Categories
humour

Why the planet is so lonely

Like many of the irish population I listen to the Last Word on Today FM regularly while travelling home from work. Today I managed to catch a section on the Lonely Planet guide’s description of certain Irish towns and counties. A link to the press release on the Irish section of the guide can be found here
The section was typically Dublin focussed with most of the interview covering the guide’s comments about Temple Bar. Lads, you’ll never achieve any decentralisation if you don’t educate the pale about the rest of the country. Surely it’s worth pointing out there are places where you can get to work in under an hour without having a multi-million euro mortgage and a helicopter.
However, at the end they mentioned the comments about Waterford.


Waterford Town: “Although that seedy port-town feel is still evident in places, the city has received a facelift in recent years. Pedestrianised streets and public artworks have improved the centre, and it’s now a more attractive place to wander.” (P184)


Now, this back-handed and cack-handed complement is typical of the bluster that the editor Justin Bambridge tried to defend on Matt’s show. He made vague references to “proper research” but couldn’t articulate what this really consisted of. There are not “seedy places” in Waterford CITY. I can only think of a few square metres in the town that could be described as “seedy”. I can assure the reader that having grown up in Waterford if there was any more seediness to find, my intrepid group of friends would have found it. I kinda wish they’d included some photos of all this licentiousness.
While we’re at it, I’ve found greater need to “take care after dark” in the “cultural centre” that is Kilkenny or the “buzzing with energy” Cork than in Tralee. As for Dublin, I’ve seen more alcohol-related fights in Dublin on my ocassional nocturnal outtings there than many years spent in Waterford and frequent trips abroad. I suppose depending on their mood the writers would thus describe Dublin as “having something for everyone”.
Perhaps the planet is lonely as it’s so goddamn smug.

Categories
philosophy

Jumping from couch to couch

If you haven’t seen this on gawker or youtube yet then you’re in for a treat. Now, I’m all for expressing unpopular beliefs (popularity is overrated) if you can provide a rational argument for them but if you fervently (WRIT LARGE) believe in something to the point of wild-eyed and frothing enthusiasm then an honest person has to share that with the world at large. Especially so if you view that you’re the “only person who can help” when you see an accident or that your religion is the “way to happiness”. More problematic is the anti-psychotherapist propaganda and the IPR protection of much of the Scientologist belief system. All “religions” seem to think they’re the way to happiness anyway. I guess what I object to about this is that people can have all the unsubstantiated beliefs they want but, at the minimum, theit tenets should be publicly available (not for cash) and publicly expressed, So, with the presumption that Mr Cruise is “extremely serious” he should be giving public interviews about all his beliefs. Even if his career nose-dived it’s not like he needs the money. He’s rightly afraid of ridicule as the Brooke Shields incident proved. Mother’s are movie-goers too! Still, if he’s so serious… ?
I guess I’m a religious committment-phobe. I’m comfortably agnostic but determine the existence of an unknown creator is low in probability based on our current knowledge of the universe. Still, I can’t know so I can’t even fully commit to agnosticism or atheism. Maybe it’s labels. I don’t want my psyche to be branded (or trademarked). I’m not sure I could commit to any religion that wanted me as a member, only kidding :S Gee that sounded smug, maybe I should make an informercial 😀
I reject the idea of “supernatural”, I just believe we can’t explain some things yet but we should be careful about forming belief systems about things we don’t understand. This applies to science aswell. As our knowledge of the physical world expands we better appreciate how neat formulaic beliefs don’t always hold (e.g. at the sub-atomic scale) and we appreciate that our beliefs are essentially heuristics which have a utility and should be measured as such. Bit cold, bit dry but there ya go 🙂 Still, a lot of rules and regulation in the major religions of the world have practical social value. Don’t eat meat that’s rotten, don’t fight your neighbour, don’t steal, kill etc.
It’s important to consider their context rather than blindly dismissing everything. Marx claimed that religion was the opium of the people. So, he replaced it with a new drug, just as powerful and stupefying.
I guess most people would chose certainty over ambiguity, destiny over happenstance and heaven over oblivion.

Categories
politics

a fairytale

There was once a charismatic and likable man who ran for the most important political office in the world. When the man spoke, his words captured the imagination of a public tired of a decade of right-wing conservative rhetoric. He promised change and the public believed he had the conviction and ability to realise it. His youth and relative lack of experience was attacked by his fearful opponents. His wife and marriage were ridiculed. His religious beliefs were debated. Evidence of drug taking was brought to light. His opponents tried anything to convince the voters that they couldn’t entrust this man with the running of their country. He was “naieve”, he’d “couldn’t make tough decisions”…
The pollsters confused matters, perhaps they asked the wrong voters, but his message was compelling and it won through. The voters had had enough of war, Republicans and the Bush family and they emphatically voted for change. The candidate in question was William Jefferson Clinton.
It’s no small irony that many of the attack’s against Obama’s candidacy resonate with those against Bill Clinton during his first presidential campaign. Nobody would dispute the great work Bill has done since he left office but it ill behooves him and arguably impacts his effectiveness and credibility to be campaigning in such a dismissive manner against a young African American man who represents pretty much everything Clinton championed during his presidency. Indeed, I can’t help but feel that if Hillary wasn’t in the race Bill would be applauding rather than criticising Obama’s candidacy. It’s a credit to Barack Obama that his campaign has been one of respect, honesty and principle. Now that’s a refreshing change.

Categories
philosophy

Thought for the day

Beware knee-jerk reactions and consider consequences.

“All bad precedents begin as justifiable measures.”
— Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.)