small fry
This the SECOND TIME
that fish stall man in
Ridley Road Market
slipped me a whiting
in the bag of sprats
for tonight's supper
I want an A-POL
-OGY this instant.
Curse the unholy
fish seller and stall.
Burn his thin blue bags.
How dare he sell crab -
Burn, Bomb 'n Invade!
'n they sell pig in
the evil road 'n
women sell salad.
I DEMAND respect
for my fishy faith.
APOLOGISE NOW!!!
5 comments:
Now that Mandela is retired, there are few if any politicians respected enough to be able to say "You have to *earn* respect by doing something *worthy* of respect", or somesuch.
Respected as human beings, yes.
Respected as upholders of dishonest and debasing philosophies (eg. I know God/Allah/Jehovah exists and what he wants; therefore I am justified in ... etc), no.
It's all very well me grumping about this but the question is: How do we get our species to grow up?
I've been thinking along similar lines to your comment, so have put a post on your website
http://www.intothelight.info/
How do we get our species to grow up?
Maybe we should eliminate some strategies:
1. laughing AT people doesn't help at all
2. fawning agreement inflates misguided people even more
3. oppression tends to make the situation much worse
4. refusing to talk with people is not a good idea?
I think Mandela himself would be in agreement with those four so far.
Sounds good but...
1. Laughing at (ridiculing) people is merely another way of scapegoating. Scapegoating is a tried and trusted method of gaining political advantage and selling newspapers and boosting TV ratings. just ask Rupert Murdoch or The Pope (any Pope) or Voddie Baucham or Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson or George Bush or Robert Mugabe or recall Hitler, Stalin, Mau, Pol Pot etc
2. Fawning agreement is a tried and trusted method of advancement.
3. Oppression in a really good policy ... for the oppressors.
4. Refusing to talk with people is a good way of perpetuating the status quo thus advantageous to those who hold power. A clever way is to appear to talk with people but to merely go through the media orchestrated motions.
While in agreement with the comforting generalities, I suspect Mandela would be only too well aware of the realities.
sorry :
3. Oppression is a really good policy ... for the oppressors.
Hi Labi,
Blogger doen't allow me to edit comments ;-(
Do I detect just a touch of cynicism?
Your original question was: How do we get our species to grow up?
If as many individuals as possible are as grown up at possible, the species will be more grown up. And by "grown up" in this context, I assume we mean positive mature human beings, not self-seeking, lying and abusive specimens of the species.
Oliver
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