Social Media Storm Happening Now…

…as the public vent their emotions regarding last night’s terrorist atrocities in London. Social media provides an outlet for the anger and frustration people are feeling at the time. Not so long ago they would have displayed this same anger and frustration by taking to the streets and demanding action from the government. Nowadays, such demonstrations of solidarity are frowned upon and its far easier for the government to ignore social media messages than it is to ignore several thousand angry protesters standing outside the House of Commons, disrupting the flow of the transport system.

As expected, Theresa May treated us to one of her press conferences following a meeting a meeting of the, so far, ineffectual COBRA group. I was a bit perturbed to hear her use of the word ” we ” in some of her statements, as if it was all of our responsibilities that that this horror was occurring. We, the public, are unavoidably caught up in the situation, but that does not make us complicit in the decisions, based on greed and personal agendas, which successive governments have made to bring us to where we find ourselves today.

Mrs May said that ” we ” have become too tolerant of extremism in our society. It would be too much to hope that the ” we ” in this case referred to the government, which is where the tolerance of extremism lies. People on the street have been warning about this for years and for most, their will be an air of inevitability surrounding these episodes. The public ” we ” knew that things like this were going to happen Mrs May. Why did the government ” we ” pretend they didn’t ?

She went on to inform us that we were experiencing a new trend in terrorism. I wondered if the speech was being given by someone who had just landed from some distant planet. But no, it was our esteemed Prime Minister, sticking to a hastily prepared script, no doubt. Surely it couldn’t have escaped her attention that attacks, similar to that of last night , have been happening across Europe with obscene regularity and is the second attack in the UK where a vehicle has been used, and a bomb attack only a week ago. It certainly hasn’t escaped our attention Mrs May.

Another solution to this problem needs to be found, because whatever the government are doing , or not doing, definitely isn’t working. Only fools would trust a government to provide a solution to a problem which the government were responsible for creating in the first place. Yet we do it all the time and the distance between government and those governed becomes more distant as time goes by, despite the illusion that social media gives us of greater accessibility. There is no substitute for face to face confrontation if someone wants to make their point heard and, more importantly, felt.

I get a strong impression that people are reaching their limits of what is acceptable and are becoming angry at governments who’s only consistency is that of letting people down.

My sincerest condolences to all those affected by these horrible crimes.

SoberVision

more to come…

Consider ” Isis ” In It’s Contemporary Context…

…and it conjures up images of Middle Eastern rebels attempting to overthrow governments by extreme violence and committing outrageous atrocities in many parts of the Western world, all in the name of their God. Isis is also linked with government agencies who supply terrorists with the means to wreak their havoc, in shady deals, the evidence of which will be suppressed, at least until the present generations who might have some come back are long dead. ISIS in this case is the acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

It’s unfortunate that this name has become overwhelmingly associated with this turn of events, because in Egyptian mythology, Isis is regarded as queen of the Gods, so the name has been around for many centuries. She was the wife and sister of the ruler Osiris apparently and represented the moon, as Osiris did the sun.

Her fan base widened over the centuries, reaching Greece, Rome and , ultimately, Asia, where she was regarded as the giver of dreams. Here, she was equally regarded as the inflicter of diseases and, paradoxically, the restorer of health. I often wondered where the big pharmaceutical companies of today got there ideas for the win win situation they find themselves in.

Unfortunately, as legend has it, Osiris was killed by his wicked brother, Set, and Isis’ grief was so intense that her tears caused the River Nile to overflow.

Another Isis can be found in the United Kingdom, being that part of the River Thames which runs from it’s source in the Cotswolds until it joins the River Thame at Dorchester, notably running through Oxford on it’s way. ( wiki here ). The name ” Isis ” is mostly related to rowing clubs and regattas from the University of Oxford and a place where many anglers still pursue their sport. Romantic images of young lovers punting along the Isis, looking for somewhere to tie up and enjoy a picnic on a warm English Summer’s day, spring to mind. It would have been romantic also, to tie in the in the tears of a goddess to the River Thames somehow, but sadly there is no connection.

Yet another Isis exists in the United Kingdom and this time there is a tenuous connection to both the goddess and the river without an acronym in sight. This Isis is a scientific research facility run by the Scientific and Research Facilities Council in Oxfordshire, which explains the connection to the River Isis. Previous facilities were shut down and a new facility was opened in 1985 named Isis, after the goddess. The connection being, her ability to restore life, just as the scientists had breathed life back into their work with this new facility. I won’t even pretend to understand fully what goes on at the facility but there is a wiki here, and the facility’s website is here.

This is by no means exhaustive, and I’m sure there are many other examples of where Isis is used in innocuous terms. However, it has been engineered into our everyday modern language to mean something unpleasant, something bad or even something to be feared and this is forced upon us relentlessly by our media until, especially the young people, know no other meaning. Apart from employees of the above facility and residents of Oxford.

The word Moab came crashing into our lives and those of the unfortunates who were around to experience it first hand, last week. MOAB in this case is an acronym for Massive Ordnance Air Blast or Mother Of All Bombs. Someone must have been up all night thinking of that one.

However, Moab is the historical name given to a plateau in Jordan on the shores of the Dead Sea, wiki here. It’s also the name of a city in Utah which is surrounded by two National Parks and you can find more information here. But for most of us it will be the version related to the bomb which is uppermost in our memories.

Its another example of how our language is being manipulated and even weaponised to ensure that the good inferences of a word are eradicated, to be replaced by something more sinister, and thereby eradicating part of our meaningful history. This is purely by intent, because authorities don’t want kids knowing that there was a better way of life as experienced by people of my generation.

I wonder how many parents realise that their kids are indulging in Orwellian Newspeak when they refer to something as ” sick ” or ” wicked “, as they describe something beautiful or amazing. The dictionary of any language is replete with adjectives to describe something as attractive, yet this generation of offspring have managed to pare it down to three or four, which all mean the exact opposite.

The worst thing about this destruction and misdirection of our language is that it is being filtered down by those at the highest levels of our education system to the children at the lower end of the education system, in order to compartmentalise them, making sure that all attain the same level. No one is allowed to shine. Everyone gets a prize.

Meanwhile the children of the rich are being groomed for great things in a system which bears no relation to the lower classes’.

Its time to get back to calling a spade a spade and if something is good then use the appropriate word. We’ve all agreed on a language so why complicate it ? Life is complicated enough.

SoberVision

more to come…

When Governments Don’t Listen…

…to the electorate, and a tragedy occurs, the logical thing would be for them to admit their mistakes and make appropriate changes. However, when successive governments of both main political parties make the same error of judgement over a period of decades, it amounts to something more than just oversight or mismanagement.

Wednesday’s ” terror attack ” could have been prevented by various governments’ actions over the years and I feel so sad for the families who lost their closest relatives in such awful circumstances.

Laying in bed on Wednesday night the thought occurred to me that ” Teresa May is going to say something incredibly fucking stupid tomorrow “. And she didn’t disappoint. Speaking on behalf of us all apparently, the best way she could sum up the feelings of the British public is that ” We are not afraid “. Speaking on behalf of myself, fear nor the thought of it had never even entered the equation. I was too busy dealing with feelings of anger and dismay that things had been allowed to reach this stage. Fleetingly, I wondered what my grandfather, who ran off to the First World War at the age of 14, would think of the country he had fought to defend from invasion.

An analogy of what has happened over the last century or so might be as follows. Someone, somewhere, goes round to his neighbour’s house, and at gunpoint, tells him that he and all of his family are now under his control. The controller then puts the family to work for his benefit and systematically strips them of their assets. If anyone should dare to step out of line they are shot indiscriminately. Eventually the upkeep of the slaves’ home becomes too costly, therefore the controller demolishes the property. Finally, just to show that he is not so bad after all, the controller invites the remainder of the enslaved family to come and stay in his home.

I think we can work out the rest of the story for ourselves and assume that the controller would come to regret his act of ” kindness “, when faced with angry people intent on revenge.

History never comes into the way that things are reported. The reports we are allowed to read or watch in the mainstream press are those which conform with the ” official ” story, which is the one which conforms with current government policy. We are directed down signposted paths and told how we should feel about the incident. There are so many other unbiased and well founded sources of information that never make it to the newspapers or television because they deviate from the line that the government wishes us to follow. Instead, they are laughingly dismissed as cranky or conspiracy theory material.

As I read the official release, I just knew that somewhere in this text the word ” democracy ” was going to turn up. Sure enough, there it was, in the context of the attack being a threat to our democracy. We crossed the line between democracy and tyranny some years ago and the poles are well and truly reversed at this time, therefore the chances of our present government listening to what the public wish to advise are much less than zero, I would suggest.

At one time there was a semblance of democracy which people of my generation may remember. Above all there was a sense of freedom which I can’t feel today. Governments no longer fear the will of the people. If they don’t get re-elected as a government, it doesn’t matter. Most of them will still be there to influence decisions in opposition, or will have moved on to a directorship in one of the corporations, under the present system. The will of the people is secondary.

I can’t condone violence of any kind and feelings of deep seated hatred for particular groups or individuals within our society is alien to me. However, as a Scot, I know that there are those within Scottish society who still bear grudges against the English for things which happened several centuries ago and which lie buried deep, but not forgotten, in someone’s family history.

So, in my view, governments past and present are responsible for what we see happening today. They were always told that their pursuit of personal wealth would one day come back to bite them. In this case their folly has bitten one of our defenders of the peace along with visitors who came to enjoy the experience of our capital city and to celebrate a once in a lifetime occasion in a special way.

Why does innocence always suffer in the stead of those who would assume power, and who bear no consequence for their acts, neither in judgement nor in conscience ?

SoberVision

more to come…