RubySoho
Winston
It's Not Funny Because It's True
July 19th 2008 05:28
Over the last few weeks I have come across some interesting, yet frightening articles on the internet, which I wanted to share, but couldn’t quite find the right post to discuss them on. In looking over them, I have noticed that as diverse as the stories are- they come from all corners on the planet- they have one thing in common. They so stretch credibility and reason that were it not for the fact that they were all true, they would be side-splittingly funny. But since they are indeed authentic, they simply make me pull my hair out in frustration and gloomily ponder the prospects of the long-term survival of our wretched species.
So sit back in your chairs as I take you on a whirlwind tour across the lands and into the contradictory minds of your fellow human beings.
*First stop Russia, where our Slavic pals have been commemorating the 90th anniversary of the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. In one of those truly perplexing re-writings of history, the Tsar, whose cruel and incompetent leadership saw his subjects live in abject poverty and despair, is now revered as a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. Yes, that’s right the man who stood idly by as his population starved is now considered a martyr to his faith.
But that’s not the best part. No, the best part is this:
“Just before the 90th anniversary of his death, Nicholas II pulled into the lead in an online poll to decide on the greatest hero in Russian history…he is battling it out for top spot with the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin” (BBC News).
Hmm. Who’s the bigger national hero? A murderous communist dictator or a murderous Orthodox dictator? Poor Russia. How slim the pickings must be.
* Still in Europe, but for all intents and purposes, another world altogether we next head southwest to Italy. More specifically to Cantana, Sicily where a court has ordered the government to pay 100,000 Euros
to a man who was told that he had to re-take his driving test because he was gay.
Don’t rub your eyes. Don’t shake your head. Don’t question your own sanity. You read it right the first time. Here’s more:
"Danilo Giuffrida, now 26, told doctors he was homosexual during a medical examination for military service. The information was passed to the defence and transport ministries.
Mr Giuffrida was told to repeat his driving test or have his licence suspended because of his "sexual identity disturbance". Mr Giuffrida passed his test for the second time but his licence was renewed for just one year rather than the usual 10 years because of his homosexuality". (BBC News)
‘Sexual identity disturbance’. The only thing disturbed is my intelligence. How on earth did they think they would get away with this blatant, not to mention utterly pointless, discrimination? Did they think he was going to be engaging in a little sodomy every time he got behind the wheel? Now, I’m not usually a fan of mega payouts for these sorts’ cases but I’m happy to make an exception here. I hope Danilo parades his sexually disturbed identity all over town. Along with his newly acquired wealth.
* Next up, Iran. Unlike Italy, Iran does not need to withhold driver’s licenses from homosexual men because Iran, as we all know does not have any homosexuals. Ahmadinejad said so. I sure as hell believe him. After all, it wasn’t homosexuality that cost these two young men their lives.
But that’s not what we are focusing on today in our trip around the world, which for your amusement, also includes a
trip back in time, oh you know, several centuries:
“A female student in the Iranian city of Zanjan who alleged she was sexually harassed by a senior male lecturer - triggering a massive demonstration by her fellow students - has herself been arrested.
The nature of the charge against the woman - who said she was molested by the vice-chancellor of the university - is unclear, but the local prosecutor is reported to have said that publicising certain crimes is worse than the crimes themselves”. (BBC News)
So much for women’s rights. So much for human rights. In an extraordinary case of blame the victim, not to mention shoot the messenger, a young woman who dared speak out against sexual harassment was arrested for having the audacity to speak out against criminal behaviour.
This is my favourite titbit from that particular story:
“Reporters have quoted the prosecutor saying people should be aware that if they go ahead and publicise crime there will be no more security in society”.
Um…aargh….okay. I think I understand what’s at stake here. It’s not the crime itself that is the problem; it’s the people who try to put a stop to it. Makes perfect sense. Best to keep it hidden, sweep it under the rug of ignorance and moral decay.
*And now, back to the 21st Century…well almost. Sydney, Australia and deep in the throes of that orgasmic joy known as World Youth Day, the Cardinal George Pell has taken time out from sweeping sex abuse allegations under the rug to talk Climate Change.
Well, to pour his unique brand of self-righteous scorn on it anyway. Dear readers, it would appear that Pell is a Climate Change sceptic. Yes, the Pellmeister thinks that there is not enough evidence to substantiate the claim the man-made activity is causing or contributing to global warming.
I am going to repeat that for you, lest you should have missed the delicious irony contained within. The cardinal George Pell, a practising Catholic, who believes in the existence and intervention of a Supreme Being, who believes that Jesus was conceived despite the fact his mother had never opened her legs for her own husband (poor jpseph got the short end of that straw huh?), who believes that this same virgin never died but ascended to Heaven as is, who believes that Jesus rose from the dead, who believes that Saints perform miracles, who believes all of these fantastical stories, also cites lack of evidence for anthropogenic Global Warming.
"Cardinal Pell rejected the argument made by Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd that climate change was a moral issue. He urged caution on the issue, which he said was much less important that tackling poverty, marriage breakdown or abortion rates". (The Age).
Of course, nothing is as important as abortion. or more specifcally putting an end to it. Forget the fact our entire planet is under threat. Women taking control of their bodies? Well that's gotta stop!
* And finally for the coup de grace, the piece de resistance if you will, I shall whisk you to –where else- but America. Oh you know how I love to generalise about the Americans. A recent survey has found that 10% of Americans still think Obama is a Muslim:
"While a majority — 53% — identify Obama as a Christian, 16% of conservative Republicans, 16% of white evangelical Protestants and 19% of rural Americans believe the Illinois senator is Muslim.
About a third of Americans said they don't know what Obama's religious beliefs are, and 9% of that group said it's because they've heard different information about his faith." (USA Today)
Yes, despite the fact that Obama and his family belonged to the Trinity Church of Christ of 20 years, despite the fact that Obama has professed his Christian faith more often than McCain has called his wife a trollop, despite the fact that Obama has resigned from this same Church lest simple minded twats think he share the same extreme views of his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, despite all this evidence to the contrary, one in ten Americans still think that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Idiots. We all know he is really a Communist.
And there you have it. My nice little wrap up of the idiocy and close-mindedness that still permeates our global society. All mind bending. All frustrating. All laughable. And all true.
Is there hope for us yet I wonder?
-Ruby
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Comment by Steven Barrett's OpEd Blog
Interesting post. You surely took your readers across a few miles.
As for Nicholas II, there's a lot less blood on his hands than Stalin. You're right about him being incompetent. Which explains for much of the violence against his subjects when he couldn't control his own cossacks. He was very intimidated by his wife, who was in the thrall of Rasputin, which says volumes.
Russia wasn't nearly as broke under the Romanoffs as it was under the Reds. It had it's overwhelming poverty in many places, but it also enjoyed great wealth and for the first time it had a vibrant middle class on the rise under Nicholas II and his father (who was real brute, Alexander III.
Nothing, absolutely, nothing, could compare to Stalins long reign of terror. Nobody was safe for a second during all those decades. Nobody. Period. WHich makes the sympathizers in the West's fawning approval for Stalin's pushing Russia into the 20th Century all the more appalling since they'd never tolerate such brutality in free societies: but they overlooked it in Stalinist Russia, and so forth in Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, Nicaragua, etc.
As for the hapless gay license applicant in Sicily, that was just stupid on the Italians part; no, the Sicilians'part. Different folks, though same nationality and language. That wasn't right.
Have a good day.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
i will stick up for the Amercians and say the media is purposely ambiguous about his religion, and often downright deceitful . . . members of my own household often tell me they have a sneaking suspision he is a secret muslim agent . . . whether it be the constant plays on his name or him having some family history in muslim culture i dont know
gay people cant drive? haha thats a new one
and talking about a crime is worse than the crime itself? hmmmm well if they can point to some "copycat harrassers" maybe they could make a case for that . . . somehow i doubt it
but the absolute stupidest thing on that list is Pell saying forget about climate change lets focus on abortion . . . what is this morose fixation with abortion . . . its none of your business Pell, move on buddy . . . pay a bit more attention to the fully formed children who are getting abused by your Church
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
And I do still giggle over it all. Just because the vast ocean of humanity is sitting here on top of the food chain thinking it is immortal...When it is self destructing every second.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Hey Morgan, the only media in America that is dicey about Obama's background is the ultra-conservative media a-la Fox and Ann Coutler. It is they who make constant references to his middle name and his father's religion. If those who take heed of Fox would just switch to another network for another opinion, then perhaps America wouldn't be in this mess.
And yes, it always comes down to abortion. Well, Mother Teresa was not wrong when she announced before a dumbfounded audience as she accepted her Noble Peace Prize, "The greatest threat to world peace is abortion".
Amen, Mother T.
Haha Kleo, yeah I do seem to be attracting my fair share of hostility don't I? I'm still scratching my head over it all to be honest. But, you know there is no such thing as bad publicity, so keep it coming I say.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
She sure did. She also contributed to it. Mother Teresa is a real sore point with me. Anyone who did the slightest bit of research can discover that she accepted millions (some say billions) of dollars in donations, yet did not pass this money onto the poor that she supposedly loved. What happened to all that money?
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
I am going to repeat that for you, lest you should have missed the delicious irony contained within. The cardinal George Pell, a practising Catholic, who believes in the existence and intervention of a Supreme Being, who believes that Jesus was conceived despite the fact his mother had never opened her legs for her own husband (poor jpseph got the short end of that straw huh?), who believes that this same virgin never died but ascended to Heaven as is, who believes that Jesus rose from the dead, who believes that Saints perform miracles, who believes all of these fantastical stories, also cites lack of evidence for anthropogenic Global Warming.
Comment by Doug Pollard
Rainbow Reporter
Comment by jayfactor
Thank you for the great write-up. I had heard of some of these masterpieces of Human intellect but it was good to read your collection with the observations of another.
On Mother T, yes there are wonderful stories of her "love and affection" for people. I had the opportunity to hear some first-hand experiences.
I do ask myself a question though and I present it to you. Is it time that we start asking "why?"
In Mother T's case, I know that she was a very, very devoted woman. Devoted to her faith and from that, devoted to the people and giving them care.
Here's the twist, her concepts were screwed to beyond frightening.
Her devout belief in, well, her beliefs, made her belief that salvation comes to the "meek", poor and suffering should, and that you must help the sick.
This was so important, that it was made sure that people in her care continued to suffer!
They were 'loved' and 'cared for' to the point where they remained in need of support. The infrastructure was conducive to infection and disease.
There are communal toilets, where everybody squats facing each other in places that are not cleaned for days. Bandages that are not changed when they should etc. etc.
And as you mentioned, it wasn't because of lack of money.
Anyways, the bigger problem is Abortion, right?
It is truly amazing that we can still accept people speaking in this manner. I mean, if somebody is outright racist, that is an offence, well almost. But when something like this is said *and* propagate. We tolerate so easily.
There should be a code of conduct for leaders around the world. What do you think?
Attack Iraq? Sorry. You're fired!
Anti-Abortion? You are under arrested and fined for "causing annoyance and interference" to visitors of the planet/ pilgrims of humanity.
Can’t talk about crime harassment to women? Sorry, for the sake of a safe and *sane* society, you are castrated and incarcerated.
As for SID, c'mon. Be reasonable. If we let homosexuals drive around freely, what's next?
Let's allow women to drive? or Africans? or Sikhs? (Oh wait, that's me! shit!) or Italians!
Huh?
And you know what else would happen? We would have cars of every different colour! And other stuff, which I can't think of right now, but am sure when I do, it would be as dangerous. I mean thinking? AAAHHH!
Let's be reasonable guys. Let insanity prevail.
As for Stalin and his like. May they rest in peace. So that we may live in peace.
No use crying over bad milk. Let's make butter!!
Pour all these idiots in the pot and light up the fire of common sense, intellect, humanity and compassion.
Anybody got a toaster?
Jay
---------------
“To dare every day to be irreverent and bold. To dare to preserve the randomness of mind which in children produces strange and wonderful new thoughts and forms. To continually scramble the familiar and bring the old into new juxtaposition.”
- Gordon Webber
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
Can’t talk about crime harassment to women? Sorry, for the sake of a safe and *sane* society, you are castrated and incarcerated.
that sir was a fantastic read!
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
I don't know which of these stories is the most disgruntling...
When I was in China I saw people selling these:
I was so mesmerised by Mao's flailing appendage that I bought one as a souvenir.
But yes, it seems China is as in love with its former oppressor as Russia is.
Comment by jayfactor
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Oh yes, Doug, women only get abused and assaulted because they have led the poor man into temptation. That Iranian girl in question must have gotten her lecturer's heart racing with a slutty revealing of her ankle or something...
Hi jayfactor, welcome to thoughtzone. Thanks for that interesting an amusing analysis. I do think Mother T's shortcoming went beyond simple devotion, but I don't want to get bogged down in a discussion over her, another post perhaps?
It is truly amazing that we can still accept people speaking in this manner. I mean, if somebody is outright racist, that is an offence, well almost. But when something like this is said *and* propagate. We tolerate so easily.
I absolutely agree, it amazes me how the entire world thinks it has some sort of claim over the bodies of supposedly independent women.
Haha, thanks PoMo, good old Mao. Does that watch actually work or is it just for decoration?
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Jay, I don't think anyone should be arrested or killed or castrated for speaking their mind. I don't like that idea one bit. Ever heard of freedom of speech?
Comment by jayfactor
I agree 110% with your point. I've never heard of freedom of speech.
I've read about it in stories but never heard or seen in real. Does it really exist?
Besides, what about MY freedome of speech? 
I was also "speaking their, I mean my, mind"
As for my thoughts on arrest and castration (I didn't think I mentioned anything about killing anybody. that is so violent. castration is so much more civil don't you think?)
Anyways, if any group or authority thinks that women should be treated like that and should not raise their voice against crimes like violence and rape and gross violation of their general human rights, then my friend let me restate my point of view.
Viva castration.
My mother was a woman. We exist today because of the love, compassion and intellect of woman. A man alone is a man alone, and that is not a fun place to be.
Not to undermine the MAN. A man is what completes the picture. One cannot be without the other. I am a Man thank you very much. And a very macho man as well, if i may say so. I just like to fiddle with the definitions every now and then.
I have no respect for anyone who does not have basic regard for all people. Man, Woman, Child, White, Black or Mild. (What? it rhymes!)
No disrespect to anyone. It's just me throwing up the soup of my thoughts. (yuk!)
-Jay
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
A man completes what picture? I'm all for harmonious co-existence between the genders, but it sounds like you're saying a woman can't be without a man or vice versa?
As for you being a macho man, I would be more interested if you said you were a Sensitive New Age Guy (SNAG). I associate 'macho' men with traditional sexist attitudes where men have to be 'tough' and 'take care of the women-folk'.
I have no respect for anyone who does not have basic regard for all people.
But aren't you contradicting yourself by saying you don't have respect for people who don't have respect? I would argue that everybody needs your respect, because you can't start helping them if you accept that they cannot change. No one's POV remains the same forever, and when people are exposed to the right kind of environment they can surprise everyone around them, including themselves.
Comment by jayfactor
Ok. Let me get serious.
To begin with please let me say that these are my views and wishes only. When it comes to it, I would probably wimp out and not be able to cut anybody's, well...
I understand what you are saying and I do agree with you that education is the best answer.
It's just that over the past few years I have been (a few years ago I would said, "had the opportunity", been privileged", "the honour” so some crap like that. Now it all seems so, so beside the point.)
well, over the past few years I have been with mothers and fathers and daughters and sons from Sudan, Sierra Leone and Egypt, other wonderful African nations and Middle East. I have tried to look into the eyes of young boys who have lost everything including their father who was, in some cases, eaten, half alive. I have tried looking into the eyes of boys who have shot a few men. It is chilling beyond expression. Trust me, some things cannot change. Not in time anyway. No one deserves to be killed but do we also not have the right to stand and watch these horrid acts while we debate our moralistic responses?
Having said that let me say that the people I speak about are like a poisoned arm of a person. It will kill you if you keep it and you will hurt and suffer your entire life if you lose it.
I for one, my friend will bow before any person that can teach people to not cut up little kids into more pieces that the years they have seen.
I will be a slave to the person that can save the girls getting raped right now and have been every single day for years.
Education has its place. and it is my deepest wish that we can teach. I also know that it is wishful thinking.
But to allow the killings, mutilations and rapes to continue whilst we go about trying to get through a governments that encourage these... (What do you call it?) to get to men who exist on drug, alcohol and human flesh and will kill anyone who suggests anything, to educate them or even stop and think for a minute, does not seem right to me.
Your point of the right kind of environment is absolutely correct. I just don't know how we can create this space in an appropriate time in an acceptable manner?
This is not a shot or a rhetorical question but a question of desperation.
I would like to hear your view on this. Because it is only with our thoughts and efforts that I can keep facing my friend B***u, still searching for her son amongst the boys that once paraded down the streets with AK47s.
The institutions of countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia are not too much better when it comes to the atrocities towards women and others that do not fit the mould dictated by self proclaimed saviours of humanity, with fathers raping their own daughters and then beating them to death in the name of honour.
I guess you are right, I am contradicting myself by saying I don't have respect for people who don't have respect for all.
Guilty as charged. I have no other explanations.
Let's discuss the Macho man bit another day.
Respects
Jay
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
A sexual identity disturbance - and I thought I'd heard it all . . .
A pot pourie of reading worth every minute of the research.
Nice post.
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
that was a depressing collection of news stories. I'm not sure which one bothers me the most...
Comment by Louie
Climate Forum
Climate Red
randomthoughts
Phil's Wellness Tips
Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
Perhaps the authorities are afraid that Mr. Giuffrida will be so distracted by singing along with his Liza Minelli CDs in the car that he might pose a hazard to other motorists?
Comment by Anonymous
Shocking, isn't it. Well, I'm sure 10% or more of Orble readers think your posts are interesting.
There's no accounting for common sense or taste.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Hi Cibb, ah yes Hitler the master war monger. When even Hitler can be twisted like that, that's when we must realise that there is something fundamentally wrong with our species.
Haha, Louie, yeah, the most surprising thing is that none of them really surprise me.
Well that makes their decision seem almost reasonable Winston.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Only 10% of Orble like my writing you say? . Oh dear, I do hate to trample a clever joke but whilst I don't normally brag about these sorts of things, I could print my reader stats that Orble emailed me this morning and show you that I had:
Hits: 5599
and
Individual Readers: 2200
yesterday. And I could ask you to look for my name in the list of top Orble writers thus:
1) 22581 charles
2) 9813 Cibbuano
3) 7038 Ian
4) 5283 ZPages
5) 5145 peeker
6) 3944 Tyronne
7) 3828 Jack
8) 3269 Blighty
9) 3240 Harry
10) 2200 RubySoho
Yeah, I could do all that, but what would that achieve, apart from making you look like an idiot and making me feel good?
Comment by jayfactor
I really admire your humility. I mean some people just have this need to brag about how good they are but not you gal.
Sophistication and grace like this is rare in the world today.
Besides, some people just have a thing for underminig others to make themselves feel like they are better then they think they are.
Keep it kicking.
Jay
Comment by jayfactor
Please allow me to address the reasoning of my use of the term 'Macho'.
Also, let's take any further discussion on this matter to another post/blog, so as not to cramp Ruby's space.
First and foremost, My intention or the use of the word was not in that context.
My thoughts are that we have a certain love affair with inventing new terms. This is ok to some extent I guess, however in some cases, it robs of the opportunity to address a deeper problem that stands behind the reson of the use of a term in the first place. As an example, let me refer to two terms, Negro and Feminine.
In the case of the first case, the term was simply racist and derogotory. It came to represent so many things that are simply considered wrong today. However, the term or the ideology behind it was never addressed. We simply moved on to better sounding words. I think, it is partly due to this that even today the word is in common use and has actually become a double edged sword. Used within the community, it is an endearing term that bonds people together but let a white man say that to a black man and the results can be quite interesting and 'eye opening' (literally).
There is another problem with this. This term alone has contributed so much in isolating the African American community and continue allowing the term to be used to give expression to a sentiment that we should moved on from.
Second term, feminism has started to take on a negative conotation in some circles. Woman in successful carrers and businesses, see the term as derogatory and believe that to succeed in their proffessional life, they "have to be and act like men".
A recent study published in a pshycology journal explained how this idea alone is having physiological and biological impact.
Let me take a moment here to say that man does complete the picture. I am of-course reffering to a global system. It would be different world if there were only men or only women. This is going beyond the choices of individuals and on a world level. Everybody has a right to make their own personal choices and not be discrimiated for that.
anyways, Macho. yes. well here's some food for thought. you may or may not agree with this. i respect that.
The term Macho or Machismo is inherently racist and elitist. huh? What the hell am i talking about?
Firstly, here's a few things.
Main Entry:
1ma•cho
Pronunciation:
\ˈmä-(ˌ
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Spanish, literally, male, from Latin masculus
Date:
1928
Merriam webster dictionary
"The etymology of the idea of machismo has roots in political and social concerns of the late twentieth century. The origin of the term is found in texts, especially journalistic, social science, and feminist dissections of Mexican men and Latinos in general in this period. The popularization of machismo as an epithet for Spanish-speaking males of the species coincided with the rise of second-wave feminism and, later, cultural identity politics in which supposedly immutable cultural traits were linked, as if genetically, to men with one or another geographic and/or class ancestry.
The origins of the term give an indication of its future as an idea: to the extent that hegemonic ideologies and ways of constructing knowledge about Latin America and Latinos remain unchallenged, including with regard to gender relations and inequalities, it will be possible to continue employing machismo in a stereotypical fashion and as an expedient label for complex social interactions. If, on the other hand, the idea of machismo and that of its even more problematic would-be opposite, marianismo, are recognized and discarded as antiquated paradigms invented to explain and teach about gender inequality in Latin American and Latino/a societies, then the idea of machismo could be short-lived. Machismo as a shorthand for sexism may have come into journalistic, social science, feminist, and popular vogue for a variety of reasons, including the well-intentioned desire to criticize gender inequality and oppression. The continued employment of this hackneyed term can only reflect the persistence of an elitist and racist model to understand gender inequities among women and men of Latin American origin.
What is more, frequently these traits of machismo and marianismo are pegged in particular to working class men and women, as if those from the middle and upper strata were too sophisticated for their lives to be captured by such crude academic groupings. As theoretical categories, therefore, machismo and marianismo are not only culturally chauvinist but elitist as well. The machismo-marianismo paradigm represented an expression of a widespread intellectual colonial mentality in the behavioral and social sciences that remained dominant and unchallenged for far too long."
My thoughts are that we should not let this term to exist in its present form and allow abusive behaviour find justification and expression through this term but rather understand and change the conotations so that no explanations or glorifications exist to offer any expression to such behaviour.
to end here's another thought that bothers me:
In our era of increasing egalitarianism, macho movie heroes remain the rage, literally and figuratively. And in 1992, astronomers gave the ultimate tribute to a newly discovered (or at least imagined) celestial body, like a planet but larger, by naming it Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Object, MACHO for short.
Really Long Link
?
My sincere apologies to those who only see the term in the light that Post Modern Critic has offered and don't agree with what I've said. In that sense, please let me state that no, i am not "Macho".
But do think about it.
regards and respects to all
Jay
sorry about the long post
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
But just out of curiosity, do you always leave such long winded and rambling comments on people's blogs right after you have insulted them?
Or am I just lucky?
But hey, at least you apologised for taking up space, I mean at least that's something.
keep on kicking,
ruby
Comment by Jeff Musall
Secular Humanity
Here is some take on the Russian story (being that my father-in-law is a retired Russian colonel, I can offer some perspective I think) Russia has been plagued by bad leadership and bad timing for a very long time. The people look for a figure in history to be proud of - the ones who miss something of the Soviet era revere Stalin, those who are embracing religion praise Nicholas, and those who take a more pragmatic and non-religious view favor Peter. It's not so much that they are approving of what was done, as they are seeking identity. Russia is on the cusp of moving to a new place post the post-Soviet era, and becoming prominent on the world stage again, and in a far less menacing way. There are still some hurdles, though.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
It's not just the strangeness of the stories that bothers me, it's the fact that they are examples of how, all over the world, we are still held back by deeply seated prejudices and superstitions. Sometimes I just think that we really should have progressed beyond this by now. These are just a few examples of how far we have to go...
Thanks for that insight into Russia. A retired Russian general for a father-in-law, yowsers! I wouldn't break his daughter's heart if I were you. Kidding, kidding....
I agree Russia has quite a brutal history and it seems the population were always suffering at the hands of one regime or another. Actually the BBC article I sourced for that story described Russia as being in a state of confusion over their own history. I don't really blame them, though it does worry me that anyone can think Joseph Stalin a hero.
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Ruby - Try not to get too bogged down by the negatives in life. There's always something positive to counteract it all if you look hard enough.
Comment by Jeff Musall
Secular Humanity
Comment by Johnny Come Lately
Jack's Back
PoMo, for fuck's sake. You would have to be the biggest whinger on Orble. Do you not understand humour at all? Plus, of course woman needs man to balance the picture in the whole scheme of things - it's called reproduction. Jayfactor didn't once say that A woman needs to have A man.
Jayfactor - great stuff. Don't take any notice of PoMo. EVERYTHING offends her delicate sensibilities and humour, wit and sarcasm seem to go straight over her head. I'm going to head over and read some of your posts.
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Jayfactor didn't mention reproduction, and a statement like that can be interpreted in a lot of ways, so I was trying to discern where he was coming from. Implying what he said could be interpreted in a problematic way might make him think twice before making such a vague comment in the future.
Now go take out your issues on someone else, because I'm very proud that my sensibilities are so 'delicate' and I don't like your attitude towards them.
Comment by jayfactor
Thanks JCL. I appreciate it.
PostmodernCritic - Thank you for your concern and time to avail your delicate sensibilities for my vague comments. You should be proud. Pride is truly a good thing to have, especially when one haslittle else.
But truly, thank you.
Now let’s be civil, shall we?
If you consider it so bad. Ok, I give up. I’ll say it. I might not have used the most appropriate words and was vague and opened myself up to idiots misconstruing what I was saying without applying a little intellect to understand the message, which of all things is a personal expression on a blog, and insist on harrasing me to the point where I have nightmares about these critics.
Ruby - I hope you didn't take my comments as an attempt at offending you. It was certainly not the intention. I admire your work.
And I guess you are lucky I try not writing such long posts apart from my own blog. Again, apologies for the long posts.
regards
Jay
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
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