Doch das Gegenteil ist wahr: Das Attentat war eine Tat des islamischen Djihads gegen Menschen, die von islamischen Führern zu Feinden des Islam erklärt und damit zur Ermordung freigegeben wurden. Und der islamische Djihad hat nun einmal sehr viel mit dem Islam und seiner religiösen Tradition zu tun. Das Attentat war außerdem eine vernichtungsantisemitische Tat. Von den djihadistischen Attentätern wurde ganz bewusst ein jüdischer Supermarkt ausgewählt, um Juden zu ermorden, weil sie, wie einer der Attentäter freimütig bekannte, als Juden schuld an der Unterdrückung der Moslems in der Welt und insbesondere in Israel seien. So ist eine wahnhaft antisemitische Projektion beschaffen. Sie projiziert den ohnmächtigen in den Tätern selbst lodernden Hass und Vernichtungswillen auf die Juden, die in der theologischen Tradition des Islam häufig als seine ‚existenzielle Feinde’ definiert werden. Sie schreibt ihnen zu, was sie selbst, identifiziert mit der gesellschaftlichen Herrschaft des Islam vollbringen wollen, nämlich die Vernichtung alles mit ihm Nicht-Identischen, um dann präventiv zum Heil der Welt zur antisemitischen Tat und zur physischen Ausrottung der Träger der Kritik schreiten zu können.
Mögen Frau Merkel und Herr De Maizière, die der Propaganda der Islamfunktionäre hierzulande diensteifrig Tribut zollen, mich und andere Ideologiekritiker „islamophob“, „rassistisch“ oder einen „irren Professor“ nennen, wie es die Medien in großer Zahl bis hin zur NZZ, schon einmal angesichts meines Gegenaufrufs Gegenaufruf gegen den demagogischen Aufruf „Rassisten sind eine Gefahr, nicht Muslime“. (vom 25.03.2010) schon einmal getan haben, und damit den islamistischen Mob auf uns hetzen, das damals und heute wieder Gesagte bleibt wahr. Es ist kein Wort davon zurück zu nehmen.
Hass sät, wer mordet oder zum Morden aufruft, wie es die Täter der NSU getan haben und es ilamistische Djihadisten es zum ungezählten Male nun wieder getan haben, nicht aber wer die djihadistischen und antisemitischen Motive der Täter, die sie selbst gar nicht einmal verleugnen, bei ihrem richtigen Namen nennt und den Beweggründen und gesellschaftlichen Ursachen nachgeht. Diese haben weniger mit der Religion und sehr vielmehr mit den Verwüstungen zu tun, die die globale kapitalistische Produktionsweise auf Erden anrichtet, ohne damit aufhören zu können: mit der wachsenden Spaltung der Menschheit in wenige Vermögende und eine ungeheure Mehrheit von ohnmächtigen Habenichtsen, zunehmender Verelendung eines großen Teils der Menschheit außerhalb der Zentren der kapitalistischen Produktionsweise sowie Verwüstung der natürlichen Lebensgrundlagen. Auch davon schweigen Merkel und de Mazière. Es ist, als hätten beide einvernehmlich Horkheimers Diktum zur Kenntnis genommen: „Wer vom Kapitalismus nicht reden will, soll auch vom Faschismus schweigen“ und nähmen es beim Worte: Als ‚marktkonforme Demokraten’ wollen sie vom Kapitalismus nicht reden. Also schweigen sie auch von den faschistischen islamistischen Rackets, selbst wenn diese mittlerweile ganze Staatsgebiete unter ihre Herrschaft und Kontrolle gebracht haben. Das ist deutsche Staatsräson à la Merkel.
Hass sät auch, wer die kritische Aufklärung der Taten aus kurzfristigem politischen Kalkül oder Angst vor der Kritik verhindert. Er paktiert klammheimlich zwar nicht mit der Tat, aber mit der menschenfeindlichen Ideologie der Täter, die sie zu Massenmorden anreizt, und macht sich dadurch mitschuldig. Es kommt nicht nur darauf an, die unmittelbare Gewalt zu bekämpfen und Mörder mit antidemokratischer und antisemitischer Gesinnung nach ihren Verbrechen zu verfolgen, sondern es kommt auch und sehr darauf an, solche Ideologien, in Wort und politischer Tat zu bekämpfen, die nicht nur den erreichten Stand der durchs Kapital beschränkten Freiheit gefährden, sondern jede Möglichkeit, darüber hinaus zu kommen vernichten, sollten sie siegen. Das aber geht nur, wenn man sie bei ihrem wahren Namen nennen kann, und die emanzipatorische Kritik an ihnen, die die Kritik der politischen Ökonomie des Kapitals einschließt, nicht tabuisiert. Das ist das Mindeste. Besser wäre es freilich, wenn diese Kritik durch tatkräftige Unterstützung Auftrieb bekäme. Aber das von Politkern hierzulande zu erwarten, ist geradezu abwegig.
Den Lesern des Kritiknetzes dürfte bekannt sein, dass das Kritiknetz von Beginn an dabei nicht mitgemacht, sondern diese Politik des Verschweigens, Verleugnens, Verkehrens, semantischer Verschiebungen, falsche Beschwichtigungen von Beginn an in Wort und Tat bekämpft hat.[1]
Auf dieser Linie liegt auch der Essay von Helmut Dahmer über „Die Attraktion des Kalifats“. In ihm geht der Autor der oben gestellten Frage nach, was marginalisierten muslimischen Jugendlichen im Nahen Osten oder auch in Europa die islamistischen Rackets, die für ein islamisches Kalifat kämpfen, in dem es kein Israel mehr gibt und keinen Juden, der sich nicht mit Haut und Haar unterwirft, so attraktiv erscheinen lässt, dass sie sich ihnen anschließen und mit ihnen in den Djihad ziehen und gibt anschließend Empfehlungen, was im Verhältnis zu diesen Jugendlichen zu tun sei.
Der Aufsatz wurde vor den Attentaten in Paris geschrieben. Das ist jedoch kein Nachteil. Vielmehr wird daran nur deutlich, dass man schon lange vor den Attentaten um die Motivlage potentieller Täter wissen konnte und darum, was besser zu machen sei. Das aber ist ganz gewiss nicht das, was die Kanzlerin und der Innenminister machen.
Heinz Gess (Kritische Theorie)
1 Ich beabsichtige in Kürze eine Zusammenstellung aller wichtigen islamkritischen Artikel mit einem Kommentar von mir zu veröffentlichen
Link zum Essay „Die Attraktion des ‚Kalifats'“ h i e r
www.kritiknetz.de/images/stories/texte/Dahmer_Die_Attraktion_des_Kalifats.pdf
http://www.kritiknetz.de/index.php/religionskritik/1290-die-attraktion-des-kalifats
Helmut Dahmer
Zitation: [Dahmer, Helmut (2015): Die Attraktion des „Kalifats“, in: Kritiknetz – Zeitschrift für Kritische Theorie der Gesellschaft] © 2015 bei www.kritiknetz.de, Hrsg. Heinz Gess, ISSN 1866-4105
Der Schweizer Nahost-Kommentator Arnold Hottinger schreibt: „Mit der Zeit wurde deutlich: Je brutaler die islamistischen Gruppen ihren Kampf führten, desto erfolgreicher waren sie. Die Kämpfer unter [dem selbsternannten „Kalifen“] al-Bagdadi […] taten sich durch zielbewusste Grausamkeit hervor.“ „Die Brutalitäten […] bildeten sensationelles Propagandamaterial im Internet, dazu geeignet, verbitterte Jugendliche aus den islamischen Ländern und aus der islamischen Diaspora in der Emigration zu mobilisieren – genau das Publikum, das IS als Kanonenfutter benötigte. In den von IS beherrschten Räumen, in denen zur Zeit etwa fünf Millionen Menschen leben, verbreiten die offentlich ausgeübten und allen sichtbaren Brutalitäten Furcht und fordern dadurch den Gehorsam.“ „Der Einsatz von Selbstmordbombern [in mit Explosivstoffen gefüllten Lastwagen] zur Eroffnung von Kämpfen“ setzt voraus, „dass große Zahlen von Selbstmordkandidaten zur Verfügung stehen. Sie müssen in einer >Sonderausbildung< psychisch konditioniert werden. Es handelt sich bei ihnen um eine Art <Kanonenfutter<, für welches sich kampferisch unausgebildete und psychisch verletzte oder angeschlagene Freiwillige aus dem Innenbereich [des IS] und aus der Außenwelt eignen. „2
Dass in europaisch-amerikanischen Gesellschaften lebende, zumeist dort aufgewachsene junge Leute zwischen 17 und 40 – radikalisierte Muslime und Konvertiten – ihren Familien und dem ihnen vertrauten Milieu Valet sagen und sich im Nahen Osten, den sie nicht kennen, in blutige Kampfe stürzen, die sie nicht verstehen, hat hiesige Zeitungsleser und Fernsehzuschauer beunruhigt und verwirrt. „Warum ziehen von heute auf morgen Hunderte und Tausende junger Leute aus dem sicheren Westen in einen barbarischen Glaubenskrieg?“, lautet ihre Frage, oder, kurzer: „Was bietet denen der Djihad?“ (Lust. Anm.JSB)
Das Erstaunen über die Faszination, die vom Djihad und von seinen Untaten ausgeht, ist keineswegs ein naives, sondern ein Produkt der Abwehr, namlich der Erinnerungsverweigerung. Helfen wir der Erinnerung ein wenig auf: Gedenken wir der Jugend des deutschen Djihads, die unter Fuhrung eines braunen Kalifen in Blitzkriegen halb Europa eroberte und im Zeichen der Siegrune und des Totenkopfs Grausamkeiten verubte, die im Unterschied zu denen des IS wahrlich unvorstellbar sind. Erinnern wir uns der Schrecken der jahrhundertelang wütenden christlichen Konfessions- und Kolonialkriege, und vergessen wir nicht die Kriegs- und Todesbegeisterung der Generation, die vor 100 Jahren in die Vernichtungsschlachten des ersten Weltkriegs zog.
Von den Motiven, die die ahnungslosen jun-gen Leute aus dem „Westen“ an die Front des Glaubenskrieges treiben, sind einige schon angedeutet. Hottinger spricht zum einen bei-laufig von der Rekrutierung „verbitterter“ Jugendlicher aus der muslimischen Diaspora und verweist zum anderen auf die (kulturell verponte) Lust am Entsetzlichen. Bei Chris-toph Reuter heiBt es erganzend:
Dass die vermummten Dschihadisten, die Sonnenbrille im Haar, auf ihren Pickups im Ausland eine gewisse Faszination hervorrufen, ist nicht zu übersehen. Die militärischen Erfolge des IS, die Umtriebigkeit auf Twitter, Facebook oder YouTube lassen einen Sog entstehen, der auch in Europa und Asien Gefolgschaft anzieht: unter den Verlierern der zweiten Einwanderergeneration in den Vorstadten von Metropolen in Frankreich, England, Belgien, Deutschland, in den Armenvierteln von Jordanien, Saudi-Arabien, unter Pakistans Taliban und nordafrikanischen Radikalengruppen.3
Dem ist hinzuzufugen, dass die neuen Kamikaze-Kampfer aus Deutschland, Frankreich, Skandinavien oder aus den angelsachsischen Landern vor allem von ihrem Degout an ihrem Leben als Marginalisierte in den reichen Oasenlandern dieser Welt getrieben sind. Sie wollen heraus aus ihrem Leben zwischen zwei Kulturen, in deren keiner sich recht zu hause fühlt. Sie suchen den Kontrast zu all dem, was sie kennen und verachten, und hoffen, sie fänden irgendwo eine radikal andere Lebensform: Krieg statt Frieden, Askese statt Überfluss, mannerbündlerische Gemeinschaft statt des verwirrend-provozierenden Zusammenlebens der Geschlechter und ihrer Zwischenformen, Todesverachtung statt Sicherheit, Restauration eines goldenen Zeitalters par force, also die Wiederherstellung einer vorkapitalistischen Welt anstelle der frustranen Gegenwart.4 Die neue Mandi-Bewegung hat nicht nur diesem oder jenem Regime, dieser oder jener konkurrierenden Miliz den Kampf angesagt, sondern der westlichen Moderne insgesamt, mit der die Tausende, die ihr jetzt aus den kapitalistischen Zentren zuströmen, nicht zurechtkommen. Auf den Trümmern gescheiterter Staaten wollen sie ein transnationales Imperium errichten. Die Flüchtlinge aus dem Goldenen Westen erfahren schon im Augenblick, da sie die Grenze zum Kalifat Oberschreiten, eine enorme Nobilitierung. Sie gehoren nun – lebend oder tot – zu den Auserwahlten, denen (vom undenkbaren Ungehorsam gegenüber dem einzigen Gott und seinem Kalifen einmal abgesehen) „alles“ erlaubt ist. Gestern noch ein ohnmächtiger Anonymus unter Millionen von Seinesgleichen, ist der Djihadist plotzlich Herr über Leben und Tod „alter“ fur „ungläubig“ Erklärten, gleichgultig, ob sie sich selbst fur Christen, Juden oder Muslime halten. Die Welt ist voll von Ketzern, die vom wahren Glauben abgefallen sind, und von Götzendienern, die Nation und Demokratie huldigen, sie ist also voll von Feinden und potentiellen Opfern. Wer jahrelang Frustrationen (des Größenwahns. Anm.JSB) in sich hineinfraß, kann nun endlich einmal (pathologisch. ANm.JSB) guten Gewissens seinen aufgestauten Aggressionen (listvoll. Anm. JSB) freien Lauf lassen, fur alle ihm (angeblich. Anm. JSB) widerfahrene Unbill sich rächen. Als Vorkämpfer eines kunftigen Gottesstaats, als Berserker im Heiligen Krieg sind ihm die Sünden seines vorherigen Lebens in den gottlosen Landern erlassen, bleibt ihm selbst im Jenseits die Höllenstrafe erspart. Dafür (für Über-ES. Anm.JSB) scheint kein Preis zu hoch.
Nach dem Scheitern, der Niederschlagung, dem „Verrat“ oder der Bürokratisierung zahlloser Aufstände und veritabler Revolutionen gegen den nationalen und internationalen Status quo erscheint dieser mehr und mehr Menschen als „alternativlos“. Ist aber im Reich des Profanen, im Diesseits, keine Hoff-ung mehr auf einen grundlegenden Wandel der Lebensverhältnisse, dann gewinnt die Sphäre des (angeblich. Anm. JSB) Sakralen, gewinnt das „Jenseits“ wieder an Faszination. Darum beerben die islamistischen Bunde und Sekten gegenwartig die steckengebliebenen antikolonialen Befreiungsbewegungen und die säkularen Parteien und Regime, die aus ihnen hervorgingen, und darum fällt es frommen Fanatikern leicht, das Vakuum zu fullen, das die antidespotischen arabischen Aufstände und die imperialistischen Interventionen der vergangenen Jahre und Jahrzehnte hinterlassen haben. Der Arbeiter-Internationalismus des 19. und des fruhen 20. Jahrhunderts ist nur mehr eine ferne Erinnerung. Der zuletzt von der kubanischen Regierung praktizierte staatliche Internationalismus Moskauer und Pekinger Prägung ist tot.(So wie die Psychoanaylse auch, nur noch Fetisch, Totem und Tabu. Anm.JSB)Die „Bewegung der Blockfreien Staaten“ ist Geschichte. An die Stelle von Pan-Afrikanismus und Pan-Arabismus sind seit der iranischen Revolution und der Vertreibung der sowjetischen Truppen aus Afghanistan der Pan-Schiismus und der (mit ihm konkurrierende) Pan-Sunnitismus (und Pan-Mpb-ismus. Anm. JSB) getreten.
Die neue djihadistische Bewegung und ihr Kampf fur ein neues heiliges Land mit unbestimmten Grenzen sind das jüngste Glied in einer langen Reihe von messianischen Aufbruchsbewegungen, als deren (vorläufig) letzte in Deutschland – wenn wir einmal von der rassistischen Karikatur des Millenarismus durch die Nazis absehen – der Münsteraner Taufer-Staat („Neues Jerusalem“) der Jahre 1534/35 in Erinnerung ist, der in einer Schreckensherrschaft endete. (wie alle moralisierenden Diktaturen. Anm.JSB) 5 Dem weltweiten regressiven Trend, Sinn nicht mehr im weltlichen Leben und in der menschlichen Geschichte zu suchen, sondern in der Heilsgeschichte6 und in der Vorbereitung auf das erhoffte eigentliche Leben in einem imaginierten Jenseits, werden die Ideologen des Kalifats gerecht, die sich und ihre Gefolgschaft in einem apokalyptischen Endkampf wähnen, der den Schrecken unserer Endzeit ein Ende macht und nach Verdammung aller Unglaubigen zur Etablierung eines (erbärmlichen und fürchterlichen. Anm. JSB) Gottesstaats führt, in dem die Gerechten mit dem wiedergekehrten Messias tausend Jahre lang ein paradiesisches Leben führen werden. Sie erneuern damit, unter Rückgriff auf mittelalterliche Schriften, einen alten Mythos, der sich, mit Varianten, in allen Weltreligionen findet und vielleicht am prägnantesten von dem iranischen Religionsstifter Mani (Stifter des Manichäismus. Anm.JSB) im dritten Jahrhundert unserer Zeitrechnung formuliert worden ist.7
Behnam T. Said fasst eine (auf YouTube do-kumentierte) Ansprache des salafistischen Predigers Abu Abdullah (Brahim Belkaid), in der er (auf einer Benefiz-Veranstaltung des Hamburger Vereins „He!fen in Not“ am 21. 4. 2013 zur Unterstutzung des Djihads aufrief), wie folgt zusammen:
„Seinen Auftritt inszeniert er hochemotional und entwirft für das Publikum eine bipolare Welt, in der das Gute gegen das Böse kampft, wobei das Gute der Islam und das Böse der shaitan, also der Teufel ist. „8 „Bereits der Prophet Muhammad habe Syrien als wichtiges Schlachtfeld benannt, und der endzeitliche Kampf zwischen den Anhängern Gottes und denen des Satans (Juden, der Westen, etc. ANm.JSB) solle auf der Erde Syriens, das Abu Abdullah zumeist mit seinem alten Namen Sham bezeichnet, stattfinden.“9 „Aus der Sicht Abdullahs [haben] die Truppen des shaitan in Syrien bereits hinreichend ihre Kräfte mobilisiert. Gemeint sind […] Bashar al-Asads Truppen und seine Unterstützer aus Iran sowie aus den Reihen der Hizbullah und irakisch-schiitischer Milizen. Die Kampfer des Guten hingegen [müssen] sich gegen eine satanische Übermacht stellen und zudem die muslimischen Zivilisten gegen Gräueltaten des Regimes al-Asads und seiner Verbündeten verteidigen.“1°
Said teilt dann noch einen wörtlichen Auszug aus Abu Abdullahs Predigt mit:
„Ihr müsst nach Syrien gehen, meine lieben Geschwister! […] Es ist die Erde, auf der al Mandi [der Eraser] stehen wird, wenn die großen Kriege des Endes der Zeit beginnen werden. Und deswegen sind diese Kämpfe die Vorbereitungen auf das Ende. Diese Kämpfe […] sind keine Kämpfe um ein Brot, keine Kämpfe, damit die Menschen mehr Geld verdienen. […] Eine andere Zeit hat angefangen […]. Dieser Kampf […] ist die Vorbereitung für das Ende der Zeit, für den [Tag der Wiederauferstehung], für die Vorbereitung der [groBen Schlachten vor dem Jüngsten Tag], der großen Kämpfe zwischen dem Islam und dem Rest der Welt. […] An diesem Ort, in Damaskus, wird al-Mandi stehen […], über den der Prophet berichtete: >Und wenn auch nur ein Tag übrig bleiben wird […], so wird Allah einen Mann schicken, der die Erde füllen wird mit Gerechtigkeit (also mit Mod und Totschlag. Anm.JSB) , genauso wie sie zuvor gefüllt war mit Ungerechtigkeit. < […] Deshalb, liebe Geschwister, es ist kein Spaß, was dort stattfindet. Es ist kein Krieg wie ein anderer Krieg in Libyen oder in Tunesien, es ist keine Revolution wie eine andere. Es sind die Vorbereitungen auf den Islam oder gegen den Islam.‘11
Den jungen Muslimen und Christen, die verzweifelt nach einem Sinn, einem Halt, einer Orientierung suchen, die sie in ihren Familien, Peergroups und Gemeinden nicht finden, mussen die Individuen und Gruppen, denen das Schicksal dieser Fluchtlinge aus der Moderne nicht gleichgültig ist, laut und deutlich sagen,
dass die Flucht aus ihrem Herkunftsmilieu ins derzeit von den Djihad-Kampfern gehaltene Territorium, die Flucht aus der Jetztzeit in eine imaginare Vergangenheit, in den Mythos der Heiligen der letzten Tage, eine Flucht ins Elend des modernen Kriegs, eine Reise ins Nichts ist.
Dass das Kalifat über kurz oder lang das Schicksal der zahllosen Sektenkolonien teilen wird, die mit unendlicher Anstrengung als Vorposten eines besseren, richtigeren Lebens, einer Zukunftsgesellschaft gegründet wurden und, nach Jahren oder Jahrzehnten, von der sie umgebenden, technisch und kommerziell uberlegenen Mehrheitsgesellschaft erdrückt wurden, nicht ohne sich zuvor in endlosen internen Fraktionsstreitigkeiten aufgerieben zu haben.
Ferner, dass die Untergangspropheten, denen sie vertrauen, ihre militarischen und geistlichen Fuhrer, selbst nur Schachfiguren, Marionetten im globalen Stellvertreterkrieg der Randstaaten Syriens und der Großmachte sind, von denen sie, je nach Opportunität, alimentiert oder im Stich gelassen werden.
Dass sie nicht nur danach fragen müssen, wer die Muslime in den Ländern des Nahen Ostens mit wessen Hilfe unterdrückt, sondern wer deren selbsternannte Befreier, den neuen Kalifen und seine Truppen kontroliert.
Dass sie ihr Leben fur eine verlorene Sache einsetzen, dass sie, ohne militarische Ausbildung und unzureichend bewaffnet, als „Kanonenfutter“ in Konflikten, die sie nicht überschauen, verheizt werden.
Dass die Kalifats-Djihadisten vor allem auch darum keine Chance haben, weil sie – wie einst Pol Pots „Rote Khmer“ oder die Fanatiker vom „Leuchtenden Pfad“ in Peru – nicht bloß gegen den „Westen“ und die „Abtrünnigen“ Krieg fuhren, sondern auch die Mehrheit derjenigen, die sie ins tausendjährige Reich führen wollen und die keineswegs an der ihr aufgenötigten asketischen Lebens- und Kriegsfuhrung interessiert ist, nur mit Terror und Massakern zu ihrem vermeintlichen „Gluck“ zwingen konnen…
2 Hottinger, Arnold (2014): „Bald nur noch Failed States?“ (4. 12. 14), S. 7.
3 Reuter, a. a. 0. (Anm. 7), S. 57.
4 „Die wollen ihr altes Leben nicht mehr. Und sie wissen nicht, wie sie sonst da rauskommen sollen. Auf die wird einfach eingeredet. Das sind Leute, die nach dem groBen Sinn suchen und verwirrt sind. Die haben nie denken gelernt, kommen in unserem System nicht klar. Die kannen ihre Rechnungen nicht bezahlen. Einige von denen waren als Junkie geendet, hatten sie nicht zum Glauben gefunden“, meint der in Offenbach aufgewachsene Rapper mit dem schanen Namen „Haftbefehl“ in einem Interview mit den Spiegel-Redakteuren Philipp Oehmke und Tobias Rapp. Anhan, Aykut (2014): „Es geht um nichts. Um Schei13.“ Der Spiegel, 8. 12. 2014, S. 133.
5 Die Truppen des Furstbischofs Franz von Waldeck eroberten schlieBlich die Stadt. 600 Einwohner wurden von ihnen massakriert, die gefangenen Anfuhrer der Wiedertaufer nach !anger Haft affent-lich zu Tode gefoltert. Vgl. Van DO!men, Richard (1974): Das Tauferreich zu Munster: 1534-1535. Bericht und Dokumentation. Munchen (dtv).
6 Vgl. Lawith, Karl (1950): Weltgeschichte und Heilsgeschehen. Zur Kritik der Geschichtsphiloso-phie. Stuttgart (Kohlhammer) 1953.
Vgl. dazu Widengren, Geo (1961): Mani und der Manichaismus. Stuttgart (Kohlhammer) 1961.
8 Said, Behnam T. (2014): Islamischer Staat. IS-Miliz, al-Qaida und die deutschen Brigaden. Munchen (Beck), S. 147.
9 Ebd., S. 148.
10 Ebd., S. 147.
11 Ebd., S. 148 f.
Angeblicher Erzfeind der Türkei: „Der Drahtzieher“
von Burak Bekdil 27. April 2015 auf Achgut.com
Englischer Originaltext: Turkey’s Supposed Nemesis: „The Mastermind“
Es ist ein hässlicher, aber cleverer Schritt, der an die Methoden der Nazi-Propagandamaschinerie der 1930er Jahre erinnert, mit denen die Nazis damals Millionen Menschen für sich vereinnahmten.“Der Drahtzieher“ ist nicht das Produkt eines Haufens verrückter Fanatiker. Es ist ein kalkulierter Schritt von schlauen Politikern, die die Stimmen frommer, antisemitisch eingestellter Muslime gewinnen wollen.
Der größte Feind der Türkei: das sind in den Augen ihrer islamistischen Herrscher nicht etwa die fanatischen Dschihadisten, die derzeit weite Landstriche in den Nachbarländern Syrien und Irak besetzt halten; noch sind es die Tausenden „Schläfer“ im eigenen Land – dieselben Dschihadisten, die zwar noch keinen spektakulären Terroranschlag verübt haben, dies aber jederzeit tun können. Der Feind sind nicht die radikalen Schiiten in der Region, die politisch und militärisch auf dem Vormarsch sind, und auch nicht ein atomar bewaffneter Iran. Es sind nicht die linksextremistischen Terroristen, die kürzlich einen Staatsanwalt ermordet haben. Es ist nicht Russland, China oder die westliche Zivilisation. Als den größten Feind hat Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan etwas ausgemacht, das er den „Drahtzieher“ nennt – und dieser, so glaubt er, schmiede unermüdlich Pläne gegen die Türkei.
In einer im Dezember 2014 gehaltenen Rede sagte Erdogan:
„Ich betone das: Glaubt nicht, dass es sich hier um Operationen handeln würde, die auf mich persönlich zielen. Glaubt nicht, dass sich diese Operationen gegen unsere Regierung oder irgendeine [politische] Partei richten würden. Ich sage euch, meine Freunde, das Ziel dieser Operationen ist die Türkei, die Existenz der Türkei, ihre Einheit, der Frieden und die Stabilität. Sie richten sich insbesondere gegen die türkische Wirtschaft und die Unabhängigkeit der Türkei. Ich habe es schon früher gesagt: Hinter all dem steckt ein Drahtzieher, inzwischen ist er in unserem Land zu einem allgegenwärtigen Gesprächsthema geworden. Manche fragen mich: ,Wer ist dieser Drahtzieher?‘ Und ich sage: ,Es liegt an dir, das herauszufinden. Und du weißt, was es ist, du weißt, wer es ist.'“
Der Fernsehsender A Haber, ein eifriger Unterstützer Erdogans, nahm den Befehl an und machte sich daran, Recherchen über „das“ anzustellen. Das Ergebnis war der Dokumentarfilm „Der Drahtzieher“, der am 15. März 2015 erstmals ausgestrahlt und seither wiederholt gesendet wurde; viele Pro-Regierungs-Medien haben ihn auf ihre Websites gestellt.
Das Hauptthema des Films ist die seit 3.500 Jahren andauernde „jüdische Herrschaft über die Welt“. Drei „jüdische“ Figuren der Geschichte (von denen einer gar kein Jude war) werden in den Fokus gerückt: Der mittelalterliche spanische Philosoph und Torahgelehrte Moses Maimonides, Charles Darwin (kein Jude), und der deutsch-amerikanische Philosoph Leo Strauss.
Hier sind einige Zitate aus dem Film, der mit einem Bild des Davidsterns und einem Modell des Tempels in Jerusalem beginnt:
„Der Drahtzieher, dessen Wurzeln Tausende Jahre zurückreichen, der herrscht, brandschatzt, zerstört, die Welt aushungert, Kriege, Revolutionen und Staatsstreiche anzettelt, einen Staat im Staat erschafft – dieser ‚Intellekt‘ ist nicht nur der Fluch der Türkei, sondern der ganzen Welt. Wer ist dieser Drahtzieher? Die Antwort ist verborgen in Wahrheiten und Fakten, die niemand als Verschwörungstheorien abtun kann.
Die Geschichte beginnt in grauer Vorzeit, vor 3.500 Jahren, als Moses sein Volk aus Ägypten nach Jerusalem führte. Der einzige Führer, den er hatte, waren die Zehn Gebote … Wir müssen den Drahtzieher in Jerusalem suchen, wo die Söhne Israels leben.
Maimonides … der im Mittelalter lebte, glaubte, dass die ‚Juden die Herren sind, und alle anderen Völker ihre Sklaven zu sein haben.'“
Anfangstitel des neuen antisemitischen türkischen Dokumentarfilms „Der Drahtzieher“.
Anschließend präsentiert der Film zahlreiche Pro-Erdogan-Koryphäen, Akademiker und Journalisten, die ihre Kommentare über den Drahtzieher abgeben:
„Auf der Suche nach der [verschollenen] Bundeslade zerstören die Juden die ganze Welt“, sagt einer.
„Die Juden benutzen Darwins [Evolutions-] Theorie, damit sie behaupten können, dass Gott sie geschaffen habe, dass aber alle anderen vom Affen abstammen“, sagt ein anderer.
Einer behauptet, die Juden glaubten, sie seien die Nachfahren Isaaks und betrachteten sich selbst als Herren, während „wir alle“ die Nachfahren Ismaels seien und erschaffen, um den Juden zu dienen.
Ein anderer wiederum macht „den Drahtzieher“ – den er gleichzeitig als die Juden und als die USA identifiziert (von denen der Film vorher behauptet hatte, dass sie von den Juden beherrscht würden) – sowohl für die Zerstörung des Osmanischen Reichs als auch für die Putsche in der modernen Türkei verantwortlich, die darauf zielten, islamistische Führer und Parteien zu stürzen.
Am Ende behauptet ein Berater von Ministerpräsident Ahmet Davutoglu, alle Anti-Regierungs-Aktivitäten in der Türkei seien in Wahrheit Versuche „eines Drahtziehers“, die Türkei zu destabilisieren und die Regierung zu stürzen.
Das klingt surreal? Nicht in der Türkei des Jahres 2015. „Der Drahtzieher“ ist nicht das Produkt eines Haufens verrückter Fanatiker. Es ist ein kalkulierter Schritt von einigen schlauen Politikern, die die Stimmen frommer, antisemitisch eingestellter Muslime gewinnen wollen (was ihnen oft auch gelingt).
Laut den Ergebnissen einer vom Schweizer Meinungsforschungsunternehmen WIN/Gallup International durchgeführten Umfrage bezeichnen sich 79 Prozent der Türken als streng-religiös, verglichen mit 75 Prozent der Befragten in den Palästinensergebieten und nur 30 Prozent in Israel.
Vielen sunnitischen Türken gilt eine antisemitische Geisteshaltung als Voraussetzung für Frömmigkeit. Der Film „Der Drahtzieher“ zielt (zumindest theoretisch, höchstwahrscheinlich aber auch in der Praxis) auf ein Publikum, das 79 Prozent der Türkei ausmacht – mehr als 60 Millionen Menschen –, kurz vor den wichtigen Parlamentswahlen am 7.Juni.
Es ist ein hässlicher, aber cleverer Schritt, der an die Methoden der Nazi-Propagandamaschinerie der 1930er Jahre erinnert, mit denen die Nazis damals Millionen Menschen für sich vereinnahmten.
Für einen solch bösartigen Plan braucht man bloß eine Theorie, die jedes Übel mit den Juden in Verbindung bringt, und ein genügend großes Publikum, das bereit ist, einem die lügnerische Verschwörungstheorie abzukaufen.
Burak Bekdil lebt in Ankara. Er ist ein türkischer Kolumnist von Hürriyet Daily und ein Fellow des Middle East Forum.
http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/erdogan_und_die_drahtzieher
„Gebärmutter der islamischen Zivilisation“
Autor: Redaktion 26. Juli 2015 sichtplatz.de
Was wird eigentlich freitags so in deutschen Moscheen gepredigt? Imam Abdul Adhim Kamouss predigt dankenswerterweise auf Deutsch. Ist das ein Beispiel für Integration? Wenn man hineinhört, was er in der Berliner Bilal-Moschee seinen Gläubigen erzählt, welches Weltbild er verbreitet, dann sind wir es wohl, die sich integrieren sollten.
Wir erfahren nämlich von Imam Kamouss, dass das moderne Europa nichts anderes ist, als die undankbare Tochter der islamischen Zivilisation, denn: „Das moderne Europa ist aus der Gebärmutter der islamischen Zivilisation entstanden.“
Philosophie und Wissenschaft in Europa? Alles nur von den Muslimen geklaut. Nikolaus Kopernikus beispielsweise war ein Plagiator und hat nur den muslimischen Gelehrten Al Tusi kopiert. Überhaupt: „Europa wäre nichtig, wenn nicht die Muslime die Tataren gestoppt hätten!“ Ich Ungläubiger und Unwissender würde jetzt tatsächlich fragen, wann und wo die Muslime Europa vor den Tataren gerettet haben sollen. Leider beantwortet der Imam diese Frage in dem dankenswerterweise von Memri TV veröffentlichten Auszug aus der Berliner Predigt nicht. Aber der Originalton ist dennoch recht erhellend. Weiter hier:
1 Kommentar dentix 07 26. Juli 2015 um 19:28
Die Frage kann der Imam nicht beantworten! Weil die Muslime die Tataren/Mongolen nie gestoppt haben und sogar selbst erobert wurden!
Wenn mit Al Tusi dieser gemeint ist: Sharaf al-Din Al-Muzaffar ibn Muhammad ibn Al-Muzaffar al-Tusi (1135-1213), dann weiß die allwissende Müllhalde namens Wikipedia z.B. über ihn:
„Um 1154 ist er in Damaskus, wo er Mathematik und Astronomie (Euklid, Claudius Ptolemäus) unterrichtet,….“
Und zu Claudius Ptolemäus (um 100-ca.160 n.Chr.) weiß Sie: „… war ein griechischer Mathematiker, Geograf, Astronom, Astrologe, Musiktheoretiker und Philosoph. Insbesondere seine drei Werke zur Astronomie, Geografie und Astrologie galten in Europa bis in die frühe Neuzeit als wichtige umfangreiche Datensammlungen und wissenschaftliche Standardwerke.
So schrieb Ptolemäus die Mathematike Syntaxis („mathematische Zusammenstellung“), später Megiste Syntaxis („größte Zusammenstellung“), heute Almagest (abgeleitet vom Arabischen al-maǧisṭī) genannte Abhandlung zur Mathematik und Astronomie in 13 Büchern. Sie war bis zum Ende des Mittelalters ein Standardwerk der Astronomie und enthielt neben einem ausführlichen Sternenkatalog eine Verfeinerung des von Hipparchos von Nicäa (um 190 v. Chr.-ca.120 v. Chr.) vorgeschlagenen geozentrischen Weltbildes, das später nach ihm ptolemäisches Weltbild genannt wurde.“
Somit war Al Tusi auch nur ein Plagiator, und zwar griechischen Wissens aus einer Zeit als der Islam noch rd. 500 Jahre in der Zukunft lag!
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Platinum •15 mins 842.50 -2.70 -0.32%
Brent Crude • 11 mins 66.42 -0.06 -0.09%
9 hours Expect A Pullback Before Gold's Next Major Rally
Billionaires Are Pushing Art To New Limits
Welcome to Art Basel: The…
Bob Hoye
By Bob Hoye - Nov 13, 2015, 2:14 PM CST
In looking around a "What if?" moment seems to be arriving.
What will policymakers do as this phase of contraction becomes more obvious?
More of the same?
Or perhaps they have one last trick?
Markets are beginning to suffer central bank fatigue, and now the establishment is beginning to talk about the wonders of fiscal manipulation.
Many are getting concerned about what policymakers may do as frustration forces even more desperate measures.
Also, policymakers are fully committed to theories that have been impractical since they were first confected. The establishment does not understand this and will not willingly quit - well - policymaking.
Incapable of self-criticism, the only way it will end is to have the public condemn and then constrain radical central banking.
From around the early 1700s to the 1920s the senior central bank (Bank of England) dedicated itself to maintaining the gold backing of the currency. At times of financial distress it was an acute challenge (there was a lapse of discipline from 1797 to 1819). Eventually, speculative positions in the markets would be liquidated. This would clear and all would be well. Until the next outbreak of speculation. Which would be followed by another liquidity crisis. A hundred years of growing intrusion has not changed the basic patterns that recur in financial history.
It was widely understood that the ultimate challenge to central banking was to maintain a sound currency. Also it was widely appreciated that free markets would provide goods and services better than any other system. Urges to commit mercantilism were always lurking, but constrained.
Notions about government intervention to make things better have been around since at least the 1618 Crash. In 1873, the esteemed editor of The Economist wrote that with the injection of sufficient liquidity the central bank could prevent a contraction. This has been trashed frequently since. The 1873 Bubble peaked that summer and crashed in the fall. By 1884 the contraction was enduring and bad enough to be called the "Great Depression". It ended on its own in 1895.
Generally, intrusion was considered impractical. It was best to let the imbalances clear on their own. This is still practical, but since the early 1900s a culture of economic intrusion has been continuously imposed.
Even celebrated, as the pitch has been versatile. Business expansions can be made better and made to last longer than otherwise. Setbacks need not happen, but in case they do, the Fed can prevent them from being worse than otherwise.
This ideology was shocked by the severity of the "Great Recession".
The big concern now is not so much about another phase of the contraction with weakening commodities and dislocated stock and bond markets. It is what policymakers may do in extreme desperation. Policymaking itself is increasingly seen as a threat. The irony is that prior to the world of busy-body intrusion it was widely known that excesses always cleared on their own.
The consequence of the drive for arbitrary perfection is a world of serial and dislocating bubbles.
The problem with intrusive policymakers is that they don't understand the self-correcting nature of financial markets. Instead of allowing corrections, central bankers have been ambitious for constant growth.
Some of the concern is from sources that some years ago became famous for predicting a "crack-up" bust that would drive gold's price to $10,000. Decades ago we could find nothing in financial history that would enable the Institutional Advisors team to seek such fame. Not even half a unit of fame.
We did find that in a typical post-bubble contraction gold's real price would almost double. This has had a proportionate increase in operating margins for gold miners, making it a premier industry in a Great Depression.
Now there is the growing dread about what harm inspired policymakers can really do to the social and business fabric. It is important to understand that the most intense experiment in authoritarian government has been on for over a hundred years. The last example ran for over a hundred years and ended in the early 1600s.
In England, it took decades to complete the Great Reformation with the concluding step being the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688.
Another severe contraction is inevitable and the ultimate threat from policymakers (whatever it may be) could be overwhelmed. In the meantime and specifically, how would even more desperate measures be imposed?
Actually, most ideas about intrusion were imposed in the 1930s.
Banning cash transactions would be disruptive but it might please the governing classes, briefly.
Price and wage controls would be a natural. These were tried in Rome in the late 300s to stop government-induced inflation. Even when backed by the sword, they did not work. They were tried in Canada and the US in the early 1970s. Then there was the control system with no price mechanism. Called Communism, it was tried in Eastern Europe and in China.
The latter's historical failures were massive and well-understood. As will soon be the current experiment in big business and big government, otherwise known as fascism.
Virtually all of the tools of intervention have been or are being tried now. But no matter how intense the effort, all they are doing is trying to prove that correlation is indeed causation.
Fed credit expansion always forces economic expansion.
Except when it forces asset bubbles.
The best way out of compulsive intrusion is that the contraction will hit all asset classes, from high-end real estate to carbon credits. And fast enough to completely overwhelm any day-to-day attempts by central bankers to stem it.
A severe enough break could prompt the general taxpayer to condemn the waste of money on impractical schemes promoted by so many generations of financial adventurers.
Forensic accounting and forensic medicine have been around for a long time. There is a screaming need for forensic economics and forensic policymaking.
US$ Breakout Could Unleash Capitulation in Precious Metals
Paris Attacks = President Marine Le Pen AND Massive Euro Devaluation
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Furnaces Recalled by Northwest Manufacturing Due to Fire Hazard
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Originally issued September 27, 2000, Last revised July 10, 2002 Release #00-190 CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772 CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908 Note: Most recently updated 07/10/02 to announce settlement of private litigation.Please also note the ...
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Home › Dakota's Delight: Heroes for Hire
Dakota's Delight: Heroes for Hire
Welcome to Dakota's Delight, book 9 in Heroes for Hire, reconnecting readers with the unforgettable men from SEALs of Honor in a new series of action packed, page turning romantic suspense that fans have come to expect from USA TODAY Bestselling author Dale Mayer.
When a young woman darts into traffic and into Dakota's path, life takes a dark turn for both of them.
Bailey, recovering from the loss of her husband, retreated from life. Going to work and coming home was the extent of her days and weeks. Until she walks into work early one morning, witnesses a murder and flees into traffic, nearly getting killed.
The near death experience awakens the spark of life inside of her. So does the man in the car. A different kind of a spark.
For her safety, Dakota persuades her to move into the compound with him and the rest of the Legendary family while they track down the killers.
Bailey is forced to accept Dakota's help. But can she stay safe long enough for the police to track down the killer? Or is the man who almost ran her over going to steal her heart?
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Service gestion d'impression
WorkCentre 245/255
The Xerox devices ColorQube® 9201/9202/9203, ColorQube® 9301/9302/9303, WorkCentre® 232/238/245/255/265/275, WorkCentre® 5030/5050, WorkCentre® 5135/5150, WorkCentre® 5632/5638/5645/5655/5665/5675/5687, WorkCentre® 5735/5740/5745/5755/5765/5775/5790, WorkCentre® 6400, WorkCentre® 7525/7530/7535/7545/7556, WorkCentre® 7655/7665/7675, WorkCentre® 7755/7765/7775, WorkCentre® Bookmark 40/55, WorkCentre Pro® 232/238/245/255/265/275 were shipped with certain protocols enabled that, if properly exploited, could be used to gain unauthorized access to the system. These particular protocols should not have been present in the production configuration and need to be removed from that configuration to minimize the possibility of unauthorized system access.
A software solution (patch P49) is provided for the products listed. This solution will remove from the production configuration the unwanted protocols in question so they can’t be exploited to gain unauthorized access to the system.
This solution is designed to be installed by the customer. The software solution is compressed into a 3 KB zip file and can be accessed via the link below or via the link following this bulletin announcement on the Xerox Security Site.
Software available through this link:
cert_P49v1_Patch2.zip
NOTE: We are re-issuing this bulletin due to a spelling error of the name of one of the researchers. No technical content in the bulletin has changed.
Vulnerabilities exist that, if exploited, could allow remote attackers to insert arbitrary code into the device. This could occur with a specifically crafted Postscript or firmware job submitted to the device. If successful, an attacker could make unauthorized changes to the system configuration; however, customer and user passwords are not exposed.
As part of Xerox’s on-going efforts to protect customers, the ability to accept these specially crafted jobs can be disabled for the affected products listed in the bulletin. Links for the software needed are contained inside the bulletin.
Xerox Security Bulletin XRX09-001 (PDF 74.2K)
A command injection vulnerability exists in the web server of the WorkCentre/WorkCentre Pro 232/238/245/255/265/275 and the WorkCentre 5632/5638/5645/5655/5665/5675/5687. If exploited, the vulnerability could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via carefully crafted inputs on the affected web page. Customer and user passwords are not exposed.
cert_P37v1_WCP275_WC5687_Patch.zip
Xerox Security Bulletin XRX08-009 (PDF 104.4K)
A vulnerability exists in the WorkCentre Pro 232/238/245/255/265/275, WorkCentre 232/238/245/255/265/275, WorkCentre 7655/7665/7675, and WorkCentre 5632/5638/5645/5655/5665/5675/5687 ESS/Network Controller that, if exploited, could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted Remove Service Message Block (SMB) responses. This could occur with buffer overflows and un-validated user input in the Samba third-party code that handles file and printer sharing services for SMB clients (including Xerox MFD devices).
If successful, an attacker could make unauthorized changes to the system configuration; however, customer and user passwords are not exposed. This vulnerability affects only the printer sharing services.
cert_P36v2_WCP275_WC7675_WC5687_Patch.zip
Vulnerabilities exist in the WorkCentre 232/238/245/255/265/275, WorkCentre Pro 232/238/245/255/265/275, and WorkCentre 7655/7665 ESS/Network Controller that, if exploited, could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted Remote Procedure Call (RPC) requests.
Xerox Security Bulletin XRX06-005 (PDF 144K)
Vulnerability in the ESS / Network Controller and MicroServer Web Server could allow remote execution of arbitrary software.
This bulletin been superseded by XRX07-002. Download Permanently Unavailable
A command injection vulnerability exists in the WorkCentre 232/238/245/255/265/275, WorkCentre Pro 232/238/245/255/265/275, and WorkCentre 7655/7665 ESS/ Network Controller and MicroServer Web Server. If exploited, this vulnerability could allow remote execution of arbitrary software.
cert_P31v14_ESS_Network_Controller_CP_Patch.zip
A command injection vulnerability exists in the WorkCentre 232/238/245/255/265/275, WorkCentre Pro 232/238/245/255/265/275, and WorkCentre 7655/7665 ESS/ Network Controller that, if exploited, could allow remote execution of arbitrary software, forgery of digital certificates, or initiation of Denial of Service attacks.
cert_P30_ESS_Network_Controller_Patch.zip
Cumulative update for Common Criteria Assurance Maintenance.
Note: This bulletin has been superseded by XRX06-006.
Cumulative update to address multiple security vulnerabilities.
Vulnerabilities in the ESS/ Network Controller and MicroServer Web Server could potentially permit unauthorized access.
Restricted Information Assurance Disclosure Documents
The Information Assurance Disclosure Document created for this product requires a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Follow this link to find your sales representative.
Non-Disclosure-Agreement3.doc
WorkCentre WorkCentre Pro 232-238-245-255-265-275 Statement Of Volatility (PDF 21.2K)
Secure Installation and Operation of Your WorkCentre™ 232/238/245/255/265/275 or WorkCentre™ Pro 232/238/245/255/265/275 (PDF 61K)
News on Xerox Product Security (1)
Common Criteria Certification of the WorkCentre 245/255
NIAP Validated Product Listing Validation Report (PDF, 256KB)
Feed for WorkCentre 245/255 security documents
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News: Comparing the Best International Data Plans from All Major US Carriers
4/1 3:00 PM
Traveling abroad can be a hassle. Between the flight, hotels, food, and the languages barriers, it can be a lot to manage. There's one tool you have that can help with all of this — your smartphone. Fortunately, nowadays, you don't have to change your carrier to continue using your phone.
For a seamless experience, you'll need a an international plan to use your phone in another country. This will be different from your usual plan, as it may limit data usage and charge you for each call or text you send or receive. In the past, using your US wireless carrier abroad was a mistake as the fees were too high, but things have changed. While none of the five major carriers offer a plan that's comparable to what you enjoy at home, they are at least affordable and let you keep your phone's many features without breaking the bank.
See international plans and pricing for: Verizon | AT&T | T-Mobile | Sprint
Unlimited Plans
If you're a Verizon customer making a trip to Mexico or Canada, the most inexpensive option is one of their Unlimited plans. Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited, and Above Unlimited all offer unlimited calls, text, and 2G data within Mexico and Canada. 4G data is also available, but limited to 0.5 GB a day.
If you have one of these plans for your regular service, Mexico and Canada service is included, and there are no overages for data. Instead, Verizon switches you to 2G data when you exceed the 0.5 GB cap while abroad. Verizon recommends you use a 4G World Device for the best service, although other phones should work. Be aware that no more than 50% of your usage (calls, texts, or data) can be to either country over a two month period.
Price: free with any Verizon Unlimited plan
Included countries: 2 (Mexico and Canada)
Duration: None
4G LTE data: 0.5 GB per line per day (where available, otherwise 3G)
3G data: N/A
2G data: same as your domestic plan
Calls to US phone numbers: unlimited
Calls from US phone numbers: unlimited
Calls to local international numbers: unlimited
Calls from local international numbers: unlimited
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: unlimited
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: unlimited
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: unlimited
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: unlimited
MMS sent to US phone numbers: unlimited
MMS received from US phone numbers: unlimited
MMS sent to local international numbers: unlimited
MMS received from local international numbers: unlimited
TravelPass (Mexico & Canada)
If you don't have the unlimited plan, the second way you can still use your Verizon service in Mexico and Canada is via their TravelPass. This is added to your existing plan and lets you make calls, send texts, and use data while in the two North American countries. It has a daily fee of $5 for Mexico and Canada. Verizon recommends you use a 4G World Device, but it is possible that phones not on this list will work in these two nations.
Price: $5 per day per line
2G data: same as domestic plan
Calls to US phone numbers: same as domestic plan
Calls from US phone numbers: same as domestic plan
Calls to local international numbers: same as domestic plan
Calls from local international numbers: same as domestic plan
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: same as domestic plan
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: same as domestic plan
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: same as domestic plan
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: same as domestic plan
MMS sent to US phone numbers: same as domestic plan
MMS received from US phone numbers: same as domestic plan
MMS sent to local international numbers: same as domestic plan
MMS received from local international numbers: same as domestic plan
You should add the TravelPass option to each line before your trip, which can be done online, via texts, or through the My Verizon app. Once added, when you first turn on your phone in a TravelPass supported country, a welcome test message will arrive. When you make your first phone call, send a text, or use data (including background data), your 24 hours will begin. Within two hours of starting the TravelPass, Verizon will send you a new text message letting you know the time at which the TravelPass will end.
To end the TravelPass, simply stop using data, sending or receiving text messages, or making or receiving phone calls. Ideally, turn on airplane mode to prevent re-billing, as your phone will automatically run background data when it has a connection. Alternatively, just return to the US and resume using your phone normally (it's the international service that you have to avoid if you want to stop being charged). However, if you want another day, continue to use your phone in the foreign country, and the process will start over.
TravelPass (International)
If you're traveling to a different continent, you'll need a different version of TravelPass. This one includes support for over 185 countries, but pricing is a little higher. This plan also requires a 4G World Device.
Price: $10 per day per line (or free for 5 days with Above Unlimited plan)
Included countries: over 185
You can add the TravelPass either on Verizon's website, via text, or through the My Verizon app. After arriving at your destination, Verizon will welcome you with a new text. After making your first phone call, sending your first text, or using data (including background data), your 24 hours will begin. Within two hours of starting a TravelPass, Verizon will inform you of the expiration time for the TravelPass via a text message. As long as you stop using your phone by that time, your TravelPass will end, and you will not be charged anything additional.
However, because smartphones use background data, the best way to avoid a second charge while you're still abroad is to turn on airplane mode. If you wish to use the TravelPass for an extra day (and pay the additional $10 per line), continue to use your phone after the expiration time, and the process will repeat. When you return to the US, you can resume using your phone as normal and you won't be billed for any extra days of TravelPass.
Monthly International Travel Plan
If you plan to travel for an extended period or plan to make multiple international trips, another option is the monthly international travel plan. The cheaper plan is $70. For this price, you are allocated a monthly allowance of minutes, text messages, and data which can be used in any one of the 185+ supported countries.
Price: $70 per month
Duration: 1 month
Calls to US phone numbers: 100 minutes
Calls from US phone numbers: 100 minutes (including outgoing calls)
Calls to local international numbers: 100 minutes
Calls from local international numbers: 100 minutes (including outgoing calls)
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: 100
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: 100 (including US texts)
MMS sent to US phone numbers: 100 (including SMS)
MMS sent to local international numbers: 100 (including SMS)
However, if you need a bit more, you can opt for the $130 plan which increases each of these totals.
Price: $130 per month
4G LTE data: 2 GB per line per day (where available, otherwise 3G)
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: 1,000
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: 1,000 (including US texts)
MMS sent to US phone numbers: 1,000 (including SMS)
MMS sent to local international numbers: 1,000 (including SMS)
Both plans will charge you overages for exceeding these amount. Verizon will charge you $0.35 per minute for calls over the limit. For every text message you send over your limit, you will be charged $0.05. As for data, once you exceed the limit, it will cost you an additional $25 per 0.5 GB.
For non-unlimited Verizon customers, if you visit a country that isn't supported by Verizon's TravelPass, you don't add TravelPass or Monthly International Travel to your plan, or your domestic allowance expires when using the TravelPass, your phone usage will be charged based on a pay as you go schedule. The rates are the same for text messages, incoming multimedia messaging (MMS), and data, while they do vary in voice calls based on the country. Outgoing MMS (such as pictures, videos, or long text messages) will also incur additional data charges when sent.
Included countries: 220+
4G LTE data: $2.05 per MB (if available)
3G data: $2.05 per MB (if available)
Calls to US phone numbers: $0.99–$2.99 per minute
Calls from US phone numbers: $0.99–$2.99 per minute
Calls to local international numbers: $0.99–$2.99 per minute
Calls from local international numbers: $0.99–$2.99 per minute
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: $0.50 per text
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: $0.05 per text
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: $0.50 per text
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: $0.05 per text
MMS sent to US phone numbers: $0.25 per MMS
MMS received from US phone numbers: $0.25 per MMS
MMS sent to local international numbers: $0.25 per MMS
MMS received from local international numbers: $0.25 per MMS
Verizon supports more than 400 different cruise ships across 21 fleets. While on the cruise, you will be able to make voice calls and text messages when using a 4G LTE World Device, but data isn't available so you'll have to use the cruise ship's Wi-Fi. When you dock, the rates of the current country applies instead and data will be available based on the international plan you use.
Price: free with any Verizon monthly plan
Included countries: N/A
4G LTE data: N/A
Calls to US phone numbers: $2.99 per minute
Calls from US phone numbers: $2.99 per minute
Calls to local international numbers: $2.99 per minute
Calls from local international numbers: $2.99 per minute
MMS sent to US phone numbers: N/A
MMS received from US phone numbers: N/A
MMS sent to local international numbers: N/A
MMS received from local international numbers: N/A
Unlimited Plans (Mexico & Canada)
With AT&T Unlimited & More and Unlimited & More Premium plans, you can make unlimited calls and texts while in Mexico and Canada. You can also enjoy the same unlimited data as if you were in the US, including the same restrictions. This includes your data being deprioritized after 22 GB during periods of high traffic.
Shop AT&T Unlimited Plans
Price: free with any AT&T Unlimited plan
4G LTE data: unlimited (data deprioritized after 22 GB)
3G data: unlimited
International Day Pass
When traveling outside of North America, AT&T has International Day Pass. This is a $10 per day add-on which lets you bring your unlimited plan overseas. Text messages are limited to 1 MB in size and MMS isn't available in all countries.
Shop AT&T International Add-on Plans
Price: $10 per day per line
4G LTE data: same as domestic plan (where available, otherwise 3G)
MMS sent to US phone numbers: unlimited (1 MB max) (where supported)
MMS received from US phone numbers: unlimited (1 MB max) (where supported)
MMS sent to local international numbers: unlimited (1 MB max) (where supported)
MMS received from local international numbers: unlimited (1 MB max) (where supported)
Once you add this option to your line, it will remain there until you remove it either via AT&T's website or by calling 800-335-4685. Once added, the first time you use data, your minutes, or send a text message in an International Day Pass country, you will be charged the $10 fee and a timer will begin. To avoid paying for a second day, usage of your phone (calls, texts, data) must stop, which can be accomplished by enabling airplane mode. For those on limited data plans, once you exceed your allocated data, speeds will be reduced to 2G just like in your domestic plan.
AT&T also has a monthly option for those who travel frequently or are going to be overseas for an extended period of time. This plan covers doubles the countries supported by International Day Pass and provides you with a set amount of minutes, text messages, and data for the month. The cheapest option is the AT&T Passport 1 GB plan.
Price: $60 per line
4G LTE data: 1 GB (where available, otherwise 3G)
However, for those needing a bit more data, there's also the AT&T Passport 3 GB option which triples the data for double the price.
Price: $120 per line
Included countries: https://[www.att.com/shop/wireless/international/global-countries.html 200+
If you're in a country that supports International Day Pass and Passport and you have an active International Day Pass, AT&T will use the pass instead of Passport. For both plans, there is an overage fee for data, which is $50 per GB. Neither plan will be prorated if canceled before the end of the duration.
When traveling without a package, or traveling to a country not included in a package, or when your plan expires, AT&T will switch you to its pay-per-use rates. Data is available in 200+ countries.
Shop AT&T Wireless Plans
4G LTE data: $2.05 per MB
Calls to US phone numbers: $1.00 (Canada & Mexico), $2.00 (Europe), or $3.00 (rest of world) per minute
Calls from US phone numbers: $1.00 (Canada & Mexico), $2.00 (Europe), or $3.00 (rest of world) per minute
Calls to local international numbers: $1.00 (Canada & Mexico), $2.00 (Europe), or $3.00 (rest of world) per minute
Calls from local international numbers: $1.00 (Canada & Mexico), $2.00 (Europe), or $3.00 (rest of world) per minute
Cruise & Airlines
For those taking a cruise, you will also be charged per use. Data is available, but is nearly 3 times the cost as it is on land. Airlines are even worse, starting at $10.24 per MB.
4G LTE data: from $6.14 per MB (cruises), from $10.24 per MB (airlines)
Simple Global
For T-Mobile customers, the best offering for international travel is Simple Global. This package is included with most domestic T-Mobile plans and gives you access to unlimited texting and 2G data in over 210 countries automatically. Additionally, local voice calls can be made at a low rate. T-Mobile ONE, ONE Plus, Simple Choice, New Classic, and Select Choice plans all include Simple Global service.
Price: free with qualifying domestic plan
2G data: unlimited (128 kbps for most plans, 256 kbps for T-Mobile ONE Plus)
All of these plans include unlimited texting in Mexico and Canada and up to 5 GB of LTE data (speeds are reduced to 2G or 128 kbps afterward). You also get unlimited in-flight texting and either 1 hour of data (T-Mobile ONE and Simple Choice) or unlimited data (T-Mobile ONE Plus) on all Gogo-enabled flights. However, this feature is only available when traveling to, from, or within the US. Text messages are $0.50 per text when not in a supported country. Data is only available via Wi-Fi and voice rates will vary per country.
T-Mobile Essentials
For customers on the T-Mobile Essentials plan here in the US, unlimited 2G data is removed from the mix, so you'll have no data coverage unless you're on Wi-Fi. You can make calls at $0.25 per minute and text for free in 210+ countries. Text messages are $0.50 per text when not in a supported country, and voice rates will vary per country. For those traveling to Mexico and Canada, you can enjoy a similar experience to the T-Mobile ONE plan with unlimited talk and text. Data, however, is limited to 2G speeds (up to 128 kbps).
World Class International Roaming
For those using any other plan, you will need to add World Class International Roaming. You can do this through the T-Mobile app or on their website, and there's no cost for adding it. This option allows you to use your phone to roam internationally, although on a pay per usage plan.
4G LTE data:N/A
Calls to US phone numbers: rates vary by country
Calls from US phone numbers: rates vary by country
Calls to local international numbers: rates vary by country
Calls from local international numbers: rates vary by country
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: rates vary by country
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: rates vary by country
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: rates vary by country
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: rates vary by country
MMS sent to US phone numbers: rates vary by country
MMS received from US phone numbers: rates vary by country
MMS sent to local international numbers: rates vary by country
MMS received from local international numbers: rates vary by country
If you have stateside international talk and text, texts and calls to landlines in 70 countries or mobile numbers in 30 countries are included. If you don't have stateside international talk and text, then rates vary by country. Rates only apply to postpaid customers (prepaid rates are different). Pay-In-Advance and No Credit Check plans don't include global coverage.
International Pass
For those on the T-Mobile ONE, ONE Plus, Essentials, or Simple Choice plans, you can add 0.5 GB of high-speed data for $5 a day per line. The pass lasts for 24 hours and is only available in qualified countries (over 210). You also receive unlimited calling. You can purchase up two passes ahead of time, allowing you stack three together for a total of 1.5 GB of 4G LTE in 24 hours (of course, it will run you $15 for that day). However, the unlimited calling ends after the last pass expires.
4G LTE data: 0.5 GB (where available, otherwise 3G)
2G data: same as Simple Global
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
MMS sent to US phone numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
MMS received from US phone numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
MMS sent to local international numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
MMS received from local international numbers: same as Simple Global or T-Mobile Essentials
Once you exceed your data, speeds will return to 2G as dictated by your plan. In other words, you still get Simple Global features if you're on T-Mobile ONE, ONE Plus, Simple Choice, New Classic, or Select Choice since they're included with your plan, but you add enhanced data for the first 0.5 GB and get truly unlimited calling if you pay the extra $5. T-Mobile Essentials users will switch to 2G speeds while the pass duration still remains and all data will cease once the pass expires.
For cruises, only T-Mobile ONE, ONE Plus, and Simple Choice plans allow you to use your phone while on the water. Like with most cruise ship plans, it is recommended that you avoid data as the price is pretty steep.
Calls to US phone numbers: rates vary by cruise ship
Calls from US phone numbers: rates vary by cruise ship
Calls to local international numbers: rates vary by cruise ship
Calls from local international numbers: rates vary by cruise ship
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: deducted from domestic plan
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: deducted from domestic plan
MMS received from US phone numbers: deducted from domestic plan
MMS received from local international numbers: deducted from domestic plan
For other plans, you'll simply have to wait until you are docked. At that point, your phone will be able to make calls, send texts, and use data based on the country's rates.
Canada & Mexico Premium International Experience
For those subscribed to one of Sprint's unlimited plans (Unlimited Basic, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Premium), you automatically gain the Canada & Mexico Premium International Experience. This option provides you with free calling and texting while in Canada and Mexico and 4G LTE. Unlimited Basic and Unlimited Plus have a limited amount of data they can enjoy, while the Unlimited Premium plan provides unlimited data, allowing you to essentially use your same domestic plan, but abroad.
Shop Sprint Unlimited Plans
Included countries: 2 (Canada & Mexico)
4G LTE data: 5 GB (Unlimited Basic), 10 GB (Unlimited Plus), unlimited (Unlimited Premium)
Sprint Global Roaming
For other countries, there is Sprint Global Roaming, which is available to all postpay Sprint customers automatically. Sprint Global Roaming covers over 200 countries and provides free texting and free 2G data in these areas. Voice calls can also be made at low costs, and there is an option for unlimited 4G data for an additional fee. You must use an LTE/GSM capable smartphone.
Learn More About Sprint Global Roaming
Price: free with any domestic plan
There is no sign-up. As long as you have an LTE/GSM capable phone, it is already enabled unless you have a different international roaming offer enabled. You also get free 20 voice minutes to Cuba. After these expire, calls can be made at $0.70 per minute.
Data Pass
If you want to enjoy high-speed 4G LTE data, you need to get a data pass. Data passes can be purchased for one day or the week, and they provide you unlimited 4G LTE data during the duration. Passes should be purchased in advance, as you may not be able to once you are in the country. However, be warned that there is an overage cost. Once the time expires, you will not return to 2G data. Instead, you will use 3G data and any data consumed will cost you $0.03 per MB.
Price: $2–$10 per day per line (varies by country), $10–$50 per week per line (varies by country)
Duration: either 1 day or 7 days
4G LTE data: unlimited
3G data: $0.03 per MB (after duration expires)
2G data: same as Global Roaming
Calls to US phone numbers: same as Global Roaming
Calls from US phone numbers: same as Global Roaming
Calls to local international numbers: same as Global Roaming
Calls from local international numbers: same as Global Roaming
Texts (SMS) sent to US phone numbers: same as Global Roaming
Texts (SMS) received from US phone numbers: same as Global Roaming
Texts (SMS) sent to local international numbers: same as Global Roaming
Texts (SMS) received from local international numbers: same as Global Roaming
MMS sent to US phone numbers: same as Global Roaming
MMS received from US phone numbers: same as Global Roaming
MMS sent to local international numbers: same as Global Roaming
MMS received from local international numbers: same as Global Roaming
These passes are added to Sprint Global Roaming, so you still will enjoy free texts and $0.25 per minute voice calls.
For cruise ships, you can make calls, send texts, and use data at a pay per use rate. This is only available for Sprint Global Roaming users.
4G LTE data: $60 for 100 MB, $100 for 250 MB
Any data use will automatically charge you $60 for 100 MB. Once you exceed 100 MB, it will charge you $100 for the next 250 MB and every set of 250 MB usage after. So be careful — that's about $500 for a single gigabyte of data usage!
Pay Per Usage
If you happen to visit a country not covered by Sprint Global Roaming, another option available is pay per usage. While the rates do vary a bit, most countries charge the following:
This article was produced during Gadget Hacks' special coverage on traveling with your smartphone. Check out the whole Travel series.
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More than 20 Bulgarian customs officers held in corruption bust in Varna
Written by The Sofia Globe staff on January 13, 2017 in Bulgaria - Comments Off on More than 20 Bulgarian customs officers held in corruption bust in Varna
Bulgarian prosecutors and anti-organised crime police swooped on customs offices in the Black Sea city of Varna, making more than 20 arrests and reportedly seizing hundreds of thousands of leva in cash in an operation against corruption.
The operation began on the late afternoon of January 12 and continued into January 13, at the Varna West customs office, the Customs Agency’s headquarters in the city and at private homes. Reports from Varna said that on Thursday evening, police checked cars entering and leaving the city.
Two prosecutors from the Special Prosecutor’s office and a judge from the Special Criminal Court were in Varna on February 13 to conduct questioning and decide on detentions and criminal charges.
The customs officers are understood to have been under covert surveillance for several months.
Pending a formal statement from prosecutors, unconfirmed reports said that a total of 700 000 leva (about 358 000 euro) had been found at customs offices and homes in Varna.
The investigation was prompted by complaints about requests for bribes. The probe has extended to allegations of irregularities at customers clearance at container facilities.
Speaking to local media, Prosecutor-General’s office spokesperson Roumyana Arnaudova confirmed that the investigation, led by the Special Prosecutor, followed allegations requests for and receiving of bribes by customs officers. Reportedly, individuals other than customs staff also had been taken into custody.
/Panorama
The Sofia Globe - the Sofia-based fully independent English-language news and features website, covering Bulgaria, the Balkans and the EU. Sign up to subscribe to sofiaglobe.com's daily bulletin through the form on our homepage. Please click to support our advertisers!
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HOMESIS
St. Winifred's School
For almost 100 years the tradition that is St. Winifred's School has been inspiring students to academic and personal excellence, giving them strong educational roots that stand the test of time.
With just under 600 pupils from aged three to seventeen, and a teaching staff of nearly fifty we are one of the few private schools in Barbados offering both primary and secondary education.
Our aim is to provide our students with a firm foundation in education, promoting individual and social development in an atmosphere of warmth, joy and intellectual excitement. We seek to lay the groundwork for our children to become knowledgeable, responsible citizens. We foster in our students a deep respect for themselves and others, an appreciation of diversity, a strong commitment to values, and a lifelong love of learning.
Mrs. Kim Lewis
Deputy Principal:
Mrs. Barbara St. John
To have students who are engaged - challenged - motivated - valued - happy
The School is divided into three departments and the department heads and Deputy Principal report directly to the Principal. Pupil leaders at St Winifred's consist of the Head Boy, Head Girl, House Captains, Prefect team and members of the Student Council.
The tradition of our school has always been the development of the whole person. Activities and assemblies focus on developing important character skills including empathy, integrity, respect for others and self, responsibility, honesty, compassion and perseverance.
Our cloud-based platform, called the Link gives parents access to their child's school profile, test dates and homework assignments. Seniors have their own user accounts. There is school wide Wi-Fi, SMART TVs in the Prep and Junior departments and two fully equipped computer labs.
We strive to keep a balance with fun days like: Valentine Deejay Dance day, Character day, teacher vs student competitions, teen talent competitions - just to name a few. Our school is renowned for its Pantomimes, providing a cast of nearly 100 students the opportunity to take part in public performances and to grow in responsibility and commitment.
The School's Motto
"Our foundations are laid in peace"
School Departments
Preps (3 to 7 yrs)
Our curriculum is constantly being adapted and enhanced to ensure that it is exciting and activity based, aimed at allowing our children to develop self-confidence and an enthusiasm for learning. Individual, small group, and whole class activities make up each school day. Classrooms are kept to an average of twenty students.
There is a focus on the acquisition of language - reading and writing creatively, as well as on numeracy skills, where the children explore and manipulate as they learn to understand numbers through meaningful learning experiences.
Social-Emotional
Our children work and play together and through these experiences they develop their social skills and an understanding of what it means to be get along with others in a respectful and cooperative way.
STEM Programme
Our STEM based activities provide opportunities to explore and investigate ideas and to begin to apply the skills of making comparisons, predictions and sharing the ideas gained from these experiences.
Additional Learning Opportunities
Students are exposed to Art & Craft, P.E. (Physical Education), Spanish, Music & Movement and Drama. There is a Learning Support teacher available to work with students; the school arranges screenings by a Speech & Language Therapist at ages three or four.
Communication is key at this age. Teachers send weekly emails to parents to let them know what the children have been learning and experiencing at school. Our cloud-based Link allows teachers to share information easily with parents.
Juniors (7 – 11 yrs)
We aim to keep the students engaged in their learning; they work individually as well as collaboratively. Assessments vary from weekly tests, continuous assessment or project-based assignments. There is no Friday homework up to Junior 3. Classrooms are kept to an average of 20 students and learning support is available as needed. Our students do extremely well at the national level with students always placing in the top ten of the island's secondary school entrance examination.
St. Winifred's is proud of its Primary programme. We follow the national curriculum immersing our students in Language Arts - Spoken Language, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation; Mathematics - numeracy, problem solving, time & measures, shape & space.
Exploring and building knowledge in Social Studies, Science, though active learning, exploration, experimentation, project work and collaborative experiences.
Additional Learning & Developmental Opportunities
Spanish, Art & Craft, Computers, Music, Library, P.E. and Drama are just some of the activities which enhance our programme.
Student Appreciation
Students look forward to their Junior Assemblies where certificates are given in recognition of growth and development.
Teachers post homework and other assignment and test information on our cloud-based Link which parents access through their own user account.
Seniors (11 – 17 yrs)
St. Winifred's students traditionally perform extremely well at the CXC CSEC level with an annual average pass rate of 97%. We have had students who have placed in the top ten regional honours list. The majority of our students go on to tertiary education where they also perform at a high standard.
We support the needs of the children through strong academics, physical education, foreign language, fine arts, character development, award recognition programmes and extra-curricular activities. Study Skills is taught in Form 1 to help students learn how to manage and organise their work in the Senior school.
CXC CSEC Subjects offered
English Language & Mathematics (mandatory); English Literature, Spanish. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Human and Social Biology, Geography, History, Social Studies, Electronic Document Preparation & Management (EDPM - exam is sat in Form 3), Information Technology, Principles of Accounts, Principles of Business, Home Economics: Food & Nutrition and Health, Technical Drawing, Physical Education & Sport, Visual Arts.
Our students are always encouraged to participate in challenges and events offered throughout the school year. Our Business students have great success in the annual $20-dollar challenge. Students have the opportunity to attend various exhibitions and seminars. Each year we have students who travel to attend the Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington and New York.
Students have their own user accounts on the Link. This is an important tool for them to utilise as it provides them with a calendar of the assignments and tests and acts as a portal through which their teachers may share notes, images or other media to assist with their studies.
Pupil leaders at St. Winifred's consist of the Head Boy, Head Girl, House Captains, Prefect team and members of the Student Council.
Students' progress is assessed and monitored by teachers using a variety of classroom assessments and formal tests. Parents receive reports on students' progress through reports and parent/teacher consultations.
Besides our many classroom designated for each year level we also have:
(2) Science Laboratories
(2) Art Rooms
(2) Computer Labs
Specially equipped playgrounds
Enclosed Play Area for Prep 1 Unit
Sick Bay staffed by a registered Nurse
Road Tennis Courts
Technical Drawing Room
Drama / Dance Room
Hall for Music
Table Tennis Boards
A large playing Field
(2) Tennis Courts
To provide quality education in a safe, caring learning environment where students are challenged to attain their maximum potential and become contributing members of the global community.
St. Winifred's After School Programme (SWAP)
We recognise the importance of extra-curricular activities, and our SWAP has been a vibrant and popular feature of our school. We offer a wide range of activities including:
There is an after-school care programme for students up to Junior 2 called the Kids Club.
Mr. Nicolas Vaughan
Recipient of the 2019 Royal Fidelity National Distinguished Teachers’ Award
Brooke Atwell
Ranked 7th in P.E. & Sport in the 2018 CXC CSEC Caribbean region Merit List
Daniela Lascurain
Ranked 3rd in Spanish in the 2018 CXC CSEC Caribbean region Merit List.
Alexis Williams
$20 Challenge winner:
Most Creative Business & top prize for Outstanding Microbusiness of the Year.
Charlee Collins
Placed tenth on the island in the BSSEE
Addison Batstone
Placed second in the island in English in the BSSEE
Stefan Odle and William Mackenzie
Scored 100% in Mathematics in the BSSEE
<select>Preps Juniors Seniors
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Phone: 1-(246) 429-3661
Pine Hill - St. Michael, Barbados - BB 11112
Email: secretary@stwinifredsschool.net
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Farewell, Brady: Another EHD Alum to Cheer On
by Emily Henderson January 11, 2019
One of the all-time greats, Brady Tolbert, has moved on from EHD and is no longer with us. This post might be a sad one for many of you (as it was for me) but you have to remind yourself of what I do all the time: “Brady is not actually dead, he’s just not working for EHD anymore.” He lives in LA! I can still see him for lunch/drinks, invite him to EHD events, I can touch his flesh and it will in fact be warm and I can even watch his life on social media. That’s the good news. But after five wonderful years, this guy has found an opportunity that he was ready for and I am extremely happy for him (I promise…I wouldn’t write a big FAREWELL TO BRADY post if I was upset in any way, I’m far too transparent for that).
Yes, I could have gone all mushy, but I thought it would be EVEN MORE FUN if we took a trip down Tolbert memory lane. Shall we? Seven years ago (I’m not sure exactly when, though) while Orlando and I were shopping at the Rose Bowl for a magazine shoot, this young Brady stopped us and asked to take a picture. He loved our show and said some really nice things before letting us go on our way to shop.
A few months later. he applied for a job and after Ginny did the first round of interviews, she said “I think we found our person.” At that time, Orlando no longer worked with me (he went out on his own and has obviously created an incredible brand and we are still GREAT friends) and the company was just Ginny and I. Crazy…such simpler times. I interviewed him and I actually remembered him from the flea market which is rare because a lot of people come up to me there for photos (of which I welcome and love).
I learned in that interview that he was raised Mormon, too, and I’ll go ahead and say that I love a former mormon (and a current one). He was obviously qualified in other ways—he was an architecture school grad, had a variety of other usable skills, had so much style, plus Ginny and I just really liked him. And when you have a super small company working out of your basement, “liking” your team was non-negotiable.
We had so much fun together (GINNY I MISS YOU, TOO, AND NOW REALIZE I NEVER WROTE A POST LIKE THIS FOR YOU even though you also worked for me for 5 years…you are still missed). And while his job was “assistant,” he really helped in all aspects of the business because he’s the type of guy that will just do anything, with a good attitude. (HOT TIP: The key to success is working hard with a smile).
So many walls were painted. So many pieces of furniture were carried up those 32 stairs. We did everything from soup to nuts before we had a larger team and more help. He always said yes with a smile and nothing was beneath him. He should seriously write a book on work ethic, because he’s an expert in it.
But to make up for it, we also had SO MUCH FUN.
The team grew and grew, starting with Sara who actually came about a year after Brady, the last year has brought on SIX others, but Brady was OUR GUY. He was like the company dad. Up until recently, he was the only guy. He was serious when I needed him to be, but could also match my work energy and need for fun. He was ALWAYS down for a good time and had such positive energy. We miss our Brady!
He wore SO many hats at one point as the editorial director, art director, writer, designer and general COO.
Last year he KILLED it at the Portland project—a design install and shoot that almost broke us (physically). He was up there for what felt like months, more than anyone else, and he was so dedicated to the project, shooting from 8 am to 8 pm (when they lost light). He really pushed himself (and me) in creativity and style for that project and I could not have done it without him.
By now, you’ve probably already asked yourself 12 times “wait, but what happened? where did he go?!?” Here goes:
Brady and I had been talking about his next steps, career-wise and while I REALLY wanted him to stay, I also could tell he had an itch. I begged him to work for himself and have me hire him as a producer on big jobs (thus giving him freedom to do his own thing but keeping him around :)). But then he told me that he got a job offer he couldn’t refuse. My first thought was honestly “that’s amazing!” forgetting that that meant he would leave me. We were both crying and he said something like”it just feels like a breakup” and I said (or thought, I don’t really remember) “No, this is an actual SUCCESS STORY”.
To have someone of his ambition work for an individual person, let alone someone with nary a work-org policy, for five years is actually so rare these days. Five years of greatness is better than none. 🙂
So my Dear Brady.
To say you will be missed is quite an understatement. But what’s even more difficult to express is how much I have always and will always appreciate and value your support, hard work, work ethic, good attitude, creativity, style, assistance, advice, comedy, general consult and friendship over the last five years. Did I mention support and advice??? AND CREATIVITY??? We really guerilla-styled our way into digital media and sponsored content and I feel like we helped raise each other in this insane world of social media. It actually feels like WAY more than 5 years.
When you started, we worked out of my basement on an hourly wage without any benefits. You’ve seen me pumping breast milk (multiple places, multiple years), you’ve helped me pick out outfits for shoots, I’ve seen you wear 500 neck bandanas and go from never having worked out a day in your life to becoming quite a muscular gym rat. I watched you fall in love and you watched me raise two small kids. My kids know you and are going to miss you so much. A lot of life moments shared together. And now while the company has grown up and the vibe is still the same…but your energy can not be replaced.
In short, you will be missed, but myself and the EHD crew will be watching your success (and cheering you on).
Don’t worry. I have an amazing group of smart, creative people who are so excited for 2019 and ready to step into that man’s shoes.
So Brady…the good news…
…what this really means is that I’m no longer your boss…I’m now just your actual friend.
(And P.S…Bobby Berk, if you aren’t nice to my good friend Brady, well, I’ll ruin you:))
For those of you who want to relive some “best of Brady” projects and see his beautiful home, here you go…
Top row, left to right: Brady’s tiny vintage bathroom, his full apartment kitchen reveal (with that amazing DIY vinyl tile flooring), his graphic and moody living room.
Bottom row, left to right: His refreshed living room, the bedroom reveal with the DIY tufted headboard that broke the internet, and the time he turned his three-year-old nieces bedroom into the Scandi inspired room of her dreams.
THANK YOU, BRADY. I’ll love and appreciate you and our years together forever and ever and ever. 🙂 xx
Power Couples: Floor & Table Lamp Combos That Work
The Feel Good Flash Makeover Reveal (A.K.A. My Favorite Thing…
Portland Project: The Living Room Reveal
KathrynJ says:
I have a very special place in my heart for Brady because many years back, I think he must have just started at EHD, I was a huge fan from Melbourne, Australia and was in L.A. for a week with my husband who was working. I had a spare day and a car and decided I’d try my luck, offering to help you guys out if you needed a schlepper for the day. To my absolute surprise and delight Brady responded very promptly and kindly to my email. Turns out Emily was out of town and you didn’t need my ‘fan girl’ assistance, but I was so chuffed to hear back from him. Best of luck in the next phase of your career Brady.
So sweet, KathrynJ! I love the story.
OMG, he works with Bobby Berk now?! So we will still see him, maybe on TV?
Bye bye, Brady. I will miss you!
I know!!! I have to admit I was so sad to see this post, because I love Brady (and similarly miss Ginny and Mel) but OMG Bobby Berk!! This sounds like a dream job! We need updates once Brady is settled!
Best of luck to Brady — looking forward to more creativity and beauty from him! Emily, you’re a great mentor/boss — encouraging and supportive! Surround yourself with creative, talented people and allow them to shine! xoxo
Jordan G says:
I feel like it’s always been obvious that you two got along so well and your friendship has been fun to follow from the very beginning. I love hearing how you met and how things have changed. I’m sure it’s a hard change but at least it’s a happy one for both parties and you can still be great friends. Best wishes, Brady! Please come back and guest blog like Orlando does!
Best of luck in your new adventures, Brady! I cannot wait to see where this new challenge takes you! 🙂
OMG Bobby Berk!? Go Brady, what an exciting opportunity. You’ll be missed!
Haley Betz says:
I remember when he was first hired. Hard to believe it was that many years ago. It’s been fun watching his evolution. Best of luck Brady!
Congratulations to Brady. He has such a wonderful spirit and I’ll miss seeing his talent and enthusiasm here. How can someone follow him?
He is on Instagram and has his own website too 🙂
milo says:
Congratulations, Brady!! You’ll be missed here, but we’ll be fans of your work forever <3
So happy to hear that your next step is going to be an excellent one, and that you and Emily can move into “real” friend stage now. Leaving on great terms is one of the best feelings you can have as a professional, and you have earned every ounce of praise in this post. Thanks for creating lovely content for us for all these years, and for helping Em build the right team to keep making this work for years to come. You’re a builder and a dreamer and I’m so very excited for your next adventure!
jessvii says:
I must be the only person who had to Google “Bobby Berk” (I’ve watched the show, though, just didn’t know his name). I’m sad that Brady is going – I loved his work!
5 stages of Brady grief When you find out he’s leaving EHD:
1. Shock: What??? No!!!!! Why???? He can’t!!!!
2. Nostalgia: I remember when he was hired. Remember the bleach blonde hair… I totally stole all the ideas from his rental kitchen remodel.
3. Sadness: I’m actually going to miss this human that I’ve never actually met.
4. Acceptance: I’m happy if Emily is happy. I’m sure he’s going to do awesome at whatever he’s going to do.
5. Hyperventilation: Brady’s working for Queer Eye. BRADY’S WORKING FOR QUEER EYE. BRADY’S. WORKING. FOR. QUEER EYE!!!!!!! [Breathes heavy into a bag]
Lol! This is great.
hahahahaha so so true.
Shellie says:
YES ALL 5 STAGES OF GRIEF OMFG BRADY AND QUEER EYE REALLY THREW A CURVEBALL!!
Cris S. says:
I think we will all miss Brady’s influence here and I hope, as with Orlando, we’ll get to hear from him occasionally! Best of luck to you in your new job!
On a separate note – I was so excited to use the new Rooms and other resources here to source some wallpaper, but the Rooms section isn’t helpful in that way and when I do a search I just get about four very specific results of some singular wallpapers that have no images, and absolutely no post results to lead me to all the great wallpaper posts you have done. Just an FYI and now I’m off to see if Google can provide better results for your website than I’m getting within your web.site. As I have absolutely none of the skills needed to build a website or it’s search engine, please know I’m not bitching about it, just letting you know.
Arlyn Hernandez says:
Shoot I’m sorry to hear that’s not more intuative or helpful. We’ll take a look and see how we can continue to improve this in future roll outs!
Christa says:
Congrats Brady, you will do great!
Congrats, Emily, on creating a business that has fostered so much talent.
So beautifully written, Emily. What a wonderful tribute to amazing Brady. Here’s wishing him tremendous success in his next endeavor. He will be missed.
Brady is my absolute fave. Looking forward to following him in his future endeavors!
Brady is the best, and this is such a great tribute to him!!
Oh man I didn’t think this would make me so sad/sentimental! All the best Brady (and EHD Team) it was was such a pleasure seeing your great work and reading your super great and fun posts for the last years – you will be missed! <3
I’ve always felt kind of connected to Brady since he grew up in Salt Lake City and is a former Mormon, too. His personality seemed infused in the team. I actually feel pretty gutted that he’s leaving! (Online communities!!) But I’m SO excited for his next venture. Big congratulations to him.
Biller Kay says:
My first reaction to Brady was nooo he can’t leave!! But after reading the blog post I’m really happy for him and wish him the best of luck. How can I be sad, worried and happy for someone I’ve never met but read about for the last five years? I’m gonna miss Brady and hopefully he will come back to do more of his apartment reveals that I fell in love with all these years.
This is bringing tears to my eyes! What a great post. We’ll miss you, Brady! I knew he was a master when I saw [the post with] his kitchen with the checkerboard tiles. Beautiful design.
I did not know that Brady was raised Mormon. That connection between you and him makes it fun/interesting.
All these pics were great. Best of luck, Brady!
BOBBY BERK – I love. BRADY – I love even more. I am so excited to see Brady’s career grow and shift.
Emily – do you pour fairy dust on your employees?! Can I have some?
Shenleyonthames says:
Being in the UK, I’ve only heard of Bobby Berk through the Chaise Lounge podcast. What a great opportunity for Brady , and here’s hoping that it brings him further fantastic opportunities and success.
Nooooo! I mean, yay Brady! But I’ll miss him for sure.
Lashley says:
Happy trails, Brady! Will look for you on netflix!
Lissa says:
Brady was wonderful!!! Wait… yes he’s not dead. He is wonderful and will have a great career ahead of him! Good luck out there Brady!
Marty H says:
LOVELY…best of luck to you, Brady!
Monique O says:
This brought me to tears. You’re such a genuine person, you honestly deserve all your success. Best of luck in your career Brady!
This is a lovely and heartwarming post about wonderful Brady. But where does it say what he’s going on to do?
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Our Firsts
Enjoy the magnificent views of our sprawling lawns
GET ACCOMMODATION TODAY
Stay with friends & families
Hotline +254 703 048 000
Rahul Sood, Group MD & CEO Middle East & Africa
Mr. Rahul Sood is the Group Chief Executive at Sun Africa Hotels and is an experienced Passionate Hotelier, sound marketing hospitality specialist EBITDA driven. With over 16 years of global premium corporate hotel experience with sound promotions positioning, talented multi-level communicator, engaged group facilitator whilst offering anticipative service process centricity in order to retain prime market position resulting in an improved EBITDA.
Sun Africa Hotels is an award winning regional hotel company whose goal is to offer unparalleled service & consistent commitment to excellence. Sun Africa Hotels create epic, confident and refined hotels in most attractive destinations by blending with local cultures. It dates back to 1927, being one of the first establishments in Africa offering the perfect combination of bush and scenic safari holidays with varies choices. Sun Africa Hotels is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts as well a member of the Eco Tourism Kenya, with a collection of seven properties with a balloon company.
Overseeing operations as CEO for the management company charged with operating 7 hotels and Hot Air Balloon Company with a USD 38 million Annual turnover & 729 Employees.
The various properties have previously received accolades in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 under the World Luxury Hotels Awards, Trip Advisor and Booking.com awards. Sun Africa and its brands have a total of 45 wins since its 2010 undertaking as management. Sun Africa Hotels was voted the best Hotel Management Company in Africa for the third year in a row.
Sun Africa Hotels Management Company was also honored by being awarded the prestigious Haute Grandeur Awards for Sovereign Suites which is an All-Suite luxury hotel located in Nairobi. Sovereign Suites Hotel, was recognized for the exemplary service extended to their guests.
Rahul Sood
Group Managing Director,
Sun Africa Hotels.
Sun Africa Team
GMD & CEO Middle East and Africa
Peterson Njuguna
Catherine Chuani
Director Sales & Marketing
Esther Bwayo
Director Revenue Performance
Sejal Doshi
Director, Fin. & Business Support
Suraj Dumre
Group Supply Chain Manager
Rosalyne Wamae
Judy Mtsonga
Corporate Account Manager
Sanjeev Kumar
Manager, LNCC
Charles Kinyua
Manager, Sovereign Suites
John Kiruthi
Manager, Keekorok Lodge
Charles Maigua
Celestine Simiyu
Asst. Sales & Marketing Mgr
Jane Waweru
Reservations Agent
Sun Africa Hotels is one of the first hotel companies to bring hospitality to Kenya. Our long history going back into the early first half of the last century,when the palatial homestead at the shores of Lake Naivasha originally opened as a ‘guest house’ with only 3 rooms available for guests. Those were the days ofthe ‘flying boats’ by British Imperial Airways, the predecessor of what became the famous BOAC before emerging as British Airways. These – for those days at least – giant aircraft took off from the Thames in London and then made their way across the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt, up the River Nile with a stop in Khartoum and on to Kenya, where they ‘landed’ at Kenya’s first international aviation entry point on Lake Naivasha. The trip, which took several days to complete, had passengers then undertake an arduous journey from Naivasha to Nairobi, up the winding road of the Great African Rift Valley, and the Lake Naivasha Hotel, now the Lake Naivasha Country Club, was swiftly becoming ‘THE’ place to take to before and after flights when Lake Naivasha country Club was opened as a result of Imperial Flying Boat Services between Durban to Dublin which was then called.
Over 1700 square miles of lush, sun-drenched plains encircle Keerorok Lodge, the first property in the heart of Masai Mara Game Reserve.
Lake Naivasha Country club, one of the gems in a necklace of Rift Valley, emerged in the 1930’s as the first staging post for Imperial Airways Flying boat service from Durban.
Lake Baringo Club
Lake Baringo Club hosts the first african paradise for bird lovers with over 800 species of birds and a highlight of the ornithology circuit.
Kiboko Luxury Camp
The first all inclusive upscale luxury camp on the shores of lake Naivasha.
Sovereign Suites is the first all suite aristrocratic colonial building with two acre private fist dam surrounded by lush tea and flower farms..
Balloon Adventure
Experience enchanting view with Sun Africa’s very first air balloon in the Maasai Mara National Game Reserve.
Mission, Vision and Core Values
To be the most preferred hotel company within Africa for each segment of the market.
To create & dazzle the guests with superior quality of products & services.
One Team, Customer Focus, Integrity & Innovation
Towards the Community
Sun Africa Hotels (SAH), has premier tourist facilities in various locations within the country. In each of this place, the group has designed a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program aimed at uplifting the wellbeing of the community, socially, financially, and environmentally. It is no longer acceptable for a corporation to experience economic prosperity in isolation from those agents impacted by its actions. SAH has focused its attention on both increasing its bottom line and being a good corporate citizen. Keeping abreast of global trends and remaining committed to financial obligations to deliver both private and public benefits have forced SAH to reshape its framework, rules, and business model. SAH has revised its short- and long-term agendas, to stay ahead of rapidly changing challenges through CSR programmes.
1. Investment in local producers and their products
The Masai communities are the major inhabitants of Narok County and they have a rich culture that has impacted positively to the tourism sector in Kenya. Apart from the Maasai Mara National Reserve, the Maasai (Masai) boost of beads, masks, carvings and the unique lifestyle and dance which are major tourists’ attractions. As part of our CSR, we have ensured that the Maasai sell their beads, masks and carvings to tourists who visit/reside in our lodges. In addition, the Maasai's perform various dances and other cultural activities to tourist audiences in our lodges. It's also worth noting that tourism helps the Maasai (Masai) to retain and enrich the Maasai (Masai) culture through business transformation.
For instance, Keekorok Lodge a premier hospitality facility located in Maasai Mara National Reserve has contributed immensely towards the wellbeing of the Maasai community, especially women and morans (young men) through the CSR program. The location of the lodge gives tourists an option to visit Business premises or Manyattas that sell art facts. Equally, it has a gift shop in partnership with the local community within its premises where tourists can easily access the Masai products.
2. Community support and outreach
SAH is geared towards improving the Masai peoples' quality of life through various initiatives. The education of the children from the surrounding community has been boosted through the support plans in place such as provision of educational resources and tools and infrastructure.
SAH has been working with the local health care providers to assist in medical clinics. The remoteness of some of the Maasai Manyattas prompted SAH to be arranging with health care providers to provide medical camps for basic health care needs. Similarly, SAH has been sponsoring health camps in remote locations and arranging for medical teams, medical supplies and medicines to benefit the local community.
SAH together with the county government are in discussion on how to support health care facilities in the county. Well equipped clinics in the county will motivate the local community to seek medical attention.
3.Provision of Water and Roads
Through its corporate social investment, SAH has sank boreholes to provide local communities with clean water that is used for drinking and other domestic chores. Furthermore, SAH has partnered with selected schools and health facilities to provide boreholes and tanks for rain water harvesting.
SAH has partnered with other relevant stakeholders like the Narok County and the local government to ensure roads leading to the park are improved/ repaired through combined initiatives.
4. Employment and training to the local communities
SAH has ensured that the living standards of the local communities are improved through apprenticeship programmes in its facilities across the County government of Narok. The graduates from our apprentice programmes are normally given first priority for employment opportunities. The local people have been trained in hotel management and thereafter employed. Similarly, the local men have been employed as security guards.
Visits to Masai cultural villages are offered to tourists by Masai driver guides from the communities and villages around in partnership with SAH. SAH has also ensured that the authentic and fully functional Masai villages are not interfered with commercial activities and instead Maasai's are motivated by the need to keep them appear traditional in order to be more appealing to tourists. Tourists are normally exposed to people's homes and exposed to the reality of how the community live and operate on a daily basis. In so doing, the local people get some income, paid by tourists as entrance fee.
Towards the Environment
SAH has been very instrumental with the designing and implementing of various types of environmental conservation activities, such as the development of an ecologically sound method for sewage treatment and then use the very water to irrigate grass around the camp. Wild animals have been feeding on this grass during the dry season. SAH has also successfully embraced a tree planting program {indigenous trees} to replace the few lost trees around the lodge. These trees act as wind breakers but also act as a habitat for various bird species. To sum up, the ecosystem around has been protected.
2. Environmental training
In order to keep with the continuous need to understand and protect the environment in which the lodges operate, SAH has been offering capacity building programmes on environment both to the communities around and the staff in a bid to create understanding of the importance of environmental responsibility. Besides this, SAH has naturalists who are based at the lodges to provide training to all staff members on environmental policies and practices
3. Conservation Initiatives
The Lodges have employed direct funding to proper waste disposal, water conservation and monthly environmental cleanup. These initiatives have ensured proper waste disposal and management by sorting waste at the source and recycling of glass and plastics
4. Climate Change adaptation and mitigation
Climate change is both a global threat and a development issue. Tourism contributes to human induced climate change. In order to develop sustainable tourism, adaptation and mitigation strategies should be accepted.
Therefore, the lodge has adopted renewable energy sources such as electric solar energy, water solar heaters, energy saving bulbs and rechargeable solar lamps. The solar energy is used to facilitate less energy consuming demands such as lighting, water heating and pavement lighting. This initiative has minimized the over reliance on fossil fuel sources [petroleum energy]
Sun Africa Hotels believes corporate governance is an essential part of a culture that enables us to meet our short-term objectives while striving to realise the long-term vision of the group. Good corporate governance ensures that company is run as efficiently as possible in the interests of management, board and investors. This in turn promotes greater confidence within the company and creates better conditions.
Our goal has therefore been to foster a culture of good governance, recognising that it is key to the sustainability and integrity of the group and central to the health of our economies and their stability. Our approach focuses on the four pillars underpinning corporate governance:
Group Compliance
Complying with governance and regulatory standards across our footprint needs a sound professional compliance function. This established function offers sound guidance and advice to the group, and its monitoring activities ensure that any improper conduct or failure to comply with regulatory requirements is immediately addressed. Group compliance policies and guidelines are aligned to industry best practice.
Group Internal Audit
Continual and rapid changes as well as the complexity of our business, organisational dynamics and the regulatory environments in which we operate require an established, effective internal audit function. Our group internal audit function consistently evaluates the efficiency of control systems and contributes to ongoing effectiveness through sound management reporting.
Corporate scandals and diminished confidence in financial reporting among investors and creditors have again emphasised the need for a structured and disciplined approach to understanding and managing business risks. Integrated enterprise risk management addresses this need and the group risk committee is responsible for entrenching this culture throughout the group.
External Audit
Our primary focus is to ensure our accounting records are accurate, complete and compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards. We rely on PKF’s superior functional capabilities, in-depth industry knowledge and experience in meeting this essential requirement.
The group has adopted a delegation-of-authority framework that sets out the authority levels and responsibility allocated to board committees, executives and management. This framework strengthens corporate governance as responsibility and process for all levels of activity within the business are clearly identified and controlled. Although privately held, the group conducts its business in line with international corporate governance best practice.
(c) Copyright Accommodation. All Rights Reserved.
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Queen's Brian May Calls for Live Aid Concert to Tackle Climate Change
With decades of new problems to tackle, Queen’s own Brian May is revisiting the idea of hosting a second Live Aid concert- this time contributing to efforts to stop climate change.
Def Leppard Working on New Album After Rock Hall Induction
Watch the band's all-star performance from the ceremony
Harry Styles, Brian May, Trent Reznor Among Presenters for Rock Hall Ceremony
The induction ceremony is now less than three weeks away
Brian May Donated His Queen Outfits to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
The one jacket that got the costume designer really excited
Watch Brian May Play "Bohemian Rhapsody" Solo for Movie Cast
Queen guitarist makes a memory for the actor who portrayed him
Brian May to Launch New Single from NASA
The Queen guitarist will combine two of his passions
Dexter Fletcher Named New 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Director
According to 'The Hollywood Reporter,' Dexter Fletcher has signed on as the new director of the upcoming Queen biopic, 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' Fletcher will be replacing Bryan Singer, the film's previous director who was let go this week after reportedly failing to return to set after Thanksgiving and...
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$5M Disbursement Headed to Ky. School Boards Trust Funds
SurfKY News
FRANKFORT, Ky. (3/18/19) — The Kentucky Department of Insurance and Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance received authorization from Franklin Circuit Court to disburse $5 million to 194 members of the Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust Fund. KSBIT members include numerous county boards of education, colleges, and cooperatives throughout the Commonwealth.
“We are pleased to announce this $5 million disbursement to nearly 200 members of the Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust Fund,” said Gov. Bevin. “Because of diligent administration of workers’ compensation claims by the Kentucky Department of Insurance and KEMI over the past several years, K-12 and post-secondary school boards and cooperatives across the Commonwealth will soon have additional funds to utilize.”
DOI petitioned and was appointed rehabilitator over the failing KSBIT Workers’ Compensation Self Insurance Fund and the KSBIT Property Liability Fund in November 2013. At the time, KSBIT-WC had a reported deficit of over $35 million, for which members were liable. To shore up the failing insurer, KEMI agreed to assume all unpaid workers’ compensation claims in the estimated liability amount of $35 million. Beginning in November 2014, KEMI began administering all the workers’ compensation claims and to return excess money if claims were lower expected.
“In some unfortunate cases, the Department must act to protect covered members,” said DOI Commissioner Nancy G. Atkins. “I am so pleased that we have already returned nearly $2.8 million to KSBIT members in this case. This additional $5 million disbursement is a testament to KEMI’s ability to oversee complex and otherwise costly claims. Its successful efforts will increase the coffers of our local school boards, colleges, and universities.”
A recent actuarial study confirmed that KEMI’s claims administration substantially reduced liabilities, resulting in approximately $5 million in savings to the assessed KSBIT members. Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate agreed and approved the commissioner’s plan to distribute $5 million to member education institutions.
“Five years ago when we assumed the liabilities of KSBIT, we anticipated this day would come,” said Jon Stewart, KEMI CEO. “I am proud of the hard work and dedication of our staff in managing the claims to a successful resolution. Many of the schools are current policyholders and we are honored to serve them.”
KSBIT will disburse the funds through a pro rata distribution, beginning March 21, 2019.
A copy of the order is available on the Department of Insurance website.
For additional information about DOI and insurance fraud, visit http://insurance.ky.gov.
© Copyright 2008 - 2019 SurfKY News Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without permission.
Click here to subscribe to receive daily updates by email.
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Artists / Events / Art
Exhibitions / Art projects
About / CV
Suzie Quill
Outside of advertising hours I work on my other passion of discovering and promoting talented artists. As co-founder and curator of Higher Pitch and Art Sells exhibitions I curated the first Higher Pitch exhibition in 2010. It was set up in response to a need for a true creative and artistic outlet within the advertising industry. Over a period of three years, Higher Pitch gained international recognition in the advertising industry holding annual exhibitions in London and Cannes. Following on from Higher Pitch, I continue to curate exhibitions, including the “There’s A Good Girl” exhibition held at Saatchi & Saatchi, “Lost & Found” which was took place over London Fashion Week 2015 and "Fastidious journey" held in Clerkenwell April 2016.
Limited Edition prints for David Bowie memorial - crowd funding campaign.
These limited edition prints are currently part of a crowd funding campaign where a few emerging artists made new work for a David Bowie memorial to be built in Brixton later this year. Collaborating with artist Daniel Fisher, I selected archive images to create a series, that captures Bowie’s different transitions performing over three decades. Inspired by Bowie’s artistic collaborations; including Mic Rock, David Mallat’s video clips the images were bought to life with whimsical illustrations and embraces some of Bowie’s impressionists lyrics & songs.
Photography by Cover Images / Illustration – Daniel Fisher / Art direction – Suzie Quill
"Lets Dance" Acrylic, & pen - Serious Moonlight Tour, 1983
"Red shoes" Acrylic, & pen - Serious Moonlight Tour, 1983
"The angels have gone" Acrylic & pen - live in München, 2002
Curated first solo exhibition for fashion illustrator Daniel Fisher, Lost & Found - "Fashionable forms and wardrobe tales" was showcased in Soho over London Fashion Week, Sept 2015.
"Fastidious journey" by Daniel Fisher. Solo exhibition held in Clerkenwell, 2016
www.danielfisherartist.com
Featured on Hungertv - http://www.hungertv.com/feature/daniel-fisher-lost-and-found/
Photo's from Lost & Found private view at Tapestry productions, Frith Street Soho.
Photography by Adrian Volcinschi@tapestry
2014. I co- curated "There's A Good Girl" exhibition, showcasing twenty ground-breaking female creatives and artists exhibited at the private view, held at Saatchi & Saatchi on Nov 27th 2014. The exhibition then moved to The Assembly Rooms where it was open to the public until the end of January 2015. I also got to collaborate with the fabulous doodle bomber Hattie Stewart to create this Limited Edition poster for the event.
"There's A Good Girl" exhibition was featured in several publications worldwide.
Co-founder and curator of Higher Pitch & Art Sells exhibitions. The first Higher Pitch exhibition took place in 2010 and was set up in response to a need for a true creative and artistic outlet within the advertising industry. Over a period of three years, Higher Pitch gained International recognition in the advertising industry holding yearly exhibitions in London and Cannes.
© 2019 Suzie Quill
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This item found in: Distance Learning | Compliance | Funding | Industry Engagement | Sponsored Research | Start-Ups |
The Small Business Administration has just released a significant update to the SBIR/STTR policy directives and the changes took effect May 2nd. The final version contains significant policy changes that affect data rights and protections, data marking, rules related to multiple public funding sources, expanded opportunities with Phase III awards, and relaxation of rules related to multiple research institute partners.
Coupled with the National Science Foundation’s new requirement of “project pitch” before submission for an award and the NIH’s updated FOA for 2019, there are lots of new and important moving parts for TTOs, start-ups, research managers and partners to maneuver through — and one misstep can jeopardize your entire award status. At the same time, the new rules introduce valuable opportunities for expanded funding and new partnerships.
To clarify the various agencies’ directives and give you clear guidance on how to navigate successfully, Technology Transfer Tactics’ Distance Learning Division has teamed up with two experts to bring you this detailed webinar:
SBIR/STTR expert Kristen Parmelee, President of PCG, Inc., and UNeMed Business Development Manager Joseph Runge, JD, MS, will cover:
How the changes to the definitions of data rights affect your IP
Clarification of data rights protections and the nature of those protections
Changes to the regulations governing state matching funds
Important Phase III funding updates that will help avoid the valley of death as your Phase II ends.
Updates to the multiple research institution rule and how to report it going forward
Understand the NSF program’s now-required “project pitch” before submission rule.
The positives and negatives of the NIH’s move toward special/targeted solicitations in key research areas.
Get a solid understanding of the NIH’s just-released, updated FOA for 2019, including the new salary cap
Meet Your Team of Presenters
Kristen Parmelee
PCG, Inc.
Kristen (Kris) Parmelee launched Parmelee Consulting Group, Inc. (PCG) in 2000 with a focus on traditional fund raising. In 2005, she expanded her experience to include SBIR/STTR, and since 2010, her practice has focused solely on SBIR/STTR consulting and project management services. Her SBIR/STTR clients include several major universities and other small businesses developing and commercializing innovative technology. She offers extensive expertise in supporting faculty and entrepreneurs as they develop an SBIR/STTR strategy and prepare successful applications in all participating agencies, specializing in NIH and NSF.
Joe Runge
UNeMed
Mr. Runge is a registered patent lawyer and has lectured on bioentrepreneurship, intellectual property and regulatory law and writes regularly for a number of websites. At UNeMed, Mr. Runge is involved with all facets of technology transfer: invention evaluation, technology marketing, intellectual property strategy, license negotiation and license enforcement. In addition, he collaborates with faculty to create and develop new intellectual property. He also sits on the state SBIR/STTR advisory board, served as a mentor to multiple start-up accelerators, and is actively involved with the technology start-up ecosystem in Omaha and Nebraska.
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TellyMix / News / News Articles /
George Michael: I 'could never' take part in "cruel" X Factor auditions
Posted March 18, 2011 15:41 by Josh Darvill
George Michael has this afternoon dismissed reports suggesting that he was being lined up as a guest judge on The X Factor UK this year. The former Wham! singer told the ITV1 Loose Women panel today he "could never" take part in the show's auditions.
George said: "I understand how terrifying and heart breaking auditions are, especially if you are really young. I could never be involved in that part."
But the chart topper was quick not to rule out appearing on the programme entirely this year, teasing: "Maybe some mentoring thing… I don’t know, but I really wouldn’t be involved in the cruel part."
So there you go, tabloids don't always print the truth, who knew?
More on: George Michael News Articles
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TellyMix / News / Dancing On Ice 2019 /
Chloe Madeley introduces Sam Attwater to her parents Richard and Judy!
Posted April 14, 2011 07:00 by Josh Darvill
Sam Attwater
Dancing On Ice 2019
Meeting your girlfriend's parents is nerve wracking enough at the best of times, let alone when those parents are telly presenting legends Richard and Judy! According to The Mirror yesterday, Dancing On Ice champion Sam Attwater met Chloe Madley's parents - and got their approval!
Sam Attwater and Chloe Madeley have been dating since Dancing On Ice 2011 finished last month, after reportedly getting close during tour rehearsals for the live show which starts this month.
A source said about the meeting: "[Chloe's parents] take an avid interest in Chloe’s life and they wanted to get to know the new man in her life. They invited him to their home for coffee. Sam was nervous but they made him feel at home, chatting on their sofas.
“It was like he was a guest on their chat show, the way they grilled him.”
Asked about what Richard and Judy thought of him, Sam wasn't sure, saying: “I don’t know, you’d have to ask them.”
More on: Chloe Madeley Sam Attwater Dancing On Ice 2019
more Dancing On Ice
Strictly and Dancing On Ice stars team up for new dance show
Love Island's Adam Collard 'set to join Geordie Shore cast'
James Jordan announces new gig after Dancing On Ice victory
Gemma Collins set to launch a music career following Dancing On Ice
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Gautam Budha University to offer 33 new courses from next academic session , last date for application 22nd June
Noida - Greater Noida - Yamuna ExpresswayEducation
Saurabh Kumar / Baidyanath Halder
By tennews1 On Mar 14, 2019
Greater Noida (14/03/2019) : Gautam Budha University has opened its admission process for session 2019-20 with 33 new programs added to its curriculum. These programs are in the field of sunrise technologies and areas of emerging importance. Btech in Artificial Intelligence, MBA – Business Analytics, Mtech in Railway Signaling, Telecommunication & RAMS are some the courses which will be offered by the university.
From 13th March students can apply online for admission process, thereafter on 18th May university will conduct an online test which is to be held in Pan India at 64 different online examination centres. On 20th March result will be declared after that from 29th counselling will begin.
While interacting with Ten News Bhagwati Prakash Sharma, Vice Chancellor GBU said “Gautam Budha University is among some of the three-four University which are providing courses like B tech in Artificial Intelligence, MBA – Business Analytics, M tech in Railway Signaling etc. Apart from this we want to compile our Ancient scriptural history, the culture and traditions and the concept of Greater India that we see from Indonesia to Afghanistan in a form of Documentation. So that things that got reviled in the last 50 years during archaeological excavation can get a place in our curriculum and for this, we also had revamped our board of studies.”
We are bringing short courses and add on certificates for courses machine learning, 3 d printing, Block chains, Electric drives apart from this we signed a Mou with many Industries like (NIELIT, C-DAC) etc.”
With the 33 additional courses now the university has a total of 95 courses and university administration said that by the next year we will full fill our entire five thousand seats. Soon the university will be having a mega job fair from 13th to 16 April in which more than 100 companies will be in campus. During this mega job fair around 10 thousand students from different colleges will participate in this Job fair.
In another initiative initiated by university registrar, Bachchu Singh , university will be offering free coaching for students who want to opt for civil services.
tennews1
Future showcase for the woodworking and timber processing industries in Hannover
गौतम बुध नगर लोकसभा चुनाव के लिए कितना तैयार है ज़िला निर्वाचन कार्यालय
रितु माहेश्वरी ने नोएडा प्राधिकरण के सीईओ का लिया चार्ज , बताई प्राथमिकताएं
Noida International Airport pre-bid conference held at Expo Mart, Nine companies…
सेक्टर15ए के अध्यक्ष आनंद शुक्ला से टेन न्यूज़ ने की खास बातचीत , पढ़े पूरी खबर
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Finance & InsuranceFinancial Services
Financial Services News Guinea-Bissau
Facebook's Libra has staggering potential - state control of money could end
The UN recognises 180 currencies worldwide as legal tender, all of them issued by nation states. It does not recognise cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in this way, even if communities of enthusiasts have been treating them as a means of exchange for over a decade now...
By Gavin Brown 27 Jun 2019
How Nomanini built its remote POS voucher platform
The World Bank estimates that 66% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have bank accounts...
Africa's big 5 keys to financial transformation, inclusion
With mobile money continuing to dominate the continent's commerce growth, opening doors to business to everyone from a rural farmer to an entrepreneur, and cross-border seeing inter-country transactions on the rise, the continent is making a play to be the world's biggest e-commerce opportunity...
Failure to integrate gender equality is costing African economies billions of dollars
If Africa is to achieve the sustainable development goals, it needs to prioritise women's access to finance...
US-Africa pension funds explore investment opportunties
The latest figures released by the African Development Bank suggest the continent's infrastructure needs amount to between $130-170bn a year, with a current financing gap of $67-$107bn per annum...
Digital media platform for African finance needs repurposed
Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) announces revamped website...
Policy and the potential of mobile money for financial inclusion
Mobile money has changed the face of financial services forever. It has driven significantly greater financial inclusion in emerging markets around the world, positively impacting whole communities and economies...
By Akinwale Goodluck 29 Mar 2019
Interoperability and financial inclusion in Africa
There is still $400m unbanked in Africa, and the goal is to work with the private and financial sector to connect the poor with adequate financial systems...
By Nicci Botha 20 Mar 2019
Listen up! Why Mastercard is becoming a sonic brand
Get ready to recognise the Mastercard brand not only with your eyes but also your ears. That's right, the latest phase of its brand evolution involves sonic melody that's set to form part of your Mastercard brand experience in the future...
By Leigh Andrews 8 Feb 2019
#BizTrends2019: Private equity's African story
What are the key issues and trends related to doing business in Africa in the private equity space?
Visa and Vivo Energy partner to enhance digital payments
Visa and Vivo Energy have announced a pan-African agreement to provide digital payment services to consumers across 15 African countries, where both companies operate...
Mobile money transfers have taken off in Somalia. But there are risks
A recent World Bank report showed that Somalia has one of the most active mobile money markets in the world, outpacing most other countries in Africa...
By Victor Odundo Owuor 15 Oct 2018
Digital culture makes or breaks digital transformation initiatives
What too many organisations overlook when embarking on a digital transformation is the cultural and leadership readiness for the change. Both are essential to the success of any initiative...
By Jonathan Houston 26 Sep 2018
Blockchain as a solution to Africa's challenges
Africa is rising and technology is at the forefront of growth on the continent...
By Katy Micallef 21 Sep 2018
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Marketing & MediaStreaming
Andy Walker
Camper by day, run-and-gunner by night, Andy is editor at Memeburn and prefers his toast like his coffee -- dark and crunchy. Specialising in spotting the next big Instagram cat star, Andy also dabbles in smartphone and game reviews over on Gearburn..
Jacques Bentley
Jacques Bentley began his career with a 13-year-long stint in the retail industry, where he refined his management expertise at Hi-Fi Corporation and Bakos Brothers. In 2012, he decided to make the shift from retail to wholesale and tested out the waters as a sales manager at AV Specialists..
Jess is Marketing & Media Editor at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer.
Juanita Pienaar is an editorial assistant for the Marketing & Media news portal at Bizcommunity.com and is also a contributing writer..
Maroefah Smith
Enthusiastic UCT graduate with a passion for fashion, film and words..
Pieter Geyser
Pieter Geyser is a Google Certified Partner and "m"Ad Man for Search, Display and Shopping. He utilises his experience and resources in Marketing to develop unique concepts..
Priscilla Kennedy
Priscilla Kennedy is founder and CEO of Piehole.tv, a video production company based in Somerset East. She is also a writer, creative director and voiceover artist of kickass online videos at Piehole.tv and has experience as a copywriter in advertising agencies working on brands such as Coca-Cola, Heineken, Nescafe, Meteor..
Quinn Lubbe
Owner at 5:25 Productions specialising in video production and post-production including editing, motion graphics, sound and original music. Other services include digital conversions, DVD and Blu-Ray authoring..
Wynand Smit
Wynand Smit is CEO at INOVO, a leading contact centre business solutions provider..
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Trump Labor Officials Scramble to Keep McDonald’s Workers From Setting a Precedent
Big brands like McDonald's need to be held more accountable for the things franchisees do in their name.
— Jason Clampet
Labor officials want to prevent a ruling that would hold companies like McDonald's accountable for the labor violations of franchisees. / Bloomberg
labor / politics / trump
By Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg
The National Labor Relations Board is ignoring its own guidelines and rushing to settle a major workplace action involving McDonald’s Corp., lawyers for employees involved in the litigation alleged. If the workers win at trial, the case could have a profound effect on how major corporations are held liable for workplace wrongdoing.
The action before the NLRB stems from claims by McDonald’s franchise employees who said they were fired in retaliation for joining a national effort to obtain a $15 hourly wage, the so-called Fight For $15 movement. McDonald’s has both denied any wrongdoing and said it shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of individual franchises.
In January, a trial in the matter was nearing completion when it was suspended at agency request. The NLRB told the judge it would seek to settle the case, in part because an unrelated agency ruling in December undercut the claims against McDonald’s Corp. Last month, though, the NLRB inspector general said the December decision was tainted by one board member’s conflict, causing the agency to set it aside.
With the stay ending Monday, trial in the McDonald’s case is slated to resume this week.
Faced with a potential landmark decision in favor of franchise employees, NLRB lawyers have secured a deal with McDonald’s Corp. and are now racing to settle employee claims by Monday, attorneys for the workers contend. In doing so, the lawyers claim NLRB officials are wrongfully circumventing them and going straight to the workers with take-it-or-leave-it offers.
“It’s just a massive, last-minute scramble—board agents tripping over themselves to get settlements,” said Micah Wissinger, an attorney for the Fast Food Workers Organizing Committee, a union-backed group. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Saturday that a rush to settle the case is “an insult to every working American.”
“Donald Trump’s NLRB is trying to railroad workers into terrible settlements and let corporations violating labor laws off the hook,” the Democrat said in an emailed statement.
The NLRB and McDonald’s didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
“These workers have waited years, and all of the sudden they have to make a decision in ten minutes.”
A decision for the McDonald’s workers, who come from dozens of McDonald’s franchises across the country, could be cited as precedent in future lawsuits seeking to reach the deep pockets of multinationals whose franchises and units engage in workplace wrongdoing. Such a ruling—that McDonald’s Corp. is a “joint employer” with enough power over its franchises to share legal responsibility for violations of worker rights—would in turn spur increased litigation costs for companies.
Wissinger alleged in an interview that NLRB lawyers are soliciting workers to accept deals on the spot or within hours, without sufficient opportunity to review final terms with the labor group’s attorney, and in some cases without the workers fully understanding they are waiving their right to get their job back. “These workers have waited years, and all of the sudden they have to make a decision in ten minutes because the general counsel wants to help McDonald’s kill its case before Monday,” he said.
In 2012, the NLRB under the Obama administration began probing allegations by workers at franchised McDonald’s restaurants that they were fired for their participation in Service Employees International Union-backed labor and wage protests. In 2015, an NLRB ruling in an unrelated case provided agency lawyers with stronger legal grounds to win claims against McDonald’s Corp., not just the franchisees.
In a 3-2 vote, the NLRB’s Democratic majority in Browning-Ferris made it easier for a company to be considered a joint employer of workers who are paid by someone else. Business groups were outraged.
When the agency trial in the McDonald’s case began in 2016, an attorney for the fast food company argued that Dick Griffin, the Obama-appointed NLRB general counsel and former union lawyer, was attempting to drive “a wedge between McDonald’s and its franchisees by forcing a massive piece of litigation” over allegations many of which could have been settled “in a fifteen minute phone call.”
The trial dragged on through 2017 as the makeup of the NLRB became majority Republican under the Trump administration. Then in December, the NLRB used another case, named Hy-Brand, to reverse Browning-Ferris, also by a 3-2 vote. The NLRB’s new general counsel, management-side attorney Peter Robb, cited Hy-Brand to delay the McDonald’s trial so he could pursue a settlement.
On Feb. 27, the tables turned yet again. The NLRB, under increasing pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill, voted to throw out Hy-Brand after its inspector general found board member William Emanuel, a Republican appointee, shouldn’t have participated in the case because his law firm represented a company in Browning-Ferris. Since then, congressional Democrats have urged hearings on the conflict-of-interest allegations and demanded that trial in the McDonald’s case be resumed.
“There’s optics that suggest that they’re putting more weight on rapidly finishing this case up.”
With trial in the case set to resume as early as Monday, lawyers for the McDonald’s employees claim Robb and his staff are offering settlements to avoid completion of the litigation. Robb, a former management-side attorney, worked in the 1980’s as part of the Reagan administration effort to dissolve the air traffic controllers union. He was lead attorney in a controversial case that resulted in the firing of thousands of striking workers and the decertification of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. Labor historians called it a critical turning point in the American labor movement, and the beginning of decades of decline in union membership and wage stagnation.
“The PATCO case was probably the most important labor conflict of the last part of the 20th century,” Joseph McCartin, a professor at Georgetown University, told Bloomberg BNA.
As NLRB general counsel, Robb has almost unlimited discretion to settle cases, said University of Wyoming law professor and former agency attorney Michael Duff. He can even do so without the support of the workers or organizations who brought the allegations, Duff said. However, the approach being described by the Fast Food Workers Organizing Committee would be a departure from standard practice, he added. “I can’t remember a time when we didn’t give charging parties a week to look over a settlement agreement,” said Duff, who worked at the labor board under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. “You want to be clear that everybody understands what’s going on.”
“To our knowledge not a single worker who is owed any backpay has seen any figures, any of the calculations.”
The handling of the McDonald’s case raises broader questions about the labor board’s approach under Trump, said former NLRB attorney Jeffrey Hirsch, a law professor at the University of North Carolina.
“There’s optics that suggest that they’re putting more weight on rapidly finishing this case up than they are on ensuring that the workers discriminated against are actually getting a full and fair hearing as to what they think is a fair settlement,” Hirsch said. “The question, is why are you rushing it?”
Wissinger, the fast food workers group lawyer, said that, over the past several days, employees have been contacted directly by the NLRB lawyers without notice to him or other attorneys working on their behalf. NLRB case handling rules state that agency lawyers must adhere to general standards of ethical conduct, which include dealing with the legal representatives of claimants and organizations that filed the original claims, and provide claimants with sufficient time and information to make an educated decision on settlement offers, particularly when they include a waiver of job reinstatement.
“To our knowledge not a single worker who is owed any backpay has seen any figures, any of the calculations” when approached by NLRB lawyers with a McDonald’s settlememt offer, Wissinger said.
“A worker here in New York received a phone call, ‘$50,000, would that be OK?’” she was asked, according to Wissinger. “She wasn’t even really clear about the waiver. She doesn’t know how much of that $50,000 is truly her backpay award and how much of it is a walkaway premium.” She eventually signed off on the agreement without knowing she had just forfeited her job, Wissinger said.
“You’ve got a group of courageous workers who have waited and testified and stood by this case to try to hold McDonald’s accountable,” Wissinger said. “And now they’re just getting kneecapped.”
This article was written by Josh Eidelson from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
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Beijing Done, for Now, Acquiring Land in South China Sea
March 15, 2019 taiwanwireservice.com Government, Legal-Judicial
TAIPEI, TAIWAN Two American B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea on a training mission Wednesday for the second time in 10 days, acts that Beijing considers provocative. Chinese officials resent any challenge to their hold over hundreds of the sea's tiny islets, which other countries claim, too.
But China appears, at least for now, to be done adding positions in the sea that's claimed in whole or in part by five other governments, maritime scholars agree. They say a seven-year effort to reclaim land for building on once uninhabitable atolls and reefs paused indefinitely two years ago because Beijing had reached the level of control it wanted over the waterway.
The Chinese basically feel that they have finished what they called the first stage of land reclamation in the South China Sea, said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate with the Stimson Center think tank in Washington. Indefinite pause
Island building that started around 2010 led to the construction of aircraft hangars, radar systems and facilities to support fishing and oil exploration. Civilian populations live on a few islets. China controls the whole 130-island Paracel chain and seven major features in the Spratly archipelago.
Chinese contractors created 3,200 acres of reclaimed land on the sea's reefs and atolls to help develop them, according to a Pentagon estimate in 2016.
If the end goal is de facto control of the waterways and air space, then perhaps the number of features that China currently occupies are enough to achieve that end goal, said Jonathan Spangler, director of the South China Sea Think Tank in Taipei.
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the sea, which stretches from Hong Kong to the island of Borneo. Those governments prize the 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway for its fisheries, shipping lanes and energy reserves under the seabed.
The other countries, all militarily weaker, resented China's landfill work and follow-up militarization, especially when projects overlapped their own exclusive maritime economic zones. Their opposition has prompted the U.S. government to periodically send naval ships and aircraft through the area. Washington does not have a territorial claim but says the sea should be open to everyone.
China's most recent significant dredging or landfill work took place on two Paracel islands in early to mid-2017, said Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative under Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Most larger-scale building had wrapped up in 2015, Poling said.
Political will
China might restart reclamation or take over more islands after settling the year-old Sino-U.S. trade dispute, Sun said. Chinese consider trade talks a priority for now, she said, and don't want to take action that would anger Washington. While trade talks are going on, she said, China might just strengthen existing maritime claims.
The first stage is completed, so I think it's more a question of political will to move forward with reclamation at this point, she said.
Beijing will avoid taking over more islets controlled by other countries, Sun added, because it wants to strengthen relations with Asian governments as a counter to U.S. influence in the sea.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes states that oppose Chinese maritime sovereignty claims, is talking with China now through 2021 about a code of conduct that would head off mishaps between ships.
China hasn't occupied any new features since 1994, though it took effective control of Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines after a tense standoff in 2012, setting off a four-year political spat. Since 2016, China has offered aid and investment to the Philippines, helping to ease friction.
China probably won't proactively occupy new features unless it feels pushed by a foreign government, Spangler said. Chinese officials cite historic documents to back their claim to about 90 percent of the sea.
The government is now in a phase of deployment of assets to the islands it holds, Poling said.
I think there is a false assumption that not much is happening in the South China Sea, because there aren't many clashes or incidents on the same scale, but China is continuing to fill in infrastructure on the islands at a fair clip and it's already got the ability I think to use those islands, said Euan Graham, international security director with the Lowy Institute for International Policy.
They have all the infrastructure in terms of fuel, hangar space for combat aircraft, Graham said.
Source: Voice of America
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The Bold Tapestry of David Bowie
Posted on January 11, 2016 by Dawn Quyle Landau
I wasn’t cutting edge enough to really get David Bowie, when David Bowie first burst on the scene. His first album (David Bowie) was released in 1967, when I was four. I remember hearing the Beatles; I remember hearing pop music, when I was young, but David Bowie was not played in my mother’s home. When Ziggy Stardust hit the scene, in 1972, I was almost 10. My life was upside down, trying to figure out my parent’s separation and the loss of my father to a cross-country move, on my mother’s part. He would die in 1973, without me having seen him again. When Ziggy burst on the scene, I was too young to buy my own albums, but I recognized creativity, shiny brilliance, and something special, all on my own. My mother was buying John Denver, who I also liked, but I was intrigued by this amazing new “space man.”
To be honest, David Bowie scared me in his early years. He seemed to look out from posters and album covers and shake me– mocking everything I knew. My world was so preppy and fine-tuned (aside from the internal mess of my home life), that his androgynous, vibrant persona and music was the antithesis of everything normal in my world… and that’s what intrigued me. David Bowie let me know that not everyone was straight, and not everyone wore Kelly green and pink whales on their sweaters. David Bowie helped me imagine space in a shocking new way: you could drift away and be lost, but the music would be stellar. His bold hair, his make-up, his unbelievable clothes were part of his artistry, but they opened a new world to this sheltered girl, living in a sheltered New England town. David Bowie introduced me to the exquisite tapestry that life is–– he revealed all of the differences that the world I lived in tried so hard to hide.
Growing up in such a vanilla world, no one was gay, no one was bisexual; the boundaries were clear and not to be pushed. Listening to, seeing Bowie, however, I realized that there was a very different experience out there. His hair, his clothes, the way he looked at his audience, the way he moved his body, screamed: “Break out!” His music exuded sexuality and an edgy, clever vibrancy that made the Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, and the other artists I listened to, pale. I loved their music, but Bowie pushed me to move beyond my safe world and see all the other options out there. In 1977 when David Bowie performed Little Drummer Boy on Bing Cosby’s annual Christmas show (Cosby died one month after filming the show), I was blown away, as my horizons merged and expanded. While my mother coo’ed over Bing, I could not take my eyes off of Bowie. It was the start of a life long crush. The “Peace On Earth,” which David Bowie co-wrote, still gives me chills.
When I went off to college in Boston, I was ready to shed my clean, safe image and explore different colors. David Bowie represented a world of different! Bowie was my “gateway drug;” he led me to most of the music that I came to love, and which still defines so much of how I see myself: The Cure, Depeche Mode, Iggy Pop, Talking Heads. He oozed charisma and I couldn’t look away. The summer I went to Australia, his song Little China Girl was huge. His voice was in my head and on the radio all summer. As I hitchhiked and explored being away from everything that was familiar, my cohorts and I lip synced “Oh baby, just you shut your mouth.” A few years later, on my honeymoon, my husband and I watched the movie Labyrinth, which featured Bowie as Jareth the The Goblin King. It was directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas– a collaboration which seemed unreal at the time. Bowie stole every scene he was in, and left so many of us wishing we could be spirited away too.
King Jareth in the Labyrinth
As a young mother living in Chicago, David Bowie continued to expand my world. On the fourth of July one year, the space shuttle was orbiting the city in time for the huge fire works display. The local alternative radio station played Space Oddity/Major Tom, and when Bowie’s deep voice counted down, the astronauts greeted us live. It was one of the single most magical nights of my life–– seared in my memory, as I looked up at the black sky, and listened to David Bowie sing! Perhaps the memory holds more beauty––there were no smart phones, video cameras were bulky, but oh to have a recording of that. Ten years after it came out, we introduced Labyrinth to our children, and they still hold it dear and are able to sing along to Magic Dance. Even at young ages, they watched that “strange man” and couldn’t take their eyes off of him.
I didn’t know that David Bowie was sick; I wasn’t paying attention. When a friend posted it, I was sure it was one more “David Bowie is dead” hoax. Like Betty White, Paul McCartney and others who are so big, such a part of our fabric, his death was reported semi-regularly on line, I dismissed it… for a minute. Sadly it was confirmed moments later, by the BBC. I hadn’t seen Jimmy Fallon joke, last week, about the hauntingly beautiful video Lazarus that was released just days ago (the man used his own death for artistic expression!). If he was still aware, I imagine the brilliant artist laughed at Fallon’s playfulness. Discussing his work with Bowie, Johan Renke, who directed the video for Lazarus, said: “One could only dream about collaborating with a mind like that; let alone twice. Intuitive, playful, mysterious and profound… I have no desire to do any more videos knowing the process never ever gets as formidable and fulfilling as this was. I’ve basically touched the sun.”
David Bowie was beautiful in the most untraditional ways. I was drawn to his whimsy, his edges, his charisma, as much as I was to his piercing eyes and alluring smile. I’ve had a crush on him forever. When I heard that he’d died, I felt my chest tighten and I cried; I felt a thread of my own fabric pulled. It’s a cliché that he will live on in his music, but I carry him in my heart for all the ways he expanded my world and my understanding that people came in so many colors. The world is an infinitely more interesting and diverse place, because David Bowie was in it. Music, art… my life, has lost a sparkling beacon.
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Aside | This entry was posted in Aging, Awareness, Blog, Blogging, Daily Observations, David Bowie, Death, Grief, Honest observations on many things, Life, Memories, Music, My world, Personal change, Tales From the Motherland, Writing and tagged David Bowie, Dawn Quyle Landau, Diversity, music, RIP David Bowie, social impact, Tales from the Motherland. Bookmark the permalink.
35 Responses to The Bold Tapestry of David Bowie
Beautiful tribute, Dawn. The one word that comes to mind when I think of David Bowie is “mesmerizing.” He was one-of-a-kind. That’s for sure.
He really was. I could never take my eyes off of him, if he was on TV or a video. Thanks Cathy.
So personal… yes I do remember seeing friends with David Bowie records that I felt was “dangerous”… but he kept coming inside, and when he released Let’s dance I was there… all in… one of the very first concerts I went to was in Gothenburg 1983 with David capturing a whole stadium in his grip… and he kept coming back. I had just started to listen to his latest record last week and now you listen to every word in his lyric and it becomes totally clear.
Just wanted to share how Curt Cobain performed one of his song… (two brilliant artists in one performance)
Thanks so much Björn. I never saw him live, but would have loved to! Yes, dangerous… that’s what he seemed, but in a way I wanted to touch. I have long loved this Cobain version… both were brilliant, but Bowie shimmered.
Such a lovely tribute to the man, Dawn. Many will mourn his passing. And just as his new album was released too (and getting rave reviews). But then again, maybe that’s good timing: new art that lets us appreciate his talent even more. He was a class act for sure.
I think he timed everything he did, including this release. He was brilliant, and it’s a huge loss to the world of music, as well as life. He really was classy, even in his wildest moments. Thanks Carrie.
mariner2mother says:
Beautifully said. His music will always be a part of my life’s tapestry. We must have grown up nearby in MA, as your description of it could be my own. RIP Spaceman/ Ziggy Stardust.
I grew up in Scituate, MA, but so much of New England is similar, as you know! Thanks for your kind words Susan. I feel so sad about this. Here in Israel, we heard pretty immediately, while much of the US was sleeping… just feeling sad.
Lovely tribute to David Bowie, Dawn. Like your mother, I was not the age that appreciated him the most. I did see Labyrinth though and thought he did an excellent job. —- Suzanne
Thanks Suzanne. He was one of a kind!
One of my co-workers went to see him in Kansas City during the Ziggy Stardust era. She took a whole photo album of pictures. I remember looking at them and wishing I’d been there.
Connie and I watched the movie, “The Man Who Fell to Earth” back in the 70s when it first came out. It was at one of those small, independent theaters near campus that didn’t bore you with the latest releases, but were always showing movies from the edge that made you think and question your own values.
If you haven’t seen that one, I encourage you to find a copy and watch it.
Thanks Russell. You know, I saw it so long ago; it would be worth seeing again, for sure! He had a current Broadway show, based on that film and his new album is based on it as well. If you play the link in my piece, that song Lazarus is truly amazing! Thanks for sharing, friend.
Yes, I watched the Lazarus clip earlier. His creativity was truly amazing.
Amy Reese says:
He touched so many, Dawn. He was ahead of his time. I remember first seeing him when I watched him, staying up late with my sister in his ZIggy Stardust years. I thought he was the weirdest and most cool thing ever. This is a beautiful tribute. The world lost someone very special today.
Thanks Amy. I do feel such a loss. My daughter was telling me that he lived a full life and contributed so much, that it wasn’t a “big tragedy…” and I felt so annoyed. I don’t think many young people can truly appreciate how he changed the way so many of us saw the world. He was still so talented (hell, this new album is amazing!) and cancer stole his years. He really was an amazing human being.
I’m at a loss, still shocked by it really. I feel like he was taken from us. I think younger generations don’t have anyone that compares…not yet. Maybe they will, but I don’t think so. He was extraordinary. I saw one meme that said something like – at least you got live when David Bowie walked the earth – yeah.
mamaheidi60 says:
A well written tribute. I appreciated this especially because I was never as aware of him as you were. I became more aware of his music much later in life. Terrific artist. Thanks for this. From a raised on the Beatles, etc. gal.
I think David Bowie truly opened the door for people in the LGBT to express themselves, to not feel alone, to come out. He changed the world for so many people who feel different, and was ahead of so many other artists. In addition to that, he was an incredible humanitarian. The new single is just stunning. Thanks for your feedback, Heidi.
Oh, I loved this Dawn. (How you whipped up such a searingly beautiful tribute that spans so many years in one day, I have no idea…) We call our middle son, the one who prefers very bright (think fire engine red), super skinny jeans and brightly colored shirts our David Bowie. Because right now, he seems bold and bright and free in a (mostly) genderless way. It’s good to have rock gods who have gone before us, breaking down the limitations, and lighting up the night. It reminds us that anything is possible. xo
I think that’s exactly what Bowie did: he told us all that anything, anyone was possible! I showed me that the boundaries of my small world were there to be broken. As for time… we heard about his death, moments after his family announced it, while most of the US was sleeping (morning here). When something hits me, I write most things in a single, manic go. I was shocked that HuffPo featured it… that I didn’t expect in a day. 😉 Thanks Jen; your feedback always makes me smile. xox
PS) I adore that your middleman is that way! Wish we all could hold on to that freedom to be ourselves.
Well done tribute my friend, how you tied in to different phases of your own life. Very hard when we lose an icon we feel is “ours.”
David Bowie was remarkably present throughout so much of my life, Lisa. The only difficulty in tying it together, was leaving some things out. Thanks for your kind feedback! xo
This is an awesome piece …. another look into David Bowie’s meaning in our social “tapestry”!!
Pingback: The Bold Tapestry of David Bowie | oshriradhekrishnabole
oshrivastava says:
very lovely blog,,
Thank you very much for stopping by Tales From the Motherland, and for your kind feedback; it’s much appreciated.
worstwritingever says:
Greetings fellow blogger! In the ‘3 Days 3 Poems Challenge’, nominees shall post 3 different poems (This could be your own, or your favourite ones written by other poets. It doesn’t matter—the only requirement is that all poetry must be accredited unless anonymous.) for 3 days consecutively.
You are one of my 3 nominees for the challenge today, so I hope you can kindly complete the challenge by enlightening the world with 3 poems!
I’m not sure who “nominated” me, but I don’t write poetry, or post it, generally.
Beth Lewis says:
In addition to being a mesmerizing queer icon, David Bowie was accused of rape and also had a relationship with a young girl, as an adult. Have you read this article? A very good nuanced critique of mourning an icon without idolizing a person who had very real, unforgivable flaws. http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/8969486
Beth thanks for taking the time to read my piece. I’ll check out this link. I would argue that Bowie was FAR more than a “queer icon,” he was an icon to so many, and yes, always mesmerizing. While I haven’t read this article yet, I’ll dig a little. I do like to understand the full view. I’m sure there will be much to digest on David Bowie, now that he is gone. He remains a powerful influence on my life and many others. Thanks again for your feedback.
Wonderful post – truly amazing man
Thank you Joseph, and thanks for stopping by Tales From the Motherland; it’s much appreciated. He was truly one of a kind.
benvenutocellini says:
FINALLY! A few lines written with the heart about my (our) hero. The one and only.
Luana/Rome
Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words, and our shared appreciation for David Bowie. There has been so much written about him, since his death, I’m glad my words resonate for you. Thank you for visiting my blog, and for supporting my work.
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Startups »
Nandan Nilekani
ET Startup Awards 2016
Avnish Bajaj
Ajit Isaac
ET Startup Awards 2016: The night of startup stars celebrating success and optimism
ET BureauThe range and depth of the startups which won the awards came in for particular praise, more so because many of them were solving difficult problems with technology.
ET Bureau
Updated: September 05, 2016, 11:13 IST
Faith in the innate genius of Indian entrepreneurship was top of mind at the country’s de facto startup summit, as celebration of success and optimism about the future presented an interesting contrast to the more sombre prevailing narrative.
The brightest stars of the startup firmament, government leaders, investors and senior business executives came together in India’s tech capital Bengaluru to pay tribute to the winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards, and pause to reflect on the state of affairs in one of the world’s most important startup hubs.
“Indian entrepreneurs are too talented to lose any of the global wars; it’s going to be the Indian companies,” said Avnish Bajaj, the founder of venture capital firm Matrix Partners and the winner of the Midas Touch Award for Best Investor. “And no victory is sweeter than the one which comes after a bitter war.”
More than 350 guests were on hand at the glittering ceremony to applaud winners in 8 categories.
Rock show by startup pros
The rigorous process of choosing the best of best began with nominations from peers in the startup sector and ended with the meeting of high-power jury on August 6. Zinnov and iSPIRT were ET’s knowledge partners.
The range and depth of the startups which won the awards came in for particular praise, more so because many of them were solving difficult problems with technology at the core of the solution.
Freshdesk, the Chennai-based provider of cloud-based customer support software, was awarded the Startup of the Year trophy by Nitin Gadkari, the Union minister for road transport, highways and shipping.
Read: Rajni-inspired winner speech of FreshDesk's Girish Mathrubootham
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal; Snapdeal cofounder Kunal Bahl; Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal; and Kavin Bharti Mittal, the founder of Hike Messenger, represented Indian startup ‘unicorns’ with a valuation of at least $1 billion.
Also joining the celebrations were Infosys cofounders Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan; NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant; Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw; Quess Corp CEO Ajit Isaac; and Karnataka’s Minister of State for IT & Tourism Priyank Kharge.
True to the spirit of the occasion, the ceremony was rounded off with a scintillating musical performance by a rock band of startup professionals who came together to perform just for the evening.
Read: When innovation shone the brightest at ET Startup Awards
Unique nature of India
Aggarwal, whose company won the inaugural ET Startup of the Year award in 2015, said in a panel discussion that it is imperative for the entrepreneurs to recognise the unique nature of India as a market, and solving local problems with home-grown solutions is the way to succeed in the country.
“Execution in an Indian environment is very different from execution in a western environment, on multiple fronts,” said Aggarwal, whose company counts Japan’s SoftBank as its main investor and competes against Uber, the world’s most valuable startup.
Read: Key takeaways from 'India First: Forging a winning habit' panel discussion at ET Startup Awards 2016
Kant, who has been tasked by the prime minister with preparing a comprehensive policy for e-commerce and retail, asked Indian founders to think global, and not just worry about the domestic market.
“Quite often we in India start looking at ourselves with domestic boundaries; do not do that. Think big, think large, penetrate minds,” said Kant, the architect of the Start-Up India initiative.
Gadkari’s interactive session, where he was quizzed on a range of issues related to policy and infrastructure, was a big hit with the guests. The minister came in for praise for his candour, and his willingness to proffer help where he could.
Read: Nitin Gadkari responds to tough questions from startup entrepreneurs & VCs
“Gadkari’s speech was very impressive. Though I couldn’t catch every word of it, my wife who talks Hindi well helped me understand it,” said Girish Mathrubootham, the co-founder of Freshdesk.
Funding in the form of growth capital for more mature startups has been on the decline during the past few months, and most consumer Internet companies are now turning their attention from growing market share to becoming profitable.
Still, startup activity in India is vibrant as young people take to entrepreneurship in ever larger numbers and early stage funding is plentiful for good ideas.
More caution this year
“This year there has been a lot of caution. That actually is a great thing as businesses are looking at profitability and making sure metrics work,” said Meena Ganesh, the CEO of Portea Medical and the winner in the Woman Ahead category.
Like Kant, Nilekani asked founders to set ambitious targets and work backwards on operational plans, describing the ability to think big as a “mind game” that young entrepreneurs must play.
The other differentiating factors, he said, will be domestic capital and understanding of local conditions. “What I found with global companies is that they are very good when it is rolling out the same thing everywhere. The moment you come to a country and some rules change they are like deer in front of a headlight,” said Nilekani, who is also a prolific investor.
Read: Lack of legacy is helping the country leapfrog, says Nandan Nilekani
Flipkart’s Bansal, too, emphasised the value of local knowhow and domestic capital, pointing to the preponderance of Indians in early-stage funding of startups.
“For example, somebody like me taking capital from someone sitting in San Francisco not doing anything about India versus taking capital from Nandan (Nilekani) is a huge difference,” he said.
The grand show also afforded unmatched opportunities for the guests to meet peers, and FreeCharge chairman and Comeback Kid award winner Kunal Shah said he had done three months’ worth of networking in one evening.
“We are so proud of all these entrepreneurs who have taken a courageous and commendable step to fulfil their dreams. Its takes vision, determination and hard work to walk the path to success,” said Anand Kripalu, the CEO of associate sponsor United Spirits.
ITC Gardenia, the associate sponsor for hospitality, rolled out the service experience for the evening and showcased its signature cuisine for ET’s discerning guests.
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Born To Murder The World – The Infinite Mirror of Millennial Narcissism
Posted by Mark Steele | Nov 20, 2018 | Album Reviews | 0 |
What happens when one extreme metal band known for highly abrasive and hugely addictive noise appreciates the work of another band known for highly abrasive and hugely addictive noise? They run into one another and create a huge sonic monster intent on flattening planets. In this case, Shane Embury and Mick Kenney formed Born To Murder The World after some drunken nights out in their home town of Birmingham. After knowing each other for two decades, they mulled over a project band combining the ferocity of Napalm Death and Anaal Nathrakh thrown together into a sonic melting pot. As the whole thing began to take shape, they decided on hiring Duncan Williams to perform vocal duties as the icing on the cake to such burning, musical ferocity.
What is particularly remarkable about their debut album The Infinite Mirror of Millennial Narcissism is that they convey such brutality to their music that they seem capable of bending the fabric of time. The whole thing is a shade under 16 minutes, with an average track length of around a minute and a half, but is so dense in its extremity that one could be forgiven the album is double the duration due to the dizzying speed of the album corrupting the senses. The longest track, ‘Genesis Conception,’ has a density to it that is akin to attempting to walk 30 miles to work on a Monday, butt naked, while it rains sandpaper and gravel combined with a 150 mph cross wind. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that the masses raved over Nails and their most current album You Will Never Be One Of Us (myself included), as being grindcore/power violence par excellence. The more cynical among you would simply see as a rehashed homage to what influenced them in the first place. As a consequence, Born To Murder The World have made them look like mere ham fisted amateurs.
The album as a collective whole is unrelentingly savage, and is proud to wear the origins of both Napalm Death and Anaal Nathrakth on its sleeves. The album errs towards cleaner production values which help substantially towards the intensity on a “more is even better” basis, but is not overblown to the extreme. Tracks such as ‘Poisoning Purity’ and ‘Negativity Plague’ are perfect examples of this; combining driving hooks that are well known in the product of both bands, but adding a layer of finely honed refinement that is almost in danger of overshadowing the originator’s works. In some ways, this can be a dangerous thing when a side project manages to eclipse their band member’s origins (Nailbomb’s Point Blank being a perfect case in point), but is delivered in such a manner that invites new listeners to check out their sources too, which is quite an impressive feat. There is a distinct flavor of black metal to tracks such as ‘Brutality Alchemist’, that add a sense of bleak nihilism to the tracks, sounding grimy and permeating throughout the fabric of the album.
To conclude, Born To Murder The World is essentially an extreme metal fans dream that blends together two amazing bands, a long standing friendship, and a mutual appreciation of each other’s collective works. Now, imagine the mayhem that would ensue if this was brought out as an ‘Easter egg’, if Napalm Death and Anaal Nathrakh went on a joint tour?
Born To Murder The World – Facebook Page
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Kanye West Finally Returns to Instagram With a Valentine's Message For Kim Kardashian
By Aric Jenkins
More than nine months after Kanye West mysteriously disappeared from social media, the rapper and fashion mogul returned to Instagram with an adorably simple message to his wife, Kim Kardashian.
“Happy Valentines Day babe,” a plain white card reads in the photo, which appears to be placed on a counter of some sort. The post has no caption, but already has 180,000 likes and rising within 35 minutes of its upload.
For a while there, the rest of Kanye’s Instagram profile was just as bare as his post. His avatar still is blank white, which was an intentional choice, otherwise a white silhouette over a grey background would be visible had he opted not to upload a profile picture. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were no other posts on his grid, rendering the rest of his page blank white as well until he shared a photo of the Obamas.
Minutes later, Kim appeared to give a response — albeit on a different platform, Twitter.
“Happy #ValentinesDay!” she tweeted with a photo of her and Kanye kissing, which links back to her website. Earlier in the day, she posted an additional tribute on Instagram, gushing: “I love you to infinity! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!”
Kanye first went dark on both networks on May 5, 2017, and his Twitter remains down. Social media users and publications alike speculated what prompted the Yeezus rapper to make such a decision. The optimistic hope was that he was working on a new project, perhaps in music. Now that has he vaguely resurfaced, are we due for some new Kanye tunes? Perhaps we’ll find out soon.
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Home » Books » Book provides detailed look at Confederate leader's religious life
Book provides detailed look at Confederate leader's religious life
On: 6/8/2018, By Brian T. Olszewski , In: Books
This is the cover of "The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee" by R. David Cox. The book is reviewed by Brian T. Olszewski. (CNS)
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"The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee" by R. David Cox. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2017). 336 pp., $26.
More than 153 years after the end of the Civil War, Confederate military leaders are in the news. More precisely, monuments of them are in the news.
Amid the turmoil that has risen from demonstrations for and against the monuments, in "The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee," R. David Cox provides insight into an aspect of the Confederacy's most prominent figure.
To be sure, this book will have no impact whatsoever on resolving the stay/go arguments surrounding Lee monuments. However, it provides a perspective as to how Lee, an Episcopalian, was formed in the faith, and how he applied those beliefs on matters of his day, particularly slave ownership and states' rights, and leading an army into war to maintain both.
To establish that perspective, Cox goes deep into Lee's life, detailing the influence of his parents and his wife, as well as other relatives and friends, and continuing that detailed narrative throughout the remainder of the general's life.
In fact, detail is an essential part of this work, maybe overwhelming at times. Nonetheless, it is critical as his source material includes scholarly historical works, and, more importantly, he draws upon the correspondence written by and received by Lee to establish what one could consider the general's faith journey.
It is from these letters that the reader sees the evolution of that faith through various stages of his life -- from youth to West Point cadet to military leader to husband and father to cavalry commander to leader of and defeat of the Confederate army to college president.
Readers will appreciate the attention Cox, an Episcopal priest since 1972 and a professor of history at Southern Virginia University since 2006, devotes to each of these areas, as together they provide a composite of Lee's spirituality and how it is entwined with other aspects of his life. He was not without the struggles one experiences in trying to discern the will of God and applying it to his daily life.
Cox states as much, "As a person of faith, convinced of God's providence, he had to wrestle with what seemed to be the will of God, and how he had been on the wrong side of it; the Lord had 'decided against' him and his cause." Might that be a statement readers could apply to their own lives?
Those looking for a condemnation or a canonization of Lee will not find it in this book. Rather, they will find a text that offers insight into an important facet of the life of a prominent figure in U.S. history who was formed in faith and who experienced spiritual conflicts, at times, as he tried to live it.
As Cox writes, "In short, Lee, the vanquished chieftain in war, had become a leader in peace, esteemed even by even some of his former foes. His character impelled him to move from one to the other, and his character was shaped by faith."
Olszewski is the editor of The Catholic Virginian, newspaper of the Diocese of Richmond.
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By Samuel Muiruri | Feb. 3, 2019 | Opinion Piece
If you know Hip Hop and you're older than 20 years you probably feel the older music you listened to as a teen was much better than the music made today in the same genre. You might assume your not in the targeted audience, maybe your taste has matured so you only take to what really has a unique feel to it.
Here's one fact:
Generally the older you get the less you listen to mainstream music meaning the considered popular artists and their hits. You'll more likely look for songs that resonate more with the old but gold music you used to like. Just to go over this briefly, it makes sense since in teenage years music can be considered a pillar in your life;
It connects you with friends where you're likely to like friends with the same taste in music and listen to the same music they like.
You will experiment more with whatever seems dazzling and interesting at the moment and unlike as a kid listening to songs you'll pick up the hidden nuances you missed as a kid like sexual innuendo or what they're doing also on the down low.
The definition of cool for you is what you'll seek to emulate and imitate through music.
But as you grow older you'll look for things that don't repeat too much something you already heard without being unique or stand out in it's own way.
Here's one thing however I believe that separates how music was made in the 90's and today. Back then the proof of making it was how many CD's you sold, you never sold singles and even if a single song in your album became what was remembered for you'd still likely get an equal input from fans that some other songs in the album stood out as well.
But think about how an artist evolves today; where you might have put effort into lyrics with thought into articulating some experience to connect with like minded people you might find out with the very accurate stat analysis tools from video hosting sites how many people per demographic, age and sex watched that song for how long even possibly a break down of this on likes and dislikes. You'll look into the taste of your current fans with better accuracy and that will more likely determine how you'll make your next songs to target this market.
It's no secret that the recipe to a hit song involves a good video meaning shooting in a place that feels nice. A good beat to go with this and your take on what you want to say on this beat. If you know what you say doesn't matter as much as how you say it, how believeable it feels when you say you're the shit and you got money then you'll need to concentrate more on being believable than rhyming.
Not that I don't believe there's not a market for this, you can make a literacy master piece explaining something in rhymes but it's really hard to make consecutive hits like this and this niche market I believe, like rare art collectors will move on as soon as you stop sounding like the next picasso. So I'm not suprised when picasso in the music bussiness shift to monotomy because they find out a good amount of their fans simply are satisfied with something they can nod their head to and buy a new album next summer so this is a business model they can relate to.
The point is I guess you will likely stop caring about who's the new face in hip hop by 30 if they sound like Migos in my case, and especially more if someone who seemed to have the potential of going strong doubles down to the new tempo that gets the most hits. Whatever your into doesn't matter as much, in my opinion I just find it interesting how I'd put it the gods in the industry seem to have fallen from grace.
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« What the hell, why not? Not Rocket Surgery... | Main | The responsible thing to do is to be irresponsible... »
Semi-psychodelic psychotic reaction! Or something...
So after a nice dinner, we get home where I've recorded both Countdown and Rachel Maddow and the Onion News and Portlandia. We play through Countdown, and then Obermann makes his big announcement. And, I'm trying to decide how to react...whimsically seems the best choice.
Like it or not, the left can really get self-absorbed and pompous. Countdown got that way over the years -- Keith raised tough questions and demanded tough answers. However, he spent too much time on silly crap and on pursuing idiots like Beck and O'Reilly and Rupert Murdoch. There is a history between O'Reilly and Murdoch and Obermann and Ingram and we all kind of got into the latest phase of that. Everything that Obermann said about the Foxites is true -- but, Rupert got a piece of truth when he said, "Keith is crazy."
So, I look forward to his next incarnation. Maybe he'll write; maybe he'll run for office; maybe, probably, he'll land another TV show. It will be good, fun, cutting edge, exciting ---and then it will drift off into the sort of self-centered bedtime story that Countdown was on the verge of becoming. I personally thought that reading a story from Thurber once was sort of touching; every Friday? I'm not that fond of Thurber, but he could have been reading the collected lyrics of Bob Dylan or The Girl Hunters by Mickey Spillane...and, it would not have mattered. It was stupid. Fridays might have been slow newsdays once, but no more.
I had been finding some aspects of the new Lawrence O'Donnell show kind of bothersome but I can see a lot of merit to it. Rachel Maddow brings a level of seriousness along with self-depreciating humour and a willingness to talk to people she doesn't agree with. Chris Matthews is a fellow Holy Cross alumni, and if they'd spike his coffee with a couple of valium just before each show, he'd be great. Ed Schultz is a nutcase. So, I guess I'll have some choices about what I want to watch besides NCIS reruns...
If you've read my stuff over the years, you know that I think the strip Monty is a pretty good allegory for everything. Keith Obermann does better channelling Fleshy the Cat or Moondog; unfortunately, he has a tendency to lapse into Master Sedgwick.
I'll miss Countdown, but as the poet sings, "I know your leaving's too long overdue/for far too long I've had nothing new to show to you..." Fair winds, following seas and a reasonably quick landfall. And, Keith, the Mariners are still trying to find a broadcasting lineup!
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Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty ImagesPhoto: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images
Trump’s Muslim Immigration Executive Order: If We Bombed You, We Ban You
Zaid Jilani
January 25 2017, 10:06 p.m.
An executive order that President Trump is expected to sign shortly restricts visits and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
The draft text of the order was leaked to the Huffington Post and Los Angeles Times. Titled “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” it would suspend the issuance of visas for at least 30 days to most people in the seven countries while the administration revamps its vetting procedures. Most citizens of foreign countries must first obtain a visa before being allowed to enter the United States.
“In order to protect Americans, we must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward our country and its founding principles,” the draft reads, justifying this blanket prohibition.
The draft relies on Division O, Title II, Section 203 of the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which lays out security-related exemptions to the visa waiver program, to derive that list of seven countries. In the 2016 law, Iraq and Syria are explicitly listed, Iran and Sudan are included as state sponsors of terrorism, and Libya, Somalia, and Yemen are in the “area of concern” as designated by the Department of Homeland Security.
What all seven countries also have in common is that the United States government has violently intervened in them. The U.S. is currently bombing — or has bombed in the recent past — six of them. The U.S. has not bombed Iran, but has a long history of intervention including a recent cyberattack.
It’s like a twisted version of the you-break-it-you-buy-it Pottery Barn rule: If we bomb a country or help destabilize its society, we will then ban its citizens from being able to seek refuge in the United States.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy explained this irony in a tweet Wednesday morning:
We bomb your country, creating a humanitarian nightmare, then lock you inside. That's a horror movie, not a foreign policy.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 25, 2017
Here’s a rundown of the countries and the U.S. interventions there:
IRAN: Iran was the site of a 1953 coup that was assisted by the CIA. The coup brought the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power — a dictator who ruled the country until his overthrow in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Following that revolution, the United States government supported Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s war on Iran, even as he used chemical weapons against Iranians. In 1988, the U.S. Navy also mistakenly shot down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing all 290 people on board. More recently, Iran was subjected to one of the world’s first state-sponsored cyberattacks, as the Stuxnet virus was deployed against its nuclear program.
IRAQ: Four presidents in a row have bombed Iraq. After a decade of brutal sanctions that primarily harmed Iraq’s civil society, rather than its government leadership, the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the resulting destabilization has made Iraq the “world capital of terrorism.”
LIBYA: From 1986 air strikes to the 2011 military intervention to more recent attacks against ISIS camps in Libya, the country has almost continually been a site of U.S. military actions. Some of the refugees fleeing the country have said they would rather “die at sea” than return to their country.
SOMALIA: Somalia has been one of the focal points of the drone war, and U.S. support for the Ethiopian invasion of the country did little to help stabilize a territory that is in perpetual humanitarian crisis.
SUDAN: In 1998, the U.S. blew up the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant, which manufactured over half of the country’s pharmaceutical products. Although the attack was supposedly aimed at Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, no such link ever emerged.
SYRIA: The U.S. and other countries have been supporting rebel groups in Syria’s civil war for years. The U.S. is also targeting ISIS and other extreme groups in an extensive air-war campaign. Violence on all sides has led to millions of Syrians fleeing the country, fomenting the worst refugee crisis in modern times.
YEMEN: Yemen is another ground zero for the drone war. The U.S. has also played a functional role in supporting the Saudi-led intervention into the country’s civil war, which has left over 10,000 dead and has millions facing starvation — and led to a resurgence of anti-American terrorist groups that the drone war was supposed to be curtailing.
And consider that Iran, where al Qaeda, ISIS, and other anti-American terrorist organizations have no significant foothold, is included — but Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 9/11 hijackers came from and which has been a funding source for extremist groups, is not included.
Top photo: Syrian children walk around the camp grounds during a sandstorm at a temporary refugee camp in the village of Ain Issa, housing people who fled Islamic State group’s Syrian stronghold Raqa on Nov. 10, 2016.
Zaid Jilani[email protected]theintercept.com@ZaidJilani
January 29 2017, 3:29 a.m.
Well, this country be turning from dictator to militarist until communist
Catherine Sarginson
January 28 2017, 9:42 p.m.
Please note that he has not banned Muslim countries where he, his family or business cronies have major investments or buildings. And people wonder why some of us think this man is a corrupt despot.
Logic 11B Catherine Sarginson
You’re missing the point I think though. They fundamentally don’t think in those terms. Over 99% of Syria are muslims therefore because Syria is on the list he’s banning muslims. Normally that logic is great accept it breaks down when they say “Why Saudi not on the list. 9/11 hijackers were Saudi.” There were Saudi nationals, but Al Qaeda never had a presence in Saudi Arabia. No terrorist organization has and the Arab Spring lasted about a day AND THEY HAVE THE WORST HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD. I wonder if it’s b/c they’re world famous for torture. Guess the Donald is right about that point at the very least.
stevelaudig
Trump now joins the list of US presidents as war criminals. A list that includes all US presidents since [at least] Nixon except for [possibly] Carter.
Well, it appears that Trump cannot do anything without doing it like an idiot.
A reasonable person would have assumed that a visa already granted, a flight already boarded, would not be subject to the change in policy. Reasonable governments don’t issue papers and then say “whoops, changed our mind.” Well, according to https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-prompting-legal-challenges-to-trumps-immigration-order.html , Trump’s ban was imposed IMMEDIATELY on people who had boarded flights based on the promise from the U.S. that they would be able to enter the country. This seems, reasonably, to create a cause for civil liability. I mean, I can understand if War Broke Out and it was an “Emergency”, but Trump getting elected is … well, it’s not supposed to be an emergency. Not according to Trump and his people.
It was also imposed on people “living in Texas for ten years”, though I don’t see details on what kind of visas they had, whether they had to be renewed with each reentry or whatever. Would be good to see those covered by a news organization.
Another thing about that article is it said someone flying in from Stockholm was going to get sent to IRAQ. Why the hell aren’t they getting sent back to Stockholm?
Last but not least, there is confusion in the press over whether “citizens” of these countries or people for whom they are “countries of origin”. Because there are various people who have nominal Iranian nationality because their fathers were Iranian but have never been there, and considering how Trump has fucked up everything else, I’m kind of counting on him to do the wrong thing here also.
Wnt Wnt
Sigh… I just realized I’d missed the biggest one of all. If His Idiocy is actually taking random people from third countries, who were living there for years, and sending them back to countries of origin, and not accepting claims of asylum, then that means that there may be actual *apostates*, the precise people any good Islamophobe wants to hold up as heroes, at risk of being thrown into the hands of governments that would kill them for it. Is Trump actually willing to pick up a stone and join a Muslim mob stoning someone to death for accepting Christianity???
Sherrie Caysonis
January 28 2017, 10:14 a.m.
Notably missing from the blacklist, however, are several Muslim-majority countries where Trump has business dealings, according to Bloomberg.
The news organization has put together a map of the proposed suspensions, with the Muslim-majority countries where Trump has business interests—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan …
While Muslim-majority countries such as Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and others are not included on the list, the omission of Turkey and Egypt may be argued as being seen at odds with Trump’s definition.
http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-trump-muslim-immigration-ban-conflict/
jle gew
Sharia Law demands death to Non-Muslims.. that’s enough to keep muslims out of ANYPLACE as far as i am concerned. What sort of “GOD” wants a person to
BEHEAD A LITTLE CHILD????? no one can blame America or Europe for trying protect themselves.
Paula jle gew
jle gew says “Sharia…demands death to Non-Muslims…” Wrong. Death to apostates. Jews and Christians are “dhimmis,” protected people “of the Book.”
Ilyas jle gew
Ah yes, the good old “these brown peoples want to kill me because its supposedly their cult. Curious how white people can visit egypt or others such countries and coming back alove then eh ? Or how muslims can integrate occidental society? Why not go back to Fox News for this petty racism ?
RustyB
Well, if the CIA were ‘helping Donald to understand’ they would tell him that most of the 9/11 hijackers were in fact Saudi Arabians, as was Osama Bin Laden. The leader of the 9/11 team was Egyptian; as was the father of Islamic fundamentalism, Sayyid Qutb. Hezbollah, the Iranian/Syrian sponsored terror group are based in The Lebanon. The Taliban are based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And the founder of ISIS, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was Jordanian. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who was al-Zarqawi’s successor as leader of ISIS, was also Egyptian. His two successors were, in fact, Iraqi. However, interesting to note that most of the people actively fighting ISIS right now are Iraqi. So, he has just banned all our allies in the fight against his #1 boogeyman, ISIS. And his first week in office still hasn’t finished. Great start, Donald.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph
What does Trump’s ban on Muslims mean for you?
By Mahmoud El-Yousseph
President Trump’s executive order banning Muslims from entering the US is outrageous and divisive.
The ban stereotypes all Muslims as potential terrorists and creates a climate of fear and bigotry like the hysteria surrounding the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This, in turn, will turn Americans against each other
Extremists come in all faiths and do not reflect the values and beliefs of the vast majority of the members of the religious groups to which they belong. Contrary to the public belief, FBI statistics show that over 90% of domestic terrorist acts in the US are committed by non-Muslims.
This executive ban affects and insults every Muslim immigrant to America who holds a green card, a visa and asylum seekers. If not stopped, the ban might extend to include the US born and naturalized citizens of Arab ethnicity and or Muslim faith.
According to Jamal Abdi the executive director of the Iranian American Community (IAC) who obtained an advanced copy of the Executive Order one day before the president signed it into law. Based on this document, IAC offered the following initial analysis to its members:
If you are an Iranian national outside of the U.S. with a valid U.S. visa, you will not be able to enter the United States.
Iranian dual citizens (e.g. a dual national of France and Iran) may be barred from entering the United States.
U.S. permanent residents (green card holders) who are outside of the United States may be barred from reentry.
U.S. citizens will not be directly affected by the ban.
It is not yet clear how the Trump Administration would implement this order so we caution that this is an early analysis. We will update you as we learn more.
The ban will initially last for 30 days but it is likely that for some countries it will be permanent.
The list of targeted countries will bar entry for aliens from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.
The document says that, after the 30-day suspension of entry, the Department of State and Homeland Security will present a report of countries that do not provide enough information to the U.S. to ensure visa applicants from that country are not a threat. Those countries will be given 60 days to address those issues and comply with U.S. requirements. If they do not, a Presidential proclamation will be issued to ban all entrants from that country.
There is nothing to indicate that persons on valid visas inside the United States will be expelled. But if they leave the U.S., they would not be able to return so long as the ban is in place.
We have serious concerns this ban would also apply to dual nationals, i.e. a French citizen traveling to the U.S. from France who also holds Iranian citizenship. It is also possible that this ban will apply to green card holders who seek to re-enter the U.S. We are seeking clarification on how the Trump Administration will implement this order.
We have already heard of at least one case in which a dual German-Iranian citizen with a U.S. visa was prevented from boarding a flight to the U.S. We do not have confirmation if this is due to the new order
If Americans do not rise up and challenge this assault on liberty and human rights, King Donald Trump will require by law all Muslims to register in a database and to wear a GPS tracking bracelets at all times. Perhaps Muslims would have to be tattooed like the Jews during WWII. King Trump may issue a new order to bug all Muslims places of work and their residences and to monitor all mosques and community centers, ending with “if they don’t like the idea, or if they refuse, the king will not hesitate to deport them out of their own country.
Trump made an outrageous claim during the election against Muslims and Arabs when he lied about ” thousands of New Jersey Arabs community celebrated the 9/11 attack.” Even after he winning the presidency, he also lied about the losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton because of immigrants fraudulently voting in the election. When asked for evidence and was presented with facts to the contrary, he refused to confess, retract his statement or even apologized. He still insists on building a security wall with Mexico despite the fact there is no evidence that ISIS fighters entered America through the Mexican border.
As a retired veteran, I do know it is an indisputable fact that Muslims and Arab Americans have played a vital role in the safety and welfare of our nation. They have served in every conflict and war since the Revolutionary war. They are also serving currently in all branches of the US Armed Forces.
Americans who are not taken back by this abuse of power against their fellow Muslims have little or no regards to the U.S. Constitution, which specifically forbids the religious persecution ‘Herr’ Trump is calling for.
Retired USAF Veteran
Cassondra Mahmoud El-Yousseph
February 2 2017, 3:04 p.m.
Are you Muslim? If so I would like to ask you a question that I am trying to understand.
deancorso11
I have to applaud Forest Trump. Forest…Forest Trump. Its wise to keep people out that have had their children killed by drones or bombs. Why would anyone dare be around those people?
mariyah
“We bomb your country, creating a humanitarian nightmare, then lock you inside. That’s a horror movie, not a foreign policy.”
Wow he must have learned that from his new friend Netanyahu?
Sherrie Caysonis mariyah
That is a quote from Chris Murphy, US Senator from CT.
Yet it makes sense, does it not? Who has more motive to attack the United States than a victim of a United States attack? No-one.
This executive order is mean, but it is also very pragmatic. Remember that the new administration is not responsible for the crimes of the previous three, but it IS responsible for the well-being of the United States now. Yes, the US has done terrible things to all those countries, but that does not mean it is obligated to take in the citizens of those countries. What the US needs to do is have a less interventionist foreign policy, which is exactly what Trump proposed, and let the countries heal on their own terms in their own land.
dollyeme Elijah
…..now would be a good time for you to read, and hopefully, understand the U.S. Constitution along with a couple of history books……
….sorry you have missed those educational moments in your life; not too late….
wootendw
True. But Trump isn’t the one who started the bombing – or terrorizing by arming insurgents. If he continues doing it, however, he will be as bad as Obama and Bush. Russia is helping Syria fix the mess they created. If they succeed, the refugees can go back and rebuild.
Justsaying
57 muslim countries(1.6 billion people), China(1.1 billion people) and Mexico.
I hope they dont start a “dont buy American made” campaign. Not too good for business and the economy to loose half the world market.
What about Saudia Arabia? Terrorists mostly come from their country
Timo Jeff
Oh, no – they’ve got a nice big hi-tech border wall built for them by German companies (who else?) to keep Syrians and Iraqis out – while they give billions in aid to ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria to keep the war going. Check out the specs here (pretty impressive!)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/11344116/Revealed-Saudi-Arabias-Great-Wall-to-keep-out-Isil.html
Happily, they’re in charge of our international human rights at the UN – thanks to the US and UK.
Yeah, Trump and his entire cabinet are across the board garbage humans and all BUT closing the States to immigration is not necessarily a bad thing. Be it Muslims from across Africa and the Middle East who refuse to embrace and acclimate to American culture or be it Europeans, Canadians, Australians, etc… The US already has a crisis on it’s hands by not being able to provide for it’s own citizens. As it is, things like education, health care, affordable housing, job training and the like are all luxuries in the regressive nation. The solution is not relocating said migrants to the West but aiding them in their backyards and setting up shops for them in neighboring countries with similar beliefs and practices to their own. The States already give billions of tax dollars to countries that hate them so why not.
Jeez, just look at what is happening in places like Germany, France and the UK. Ports in Sicily are receiving thousands of migrants a day!!! Those poor people have all been thrown under the bus by their leaders in order to appease the monstrous hordes trampling over the European continent. It’s a land grab dressed as a Trojan Horse. Sadly, now it is too late for these countries. It would be wise to close the doors on this invasion while it’s still possible.
If only these politicians gave a crap about anything other than profits they would look inward and start focusing on helping their own people for a change. Self preservation should be a very big concern during these troubling times.
Ricardo Camilo López
https://ipsoscustodes.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/theintercept-com_20170125_trumps-muslim-immigration-executive-order-if-we-bombed-you-we-ban-you/
Can I please make an apology to the world for the USA being the DUMBEST NATION in the world. This is NOT my GOVERNMENT! These are corporate TRAITORS running our government! I apologize to all those who would even THINK of wanting to come to the USA. You want in? Trade me places! I desperately want out but like so many that would leave if we could afford it. I want to live in a society that cares about people instead of greed. These wars are not my wars just for rich old men that are greedy as F**K! Stopping abortion to make us raise kids so military can brainwash them, take them and kill them in their wars as collateral damage. SCREWY LOGIC!
Gert Miss V
Unfortunately you’re WRONG! The owners of the plantation are very, very smart in every way possible…
barabbas Miss V
the US currency system, PRINT-TO-LOAN-TO-OWN, is the root cause that cultivates greedy murderous thieves. Wallstreet thieves love robbing people of power, homes, return on productivity, and continues to play people off with threats of deprivation by lots of means they call the free market – meaning free to rob Americans and do it again.
The currency scheme is a criminal contrivance established in 1913 by the whores of congress back then who were supported bythe rothschilds. The currency scheme demands “growth”. The more you understand this the more you will see this as the evil that Jesus turned the tables on.
GilG barabbas
And they also tricked barabbas into voting for Trump.
barabbas GilG
too bad about hellary, big loser, no tpp
gonna build a wall, no more growth, just price fraud
wallstreet thieves trade teams illegal, how the thieves price to sell
the conjob behind the fed rate, criminal fraud
fiat currency fall lika humpty dumpty
bonds going going gone
stock market crash both ways, huh?
hello america, buh bye izzy
kim j barabbas
yup .. i am right here with you .. we are doomed .. live life to the fullest while we are still here we are about to open hell gates … water gate was nothing . HELL GATES are on the way ,,,
Roch barabbas
Totally 100%, usimmigration is about blackmailing and draining out the powerful of a sovereign nation so the us can easily plunder and steal. If everybody stays home, you cannot do that effectively adinfinitum.
We are at the point of the us balance always negative now. Things need balance.
J has made the world more wretched by his doctrine of unaccountability!
Celeste Guapi Miss V
Miss V-
“Stopping abortion to make us raise kids so military can brainwash them, take them and kill them in their wars as collateral damage”
I hear the smart girls are taking excercise classes, studying foreign language and computer programming, and learning about scales of opportunity.
In China, you only get two kids, which seems reasonable- and women here barely use abortion, because economic entrapment of male opportunity is such a profitable side industry; and the economy will all be heading over there by the time this stink flower wilts here.
Last I heard, there’s a shortage of white women in the east. And the ‘others’ of course. Follow the wind, swallow!
( a plane ticket only costs a few hundred bucks)
Mervyn Y
I am sorry. Trump didn’t bomb them, Hillary and Obama did. So accusing Trump is very unfair at this moment. Glad that Hillary wasn’t the POTUS.
One book explains it all. The now decease GREAT author Chalmers Johnson check out a bit of it on your own “Blowback” is the title. Enjoy some reading today:http://nypolisci.org/files/PDF%20FILES/Chapter%20VIII_%202_Blowback.pdf
http://www.alternet.org/authors/chalmers-johnson
Miss V barabbas
Thank you, that is all we can do is try to help educate the young that are getting corporate education, sadly.
it will take protests to replace the currency system we have with one that works for the GOOD of human beings.
Also local laws that criminalise wallstreet thieves would be good.
that is, because there is a direct connection between the US military empire and the print-to-loan-to-own currency system.
We live under a government that has legitimized torture .
CASE CLOSED !!!
Miss V Mudbone
100% in agreement. No arguments, no hope, and now not even a safe country for the 99% (unless you discount the 52% of ignorant white women that voted for the DIP. NOT ME! I supported Bernie Sanders until he sold us out. Face it we are on the eve of DESTRUCTION! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZVu0alU0I
MrLiberty
Well let’s face it…. if we hadn’t bombed them in the first place, there wouldn’t be so many appropriately upset folks wanting to come here and harm us. The CIA calls it blowback and nearly every neocon warmonger is in denial of these basic truths of human nature.
Gert MrLiberty
W/o US support for the Taleban/al Qaeda, there would have been no 9/11 and no ISIS/ISIL.
Reagan getting cushty with the Taleban, these fierce ‘freedom fighters’!
Mudbone Gert
Are you talking about THE WAR ON TERROR
or the THE WAR ON ALTERNATIVE FACTS
Mudbone Mudbone
Look , we live under a government that has legitimized torture .
Timo Mudbone
We always have – ever heard of Wounded Knee?
Gert Mudbone
The War OF Terror.
Miss V Gert
If there had not been lies on Iraq under Bush Sr. and Jr. there would have been no war in Iraq and if it had been legitimate it would have occurred in Saudi Arabia where the majority of the hijackers came from. How many came from Iraq? That’s right, NONE OF THEM! Trump is definitely an incarnate of Reagan, both as stupid and out of touch as the day is long. Two NARCISSIST, one thank god now dead. Does this one have heart problems? We can hope right :) GOD help the USA! We are F**KED!
Please don’t spare the rod forBush-Lite, aka Obomba. Thanks to him, the Orange One has inherited the deepest Deep State EVER!
If Trump dies, you’ll get Pence: from the frying pan into the fire!
Captain Obvious
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” **
** (Unless they’re refugees displaced by American warmongering and interference in other countries affairs. Then, fuck em – especially the Muslims.)
Mudbone Captain Obvious
There’s just to many trying to escape from the bombings of the US Government .
If you are bombing 1/2 the planet and you have about 1/240 of its land you are going to have a problem dealing with the ones your bombs did not kill !!
“Give me the survivors of my bombs” is not an option of a optimized business model !
Unless , of course , they are immediately jailed !!
I’m sure Big Prison is working its lawmaking “representatives” on that!
Celeste Guapi Gert
Gert-
Yeah- cuz wymin’s was so busy building the prisons for badmenz, they forgot they might need a few more votes in the last election.
I am still laughing at the fact those white women’s marches the other day were so clearly, and convincingly privileged- not a single can of mace anywhere in a cops hands, or a baton poking too far out of a waistband.
Gert Celeste Guapi
Maybe you should listen to the TI podcast on the Women’s March?
Alternatively, take your MRA/MGTOW crapola to RoK.
(aside, to self- ‘doth anyone spieth that which destroyed the Deus-RAT party-methinks it is thee, and the fuzzy pink vagina hat, a soiled foil against the death of thought at the source of democracy, and an eve’ worse bag of baggage, unpacked, that trumps your steps into old age; but a trusty ally so many years ago, too have attracted to yourself thine own demise-untarnished and browner eyes now spied the fraught and ought of your prize; a Deus-RAT party that depends from lies…say it ain’t so; but it is the prize you have earned. Nevertheless, never learned that which you would teach to others.)
Sure, Gert. Keep it divisive, and , well, like a head, stuck in a fuzzy pink vagina hat. That’ll woo the voters. Especially the guys- if there are any left who aren’t locked up under your version of mother knows best by ‘leveling the playing field,’ by playing jester to Mother Courage
1) Gloria and all the old white hags slut shaming young women wit old white women’s ‘feminism’ (nice move, you did THAT better than right wingers)
2) Bernie-cuz, he’s whitey “down with old bad whitemenz- eve if the kids like’ em’! (nice job with the identity politics- maybe next generation, you will raise better voters who even know what rights are, and how costly they are for all of us-if we still have the vote when you people are done)
3) where did white matriarchy go wrong? I think it was at “bonobos,” or maybe, possibly, nahhhh: accountability.
We sure don’t hear much from your types about prison conditions; wage slavery that affects primarily male prisoners; or anything else of substance- and look what it got you? Everything you ‘earned.’
.77 cents on the dollar beats three hots and a cot, at pennies per day; and hands down. But, once upon a time, your ziobux buddy Soros considered humanizing the prisons- but y’all wuz hungry hungry hungry- no time for da badmenz’!
https://newrepublic.com/article/119083/prison-labor-equal-rights-wages-incarcerated-help-economy
(aside, to any looking in-
“HEAR YE HEAR YE, the patriarchal, resource sucking, over-eduated and gender-jaded voice of BADD MEN shall now speak:”
“in levenworth ks fed prison my step dad makes 32 cents a day
in st jo MO state prison i made 7.50 a month until i got my ged and then i started to make 8.50 a month ( and thats 8 bucks and 50 cents)
and in sc i got paid 18.50 every 2 weeks ”
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090529202727AAud3zf
Let’s be honest. The majority of U.S. Muslim immigration has been young men. You show a picture of women and children but this accounts for a very small percentage of actual immigrants. Where is your honesty once again?
This executive order that has yet to be signed suspends travel for 30 days while vetting is revamped. Why is this wrong? In reality there has been NO vetting. Why is this wrong? It allows terrorists to enter the country unrestrained, that’s why.
The Intercept continues to skew all of their articles with regard to Trump. Time to show some honesty.
Mudbone joan
@joan ,, you do understand what propaganda is ,, RIGHT ?
TI is now the official INTELLECTUAL PROPAGANDA news rag of the CIA !
and that is , in fact , a non-alternative fact .
Put that together without biting your lip babes .
Gary Mudbone
That was insightful. Maybe you should be president.
Mudbone Gary
Not me babes !
NO FUC-KIN WAY!!!!
J. Spicoli Mudbone
“Alright. Well, in all honesty, I don’t feel that what I’ve done is a crime. And I think it’s illogical and irresponsible for you to sentence me to prison. Because, when you think about it, what did I really do? I crossed an imaginary line with a bunch of plants. I mean, you say I’m an outlaw, you say I’m a thief, but where’s the Christmas dinner for the people on relief? Huh? You say you’re looking for someone who’s never weak but always strong, to gather flowers constantly whether you are right or wrong, someone to open each and every door, but it ain’t me, babe, huh? No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe. It ain’t me you’re looking for, babe. You follow?”
-george jung
Celeste Guapi J. Spicoli
George Jung is an American hero. Where In The World is George Jung? We need another credible source to help the kids today revisit how our agencies….errrr: the Company he worked for filled our nation with drugs:
http://georgejung.org/contact/
Wren Mudbone
That would explain the articles debunking the CIA claims that Russia hacked the election.
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/25/seymour-hersh-blasts-media-for-uncritically-promoting-russian-hacking-story/
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/11/the-deep-state-goes-to-war-with-president-elect-using-unverified-claims-as-dems-cheer/
Bo joan
“In reality there has been NO vetting. ” Really? Really?! I found that hard to believe so I took about 5 seconds to google American vetting process for refugees and found this…
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/11/20/infographic-screening-process-refugee-entry-united-states
So, my question is which ‘reality’ are you referring to?
Wren joan
FactCheck.org states that 67% of Syrian refugees are women and children under the age of 11. Young males 18 years of age or older only made up 25.5%. These percentages from the State Department match the numbers from the U.N.
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/facts-about-the-syrian-refugees/
FactCheck.org also states that all refugees are vetted thoroughly and that is after they have been vetted by the U.N. and referred to the U.S. by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement.
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/06/resettling-syrian-refugees/
I Guess FactCheck.org is a propaganda outlet now too? My guess, using Occam’s Razor, is that you get your facts from an alternative fact site like Breitbart.com
Gary joan
I work with Syrian refugees everyday at a refugee resettlement center. You’re either ignorant or lying when you say most Syrian refugees are men, not women and children. (You did say young men but when a male is young enough he is a child. )
Gary ,
Joan is in the camp of WOMEN vs MEN . Its like Republicans vs Democrats , Black vs White , Rich vs Poor , Ignorant vs Informed , Educated vs Free Thinking , Strauss Waltz vs Rock&Roll , Science vs Superstition ,,
Its simply the YEN vs YANG nature of what we humans call thinking .
Power People know this and use it to control.
J. Spicoli joan
“In reality there has been NO vetting.” -joanieluvs
None, you spew..?
1. National Security Entry-Exit Registration System
An “I’ll Be Your Huckleberry” Production
Gert joan
In reality there has been NO vetting.
The Screening Process for Refugee Entry Into the United States (11/25/15)
Seems pretty thorough to me…
And now the shit fight starts !
—-> in one corner we have DA MALE CHALLENGERS Spicoli&Gert
—–>in the other corner we have DA GAL CHAMPIONjoan
DONGROUND 1 :
They come out dancing and Spicoli&Gert land two links to joan’sribs ,, joan is gasping ,,,
mikeinportc joan
” In reality there has been NO vetting. ”
Other than a year and a half (at least) of vetting by every agency, and personal interviews, you’re right – no vetting. ;)
Mudbone mikeinportc
mikeinportcjumps in and misses badly with a “news agency” left hook ,,,,
Alphabet soup involved in vetting process:
May have missed one or two…
Dreadlock Holmes joan
ter-ror-ism: the unlawful use of violence or intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Such as taking their oil, here’s an alternative fact for you to consider: When that happens, and U.S. forces enter a country un-invited and commence to destroy that country, and kill it’s citizens with “collateral damage” ..what should we call them?
El Comandante Trump’s election to office may be more complex than any of us think: Van Jones does a good job of covering “coal country” Trump supporters; the conversation segways to Middle Easterners and Mexicans and refuge.
I doubt anyone w/ half a brain who voted for DJT supports him 100%.
Google that shit; the Van Jones thing
Mudbone ContinuousDeception
THE EYES OF GOOGLE ARE UPON YOU
ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY
———-googling in the 50’s was the way you watched a peep show !
JayZ
America’s ideological fundamentalists are finally in charge in Washington; busy implementing the final solution.
The wreck that ensues from the soft war on religion and race, in the end, will destroy the very structure which has so benefited the American power. The worst human tragedy will be for the very group of underprivileged folks that voted for Trump. The wealthy globalists will only get richer.
The fundamentalists bent on destroying freedom and democracy in the world have not better friend than the new ilk in the White House.
Communete JayZ
Folksy folks, the Democrats’ favorite word.
The theory of BLOWBACK has been an anti-global-war-on-terror meme since the WTC attacks of 911. Yet, when an American president takes reasonable measures to minimize the possibility of blowback from those countries who have purportedly have reason to attack the US, he is held up for criticism. Now one might reasonably argue that the US military actions which predicated such responses are fundamentally wrong, but the anticipation of BLOWBACK seems to be logical consistent with the progressive left’s own rationale.
Jose Karl
I guess you haven’t thought through how blowback works in regards to the millions of Muslims already living in the US who are now direct targets of a hostile effort to separate them from their friends and families abroad.
Karl Jose
There is nothing in this executive order that prevents legal immigrants from maintaining contact with their families abroad. It is only intended to require a greater degree of vetting of those who want to enter the United States. Quit being so hysterical!
How, over Skype? You don’t know what you’re talking about. A visa ban is not a “greater degree of vetting.” It means they can’t visit the US under any circumstances. Additionally, there’s usually reciprocity in international relations, so it’s likely that US citizens also won’t be able to travel to those countries.
Add to that these draconian cancellations of visas that are apparently being implemented, and not even legal US immigrants will be able to travel abroad for fear of having their visas cancelled from under them.
What you’re defending is evil all around.
A visa ban is not a “greater degree of vetting.” It means they can’t visit the US under any circumstances.
The above article reads:
The draft text of the order […] would suspend the issuance of visas for at least 30 days to most people in the seven countries while the administration revamps its vetting procedures. Most citizens of foreign countries must first obtain a visa before being allowed to enter the United States.
Now, what exactly is this ban you are talking about? Please provide a link to your source.
Like everything else, this 30-day suspension of visas will certainly be extended, unless it’s a complete political disaster. You actually believe it’s a temporary measure done to “revamp vetting procedures”? That’s absolutely ridiculous.
Like everything else, this 30-day suspension of visas will certainly be extended, unless it’s a complete political disaster.
Like everything else? Trump has only been in office for a few days. Again, hysterical conjecture does not speak to the facts at hand. If the attacks of 911 are ideologically consistent with the jihadist precepts espoused by radical Islam, then the justification for the Bush Doctrine remains intact. Preemptive regime change is the cornerstone of America’s war on terror and, by its very nature, necessitates the exercise of military might. The invasion and pacification of Muslim countries is being predicated upon the perception that their support of terror poses an imminent existential threat to the U.S.
In uncritically accepting the foregone conclusions of the 911 commission report, the progressive left has assumed an untenable position in perpetuity; and, in the doing, it forfeited the opportunity to nip the global war on terror in the bud. In fact, many progressives continue to vilify those who have successfully found critical fault with the politically driven conclusions of the 911 Commission by characterizing them as tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists. Thus the debate over the global war on terror has been reduced to one of mean rather than substance for the last fifteen years. Even with the recent disclosure that the Saudis were most likely the perpetrator of those attacks, the progressive left continues to vilify those “truthers” who have pointed a finger at the US-Saudi collaboration that gave rise the most radical elements of Islam – including the CIA directed actions of Osama bin Laden.
Gert Karl
Yet, when an American president takes reasonable measures to minimize the possibility of blowback from those countries who have purportedly have reason to attack the US, he is held up for criticism.
Refugees are countries now?
Like Messico sending all their Bad Messicans?
Have a sammich and a lie down.
Karl Gert
Hey Mona/Gert,
Fuck off… I mean that in the nicest way!
It took me a while to process how horrendous this is. Trump has initiated an unprecedented geopolitical experiment with consequences we probably can’t even imagine.
There are about a million Iranians in the US, most of whom surely have family in Iran. Iran will likely ban travel from the US, because that’s how reciprocity works. Iranians haven’t carried out terrorist attacks in the US in recent memory, but imagine how they are feeling after being cut off from their families and friends.
There are countries in the list whose governments are somewhat close to the US: Iraq, Libya, Somalia. That’s surely going to change.
Some European countries will follow suit in time. It will be a mess.
From a recent White House strategy session:
T: Why are we bombing them?
M: We’re fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here, Mr. President.
T: Do they have a navy?
M: No.
T: Do they have an airforce?
M: Not really.
T: Then how do they get here? Swim?
M: We give them airline tickets.
T: Stop giving them airline tickets.
ContinuousDeception Benito Mussolini
javad
mr gilani u are right , i am from iran
but we dont have much power against usa individualism
So now it’s up front with ” will be , might happen , and beware of ,, NEWS !! ”
THIS RAG IS NOW OFFICIALLY A TAMPON !!
VOTE THE OLD FASHION WAY !!
BUY A GUN TODAY !!
——–http://modernmilitiamovement.com/
phraserX Mudbone
That’s why you’re here.
feline16
What we SHOULD be about:
https://observergal.blogspot.com/2017/01/bridges-not-walls.html
All invited to visit; would love some comments and encouragement.
barabbas feline16
average 1,000,000 persons from the south border have invaded the US since 1975. There are 250,000,000 people south of the border living on less that $10 a day. The US is becoming a bigger target as the lying whores in congress grant amnesty. Our resources for life support and comfort are strained, expensive and dwindling. Our level of comfort has slid since 1967. Every generation does worse since WW2. And they border crashers whill not stop – ever.
get the picture?
http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/region/LAC
ShaunMarie barabbas
I’m going to assume that your mind has already been made up, and that facts will not get in the way of your faith. But, just in case someone else could be persuaded by your idiocy:
1.) Net Migration from the “South Border” has been at 0 for 8 years.
2.) The reason your resources are strained has nothing to do with Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaruagua etc. In fact, the Dow Jones indicates that our economy is wealthier than it ever has been before.
3.) In 1967 CEO pay to median Worker pay was at around 30:1. CEO pay to Worker pay in 2016 is 300:1 (conservatively).
So – you know that hardship you are suffering? You are blaming the wrong people.
Communete ShaunMarie
That “net migation from the south border has been at 0 for 8 years” bit came from the same deliberately deindustrializing administration–Obama’s–that told you manufacturing jobs increased under his watch.
The latter even Bloomberg, PRI’s Marketplace, and WYNC’s The Takeaway dispute.
J. Spicoli Communete
“.. came from the same deliberately deindustrializing administration–Obama’s”
Sounds like you are ‘Inverted’..
https://youtu.be/InaRIYFPMiY
a bullshit production
J. Spicoli barabbas
Si`.. and the illustration you’ve depicted should be entitled ‘Fear Mongering Pap’
Comprende?
Mudbone barabbas
Si Hefe ,
Mi abogado hablamos tu abogado .
——–>It’s not the Russians , it’s the damn Mexicans . No wait ,, it’s the Vietnamese ! No , it’s the Sioux , the RUN-AWAY Slaves , the ETC ,,,,
Clinton’s NAFTA made both America and Mexico poorer for 99.9% of us . But Bill , Hill and Chelsea are farting through silk now !!
Ashley barabbas
Maybe instead of blaming poor people who are just as much, if not more, a victim of globalist corporate economics, you should actually blame those responsible for the drop in our standard of living? You know, the CORPORATIONS who have moved jobs overseas to slave labor countries, who have fought tooth and nail against any kind of minimum wage raises, etc? Fuck you.
feline16 barabbas
@Barabbas –
Picture not gotten. And I agree with those who have been saying you’re blaming the wrong folks.
And yup, a wall may not stop all crossers, and think of the money it would cost that could/should be used elsewhere.
As a ‘leftie’ Democrat, I was against all of that – and I let my objections to having my taxes spent thusly be known to all of our elected war criminals (including Murphy) to no avail – almost always without a response.
Let Billary’s ‘humanitarian’ contributors pay for it – they’re the ones who made fortunes off of it, without even paying taxes on their blood money.
Among them is the Saudi Caliphate, for which German companies have built a dandy hi-tech border wall, over/under which not a single Iraqi/Syrian migrant has managed to climb/dig.
Closer to home, we have George Soros and Peter Sutherland – in their houses are many mansions there, with many rooms for the suffering masses they are responsible for having created while raking in their profits.
Is the latter gentleman still with us, I wonder, as not a tweet has been heard from him since last September? But that is the way with gods – we’re never supposed to know that they have died, as gods are never supposed to die.
Can The Intercept please do some divine intervention to discover what has deprived us of Peter’s wisdom for so long? And make itself useful?
Loretto M
I noticed SA missing right away, can’t offend their business partners. Gotta have somebody to buy all the arms, weapons and I guess corn.
Hi great piece so true about Saudi and Iran isil in Iran NO WAKE UP ITS A CON
Last night I sent an email to Trump at the WH making this case re Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan. And re the disconnect re Saudi Arabia, birthplace and schoolroom of Al Queda and ISIS. I’m sure someone read it. Probably someone in Saudi Arabia.
Timo TFB
Can you read Arabic? If you can, how I admire you – it really should be taught in all of our schools, as we’re going to need it so that we can run away as soon as we hear it.
Please remember what Mother Jones trolled anyone thinking of voting for him with: Trump is really a liberal…
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/08/donald-trumps-top-ten-liberal-heresies
So it’s going to be all right, libs, President Trump is working in your best interests.
Common Act
By the Way I understand People Need to go Some where I will say Seniors and Kids Don’t represent a threat to Us Let them In With A Hight Verifycation Clearence that They Won’t be In Contact with any terrorist Group And Could be a good Thing That their Young Are Safe some of them Can Help Us Fight Isis now And Other Terrorist In the Future We can Paid For their Medical Expense it will be Cheaper As well instead of Having a Middle Man and At the End ,We all Know they Won’t Do this For the American People If They where the one Starting a War On USA they Hate America
Timo Common Act
Naw, send them all to the riyadh caliphate – they’ll be much happier there, those these days they’ll have to pay for their A/C.
So the Jews living in Iran who would rather live in Iran than Israel are free to travel to the USA if they choose to?
Lina Uncle Bob
I guess it’s really easy to travel from Iran to Israel, right? Or to immigrate without putting in danger everyone you leave behind or losing everything you own? Just curious
Uncle Bob Lina
Conversely, settling and occupying someone else’s property while destroying everything they own is easier than being a religious minority in a Jewish Nation, I reckon..
The Persian Jews living in a Shia Muslim country consider themselves Iranians.
Gert Uncle Bob
“It’s complicated!”
Gil G Uncle Bob
And yet the Jewish population in Iran decreased by 90% since 1979. hmmm
Uncle Bob Gil G
Now living in the USA with their relatives..
GilG Uncle Bob
Yes because it wasn’t so easy living in Iran any longer. On the other hand the Muslim population in “a Jewish Nation” has greatly increased during the same period of time, and the Bahai faith has their headquarters in “a Jewish Nation” while Bahai in Iran get hung as apostates. But that really wouldn’t interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends.
On the other hand the Muslim population in “a Jewish Nation” has greatly increased during the same period of time, and the Bahai faith has their headquarters in “a Jewish Nation” while Bahai in Iran get hung as apostates.
Oh, absolutely. Arab Muslims, especially children, are treated with total equality and respect by the Jewish-supremacist State of Israel. Why, on why, are Muslims so angry at the ethno-religious, supremacist terrorists and land thieves of Israel?
Gil G -Mona-
Israel doesn’t treat it’s Arab population well. Did I make the claim that it does? The US does not treat it’s African American population well.
The Iranian gov’t do not treat Jews or Bahai well.
Jews did leave in great numbers after the Iranian revolution in far greater percentages than left Israel in 1948. And the Bahai were hung as apostates by the Islamic State. Of course that doesn’t interest you Mona. But here read about someone with whom you share a name. And lets see if you can manage to put compassion over politics for a change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Mahmudnizhad
Why, look at the tenderness with which the Jewish State treats a 100-year-old Bedouin citizen of Israel. Evicting him from his home — because he isn’t Jewish.
Timo Uncle Bob
Well that’s different
I wonder why “Americans” think people hate “Americans” and even their “founding principles”, too? (please, could they keep the “founding fathers” out of this mess? Most probably, they would be happy to be dead for centuries already)
Probably because “Americans” have been genocidally exterminating them as if they were playing computer games and “freedom-lovingly” destroying their countries based on their playful, self-serving lies. Did “Americans” forget so fast? Is it so hard for “Americans” to at least see some possible cause and effect relationship even if they may lack those things called “humanity” and “empathy”? Now they are even making it official it will be for the oil?
// __ MSNBC: President Donald Trump’s Oil Grab Policy Puts US Troops At Risk | Rachel Maddow
youtube.com/watch?v=TIoAN8GxD7E
Trump so far has singlehandedly done a great job at helping “Americans” take their minds our of their @ss. All of a sudden “Americans” have realized politicians lie and they even seem to care about it!
Keep pushing “Americans” once you get your heads half way out of your @ss you may realize that Royal Bitch wasn’t really that different, in fact, she had been already much worse! At least the TPP is history! Under Trump orders no one has been killed, yet! I would bet one of my balls Trump will not surpass Obama’s genocide! But, well when Obama was killing people for fun, even realizing “he was much better at killing people than he would have ever imagined” and boasting about droning “Americans” even minors in “American” soil it was all fine and dandy!
Paul Wolf
Including Iran on the list is anomalous, and shows a discriminatory association of Islam and terrorism. The other countries are all in some state of civil conflict, but there are no terrorists or refugees coming from Iran. i understand from other reports that the list of countries is based on this “Worldwide Threat Assessment.” But the part about Iran is about the Iranian government’s perceived hostility towards the US. Not terrorists and refugees trying to enter the US. It is just another example of Mr. Trump’s bigotry.
https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/SASC_Unclassified_2016_ATA_SFR_FINAL.pdf
Timo Paul Wolf
You’re absolutely right – it’s those damned Methodists we should be worried about – viz.: NYC, Madrid, Boston Marathon, London, Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Orlando, Berlin, etc, etc, etc. Something really needs to be done about them – they’re a menace!
-Mona- Timo
If you ponder on it, just a bit, it might come to you why Methodists aren’t angry at the West. Go on, try. I think you can do it.
Celestebrite -Mona-
in re, Timo: “NYC, Madrid, Boston Marathon, London, Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Orlando, Berlin, etc, etc, etc. “Something really needs to be done about them – they’re a menace!”
Mona- do you find it interesting, as I do, that no one likes to talk about the fact that every single event that he made note of here- that these “terrorists” were “investigated” by the FBI/DHS for years before these incidents, and as we know, the agencies worked to “flip” them, or otherwise use them as free HUMINT?
Yeah, sure- Methodists are the good guys aright, especially the “better than thou” ones who organize targeted community policing harassment campaigns from their deep goodguy cover in organizations like the the city councils of small town America that target outsiders with extra scrutiny and hidden dossiers- and maybe even re-route the badguys cable at the switch via InfraGard?
Or the various community organizations that participate with crooked cops in whisper campaigns against people with funny accents, and foreign friends? And of course, all those civic minded Rotary, Masons, Shriners, etc- who then wage slander campaigns against dissidents, activists, and generally anyone else who challenges their narrative lockup on goodguyism; and that after the FBI/DHS kicks their “investigation” down to local LEO’s?.
All the good Methodists, Baptists, Catholics- zionists/Messianic Jews-you know, all the God-guys-all seem to overlook that sometimes the weapons used in these international shootings (Paris) trace directly back to the Mossad via a certain Florida arms dealer?
In the cases of Omar Mateen, and Sayed Farook, there was extensive contact with a nutjob community mobbing zionist “Messianic Jew,” and possible contact with Russian mob stuff ( Russian brides) aka ADL/Mossad domestic.
At what point do we make it known that all of those “community policing” and “citizen corps” heroes who target and harass people are actually the primary cause of domestic terror?
And that, after the initial FBI/DHS scheme fails to flip them badguys into “good rats” like everybody else? That these domestic acts are in fact nearly whole cloth creations of the terror state?
Nah- leave organized religion out of it-it’s too complicated! Focus on the black and white of goodguys and badguys, it’s so much easier that way.
Has Trump bombed Iraq yet? If so, it’s five presidents in a row, not four.
haribur
So do you agree that people immigrating from these countries could “bear hostile attitudes toward our country and its founding principles” ? Maybe you should address that point first. This is the second article today from this site that fails to refute any of the security concerns these decisions are being based on. By all means, keep calling anyone who supports these decisions a warmongering xenophobic racist. I am sure that will convince more people that the security threat isn’t real.
Czernobog haribur
What the hell are you talking about? What threat? Specify one terrorist incident carried out by asylum seekers.
Gert haribur
By all means, keep calling anyone who supports these decisions a warmongering xenophobic racist.
Not all Orange supporters are warmongering xenophobic racists but all warmongering xenophobic racists voted for the Orange One.
Seems legit you me.
Bush, Hillary and Obama bomb you, we don’t think we want your problems created by them now, when these are gone.
Tony Tony
But you can, any time, try to get Madonna, Shia, Streep, women who marched in DC and all the goodie, goodie progressive people in the US adopt you and help you.
Timo Tony
You’re much too hard on poor old Billary – she only wanted a good old fashioned land war with Russia in Eastern Europe.
And what about citizens of those countries who actually killed American citizens in numbers inside the US? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? They will continue killing Americans because it’s been a while that they have paid for Republican politicians
Bird Sunshine
What are names of these American citizens that have been killed by ‘they’?
“The draft text of the order was leaked to the Huffington Post and Los Angeles Times. ”
Again, the sources used without further verification, scream Fake News.
-Mona- W0X0F
Um, no. LAT and HuffPo aren’t innocent babes and know how not to be taken in by bogus documents.
And by the way, “fake news” is a stupid term. Lies or propaganda serve just fine.
Mudbone -Mona-
Are you suggesting HuffPost is a rag sheet that will say anything that gets the riff-raff in a shit fight with each other just to sell its papers ?
Max Rontgen
Shortsighted vision. This is exactly what makes US politics so partisan and unable to fix bipartisan abuses, that is, the wars themselves.
When people like you, who I consider among the most important voices opposing US crimes, fail to address the underlying problem, I’m afraid feeling hopeless is inevitable.
The focus on immigration due to US wars is another example where democrats and republicans disagree on specifics but not on overall policy. It is, as you are showing, another example of good journalists being fooled into playing the game war-loving democrats want you to play.
Why is nobody mentioning that once the US successfully starts taking refugees from its wars there is a chance people will be less inclined to stop wars? imagine a country where its people already see themselves as progressive by “setting an example of how to treat refugees”; can you not see how that would make it harder to convince those people that they are still blatant oppressors, that the wars should have been their priority, not the consequences? dead people can’t migrate and many don’t see the US accepting them in exchange for bombing them as anything remotely close to redemption.
US insularity is once again muddling the waters.
It took Europe a migrant crisis for many people to start asking why their representatives support US wars and why they remain engaged in so many conflicts after all these years. Brexit showed much of that sentiment. In your world, where taking refugees is a well established policy, nothing of that would have happened. What would have happened is a mystery, but you never even consider it.
A similar situation happened recently, where the discussion about rampant inequality remained ignored in favor of identity based politics, again epitomizing how dems and republicans often disagree in specifics only. Never mind that the people most affected by inequality are minorities. Only Sanders brought it to the foreground for a few months.
Maybe the Clinton’s can divest the Clinton Foundation and set up a place for them somewhere.
Charlene Avis Richards Buffalo
The only way the Clinton’s could “divest” The Clinton Foundation would be if they finally had an audit since it is a tax-exempt non-profit “charity”:
http://usawatchdog.com/clinton-charity-is-massive-global-swamp-charles-ortel/
SteveK9
Very true, and who did most of the bombing? President Barack Obama.
Communete SteveK9
Is that where ~O~’s “refugees” came from?
“Obvious enemy is obvious”, anyone? This is a pretty narrow order, all things considered. I mean, you can scarcely find a piece of software that doesn’t have something in its license forbidding you from exporting it to these countries, but the officials at the border are going to let them come here and buy whatever they want at the store?
If this is all Trump does you should breathe a sigh of relief…
Jose Wnt
There’s nothing “obvious” about an order that is economic/geopolitical in nature. Visitors from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UEA, Egypt aren’t banned.
It’s kind of understandable. If you ban Saudis, that would create a lot of inconveniences for business people. Saudi Arabia would retaliate and so forth. But now, if there’s a terrorist attack perpetrated by a Saudi, there will be a lot of pressure to add Saudi Arabia to the list. The economic and geopolitical impacts are non-trivial.
Doug Salzmann Jose
. . .now, if there’s a terrorist attack perpetrated by a Saudi, there will be a lot of pressure to add Saudi Arabia to the list.
As was the case following 9/11.
Oh, wait. . . we have a “special relationship” with the House of Saud. It’s a Valentine’s Day thing.
Communete Jose
Retaliate with what? Withholding sand?
Jose Communete
Retaliate with reciprocity: By banning Americans from visiting those countries. Saudi Arabia receives 15 million tourists every year or so. I’m certain there’s substantial business travel from the US to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
It could just escalate from there. Like any of Trump’s dangerous ideas, I don’t think we can fully grasp the repercussions right now.
Wnt Jose
I doubt Trump will really need much persuading to add to the list… I think there is hope that people persecuted for not being Muslims might eventually get through, but at this point my main fear is that the list is going to spread far beyond the Muslim countries. It is one thing to demand “extreme vetting” to see if the people coming from a bombed country are the ones you were trying to bomb. But I have a feeling before this is done that people with “ties to terrorist sympathizers” in any country, like Israelis who once voted for Labour, might be getting stopped by Trump’s minions at the border.
Timo Wnt
Yes, and buy with benefits paid for with your taxes – enjoy!
Galactus-36215
Visas and Passports from Staff Statement 1
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/staff_statement_1.pdf
Four of the hijackers’ passports have survived in whole or in part. Two were recovered from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. One belonged to a hijacker on American Airlines Flight 11. A passerby picked it up and gave it to an NYPD detective shortly before the World Trade Center towers collapsed. A fourth Staff Statement No. 12 passport was recovered from luggage that did not make it from a Portland flight to Boston onto the connecting flight, which was American Airlines Flight
11. In addition to these four, some digital copies of the hijackers’ passports were recovered in post-9/11 operations.Two of the passports that have survived, those of Satam al Suqami and Abdul Aziz al Omari, were clearly doctored. To avoid getting into the classified details, we will just state that these were “manipulated in a fraudulent manner,” in ways that have been associated with al Qaeda. Since the passports of 15 of the hijackers did not survive, we cannot make firm factual statements about their documents. But from what we know about al Qaeda passport practices and other information,
we believe it is possible that six more of the hijackers presented passports that had some of these same clues to their association with al Qaeda.
Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, the chief tactical planner and coordinator of the 9/11 attacks, was indicted in 1996 by Federal authorities in the Southern District of New York for his role in earlier terrorist plots. Yet, KSM, as he is known, obtained a visa to visit the United States on July 23, 2001, about six weeks before the 9/11 attacks. Although he is not a Saudi citizen and we do not believe he was in Saudi Arabia at the time, he applied for a visa using a Saudi passport and an alias, Abdulrahman al Ghamdi. He had someone else submit his application and a photo through the Visa Express program.
I’m not sure how Trump’s policy would prevent the above behavior.
Uncle Bob Galactus-36215
New TSA policy
Ask people if they are terrorist.
If they say no, an FBI guy asks them if they want to be an informer..
If they say yes, the CIA guy signs them up for training
Charlene Avis Richards Galactus-36215
Michael Springmann was ordered by high level State Department officials to give visas to 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers even though they should not have received them.
Springmann, formerly headed the American visa bureau in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The BBC quotes Springmann talking about the frustrations he encountered while trying to keep the visa issuance above the board:
“In Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high level State Dept officials to issue visas to unqualified applicants. These were, essentially, people who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to their own country. I complained bitterly at the time there. I returned to the US, I complained to the State Dept here, to the General Accounting Office, to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and to the Inspector General’s office. I was met with silence.”
– BBC News Source: “former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah is Michael Springmann”.
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/september112012/cia-911-visas-tk.php
Karl Charlene Avis Richards
Yes, I found Springmann’s story to be very compelling. If true, it provides alot of support for the claim that US State Department and intelligence officials wittingly facilitated the attacks of 911 by operatives who were funded by the Saudis.
William Bednarz
NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF……..bombing and killing unarmed or under armed forces and civilians
Hey, but at least we stopped that neoliberal harridan, right? Zero difference whatsoever between her and Trump.
Mister Sterling
Also missing: Pakistan and Afghanistan. This makes zero sense.
Christopher Mister Sterling
It makes slightly more sense when one dwells on the fact we have business associations in both of the countries you mention, to varying degrees of legitimacy.
Jose Mister Sterling
Pakistan is too big and there’s probably a lot of business travel between Pakistan and the US. Afghanistan is a bit surprising, though. There has to be a reason for the exclusion.
bob Jose
Heroin.They has it.
nuf said bob
Afghanis grow opium and it is processed by Pakistanis; been that way forever.
barabbas Mister Sterling
afgan sure
paki, not really a warzone
john K. Mister Sterling
If memory serves me well, I can recall a pilot who commented they re bombed certain parts of Afghanistan on our initial invasion shortly after 9/11, effectively making access for the TAPI pipeline easier for the Big Oil to construct their pipeline.
IBTimes has a good article on this, it’s pretty funny, well sort of:
Saudi Arabia is also a country where Trump has considerable business interests. During his election campaign he registered eight companies that were tied to hotel interests in the kingdom, according to report in the Washington Post.
Trump acknowledged his interests in Saudi Arabia during an August rally. “They buy apartments from me,” he said in Alabama. “They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/trump-muslim-ban-how-did-president-select-countries-halt-immigration-2481331
Just a cheap political circus event to appease his most xenophobic supporters while avoiding upsetting the investment bankers overseeing all the Saudi & Qatari cash funds.
very smart.
it’s what i would do.
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Irish People Judging East Side Dave McDonald’s Tattoo
Published by Interrobang Staff at July 23, 2016
East Side Dave McDonald has his own show on Compound Media Network now (fka Anthony Cumia Network) but back when he was a producer on the Ron and Fez Show he got a tattoo of the Sopranos on his back. It was a bad tattoo, earning him a spot on the TV show America’s Worst Tattoos. Turns out this is the bad tatt that keeps on giving because now Davey Mac got selected to be ‘watched’ on the YouTube web series, “Irish People Watch….”. In this episode Irish people watch and react to Dave’s episode of America’s Worst Tattoos. It starts with “Dave is off his face” and goes downhill from there.
He wouldn’t explode in the Sun. He’s a God Damn Genius. Show some respect. Okay. He might explode in the Sun.
Read More Stories From the IB Wire
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Best Movie Italia: Skarsgard is Elegant in Sweltering Heat During a Legend of Tarzan Set Visit
March 22, 2016 March 22, 2016 Michael Sellers Legend of Tarzan (Movie)
Best Movie Italia has a nice article on Legend of Tarzan that includes at least one very nice new image — see above. Also some interesting notes about a set visit in September.
And it is in Victorian England that the story is set during our visit in September at Leavesden Studios in London: it is an afternoon in September of 2014, the extras are already in place and resist despite the sweltering heat. Some are standing, others sitting on carriages of military green and omnibuses drawn by pairs of horses. The details are impeccable, so much so that on each side of the cars you read the names of the stops: Piccadilly, Holborn, Bank, Maryland Road and so on. When the director will give the clapper will cross a long driveway, perfect reconstruction of Downing Street (at number 10 which is the seat of the Prime Minister), to give the impression of a busy street. At the end of the trail, where sometimes a crew member goes to water with a hose, there are two large green sheets held up by two cranes, needed to re-create the rest of the city with special effects. It is a scene that is half an hour into the film, when Lord Greystoke went to talk to the Prime Minister to confirm his return to Congo.
An elegant Skarsgard arrives, white shirt and red vest and black in a long gray coat, blacks and shiny shoes pants, he repeats his lines while someone adjusts her makeup and combing her long blond hair with the help of a bit ‘of lacquer. A few meters away from him is Samuel L. Jackson, who plays George Washington Williams. He will convince the star to return to Africa.
Read the rest at Best Movie. in Italian or here in a Google Translated version.
Feedback: Notes on a Successful Legend of Tarzan Test Screening
Margot Robbie Overtakes Jennifer Lawrence as Hollywood’s “It Girl”?
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Tag Archives: cabaret
Aug 19, 2018 · 10:06 am
Lynn Ruth Miller, 84-year-old, on her striptease act at the Edinburgh Fringe
“Audiences screamed, cheered”
In the past few months, globe-trotting American comic Lynn Ruth Miller, based in London, has blogged here about her recent gigs in Prague, Dublin, Berlin and Paris.
Now, as this year’s Edinburgh Fringe enters its final week, she tells us about her most recent gig in Scotland’s capital…
Lynn Ruth in the Best of Burlesque show (Photograph by Carole Railton)
I spent three exhilarating evenings in Edinburgh as part of Chaz Royal’s Best of Burlesque production. My audiences screamed, cheered, whistled and yelled… but I could not hear them.
I had left my hearing aid at home.
Women often say that doing burlesque empowers you and I have always questioned that until those three stellar nights when I rocked the house in the beautiful Palais du Variété tent at George Square Gardens.
As I removed one layer after another singing my song about women and courage, I listened to the kind of adulation I never got when I removed my nightie for either of my husbands.
No-one ever cheers for me when I manage to climb the stairs and emerge from the tube station.
I don’t get people stamping their feet when I pay for my groceries and use my own bag to carry them home.
But, when I take off a pair of overalls at a burlesque show, the crowd goes mad.
That, my friends, is POWER.
By the time I had completed my run for Best of Burlesque I was certain I could march into Parliament and clean up that Brexit mess or hurry over to the White House to put Donald Trump in a corner until he came to whatever senses he has left.
I had the balls to do ANYTHING.
I went to North Berwick to do an hour’s cabaret at The Fringe by the Sea Festival the Sunday after my Edinburgh triumph and was so super-charged and confident that I managed to sing ten songs almost in tune and only forget half the words. I was a success.
The bravado, the hubris, the sense of self-importance I got from prancing around in silk and tulle during that North Berwick hour to 28 sympathetic senior citizens carried me through as if I were a shooting star illuminating the universe instead of talking about all my failed attempts at love.
I was empowered. The audience clustered around me afterwards and one lovely woman said: ”It was so refreshing to hear someone your age talk about sex.”
I told her: “Darling I was talking about THE ABSENCE of sex… Didn’t you get it?”
But, of course, she didn’t and I haven’t either… not for years.
All those failures to impress, to make a mark, to show my mettle… all those empty moments when I hoped my charm would be noticed… are now in the past.
I have become a burlesque sensation. I have stripped and emerged triumphant.
Eat your heart out Mae West.
I know a hard man is good to find, but I don’t need one.
I have balls…
Oh, and…
The trick to stripping is to come on with so many clothes that no matter how many things you take off, you still are fully covered when the music stops.
I proved that you don’t have to be naked to make people think you are taking your clothes off.
(Photograph by Paul Adsett)
Filed under Age, Burlesque, Cabaret, Comedy, Humor, Humour, Sex
Tagged as burlesque, cabaret, Chaz Royal, comedy, edinburgh fringe, humor, humour, Lynn Ruth Miller, Mae West, stripping
Mar 4, 2018 · 2:26 pm
Mike Raffone on street performance, Dada and his cabaret club for misfits
Mike Raffone bills himself as an “Eccentric Entertainer”.
I saw his Brain Rinse show at the Edinburgh Fringe last year – it was billed as ‘Puppetry of The Audience’ – and I went to his monthly Cabaret Rinse club at the Elephant & Castle in London last month. It is wonderfully unpredictable. The next one is this coming Friday.
“Why,” I asked, “was your Fringe show called Brain Rinse and your London club is called Cabaret Rinse?”
“Because, hopefully it rinses your brain. Not a brainwash. Just a mild rinse.”
“How would you describe Cabaret Rinse?”
“A club for misfits. We did a similar thing about five years ago in Peckham for about six months – The Royal National Theatre of Fools. I just decided we needed a National Theatre for idiots, but it proved quite an expensive hobby.”
“Cabaret Rinse is all variety acts,” I said. “Not stand-up comedy…”
The ringmaster of anarchic entertainment – Mike Raffone
“Well,” Mike responded, “what is stand-up? Cabaret Rinse is comedy definitely. Funny definitely. Out there for sure. Interesting I hope. Entertaining I hope.
“When we did Theatre of Fools, we did have a secret non-stand-up policy. We don’t have that with Cabaret Rinse. Last month we had Candy Gigi. You could say she’s a stand-up, but… she’s one in a million, really. There’s bits of stand-up but bits of brilliant clowning. I see that in all the people I like.”
“Candy Gigi is wonderful,” I said, “but I’m a bit wary of the way people use the word ‘clowning’ nowadays.”
“I hate the way the word is used,” said Mike.
“It’s the connotation. The art aesthetic. I think great clowning tends to be anarchistic. I would say The Greatest Show on Legs is great clowning. Or Ken Campbell’s Roadshow.”
“I agree with you,” I said, “that The Greatest Show on Legs ARE clowns, but I’m not quite sure why.”
“I think it’s well rehearsed,” said Mike, “but it looks like it’s thrown together.”
Greatest Show on Legs’ balloon dance in 2012
“Well,” I said, “with the Balloon Dance, the exact choreography is complicated and vital because it builds and it’s all about narrowly missing seeing the bits.”
“Ragged but in a great way,” agreed Mike. “It was by far the most hysterical thing that whole Fringe when I saw them in 2012.”
“Well,” I said, “they feel a bit like street performers but are not, though Martin Soan did start The Greatest Show on Legs as an adult Punch & Judy act. You, though, are basically a street performer at heart.”
“I dunno about ‘at heart’,” Mike replied. “I’m a performer at heart. But I’ve certainly done a lot of street performing. With Cabaret Rinse and Brain Rinse the idea is to take the energy and instantaneous edginess of street performing – of What the fuck is going to happen? – but NOT just do a street show indoors.
“Street theatre is so specific to where it is. There’s load of people there shopping and I’m gonna grab their attention. It’s the big trick. It’s grabbing the attention. If it’s a joke, it cannot be a subtle one. Everything’s big. So I want to bring that kind of bigness and edginess and freshness into a – not an arty but a – theatrical setting.”
“You trained as an actor,” I said.
“…a misfit theatre course…”
“I remember, when I was a kid, around 16, ushering for my local theatre and seeing the Cardiff Lab and thinking This is weird. I don’t know what the fuck’s going on. This guy is scary but I love it. Wow! This is incredible!
“Then I did a theatre degree at Leicester Polytechnic which was a bit of a misfit theatre course. It was run by this guy – a little bit of a maverick – who wanted to make his own theatre school – a bit like Jacques Lecoq – and he didn’t want it to be conventional. But he also realised the only way he could get funding at that time – in the mid-1980s – was to hide behind the auspices of an academic institution.
“His philosophy was that he was going to run the course but try and have as little as possible to do with the bureaucratic workings of the polytechnic. I got to see things like Footsbarn. It was a very practical, creative course and I think I got a taste there for theatre that was out of the ordinary.”
“So you got a taste for the bizarre.”
“Yes. I got into street theatre 30 years ago. I remember going down to Covent Garden and seeing street shows – it was all quite new then – and thinking: I don’t have the balls to do that. But, within a month, I was doing it. Covent Garden was quite interesting at that time in the late 1980s. It was sort of mixing with New Variety.”
Mike Raffone, street entertainer, performing at the Covent Garden Piazza in London
“So you thought you could not do it but then started doing it?”
“There was a guy who dragged me into it because he wanted to do it. He was like a dancer and acrobat. So we put this terrible show together, did it for about three shows and then he fucked off. But, by then, I had my street performer’s licence.
“We did go to Paris and see this man called Bananaman, who was this mad bloke who collected junk and then played music with it outside the Pompidou Centre. It was all in French. And then he hit this real banana and smashed it and everyone just thought he was mad. Apparently he was seen in Paris as the world’s worst street performer, but I thought: Wow! That’s alternative!”
Mike has learned to conduct himself well in performance
“What did he hit the banana with?”
“A stick. To me it was an act of Dada.
“I thought it was brilliant. So we went back to Covent Garden and decided we were going to create a police car out of rubbish. We got all this rubbish and two half-arsed costumes together and the idea was it would look terrible. Other street performers came up to us and said: Right, here’s a bit of advice – Get yourself some proper costumes because, frankly, it just looks like rubbish at the moment. And we said: No! That’s the POINT!”
“The word anarchy,” I said, “might put some people off. But, if you say Dada, it sounds arty and acceptable and respectable. What does Dada mean?”
“Meaningless… I suppose I like it when you take it to the max, If you are truly going to be Dada, I suppose you have to be anti-everything. Anti-script. Anti-comedy. Anti-anti-comedy.”
His autobiography – Hitting The Cobbles
“Being a street performer, though,” I suggested, “is quite disciplined. You have to be half performer and half barrowboy/street market trader. You have to grab the punters’ attention at the start and tout for money at the end, with a performance bunged in the middle. So, in theory, you could transfer the actual performance indoors if you remove the ‘selling’ element.”
“I would agree with that.”
“Except that the selling,” I said, “is an integral part of the street performance.”
“Well,” replied Mike, “they say you ‘sell’ a joke and I’m very aware of how I am going to set up any part of the performance. I am quite analytical about selling the material. I don’t know if it’s my inbuilt insecurity as a performer, but I so see myself as a writer. I think: This has got to work on paper or it won’t work in performance. That’s probably not the case, but it’s how I see it. I write everything down, even if it is just: We will be improvising at this point. It’s some weird fear.”
“So you are not a Dadaist really,” I said, “because you want everything written-down and organised in advance.”
“No, I don’t think I’m a Dadaist.”
“An absurdist?” I asked.
“I don’t know. To me, if it’s funny, it’s funny. I remember years ago I was called a post-modernist street performer. I didn’t quite know what it meant.”
“That’s it, then,” I said. We’re done. Where are you going now?”
“I’m going to a museum. It’s putting on a Dada cabaret… All I want is a bicycle hooked up to a whoopee cushion and, when people ride fast enough, it makes the whoopee cushion fart. That’s all I want.”
But what about his name – Mike Raffone?
Is it his stage name or his real name?
Say it out loud.
Filed under Comedy, Theatre
Tagged as anarchic, Bananaman, Brain Rinse, cabaret, Cabaret Rinse, Candy Gigi, clowning, comedy, Covent Garden, Dada, edinburgh fringe, Greatest Show on Legs, Ken Campbell, Mike Raffone, new variety, street theatre, The Royal National Theatre of Fools
Nov 29, 2017 · 11:33 pm
Award-winning Becky Fury WON’T tell me things but WILL give you a discount
The self-effacing Becky Fury (right) with Claire Lenahan has multiple advisors on self promotion
Someone said to me the other week: “Becky Fury seems to know everybody.”
I had to agree.
Becky with her Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award in 2016
The last time I went to see the increasingly prestigious Malcolm Hardee Comedy Award winner’s Democratik Republik of Kabaret evening, her audience included The Establishment Club’s Mike O’Brien, acclaimed international graffiti artist Stik and British Alternative Comedy godfather/legend Tony Allen
“And now you are putting on The Alternative Christmas Party in Shoreditch,” I said to her yesterday.
“I’m doing two shows, John,” she told me. “One is The Alternative Christmas Party on 20th December. It’s a nice room, a really big room, a nice space for cabaret. At the Bridge Bar.”
“In Shoreditch,” I said, “So that will attract trendy IT people?”
“Hopefully,” said Becky, “spending money for their Christmas parties.”
“How much for the tickets?” I asked.
“£20 via Eventbrite and on the door… But I will do a discount on the door for readers of your blog – It will only cost them £15 with the code words Becky Fury is Brilliant.”
“They will be flying in from Guatemala in droves for it,” I enthused.
“And I’m also doing shows at the Cockpit Theatre,” Becky added.
“Near the Edgware Road in London,” I clarified, ever-thoughtful of my Guatemalan readers or reader. “So at the Cockpit you are doing what?”
“I don’t really want to go into what I’m doing.”
“I’m trying to create some interesting theatre. Anyway, I don’t really want to go into what I’m doing, otherwise people will just rip it off like they have in the past. I am just doing my thing.”
“That’s it, then,” I said. “Chat finished.”
“That’s it,” said Becky. “People will nick the idea.”
“Tell me the bits you can tell me,” I suggested. “When is the Cockpit Theatre thing?”
“February – the 12th.”
“What do you want to say about it? Heaven forfend that you would say anything to promote it.”
“I’ve been commissioned by the theatre to do a hybrid theatre cabaret gig.”
“What is a hybrid gig?” I asked. “Partly electric, partly petrol-driven?”
“I’ve been given a budget to create some cabaret around a theme.”
“And the theme is…?”
“They’re doing a Samuel Becket season at the Cockpit, so I have written Waiting for Guido. Which is the character in my play.”
“Guido Fawkes?” I asked.
“Yes. Precisely. It’s about waiting for a revolution that never happens.”
“Are you going to wear masks with beards?” I asked.
“No. There’s a couple of really good performers. Some of them are going to take on the theme more than others.”
“I suppose,” I said, “at this point in the blog, I should add in …she says intriguingly…”
“The thing I don’t want to talk too much about…” said Becky
“If you like,” said Becky. “What I’m trying to do… Well, the thing I don’t want to talk too much about… is I’ve got three characters and they’re all gonna do monologues. I’ve got Geoff Steel, who is in The Alternative Christmas Party, and Jonathan Richardson, the guy who runs House of Idiot. There’s going to be people doing some circus stuff. And Trevor Lock is headlining.”
“As himself?” I asked.
“Well, he is playing the Sun,” Becky replied. “That’s what he’s been told to do.”
“How?” I asked.
“However he wants to interpret that.”
“This Cockpit Theatre thing and The Alternative Christmas Party,” I asked, “are they under the banner of The Democratik Republik of Kabaret?”
“No. I have been told it should be Becky Fury or Fury Productions.”
“Or just Becky Fury Presents,” I suggested. “You have to have a brand.”
“That is what I have been told by my friend who has managed to make his brand out of drawing stickmen.”
“Has The Democratik Republik of Kabaret disappeared?” I asked.
“It is on hold.”
“Until?” I asked.
“Until I find a better venue. But The Alternative Christmas Party is essentially an extension of what’s going on in The Democratik Republik of Kabaret.”
“What IS going on in The Democratik Republik of Kabaret?” I asked.
“It is a sort of Maoist state,” Becky replied. “No. It’s not a Maoist state,” she corrected herself. “It’s a bit like North Korea. So we will never really know. Journalists obviously are not allowed to investigate it.”
“My head hurts,” I said. “This Alternative Christmas Party in Shoreditch on 20th December… erm…”
“Who is in the show?” Becky suggested.
“Comedians want to talk about themselves but”
“I never asked,” I told her. “By the sound of it, you are keeping schtum. It’s that odd thing about comedians – They want to talk about themselves but are perversely shy.”
“Well,” said Becky, “Lewis Schaffer is playing Santa Claus.”
“Will he win?” I asked.
“It depends which game they’re playing,” Becky replied.
“So Lewis Schaffer,” I said, “Jewish comedian, plays Santa Claus, Christian saint and symbol of pagan midwinter…”
“It is an Alternative Christmas Party,” Becky reminded me. “A Jewish Santa. With Lewis Schaffer as a sleazy Santa Claus… In the publicity, I wanted there to be a little imp with a strap-on and, in the show, I wanted to sexually assault boys, but I couldn’t find any boys who would let me sexually assault them.”
“That is hardly credible,” I said. “Anyone else in this sophisticated soirée?”
“There’s a Virgin Mary striptease…”
“By whom?” I asked.
“I believe Claire Lenahan, who is also doing some amazing comedy magic. And there is Geoff Steel, who is also doing my Cockpit show. He is a very interesting up-and-coming act.”
“When you say up-and-coming,” I asked, “into what is he rising and coming?”
“Are you trying to be sleazy?” Becky asked.
“I try,” I said. “Anything else happening after the show that evening?”
“A disco.”
“And who else is performing?”
“Oh – I am…. I am going to compere.”
“That is not mentioned on the flyer,” I said.
“According to my friend who has made his celebrity from drawing stickmen, I need to promote myself better. Am I allowed to say that?”
“I dunno. Are you?”
Becky’s 2016 Edinburgh Fringe publicity flyer aided by Stik
“Stik did your Edinburgh Fringe poster last year.”
“Two years ago. The year I won the increasingly prestigious Malcolm Hardee Comedy Award. He did do that poster, so I think maybe we are going to have a collaboration next year.”
“At the Edinburgh Fringe next year?”
“And the show will be…?”
“Apocoloptimist.”
“Which you are trying out in…?”
“Leicester in February and Brighton in May.”
“You tried out one bit in Edinburgh this year,” I said. “The bit about being in Calais.”
“Yes. Going to the Calais Jungle and, when you try to do the right thing, it goes horribly wrong…”
“Except for the lucky boy on the beach,” I said.
“You know too much,” Becky told me.
“You will have to do the full autobiographical show at some point,” I told her. “That’s what makes an impact at the Edinburgh Fringe. Laughter and tears. You were telling me some hair-raising tales from your past a few weeks ago and I was thinking: That’s a cracker of an Edinburgh show!”
Becky Fury raised an eyebrow like Roger Moore.
It is an admirable skill, though difficult to divine its exact meaning.
Filed under Cabaret, Comedy, PR
Tagged as Becky Fury, cabaret, Claire Lenahan, Cockpit Theatre, comedy, Democratik Republik of Kabaret, edinburgh fringe, Geoff Steel, lewis schaffer, Malcolm Hardee Award, publicity, Shoreditch, Stik, Tony Allen, Trevor Lock, Waiting For Guido
Last night I saw a woman sing with her hand up several dead animals’ heads
Queue stretched along a tunnel while dead animals warmed up
Last night was surreal.
Well, there is surreal and then there is pure gimmickry.
I am not sure which I saw last night.
Pull The Other One comedy club runner Vivienne Soan and I went to see a variety of dead animals sing and perform in The Vaults, which are in an extraordinary officially-graffiti-encouraged tunnel under Waterloo station in London.
The event was artist Charlie Tuesday Gates’ allegedly ‘private’ view and stage performance of exhibits at her Museum of Death.
Charlie Tuesday Gates’ dead bird house + nose
A very, very large audience was hanging around and queuing outside the venue for about half an hour after the billed start time because, according to the security guy on the door “They’re warming up inside.”
This is not something you necessarily want to hear about performing dead animals.
According to the tease by Saatchi Art, who know a thing or two about ‘bigging-up’ Art: “Despite never describing herself as a taxidermist, Charlie Tuesday Gates was instrumental in bringing this previously dark art into the mainstream with her pioneering performance series, D.I.Y Taxidermy LIVE!”
Charlie Tuesday Gates is a vegan.
The come-on for the show went:
Vivienne watched a 21st century fox ‘animal-ation’ art film
“Gates’ first solo show since retirement transports you into a fantasy underworld where beauty and death collide with nostalgia and borderline insanity… Controversial ‘animalation’ video pieces will also be screened and a special live performance of Gates’ Musical: ‘SING FOR YOUR LIFE!’ in which real animals are manipulated by hand to perform, sing and dance in a bizarre talent contest: a cross between X-Factor and Pet Rescue…. Where the recently deceased compete for the chance to live again.
“Her fashion brand ‘Mind Like Magpie’ provides the perfect complement to her sculptural work: wearable art that will be showcased alongside the exhibition… Pieces have been commissioned for Elton John, Beyoncé and even appeared on the holy head of Cara Delevingne.”
So there were the exhibits last night…
…and then there was the performance.
Charlie Tuesday Gates – hand up dead beast
Basically Charlie Tuesday Gates sang while her hand was inside the heads of dead, skinned animals, moving them as if they were doing the singing… and a man manipulated the fore-legs of the dead foxes, badgers, dogs etc. He used sticks attached to the limbs. It was a bit like some Muppet musical staged during the Weimar Republic with disembowelled dead animals.
Someone in the audience told us: “You know, she normally gives live skinning demonstrations during her shows?”
We didn’t.
Is it Art or just a gimmick? People thought Art.
According to the publicity: “Working with audience participation, she skins and stuffs an animal using only the most basic ingredients: salt, sanitary towels and Shake n’ Vac.”
There has been talk of Charlie Tuesday Gates appearing at one of Vivienne & Martin Soan’s Pull The Other One shows at Nunhead, in London.
I said to Vivienne after the show, as we left through the graffiti-festooned tunnels under Waterloo station: “You should maybe put her on at Pull The Other One in Leipzig. It might remind them of Berlin in 1936. When is your next Leipzig show?”
“June the 7th,” said Vivienne.
“Have you any locals on the bill?” I asked.
“We have Felix & Jander, a couple of local artists in Leipzig. Jander is a mathematician and an artist. He is going to give a lecture to the audience on mathematics.”
“Is he a fine artist or a performance artist?” I asked.
“A performance, fine and mathematical artist,” replied Vivienne.
This did not make things any clearer.
But, perhaps, I would not have it any other way.
That is good.
Filed under Art
Tagged as art, cabaret, Charlie Tuesday Gates, Jander Fonseca, Leipzig, london, Martin Soan, Museum of Death, performance, Pull The Other One, Saatchi, Shake n’ Vac, taxidermy, Vivienne Soan, Weimar
Apr 17, 2014 · 4:32 pm
Cabaret performer Lili La Scala gets emotional over Nick Cave & a dead cat
Lili La Scala + Rafferty Basil Danger Wills
I talked to cabaret performer Lili La Scala at a famous members club in London this week. It seemed suitably suave and sophisticated. (She is a member. They not unreasonably rejected me several years ago.)
Lili is married to performer Sam Wills aka The Boy With Tape On His Face. They had a son last year They named him Rafferty Basil Danger Wills.
“Why those names?” I asked.
“Rafferty because we just liked it,” explained Lili. “And Basil was my grandfather’s name.”
“And Danger?” I asked.
“Because I just love the idea he can truthfully say: Danger is my middle name.”
“And you named yourself after the Italian word for staircase?” I asked.
“I trained as an opera singer,” explained Lili, “so I named myself after La Scala opera house in Milan – or the picture house in Glasgow, whichever you prefer.”
“Why are you not an opera singer now?” I asked.
“Because I fell into the dark, dirty world of burlesque and cabaret. Well, actually, I fell into street performing first.”
“As what?” I asked.
“As an opera singer on the street. They called me The Songbird of Trafalgar Square.
“Who did?”
Songbird of Trafalgar Square attracted a following on Flickr
“One day on Flickr, I stumbled on a group dedicated to me… it was a compliment but also slightly freaky. There were about 200 pictures of me – I looked a bit unusual, with dark hair and a Fifties dress singing opera. They didn’t know what my name was, so they just put Songbird of Trafalgar Square.”
“Didn’t your voice get lost in the vast open space of Trafalgar Square?” I asked.
“The low notes did,” said Lili, “but the high notes carried because they were a higher frequency than the traffic: it was when Trafalgar Square was still a roundabout. I sang with my back to the National Gallery. I was a Swing dancer for a long time, too. My mother trained as a ballet dancer but now she’s a physio who works with performers.”
“Did you dance in Trafalgar Square?”
“No,” replied Lili. “You get sent home for dancing in Trafalgar Square.”
“And singing?” I asked.
“Yes. That too. They sent two policemen and a police car. But they just told me to go away. It would have looked ridiculous for them to arrest a girl who was much smaller than them and wearing a 1950s-looking dress.”
“Why do you dress in 1950s costumes?” I asked.
“When I was about 21,” explained Lili, “I decided if I wanted to dress like a 1950s film star I should because you only have one life and it’s important to dress like you want to.”
“I decided if I wanted to dress like a 1950s film star I should.”
“But then,” I said, “you went into burlesque. Why?”
“A friend of mine said one day: Have you ever thought of putting together opera and burlesque? Don’t you think it would go really well? And I thought Ooh! So I tried it and it was really good. I have a huge soft spot for the burlesque world anyway.”
“You are saying Burlesque not Cabaret,” I pointed out. “Isn’t cabaret more respectable?”
“I think burlesque is pretty respectable at the moment,” said Lili.
“I would have said you were cabaret,” I told her. “You’re Monte Carlo 1963. What’s the difference between burlesque and cabaret anyway?”
“Burlesque has more tits,” said Lili. “There was more stripping originally. American burlesque evolved into what is now big sparkly showgirl stuff whereas the English Music Hall style was much more of a send-up, making it funny, taking the piss out of stuff. Don’t get me wrong. I adore the showgirl stuff, but I just couldn’t do it. I’m too kookie and too clumsy.”
“The last couple of years at the Edinburgh Fringe,” I said, “a lot of the funniest stuff has not been in the Comedy section but the Cabaret section. I loved your show last year Another Fucking Variety Show. You’re a very good compere.”
There are, inevitably, clips on YouTube.
“It’s really funny,” said Lili. “Everyone thinks I’m this cool, in-command person.”
“Well,” I said, “Lili La Scala couldn’t do a really emotional show, could she?”
Lili La Scala created emotional War Notes
“Rubbish!” said Lili. “When I decided I wanted to stop doing street performing, the first solo show I created was about my first love: vintage songs, because I grew up watching movie musicals. So I created a show called War Notes – songs from World War One and Two, but I wanted to make them more relevant. So I found letters from servicemen in current conflicts. This was 2010, so the wars were Afghanistan and Iraq. The letters were the ones that said: If you are reading this, I’ve been killed.
“I found them on Google and wrote to a member of the family of the service personnel. It was fairly gut-wrenching researching them but I found a lot of the sentiment in the letters was really similar to the sentiment in the songs, even though they were sometimes separated by almost a full century in time.
“I had friends and knew boyfriends of friends who were serving in Afghanistan. I performed the whole month of Edinburgh and it was a really emotional show – to listen to those letters every night.”
“What did you do immediately after the show?” I asked.
“I went out and got very drunk.”
“And the next show after that?” I asked.
“After that, I created Songs To Make You Smile which was just an hour of comedy songs from 1920-1950, real British variety. That has toured ever since – Sweden, New Zealand, Australia and all over the place.”
The new show – not in Edinburgh until 2015
“My new solo show Siren is on 21st June at the London Wonderground – the closest thing London has to a cabaret festival. I just did it in Adelaide and it was very well-received there. I attempt to sing stuff I’ve never sung before, which is wonderfully challenging for me.”
“But you’ve sung 1930s standards and opera and music hall songs,” I said. “there’s nothing much left.”
“Well, there’s some Tom Waits,” said Lili. “All the songs in the show are about the sea and journeys and travelling and some are really emotional for me.
“There’s one – Nick Cave’s Ship Song…
“I got very emotional when I sang it, because it reminded me a lot about a love affair I had when I was very young which went horrifically wrong and it had left me utterly broken-hearted. He said I could be his girl in London but he wanted to have an open relationship and I’m not really an open relationship kind of girl. I attempted it because I really, really loved him, but I ended up giving him an ultimatum saying: Look, we have heaps of fun together, but I can’t do this. We can either be together – just us – or not… And he chose Not.
“I thought I’d dealt with it back then but it turned out I’d just buried it under the patio. To find out it was still festering was an emotional shock for me.
“Then he turned up in town and we bumped into each other because – of course – we have the same circle of friends. We hadn’t spoken for eight years, so it was awkward. He said he was having an open relationship with his girlfriend. He said: If I could have been with just one someone, it would have been you… or maybe the girl I dated the year after you… He said he couldn’t even own a refrigerator. Too much commitment.”
“It’s alright for a spoken word performer to well-up emotionally,” I said, “but, if you’re singing and genuinely well-up, your voice won’t recover from that for – what? – 10 seconds?”
“Really,” explained Lili, “what you’re aiming for is several glistening tears rolling down your cheek. I was genuinely very tearful when I sang it. Then he came to the show and it gave me that moment to say all the stuff I wanted to say to him without him having any way of going But… but… but… By the end of it, I was Oh. I’m done now. It’s over. That’s fine. we’re done.”
“So what happened the next time you sang the song?” I asked.
“I then had to find some other way of creating that emotion in me that affects the audience because, obviously, I like the way it emotionally affects the audience.”
This beloved bemused creature has a dog’s life
“So how did you find that?”
“I thought about my dead cat.”
“How many cats do you have?”
“Five cats and two dogs. The dogs are utterly cowed, though the dachshund is like a little dictator, perhaps because he’s German.”
Filed under Cabaret, Comedy, Music
Tagged as Boy With Tape On His Face, burlesque, cabaret, comedy, edinburgh fringe, Lili La Scala, music, Nick Cave, singing, Siren, Trafalgar Square, War Notes, Wonderground
Feb 25, 2014 · 10:31 am
Odd UK comic acts: teddy bear torture and the man who ate his own brain
Comic academic Liam Lonergan
Starting last week, I have posted three extracts from a chat I had with Liam Lonergan for his BA (Hons) course in Creative and Media Writing at the University of Portsmouth.
This is final extract:
John: In the 1980s you went to alternative comedy shows and got a stand-up bloke talking about Margaret Thatcher. You got a juggler. You got a man who came on and read awful poetry. And you got a man who came and set fire to his hair or something. Lots of variety.
Whereas now if you go to a comedy club it’s stand-up followed by stand-up followed by stand-up followed by a bigger stand-up.
Liam: Variety is sort of dead, isn’t it?
John: Yeah. So you’ve got, like, five people all basically doing the same thing and there actually isn’t any variety on the bill, whereas the original alternative comedy actually had variety. The last two years at the Edinburgh Fringe I thought the funniest acts were mostly listed in the Cabaret section.
The last two years – possibly three years – there’s been a Cabaret section separate from the Comedy section and I’ve seen quite a lot of the shows and a lot of the funnier shows have actually been the cabaret section shows and not the comedy section. In the Comedy section they’re either doing straight stand-up or they’re doing quite good storytelling or they’re doing “I’m a student being wild and wacky”. God help us! If you ever see the word ‘wacky’ or ‘zany’ in a listing, avoid it like the plague.
Liam: That’s it. Toxic.
John: Whereas, in the Cabaret section, just weird things are going on. And very, very funny.
Liam: I didn’t know whether, within the dissertation articles I’m doing, to incorporate comedy revue and local theatre as well because there’s lots of that going on…
John: Small comedy clubs are closing and people are getting less interested in new comedy. You can see the big comedians with guaranteed quality in a big venue like the O2.
So why should you go to a small comedy club with acts you’ve never heard of? Acts who may be good but you’ve never heard of them so it’s a matter of luck. And, if you go to a comedy club, you’re going to get five or six people doing the same thing: stand-up. Whereas in the 1980s and early 1990s you got variety so you’d no idea what you were going to see. I mean, you would get Chris Lynam coming on and sticking a firework between his buttocks and they’d play No Business Like Showbusiness. Now THAT is entertainment.
There used to be an act who just came on and tortured teddy bears. There was a wheel of pain and the teddy bear got strapped to the wheel of pain and got tortured. Someone told me the guy is now a social worker in Tower Hamlets.
That’s what we want. That’s entertainment. Have you seen Hannibal? The sequel to The Silence of the Lambs?
Liam: The sequel to the film? Yes. Yes I have.
John: He eats someone else’s brain while the guy is still alive.
Liam: Oh, yeah.
John: There used to be a variety act in the 1980s or 1990s – someone told me he was a psychiatrist, I don’t know if he was – and he used to go round the comedy clubs with an act and the act was that he wore a fez and he had a spoon and he used to eat his own brain. He put the spoon inside the top of the fez and brought out grey stuff which he ate. And, as he ate different parts of his brain, different parts of his ability to communicate and to function disappeared. So he’d eat one part of his brain and he’d keep talking to the audience all the way through, then he starts twitching. So then he eats another bit and his speech starts to slur or the words get mixed up. It was simultaneously funny and very unsettling and scary because it like a flash forward to your own senility. You don’t get many of those type of acts anymore.
Liam: It’s a shame that’s dead because that’s the kind of stuff I’d… the audience reaction to that would be so mixed. It would be so…
John: You couldn’t altogether say it was funny but it was unsettling all the way through. It certainly wasn’t straight stand-up.
Liam: But that’s what I love. That’s what I…
John: Last year I sat through an entire evening of BBC3 comedy. There were four shows in a row. Not a titter. And I was sitting there thinking These people are sitting there trying to write a series of funny gag lines and that’s not really…
Liam: I think weird stuff can tap into humanity and the visceral reactions a lot more than the clever stuff.
Filed under Comedy, UK
Tagged as bizarre, brain eating, cabaret, Chris Lynam, comedy, edinburgh fringe, Hannibal, odd, Silence of The Lambs, surreal, Teddy Bear, uk, variety
Feb 9, 2014 · 7:08 pm
In Leipzig, a bizarre British comedy club succeeds and a Dresden voice impresses
Vivienne Soan even flyered the PTOO show to local statues
Pull The Other One’s brand of bizarre British comedy cabaret club seems to have transferred successfully to Germany on its first attempt. Last night, the doors opened at 8.30pm for their 9.00pm first show in Leipzig and, with pre-bookings and people turning up on the night, the house was totally full by 8.45pm and a large number of people had to be turned away.
On the bill were (in order of appearance) Vivienne and Martin Soan, Dickie Richards (one third of the Greatest Show On Legs), eye-opening Berlin cabaret act Bartuschka (who did her act partly in English), stand-up Nick Revell (who did his act partly in German) and Candy Gigi who successfully did her act on some other planet much to the open-mouthed appreciative shock of the local audience.
Dickie Richards last night pondering openings
There was much talk before the show about whether the locals would 100% understand English, but this seemed to be no problem. And Dickie Richards (who is part Polish) resolved his artistic crisis of “Shall I start with How Poland started the Second World War or shall I do the fart material?” by choosing the latter. It was a successful choice, though I suspect Option 1 might have worked too.
That was last night.
This afternoon, local Leipzig film maker Kali took Martin Soan and me to see Dresden-based singer Anna Maria Scholz aka Annamateur interviewed and perform on live radio show MDR Figaro-Cafe
I cannot speak nor read a word of German, so a 90 minute show mostly comprising chat was an interesting experience, mostly involving me listening carefully to the cadences of the words in the abstract. But, then, I used to enjoy listening to the abstract splendour of BBC Radio 4’s late-night Offshore Shipping Forecast and, in years long gone by, a BBC announcer reading the day’s Stock Market prices.
Anna Maria Scholz aka Annamateur, as shown by Figaro-Cafe
I am glad I went, though, because it meant I heard and saw Anna Maria Scholz perform.
I may not understand German words, but I know an astonishingly talented and varied voice when I hear one. Every song different and a showcase in itself.
Martin & Vivienne Soan’s Pull The Other One is set to return to Leipzig in April and, after that, with luck, the German version of their club will be monthly.
There is a 2012 video of Anna Maria Scholz on YouTube.
Filed under Comedy, Germany, Music
Tagged as Anna Maria Scholz, Annamateur, Bartuschka, cabaret, Candy Gigi, Kali, Leipzig, Martin Soan, MDR Figaro-Cafe, Pull The Other One
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Liar July 16, 2019
Hillary Clinton’s Health Issues: Lies of omission, concussions, emails, and no water bottle.
Hillary's secrecy and the unknowns that surround her have me concerned about more than her pneumonia. I don't think there's a grand conspiracy at play with her health. But there is something there. It's a lack of trust and dialogue between us,… [Read more…]
by Norwood · September 13, 2016 · Politics
Hillary's secrecy and the unknowns that surround her have me concerned about more than her pneumonia. I don't think there's a grand conspiracy at play with her health. But there is something there. It's a lack of trust and dialogue between us, the people, and Hillary Clinton (and her team). She and her team might not outright lie. But they 'lawyer' their rhetoric in a way that … [Read more…]
Army deserter gets tens of thousands in benefits after faking war wounds
An Army deserter from North Carolina is facing federal charges for allegedly receiving tens of thousands of dollars in veteran benefits by faking war wounds and military honors. Roy Lee Ross, Jr., 64, of Morganton, N.C., is accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs by using the name of another Army veteran, according to the Charlotte Observer. The … [Read more…]
by NEWSREP · August 22, 2016 · Military
Stolen Valor, a $200.00 fine to live a lie in Illinois
Experts on stolen valor say a measure signed last week by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is a small step toward holding individuals more accountable for pretending to be veterans. The bill signed by Rauner makes it a petty offense in Illinois for someone to get tangible benefits from lying about serving in the military, a measure similar to an already existing federal … [Read more…]
by NEWSREP · July 25, 2016 · North America
‘She lied to me, then called me a liar on TV’: Mother of slain Benghazi victim on Hillary Clinton
“Please, tell the world what she’s really like,” implored Patricia Smith when recounting Hillary Clinton’s aggressive on-air denial of the facts of their private conversation about the death of her son, Sean Smith, in the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Libya. The interview comes on the heels of a new report compiled by House Republicans that accuses the Obama … [Read more…]
by NEWSREP · July 1, 2016 · North America
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De Beers Sees Sparkle in Synthetic Diamond Jewelry
May 31, 2018 July 18, 2018 Admin
Anglo American unit De Beers is launching a company to sell laboratory-produced diamonds for jewelry in a departure from its century-old business model of promoting natural stones.
Real diamonds created over thousands of years remain the priority, but De Beers is responding to customer demand for more affordable jewelry using stones made in days or weeks and sold for hundreds rather than thousands of dollars.
“They’re not to celebrate life’s greatest moments, but they’re for fun and fashion,” De Beers Chief Executive Officer Bruce Cleaver said of synthetic stones in a telephone interview.
“We have always said we are a natural diamonds business. We remain a natural diamonds business,” he said, adding that manmade diamonds used in fashion would not undermine the business for real diamonds as they served different markets.
As the world’s biggest seller of natural diamonds by value, De Beers is a leader in technology and security processes to guarantee the authenticity of natural stones.
To ensure there is no confusion between manmade gems that have little resale value and the real thing, the manufactured diamonds used in jewelry will include a tiny mark showing they are made by Element Six, a unit of De Beers that until now has focused on making stones for industrial uses.
The technology to insert the mark has been developed by Opsydia, an offshoot of Oxford University, and the diamonds will be sold by a new company called Lightbox Jewelry beginning in September in the United States, the world’s leading diamond jewelry market where demand hit an all-time high last year.
De Beers’ parent, Anglo American, was hit by the commodity price crash of 2015-16, but has recovered strongly and is leading the sector this year with a 13 percent rise in its share price.
The diamond business accounted for 16 percent of the Anglo American group’s full-year earnings.
Element Six does not publish separate earnings figures, but industry sources say it has returned to profit as recovering oil prices have increased demand for industrial stones for drill bits used in oil exploration.
If the move by De Beers into fashion jewelry gains traction, Element Six’s existing capacity will need to expand.
De Beers plans to invest $94 million over four years to build an Element Six factory near Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, which should produce more than half a million rough carats a year when fully operational in about 2020.
That remains modest in comparison to De Beers’ investment in maintaining production of natural diamonds of $3 billion over five-to-seven years.
Newsmanufacturing, minerals, synthetics
President Trump Puts an End to Taxpayer Subsidies for Unions
President Trump Says He Wishes He’d Picked Another Attorney General
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The Travel Vertical
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July 1, 2019 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment
San Francisco—At the Skift Tech Forum last week, Oliver Heckmann, a Google vice president for engineering, predicted, “It will take years before you have your own personal translator but it’s coming and it will change travel completely.” On language barriers he said, “Machine learning is probably changing our entire industry more than any other industry in the world, for one reason…The advances in machine learning directly feed into improvements in machine translation.” Six big travel takeaways from the Skift Tech Forum are found here.
Montréal—Pilot project: Your face is your passport. Canada-Netherlands travel is the test ground for cutting-edge technology to enable passport-free international travel. The technology combines block chain, advanced cryptology, and biometrics aimed to expedite the movement of passengers through airports. The system could take flight as early as early 2020. Check it out here.
…And if you think these technologies are cutting-edge, consider this. “The Pentagon has a laser that can identify people from a distance—by their heartbeat,” reports MIT Technology Review. The prototype can pick up on a unique cardiac signature, one that is far more personalized and accurate than facial recognition, from 650 feet away (nearly two football fields in length) and through clothing as well. Read more about Jetson here.
@Justaconstructionguy a.k.a. Omar from Austin, became Instagram-famous for being a relatable middle-aged guy poking fun at the Instagram influencer culture. @justaconstructionguy photographed his coffee, took videos of his ride on a scooter and in a few weeks, amassed 500,000+ followers using only 20 posts.
People found him authentic, an antidote to influencer posts. (You probably see where this is going.) Yes, it was a marketing stunt created by a media agency and a local coffee shop frequented by construction workers.
BuzzFeed News uncovered the truth about Omar, chosen as the face of the anti-influencer marketing effort. What to make of this? Someone tweeted: “This is so very 2019 and I hate it.”
Related: Instagram Influencer Reveals How She Faked Being at Coachella Music Festival
Related: True Story – How a Fake Restaurant Became #1 on TripAdvisor
Fake-outs are becoming more common on social media platforms, with or without AI.
Even KFC’s Colonel Sanders is faking it. As described by The New York Times, “He has a dusting of stubble on his jaw, tattooed abs, a silver coif worthy of a teen idol and bulging biceps beneath a perpetually unbuttoned white jacket.” Not real. Colonel Sanders (who actually lived from 1890 to 1980) now has a living, younger, refreshed social media avatar.
Unlike the KFC’s founder, this Colonel Sanders’ #SecretRecipeforSuccess (“a unique blend of knowledge, positivity, and mindfulness”) is a media kit for blending purposes. KFC has already partnered with Dr. Pepper, TurboTax and Old Spice.
Related video: This Instagram star isn’t real, but brands don’t seem to care.
Instagram is opening up sponsored posts in the Explore page (viewed by 50% of the platform’s daily users) in an algorithmically generated stream of content. Advertisers can select Explore as an extension of their Instagram campaigns reaching users who don’t currently follow a brand. The ads only appear in the Explore gallery when a viewer clicks deeper after choosing a video and then scrolling through the newly generated feed of videos. More from AdAge here.
Also, on June 4, Instagram announced branded content ads, a form of advertising that allows influencers to work with brands to promote posts beyond their own followers. Read more from Digital Trends here.
What is TikTok and why should we care? Ann Dubenko, a tech editor at The New York Times says, “I’m also obsessed with TikTok…It’s the last joyful place on the internet, and I’m just trying to savor it before it becomes a toxic wasteland.”
Users can create short videos up to 15 seconds and short looping videos of up to a minute long (for users with over 1K followers), usually accompanied by lip-synching music. Wildly popular, TikTok has been downloaded more than a billion times in the Apple and Google stores, including 100 million in the U.S., 60% of whom are 16-24 years old.
Dragon Trail Interactive chimes in: How can TikTok by used by travel brands?
The video-sharing app was launched in 2016 in China (where it is called Douyin) and is gaining in the U.S. since it merged with another video-focused app, Musical.ly, in August 2018. The app is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet tech company, the world’s most highly valued startup, at $75 billion.
In the U.S., there are an estimated 15 million fewer users on Facebook today than in 2017. The decline among the youngest users is 22%. “Unfriending Facebook: New Research on Why People Like Facebook Less” reveals the demographics and data about those leaving the world’s leading social platform. Read more here.
“Google Will Support Dynamic Email Starting July 2 and Why That’s a Game Changer for Your Business,” reports Inc. magazine. For examples of dynamic use that goes way beyond “Dear Joe” personalization, think about uses by OpenTable in a “How was your meal?” followup email or “Top Job Picks for You” emails sent by LinkedIn. To get the ideation begun, here are additional examples of brands that nail it on email, from HubSpot.
More from Google: They’re testing a carousel format for text-based search ads on mobile. It figures…left-to-right scrollable presents more real estate that the current four vertical limit on ad displays. Read more here.
Google just spent $2.6 billion to buy a startup you’ve never heard of, reports Inc. magazine. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced that Google Cloud acquired Looker, a data analytics and business intelligence service. This is Google’s fourth-largest acquisition to date, so a big deal. Read more here.
Filed Under: Advertising, AI, Algorithms, Email marketing, News and Views, Personalization, Predictions, Shiny New Objects, Social media, Voice Tagged With: avatars, biometrics, BuzzFeed, Colonel Sanders, Dragon Trail Interactive, dynamic email, Facebook, Google, Google Translate, heartbeat, Influencers, Instagram, Instagram Explore, Justaconstructionguy, KFC, Omar, passports, Pentagon, Skift Tech Forum, TikTok
It’s Not About the Numbers: Micro-Influencers Are Creating Credibility & Community
April 22, 2019 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment
Amber Atherton, Zyper founder
In the spring of 2017, Zyper was no more than a twinkle in its 26-year-old founder’s eye. With a 50+ client roster, early-stage funding, and three offices in London, New York, and Palo Alto, Zyper has something that diverse brands like Sony, Lyft, Kellogg’s, Godiva, and Estee Lauder want—community.
The peer-to-peer software startup is helping brands turn to micro-influencers, identifying the top 1% of their online following to encourage them to become ambassadors. The average Zyper 20-something evangelist has only 400 followers but the right influence, engagement, aesthetics, geotags, and hashtags.
Founder Amber Atherton notes, “Millennials and Gen Z want to be marketed with, not to. We all use ad blockers.”
Some brands are turning away from Instagram influencers to work with people who have small followings instead. Read more from Business Insider here.
Related: Influencers Are Earning How Much Per Post? $300K?
Filed Under: Influencers, Marketing, Mobile first, Social media Tagged With: Amber Atherton, brand ambassadors, Business Insider, evangelists, Gen Z, Influencers, Instagram influencers, micro-influencers, Millennials, Zyper
Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money
October 24, 2017 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment
Is anyone surprised?
Brands want to know exactly who they’re reaching. But on Snapchat, there’s no easy way to tell how many views anyone is getting.
Related: “Influencers Are Earning How Much Per Post? $300K?” (The Travel Vertical, 9/5/2016)
“The disappearing-message service kept it tough for users to measure their audience. Facebook’s service swooped in.” – Bloomberg reports. Read about it here.
Filed Under: Digital advertising, ROI, Social media Tagged With: Influencers, Instagram advertising, Instagram influencers, measurement, Snapchat
Fohr Card Introduces a Service to Identify Bots Following Instagram Influencers
September 19, 2017 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment
Fohr Card analyzed 20 million Instagram accounts
Study indicated 7.8 percent were bots
Influencer marketing campaigns are projected to hit $1 billion in 2017
This equates to $80 million wasted, so…
” To make sure digital marketers know whether influencers’ followers are real humans and not bots, Fohr Card resolved to provide marketers and influencers much needed transparency by developing an Influencer Follower Health score.”
Read more about Bots, Lurkers, Actives in an article published by Martech, found here.
Filed Under: Content marketing, Digital advertising Tagged With: bots, Fohr Card, Influencers, Instagram, Instagram influencers
FTC Cracks Down on Social Media Influencers, Issues Must-Read Guide
Truth in Advertising for the 21st Century
Everyone noticed. Fashion bloggers, Rolling Stone, the National Law Review, ESPN, tech media, PR Daily…This is the first case the FTC has brought against social media influencers individually.
This week, the Federal Trade Commission settled a case with two YouTube users for non-disclosure of a paid relationship with endorsers on their betting channel. (As they also owned the company that ran the game; it was a slam dunk for the FTC.)
It was just a matter of time before the FTC started to crack down on endorsers who fail to disclose that they’re getting paid to promote products and services on social media, says the law journal.
In April, the FTC issued letters to 90 influencers; 21 individuals received follow-up warning letters, the agency reports. The letters ask for disclosure and assurance that all social media posts endorsing brands or businesses with a material relationship are clearly and conspicuously disclosed.
Nobody’s off the hook.
In Plain English
The FTC has issued a 15-part guide with FAQs and answers from advertisers, ad agencies, bloggers, and others. It’s not written in government-ese, so it’s less painful to deal with.
Wondering how to approach influencer partnerships? Your must-read FTC issued guidelines are found here.
Filed Under: Content marketing, Marketing, News and Views, Social media Tagged With: endorsements, FTC, Influencers, Legal
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Message Boards » The Lounge Chit Chat Old School Sports Talk Entertainment Tech Talk The Garage The Soap Box Classifieds Study Hall Feedback Forum » Bernie 2016 Page 1 ... 26 27 28 29 [30] 31, Prev Next
The memo which you believes parts of but not others which specifically say it applies only the general election and not the primary nomination process? Not to mention that it's unclear if the agreements asserted in that memo were even adhered to,
https://www.thedailybeast.com/theres-a-serious-hole-in-donna-braziles-new-book
"In fact, he hadn’t really been on the campaign’s radar at all. Clinton’s team had sent the DNC several other options for the post, top among them Jess McIntosh, who had been serving at the time as the communications director of Emily's List. But according to half a dozen sources, their requests were ultimately set aside by then Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was won over by Miranda’s pitch to emphasize her as the election year ramped up."
"In a deliberate understatement, Miranda himself told The Daily Beast last week that he and the Clinton campaign did “not always agree on matters.”
Months after the Miranda hiring, the DNC would bring on Mark Paustenbach as its national press secretary. Once again, operational control was not afforded to the campaign. As three Clinton campaign staffers told The Daily Beast, they found out about the hiring when the news broke in Politico’s Playbook.
“We were given no heads up about that at all,” said one campaign veteran, “which goes to show you how much power we had over the DNC.”"
This entire controversy has been resurrected by someone with serious credibility problems who until a week ago was a pariah to anyone who supported Bernie Sanders. She hooked you folks by spinning a literal sob story about finding "the smoking gun" and calling up Bernie with "tears in her eyes" in order to market her upcoming book. And you all fell for it, hook, line and sinker. Marks, the lot of you.
[Edited on November 9, 2017 at 12:35 PM. Reason : .]
And was approved by HFA per their agreement, not even the source who won't go on the record (lol, you got spinzoned) doesn't deny that
UJustWait84
You both are doing a bang up job of showing where there's such a schism within the Democratic party- as if it wasn't already obvious enough. By all means continue, as it's clearly a productive use of time and energy.
rjrumfel
This type of chaotic back and forth is going to let Trump be president for another four years after 2020.
thegoodlife3
it may seem that way on the internet, but that wasn’t the case on Tuesday
Tuesday wasn't picking a president.
it was a referendum on the current president
It's a small sample size, but it did show that the Democratic party isn't in total disrepair in swing states like many have suggested. I take it as a positive sign, but there's still a ton more to do. Energizing apathetic young voters is key, and so is running likable candidates with progressive messages.
NyM410
J-E-T-S
The young vote for Northam was overwhelming. And he is as boring generic Dem as they come..
Well, they were energized because Gillespie was offering up Trumpism rhetoric and fear mongering. In fact, Gillespie's message actually drew out plenty of people who liked what he was selling them. It's just that young people are pretty pissed right now because they're now starting to see direct consequences in their lives (or the lives of their minority friends), and those consequences stem from sitting on their asses on election day, or voting in protest of HRC, thinking it would somehow send a message.
Hey I for one hope the Dems can pull someone great from the ashes to run in 2020. Just like I have a failed hope that the Republicans won't pick the incumbent. But how often does that happen?
bdmazur
John Tyler, 1844, Whig
Millard Fillmore, 1852, Whig
Andrew Johnson, 1868, Democrat
Chester Arthur, 1884, Republican
**Lyndon Johnson, 1968, Democrat
**Harry Truman, 1952, Democrat
None of the replacements won the next election. Also worth noting that all of the above incumbents became president because of the death of their predecessor, so none of them were ever elected as president in the first place. (**withdrew during the early primary run, so they technically didn't "lose" it)
The following presidents faced a challenger but still won the primary:
George H.W. Bush (1992, lost general)
Jimmy Carter (1980, lost general)
Gerald Ford (1976, lost general)
Richard Nixon (1972, won general but resigned before finishing 2nd term)
[Edited on November 9, 2017 at 4:50 PM. Reason : -]
adultswim
Nick Brana, national outreach coordinator for Bernie's 2016 campaign, started an organization last year to bring together leftist movements and hopefully create a viable third party.
https://www.forapeoplesparty.org/
They just released their platform and will be discussing it tonight in their weekly organizing call. 9:30pm EST. You can listen and comment here:
https://www.forapeoplesparty.org/weekly-national-calls/
tulsigabbard
I haven't heard anything since the conference but this whole thing smells like shit. Why are they going through the destructive process of making a brand new party from scratch when a progressive party already exists with ballot access? Why would you center a movement around a single person making the entire thing vulnerable to that person's life (Bernie is old) or hijacking (joining the democrats). Partys should not be built from the top down.
What do you disagree about within the green party platform? I just read the entire platform and nowhere there or on their website do they even mention the green party, even when they talk about the history of 3rd party's. They even suggest a "green new deal" in their platform which is stolen directly from the green party. Unbelievable how shady this is unless they address what makes them stand out.
Please tell me where this platform differs? All they have done is taken green party positions and pretended like they are something brand new that America has been waiting for. It sounds like a real trap and we have a right to be super cautious.
""The prospect of facing an empowered Green Party in 2020 is the strongest mechanism of accountability that Bernie supporters can create." -- Nick Braña"
Let me tell you a story. I was with a group of progressives that met weekly in Brooklyn in 2015 and they all decided to divert their money to Bernie because he was progressive. Most of the group registered democrat and donated a lot of time and money to Bernie's campaign. All of that money ended up going to Hillary and the DNC fixed the primary before NY even got a chance to vote. These people all lost their money and their chance to promote progressive values in the 2016 election. The ones I still keep in touch with are all green and the ones I don't really talk to anymore said they are done with poltiics. One was only 24 and has already moved to Denmark.
Why should we trust former democrat officials to take control over the "progressive" movement when they off nothing new?
Leftists who share 99% of the same goals are splintered throughout multiple third parties. Greens, DSA, WFA, etc. The goal of MPP is to bring them together into a strong, united left.
"What do you disagree about within the green party platform? "
I agree with most of the green platform. Unfortunately, their name is tainted. People have already branded them as crazies and I don't see how they turn that around, even in the long term. And again, this is about bringing the left together, including the Greens. They're meeting with local chapters as we speak.
"Why should we trust former democrat officials to take control over the "progressive" movement when they off nothing new?"
Because we don't have a chance otherwise. I spoke with one of the national coordinators on the phone for 30 minutes and I can tell you personally that these aren't Democrats. I told her I wouldn't campaign for Bernie if he ran as a Democrat. Her response was "Good." Join in on the call if you have doubts.
BTW this doesn't necessarily mean creating a new party. We could combine under an existing party.
[Edited on February 22, 2018 at 7:25 PM. Reason : .]
It all sounds good and I'll believe it when I see tangible actions. Until then, I'm skeptical this is just a sheepdog movement to suck up all of the progressive donations the left suppressed then with not giving the election to trump as an excuse, they will back out and endorse the democratic candidate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO4BurdExKw
My problem with his answer is that relying on drawing in conservatives to support a progressive platform is bound to fail. You are under the impression that conservatives will support anything Bernie is behind but if you simply swap out the party name they will suddenly be turned off by the same platform.
"Leftists who share 99% of the same goals are splintered throughout multiple third parties. Greens, DSA, WFA, etc. "
This is the DNC party line. Diminish the green party by conflating it with much smaller, leftist movements. The DSA is not a party and as a non-profit organization, they influence politicians who run as democrats or greens.
"Unlike the Green Party or the Libertarian Party or even the new “Moderate Whig Party,” the DSA is not registered with the Federal Election Commission as a political party."
What is the WFA?
You're comparing these groups with a well-established political party with ballot access in 19 states. Its not constructive to get rid of all of the infrastructure just to rebuild it if the name is the only thing different. I don't believe that is the real answer to the question. I think they are avoiding the green party because it is actually progressive.
"Unfortunately, their name is tainted. People have already branded them as crazies and I don't see how they turn that around, even in the long term."
The same thing will happen to any new party that challenges the establishment parties. If the platform is progressive, the moderates will certainly label it as crazy. Conservative pundits picked up on Trump's "crazy Bernie" pretty quickly and Hillary supporters always told me that Bernie was only appealing because he hadn't been exposed to the right, and that we couldn't nominate him because the right would expose his progressive policies as "socialist" and he would get destroyed in a general.
"And again, this is about bringing the left together"
*Claims to be but lets see what they do because creating a brand new group doesn't sound to me like the first step in unification. If I wanted to unite libertarians, I would join the libertarian party, not start a new one
"BTW this doesn't necessarily mean creating a new party. We could combine under an existing party."
So if its not the green party there is only one other option...
[Edited on February 22, 2018 at 9:13 PM. Reason : sounds more like they want to divide and conq]
[Edited on February 22, 2018 at 9:14 PM. Reason : trust]
Keep in mind you are a former Democrat.
"What is the WFA?"
Meant to say WFP. Working Familes Party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Families_Party
"This allows sympathetic voters to support a minor party without feeling like they are "wasting" their vote. Usually, the WFP endorses the Democratic Party candidate, but it has occasionally endorsed moderate Republican Party candidates as a strategy for spurring bi-partisan action on its policy priorities."
"Rand Paul: the only real person in the senate"
-tulsigabbard
Can I not acknowledge his authenticity without endorsing him? Must everyone whom I do not agree with or support politically be considered dishonest or insincere?
You railed against Democrats for not getting behind workers, and now you're laughing at a 50,000 person workers' party because they endorsed a couple of republicans. You're a joke dawg.
I wasn't laughing at them, I'm laughing at the notion that we can just be thrown into a bag with a group who sometimes supports republicans just because we are all part of "the left". Thats what the democratic party already is.
Power to them they can do what they want but don't put us into a bag with them.
adultswim getting earl'd
Can we talk about how bad a person and candidate Jill Stein is as a reason why a Green Party vote was so disgusting last year?
She’s basically a walking joke even in other, more serious parts of the global Green Party.
the US green party is not a serious party and they have no interest in being one
[Edited on February 23, 2018 at 8:58 AM. Reason : US]
"Can we talk about how bad a person and candidate Jill Stein is as a reason why a Green Party vote was so disgusting last year?"
Go on. Talk about it because you've made a wild claim with no supporting details.
"She’s basically a walking joke even in other, more serious parts of the global Green Party."
Its funny how the same people who dismiss 3rd party candidates as "a complete joke" over a few gaffes, go on to vote for candidates who are corrupt, have bad policies, and make gaffes of their own.
There are two completely different standards. These people require 3rd party candidates be nearly perfect to get their votes but when it comes to democrat and republican candidates, their only standard is that one is not as bad as the other. I say 3rd party because Johnson was also completely written off as unqualified over one harmless statement in the same way Stein was. The corrupt, bought out candidates who said and did things that were actually harmful got all the votes.
This is why Trump is your president and also why part of me is glad because people who vote for lesser of two evils deserve evil.
"the US green party is not a serious party and they have no interest in being one"
Another wild, unsubstantiated claim that can't be comprehended by people who have elected green party politicians representing them.
I found a thread about this on a green party board. They were all talking like me. I told them that I was a member of this board and told them that a group of you were self-identified progressives who think the green party is a joke and that you can't explain why. I also told them you genuinely thought Jill Stein was a bad candidate but again, you could not explain why. I asked them what they thought about draft bernie. They gave lots of feedback and it turned into a huge echo chamber of anti-bernie anti-democrat posts. They were all direct responses to me but got kind of off-topic. I will post some of them so you can see its real becuase some people on here will say anything thats different is trolling.
"Except the Green Party is not using Russia as a scapegoat like Bernie and the corporate controlled Democrats are doing now. Jill Stein defended herself very well and thoroughly against Alex Witt's false accusation on MSNBC of her colluding with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZzBPBYJndc
"So basically you’re saying let’s copy the Green Party and stick the sheep dog up front umm I don’t think so"
"Bernie Sanders is a war criminal with the blood of over 1 million innocent Middle Eastern men, women, and kids on his hands. Pretending to run under a Green platform will never wash that off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCF7Wx_Bp0M"
"Q. What do you think about the Bernie people creating their own party with basically the same platform as the green party?
A. It's silly, but that's their choice. It could benefit the Green Party if the Berniecrats withdraw their votes and dollars from the Democratic Party, but it is possible that the Democratic Party could use them like they use the Working Family Party to corral votes for Democratic Party candidates in fusion states from progressives who somehow think they can use the WFP to leverage Democrats into more progressive positions, or to further dilute the third party left votes."
"I can't see Sanders supporting the Greens. He's entrenched in the two-party system"
"Of course? If you are a Constitution fan , maybe Bernie Party works better. I didn’t realize how antiAmerican Greens were on guns."
"Their platform is over complicated. It seems very capitalist. As if bad corporations can be convinced to behave themselves."
"I think my face is stuck with a sneer of derision, even though I've scrolled down. I like to think that a political party has platforms, and that they put forth the best they have in candidates, rather than centering a party around a candidate, like worshipping an idol. What happens to the party when Bernie is gone? Do they come to the Greens, or do they go back to being Democrats?"
"Won't ever happened. Sanders made extremely clear that he WON'T work with any party but the Democratic party. Besides he's a fake Progressive, a DNC sheepdog."
"If Jill runs again in 2020, she will, again, be the best person for the job bar none. If the gp nominates sanders (on the miracle he decides to be a Green) I will no longer support the gp as it will have lost its way."
"I imagine it would depend upon where and to what extent one would want the Green Party to pivot and collaborate. I would have no problem with the GP working together with other left third parties (e.g., SPUSA, ISO, SAlt, etc.) and try to coordinate logistics of which parties are running for which offices so that we aren't dividing votes at a local level by running candidates agaiinst each other for the same offices."
"Being said, I would be reluctant to work with any of Brana's Draft Bernie stuff or his People's Party effort since he is basically taking a wheel into an auto factory and saying to us, "look at this great thing that I invented that you can put on your cars.""
"The reason the green party hasn't built momentum is not hard to fathom my respected progressive friend - too many people are bamboozled into voting for Democrats because the Democrats shake Trump at them like an evil voodoo doll or somebody like Bernie Sanders pretends to be progressive, steals our platform and sucks our natural voting base to the Democrats. Supporting the Democrats stops the green party in its tracks. I recommend we follow a different path, one that actually promotes the green party and not the Democratic party or any of its vote sucking tentacles"
"Best of luck to them but it will take at least 20 years for them to obtain the ballot access of the GP. Why start from scratch?"
"I'd rather collaborate with the Nazis at least they were honest about who the hell they really were"
Not one person flamed it. The stark contrast I notice about progressives is that they never shy away from provocation and are always eager to defend our positions and justify them with reasoning.
[Edited on February 26, 2018 at 8:32 PM. Reason : lmao HAD to include that last one]
[Edited on February 26, 2018 at 8:35 PM. Reason : good points]
I figured TWW would have been the most combative forum against you but god damn. That one has some gems.
it's not called draft bernie anymore
"I found a thread about this on a green party board. They were all talking like me. "
WOW, SHOCKER OF THE CENTURY
i want to respond to all of these dumb quotes individually but it's not worth the time
Well now theres 495 responses so I can't even read all of them.
The main difference between TWW and other boards is that people on TWW are largely incapable of explaining their positions and discussions break down when anyone strays away from commonly identified talking points.
there its like i planted a seed and came back to a jungle. here i plant a seed and come back to a sprout that has been stepped on
[Edited on March 2, 2018 at 6:54 PM. Reason : seed analogy]
Eyes up here ^^
[Edited on March 5, 2018 at 8:40 AM. Reason : ]
He’s right but not for the reason he thinks. It’s probably been since 2013-14 since I’ve logged in to TWW on a computer. I use my phone which just isn’t conducive to sending long, nuanced posts. That isn’t going to change anytime soon.
Part of the reason is because we've been through all the talking points and we know where most people stand. And you learn who wants meaningful discussion and who just wants to be right.
^^That reads to me like a bunch of people who already have their minds made up before a new discussion even comes up.
I always just want to learn how people think. There is no right and wrong in that. When people refuse to explain their positions it leaves me to have to fill in the blanks. It makes me think they are insecure about their reasoning or just don't have it because they memorized someone else's talking points.
I'm not at all concerned about whose assumptions are "right" because I already know its wrong to assume why people post a certain opinion. I'd rather just do the research and find out directly from the source.
Also btw I’m meeting Nick Brana on Friday, any questions you’d like answered?
Yeah his whole reasoning for not joining the green party was based around Bernie but that was a long time ago.
What is his reasoning and or backup plan if this isn't centered around bernie?
How does he plan to attract conservatives? What are his conservative-friendly alternatives to policies that make the green party too "far left"?
candidate filing ended recently for NC, how many greens are running?
"What is his reasoning and or backup plan if this isn't centered around bernie?"
1. Greens haven't been able to win elections, apart from small local positions.
2. The Green party has a lot of internal turmoil, and hasn't been receptive to progressives taking over their party. (Green Party national leadership, on the other hand, has shown willingness to work with MPP)
3. Words like "Socialist" and "Green" are already politically charged and can turn people away before you even make a pitch.
Brana also wrote this article before the election, just FYI
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/as-our-revolutions-former-electoral-manager-this_us_582103a6e4b0334571e0a08c
And it isn't centered around Bernie anymore. Brana left Our Revolution, along with 7 other staffers, when Jeff Weaver was appointed President. They didn't agree with making the organization a 501(c)(4). Weaver wanted to take large donations from billionaires like Tom Steyer and funnel them into TV ads, and Bernie approved all of this at the time. I doubt he's coming on board.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/05/13/what-is-a-501c4-anyway/?utm_term=.24188746822f
The goal is to build strong local chapters over the next year and elect local, possibly state, candidates. It's still early in the process, so I don't know a lot.
"How does he plan to attract conservatives? What are his conservative-friendly alternatives to policies that make the green party too "far left"?"
Didn't get to ask about this, but IMO it could be done by pitching "socialist" ideas as fiscally conservative. Single payer costs less overall. War is expensive and doesn't benefit workers. Building infrastructure makes it easier for people to work. Etc. Additionally, avoid attacking working people on the right, and focus criticism on the powerful.
"pitching "socialist" ideas as fiscally conservative"
Here is a good article on this topic
https://jacobinmag.com/2017/03/fiscal-conservative-social-services-austerity-save-money
"There is a well-known theory of economics related to us by Terry Pratchett in his book Men at Arms, through a character named Vimes. The theory is basically that being poor is more expensive than being rich.
"Take boots, for example. [Vimes] earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was … on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."
Fiscal conservatism is trying to get us to buy the cheap boots — and doing so causes us to spend more money than if we had just bought the good boots in the first place.
Many social programs that fiscal conservatives advocate cutting have been shown to actually save the government money in the long run."
"candidate filing ended recently for NC, how many greens are running?"
I don't follow backwards NC politics but I'd assume 0 since they don't even have democracy in that state.
"3. Words like "Socialist" and "Green" are already politically charged and can turn people away before you even make a pitch."
point 1 applies to any party not democrat or republican and will apply to any new party for a while. point 2 applies to any party ever. Point 3 is true but you also contradict it by saying you will sell socialist and green ideas to people by simply calling them conservative. If they are truly turned away by the words socialist and green then they will be savvy enough to be turned away when you try to trick them into thinking the ideas aren't socialist or green just because the ideas are also fiscally conservative.
"Didn't get to ask about this, but IMO it could be done by pitching "socialist" ideas as fiscally conservative. Single payer costs less overall. War is expensive and doesn't benefit workers. Building infrastructure makes it easier for people to work. Etc. Additionally, avoid attacking working people on the right, and focus criticism on the powerful."
THATS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF SOCIALISM IN THE FIRST PLACE. You think you are the first generation to realize its cheaper to run a government that serves the needs of the people instead of padding the pockets of a few? Of course its not attacking "working people" and of course it is attacking "the right".
I'll tell you that people who are truly fiscally conservative already agree that socialism is a great idea in theory but the problem is that you have to entrust a government to effectively carry it out which they believe is impossible. They feel that way because liberals have been so corrupt and always come up with fake solutions like obamacare that get inaccurately labeled as failed examples of socialism. Democrats have been so consistently dishonest that they think its the only way a government can function.
This is why its so important to keep pure and not to let anyone co-opt the progressive movement further. The green party didn't do that damage, democrats did by making great speeches about how everyone deserves good healthcare while working on the best deal for the industry they were taking payments from.
Playing with words isn't going to get anything done. It sounds very democrat of you to think about how words poll and that you will just change the words to win people over. It may win single elections, but it won't lead to long-term political success.
"The theory is basically that being poor is more expensive than being rich."
This is so obvious that most conservatives would acknowledge it but say that the government has no place in trying to make it "fair". I know that is not a direct analogy but in terms of health insurance, they would say that the government shouldn't be buying cheap boots or any boots for that matter and that the cheapest thing would be for the government to be smaller by not buying boots at all. It would be a lot cheaper to let everyone buy their own boots and if they can't afford boots, well that is their fault and they have to go barefoot. Personal responsibility.
Stop trying to trick people with marketing gimmicks and commit to your actual values. There are enough people in the silent majority who are inherently aligned with progressive values. You don't need to try to convert conservatives, you just have to convince the silent majority that you are genuine and not just another politician playing with words.
A party movement whose goal is to please everyone and step on no ones toes is just DNC 2.0
[Edited on March 16, 2018 at 2:07 AM. Reason : first time i can remember being mad about something posted on tww]
[Edited on March 16, 2018 at 2:10 AM. Reason : willingness to compromise bleeds into willingness to become compromised. ]
it's not compromising anything to co-opt the phrase "fiscally conservative". it's the truth. and your take on this is confusing because you see things from the other side better than most leftists. nothing wrong with a solid messaging campaign that speaks to the entire working class.
also, again, the green party leadership is on board so...
[Edited on March 16, 2018 at 11:13 AM. Reason : .]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/16/corporate-media-oligarchy-bernie-sanders
very good piece by bernie today
beatsunc
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-bernie-sanders-job-guarantee-20180425-story.html
this plan is horrible idea on many levels
guaranteed education creates jobs while decreasing dependence and increasing efficiency all at the same time. i don't understand why we wouldn't guarantee job TRAINING first and see how well that works.
I saw a Bernie 2020 decal for the first time today. As much as he embodies just about everything I politically believe, I don't think he should run again. Instead he should line up a candidate he can throw all of his supporters to who would embody his ideologies...use his personality to build support for a campaign without having to be the face of it.
thats what he did last time
^I must have imagined all those primary campaigns and debates.
Message Boards » The Soap Box » Bernie 2016 Page 1 ... 26 27 28 29 [30] 31, Prev Next
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Engineering and chewing gum
Name: Maria Torres
Job title: Quality Engineer
Qualifications: Bachelor Chemical Engineer and Master Degree in Quality Management and Statistical Process Control
Employer/university/college: Wrigley/Carabobo-Venezuela/A.Codazzi-Venezuela
Where you live: UK – Plymouth
Tell us about your job. What do you do?
My current Job is very interesting: I run trials in the chewing gum factory to qualify new ingredients/materials or suppliers. Also, we trial new products before launching them to the market, all while keeping all recipes and formulations up to date and in a safe place.
What does an average day look like for you?
I’m learning and solving new challenges every day. These could be related to logistics, management, test design, ingredient calculation or providing technical information, searching for the best solutions helping scientists with their questions about chewing gum ingredients.
How does your work affect people’s lives/the world around us?
My work contributes to making great chewing gum that creates a little pleasure in everyone’s day.
How did you first become interested in engineering/what inspired you to be an engineer?
My dad was the cause, since he was a dedicated chemistry teacher all his life. However, my intention was to study engineering to get a good solid platform to become an astronaut, but this dream was scrapped after I realised chemistry was much more interesting than physics, and being an astronaut required too much physics.
What exciting or challenging projects have you worked on recently?
There are many exciting projects. At the moment we are improving the strawberry flavour in our chewing gum. I have also worked in the trials to launch Airwaves Extreme and at the moment we will have an interesting flavour in our Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape for 2016.
What inspires you about engineering?
Engineering gives you the freedom to innovate and gives you lots of satisfaction when you’re helping processes, products, materials and people. The range of areas you could end up working in is very broad. It could include specialising in laboratory work, manufacturing, research and development, pharmaceutical engineering, oil and gas production and many more!
Why would you recommend an engineering career to a young person?
It’s the greatest career ever with no limits. It’s very flexible and you can apply your skills anywhere across the world. Engineering is the same in the UK, in China, or in Venezuela. The knowledge that you get is universal and will be very powerful for future generations. Engineering is a big contributor to human development.
Has engineering taken you around the world?
Yes, I have been In New York, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Venezuela and the UK, and there are many more countries to visit.
There are a number of different routes you can take into a career in engineering. What route did you take (and why)?
I took the chemistry and food industry route because it was very flexible. Being a chemical engineer you have a lot of choice, including the food industry, oil and gas, nuclear, engineering in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, water treatment and much more.
There are fewer women working in engineering than men. What would you say to girls who might be interested in a career in engineering?
Engineering needs female brains and passion. Any challenge currently faced by the engineering industry would benefit from the viewpoints of women. Our brains seem to work differently to men’s and we can use these perspectives to fill gaps and innovate.
What do you like most about engineering?
The flexibility, universality, visibility and recognition that a career in engineering gives you, plus the chance to think innovatively.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I cycle and play tennis and squash. I also like to spend time in saunas and steam rooms, as well as sleeping a lot!
What personal qualities are important for being an engineer?
Being proactive, thinking “outside-thebox”, having good common sense and good self-confidence.
What advice would you give a young person who was considering engineering as a future career?
Just do it with perseverance! You won’t regret it.
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Home Health Headlines Competition to grow medical marijuana in Utah heats up
The wide metal barn on the Utah alfalfa farm owned by Russell and Diane Jones will host their youngest son’s wedding next month. By September, they hope the structure will be full of marijuana plants.
The Joneses are fourth-generation farmers, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and among 81 applicants for one of a handful of coveted spots as a licensed medical marijuana grower in conservative Utah.
Though leaders of their faith once opposed the bid to legalize medical marijuana, Russell Jones says he researched the drug’s pain-relieving benefits as he battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Now he and his wife want to be part of an emerging industry that some doubted would ever come to the state.
“This is groundbreaking for Utah,” Diane Jones said. “Who doesn’t want to make history?”
Others hoping to win licenses include larger operations that grow hemp, and a handful of out-of-state growers. State officials are expected to begin awarding up to 10 licenses later this month.
The state recently opened the licensing process to out-of-state growers, a change that makes locals like hemp processor Darren Johnson nervous.
“Does it bode well for me? No, but they want it to be seamless. They don’t want hiccups. And I get that,” he said.
Some applicants worry the process stacks the deck against local growers in favor of “Big Weed,” or companies that have successfully grown cannabis in other states where the crop is legal. The application requires a $2,500 fee, and submissions are hundreds of pages long. Those who get a license pay $100,000 every year to keep it, in addition to buying tools and facilities that can cost millions.
Department of Agriculture officials said they are awarding extra points to applicants with community ties as they review applications. Eight applications came from out-of-state growers. The state is looking for farmers able to expand operations as demand increases while keeping costs low and growing plants free of mold and pesticides.
At an indoor facility in North Salt Lake, Troy Young tends to rows of hemp plants under the harsh, purple glow of LED lights designed to nurture growth. Young grows industrial hemp, a nonpsychoactive cousin of marijuana legalized in Utah last year.
He is among a number of ambitious growers who have invested in equipment and set aside money hoping to receive a license to grow medical marijuana.
Cannabis in its various forms is challenging to grow and requires a lot of experimentation, he said.
“It’s fun for me. I get to be a mad scientist,” Young, 52, said. He has a personal stake in marijuana legalization. Young lost his mother to an opioid addiction. If she had access to a less destructive pain-relieving drug, like marijuana, he said, maybe she’d still be alive.
Marijuana has been shown to help ease chronic pain, and studies have suggested medical marijuana laws may reduce opioid prescribing.
“There’s a real need for it. It’s not just about the high,” Young said.
Johnson, the hemp processor, has a spacious warehouse in Salt Lake City with a team of technicians and equipment primed to grow medical marijuana. One room is filled with large beakers. Sticky hemp drips through paper filters and into the glass to extract CBD oil.
Hemp is his side business. Johnson works full-time in construction but views cultivating marijuana as a smart, long-term investment.
“Once (medical marijuana) becomes less taboo and people opt for that over an opiate-based drug, we’re going to see more demand and a stronger market,” he said.
Revenues from the state’s medical cannabis program are projected to reach $5.4 million in 2020 then grow to $16.2 million in 2021, said Richard Oborn, director of the state health department’s Center of Medical Cannabis.
Utah joined 33 states in legalizing medical marijuana after voters approved a new law last year.
Leaders of the state’s predominant faith originally opposed the push to ask voters to approve medical marijuana but eventually struck a compromise with some advocates to allow medicinal use of the drug with more regulation.
Whoever wins the state’s 10 grower licenses will have to grow the cannabis in Utah. The state also will choose licensed processors to make medical marijuana products to be sold in dispensaries expected to open next year.
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BOOK REVIEW • Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere and Ocean
Curtis D. Mobley
Book Information: Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere and Ocean, by G.E. Thomas and K. Stamnes, 517 pages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-40124-0
@article{article, author = {Curtis D. Mobley | Sequoia Scientific, Inc., Redmond, Washington, USA}, title = {Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere and Ocean }, journal = {Oceanography}, year = {2000}, month = {}, note = {}, volume = {13}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2000.46}, }
TY - JOUR AU - Curtis D. Mobley | Sequoia Scientific, Inc., Redmond, Washington, USA PY - 2000 TI - Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere and Ocean JO - Oceanography VL - 13 UR - https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2000.46 ER -
In their Preface the authors state “…the time has come to write a textbook that acknowledges the following basic fact: The radiation that enters, or is emitted by, the ocean encounters the same basic processes of scattering and absorption as those involved in atmospheric radiation. [italicized in the original] There are no inherently different optical properties between atmospheric and aqueous media. Because the two media share a common interface that readily passes radiative energy, there is even more need for a unified approach.” This statement and the book’s title both promise to connect the two fields of atmospheric and oceanic radiative transfer, which historically have developed as almost independent disciplines, each with its own particular problems, nomenclature, and numerical methods. I therefore base my review in part on how well this text achieves this stated goal.
Mobley, C.D. 2000. Review of Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere and Ocean, by G.E. Thomas and K. Stamnes. Oceanography 13(2):108–109, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2000.46.
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Herbal Benefits
Cordyceps Sinensis Mushroom: Top 5 Health Benefits [2019 Updates]
Cordyceps sinensis (caterpillar fungus) is traditionally used in medicine or as a tonic by the Chinese for centuries because of its many and varied health benefits. The fungus’s use was relatively unknown in the United States until it was lauded for the success of Chinese female athletes at the 1993 National Games in Beijing. Suspicion was attracted because three of the five winning runners were all on the same team but they tested negative for banned substances. Why? Because they were taking all-natural cordyceps.
This fungus has been used extensively for many years in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional Tibetan Medicine.
Chinese people in the past thought that Cordyceps sinensis (Dong chong xiz cao) were worms. After many years of study, it was discovered that it is actually a fruiting body by the Cordyceps sinensis fungus on dead caterpillars of the Hepilus fabricius Ghost moth.
Cordyceps sinensis spores grow inside the caterpillars as they infect it and take over the central nervous system of the host. The spores then fill the caterpillar with hyphae or filaments. As the caterpillar dies off, the endoparasitoid fungus produces a fruiting body that is stalked, in which the fruiting body produces spores, which are spread through the air to caterpillars. There have already been about 400 species of these endoparasitoid fungi discovered. How many more are there?
1 What does cordyceps sinensis mushroom look like?
2 Where do cordyceps sinensis mushrooms grow?
3 Active Compounds
4 Top Health Benefits of Cordyceps Sinensis Mushroom
4.1 Heart health.
4.2 Anti-aging properties.
4.3 Sexual dysfunction.
4.4 Anti-disease
What does cordyceps sinensis mushroom look like?
The Cordyceps sinensis mushroom’s fruiting body or ascocarp starts at the base on an insect larval host and ends at the club-like cap, which includes the stroma and the stipe. The fruiting body ranges from a dark brown to black color. The organism’s ‘root,’ the caterpillar’s body that is occupied by the Cordyceps sinensis’s mycelium, appears yellow to brown.
Where do cordyceps sinensis mushrooms grow?
Cordyceps sinensis mushroom appears annually and its usual harvesting period is from the months of April to August. Cordyceps sinensis only thrives at altitudes over 3.8T meters above sea level. It grows in the alpine, grassy, cold meadows in the high-altitude Himalayan Plateau of modern-day Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and some Chinese provinces, including Gansu, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hubei, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Guizhon.
The caterpillar manifests signs of fungal infection while underground during spring. During this time, the mycelium starts to decompose the caterpillar host until fruiting of the Cordyceps sinensis is stimulated.
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Active Compounds
Natural Cordyceps sinensis mushroom chemical constituents include glutamic acid, cordycepic acid, polyamines, amino acids, sugar derivatives and saccharides, cyclic dipeptides, nucleosides and nucleotides sterols, 28 unsaturated and saturated fatty acids, inorganic elements, fatty acid derivatives, vitamins and inorganic compounds.
Cordycepin (has very potent anti-disease, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities)
Polysaccharides (improve function of immune system and possess anti-hyperglycemia, liver protection, anti-tumor, hyperlipidemia, and antioxidant activities)
Nucleosides (antidisease, antiviral)
Amino acids (sedative)
Sterols (cytotoxic, anti-tumor activity)
Aurantiamides (analgesic, anti-inflammatory)
Peptides (cytotoxic against Hela, A375, and L-929 cells; neuroprotective; immune inhibitor)
Melanin (antioxidant)
Cordysinins (anti-inflammatory)
Lovastatin, ergothionene, and GABA (y-aminobutyric acid) (antioxidant, hypotension, hypolipidemia activity)
Top Health Benefits of Cordyceps Sinensis Mushroom
Some of the caterpillar fungus’s health benefits include its ability to increase oxygen uptake, improve respiratory health, detoxify the body, boost heart health, slow aging, prevent certain diseases, improve immunity, and increase energy – making it effective in the fight against adrenal fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Heart health.
Researches on the effects of the caterpillar fungus have discovered many exciting results, especially when it comes to cardiovascular health. A study indicated that patients who took Cordyceps extract powder supplements were found less likely to have heart failure. This effect is primarily due to the antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory properties of the Cordyceps sinensis, which may help complications like heart arrhythmias.
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Anti-aging properties.
When it comes to anti-aging, some of the more reliable research is on the caterpillar fungus, which has potent concentrations of age-defying compounds that can help eliminate dying or dead cells, rejuvenate the skin, and improve the appearance of age spots, wrinkles, and blemishes, shaving effectively years off your face and life.
Sexual dysfunction.
Cordyceps sinensis may have a positive impact on men’s sexual dysfunction.Evidence shows that Cordyceps sinensis and Cordyceps militaris can both improve reproductive activity and restore impaired reproductive function.
Numerous rounds of cordyceps sinensis research has indicated that men with poor libido or low levels of sexual energy saw apparent improvement after taking cordyceps sinensis herbal supplements. Increased testosterone levels through Cordyceps supplementation in mice has also been demonstrated.
Cordyceps Mushrooms - Strongest 1500mg Per Serving Certified Organic DNA Verified Powder Capsules - Great for Immunity, Adrenals, Free Radicals, Vascular Function and Blood Sugar
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1 MONTH SUPPLY: Each pot lasts 1 month when taking 3 capsules a day, why not buy in bulk!
ENDLESS BENEFITS FROM THIS POWERFUL ANTIOXIDANT: Made with fresh cordyceps, this natural detox supplement has shown to be a healthy natural immune supporter, adrenal health enhancer, free radical scavenger, help with healthy vascular function, offer immunopotentiation properties, while offering blood sugar support (hypo-glycemic activity).
Anti-disease
As published in The Open Nutraceuticals Journal, the researching doctors believe “that the anti-tumor activity of these cordyceps sinensis might be related to an immuno-stimulating function. The ethyl acetate extract of C. sinensis mycelium was found to have strong anti-tumor activity on four disease cell lines, MCF-7 breast disease, B16 mouse melanoma, HL-60 human premyelocytic leukemia and HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma.” although there has yet to be conclusive evidence from human trials the research so har has shown some very significant antidisease benefits of the fungi.
Studies have shown that cordyceps has antitumor activity in various diseases through several pathways. Both natural and cultured cordyceps have revealed powerful anti-tumor effects.
Aside from the above benefits, Cordyceps sinensis (caterpillar fungus) does have a small effect on lowering sugar levels in the blood. This may be detrimental to diabetics, who should be aware of such risks before integrating Cordyceps sinensis into their regimen. The caterpillar fungus is also a blood thinner, and one should not take it post-surgery.
The fungus that thrives in the mountain regions of the Tibet, China, and Nepal is really one of a kind because of how the fungus develops and how it can help treat diseases.
The caterpillar fungus is also used to treat chronic bronchitis, coughs, kidney disorders, respiratory disorders, male sexual problems, nighttime urination, irregular heartbeat, anemia, liver disorders, high cholesterol, weakness, dizziness, unwanted weight loss, opium addiction, and ringing in the ears, among other disorders. It’s highly anti-viral and effective against viruses like Bird Flu, Yellow Fever, West Nile Virus and Herpes. In fact, some claim it’s more powerful than Ribavirin.
Because of its benefits to humans, the production of Cordyceps sinensis is also safeguarded. All possible measures have been carried out to make sure that a healthy environment is sustained so that adequate harvesting can be done for the medicinal plants and fungi. This provides adequate income for rural residents and folk healers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps
Khan MA, Tania M, Zhang D, Chen H; Tania; Zhang; Chen (May 2010). “Cordyceps Mushroom: A Potent Antidisease Nutraceutical”. The Open Nutraceuticals Journal. 3: 179–183.
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1 thought on “Cordyceps Sinensis Mushroom: Top 5 Health Benefits [2019 Updates]”
Aug 14, 2018 at 4:22 pm | Reply
I’ve seen Cordyceps products that specify all nucleosides (uridine, adenosine, cordycepin) in quite high levels (> 1% of each IIRC). And HPLC lab tests to back these claims. Wouldn’t this be the preferable Cordyceps supplement ? And if you also want the immune support choose an extract with a good level of beta-glucan ?
My point being that if you take a generic extract like the Lost Empire Herbs one you recommend you usually have either no clue what is in it (if you’re lucky they specify glucans but usually polysacharides only (which include starch and other useless sugars) or they specify nothing at all. Logic is to go for a Cordyceps supplement optimised for Cordyceps-specific quality indicators IMO
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Axiomtek’s Comprehensive, All-in-One Intelligent Device Management Software for IIoT Projects- Agent MaaS Suite
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Axiomtek, a leading design and manufacturing company of innovative, high performance and reliable PC-based industrial computer products, is proud to announce its proprietary Agent MaaS Suite (AMS), a comprehensive, all-in-one intelligent device management software equipped with data visualization and cloud-connectivity functionalities. It was designed to offer a complete Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution when combined with compatible hardware. Axiomtek’s AMS allows users to efficiently manage various tasks, such as protocol communication; data collection and processing; device setting and monitoring; and event detection and notification. It is an easy-to-use development software tool that captures data and allows users to customize their data acquisition and flow, allowing them to reduce their development time and efforts for their IIoT projects.
The AMS contains two packages: system management – AXView 3.0, and remote management – MaaS (Management as a Service). In addition to providing basic device management and data management, the AXView 3.0 can provide hardware platform and operating system information, and monitor hardware statuses such as temperature, voltage, fan speed and I/O ports. For data management, the AXView 3.0 features several protocols and one development software tool for data processing and data flow. The MaaS is designed to manage multiple hardware devices with AXView 3.0 installed and integrate all machine information into the central data hub for an administrator’s full control. The intelligent AMS software is supported by most Axiomtek hardware platform models and can remotely monitor hardware conditions, I/O interface statuses and system usages. In the event that unusual coditions occur, it can also trigger alerts.
For example, Axiomtek’s AMS software can be used for device monitoring and data acquisition in factory automation. The AMS can help operators track, analyze and report Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measurements in real time from all the connected equipment. When the AMS software is integrated with smart technology in facilities, the environmental data collected from sensors such as temperature, relative humidity, sunlight, carbon dioxide and wind speed can be monitored to enable building staff to optimize building operation. It can collect key data for further analyses. The software can also automatically turn on/off the air conditioner, lighting, humidifier and dehumidifier or issue alerts when unusual conditions occur.
"In the past, industrial PC manufacturers only provide BSP, SDK or utility to access hardware platforms, and users are left to handle software integration by themselves. In response, Axiomtek has developed the user-friendly AMS, which supports three common protocols used in industrial applications: Modbus TCP/RTU, OPC UA and LoRaWAN. It includes an easy-to-use visual programming tool, Node-RED, for software development," said Mark Lu, a product manager of the IoT Solutions Division at Axiomtek. "With AMS, users can quickly and easily operate the device management with zero programming required, and all the information and status reports of hardware platform can be easily processed in Node-RED with drag-and-drop, select and configure."
For more information, please visit us.axiomtek.com or contact us at solutions@axiomtek.com.
Some Key Features:
Offers device setting, 24/7 online system monitoring, notifications and built-in dashboard
Features protocol plug-in with high compatibility: communication support for Modbus, MQTT, REST, WebSock, HTTP and TCP/UDP
Integrated with Node-RED to allow for easy data processing and design processing flows without advanced programming skills
Easy set up. API becomes Nodes and Templates for user access hardware monitoring and DIO without programming
About Axiomtek Co., Ltd
Axiomtek Co., Ltd. established in 1990, is one of the world's leading designers/manufacturers of embedded industrial computer products. From its origin as a turnkey systems integrator specializing in data acquisition and control systems, Axiomtek has trended with the IIoT evolution by offering smart industrial computer solutions and value-added services for a variety of mission-critical industries including transportation, medical, industrial automation, power utilities and renewable energy, digital signage, network appliances, gaming and retail/POS/Kiosks. The company has more than 60 distributor and technology partners globally. Axiomtek offers industrial computer platforms, single board computers and system on modules, fanless and rugged embedded systems, intelligent transportation systems, EtherCAT Master Controllers, IoT gateway devices, touch panel computers, medical grade PCs, digital signage OPS players, industrial network and network appliances and casino gaming platforms.
Axiomtek USA headquarters is located in City of Industry, Calif. Established in 1994, the subsidiary incorporates product integration and logistics as well as a wide range of service offerings including design assistance, technical support and return merchandise assistance. Axiomtek Systems in Methuen, MA, the company’s Eastern regional headquarters, has added a high level of expertise on COTS integration and a variety of value-added engineering services to Axiomtek USA’s comprehensive suite of capabilities. Axiomtek USA has become the premier service provider for systems integration assistance and project management.
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No, this waffle maker cannot compete with the All-Clad, but at about a quarter of the price, the Krups sure gives it a respectable run for its money. The build isn't as solid—there's some plastic, no 18/10 stainless here—but like the All-Clad, it is generously proportioned to yield four tall, deeply grooved Belgian-style waffles per batch and, with an adjustable dial for cook control and an audible chime that signals doneness, it doesn't skimp on extra features. It does best the All-Clad in one regard: its non-stick plates not only release cooked waffles easily, they pop out for easy cleaning and are dishwasher safe. That's a game changer right there.
There are a zillion waffle irons. I own a bunch of them, but my favorite is the Manning-Bowman "Twin-O-Matic" both because of its unusual design and the way that it implicitly fosters "togetherness." The "twin" was designed by Karl Ratliff explicitly for the 1939 NEW YORK WORLDS FAIR. The Twin is a direct descendant of Mr. Cole's design but with an added Art Deco zest. This unique design won world awards and is the ONLY waffle iron shown in Tony Fusco's noted "ART DECO" BOOK, Volumes 1 and 2. It consists of 2 pieces: a double TOP/BOTTOM Waffle Iron derived from the Coles patent (above) and a circular chrome plated "trunion mount" that has 2 heavy Bakelite Cradles to support the irons. It is somewhat unique because it has both a Thermometer and a Thermostat.
Brussels waffles[61] are prepared with an egg-white-leavened or yeast-leavened batter, traditionally an ale yeast;[62] occasionally both types of leavening are used together. They are lighter, crisper and have larger pockets compared to other European waffle varieties, and are easy to differentiate from Liège Waffles by their rectangular sides. In Belgium, most waffles are served warm by street vendors and dusted with confectioner's sugar, though in tourist areas they might be topped with whipped cream, soft fruit or chocolate spread. Variants of the Brussels waffles – with whipped and folded egg whites cooked in large rectangular forms – date from the 18th century.[63] However, the oldest recognized reference to "Gaufres de Bruxelles" (Brussels Waffles) by name is attributed from 1842/43 to Florian Dacher, a Swiss baker in Ghent, Belgium, who had previously worked under pastry chefs in central Brussels.[64] Philippe Cauderlier would later publish Dacher's recipe in the 1874 edition of his recipe book "La Pâtisserie et la Confiture". Maximilien Consael, another Ghent chef, had claimed to have invented the waffles in 1839, though there's no written record of him either naming or selling the waffles until his participation in the 1856 Brussels Fair.[65][66] Neither man created the recipe; they simply popularized and formalized an existing recipe as the Brussels waffle.[67]
Breakfast is better with this stainless steel Belgian-style waffle maker. The nonstick, extra-deep grids make thick, fluffy waffles with plenty of room for all your favorite toppings. Plus, the nonstick plates are easy to clean and they’re perfect for making a variety of foods—try out hash browns, grilled sandwiches, brownies, cinnamon rolls, and more! The versatile BLACK+DECKER™ Belgian Waffle Maker lets you create new treats and discover classic favorites.
With the nonstick cooking surface and a removable drip tray, cleanup is easy, too. When you are done, you can leave the gorgeous stainless steel unit on your counter or take advantage of the cord storage and the locking lid and turn it on its side for more compact storage. Like all All-Clad products, there is a limited lifetime warranty on this unit.
Toppings are fabulous, but the perfectly crisp, tender, and golden brown square waffles from All-Clad's Belgian waffle maker will leave you wondering, who needs butter and syrup anyway? It was one of the top scorers in all our performance evaluations and tied for easiest to use overall. Turn the dial to your preferred doneness setting, pour in batter (it's okay if you use too much — the removable moat tray will catch any excess), and go about your business until it chimes.
Stroopwafels are thin waffles with a syrup filling. The stiff batter for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. Medium-sized balls of batter are put on the waffle iron. When the waffle is baked and while it is still warm, it is cut into two halves. The warm filling, made from syrup is spread in between the waffle halves, which glues them together.[86] They are popular in the Netherlands and Belgium and sold in pre-prepared packages in shops and markets.
Welcome to Costa Nova Waffle where you are transported from the east coast of the western world to the west coast of the eastern world, washing ashore on the beaches of Costa Nova, Aveiro (Portugal). It's a tiny fisherman's town boasting traditionally iconic striped houses, beautiful ornamental painted river boats called "moliceiros", the home city of the "Ovos Moles" and some of the best waffles you've ever had as presented in an untraditional fashion in comparison to the world's standard of what a waffle should be. These decadently delicious treats return us to our childhood summers spent on the beaches of Aveiro. The magnificent coastal waffles are thin flat waffles, essentially offspring of a marriage between the typically recognized waffle and a crepe however, presented in a most portable manner. They are served crispy (Bolacha) or soft (Tripa), with a myriad of available fillings, and are perfectly paired with the compelling flavors and aromas of the finest Portuguese espresso, cappuccino and “Galão” latte also available at Costa Nova Waffle
As far as food goes it was good. I had the original chicken waffle sandwich. The waffle had bacon bits in it and it was a little too thick for the rest of the sandwich. But the chicken in the sandwich was very tender and fresh. And the fries were seasoned very well. My friend got the tres leches waffles and he said it was good. He also got the classic breakfast and judging by the looks of it, it looked a little disappointing. He said the eggs were dry and he did not touch them.
We’ve covered plenty of brunch-worthy appliances and tchotchkes in the past, including a waffle iron for Instagram-worthy waffles, eggcups à la Call Me by Your Name, the best French presses and pour-overs, and even skillets to make the perfect Chez Panisse–style eggs. Here, we’re doing a deep dive into the best waffle-makers available on Amazon. (Note that reviews have been edited for length and clarity.)
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waltonwagner Raise £12,000 at Third Annual Charity Pub Quiz
Every October for the past three years, waltonwagner have hosted their annual charity pub quiz – not only to treat our colleagues and industry friends to a night of head-scratching, prize-winning fun, but to try and raise as much money as we can for some very worthy causes. And of course, this year was no exception.
Last year, twelve teams of five put their skills – and their general knowledge – to the test at the Prince Alfred pub in Queensway and, thanks to their help, we managed to raise £4,000 for the University College Hospital Cancer Fund, who did a fantastic job treating one of our colleagues when he was admitted to the centre three years ago.
Following the success of last year’s event, we vowed to make this year’s quiz night bigger and better than any other fundraising event we have done before. To do that, we extended our guest list to twenty teams, and moved to a brand-new central London venue. In addition, this year’s quiz saw the introduction of VIP tables – each of whom received a dedicated waltonwagner table host for the duration of the quiz, as well as some surprise treats on the night.
This year, for the first time in three years, we also had two chosen charities – the University College Hospital Cancer Fund, and The Lullaby Trust. While the former aims to ensure that all people with cancer, their families and carers receive a world-class service from diagnosis through treatment and beyond, the latter provides specialist support for bereaved families, promotes expert advice on safer baby sleep and raises awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
On the 17th October, we were joined by a hundred of our industry friends – including contractors, architects, interior designers and engineers – for an evening of fun at Balls Brothers Mayfair. At the end of the night, team Fairhurst was crowned winner with an impressive final score of 66, while Lees Associates and the joint team of Franchi Plc & Walter Lilly came in second and third place, respectively.
Thanks to all your help and very generous donations, we managed to smash our initial fundraising goal and raised an incredible £12,000 for the two charities – three times the amount from last year!
We hope everyone had just as much fun as we did, and we will see you all again next year! As always, we would like to thank everyone who joined us and helped us raise money for the two charities: Deconstruct UK, Sizebreed Construction, Waterman Structures, London Projects, Franchi Plc, Walter Lilly, Custom Sight & Sound, Lees Associates, CC Construction, John Cullen Lighting, Ideaworks, Weldon, Od Projects, Paragon Building Consultancy, Box Associates, Slender Winter Partnership, Perfect Integration, Fairhurst, No 12 Studio, Taylor Howes, MSMR Architects, and of course our fantastic quiz master, Nick Perkins of The Design Net.
And last but not least, a massive thank you to the following people and companies for donating such generous raffle and auction prizes for the evening: Seamers, Marco Franchi of Franchi Plc, Od Projects, Deconstruct UK, Ideaworks, Gerard Cooper and Allcooper Garrisons, Randle Siddeley, CC Construction, Granite and Marble International, Tiny Fish Co, Saracens, HintHunt, Jenny Linford, and WW’s very own Chris Windsor.
About us: waltonwagner was established eight years ago by Jane Wagner and Nick Walton. We are a company who love property. We love project managing, designing, developing and dreaming all things property. We love the big picture and the devil you find in the detail. We love the fact that our clients come to us to achieve things they never thought possible with their buildings and that we are valued for our sensible, practical advice and guidance.
To find out more about the properties we have developed alongside our clients, please visit our projects page or call us to talk further on 020 7499 1377.
other news >
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Super Coral That Can Survive Global Warming
March 23, 2016 - Scientists have discovered that some more
March 23, 2016 - Scientists have discovered that some coral species come through the effects of global warming unscathed. In 1998, the world lost 18 percent of its coral reefs because of global coral bleaching brought about by warmer and more acidic ocean water. Researchers at the University of Hawaii started a program to identify the resilient super corals, breed them, and introduce them to the ocean environment. They hope that the corals will thrive and stop the decline of the coral reef ecosystem.
Video: How Carbon Dioxide Kills Ocean Life
Learn more about coral reefs.
DR. RUTH GATES, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF MARINE BIOLOGY, UNIVESITY OF HAWAII:
In 1998, 18 percent of the world’s reefs died as a result of a global bleaching event.
Many people believe that we no lost up to 30 percent of the world’s reefs. Another 30 percent are critically endangered. And the potential for us to see massive degradation in all reef habitats worldwide is high by 2015.
What we now know with our climate changing is our water warming and the water is becoming more acidic. And these are two stressors that are extremely difficult for coral to cope with. The rates of change are so fast because of our intervention.
The changes in those colors that occur when the coral’s health declines and the image becomes paler and paler and more washed out. And you can see it. It evokes an emotional reaction in all of us.
What we are trying to do here is to leverage 25 years of basic scientific knowledge that gives us inkling that coral is perhaps a little bit more flexible in their biology than we would think. That there are certain individuals that are doing surprisingly well in conditions that are killing others.
So we’re interested in focusing on those corals and then thinking about how we might build capacity or breed corals that are better able to withstand future ocean conditions, that is warmer and more acidic.
I’m all about taking my skill set and applying to an area that I can, and that is in the area of climate change adaptation. What happens if we don’t mitigate fast enough that fossil fuel burning. What do we do? And the solution is to attempt to assist corals to adapt or acclimatize to the changes at a rate that matches the rate of change in the environment.
We have no magic bullet answer. We are at the early stages of this project and we are trying a lot of things.
We’ve done some pretty amazing things to do damage to the planet. But is our M.O. to react and then amend and set the course right.
Let’s not be bogged down or paralyzed by the enormity of the problem. We are doing with corals what nature does. We’re just trying to accelerate the rate which they do it to keep up with the very fast rates of change in the environment.
That’s the only way that we’re going to forward.
See Five Weirdly Mesmerizing Deep Sea Creatures
Saving Albatross Chicks From Tsunamis and Rising Seas
The Monster 11-Ton Net That Threatened Hawaii’s Coast
NG Live!: Erin Pettit: Glaciers on the Run
A Way Forward: Facing Climate Change
Penguins Beating the Heat?
Sigur Rós—'Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur (Live)'
Climate Change: State of the Earth
James Balog on Disappearing Glaciers
Chasing Antarctic Ice
What Is the Polar Vortex?
Has Global Warming Stopped or Slowed?
Is Ice Melt Altering NG Maps?
What If Your Home Was Slipping Into the Ocean?
DJ Spooky's Arctic Rhythms
Fighting to Save Coral in the Florida Keys
Staying Afloat on a Drowning Island
Kid Warrior Fights Climate Change
Pope Advisor has Harsh Words for Climate Deniers
Scientists Create Tiny Zones of Climate Change
Illustrating the Beauty of a Disappearing World
POV: Why Are Leopard Seals Eating So Many Fur Seal Pups?
NASA Scientists Create First 3-D Model of Greenland Ice Sheet
See the Extreme Changes Near the Antarctic Peninsula
How Innovative Tech Helps Fight California’s Drought
An Immersive Voyage Into Germany’s Energy Revolution
Taking the Pulse of Our Planet
Photo Evidence: Glacier National Park Is Melting Away
Capturing Climate Change Through the Lives of the Inuit
Climate Change Through Bill Nye’s Eyes
Meet the Victims of Colombia’s Worst Drought in Decades
Climate Change: It’s Real. It’s Serious. And it’s up to us to Solve it.
Traversing Glaciers
Rising Seas Are Swallowing This North American Island
See How Six Communities Around the World Are Adapting to Climate Change
Behind The Paris Climate Conference with National Geographic Explorers
Filming a Wild Beluga Whale Party by Drone
Exploring Super-Remote Caves in Greenland
Firefighters Battle the Infernos of Climate Change
Rare Find: Extinct Sloth Fossils Discovered In Underwater Cave
"America's Best Idea" - President Obama on National Parks
Science & Space Category:
Soaring Free over Alaska's Chugach Mountains and Knik Glacier by Paramotor
Stars 101
A boat made from plastic waste is just one of Kenya's solutions to a global problem
Illegal marijuana farms endanger wildlife on California’s public lands
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OP-ED PAYOLA
by Paul Glastris
OP-ED PAYOLA… As Shakespeare’s Sister notes, taking money from Jack Abramoff in exchange for writing newspaper columns supporting the lobbyist’s clients, which Cato Institute scholar Doug Bandow has admitted doing, is rather more than a “lapse of judgment,” considering the practice went on for nearly a decade. But at least Bandow had the common decency to admit that what he did was wrong. And Cato had the common sense to accept his resignation. Others in the right-wing think tank world can’t seem to see the obvious intellectual squalor in this sort of arrangement. “If somebody pinned me down and said, ‘Do you think this is wrong or unethical?’ I’d say no,” says Tom Giovanetti, president of the Institute for Policy Innovation. Giovanetti was referring to the behavior of the institute’s Peter Ferarra, who also took money from Abramoff in exchange for op-ed pieces advocating for the lobbyist’s clients and is similarly unapologetic.
This blithe attitude tells you something about how deviancy has been defined down in conservative Washington. As with cocaine use in the 1980s, respectable conservatives today simply don’t understand that what they’re doing is wrong since all their friends are doing it too.
Steve Clemons was the first brave soul in the DC think tank industry to blow the whistle on the corruption of think tanks (his thoughts on the resignation of Bandow, who happens to be his friend, here). Josh Marshall has also written some devastating posts on the op-ed payola racket in recent years. And both Clemons and Marshall were generous in helping The Washington Monthly’s Nick Confessore break the story of how James Glassman’s online magazine Tech Central Station is actually a front for the GOP lobbying powerhouse DCI. But you get the sense that all these stories of expert-opinion payola are like mushrooms that sprout up for a few days and disappear, and that below the surface there is a massive rotten tangled underworld waiting to be exposed.
Paul Glastris
Paul Glastris is the editor in chief of the Washington Monthly.
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Safety & Security (Prepare and Be Aware)
Security Technology Wish List
PHOTO © KOROTOVA LIUDMYLA
School security is big business. Forbes magazine found in 2015 that two-thirds of colleges and universities reported that budgets for campus safety and security have increased over the past three years. So what are they buying? Three security professionals share their latest upgrades, their tried-and-true technologies and what’s on their wish list.
Raj Ramnarace, Security and Emergency Operations manager
As a member of the National Institute of Justice Technology Working Group, Ramnarace found two significant challenges when looking at emerging technologies for school safety: the cost and the need to maintain open and free-flowing access to common spaces. “In the world of higher education security, anything we add to our mix must be effective, affordable and unobtrusive to our educational environment,” he notes.
Still, there are many leading-edge technologies he finds both promising and exciting, including smart sensing devices, video analytics and unmanned aerial systems — a.k.a. drones. “Each of these can reliably reduce the task load for security staff by providing continuous monitoring of many spaces, independent of human intervention,” he explains.
Ramnarace is intrigued with smart sensing devices, because “they can be designed to detect a variety of threats: intruders, explosives, gunshots and dangerous chemicals that create concern in our post-9/11 world,” he says. These devices also notify responders. Expect to see these technologies become as ubiquitous as video cameras as their cost, size and power requirements shrink.
As video analytics also continue to evolve, Ramnarace predicts that smarter machines will eclipse conventional, manned video surveillance systems. “This is inevitable because, with many campuses using dozens or hundreds of cameras, it is not cost effective to have sufficient staff to effectively monitor those cameras on a round-the-clock basis,” he notes. He also points to smart video’s abilities to see, detect and respond to anything and everything of interest on a video feed, something no human could possibly do.
PHOTO © ANDREY_POPOV
AUGMENTED REALITY. Video analytics tools incorporate technology that can continuously monitor multiple video feeds for movement or other details that could escape the attention of a human observer. Video analytics software that zeros in on an object or event of interest is part of a broader architecture that includes cameras, encoders, servers, storage and networks. The analytics capability might reside on servers, the cameras or the encoders, which convert video from analog cameras so the moving images can travel over IP networks. Delivery of video feeds can be made not only to stationary monitors, but also to mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. At some point in the supply of data, however, interpretation of and reaction to flagged content must be instigated by trained personnel who can make decisions on handling emergent situations.
“Improvements in video resolution and processing power will make facial recognition a useful tool that will enable us to spot people we are looking for on our campuses,” he says. “Typically, these include stalkers and people who have been banned from campus for violent or threatening behavior.” Video analytics can also be useful in detecting unusual items and systems could alert security to someone who hasn’t moved or appears to have fallen, as is often case with slips, trips and falls on campuses.
Ramnarace is also excited about the evolution of drones. “Assuming regulatory guidance continues to evolve, we will someday be able to monitor our exterior spaces and buildings from a perspective that previously would not have been possible,” he says. He points to today’s consumer drones that are affordable, carry high-resolution streaming video cameras and feature programmable flight paths, as well as auto-collision avoidance and auto-landing capabilities. “Someday, a drone patrol force will augment our foot patrol presence,” he predicts.
While he plans for the future, is there any technology he wouldn’t dare give up? “Absolutely!” he says. “Our video surveillance systems and access control systems are both crucial to our security operations. They are dependable and are always getting better.” He calls the video system a reliable deterrence and a good way to gain critical information when investigating incidents.
Ramnarace states that his school relies heavily on their networked electronic locking systems. “Our system enables us to lock down the dozen buildings that comprise our main campus in a matter of seconds. To do the same thing with manual, hard-key equipment would take significantly longer. We can remove access to lost, misplaced or stolen cards or fobs quickly, without having to rekey vulnerable access points. Additionally, we can review log data to assess building usage and security patrol coverage.”
University of North Dakota (UND)
Mike Lefever, associate director for Emergency Management
Lefever has a top-priority wish list item: an enterpriseintegrated security system. “This platform offers a complete security management solution including access control, alarm monitoring, digital video, CCTV, video badging and visitor management functionality,” he says via email. “It would enable us to manage our enterprise-wide security systems from a single point, while maintaining local operational autonomy.”
While waiting for that, Lefever discusses what he considers two leading-edge technologies currently in operation: a virtual emergency management system accessible from a computer or smartphone and an advanced functionality mobile safety app.
In place for over three years, the virtual emergency management system creates virtual rooms that can be accessed during an incident. The rooms include: Daily Briefings, Special Events, Training, monthly In-Charge of Campus sheets and a Campus Resources Map.
The Campus Resources Map identifies the location of campus buildings and location of hazardous materials, along with safety personnel and action plans. The system can also serve as a virtual Incident Command System during an emergency.
There is also a Daily Briefings room that includes operation center and university police logs along with news, weather, campus events and health alerts. Before implementing this system, police and operation center logs were internal and not regularly shared. “The most common weakness in any type of emergency situation, especially those involving community stakeholders and multiple agencies, is most often a breakdown in communication,” says Eric S. Plummer, UND’s associate vice president for Public Safety/chief of Police. “This system, along with training for participants, has greatly reduced the risk of any barriers in communication.”
An essential tool to enhance safety on campus, the Emergency Management Mobile Safety App sends users important safety alerts and provides instant access to campus safety resources. The app can push out instant notifications and instructions during an emergency or go into Mobile Bluelight mode and open instant verbal communications between a user and emergency management staff. The app can also send your location to a friend so he or she can track your movement in real time.
The app includes interactive campus maps, allows users to anonymously report safety hazards and stores other safety resources and emergency plans. It can even help a user get assistance unlocking car doors or jump-starting dead batteries.
College of Saint Mary
David Ferber, MS, director of Safety and Security
Upgrading the College of Saint Mary’s camera system to IP cameras with NVR is on the to-do list for David Ferber. Network video recording (NVR) devices use the local network to send and receive data, and are ideal for remotely monitoring a surveillance system from a computer, smartphone or tablet. “They hold more data and because information is stored on the cloud it can stay there indefinitely,” he says. “Storing information on the cloud means we can access it even if the power goes out.” Ferber acquired one camera to test on a new residence hall and liked it so much he bought one to monitor the bookstore. He’s presently applying for grants so he can buy more.
He also just switched their emergency text service to an easier-to-use system. “This one does anything at once. It sends text alerts, voice message, email and social media posts instantly,” he says. Ferber also likes that this system comes with a desktop interrupted system. This allows messages to interrupt a lecture by displaying across projection screens and computers. “Assuming the students have their phones put away during class, this gives us an extra level of safety. It’s exciting to finally be able to do that.”
This article originally appeared in the December 2016 issue of College Planning & Management.
An Eye In the Sky
Drones on Campus: Have a Policy
What's the latest in surveillance systems?
Intelligent Use of Security Cameras
Best Practices for Keeping Students Safe: A Guide to Campus Security
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Home » Discover » Recommended Reading » A Bend in the Stars : A Novel
A Bend in the Stars : A Novel
Barenbaum, Rachel
For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Women in the Castle comes a riveting literary novel that is at once an epic love story and a heart-pounding journey across WWI-era Russia, about an ambitious young doctor and her scientist brother in a race against Einstein to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. In Russia, in the summer of 1914, as war with Germany looms and the Czar's army tightens its grip on the local Jewish community, Miri Abramov and her brilliant physicist brother, Vanya, are facing an impossible decision. Since their parents drowned fleeing to America, Miri and Vanya have been raised by their babushka, a famous matchmaker who has taught them to protect themselves at all costs: to fight, to kill if necessary, and always to have an escape plan. But now, with fierce, headstrong Miri on the verge of becoming one of Russia's only female surgeons, and Vanya hoping to solve the final puzzles of Einstein's elusive theory of relativity, can they bear to leave the homeland that has given them so much? Before they have time to make their choice, war is declared and Vanya goes missing, along with Miri's fiancé. Miri braves the firing squad to go looking for them both. As the eclipse that will change history darkens skies across Russia, not only the safety of Miri's own family but the future of science itself hangs in the balance. Grounded in real history -- and inspired by the solar eclipse of 1914 -- A Bend in the Stars offers a heartstopping account of modern science's greatest race amidst the chaos of World War I, and a love story as epic as the railways crossing Russia.
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Local Work
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Repair Interview: Jenni Wolfson on Documenting Human Rights Abuses with WITNESS
By Leah Koenig / March 30, 2011
Video has the power to change the world by changing the way we see it. In Brooklyn, an international human rights organization called WITNESS is working to leverage video’s power by providing training and support to organizations to utilize video as a critical tool in their human rights advocacy work.
Managing Director, Jenni Wolfson – who spent years as a human rights activist for the United Nations before coming to WITNESS – has seen first hand the important role the documentarian plays in changing the world. Wolfson took some time to tell Repair the World about the quickly changing landscape of video and social media, the courage she sees in activists every day, and how her background as a Scottish Jew influenced her passion for human rights work.
Can you tell me more about WITNESS and the issues you address?
WITNESS was co-founded almost 20 years ago by Peter Gabriel and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). The original idea was simple – if you give cameras to people who have witnessed human rights abuses or experienced abuses and teach them to tell their stories, those stories can be powerful tools for justice. Over the last two decades we’ve evolved because it’s not enough to simply give cameras to human rights activists, you have to give them technical training on how to film and edit, but equally important is the strategic distribution of the video and how it can be used as part of a larger human rights campaign.
How do you teach that?
We’ve developed a methodology of video advocacy that helps organizations get the right stories in front of the right audience at the right time. Our partner organizations’ video have been screened in court as evidence, shown to key decision and policy makers, and used as community organizing tools. We work with the organizations to develop video action plans to help them think through who their audience is and what voices they want to portray. It is so important when making a video to decide in advance what you’re trying to do – are you trying to shame your audience? To inspire, to persuade?
WITNESS’ motto is “See it. Film it. Change it.” What is the role of the activist in working to end human rights abuses?
Activists are playing an important role today in exposing human rights abuses and seeking justice. For example, we have been working in Zimbabwe with an organization called the Research and Advocacy Unit that works to combat violence against women during political elections. Thousands of women have been raped, tortured and humiliated during election times, and there’s been a climate of impunity about it – these crimes sometimes even get laughed at. This organization wrote important in-depth 60 page research reports, but had never picked up a camera before. We are working with them to use video as a complimentary tool for their work. When you give human rights a human face, it really helps people to connect.
In a way, WITNESS was ahead of its time. Video certainly existed 20 years ago, but the distribution channels like Facebook and YouTube were a long way off.
That’s true. Our original dream was to give cameras to the world. Now thanks to the cell phone companies the world has access to those cameras. There’s a much greater ability for people to tell their stories today – on the other hand, there’s a plethora of media out there, so it becomes so important to think strategically about how to bring a story to the surface. The length of videos has also changed. We used to work largely with 15-20 minute advocacy videos. But while those are still useful in some contexts like court, now people online expect 2-3 minute videos. So you have to adjust the way you share your message.
We are also engaging with social media companies to make those platforms safer and more effective. For example, an Egyptian blogger uploaded a video of the police slapping people. Viewers on YouTube flagged the video because it’s violent, which is against YouTube’s policies – and it got taken down. All of a sudden that video can no longer be use for advocacy because the footage isn’t there. We’re working to find ways to keep the important footage available in a way that does not violate YouTube’s policies, but can still be useful.
That’s so interesting – does that sort of thing happen a lot?
With the increase in online video, we are seeing more examples where there is happening. There was an article in the New York Times recently about this very issue. The media companies like Flickr and Facebook and YouTube want to abide by their policies to not show violence or to respect people’s privacy, but they realize that some of this material is exceptional. WITNESS and YouTube recently curated some joint blogs together about the challenges of safety and security of online video. WITNESS is also working with developers to create tools, such as a camera phone application built especially for human rights defenders that will allow them to blur faces in real time so as to provide greater protections.
What is the most challenging part of training people to do human rights-based video advocacy work? Is it more difficult to teach the technological skills, or to train people to have the courage necessary to do the filming in these dangerous situations?
We don’t have to teach courage. Just by being a human rights activist and by speaking out you’re already taking risks. The people and organizations we work with have already calculated those risks and decided they are worth taking. Perhaps they’ve experienced abuses themselves and don’t want them to happen to other people. So courage we see every day.
We’re also seeing more accidental activists – people who find themselves in the wrong place at the right time and just turn on their camera. They are not even thinking about it, they are just compelled to film what they see. We do train people about informed consent, safety and security though. We always give the worse case scenario – that the perpetrator who carried out the abuse will see the video. And we ask “Are you willing to take that risk?” And if so, here are some ways to mitigate the risks.
Do you connect your social justice work in any way to your Jewish identity/heritage?
I think if it wasn’t for my background I would not have ended up doing human rights work. I grew up in Glasgow, Scotland where the Jewish population was small and there was a lot of anti-semitism. From a young age I experienced what it was like to be discriminated against for my religion and that shaped my worldview. My family was also involved in the non-profit world, so I learned from them.
As a young adult I lived in Israel for a year and then I began working in Rwanda. As a young Jewish woman in my 20s it blew me away. I grew up with the ideas of compassion and tzedakah and the words “never again” constantly being said by family members – I realized that this was the genocide of my generation, and that I could do something. I wrote a one woman play called Rash about my experiences as a human rights activist in Rwanda. It starts off with my experiences of anti-semitism, so it’s all connected.
How can people get involved or volunteer with WITNESS?
We have excellent intern and volunteer programs. We have interns all the time and give them a lot of responsibility, so it’s an exciting internship. And of course we cannot do the work we do without funding, so people can always help through donations. [Donate to WITNESS here.]
And people can also stay informed with what we’re doing by singing up for our email newsletter, or following us on Twitter and Facebook. We also have an amazing blog that gets updated all the time where people can keep abreast of what we’re doing.
Find out more about WITNESS by watching their introductory video below:
Jenni Wolfson
About the Author : Leah Koenig
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Home » Articles Posted by News
Students Appalled As Government Drops Art History A Level
By News
AQA have announced that as of 2018, Art History will no longer be offered at AS and A Level due to being viewed as a “soft subject”. Art History is the study and interpretation of art in its historical...
GWR Gives 50% Off Rail Travel To Students
GWR is cutting up to 50% off the cost of rail travel. Anyone holding the 16-25 railcard will be able to purchase advance rail travel tickets with a 50% saving. The savings can be as much as 92.5% cheaper...
Don’t Drink Booze and Feel Left Out? Now There’s No Need To Go Without
St Peter’s Brewery is older than many of its ‘craft beer’ competitors but may have developed a product for the future With abstinence from alcohol on the rise amongst young people in...
Pinched The Kitchen Sink? What Tenants Take On Leaving Rented Properties
When leaving rental accommodation have you ever had the urge to take things that don’t belong to you? Perhaps the light fittings – or even the kitchen sink? Research from landlord insurer Direct...
Old Vic Receives £2.4M Heritage Lottery Award
Bristol’s Old Vic has been awarded £2.4 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund and is set to become a ‘major heritage destination.’ In an official press release sent out on Thursday 13th October,...
Food Glorious Food: Food Cycle Brings Decadent Meal To Bristol
National food poverty charity, Food Cycle are holding a 3 course meal to 100 paying customers to celebrate and inspire others to join the food movement. Prepare your knives and forks and come with an...
Oh, You Shouldn’t Have! Young Workers’ £1.23 Per Day Pay Bump
Workers aged 21 to 24 earning the minimum wage will see their hourly wage rise by 25p an hour to £6.95. Students aged between 18 and 24 have been awarded a 25p per hour pay rise as a following the recommendation...
UWE Filmmaking Graduate Wins Esteemed NAHEMI Award
At the 22nd Encounters Short Film Festival, UWE Bristol Filmmaking graduate, Lutia Swan Hutton, was awarded the prestigious ‘NAHEMI Award for Creativity’ at the Watershed in Bristol. The Encounters...
VP Community and Welfare comments on World Mental Health Day at UWE
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day (WMHD). Siân Hampson, VP Community and Welfare, comments on yesterday’s events and how it is important that we keep raising awareness of students with mental health...
Meet the Employers Fair
Securing a graduate job, work placements and internships are difficult. Make the first step by attending the Employers Fair. UWE Bristol is holding the largest career fair in the South West. It is being...
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Citadel Communications
Citadel Communications Ltd. is an Amercisn private broadcasting company. It is based in Bronxville, New York, and operates 2 full-power television stations, 1 low-power station and a regional 24-hour cable news channel. The company was founded in 1982 by former National Association of Broadcasters joint board chairman and current Broadcasters Foundation of America chairman Phil Lombardo.
Upon completion of the Digital TV transition in 2009, Citadel's stations at that time returned their digital broadcasts to their former analog channel assignments in the VHF spectrum. As a result of poor propagation characteristics for digital TV in the VHF bands, these stations now operate low-power digital fill-in translators in the UHF band to improve coverage in their communities of license. See the digital TV section on the WHBF-TV entry for further information on the Citadel stations' post-transition digital signals.
In February 2009, Phil Lombardo became an investing partner in LDB Media, LLC., owners of the Suncoast News Network, a regional cable news channel in Sarasota, Florida. In January 2014, Lombardo and Citadel purchased a majority interest in the company. As a result, Citadel took over broadcast operations of SNN and integrated the channel with its other stations.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Citadel_Communications
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Latest News for: citadel communications
Cole to receive Ray Center’s Pillar of Character Award
Business Record 15 Jul 2019
Cole, president and chief operating officer of Citadel Communications Co., has consistently worked to back the mission of the Character Counts! Program, ......
M&A market characterized by small individual deals
The quarter's third-largest TV deal by volume was an $83.0 million cash deal in which McDermott Communications LLC bought two ABC affiliates — WLNE-TV in New Bedford, Mass., and KLKN in Lincoln, Neb., from Citadel Communications LLC (not related to the former Citadel Broadcasting Corp.)....
Citadel Analytics Uses RagingWire’s Dallas TX1 Data Center for Global Launch of Innovative Artificial Intelligence ...
Odessa American 19 Jun 2019
RagingWire Data Centers, Inc., the premier data center provider in North America and part of the global data center platform of NTT Communications (NTT Com), the information and communications technology (ICT) solutions and international communications business within the NTT Group (TYO ... About NTT Communications ... About Citadel Analytics....
Gulf of Oman attacks: how merchant ships can keep safe in dangerous waters
The Conversation 18 Jun 2019
It also recommends a safe muster point is designated above the waterline, instead of a citadel – a fortified safe place within the ship where crew can control communications, propulsion and steering. While citadels provided an effective means of interrupting a successful hijacking ......
Medal of Honor request for Citadel grad killed in Vietnam heads to Washington
The Post and Courier 22 May 2019
“Hugh Reavis Nelson, who was killed in action in Vietnam, is one of the college’s heroes, and we honor his memory along with more than 700 Citadel graduates who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedom," John Dorrian, vice president in the Office of Communications and Marketing, said in a statement to The Post and Courier....
Lincoln's ABC station has a new owner
Lincoln Journal Star 16 May 2019
Standard Media Group said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire KLKN-TV and an ABC affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island, from Citadel Communications ... The two stations were the last two network-affiliated ones owned by Citadel ......
Standard Media Buying Two Citadel Stations for $83M
Broadcasting & Cable 16 May 2019
Standard Media Group agreed to buy two TV stations from Citadel Communications for $83 million, the companies said ... Citadel sold three of its five network-affiliated stations to Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 2014 ... in both markets,” said Phil Lombardo, Citadel’s CEO....
Rhode Island's Channel 6 sold to Standard Media Group
The Providence Journal 16 May 2019
PROVIDENCE — Channel 6 is being sold, according to a story on its website Thursday.Citadel Communications is selling Channel 6 — known formally as WLNE-TV ABC6 — and another station in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Standard Media Group for $83 million, the story ......
Transport vessel registered in Malta involved in ‘violent’ hijack off West Africa
Independent Online 08 May 2019
The firm added that upon being boarded, all 20 crew members were able to secure themselves in what is known as ‘The Citadel’ – a secured space in the vessel equipped with various means of communication and emergency rations ... were safely released from The Citadel....
To Enhance Member Experience, Citadel Selects Avaya Solution for Next-Generation Customer Engagement
The Record 01 May 2019
Avaya Oceana allows Citadel to deliver multichannel member service through the integration of its call center and digital communications ... Citadel has used Avaya as its telephone and contact center solution for over 20 years, but recently selected Avaya Oceana to further optimize communication options with members ... About Citadel....
SC hires and promotions
The Post and Courier 25 Mar 2019
Architecture. Kelly Knowlton has joined LS3P Associates Ltd. as an architect. She has 12 years of architecture industry experience ... He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from The Citadel.Government ... Department of Commerce to marketing and communications director ... She has 15 years of marketing and communications experience ... Tina L ... ....
5G network to launch in the Marianas, Guam this year
Guam Pacific Daily News 08 Mar 2019
"With SK Telecom contributing its engineering expertise as a global leader in the roll out of 5G technology, IT&E’s 5G network will set the standard for communications in Guam and the Marianas for many years to come," said Jose Ricardo "Ricky" Delgado, president and CEO of Citadel Holdings ... More ... Haidee Eugenio/PDN. ....
Tuesday's Sports Transactions
Rocky Mount Telegram 06 Mar 2019
BASEBALL. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL — Ratified a two-year player transfer agreement with Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexico). American League ... DETROIT TIGERS — Assigned RHP Casey Mize to minor league camp ... FOOTBALL ... PENN STATE — Named Ryan Snyder assistant director of strategic communications. THE CITADEL — Named Ryan McLaughlin assistant women’s soccer coach....
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Meet The Staff:Jordan Broking
Ela Gonzales, Editor-in-Chief
Filed under Meet The Staff
How long have you been writing for the paper and what’s your position?
I’ve been writing for the school paper since I was in middle school. After I took Cadmus’ journalism class I thought it could be fun to continue this. So I then started writing for the newspaper as news editor my sophomore year. Then the year after since there was only one senior left there were some leadership positions needed. I was asked to be the Co-Editor-in-Chief. Then when Ms. Pensiero came in that’s when the idea of me being the managing editor came up so that’s how I got that title. It’s a fun job I don’t regret it.
What do you do after school?
I am the co president of the coding club. So I stay after every single Tuesday for that. I’m also the co vice president of the Spanish Club which meets every Thursday. Sometimes if there’s an NHS meeting, I’ll stay after on Wednesdays. That’s all I really stay after for unless I have to do something for Spanish.
Do you have any hobbies?
Sleeping, napping, writing, and listening to music. I’m literally on my bed 24/7 with my headphones in blasting music.
What are your plans after high school?
After high school, probably gonna go to college. Hopefully Quinnipiac, Fordham, or Ithaca. Those are my top three so hopefully one of those. From there on find a job hopefully.
What are you gonna study?
Journalism for my major. It really depends what school I go to.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of oldies.I don’t listen to present day music whatsoever. I listen to music from the 80s, 70s, 70s pop specifically.
Who are some of your favorite artists?
Cher, Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar, Billy Joel, the Eurythmics, Aerosmith, Journey,Billy Idol, Blondie. But Cher, Michael Jackson, and Pat Benatar are my top three. I like all their music styles. They all have a unique style that’s very interesting to them.
What’s your favorite song?
Invincible by Pat Benatar. It’s like a nice rock song and something I wish was still created today.
If you could watch one movie for the rest of your life what would it be?
Tags: jordan broking, meet the staff, the pioneer
Meet the Staff: Kahlil Calloway
Meet the Staff: Allan Agesilas
Meet the Staff: Ela Gonzales
Meet The Staff: Kaya Schultz
Meet The Staff: Matt Camacho
Meet the Staff: Ryan Rivera
Meet the Staff: Royson Folas
Meet the Staff: Shawn Parker
Meet the Staff: Kenny Corcoran
Tributes to CJ
A Tribute from Mr. Patscher
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Dubuque chef to make his debut on Top Chef
Posted 4:18 pm, December 6, 2018, by Brody Wooddell
DUBUQUE, Iowa- Premiering December 6, a local chef will be competing in season 16 of Bravo’s “Top Chef.” it begins at 8 p.m.
The Chef in question is Kevin Scharpf, 32, Chef and owner of Brazen Open Kitchen & Bar at 955 Washington St., Suite 101 in Dubuque.
According to the Des Moine Register, Scharpf will compete against 14 other chefs for the title of ‘Top Chef.’ This season will be in Kentucky, with a trip to China for a final showdown in Macau.
The show description says the winning chef will take home $125,000, get a feature in Food & Wine magazine, plus an appearance at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado, as well as a $50,000 prize package from Williams Sonoma and finally a headlining slot on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage at BottleRock in Napa Valley.
The Register says Scharpf was born in Dubuque and raised in Galena, Illinois. According to them Scharpf started watching Emeril Lagasse on TV and fell in love with the art of cooking. He enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu in Minneapolis at age 16.
Kevin Scharpf then went on to train in New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis. It was in 2015 that Scharpf opened Brazen Open Kitchen & Bar.
The 14 other chefs Scharpf will be competing against are:
Eric Adjepong — Washington, D.C.
Sara Bradley — Kentucky
Kelsey Barnard Clark — Dothan, Alabama
Edmund “Eddie” Konrad — Philadelphia
Pablo Lamon — Miami Beach, Florida
Natalie Maronski — Philadelphia
Michelle Minori — San Francisco
Nini Nguyen — Brooklyn, New York
Brandon Rosen — San Mateo, California
Caitlin Steininger — Cincinnati, Ohio
Justin Sutherland — St. Paul, Minnesota
David Viana — Asbury Park, New Jersey
Adrienne Wright — Boston
Brian Young — Boston
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Man loses $15,000 prosthetic leg while skydiving, deputies return it
Karaoke contest returning to Illinois State Fair
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Dark Lion's Compendium
CD: Aspillaga v. Aspillaga
August 18, 2010 at 3:49 pm (2009, Case Digests) (Case Digest, Civil Law, Persons & Family Relations)
ASPILLAGA v. ASPILLAGA
G.R. No. 170925 October 26, 2009
Quisumbing, J.
Doctrine:
The fact that certain psychological conditions will hamper their performance of their marital obligations does not mean that they suffer from psychological incapacity as contemplated under Article 36 of the Family Code. Psychological disorders do not manifest that both parties are truly incapacitated to perform the basic marital covenants. Mere difficulty is not synonymous to incapacity. Psychological incapacity is reserved to the most serious cases of personality disorder.
Rodolfo Aspillaga filed a petition for annulment of marriage on the ground of psychological incapacity on the part of Aurora Aspillaga. Aurora alleged upon her return to Manila, she discovered that while she was in Japan, Rodolfo brought into their conjugal home her cousin, Lecita Rose A. Besina, as his concubine. Aurora alleged that Rodolfo’s cohabitation with her cousin led to the disintegration of their marriage and their eventual separation.
During trial, expert witness Dr. Eduardo Maaba explained that both parties are psychologically incapacitated. The RTC found the parties psychologically incapacitated to enter into marriage.
The CA reversed the RTC decision and declared the marriage of Rodolfo and Aurora Aspillaga valid. Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration, but the motion was also denied. Hence this petition.
Whether or not the marriage is void on the ground of the parties’ psychological incapacity
No. As early as 1995, in Santos v. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 112019, January 4, 1995), it has been categorically ruled that:
Psychological incapacity required by Art. 36 must be characterized by (a) gravity, (b) juridical antecedence, and (c) incurability. The incapacity must be grave or serious such that the party would be incapable of carrying out the ordinary duties required in marriage; it must be rooted in the history of the party antedating the marriage, although the overt manifestations may emerge only after the marriage; and it must be incurable or, even if it were otherwise, the cure would be beyond the means of the party involved.
In the instant case, Dr. Maaba failed to reveal that the psychological conditions were grave or serious enough to bring about an incapacity to assume the essential obligations of marriage. Indeed, Dr. Maaba was able to establish the parties’ personality disorder; however, he failed to link the parties’ psychological disorders to his conclusion that they are psychologically incapacitated to perform their obligations as husband and wife. The fact that these psychological conditions will hamper their performance of their marital obligations does not mean that they suffer from psychological incapacity as contemplated under Article 36 of the Family Code. Mere difficulty is not synonymous to incapacity.
It must be stressed that psychological incapacity must be more than just a “difficulty,” “refusal” or “neglect” in the performance of some marital obligations (Republic v. CA). The intention of the law is to confine the meaning of “psychological incapacity” to the most serious cases of personality disorders clearly demonstrative of an utter insensitivity or inability to give meaning and significance to the marriage (Tongol v. Tongol, G.R. No. 157610, October 19, 2007).
Psychological disorders do not manifest that both parties are truly incapacitated to perform the basic marital covenants. Moreover, there is nothing that shows incurability of these disorders. Incompatibility and irreconcilable differences cannot be equated with psychological incapacity as understood juristically.
As to Rodolfo’s allegation that Aurora was a spendthrift, the same likewise fails to convince. While disagreements on money matters would, no doubt, affect the other aspects of one’s marriage as to make the wedlock unsatisfactory, this is not a ground to declare a marriage null and void. In fact, the Court takes judicial notice of the fact that disagreements regarding money matters are a common, and even normal, occurrence between husbands and wives.
CD: Continental Steel v. Montaño
August 16, 2010 at 12:25 pm (2009, Case Digests) (Case Digest, Civil Law, Persons & Family Relations)
Continental Steel v. Montaño
Chico-Nazario, J.
Doctrines:
Life is not synonymous with civil personality. One need not acquire civil personality first before he/she could die. Even a child inside the womb already has life.
In case of doubt in the interpretation of any law or provision affecting labor, such should be interpreted in favor of labor.
Hortillano, an employee of petitioner Continental Steel Manufacturing Corporation (Continental Steel) filed a claim for Paternity Leave, Bereavement Leave and Death and Accident Insurance for dependent, pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The claim was based on the death of Hortillano’s unborn child. Hortillano’s wife had a premature delivery while she was in the 38th week of pregnancy. The female fetus died during labor due to fetal Anoxia secondary to uteroplacental insufficiency.
Petitioner immediately granted Hortillano’s claim for paternity leave but denied his claims for bereavement leave and other death benefits.
It was maintained by Hortillano, through the Labor Union, that the provisions of the CBA did not specifically state that the dependent should have first been born alive or must have acquired juridical personality so that his/her subsequent death could be covered by the CBA death benefits.
Petitioner argued that the express provision of the CBA did not contemplate the death of an unborn child, a fetus, without legal personality. It claimed that there are two elements for the entitlement to the benefits, namely: (1) death and (2) status as legitimate dependent, none of which existed in Hortillano’s case. Continental Steel contended that only one with civil personality could die, relying on Articles 40, 41 and 42 of the Civil Code which provides:
Article 40. Birth determines personality; but the conceived child shall be considered born for all purposes that are favorable to it, provided it be born later with the conditions specified in the following article.
Article 41. For civil purposes, the fetus is considered born if it is alive at the time it is completely delivered from the mother’s womb. However, if the fetus had an intra-uterine life of less than seven months, it is not deemed born if it dies within twenty-four hours after its complete delivery from the maternal womb.
Article 42. Civil personality is extinguished by death. The effect of death upon the rights and obligations of the deceased is determined by law, by contract and by will.
Hence according to the petitioner, the unborn child never died because it never acquired juridical personality. Proceeding from the same line of thought, Continental Steel reasoned that a fetus that was dead from the moment of delivery was not a person at all. Hence, the term dependent could not be applied to a fetus that never acquired juridical personality.
Labor arbiter Montaño argued that the fetus had the right to be supported by the parents from the very moment he/she was conceived. The fetus had to rely on another for support; he/she could not have existed or sustained himself/herself without the power or aid of someone else, specifically, his/her mother.
Petitioner appealed with the CA, who affirmed the Labor Arbiter’s resolution. Hence this petition.
1. Whether or not only one with juridical personality can die
2. Whether or not a fetus can be considered as a dependent
3. Whether or not any ambiguity in CBA provisions shall be settled in favor of the employee
1. No. The reliance of Continental Steel on Articles 40, 41 and 42 of the Civil Code for the legal definition of death is misplaced. Article 40 provides that a conceived child acquires personality only when it is born, and Article 41 defines when a child is considered born. Article 42 plainly states that civil personality is extinguished by death. The issue of civil personality is not relevant in this case.
The above provisions of the Civil Code do not provide at all a definition of death. Moreover, while the Civil Code expressly provides that civil personality may be extinguished by death, it does not explicitly state that only those who have acquired juridical personality could die.
No less than the Constitution recognizes the life of the unborn from conception, that the State must protect equally with the life of the mother. If the unborn already has life, then the cessation thereof even prior to the child being delivered, qualifies as death.
2. Yes. Even an unborn child is a dependent of its parents. Hortillano’s child could not have reached 38-39 weeks of its gestational life without depending upon its mother, Hortillano’s wife, for sustenance. The CBA did not provide a qualification for the child dependent, such that the child must have been born or must have acquired civil personality. Without such qualification, then child shall be understood in its more general sense, which includes the unborn fetus in the mother’s womb.
3. Time and again, the Labor Code is specific in enunciating that in case of doubt in the interpretation of any law or provision affecting labor, such should be interpreted in favor of labor. In the same way, the CBA and CBA provisions should be interpreted in favor of labor. As decided by this Court, any doubt concerning the rights of labor should be resolved in its favor pursuant to the social justice policy. (Terminal Facilities and Services Corporation v. NLRC [199 SCRA 265 (1991)])
Bereavement leave and other death benefits are granted to an employee to give aid to, and if possible, lessen the grief of, the said employee and his family who suffered the loss of a loved one. It cannot be said that the parents’ grief and sense of loss arising from the death of their unborn child, who, in this case, had a gestational life of 38-39 weeks but died during delivery, is any less than that of parents whose child was born alive but died subsequently.
Blogger’s Resume
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CD: Catholic Vicar Apostolic v. CA
CD: Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Mc.George Food Industries, Inc.
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Henrico Co. student drowns in pool: ‘He was underwater for 6 minutes’
Posted 2:24 pm, June 18, 2018, by Web Staff, Updated at 02:25PM, June 18, 2018
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. - Police are investigating after a Highland Springs High School student drowned in a pool at an East End apartment complex Friday evening.
Family members told CBS 6 16-year-old Vernard Morton left home Friday afternoon to meet a friend at the pool at the White Oak Apartments.
Vernard Morton (Photo provided by CBS 6)
Loved ones said that the pool was crowded and Vernard ended up in 9 feet of water and possibly hit his head in the process.
“He was underwater for like six minutes without nobody noticing,” Patricia Morton, Vernard’s aunt, said. “After six minutes, that's when they realized that he was not coming back up.”
Family members said a group got Vernard out of the pool and performed CPR.
Police and fire crews were called to the 11 North at the White Oak Apartments on North Laburnum Avenue just before 5:30 p.m. for a medical emergency.
Vernard was transported to VCU Medical Center where he died of his injuries Saturday morning.
His family is trying to make sense of the sudden loss.
“That was my first child in the world,” the boy’s father, Venerdo Anert said. “I can't do nothing to get him back. He carried my name. He carried my name.”
Both parents are eager to see what the police investigation yields, but they are also remembering their son with love.
“My son, he would have been going to the 11th grade, but he's in heaven right now,” Angie Morton said.
Morton said her son was an active and caring young man who loved the Redskins, video games and collecting rocks.
"He liked to be with his daddy. He loved his momma, brothers and sisters," Patricia Morton said.
The boy’s father said he is troubled by the absence of lifeguards and security cameras at the pool and at countless other pools like it.
“I know a lot of people that have lost their kids and I mean, I see them hurt. But now, I’m one of them. I'm hurt just like they is. I'm one of them," he said. "Now I feel their pain. I feel what they're going through.”
Morton's mother said her son was looking forward to getting a job soon.
The Henrico Police Investigative Unit is handling the case, but officials said Saturday morning that they had found no evidence of foul play.
Topics: drowning, Henrico County, Swimming
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What Else is on Now?
Hey, all. Omari Daniels here. Just a guy who enjoys television and film- and does long recaps because his mind just goes all over the place.
A Look at The Walking Dead- Season 9, Episode 9: “Adaptation”
Posted on February 10, 2019 by omarid513
And after Jesus died, he rose again. Welcome to the second half of Season 9. Let’s jump back into The Walking Dead with “Adaptation.”
The episode begins right where we left off in “Evolution,” with Jesus dead and our survivors still in the cemetery, surrounded by approaching, whispering walkers. They cut down as many as possible before falling back, making sure to grab one of the masks and Jesus’ body in the process. Though they seal the gates behind them, one of the “walkers” manages to get it open again…
Over in Alexandria, Negan walks out of his cell, but takes his time, in the event that he might alert someone. However, in the darkness, no one is aware of his escape. After helping himself to a tomato, he grabs a shovel and heads inside Rick and Michonne’s home.
As morning arrives, Negan heads for the gate. He climbs it, but is intercepted by Judith, who has a gun at the ready. He knows that she won’t shoot him, but she thinks otherwise. Still, Negan isn’t going to his cell, so Judith should just pull the trigger. He offers to go his way and never see Judith again, but again, she’s not having that.
Okay, so Negan climbs down and tells Judith about what happened when Rick and Michonne first locked him up. They told him that he would be useful for something and help people see that things could change. Things did in fact change, but not for him. Alexandria is a wonderland, but Negan’s part is four walls and a bedpan.
Judith reminds Negan that Michonne makes the rules and the decisions, but right now, Judith can make her own choice. It’s like their little chats. Judith isn’t letting Negan go- she’s just not seeing him leave. Judith tells Negan that there’s nothing out there for him or anyone. Negan responds that Judith knows him better than anyone else has in a very long time. He promises her that he won’t hurt anyone, even if they try to hurt him.
Still, it’s time for him to go. Before Negan can leave, Judith asks if he was in her room. He was, as he’s wearing her locket. He asks if she wants it back, but she says that he can keep it, as it will help him find his way. However, Judith promises that if she sees Negan again, she will shoot. With that, Negan leaves the Alexandria Safe Zone.
Then we cut to the Hilltop. As Luke surveys his surroundings, we jump over to Alden, D.J., Enid, Tara, and Marco, played by Gustavo Gomez, discuss whether to go after Michonne and the others, as it’s almost been a full day since they left. Marco suggests two two-person teams and loop around to see what they can find.
They’ll need one more person and while Tara suggests getting Oscar from the gate, Luke volunteers his services. After all, Connie and Kelly are in the garden, while Magna and Yumiko are already outside the gates. Alden finally says that Luke can ride with him.
Speaking of Michonne and company, we return to them as they wonder who would even consider dressing up like a walker. There could be more of them, but right now, the plan is to keep moving. Sounds like a plan.
Michonne tells Daryl about how Judith found the newcomers and how the two of them vouch for them. That’s good enough for Daryl. She knows that it’ll mean a lot to the people at the Hilltop to bring back Jesus’ body so he can be buried. Daryl apologizes for not being able to do that for her, but she’s sorry it couldn’t be done for the both of them. She then thanks Daryl for trying to find him. You know who she’s talking about.
Magna, meanwhile, tells Aaron that she wishes she got to know Jesus sooner, as he sounded like a great guy. Aaron agrees, but also says that Jesus shouldn’t have been out in the first place. Even when Eugene tries to shoulder the blame, Aaron interrupts him, saying that Jesus made his own decisions. They all knew the risks of being out here. Maybe what happened was bound to happen.
Then Dog picks up something because of course it does: walkers are in the bushes. Though the survivors wonder if these are the original kind or original recipe. Eugene’s words, not mine, but that is very clever.
They confront the walkers on a bridge, with Daryl putting bolts in some to find out which ones are walkers and which are humans. When one cries out in pain, the walkers converge on the human in disguise. Before another of the humans in walker skin can strike, she’s quickly outnumbered and instantly surrenders.
Michonne unmasks her and it turns out to be a young girl, who says that the survivors killed all the others. Naturally, no one believes that. With other walkers approaching, there’s no time to talk this out, so Daryl decides that they’ll bring her with them. Why they don’t knock her out so she doesn’t know where they’re taking her to, I don’t know.
Back to Negan, who embraces seeing the sun and walking around in the outside world for the first time in years. As he stops for a snack, some walkers, including a burned one, interrupt his meal, but he takes care of them thanks to his handy shovel. He later drinks some water from a lake, but instantly regrets it when he spits it back up. He then deserts the shirt he borrowed from what I’m guessing is Rick’s wardrobe.
Michonne and company arrive at the Hilltop- and okay, they had the foresight to at least blindfold their captive- but of course, it’s the sight of Jesus’ dead body that gets everyone’s attention.
Naturally, they want answers. Tammy lets Tara know right away with since Jesus trusted her, everyone is looking to her for answers right now. More than that, people will want justice for Jesus’ death. Getting answers won’t be enough. When it’s time for justice, the people will look to Tara for that, too.
The prisoner is taken into the same area where Henry is staying, and Henry learns from Daryl that Jesus is dead. As for the prisoner, she soon faces her interrogators: Michonne and Tara.
Continuing with the Wandering Adventures of Negan, he enters an abandoned men’s clothing store, makes a sound to make sure he’s alone, and starts exploring the bargain deals. He helps himself to a leather jacket when it turns out that he’s got some company: three dogs. They give chase until Negan manages to hide on top of a shelf long enough for the dogs to get bored and leave.
Negan heads for a locked door and manages to force it open just as one of the dogs arrive. But then he runs right into a walker, who he throws into the building just as it can feast on the dog. Well, the dog didn’t have to come after Negan.
Elsewhere, Luke tells Alden all about his interest in music, which could be good for the upcoming fair. Luckily, Alden used to sing, so they could be a two-man band. If only. But then they spot an arrow embedded into a tree. As Luke grabs it, a walker- which is dragging another walker- approaches. Luke trips, but Alden tosses his spear into the walker, giving Luke the time he needs to down the attached roamer.
With that, Luke comes up with the name of this proposed two-man band: Symphony of Awesome. Upon further examination, Luke realizes that this arrow belongs to Yumiko. As he finds another one, he believes that she’s leaving a trail for them, though Alden thinks that maybe it could just be a few stray shots. Well, if Alden is wrong, he has to sing at the fair.
Then Alden spots a herd heading south. If the two of them are caught on the wrong side of it, they’ll be here until morning.
So Michonne continues to question the prisoner about the number of others out there dressed as walkers. But the girl reiterates that they’re all dead, including her family. As for her real name, she doesn’t have one. None of them do because that’s not how it works. Daryl asks why they wear walker skins, and it’s apparently what these people did to live. They were just trying to see if they were good people, too.
I’m growing tired of this prisoner playing the pronoun game. But anyway, then Michonne’s people attacked. Michonne asks what this prisoner’s grew knew about them, but apparently no one filled this girl in on the plans.
Naturally, Michonne doesn’t trust a word of this, but they’ll try to pry answers out of the prisoner in the morning. It’ll have to be done without Michonne- she’s headed back to Alexandria, as she can’t risk them not knowing about this back home. Tara thanks Michonne for helping and promises that the newcomers have a home at the Hilltop. It is Tara’s call, after all.
Daryl assures Michonne that even though keeping the girl at the Hilltop is a risk, he’ll get her to talk. If she doesn’t, Daryl knows what to do.
Not far from here, Siddiq patches up Eugene, who tells Rosita that he was afraid she didn’t make it back. He’s upset about Jesus, yes, but he’d be another level of sad if something had happened to Rosita. Before Eugene can sputter out how he really feels about Rosita, she heads off. You probably should just get to the point next time, Eugene.
Anyway, after getting a shot of Rosita puking- because that’s what we needed- Siddiq comes outside and offers to run some tests, since her body has been through a lot lately. But apparently it’s not that. It has to do with the fun that the two of them had before Rosita’s thing with Gabriel. Yes, Rosita is pregnant. Also, Eugene hears this conversation from inside the trailer. Again, should’ve gotten to the point, Eugene.
Henry, out of his cell, talks with Daryl, who asks what the hell he was thinking in regards to his behavior. He wasn’t, but the fresh air is at least helping. But he shouldn’t get used to it, because he’ll be right back in his cell in two minutes. Luckily, he’s only got one more night. Henry is apologetic, but he wants to find his place. He knew who he was at the Kingdom, but who is he at the Hilltop?
You’re surrogate Carl Grimes, that’s who you are, Henry.
But back to our wandering Savior leader. It’s home, sweet home as Negan finally arrives back at the now abandoned Sanctuary. He whistles in the traditional Savior way, but no one is here.
He does hear a noise, and it turns out to be a walker who Negan apparently remembers as “Big Richie.” He admires Richie’s loyalty to the end.
We don’t get to see their conversation, though, as we return to the Hilltop. As Aaron helps Michonne pack for her journey back, he admits that she was right all along. Alexandria and the Hilltop, respectively, have everything that they need. As such, they should remain inside and protect what and who they have. He apologizes for not realizing this until now.
Daryl and Dog arrive from a sleeping spot that Dog picked when Michonne tells him that Alden and Luke should’ve been back by now. It could be nothing, but it could also be something. Michonne, that’s not a hunch. When Michonne asks what Daryl will do with the prisoner, he asks why this is up to him. Michonne believes that Daryl is the best judge of character that she knows. Without Jesus or Maggie, the Hilltop needs Daryl.
Yes, Tara is smart, but Michonne doesn’t believe that Tara needs to do that alone. Bringing Jesus’ body back will help the Hilltop residents move on, but after that, it’s about doing whatever it takes to not bury more.
With no one else there to help him, Negan sets a few shelves and couches back up at the Sanctuary. Even still, the leader is on his own. He heads outside with his pipe and sees that other walkers have streamed into the Sanctuary. One by one, he downs them all except for Big Richie. He has to stay outside.
When Negan heads back in and examines the big, empty building, he pulls out Judith’s locket. So he lets Richie inside so he can put him down for good.
Back at the Hilltop, while Michonne and her crew head back to Alexandria, the rest of the community has gathered together to say goodbye to Jesus.
But not Daryl. He heads to the cellar and demands the prisoner tell him who she is. He also reminds her that the people outside just buried a good man and they’re looking for blood. All Daryl has to do is drag her ass out. When Daryl seizes her by the neck, she confesses that there were 10 of them. They wear skins to blend in, but don’t use their names. They move with the dead and the skins prevent the walkers from attacking.
This group has no need for walls, though, as walls don’t keep you safe. Places like this don’t make it happen. This girl and her mother saw it happen many times. She barely remembers the world, but her mother told her how it was changing and how they had to change with it. They needed the dead to keep each other safe. As for why her people attacked the survivors, that was always the plan.
It’s just what people do, right? It’s us or them, as far as she’s concerned. Daryl again asks the girl how many people are in her group, and he wants the truth this time. It doesn’t help that he’s pointing a blade at her. It’s apparently just her mother, and the girl doesn’t want the survivors looking for her, as she’s just one woman out there alone. But then, the girl already said that this group is never alone.
She was at the cemetery, but she apparently got separated. Daryl isn’t convinced. He’s ready to drag the prisoner outside, but soon relents and just locks her back in her cell. Instead, he goes over to Henry and reminds him that he was supposed to keep quiet. He tells him that his place is right where he is in his cell, for as long as it takes for him to figure out who he is.
As Daryl leaves, the girl eventually thanks Henry for saving her. But Henry responds that he had to, as he couldn’t let Daryl drag her out there to die. When Henry introduces himself by name, the girl finally introduces herself as Lydia, played by Cassady McClincy. As it turns out, Daryl is outside, listening to this conversation unfold…
Okay, now this was unexpected. Negan hits the road on a motorcycle when, out of nowhere, Judith stands in his way on the road. She opens fire, causing him to crash on the side of the road. She tells him that there are a lot people looking for him and reminds him there was nothing out here for him.
Negan returns Judith’s compass and agrees to return to Alexandria because, after a trip to the Sanctuary, he decides that there really is nothing left for him. Not anymore. But what then, Judith asks. Well, Negan will let her know once he knows.
First off, what? Second, the hell?
Fine, whatever. At the Hilltop, Magna joins Enid, who tells her that she’s glad to have her as part of the team now. As for why Enid is here, she’s got Alden on her mind, but she’s not sure what to call her thing with him right now. Luckily, Luke is a survivor, so he and Alden should be fine.
Speaking of, as Luke and Alden find another of Yumiko’s arrows, they spot a walker approaching them. As Luke goes in, the walker just…stops dead in its tracks. Before the two can process this, they realize that they are surrounded by many “walkers” staring them down.
One of them approaches, tosses down Yumiko’s arrow, and points a gun at the two, telling them that the trail ends here.
It certainly does. We’re back in the world of The Walking Dead and luckily we don’t spend the entirety of the episode just dealing with Jesus’ death. The mystery of the people in walker skins is slowly unraveled, alliances are adjusted, the power structure changes, and Negan sees what life is like in the great outdoors.
Actually, I want to start there because the moments with Negan were, for my money, the best part of the episode. Like the episode’s title, Negan has to do a lot of adaptation in a world that has moved on without him being a part of it. We see him struggle to grow used to being his old self, at least when he’s at the Sanctuary. A life of solitude at his old stomping grounds provides him nothing but loneliness.
We see through his eyes just how much the Sanctuary has changed. What was once a thriving complex filled with workers and survivors is now a ghost town. Negan may be home, but there’s no heart there anymore. Negan may be a free man, but there’s nothing left for him in his familiar territory. I like how these moments play out.
Negan doesn’t lash out at the world or have some huge breakdown. His scenes are slow, methodical, and are allowed to breathe as we take in the world alongside Negan. He’s out of his cell, but he has no way to follow.
At least, not until he heads back to Alexandria…and right into Judith. Right, was she just out there, looking for him? Anyway, these two have great chemistry. Judith is a kid, but Negan doesn’t talk down to her. He sees her pretty much as an equal, and her being Rick’s daughter serves as a reminder of Negan’s past life. Plus, Judith can go toe-to-toe with Negan in a war with words.
Kind of like Carl, Negan has a bond with Judith that can’t be replicated with someone like Rick or Michonne. Not that he’s trying to mold or impress Judith- he did help with her math homework, after all- but he sees her as a friend. The feeling might not be mutual, but I enjoy the connection that these two have and hope to see more of it. Plus, I’m curious what awaits Negan now that people know about his escape.
We’ll deal with that later. Daryl as the reluctant leader feels like the logical choice for his character arc. As Michonne said, he’s a good choice of character, and that’s pretty accurate. As standoffish as Daryl is, he can tell when someone is a good or bad person at heart. He doesn’t want to lead, but he may be forced into this position with Jesus’ death.
Without saying it, he’s always looking out for the interests of others. He was the one who never stopped looking for Sophia, and here, he’s never stopped looking for Rick. Even though his name isn’t stated and while it’s been years since he vanished, Rick is still very present not just in everyone’s lives, but the legacy that he’s left. But Daryl keeps up hope that he can be found.
He’s adapting to a life without Rick, and like Aaron, he’s taking on some of those responsibilities, such as when he confronts and interrogates Lydia. Unlike Michonne and Tara, I’m glad that Daryl cuts out the bullshit and tells Lydia that the Hilltop residents are ready to see her dead. He’s forceful, but effective in his execution.
Plus, he’s still getting information out of Lydia when Henry struck up a conversation with her. I have to wonder if this was part of Daryl’s plan. As if he knew that Henry would try to stick up for Lydia as a way to find his place. So instead of Daryl just getting fed up with Lydia and leaving to try again later, he stuck around to eavesdrop on the conversation. So he learns about Lydia without having to ask the questions himself.
Admittedly, it’s the only thing that can be done with Henry at the moment since he’s trying to find out who he is at the Hilltop. At the Kingdom, he had more of a purpose, but if his past actions with those other kids were any indication, he’s got a long time before he adjusts to life here. Again, he’s adapting to a new environment.
I’m not a huge fan of Henry taking on comic Carl’s storyline, but hey, what are you gonna do? The show’s already killed off Carl and Rick isn’t around, so I guess they have to supplant those roles somehow.
Sticking with adapting at the Hilltop, now Tara is in the position of being next in line to lead. She’d been encouraging Jesus to step up and be in charge, and now those responsibilities fall to her. At least, until Maggie comes back, anyway. Tara has what it take, yes, but like Jesus, she’ll need someone at her side to help, and that may where Daryl comes into play.
Plus, I think this could be the one time where Tara is officially in a position of leadership. She’s always had a voice and been involved with big decisions, but never the leader. So it will be interesting seeing her adapt to this sudden shift.
Jesus’ death has also caused a death in Aaron, who now agrees with Michonne that everyone should stick to protecting their own communities. One would hope that this doesn’t wall everyone off from one another, especially with this fair coming soon. As we progress through this season, we’re gonna hear more about that fair, so look forward to that. Comic readers, you know what I’m talking about.
Briefly on Rosita and Siddiq. So they’re an item, and this started apparently when Rosita was with Gabriel? Well, okay. A bit out of left field, but it is true to a similar moment in the comics, so there’s that. As far as the show goes, though, it would be nice to get an explanation for when Rosita jumped from Gabriel to Siddiq.
Also, nice as it is that Eugene cares so deeply for Rosita, he had plenty of opportunities to tell her about how he felt. But at the same time, she doesn’t seem to share those feelings for him.
Finally, we have Alden and Luke working together in the woods. It’s nice that the two have a moment to bond, but now they’ve also run into the people disguised as walkers. It’s a good way to end the episode and leave us with more intrigue in regards to this new threat. You can bet that they’ll be paying the Hilltop a visit soon.
All in all, a pretty good return for The Walking Dead. The moments with Negan in isolation were strong and the death of Jesus has shifted things around between the Hilltop and Alexandria. However, the new threat in the form of humans dressed as walkers is something the survivors have not faced before. How will they combat this? And what of Lydia? We’ll find out in the weeks to come. See you next time.
This entry was posted in The Walking Dead and tagged Aaron, Alanna Masterson, Alden, AMC, Angel Theory, Avi Nash, Brett Butler, Caily Fleming, Callan McAuliffe, Cassady McClincy, Christian Serratos, Dan Fogler, Danai Gurira, Daryl Dixon, Dianne, Earl Sutton, Eleanor Matsuura, Enid, Eugene Porter, Greg Nicotero, Gustavo Gomez, Henry, Jed, Jesus, John Finn, Josh McDermitt, Judith Grimes, Katelyn Nacon, Kerry Cahill, Lauren Ridloff, Lydia, Marco, Matt Lintz, Michael E. Satrazemis, Michonne, Nadia Hilker, Norman Reedus, Rosita Espinosa, Ross Marquand, Siddiq, Tamara Austin, Tammy Rose, Tara, The Walking Dead, Tom Payne by omarid513. Bookmark the permalink.
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Open RvR Guide
Revision as of 15:46, 29 January 2017 by Razielhell (talk | contribs)
The system currently in use on Return of Reckoning is an iterative attempt to refine 1.4.8 Age of Reckoning RvR mechanics. It is based around controlling Battlefield Objectives, which spawn supplies which can be returned to your keep to improve its rank, allowing you access to siege weapons to take down the opposing realm's keep.
This page will aim to cover gameplay mechanics, and not the reward mechanisms for RvR.
1 Keeps
1.1 Keep Doors
1.2 Keep Rank
2 Battlefield Objectives
2.1 Locking
2.2 Supply Line / Active Pairing
2.3 Supplies
3 Siege Weapons
3.1 Towing/Carrying
3.2 Types
3.3 Cannons
3.4 Artillery
3.5 Rams
3.6 Oil
In any contestable zone in Tiers 2, 3 and 4, there are two keeps. Each realm controls one keep, and a zone is won by a realm when they capture the enemy's keep.
Keep Doors
The entrance to a keep is barred by doors. These doors are highly resilient and cannot be damaged by attacks from players or creatures. Siege weaponry is required to break them.
If a door receives damage, the keep will enter an "attacked" state. During this time, the keep is considered "unsafe" and no repairs will be made to the door by the keep itself. To repair a door that is under attack, it is necessary to return supplies to the keep, which will be used on repairing the door.
While a keep is unsafe, any damaged door cannot be opened. Thus it is only allowed to enter and exit a keep which is unsafe through the postern doors or an undamaged main door.
If a keep has not been subject to assault for a certain period, the keep will attempt to return to its "safe" state. During this state, the keep will attempt to consume supplies to repair any damage issued to its doors or replace any destroyed doors. If not enough supplies are available, the keep will remain unsafe until there are enough supplies to fully restore the doors.
Keep Rank
Each keep has a rank, which is advanced by returning supplies to that keep or to the warcamp. This rank controls the resilience of the keep door against cannon fire, the number of siege weapons the keep can support on the field, and the delivery rate of replacement siege weapons. A rank requires both a certain level of supplies in reserve (indicated by a yellow bar above the keep) and enough players on either the allied or the enemy realm to satisfy the rank population requirement.
Ranks can be lost as well as gained. If supplies have not been returned to a keep within 10 minutes of the last delivery (or a shorter period if the keep's rank is above 0), or the population of both realms falls too low, the keep will consume reserve supplies to sustain itself at a rate of 10% per minute. If not enough supplies are available in the bar to satisfy the upkeep, the keep's rank will fall.
Battlefield Objectives
Controlling Battlefield Objectives causes supplies to be delivered there for your realm. The supply regeneration state of a Battlefield Objective is indicated on the RvR tracker by an outline.
The lock timer for a Battlefield Objective depends upon the current population levels and the relative population between the realms. An outnumbered realm has shorter lock timers. If the population is high, lock timers decrease.
Supply Line / Active Pairing
Under this system, only one pairing in a tier will receive supply deliveries. This pairing is the active pairing and is displayed to players on login and when it is determined. To mark a pairing as active, two Battlefield Objectives must be captured. When this happens, the remaining objectives are divided such that each realm holds two objectives, and the objectives will lock for 10 minutes. Supplies will then spawn.
A pairing remains the active pairing until it experiences a zone lock, at which point the next pairing can be determined in the same manner.
Supplies may be returned to the keep (or to the return flag outside the warcamp in T4) in order to rank it up. Players pick up supplies from Battlefield Objectives by interacting with them. While carrying supplies, players are indicated by a realm-colored beam of light.
The value of supplies depends upon the following factors:
Rank of the keep.
Number of players present in the area, to a limit which depends on the current keep rank. The more players are present, the more deliveries are worth.
The internal population imbalance scaler (referred to as internal or delayed AAO.)
Distance of the host Battlefield Objective from the target. Supplies from further away are worth more.
Destination. Supplies returned via the warcamp have a 35% transportation penalty.
It is permitted to mount while carrying supplies. However, taking supplies out of the RvR area will result in a warning, and the supplies will decay if they are held for too long outside of the area.
Supplies can be dropped when a player is attacked. The base chance to drop supplies is 50%. This value is reduced by 25% if you are Guarded, and is further reduced by 5% for every group member within 100 feet of you. A 6 man group with a Guarded carrier will therefore not drop supplies when hit. A player may interact with dropped supplies to steal them, becoming the new carrier. If dropped supplies are not claimed quickly enough, they will decay.
When supplies decay or are returned, fresh supplies will be available at the Battlefield Objective in 2 minutes.
A player and his group will be rewarded with XP, Renown and Medallions upon delivering supplies. The value is based upon the value of the supplies, and is constant for every group member: a solo player, members of a 2 man group and members of a 6 man group will all receive the same reward.
Siege weapons can be bought from your realm's Foreman, located underneath the outer oil deploy point for the keep. A siege weapon need only be bought once; it acts as a requisitioning tool, asking your realm to deliver the weapon in question for you.
In order to deploy a siege weapon, the following conditions must be satisfied:
You are within a certain radius of an allied keep.
The keep has a weapon of that type in reserve for you to use. The cap and rate of delivery for siege weapons varies with keep rank.
Towing/Carrying
All siege weapons except oil are movable - either by towing (wheeled) or by carrying (tripod / static). To tow or carry a siege weapon, mount and then right-click it. To deploy it, dismount and then right-click it while on foot.
While towing a siege weapon, you will move more slowly, but you cannot be dismounted.
The following siege weapons are available:
Cannons inflict high damage to players and to other siege weapons. They inflict minor damage to doors. They come in two types: single target and line-attack. The Dwarf and Chaos cannons are purely single target, but inflict double damage. The other four cannons and ballistae perform a line attack, striking all targets along the cannon's shot vector.
The damage of an artillery weapon increases the more enemies are concentrated around the spot at which it is fired. Artillery weapons inflict a stacking snare (suppression/pin) if enough targets are in the area, and the effectiveness of this snare increases further if the density of players is exceptional.
Artillery weapons cannot hit a target if there is no arc of effect to the target. You must be able to see the attack spot or have an arc of effect to it to fire.
Rams are the only real means of destroying a door, dealing damage equal to 2.5% of the door's hit points per full swing. A ram must be towed to the enemy keep door, and will automatically align itself when deployed within range.
Rams block player ranged fire and are resistant to artillery, and when deployed, cannon fire as well. They are weak against melee attacks, especially those dealt from great weapons. A ram which is on the move will also suffer more damage from cannon fire.
In order to deploy a ram, you must be in a guild. If in Tier 4, your guild must be at least Rank 20.
Oil performs in the same manner it did on Age of Reckoning.
Guide is made by Azarael ( Return of Reckoning Core Developer )
Retrieved from "https://wiki.returnofreckoning.com/index.php?title=Open_RvR_Guide&oldid=328"
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U.S. urges immediate halt to military operations in Libya
Libyan National Army (LNA) members, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, head out of Benghazi to reinforce the troops advancing to Tripoli, in Benghazi, Libya April 7, 2019. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States called on Sunday for an immediate halt to military operations in Libya as the Libyan National Army headed by Khalifa Haftar advanced on the capital, Tripoli.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that Washington was “deeply concerned about fighting near Tripoli” and urged talks to end the fighting.
“We have made clear that we oppose the military offensive by Khalifa Haftar’s forces and urge the immediate halt to these military operations against the Libyan capital,” Pompeo said in urging de-escalation.
Eleven people were killed and 23 wounded in clashes in southern Tripoli, the Health Ministry of the U.N.-backed Libyan government of National Accord said late on Sunday. The ministry gave no details of whether the casualties were civilians or fighters.
Lawless since 2011 when Muammar Gaddafi was toppled by rebels backed by NATO air strikes, Libya has become the transit point for hundreds of thousands of migrants trekking across the Sahara in hopes of crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
Haftar, 75, who casts himself as a foe of Islamist extremism but is viewed by opponents as a new dictator in the mold of Gaddafi, enjoys the backing of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which see him as a bulwark against Islamists and have supported him militarily, according to U.N. reports.
Haftar’s forces carried out air strikes on southern Tripoli on Sunday and made progress toward the city center, residents said.
The offensive, which began last week, intensifies a power struggle that has fractured the oil and gas producer.
The fighting has taken the United Nations by surprise and undermined plans to find agreement on a road map for elections to resolve the protracted instability in Libya.
Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Peter Cooney
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Mnuchin says Facebook must enact proper safeguards against illicit use, money laundering
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Saudi Arabia to support indebted Lebanon, say ex-PMs after meeting king
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Home / Legal News / Evers chooses 14 lawyers, 1 law professor for judicial selection committee
Evers chooses 14 lawyers, 1 law professor for judicial selection committee
By: Erika Strebel, erika.strebel@wislawjournal.com April 16, 2019 12:52 pm
Gov. Tony Evers on Monday announced his picks for a committee that interviews and recommends candidates for appointments to judicial vacancies.
The committee includes the following members:
Jeanne Armstrong, a litigation attorney at Middleton-based Fuhrman & Dodge;
Christine Bremer Muggli, chief shareholder of Bremer & Trollop Law Offices in Wausau and past president of the Wisconsin Association for Justice, the state plaintiff’s bar association;
Truscenialyn Brooks, a labor and employment, commercial-litigation and patent-litigation lawyer at Perkins Coie;
Michael Brose, a civil litigator who focuses on personal injury law at Doar, Drill & Skow in New Richmond;
Kristen Hardy, legal counsel at Rockwell Automation, Inc. and president of the Wisconsin Association of African-American Lawyers;
Rebeca López, an employment attorney with Godfrey & Kahn;
Craig Mastantuono, a criminal defense attorney and partner at Mastantuono & Coffee;
Ryan Nilsestuen (co-chair), Evers’ chief legal counsel and former chief legal counsel for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction;
Odalo Ohiku, founder of the Law Office of Odalo J. Ohiku in Milwaukee and a trained mediator and arbitrator;
Deputy State Public Defender Jon Padgham, who has been a public defender since 1996 and previously was manager of the SPD’s Appleton/Green Bay region;
Trempealeau County District Attorney John Sacia of Galesville, who has served his county as a prosecutor since 2015;
Miriam Seifter, an assistant professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, former litigator and former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit;
Dana Wachs, a civil litigator and partner at Gingras, Cates, and Wachs. He represented Eau Claire for six years in the Wisconsin State Assembly;
Benjamin Wagner, a civil trial lawyer and a shareholder at Habush, Habush & Rottier S.C.; and
MaiVue Xiong, a partner at Weld Riley in Eau Claire, where she practices in business, real estate, copyright and trademark, and banking law.
Follow @erikastrebel
12:52 pm Tue, April 16, 2019 Wisconsin Law Journal - WI Legal News & Resources
Previous: Evers seeking applications for Milwaukee County Register of Deeds
Next: Kaul, lawmakers propose uniform rape-testing protocol
About Erika Strebel, erika.strebel@wislawjournal.com
Erika Strebel is the law beat reporter for the Wisconsin Law Journal and a law school student at UW-Madison. She can be reached at 414-225-1825.
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Tag Archives: before tanning became chic 1924 ads
To Tan or Not to Tan 1920s – 1930s
Elizabeth I, detail of the “Rainbow Portrait” in Hatfield House; image via wikimedia commons
Three centuries after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, American women still believed that beautiful skin should be pale.
Advertisement, 1917. “So tanned, so colorless …. However unattractive exposure to the summer sun may have made” your face….
“Fair and tender ladies” with “peaches and cream” complexions — that was the fashion ideal promulgated for thousands of years, and not just in Europe. (Click here for the disturbing “White Skin: A Chinese Obsession.”
“So tanned, so colorless — What shall she do?” Ad from Ladies’ Home Journal, 1917. Advertisement for Woodbury soap.
Then came the nineteen twenties…. When chic American and European women wanted to be sun-tanned.
“Sun-tan makes Maybelline more necessary than ever!” Ad for eye makeup, Delineator, July 1929, p. 81.
One of the many bizarre ideals of beauty — one that has given pain to as many women as the fashions for impossibly thin bodies or bound feet — is the crazy idea that beauty requires a light or pale skin tone. The Ancient Egyptians and Etruscans often portrayed women in a lighter shade of paint than men. “The feminine ideal during the Han period (2000 years ago) for women of the court was almost unearthly white, white skin. Moon-like roundish faces, long black hair,” writes Ann Rose Kitagawa. Cosmetics that were supposed to lighten your skin have been around for thousands of years. For women of color, there are plenty of depressing vintage ads for preparations that are supposed to lighten or bleach your skin. (And plenty of modern ones, too….)
“The Greeks favored light complexions, which they maintained using white lead. This was later replaced by chalk powder (around 1000 BCE) due to the many deaths caused by slow lead poisoning.” [White lead, which was also used in cosmetics by the Elizabethans, is a form of arsenic.]— read more at annmariegianni.com.
At a time when almost all people worked out of doors (that is, for most of human history,) tanned skin was the mark of a peasant, and lighter skin the mark of higher social status: the educated, the administrators, and the aristocrats. This idea was turned upside down between the 1920’s and the 1930’s, when more people worked indoors, and only wealthy people could afford to vacation at beach resorts during the winter months. Suddenly, a winter tan became a status symbol for Americans and Europeans, influencing dress, as explained in this 1929 magazine article:
“Tan Takes its Turn as a Maker of Fashion.” Article in Delineator magazine, February, 1929, p. 25.
This article even mentions artificial tanning: “Last summer’s tan, acquired on the Lido or American Beaches, conserved during the winter months with a sun machine and ready to deepen now at Palm Beach or Bermuda…,” could be maintained with a tanning lamp like this one.
“Now you can afford Ultra-Violet sunshine;” ad for a Health Developer Twin-Arc Tanning Lamp, 1929.
Ad for National Health Appliance Corp. tanning lamp, 1929.
To be fair, the “health” claims were related to the relatively recent discovery of Vitamin D, its part in calcium absorption, and the need for sunshine to prevent the bone-deforming disease, rickets, in children. But the sunlamp was undoubtedly as much a fashion item as a health item in 1929.
It’s not surprising that women were confused in the late twenties and early thirties — To tan, or not to tan? [Personal note: I am very pale, as California girls go, but my mother, who prized her extremely white skin, was terribly disappointed that her little girl was not as fair-skinned as she was. Apparently, some women who lived through this “tan/not tan” era were never enthusiastic about the new fashion.]
Even in the thirties, not every fair-skinned woman chose to get a tan. Two blondes in a story illustration from Woman’s Home Companion, Jan. 1936.
I was amused to find these two ads facing each other in the pages of Delineator in 1924, before tanning became chic.
Left, an ad suggesting a remedy for sunburn; right, an ad for a skin bleaching cream. Delineator, Aug. 1924.
Nadinola “whitens the skin to milky purity. It bleaches freckles, sun-tan and wind-tan.”
Absorbine, Jr. promised that “the next day,” users would have “only a slightly deeper coat of tan as a reminder of the day’s sport.” In 1924, getting a tan was an accident that called for a remedy like Nadinola Bleaching Cream, which promised “The Lure of Southern Loveliness.” [Hmmmm.]
In 1928, the unlucky girl who accidentally got a tan could buy Gouraud’s Oriental Cream to cover it up:
“A Sunproof Complexion” — or the illusion of one — could be applied with a bottle of Oriental Cream, which “renders an entrancing film of pearly beauty….” Ad, July 1928.
Text of ad for Gouraud’s Oriental Cream, a face and body makeup which covered up a tan, and theoretically prevented one. “You appearance will not be blemished by the sun or wind.” Delineator, July 1928.
Bottom of ad for Gouraud’s Oriental Cream, which seems to be a liquid body makeup. July 1928. Delineator.
Apparently a liquid body makeup, Oriental Cream was available in “White, Flesh and Rachel.” “Rachel” was a dark-ish makeup color for olive or tanned complexions. Here is a “don’t fear the beach, use Apex Bleach” ad aimed at women of color in the 1920’s.
[I can’t read “Flesh” color without thinking about comedian and civil rights leader Dick Gregory‘s sixties’ joke (I’m paraphrasing from memory) that he really thought we were making progress towards racial equality — until he “tried to buy a flesh colored bandaid.” Dick Gregory opened some windows in my little, white world. And guess what? — that joke is still valid.]
However, by 1929 suntanned faces and bodies were in style, according to fashion magazines:
Beginning of article about fashions and colors to flatter a suntan in Delineator, February, 1929.
Notice the references to American and European resorts: Palm Beach, Antibes, the Lido (Venice), Bermuda…. French resorts like Deauville and Biarritz– where Chanel started her rise to eminence — were part of the phenomenon. “It has become smart to look healthy, smart to go in for tan, and smart to dress expressly for it.”
A sports suit with “sunburn back” used white with vivid colors to compliment the tan. Delineator, Feb. 1929. Her back is bare, but wrinkled by the model’s pose.
“Even the southern evening frock is deliberately more decollete than ever so as to reveal the extent of the day’s tan.”
“The necessity of being true to your tan and its outline,” e.g., U shaped, V shaped or square-shaped, is important, since your bathing suit line would dictate the other clothes you could wear to show off your tan. “Tan is truly the maker of fashion.”
A deep neckline in front and intense flower prints to go with a tan. Feb, 1929, Delineator.
Low-cut evening gowns also exposed your tan, front and back.
Evening gown in blue chiffon, Delineator, Feb. 1929. It “Follows the design of the sports suit” with the very deep “sunburn” back.
That’s not to say that women were not conflicted by contradictory advertising.
Top image from an ad for Golden Peacock Bleach cream. July 1931.
Ad for Golden Peacock skin bleaching cream, July 1931. “Ten nights — and you’ll be a ravishing, fair skinned beauty!”
Note that these skin bleach ads from Delineator magazine were primarily aimed at women with Caucasian/European ancestry. Many other products that claimed to bleach or lighten skin were advertised to women with naturally dark complexions.
B. Vikki Vintage has written a well-illustrated review of Style & Status: Selling Beauty to African-American Women, 1920-1975 by Susannah Walker. Visit her blog here.
1929 ad for Hinds Honey Almond Cream. This extremely low-cut bathing suit matches some equally low cut evening dresses of the 1930’s. Click here.
“Sunshine in moderation is good. Severe sunburn, however, weathers the skin unmercifully. Does more than anything else to age it.” Ad for Hinds Cream.
“To prevent that fiery sunscorch in the first place, — before going on the beach, smooth on Hinds Cream, and powder over it.”
“Powder over it?” In 1931, Dorothy Gray offered a product that claimed to prevent sunburn by “absorbing ultra-violet rays.” (It probably did work better than powder over moisturizer):
Ad for Dorothy Gray sunscreen. July 1931. Note the peculiar suntan lines that will be caused by this swimsuit, which the model has obviously not worn before. Judging by her legs and midriff, she tanned her arms and upper back while wearing a dress.
Text of Dorothy Gray Sunburn Cream ad, July 1931. $2.00 was not an insignificant amount of money. In 1924 and in 1936, a working woman paid about $20 per month for a rented room.
The fashion for tanning was not necessarily long, or universal, and like all fads … It faded.
Illustration from “Keeping Up and Making Up,” Delineator, June 1934. Dark tan in 1932, lighter tan in 1933, and a big beach hat and cover-up in 1934.”When Skins Change Their Color, It’s News.”
“News” seems to suggest that very deep tans were losing their cachet by 1934. But this cartoon from 1936 contradicts it — at least for an English humorist:
“Don’t worry, darling. You’ll look quite respectable in a day or two.” Punch magazine cartoon from 1936, in The Way to Wear’em, by Christina Walkley.
I’m afraid, from the dismay on the dark-suited girl’s face, that the cartoonist did not agree that a dark tan was “respectable.” The old “peasants versus aristocrats” stereotype had not died.
Sadly, millions of women in third-world countries are still using skin bleach products that contain mercury and other toxic ingredients in the quest for lighter skin. Click here to read The Global Phenomenon of Skin Bleaching: A Crisis in Public Health.
Filed under 1900s to 1920s, 1920s, 1920s-1930s, A Costumers' Bookshelf, Bathing Suits, Cosmetics, Beauty Products, Costumes for the 17th Century, Musings, Old Advertisements & Popular Culture, Sportswear, Swimsuits
Tagged as 1920s fashions, 1920s styles, 1929 ad for Hinds Honey Almond Cream, 1930s fashions, Absorbine Jr for sunburn 1924 ad, ad for a Health Developer Twin-Arc Tanning Lamp 1929, Ad for Dorothy Gray sunscreen ad 1931, ad for Golden Peacock Bleach cream 1931, ad for Gouraud's Oriental Cream a face and body makeup which covered up a tan, Ad for Maybelline eye makeup for tan 1929, Advertisement for Woodbury soap 1917, afternoon frock dress 1920s 1929, Ann Rose Kitagawa, Apex skin bleach ad 1920s, artificial sun lamp tanning lamp machine 1929 ad, artificial tanning 1920s twenties, B. Vikki Vintage, backless dress frock 1920s, beauty myth skin color history fair pale complexion, before tanning became chic 1924 ads, bizarre ideals of beauty, by 1929 suntanned faces and bodies were in style, cartoon about tans 1920s 1930s, Christina Walkley, Dick Gregory bandaid color joke, Dorothy Gray ad 1931 product that claimed to prevent sunburn by "absorbing ultra-violet rays, early ad for sunscreen produck dorothy gray 1931, Elizabeth Rainbow Portrait, fashion for tanning fades 1934, fashion history, fashions and colors to flatter a suntan 1929, feminine ideal during the Han period makeup, four piece pajama suit skirt or trousers 1920 1920s, Golden Peacock skin bleaching cream 1931 thirties, Gouraud's Oriental Cream ad 1928 twenties, Hattie Carnegie 1920s twenties, idea that light skin is beautiful history, lighter skin the mark of higher social status history, liquid body makeup Gourauds Oriental Cream, Lucile Babcock fashion journalist writer, lure of southern lovliness in ad nadinola 1924, mercury in skin lighteners bleaches, Nadinola Bleaching Cream ad 1924, National Health Appliance Corp tanning lamp ad 1929, Palm Beach tan 1929, powder to prevent sunburn 1929 ad, rachael makeup color, resorts 1920s suntan tan fashion, reversible coat jacket 1920s 1930s, review of Style & Status Selling Beauty to African-American Women 1920-1975 by Susannah Walker, skin bleach products that contain mercury and other toxic ingredients, skin bleach skin lightener vintage ads, sports suit with sunburn back, sun machine tanning lamp ultra-violet lamp 1929 1920s twenties, Sunproof Complexion ad 1928, sunscortch sunburn prevention ad 1929, suntan fashion 1929 1920s twenties, swagger coat 1929 1920 twenties, tanned skin was the mark of a peasant, The Way to Wear'Em, thirties clothing, thirties fashion, twenties dress, twenties fashions, Two blondes pale tan in a story illustration from Woman's Home Companion 1936, ultra-violet lamp 1929 ad, very low back bathing suit 1929, vintage ads for preparations that are supposed to lighten or bleach your skin 1920s, vitamins sunshine rickets, When Skins Change Their Color It's News 1934, white lead in makeup, winter tan became a status symbol 1928 1929 1930s twenties, women in a lighter shade of paint than men, your tan and its outline 1920s 1930s fashions
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NewsNational News
Hurricane Florence could swing toward US east coast
Posted: 3:14 PM, Sep 06, 2018
Copyright Getty Images
<p>Hurricane Florence, the first major hurricane of the year, could pose a threat to the US East Coast.</p>
Hurricane Florence has weakened some but will likely strengthen again into a major hurricane and could threaten the US East Coast by next week.
On Wednesday, Florence became the first major hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic season, with maximum sustained winds peaking at 130 mph, making it a Category 4 hurricane , according to the National Hurricane Center .
Track the storm
But increased wind shear over the open Atlantic -- the hurricane is more than 1,700 miles from the East Coast -- has weakened Florence to a Category 1 storm, with 80 mph winds as of 5 p.m. Thursday.
Wind shear will lessen over the weekend, and Florence should regain major hurricane intensity (Category 3 or greater) by early next week -- as the storm moves northwest, getting closer to the US coastline by the day.
It's too early to tell if the storm will make landfall somewhere on the East Coast, or if it will turn harmlessly back to sea.
Still, there are some troubling signs in the major computer models that meteorologists use to predict hurricane tracks a week or more in advance.
The European and American models have shifted westward in the past two days, consistently showing a menacing hurricane coming dangerously close to the Eastern Seaboard.
There are dozens of different models and versions of forecast tracks that meteorologists have among their forecasting tools, and a majority still show the center of Florence staying offshore -- but most track it close enough to cause some impact next week.
Florence should track south of Bermuda early next week but will be close enough to bring gusty winds and dangerous surf conditions. Large swells will also begin affecting the Southeastern US coastlines, with larger waves and rough surf as early as this weekend, increasing through next week.
Florence's track will depend on the development and movement of a number of weather systems as the storm gets steered by a large ridge of high pressure in the Eastern United States and northern Atlantic as well as the progress of a low pressure trough across the country.
But East Coast residents can feel reassured about one thing: More than 75 storms have passed within 200 miles of Florence's current location in the Atlantic since hurricane records began in the 1850s, and not a single one made a US landfall.
Even if Florence stays out to sea, models show other systems developing over the Atlantic, almost on cue as the hurricane season hits its peak Monday. The eight weeks around then often are prime time for the conditions that fuel powerful storms.
The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a couple of other tropical waves in the eastern Atlantic that it says are likely to develop into tropical storms in the next several days.
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Discovery OC
By Greg
The Orange County Register has launched yet another new project (how do they have time to publish a paper?). This one, Discover OC is a travel Web site for Orange County. But get this — it’s not about fleeing Orange County, it’s about travel inside the Orange Curtain borders.
As editor-in-cheif Ken Brusic says in his introduction to the site, “Bring along courage. It will take some to go back home after you’ve spent some time discovering Orange County.”
By which, we’re guessing, he’s referring to traffic on the 405.
http://adweek.it/2l05RaT
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Are You A Hootsuite Power User? [INFOGRAPHIC]
To celebrate reaching 1 million application installs, Hootsuite has released an infographic displaying a timeline, top apps, and the traits of a “power user.” But what exactly is a power user, and could you hold that title?
By Mary C. Long
If we’re being cynical about it, it’s just another set of metrics to convince you to install more Hootsuite apps — the idea being that you’ll become a “power user” and feel good about yourself. Well done. Have a gold star.
But at the same time, there’s still sense in understanding the meaning behind the concept. A “power user” has over 2000 followers and has installed ten or more apps. And we’re assuming you’re actually supposed to use these apps, and not just install them to unlock the “power user” achievement. Because that would be stupid.
Users who tick both these boxes have an average Klout score of 51. For those who don’t use Klout, the average score is 40 and anything over 63 puts you in the top 5% — so it’s safe to say that 51 is a decent score.
And although that sounds pretty good, it’s kind of obvious that all Klout really measures is how good you are at Klout. Again, it’s more metrics. Being mentioned a bunch of times on Twitter doesn’t really make you an influential person.
How’s that? Easy: If you did something, like, really bad online you’d probably get a lot of mentions — but they’d all be people flaming you. Same with retweets. Say something awful or stupid enough, and people will retweet it to shame you.
But we’re being cynical again. And to be honest, it’s hard not to be. Because there is some sense in this “power user” business — but it’s common sense. Have a lot of followers, make use of the apps and tools available, and you’ll win at Twitter.
Saying that, it’s only a matter of time before people start adding “Hootsuite power user” to their Twitter bios. I haven’t . . . yet. Will you? Check out the infographic below to see if you rate:
http://adweek.it/2jHjBpN
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Raymond James Ups Rating On Facebook Stock
Facebook got some more good news on Wall Street ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday), as Raymond James & Associates Analyst Aaron Kessler raised his rating on the social network’s stock to “outperform” from “market perform” and set a target price of $38 per share, matching the stock’s debut price.
By David Cohen
According to Forbes, Kessler also:
Increased his fourth-quarter revenue forecast for Facebook to $1.57 billion, slightly above the consensus figure of $1.5 billion.
Pegged non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) profit at 18 cents per share, above Wall Street’s estimate of 16 cents.
Projected fourth-quarter ad revenue at $1.35 billion, compared with the consensus of $1.28 billion.
Forbes reported that Kessler based his optimism about the social network on three factors:
Expectation for increased monetization, driven by mobile, new ad formats, and international.
Signs of improving usage trends, driven by mobile.
Expectations for upside to consensus estimates.
Readers: Do you think there will be any surprises in Wednesday’s earnings call?
http://adweek.it/2jGYrrH
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Experts outline benefits of boosting Arctic broadband; but some cite cultural ‘concern’
Tim Ellis, KUAC - Fairbanks
Members of a Monday broadband forum session discuss indigenous perspectives on Arctic broadband. From left, Patrick Savok, Northwest Arctic Borough; Ian Erlich, Invoke360; Larry Kaplan, UAF Alaska Native Language Center; Cheryl Stine, ASRC; Joshua Peter, Tanana Chiefs Conference; Debbie Brisebois, Inuit Broadcasting Corp.; Darrell Ohakannoak, Nunavut Broadband Development Corp.
(Tim Ellis/KUAC)
Participants in the Arctic Broadband Forum held this week at the University of Alaska Fairbanks got an update on the progress of a project that promises to bring high-speed internet to remote northern Alaskan communities. And while residents of those towns and villages overwhelmingly support plans to bring broadband into the area, some worry about the flood of Western culture that will come with greater access to the internet.
The head of the company that just completed the first phase of a fiber-optic cable system that brought must-faster internet connectivity to Prudhoe Bay said if all goes well, the company, Quintillion, will extend that broadband to five other northern Alaska communities as early as November.
“These markets are demanding service – and desperate for this service,” Quintillion CEO Elizabeth Pierce said. She said the broadband that her Anchorage-based company will offer to the local internet service providers will improve the quality of life for the residents of Utqiagvik, the city formerly known as Barrow, as well as Wainwright, Point Hope, Kotzebue and Nome.
“With broadband, you get access to education,” Pierce said. “And with education, you get access to well-paying jobs.”
Heather Hudson, an expert who’s studied the trend that has decimated the population of many indigenous communities in Canada, much as it has in Alaska, said broadband could also help generate economic activity in remote communities and offer young people an alternative to leaving the village for a job in the city.
“Unemployment is high – it’s very similar to Alaska,” Hudson said. “The cost of living is also high – similar to Alaska. And the population is young; half the people in Nunavut are under 25.”
Hudson is an affiliate professor with the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. She and others at the forum talked about how broadband would improve e-commerce, telemedicine and education. But some Alaska Natives and their indigenous counterparts in other Arctic nations worry about the downside of broadband.
“I just feel that high technology is good, y’know, but there’s a time and place that it should be used,” Steve Oomittuk said. Oomittuk is an elder in the northwest Alaska village of Point Hope. He said in an interview last year that he worries about broadband making it hard for young people to appreciate their indigenous culture.
“I try to let the younger people understand that they have an identity, that should never be forgotten,” Oomittuk said, “That (they) have a rich history, a rich culture.”
Many indigenous peoples worry about their youths losing interest in their language and traditions. And they fear broadband could aggravate that problem.
“There is concern. And there should be concern,” Cheryl Stine said. She’s the executive vice president of ASRC, the Inupiaq-owned Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, based in Utqiagvik.
“I mean, we absolutely hear that concern, because I think that what we have are a lot of people that are glued to their phone, not paying attention to what’s going on around them,” Stine said Monday in an interview during a break between forum sessions.
Stine said that doesn’t mean Alaska Natives should turn their backs on the technology. Rather, she said parents, educators and other community members must teach young people how to responsibly use it.
“We need to be good parents,” Stine said. “We need to be engaged with our kids, y’know, pay attention to what they’re looking at, making sure they don’t get mired in the things that potentially could be negative about the internet.”
Some, like Patrick Savok, the Northwest Arctic Borough’s chief of staff, believe broadband actually could help indigenous peoples preserve their cultures.
“I think it’s a positive,” Savok said. “As we’ve seen our language and culture stripped away from us, the advent of broadband connectivity – and iPhones and Samsung and all these apps – opens this new world back to us.”
Stine said broadband could facilitate greater sharing of Native culture by allowing schools and other institutions to download large files of data such as those stored in an Inupiat cultural repository in Utqiagvik.
“We have an incredible amount of content that resides at the Inupiat History, Language and Culture Commission in Barrow that the villages really can’t access because of no broadband, right? There’s too much lag, it takes too much time,” Stine said.
Stine said ASRC has invested in the Quintillion project in part to help share more widely cultural resources such as those managed by the Inupiat History, Language and Culture Commission.
Previous articleRep. Eastman becomes first Alaska House member to be censured
Next articleVerdict looms in Sockeye Fire trial
http://www.kuac.org
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
Murkowski rebukes Trump’s racist comments concerning congresswomen of color
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Many killed in Israeli raid on Gaza
Up to 17 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military raids and missile strikes in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunus.
Eighty-four Palestinians, including civilians, were injured
An eight-year-old child, who was hit by a bullet in the neck, is among the casualties in the raid that began late on Sunday and continued into Monday.
Unmanned Israeli aircraft fired missiles into the area as troops backed by tanks and bulldozers demolished houses and razed farmland, Aljazeera's correspondent reported.
Aljazeera also reported at least one Palestinian was killed and four wounded in a pre-dawn helicopter attack on Khan Yunus.
Eighty-four Palestinians, including civilians, were also wounded in the raid that Israel said was to prevent mortar attacks on the illegal Jewish colony of Gush Katif.
Khan Yunus governor Husni Zuarab told Aljazeera that a mosque in the western district of al-Namsawi was also destroyed in the continuing assault.
"Operation Days of Penitence or all other Israeli operations are continuing against all governorates of Palestine," he said.
Early on Monday, three Israeli soldiers were killed after Palestinian resistance fighters fired an anti-artillery shell directly at an Israeli tank in Khan Yunus.
Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades,
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police casualties
Two Palestinian policemen were among those killed when Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a national security service position early on Monday.
Two Palestinian policemen have
been killed and five injured
The attacks also wounded five other policemen and came hours after the Israeli cabinet approved details of a plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from parts of the Gaza Strip.
Witnesses said all the casualties had been wearing uniforms and carrying automatic weapons. The Israeli army said it was targeting armed men who were moving towards Israeli soldiers, preparing to attack.
Another missile killed a Palestinian who the military said was preparing to plant a bomb in the path of Israeli troops.
Early on Monday, a missile was fired at a group of people who the Israeli occupation army said had explosive devices. One Palestinian was killed.
Later, a tank fired a shell towards another group of Palestinians that had gathered at the edge of Khan Yunus refugee camp, killing one person.
West Bank attacks
Israel has also assassinated a Hamas member who is believed to have been the inventor of the Qassam rocket, a makeshift weapon that has often been fired at settlements and southern Israel in a show of defiance.
A car bomb targeted an Israeli
army patrol in Nablus
On the West Bank, Palestinians launched two attacks but no one was hurt, the Israeli army said.
A tyre filled with explosives was hurled at a bus, and a car bomb exploded near an army patrol at Nablus in the north.
Two dozen Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers have taken up positions around an illegal settlement in occupied Gaza and Khan Yunus.
The latest attacks bring to 4524 the number of Palestinians, Israelis and others killed since the second intifada began in September 2000.
SOURCE: Aljazeera + Agencies
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Uploaded: Tue, Mar 24, 2015, 6:51 am
Lawsuit against Menlo Park fire district over crash is dismissed
A lawsuit brought against the Menlo Park Fire Protection District over a collision between a car and an emergency vehicle has been dismissed, according to San Mateo County Superior Court records. But it has led to changes in how emergency vehicles drive to a scene.
The suit, filed in August by Jose Cardosa and Feliciano Curup, the two people who were in the car, asked for compensation related to unspecified injuries, resulting from alleged negligence on the part of the defendants. But the suit was dismissed with prejudice (meaning it can't be refiled) six months later.
Juan Simon, the attorney who represented the plaintiffs, did not respond to requests for comment.
The collision occurred on Aug. 20, 2013, at the intersection of El Camino Real and Ravenswood Avenue at about 10:19 p.m., based on police and fire district records.
Battalion Chief James Stevens, responding to a shooting in East Palo Alto, was driving a 2008 Chevrolet Suburban with lights and sirens activated when he made a left turn on a red light onto Ravenswood Avenue, according to the records. The driver of the other car, a 1998 Volkswagen Jetta, reportedly heading north on El Camino Real at 35 miles per hour, was unable to stop before entering the intersection, and the two vehicles collided.
Mr. Stevens was cited for a failure to yield, although he could have been cited under section of the code "more favorable to emergency responders" that takes into account that he was responding with red lights and siren to a high-level emergency, Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.
The chief said Mr. Stevens is a 32-year veteran with an exceptional driving record. Larger SUVs in the turn and first lanes blocked the battalion chief's view of the Jetta, and the crash occurred as Mr. Stevens crept into the second lane.
The Jetta's driver, who has not been identified as such in court records or by law enforcement, did not have a valid license at the time of the incident, according to the police.
"You can appreciate my frustration related to the outcomes here where lives were put at risk, our organization is being threatened with litigation, public property was damaged and one of my commanders, who has an exemplary driving record, missed a serious emergency incident where his job is to look out for the safety and well-being of our personnel who were responding to it," Chief Schapelhouman said.
Menlo Park Police Cmdr. Dave Bertini said the "failure to yield" citation for the battalion chief came after officers bounced around ideas of what would be most appropriate in light of the primary collision factors.
"No one was cited at the scene. When these things happen, we discuss it," he said, particularly since the police officer that responded to the scene hadn't gone through specialized accident investigation training. "We're very aware of all the sections that we could have used. The cause of the accident was really running the red light."
While section 21806 of California's vehicle code does require drivers to yield to emergency vehicles, he said, section 21807 states that someone behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle must still drive "with due regard for the safety of all persons and property."
The Jetta's unlicensed driver was not ticketed.
"We're under no obligation to cite anyone," Cmdr. Bertini said, noting that the Department of Motor Vehicles may have taken action on its own. "People think police respond to all accident scenes and cite people ... but it's discretionary."
New policy
According to Chief Schapelhouman, the district is implementing new procedures inspired by the collision. After consulting with the California Highway Patrol, he said, the new policy is that drivers must ensure each individual lane is clear first before proceeding into an intersection against a red light.
"I hope this minor change will help," the chief said, adding that when red lights are flashing and sirens sounding, seconds can make a difference.
The district is also thinking about putting dashboard cameras in its emergency vehicles. "Given our traffic challenges, I want to start documenting how difficult and dangerous it can be for our first responders," he said.
The fire district's board of directors will receive a study in May related to traffic issues and response times. With more vehicles hitting the road as new projects get built and the economy continues to improve, firefighters at times have found their response delayed by traffic congestion.
Chief Schapelhouman seemed frustrated that development planning, such as the zoning update underway for Menlo Park's M2 industrial zone, doesn't include an analysis of how emergency response will be affected.
"This seems to be a significant problem as these consultants present a landscape where suggestions and options related to transportation changes have little to do with the reality of the emergency first responders and the primary response routes that they rely on to adequately service the community," Chief Schapelhouman said.
"It's all about striking a balance between what is desired, needed, practical and a daily reality and necessity. I'm all for improvements and change, but they have to make sense."
Posted by whatever
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Mar 24, 2015 at 10:05 am
So, WHY was the suit dismissed?
Posted by Sandy Brundage, Almanac Staff Writer
It's unclear. The reason is not given in the court documents, the fire district's insurance carrier wasn't sure and the attorney for the plaintiffs isn't answering questions.
Posted by Michael G. Stogner
Amazing that an unlicensed driver collides with an Emergency vehicle and no ticket is issued. It's possible the driver does not know the rules or laws.
This article brings up several good points, Dashboard cameras and I recommend ride alongs for all city planners and council members to see the affect of Traffic Calming on our emergency response vehicles. Seconds Matter.
Posted by Holl
"that drivers must ensure each individual lane is clear first before proceeding into an intersection"
Sounds like more SMC corruption among the judiciary, various agencies, etc.. Go, Michael, go!
WHY was it dismissed?
Posted by pogo
a resident of Woodside: other
on Mar 24, 2015 at 12:57 pm
An unlicensed driver is in an accident and not ticketed?
I wonder if they allowed him to drive off, too?
Posted by Yield for emergency vehicles
on Mar 24, 2015 at 2:16 pm
Dashcam for emergency vehicles is brilliant. Sending notices to people who fail to yield (assuming car license plates are visible) would be a first step in getting people to yield to emergency vehicles. Seconds matter.
Posted by coverup?
a resident of Menlo Park: Felton Gables
Driver wasnt ticketed? Someone must have been covering something up. Why was the suit dropped?
Investigate the DA.
Posted by vr
Makes sense -- the driver wasn't tagged cuz the emergency vehicle screwed up, thats why they changed policy.
Cover-up. Dismiss the suit. Who's dog won't hunt?
Don't sue and we won't send you to jail for driving w/o a license.
Posted by Area 51
a resident of Menlo Park: Stanford Hills
Where's Peter? He always chimes in on Fire District matters. Why so quiet?
Here's the deal. They settled. Part of it was to keep quiet on the terms. Nobody will ever know ...
on Mar 25, 2015 at 6:57 am
pogo is a registered user.
No one has suggested that the driver of the car be cited for the accident. The battalion chief was cited - not a single poster has challenged that decision.
But some of us are wondering why the civilian driver wasn't ticketed for driving without a license. Last I looked, that was illegal. And we wonder if the police allowed this unlicensed driver to drive off after the accident.
The other question is was the vehicle insured if the driver didn't have a license? If it was uninsured wasn't it supposed to be impounded? What is the status of the vehicle?
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BPD, Parenting adolescents, parenting, Identity
The Death of a Thousand Cuts
Attachment & Complex Trauma
When we hear the word trauma we often think of a terrible life-threatening event – a car accident, natural disaster or an act of violence which changes us forever.
Psychological trauma needn’t be caused by a single event.
It is often the result of a cumulative process of traumatic interactions in childhood which can permanently change the brain and leave young people with a vulnerability to mental illness.
As van der Kolk puts it: “Chronic trauma interferes with neurobiological development and the capacity to integrate sensory, emotional and cognitive information into a cohesive whole. Developmental trauma sets the stage for unfocused responses to subsequent stress leading to dramatic increases in the use of medical, correctional, social and mental health services.”
Trauma such as this (complex developmental trauma) occurs during particularly sensitive periods in a child’s development – usually from birth to 3 years.
This is the period during which important regulatory functions are developed and brain structures, pathways and connections are formed or “turned off.”
The important experience-dependent development which occurs at this early stage allows us to adapt to our social environment, helping us learn to regulate ourselves and recognise our own and others’ emotions. Although the brain does remain plastic into adulthood, certain functions and pathways set in motion during this early period are difficult to change and can influence our ability to handle stress and manage our emotions across the lifespan.
So What Happens When Something Goes Wrong?
Attachment and Trauma
A lot of what can go wrong during this period has to do with attachment and the attachment relationships we develop during our first months of life. We are socialised through these important relationships, which teach us how to be with other people, what to expect of ourselves and them, and how we might be viewed in the world. It helps us develop a healthy sense of self.
When things go wrong, it can create an unconscious sense of wrongness in the developing child, a “working model” of self that leads to an ongoing sense of shame. “…the infant’s primary drive is towards attachment [and] they will accommodate to the parenting style they experience…They can make meaning of their circumstances by believing that abuse is their fault and that they are inherently bad.”
Unfortunately, although the term “abuse” leads us to think of the extremes of sexual or violent acts against young children, there are many more common and subtler forms of abuse, such as emotional abuse or neglect, which can lead to the complex trauma response. Systems of control such as the threat of withdrawal of love, when used as ongoing parenting strategies lead to a fear response in young children – the more sensitive the child, the more likely they will internalise feelings of shame and badness.
Researchers such as Judith Herman and Bessel van der Kolk argue that trauma lives on in the body and colours our thoughts and reactions in a visceral, and unconscious way.
It’s hard to live alongside these sensations.
The feelings are ones we want to avoid, yet we are often unaware of them – they cause us to act in ways that are often counterproductive and can puzzle – perhaps alienate - those closest to us. These embedded responses are our daily companions, coming to the surface at times when we are reminded of situations similar to those in which the original trauma occurred. A young person who was emotionally or literally abandoned as a child (for example) can experience intense feelings of shame after a relationship breakup or the loss of a friendship – or when someone important in their life says “no”.
For the traumatised young person it can be like living life in a minefield, without necessarily being aware that they might be in danger, or that they are “keeping a lookout”, they remain hyper-vigilant – on high alert for any sign that there are dangers present.
“Infants, children and adults will adapt to frightening and overwhelming circumstances by the body’s survival response, where the autonomic nervous system will become activated and switch on to the freeze/fight/flight response. Immediately the body is flooded with a biochemical response which includes adrenalin and cortisol, and the child feels agitated and hyper-vigilant.”
These dangers might be something as simple as a perceived slight or rejection, a failure to achieve what is expected of them or a mistake at work or school. Children and young adults with a history of developmental trauma can be threatened by events or interpretations of events that another (non-traumatised) person might view as innocuous.
Trauma can manifest in a constant feeling of “badness” as well as an inability to manage emotions. Often these intense feelings, originating in early childhood, are bypassed by consciousness because they are too traumatic for the developing brain. Pre-verbal trauma like this is seen as “unmentalised” – it stays in the right brain and the limbic system and influences our responses without the processing that occurs through left-brain frontal lobe mediation.
“Traumatic memories are stored differently in the brain compared to everyday memories. They are encoded in vivid images and sensations and lack a verbal narrative and context. As they are unprocessed and more primitive, they are likely to flood the child or adult when triggers like smells, sights, sounds or internal or external reminders present at a later stage. These “flashbacks” can be affective, i.e. intense feelings, that are often unspeakable; or cognitive, i.e. vivid memories or parts of memories, which seem to be actually occurring.”
Often these feelings and sensations are defended against – they are just too painful. Sometimes young people with a history of complex trauma will be overwhelmed by panic and a desperate attempt to avoid the feelings that come close to a sense of annihilation or loss of self.
Sometimes trauma is intergenerational, meaning that parents can unwittingly pass on both the vulnerability to trauma and, in some cases the trauma itself. If a parent has been harshly parented themselves and has unresolved chronic shame, they may be at risk of passing this shame on to their children. The mechanisms of transmission are often unconscious, parents just aren’t aware that they have these feelings, because they were originally too intense to be experienced safely. For parents with a history of chronic shame, the strong emotions aroused during interactions between child and parent are unable to be mentalised because of their unintegrated trauma.
Ideally, when a parent uses a shaming strategy to help socialise their child, they will work to repair the damage and help the child mentalise the intense emotions involved through reassurance, acknowledgement and soothing. Children often can’t self-soothe in these circumstances and need the intervention of an emotionally intelligent and self-aware parent. “Its OK, because mummy or daddy knows and cares how I feel, and wants to help me feel better.”
Parents with unresolved trauma can often find themselves confronted by strong unmentalised feelings, which throw them into unknowable states – places where they feel out of control. It’s not a safe space for them – or their children. “Babies are particularly attuned to their primary carer and will sense their fear and traumatic stress; this is particularly the case where family violence is present. They will become unsettled and therefore more demanding of an already overwhelmed parent.” Unfortunately for both parent and child in these circumstances, feelings can be passed on to children through interactions and right brain to right brain communication.
Wordless gestures, facial expressions, the tenor and temperature of play and physicality – these are all influenced by underlying feeling states.
It is not one moment of interaction that clouds the attachment relationship, but a series of them, an impetus and style of relating that is a helpless reflection of the parent’s own history and developmental trauma.
“Prolonged exposure to these circumstances can lead to ‘toxic stress’ for a child which changes the child’s brain development, sensitises the child to further stress, leads to heightened activity levels and affects future learning and concentration. Most importantly, it impairs the child’s ability to trust and relate to others.”
Young people who are affected in this way often behave in ways that are self-destructive – disruptive and challenging, they can have difficulty concentrating at school, have trouble developing friendships and they are vulnerable to bullying – or to becoming bullies themselves. “When children are traumatised, they find it very hard to regulate behaviour and soothe or calm themselves. They often attract the description of being ‘hyperactive’.” As van der Kolk points out, traumatised young people can often be mis-labelled “oppositional”, rebellious, unmotivated and anti-social. The behaviours and ways of relating that they use to minimise their distress and manage their underlying trauma can cause them to be seen as “problems” and lead to ongoing alienation and re-traumatisation.
Sometimes young people with this background can turn to drugs and alcohol to numb the terrible feelings that they endure everyday – but this can (and does) create more problems than it solves. It can lead to using these substances to avoid feelings that challenge their sense of awareness and perhaps any feelings at all. It can often lead young people to behaviour that is aggressive or anti-social and, for some young people - into contact with the justice system and a downward spiral into adult offending - and jail. These young people are very vulnerable – they can be angry and destructive, a danger to themselves and others and without early intervention they can end up lost – both to us as a society - and to themselves. As their behaviour becomes more and more challenging, they become more convinced that the responses they receive from the outside world are those that match their inner world – the feelings of badness and worthlessness that are part of their experience of themselves.
There are also young people who don't “act out” – whose responses and behaviour don't bring them to the attention of authorities. They are the “good’ kids whose inner trauma can only be recognised through anxiety and perhaps later on, depression. They can be perfectionists who are demoralised by a report card that isn’t all “A”s. Or they can be shamed by the bathroom scales that tell them they are worthless because they have gained a kilo - or haven’t lost 5.
These are the young people who might excel at school and university, yet harbour a secret fear that they will never be good enough and that they are just imposters.
They are very vulnerable to stress and have difficulty handling change. Often they will take on a career that they think will lead to acknowledgement and self-worth, but no success will ever be good enough to salve their sense of worthlessness. Often when they face the setbacks and losses which are an inevitable part of life, they experience underlying feelings of emptiness, worthlessness and loss of meaning. For anyone, these are very hard feelings to sit with, and any event which brings them in touch with these feelings is likely to overwhelm their coping abilities.
Unfortunately, it can be very hard for those who care, for families and for those who are working with young people, to get to the bottom of why they are behaving in these distressing and sometimes bewildering ways.
Often it is easier to “treat” the behaviours so that the young person can manage the school environment, stop offending and “fit in”…. But the underlying issues will never be resolved without trauma-informed intervention.
Trauma-informed psychotherapy will help you resolve your trauma and take back your life.
As a psychotherapist who has worked with adults and young people, I often see the results of childhood trauma.
People who have Complex PTSD or a personality disorder such as BPD will usually have experienced some form of trauma.
In many cases they are unaware of why they are in pain and what they can do about it.
Often they will blame themselves and they will normally have few memories of childhood.
Sometimes, they say their childhood was “happy” and carefree.
But as we explore their history and the reasons they have for feeling stuck, unhappy, unfulfilled or depressed, patterns of relating emerge.
These will tell us both about the real and disabling experiences they had as children and how these experiences are still affecting them.
Psychotherapy will help you understand yourself and allow you to process your trauma, freeing you to live your best life.
For more about Complex Trauma treatment
start your healing journey with a free phone consultation
For more about my approach to BPD and complex trauma treatment.
For my free BPD GUIDE, please fill out this form:
(Quotes are from the Department of Health and Human Services Child Development and Trauma Guide unless otherwise indicated)
More about trauma from The Recovery Room:
Amanda Robins Psychotherapy
Identity, Emotional Abuse, Trauma
Trauma, Emotional Abuse, Narcissism
Depression, Trauma
Identity, Psychotherapy, Trauma
helpful links for complex trauma:
Developmental trauma disorder: Towards a rational diagnosis for children with complex trauma histories. Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/preprint_dev_trauma_disorder.pdf
For more information see www.traumacenter.org
https://www.headspace.org.au/young-people/understanding-trauma-for-young-people/
http://www.blueknot.org.au/
http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/for-service-providers/children,-youth-and-families/child-protection/specialist-practice-resources-for-child-protection-workers/child-development-and-trauma-specialist-practice-resource
Tagged: BPD diagnosis, BPD treatment, trauma, relational trauma, relationships, therapy, BPD help, young people, attachment, complex PTSD, Trauma, advice and help for BPD, mental health treatment, treatment for BPD, Relational trauma, developmental trauma
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#31 HelloSailor
I'd like to see Janis with a beehive, I think it would really suit her features. There, I said.
Sorry, off-topic.
LaPeep and v_melnik like this
#32 allisost
allisost
It looks more styled in the Daily Mail pic.. can't imagine her with a beehive tho lol
#33 Uno
It's bricked up in my head
More book promo ...
Janis on the BBC Woman's Hour Show
Duration: 12 minutes (Audio)
Janis Winehouse shares the challenges and heartbreak of dealing with her Amy's addiction
http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/p026grnk
There's also a photo online of Janis leaving the ITV studios this morning for filming a guest appearance on the 'Lorraine' show, but I don't see anything on their ITV-player as of yet
Cecilia and HelloSailor like this
Amy, if you are up there listening, thank you for sharing the incredible soundtracks of your life ...
(Hehe, at the end the presenter calls her 'Janis Whitehouse'...)
Interesting how Janis refuses to discuss the difficult years before her divorce with Mitch, or Blake. I wonder if either of them feature much in her book.
Other thing I found interesting, she said several times that Mitch wasn't really there and that she had to deal with things alone. Does she mean when Amy was showing signs of addiction in 2006/2007 or when she was younger?
And how freaky that Amy said she probably wouldn't be at her wedding.
I really want to read the book, so many blank areas to fill, and Janis obviously had a very different experience of it all compared to Mitch.
Here's the link for Janis on the ITV 'Lorraine' show, unfortunately it's blocked for me here in the US ...
http://www.itv.com/l...loving-amy-book
Cecilia likes this
What kind of fuckery is this?
LocationUK
Thank you for posting those Uno.
In the Lorraine interview Janis mentions that last day she saw Amy, I transcribed that bit for those of you who can't watch it, as it came up in the Daily Mail article:
"The Good thing was, I saw her the day before. But it's, who would have known?"
And was she ok then? Was she in reasonable...?
"Not really, no."
But you didn't feel that, when you saw her that day, that something terrible was happening?
"No, exactly. No I didn't."
There was no indication that there was anything that was...?
"No. Definitely not."
But you must... You say that you've got that situation where you thought that you, over the years, especially towards the end, that you might lose her
"Yes. It was often the way that I thought 'This may be the last'. But thank God that I said on that day 'I love you Amy', and she said to me 'I love you mummy'."
So that's the memory
"Oh, absolutely, yes."
At least you've got that comfort, how awful would it have been if it had been horrendous
"Yes. Oh for sure"
Or an argument or something, at least you were able to tell her that..
"but we were always loving. Always."
They also showed this lovely picture of Janis with Amy from the book which I thought was worth sharing, I'm afraid it's a bit blurry though:
Tara, Sassy, Uno and 2 others like this
#37 AnnaAnna
AnnaAnna
I've got the Kindle Version and finished it today. It is better written as Mitchs Book and I think it is much more honest. Very interesting is the part after Blake has "vanished".
She describes, how Amy has changed....and not to her best. She was off the drugs, but she was very heavy on booze. And no one could handle her, her behavior was extremely erratic.
I think, Amy was a very unhappy person during her last two years. And mostly drunk. Not tipsy, she was a full alcoholic. Her last weight were 6.5 Stone, in her Camden home were only booze- wodka and white wine- and Haribos.
It's a sad book.
And I am really sorry for Janis and the rest of the family.
Tara, AnnaAnna and HelloSailor like this
#38 Stella
Does anyone know when the Kindle version will be available in the US?
LaPeep and Uno like this
The LEGEND Lives Forever
#39 SteveV
SteveV
Does anyone know about when this pic was taken? Blurry or not, Amy looks pretty healthy here. Compare this to Amy sitting on the bed in a motel room in the TDOTO music video.
"It's not me personally, is it?......I'm just a musician."
http://www.starpulse... - SXSW - video[
#40 Tara
This Bird Has Flown...
Can't wait to read it, I've always found Janis very honest and insightful.
'Memories mar my mind, love is a fate resigned'
Looks like the Frank era to me, with Amy's longer, straighter hair.
Nah, I reckon Amy is 15/16 in that photo, she looks like a younger teenager on holiday with her mum...
Yeah... seems like Amy was never really all that healthy though, as her bulimic (and alcoholic) behaviors started pretty early and bulimics are usually a normal weight so who knows...
Has anyone found an any type of ebook for this available for this in the US yet??? Usually Amazon.com in the US will have a place-holder page (sometimes for a few months, even) before the book becomes available, but not for this one.
Nope, I even searched on Random House's website. All I've found is a listing in NZ with a release date of 10/17 and the Kindle version is now on AU's Amazon.
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Best Lego Sets For Men
© LEGO
10 Awesome Lego Sets Every Grown Man Should Have
Tom Fordy
This article was originally published by AskMen UK.
Everyone knows it’s acceptable for us grown-ups to get stuck into some Lego. It's the reason your parents bought it for you as a child and it's also the reason you'll buy it for your own offspring.
With increasingly sophisticated models and the kind of geek-tastic products that have adult men salivating in toy shop windows (see just about every bit of Star Wars kit ever produced), Lego has come to combine two of the greatest pleasures known to man – taking on a project and wallowing in nostalgia.
With this in mind, we’ve enlisted the help of top AFOL (adult fan of Lego) and editor of Bricks magazine, Mark Guest, to run down some of greatest sets known to mankind.
Some will test the limits of your construction skills, others will simply appeal to your inner nerd – all are worthy of serious man-points.
Time to start bricking it.
The Set: The ultimate fantasy toy of many an ‘80s child, turned into 4,600-brick reality.
Why You Need It: From the working pole to the ECTO containment unit and the personalised lockers, there are enough geeky references to have most movie fans quivering like a bowl of particularly excited ectoplasm.
Man Points: Major. Having the best toys is still something to brag about as much as it was when you were eight years old. And make no mistake, this really is the best toy.
The Expert Says: “It’s quite bland from the exterior, but the interior is absolutely packed with Easter eggs and jokes. Kids aren’t so fussed, but us adults who grew up with Ghostbusters have gone mad for it. A real collectible.”
$349.99 at Amazon.com
Technic Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245
The Set: An absolute behemoth – 21-inches, 2,800 pieces, and fully motorised. Also one of the most technically difficult sets ever. There’s a reason the Technic range is for bigger boys.
Why You Need It: It's about as close as most of us will get to driving an actual articulated lorry. Which takes a special kind of manliness.
Man Points: Never mind DIY or changing a tyre, fiddling around with the intricacies of this model – which include an automated crane arm, six-cylinder engine, and independent suspension – is a true test of masculine prowess. And there’s no shame in a few tears halfway through.
The Expert Says: “It’s all pneumatics. The engineering that goes into these models is phenomenal. From a technical point of view, because of the gearbox underneath and all the cabling that runs through the crane arm, it’s very easy to get it wrong.”
Ewok Village
The Set: You know, where the Ewoks live. Plus 16 figures and a little speeder bike. The Force is strong with this one.
Why You Need It: Once the crowing glory of any 1980s Star Wars action figure collection, it’s now the crowning glory of any modern-day Lego collection.
Man Points: As well as kudos for owning the greatest playset this side of Tatooine, you’ll learn some clever techniques while building this set. Techniques such as “SNOT” (studs not on top), a way of connecting bricks sideways, have been introduced to Lego sets by adult fans-turned-official designers.
The Expert Says: “This is a real guilty pleasure and there are lots of hidden extras to it. It looks like the old ‘80s Ewok Village toy – I think that’s deliberate. Lego is very good at pushing our nostalgia buttons.”
The Set: The ship of bounty hunter Boba Fett and arguably the most badass runaround in the entire galaxy. Yes, it’s more Star Wars, but you can never have too much, can you?
Why You Need It: The Ewok Village might be the perfect playset for the child in us all, but this is strictly for grown ups – a serious bit of kit that’s just asking to be displayed like a Han Solo in carbonite-style trophy.
Man Points: When it comes to movie nerd street-cred, it doesn’t get much bigger or better than this. The coolest part of the coolest film in the whole damn saga.
The Expert Says: “It comes with a display stand and a plaque telling you all about the ship. It’s also about two-foot long, so you get a lot for your money. Whenever I put this on display at an exhibition, all the dads want it.”
The Set: One of several landmarks to get the Lego treatment, this is made up from a whopping 4,300 bricks – one of the biggest sets available.
Why You Need It: There’s the blokey mantra that bigger is better (if that’s your bag try the discontinued, near-6,000 piece Taj Mahal – a cool $3,000 on eBay), but this one will also satisfy every man’s natural desire to construct something magnificent.
Man Points: Big time. It’s not just the satisfaction of building something epic, but the endurance of seeing it through to the end.
The Expert Says: “Both the towers are exactly the same, so it can be quite repetitive to make. But these landmark sets are beautifully done and Tower Bridge set is a very clever build.”
The Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart
The Set: The only Lego set where you can find a Squishee machine, Krusty O’s, and out-of-date doughnuts all under one plastic roof.
Why You Need It: It opens up to reveal more Simpsons references and in-jokes than you can shake a can of Duff at. So, who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? You do.
Man Points: If you can get all the gags, it’s proof you’ve put in some serious hours with The Simpsons. As every man should.
The Expert Says: “In these big sets there are always lots of little secrets. This is just packed with colourful printed parts and great characters. It even has the frozen old man in the fridge. It’s expertly done.”
Brick Bank
The Set: The best of the “modular buildings” series – city sets aimed at adults, with lots of fun details.
Why You Need It: Though it’s for advanced builders, it perfectly captures the old school magic of making random houses with colourful bricks.
Man Points: It’s the first step to building that proper Lego city you always wanted in the loft. In other words, the moment the boy becomes a man.
The Expert Says: “Any of these modular building sets are worth having. Around the side of the bank is a launderette, which is a little in-joke about laundering your money. There are also certain colours of bricks that are hard to find, and they’ve put them in the bank for no particular reason. It’s a nod to the adult fans, like they’re saying, ‘Here, have something rare and green!’”
Super Hero Airport Battle
The Set: From the latest Captain America movie, it recreates the almighty superhero smackdown that pits Cap’s buddies against Iron Man and his team of do-gooders.
Why You Need It: It’s every man’s prerogative to have a mini fight with his, erm, “collector’s items” when everyone’s out for the afternoon.
Man Points: You’ll be halfway to completing the Avengers line-up for starters, not to mention owning the biggest Lego man money can buy with the giant-sized (alright, 14cm) Ant-Man.
The Expert Says: “This is very good. I’m not a big fan of previous superhero sets as they have been too focused on the mini figures, but this one has a very detailed jet and the Ant-Man is excellent – a display piece on its own. It’s also the first official set from British designer Justin Ramsden, who appeared on the Channel 4 documentary, The Secret World of Lego.”
$79.99 at Amazon.com
Show Page 10
The Set: Part of Lego’s “Expert” range, this perfectly replicates the classic MINI Cooper VII.
Why You Need It: Of all Lego’s cars – and there are plenty, including a rather tasty Ferrari F40 and Technic Porsche 911 that’s released next month – this is the most iconic motor for us Brits.
Man Points: With its pattered seats, moving gearstick, and detailed engine, you’ll feel like a real Alan Partridge with this on the shelf. There’s even a picnic basket for the boot, giving the set authentic English country gent flavour. Whether you construct it while wearing tan string-back driving gloves is up to you, of course.
The Expert Says: “Technically it’s nothing too advanced, but pretty smart. It’s a nice display model – the sort of thing mum would buy for dad to put in his office.”
Batman Classic Series Batcave
The Set: The campy genius of 1960s Batman series finally gets its own top-notch playset. Holy plastic brick indeed.
Why You Need It: Not a particularly tough build, but it screams retro cool – right down to the Joker’s teeny moustache (a nod to the fact that actor Caesar Romero refused to shave his off).
Man Points: This is one for that little boy who grew up watching Batman on Saturdays – “grew up” in the loosest possible sense, of course – but you’ll also impress the kids by proving you were into Batman years ago. Before slapping their hands away and putting it on a very high shelf.
The Expert Says: “Until now all Batman sets had been focused on the latest films. This is a big jump back. It has a generous range of mini figures, but the old school Batmobile sold it for me.”
For more on Bricks magazine visit republic66media.com
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