I realise I'm going to get a reputation for being a gloomy, melodramatic social pessimist - but my daily click onto the BBC's local news section was greeted with the top 4 stories being the following:
* Two boys, 14, found guilty of murdering a father in Sheffield
* Nurse steal money from dying patient to pay her mobile phone bill
* Man slashes his own throat in Woolworths, killing himself in front of attendant shoppers
* Newcastle man dies in stabbing
What's it all about?!
Friday 21 September 2007
Fame beckons at the expense of my anonymity!
Imagine my suprise this morning - when browsing the BBC's Saxondale site - when I spotted a comment from "MrGeeza's blogspot" about Jonathon's acting! So much for preserving my anonymity! I did find it amazing that I was looking at a website referencing a comment made by me about the show the website is based on! The internet truly is a small place.
Wednesday 19 September 2007
Love thy neighbour (or urinate on her if it's easier..)
I felt I wanted to post this and draw attention to it's sheer incredulity! I don't even know what I can say about it - I just find it unbelievable that something so disgusting can occur on Britain's streets in the 21st Century. I realise (as I've mentioned before) that I'm probably sheltered but I hope that this sort of incident never becomes readily dismissable by anyone - regardless of their upbringing or social exposure.
My question, I think, is how do people get into a position where they're capable of doing something so dispicable? There's probably no answer.. how depressing though..
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On a happier note, I've had my car for a week now and I love it! It's excessively lavish and parades a plethora of technological tricks - hence why I love it. I get in it and feel like driving.. not energetically.. just driving.. it's warm, comfortable, aesthically-pleasing, ergonomic.. it's wonderful! Now, please let my old car sell with haste to ease the financial burden currently hanging over my head!
My question, I think, is how do people get into a position where they're capable of doing something so dispicable? There's probably no answer.. how depressing though..
==========================================
On a happier note, I've had my car for a week now and I love it! It's excessively lavish and parades a plethora of technological tricks - hence why I love it. I get in it and feel like driving.. not energetically.. just driving.. it's warm, comfortable, aesthically-pleasing, ergonomic.. it's wonderful! Now, please let my old car sell with haste to ease the financial burden currently hanging over my head!
Tuesday 18 September 2007
Women's football in Japan!
I've been quite busy this week but I did have the "fortune" of catching a 45-minute half of women's football at the World Cup in Japan. Now, in my sheltered (and probably sexist world) Men play football - just like girls go to Brownies*. Never mind equality - in my head it's gender exclusive. Bigotry aside, I thought I'd give it a chance.
Quite frankly, it was more of a circus than I could've imagined (or hoped for!). Passes were rarely long enough to be completed, players had to kick for the goalkeepers so they could surpass the confines of the penalty area, shots from > 18 yards invariably bounced 3 times before reaching the goal and throw-ins epitomised the reputation girls have for an inability to throw anything. And, bear in mind, this is the very best the world's countries had to offer! To be fair, however, I should say that Kelly Smith exhibited 'actual' footballing skills and made a very good show for herself. It's just the other 500+ women there who would probably fail to notice if the game was started with a rugby ball rather than a football.
* I could write reams on my sociological/psycholgical take on different individual's acquired/voluntary societal perceptions and opinions. I think that one's upbringing indoctrinates a very strong opinion of particular social settings or identity groups. I was brought up in a traditional nuclear family where my Father was 'breadwinner' and my Mother raised the children. Now that I am older I recognise the right of women to strive in careers (or the right of men to raise children) but sub-consciously I still instinctively percieve a family unit comprising of Dad-Worker, Mum-Mother + Children-scholars and very closely share the Social constructionist approach to making sense of individuals perceptions.
These instinctive perceptions could very easily be construed as sexist, ageist or whatever but it is very difficult to suppress instinct with rationality and calculation in advanced years.. The influences shaping perceptions are not just historical, cultural or familial. Much contemporary discourse considering social contexts (such as the nuclear family mentioned above) is loaded with political terminolgy. I was disgusted to learn recently that, until it was repealed in 2003, the England and Wales Local Government Act 1988 made reference to same-sex partnerships raising children as "pretended families". This is language enacted less than 2 decades ago and drafted by people purporting to represent society's interests!
I'll stop myself! I'm on runway 1 and I'm clear for take-off! Best for any readers that I abort!
Suffice to say that I don't use [apparently] sexist vernacular to offend but merely to expound my honest, natural opinion of things.
Quite frankly, it was more of a circus than I could've imagined (or hoped for!). Passes were rarely long enough to be completed, players had to kick for the goalkeepers so they could surpass the confines of the penalty area, shots from > 18 yards invariably bounced 3 times before reaching the goal and throw-ins epitomised the reputation girls have for an inability to throw anything. And, bear in mind, this is the very best the world's countries had to offer! To be fair, however, I should say that Kelly Smith exhibited 'actual' footballing skills and made a very good show for herself. It's just the other 500+ women there who would probably fail to notice if the game was started with a rugby ball rather than a football.
* I could write reams on my sociological/psycholgical take on different individual's acquired/voluntary societal perceptions and opinions. I think that one's upbringing indoctrinates a very strong opinion of particular social settings or identity groups. I was brought up in a traditional nuclear family where my Father was 'breadwinner' and my Mother raised the children. Now that I am older I recognise the right of women to strive in careers (or the right of men to raise children) but sub-consciously I still instinctively percieve a family unit comprising of Dad-Worker, Mum-Mother + Children-scholars and very closely share the Social constructionist approach to making sense of individuals perceptions.
These instinctive perceptions could very easily be construed as sexist, ageist or whatever but it is very difficult to suppress instinct with rationality and calculation in advanced years.. The influences shaping perceptions are not just historical, cultural or familial. Much contemporary discourse considering social contexts (such as the nuclear family mentioned above) is loaded with political terminolgy. I was disgusted to learn recently that, until it was repealed in 2003, the England and Wales Local Government Act 1988 made reference to same-sex partnerships raising children as "pretended families". This is language enacted less than 2 decades ago and drafted by people purporting to represent society's interests!
I'll stop myself! I'm on runway 1 and I'm clear for take-off! Best for any readers that I abort!
Suffice to say that I don't use [apparently] sexist vernacular to offend but merely to expound my honest, natural opinion of things.
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