Let There Be Light
It could easily be dismissed as a cinematic myth, but I’m pretty damn sure it’s true that early Hollywood westerns simplified the distinction between hero and villain by cladding the good guys in light colours and the bad guys in dark ones; watching in monochrome, it would appear the characters an audience were supposed to root for wore white hats and the ones an audience were supposed to boo and hiss wore black ones. This method of visual storytelling itself probably derived from the folk fairy tales of Europe, a tradition Disney upheld when the studio began animating them; it has also persisted as basic shorthand to bypass shades of grey within any movie or TV series that has a linear narrative.
If only life were that straightforward. Once we realise that reality places demands upon us to discern the difference between a saint and a sinner without offering such signposts, the divisions become murky. Even then, however, there are certain archetypes the sussed know not to trust – politicians, gutter-press journalists, door-to-door salesmen, and crackpot cult gurus, to name but a small handful; they are sophisticated reincarnations of the childhood bogeyman offering us free sweets. And then there are those who make no pretence to obscure their villainy, such as brazen criminals or twisted interpreters of religious texts, who revel in their lack of empathy with the kind side of human nature. In this respect, perhaps the white hat/black hat educational tool that enables us to tell good from evil survives into adulthood.
Over the past twelve months, the strain of cautious cynicism I have been forced to employ as a safeguard against being shafted has received a series of severe blows; unexpected exposure to touching gestures that are amongst the finest examples of the benign weapons in this species’ sublime emotional armoury has reminded me that not everybody is a bastard or a bitch with an ulterior motive. Engaged as I am in a permanent pursuit of beauty, whether that be the exquisitely pirouetting ballerina, the classical musician possessing absolute mastery of their instrument, the mesmerising brushstrokes of an old master or prose and poetry powerful enough to provoke tears, seeing beauty in the kindness of strangers who I then embrace as friends has immeasurably improved my existence. Yet, in a curious way, it has also opened my eyes anew to the real villains in this world, those whose contrast with the bona-fide ladies and gentlemen it has been my pleasure to know couldn’t be more striking.
These cold, callous, self-aggrandizing, spiritually bankrupt, mercenary and mendacious leeches busily building a repulsive empire on the backs of those they manipulate and exploit for their own despicable ends appear even greater aberrations in the light of the love I have encountered, even greater stains on the positive potential of the human spirit. They know who they are. They are illiterate Philistines, not through lack of education or impoverished origins, but through choice. They saw a bandwagon travelling in their direction and they gleefully hitched a ride on it, eventually working their way towards the driving seat and pressing down hard on the pedal, not caring who they ran over as they ignored the speed limit. At times, words fail me when it comes to describing the utter contempt I hold them in. I would leap in front of a flying bullet for our beloved landlady, but I would not waste the contents of my bladder to extinguish the fire it would give me immense pleasure to witness this pond life perishing in.
They have abused the English language because it means no more to them than it would to someone for whom it is not their mother tongue; they have wrenched words away from their meaning and remade them in their own indecent image; they have perverted the mainstream media with an unprecedented level of cynical opportunism, distorting the truth so that the truth is buried beneath impenetrable layers of a lie of their own profane invention; they have engineered the hounding, persecution and imprisonment of pensioners by capitalising on the confusion and vulnerability of the mentally ill and encouraging the avaricious instincts at the dark heart of the acquisitive society in an unedifying spectacle they appear shamelessly proud of as they gloat in the wake of each miscarriage of justice; they have ridden roughshod over the principles laid down in an ancient document celebrated as the foundation stone of what made this country a civilised beacon of fair-play for all; they have devalued and belittled the sufferings of genuine victims as their reclassification of crimes has placed the innocuous on a level playing field with the unforgivable; they have legitimised a cottage industry previously written-off as the irrelevant bedroom rantings of autistic virgins; they have manufactured a climate of fear unseen since the seventeenth century in order to profit from the paranoia of the ignorant, ill-informed and easily led; they have expressed a chilling absence of compassion for the casualties of their corrupt crusade as their lips, sullied with the untruths of the revisionist, drip with the blood of the falsely accused. They are reprehensible charlatans of the lowest order, wolves whose immorality is cloaked in the sheep’s clothing of morality, legal gangsters whose sleep patterns are an unfathomable mystery to me.
It never ceases to astonish me that so many whose intellectual capacity to see through the bullshit of public figures is as sharp as the sting of a wasp at the height of summer inexplicably accept the agenda laid down before them. X is a predator; X has always been a predator; X was a predator all along, and though everybody knew so, nobody acted upon this knowledge. This is the truth now and there is nothing you, I or any other honest resident of the blogosphere can do to alter that. It is fact, engrained in the national consciousness, supported by the unchallenged testimonies of those who suffered at X’s hands and by the subtle erasure of historical evidence that contradicts this agenda. Yet, though we may well be pissing in the wind, there is always the remote possibility our discharge might just splash someone in the face and cause them to question the consensus. We live in hope because we continue to believe in the faint likelihood of good triumphing over evil, and this is what distinguishes us from them.
The random mood-swings of the great scriptwriter in the sky, whose ultimate power over plotting the progress of his characters will always be beyond our control, are only ever predictable when he sees fit to remove a cherished character from the storyline. Those who are deserving of deletion never seem to be scrubbed-out; they hang around like an optimistic importuner living in hope that an honourable member will visit his office and present him with the prospect of a financial advantage when times are hard. All those vile, loathsome blots on the landscape of beauty will still be with us when it feels like beauty has been eradicated for good. But it won’t be because beauty is as immortal as its antithesis. Even in the darkest of dark ages, there will always be light. I know because I’ve spent time in its company.
So, if you happen to stumble upon this either by accident or design, you shallow, shameless, contemptible abominations of humanity, you disgraceful betrayers of all love, kindness, decency and charity, do not make the mistake of assuming that this missive is some contrived outburst of stylised rage meticulously prepared for the converted. I am directly addressing you straight from an internal organ you are unfamiliar with, the heart. Although I am undeniably emotional at this moment in time, raging against the unfairness of Him that giveth because he also taketh away, I am able to articulate that emotion in a manner you are singularly unable to on account of the simple fact that you have no soul.
You are a lower form of life than the mucus that clogs my nostrils, the spit that swims around my mouth and the bodily waste expunged from my orifice. You may remain when your intellectual and spiritual superiors are gone, but you will not win in the end. We will not let you.
Petunia Winegum
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January 27, 2015 at 9:43 am -
Oh I think this needs tweeting to a few people. They will immediately recognise themselves (as the golden liquid splashes on their cheeks). They are hovering like demented, bloated vultures. They would rather feed than meet the truth.
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January 27, 2015 at 9:44 am -
Stand up, Mrs Alice B. Gutteridge of 27 Laburnum Close, Penge.
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January 27, 2015 at 9:46 am -
Wow…..what a fantastic piece. Straight from the heart.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:14 am -
The Old Contemptibles.
“Contempt of court” covers a wide variety of conduct which undermines or has the potential to undermine the course of justice, and the procedures which are designed to deal with them. The law governing contempt of court is vast. The Law Commission’s consultation paper on contempt of court was published in November 2012. It focused on a number of areas including:
The law on contempt by publication must balance the right of a defendant to a fair trial, with the right of the publisher to freedom of expression. There are also concerns that the procedures for dealing with this form of contempt may not be as fair and efficient as possible.
Many of the contempts which we are examining are contained in the Contempt of Court Act 1981. This Act pre-dates the internet and there are concerns that the current law cannot adequately deal with contempts committed through the new media.
In relation to contempts committed by jurors, there is also a need to ensure that the laws and procedures strike a balance between the public interest in the administration of justice, the defendant’s right to a fair trial, and the rights of the jurors concerned.
The powers of the criminal courts to deal with contempt committed in the face of the court are also unsatisfactory. There is uncertainty as to the scope of the common law powers (which apply to the Crown Court), gaps in the statutory provisions (which apply to the magistrates’ courts) and unjustifiable inconsistency between them.
Under section 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, the courts have a power to order that contemporary court reporting be postponed, where this is necessary to avoid a substantial risk of prejudice to those or other imminent or pending legal proceedings. There is presently no formal system for communicating the existence of such orders to the media, which creates obvious practical problems and reduces the efficacy of the regime.
http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/areas/contempt.htm-
January 27, 2015 at 10:34 am -
@Moor Larkin …. a substantial risk of prejudice
That I think is the core point
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January 27, 2015 at 10:26 am -
“These cold, callous, self-aggrandizing, spiritually bankrupt, mercenary and mendacious leeches busily building a repulsive empire on the backs of those they manipulate and exploit for their own despicable ends appear even greater aberrations in the light of the love I have encountered, even greater stains on the positive potential of the human spirit.”
I see you’ve met my ex wife then.-
January 27, 2015 at 10:34 am -
“I see you’ve met my ex wife then.”
I’m ashamed to admit that retort caused me to *SNORK* coffee over my laptop.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:41 am -
And a wry smile here!
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January 27, 2015 at 10:29 am -
“They have abused the English language because it means no more to them than it would to someone for whom it is not their mother tongue; they have wrenched words away from their meaning and remade them in their own indecent image; they have perverted ”
In my mind -despite mainlining ibruprofen, protopump inhibitors and overwhelming medical evidence to the contrary-it is still 1980something and I am still 18, a punk -poems on a Watneys beermat- poet , a character somewhere between Jack Kerouac, Sting and John Constantine, fighting my demon lover alcohol with Silk Cut (other brands of cool cigarettes are available) in hand, Mates in pocket, haunting the bars, parties and cafes of Brixton or Berlin or Brugge.
Just so you understand where I’m coming from when I say that my reply to THEM , when that eloquence escapes me and THEIR ‘logic’ ties me up and rapes me: DO DO DO,DA DA DA…..
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January 28, 2015 at 8:35 am -
Proton pump inhibitors? You maybe have Candida: sounds cute, can drive people to suicide. I know, I had it about eight months back. The PPIs stop working after maybe ten days, ibuprofen doesn’t touch it (though marijuana or good synth does, in the sense of distracting your thoughts from the nausea) but I found that cheap and cheerful yoghurt, or yoghurt drinks like Yakult, helps a lot. Try it for at least a week, if it doesn’t help then nothing lost, it’s change from a fiver. The idea is that friendly bacteria crowds out the bad stuff, which I found on a US web site for candidiasis sufferers. It’s a chronic condition so I still down a yoghurt drink daily and am now sitting in a Bali bar on my fourth pint!
Best wishes for a swift recovery, Peter
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January 29, 2015 at 1:32 pm -
Thanks Pete but I take the Proton thingys to counteract all the ibruprofen I take for a trapped nerve in my neck….and because there is a limit to the amount of ranitidine I can take daily. BTW if your own problems return you might find that ‘inulin’ (powder is on ebay) or other PREBiotics help quicker and better than yoghurt or PROBiotics- that’s a tip I got from Leg Iron and that man knows everything worth knowing about gut bugs (he is an actual gut-bug scientist with doctorate).
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January 27, 2015 at 10:38 am -
Inspirational Uncle Petunia ….Anna tends to bring out the best in those that have some good in them.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:40 am -
And perhaps the worst in those that don’t
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January 27, 2015 at 10:48 am -
Perhaps that is why shes important to those who visit the Raccoon Arms ……and to those who never would unless it was to close it down
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January 27, 2015 at 10:40 am -
A powerful peace. I have to say I always worry that Our Lord was misquoted on the “the meek shall inherit the earth” front, because it certainly seems that this world works well for the bastards. One of the reasons, I think, is that “the bastards” have no consciences (on this front see my other ramblings on sociopaths, a species of which I have had bitter experience) and even if a full on sociopathic diagnosis is not warranted, “the bastards” have a selfish, greedy and cunning approach to life which others of a rather higher spiritual or moral (take your pick) vibration just don’t have. I speak with some bitterness on this topic both from my own point of view, and also because today is the funeral of my friend Juliette, of whom I wrote on Sunday. I won’t go into it in detail, but she had had a rough time of it lately, and things had been very difficult for her. Others with no discernible talent seem to flourish.
However, there is another side. I now know that a little platoon of well wishers had all been playing their part in helping her through. The Good Guys are out their, in the shadows, quietly and silently mending lives and bestowing compassion. They don’t get any publicity like the showy Band Aid or latest raucous celeb driven BBC behemoth might do, but they do what needs to be done.
Great writing, by the way.
G the M-
January 27, 2015 at 11:02 am -
“I have to say I always worry that Our Lord was misquoted on the “the meek shall inherit the earth” front, because it certainly seems that this world works well for the bastards.”
“seems” is the operative word. God causes the sun to shine upon on the Righteous and the Wicked but there is a thin line between an all over tan (“in your carefully designed topless swimsuit so you get an even sun tan on your back and on your legs ..la..la.la”) and melanoma.
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January 27, 2015 at 6:32 pm -
The Essenes sect of which Jesus was a member referred to their membership as ‘the meek’. Inheriting the earth was to be the reward for the obedient members who had given everything to the sect in order to join it.
I’m thinking of starting a brand new religion to be called ‘The Good Guys’. Naturally those wishing to join will have to give my sect all their worldly wealth. This means selling your houses etc. so that when you come to actually enrol you can pay in one lump sum and then be admitted to the commune without delay. Hope to hear from you soon!
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January 27, 2015 at 6:55 pm -
“The Essenes sect of which Jesus was a member referred to their membership as ‘the meek’”
Jesus was an Essene? I very much doubt there is any real evidence for that claim -although truth be told there is no real (ie Primary Evidence) that ‘Jesus’ ever existed at all. Among theologians the Essenes are regarded much the same way as historians regard the Knights Templar ….about one down from believing in Lizard men …
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January 27, 2015 at 7:46 pm -
The Essene are well documented as are the Templars, though no – one is quite clear what either sect was about – in the case of the Essene because people just refuse to accept what is written in The Dead Sea Scrolls, in The Templars case, because The Vatican did a Dickens’ Dossier job on their documents. With reference to Lizard Men ………. well I’ve never actually met Peter Mandelson in the flesh but I know someone who has. OK, that’s a snide joke, but there are research projects going on in respected universities aimed at splicing non human genes into human DNA so shape shifting Lizard Men could be a thing of the future rather than the past.
But then Hindu wise men say future and past are the same
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January 27, 2015 at 11:13 pm -
Not sure I’d describe the Templars as a ‘sect’…although the definition of a ‘sect’ is almost impossible when one considers Xianity’s penchant for schism.
When dealing with the Templars it is, i found, helpful to first hit your thumb with a heavy hammer. Then ponder the pain that even the ‘mild’ torture of the thumbscrews produced. Personally I would have been confessing to pissing on Christ long before they even took the ‘pear’ out of it’s box….no matter how fanatical my faith.
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January 27, 2015 at 7:49 pm -
May I respectfully suggest you are wrong, Sir? The most compelling information I have read is in ‘Jesus the Man’ by Barbara Thiering. Don’t let the title put you off. This is a most scholarly work by someone with years of reading the texts of the Dead Sea scrolls. A eulogy it isn’t. At one time he was described as’ a spouter of lies’ and even ‘the bastard’ by the scribes although he was later to be called by them ‘the Messiah’.
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January 27, 2015 at 8:29 pm -
Fascinating! I shall research this!
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January 27, 2015 at 11:19 pm -
Fascinating! I shall research this!-Gildas
“it is safe to say that no serious scholar has given this elaborate and fantastic theory any credence whatsoever. It is nearly ten years since it was published; the scholarly world has been able to take a good look at it: and the results are totally negative.” N.T.Wright Bish Of D 1993.
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January 27, 2015 at 9:09 pm -
I have indeed read ‘Jesus The Man’ by Barbara Thiering -along with just about everything published about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi upto about 1999 and the scrolls themselves in various translations. Hate to break it to you but in the opinion of just about every other serious theologian, Thiering is what critical historians refer to as ‘bat shit insane’…a jargon term to be sure but I think the meaning is clear.
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January 27, 2015 at 9:24 pm -
PS.don’t get me wrong, I’m all for ‘alternative theology’ and personally believe the Gospel Of Thomas is much closer to Our Lord’s actual Vox than the synoptics (although I follow Robinson on the primacy of John) and I use it in my devotions. I’m also convinced that the ‘beloved disciple’ was Lazarus not John. I can well believe that Lazarus and/or Jesus travelled to the south of France after the crucifixion-hell just about every other Gospel character landed there.
But the Essenes and the whole ‘dead sea scrolls are essene’ thing ? Even being charitable , it’s a load of dingos’ kidneys and about as historically accurate as the Druids who congeal at Stonehenge every midsummer…infact Thiering probably believed that the Druids were founded by the Essenes…that’s be about her level of scholarship.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:32 pm -
The scrolls were in the possession of the Jesuits at first. Very few people were allowed to see them first hand and those few were Roman Catholics. It is little surprise that there was a consensus of opinion when after the most protracted delay some accounts were published claiming that they were written a century after the events of the New Testament and were of scant interest to Christians. No outsider was invited to comment and it wasn’t until the Israeli 6 Day War that Jews had access to the scrolls. After the most careful study it became apparent that they were written earlier than the Jesuits had thought, in fact during the lifetime of Jesus. The Thiering book took 20 years of research to write. It is the most powerful book I have read, and the best reasoned.
The Blocked Dwarf and his ‘critical historians’ are of course at liberty to believe whatever they wish and to try to shout down a particular scholar.-
January 27, 2015 at 10:55 pm -
Your potted history of the scrolls is pretty accurate if I recall aright and it is going back a couple of decades since i last seriously looked into them so maybe they have dug up something in the Judean Desert in the meantime. I also believe the whole Vermes/Catholic conspiracy & that Allegro was a much maligned man. At a guess I’d go with Schonfeld (who certainly was maligned and ‘shouted down’ by his fellow theologians).
If Thiering’s book ticks your boxes then I’m genuinely glad for you, everyone has to find their own answers and I’ll say no more on the subject except that you will not be able to produce one iota of primary or even decent secondary evidence to prove your statement that Jesus was an Essene-in Thiering or anywhere else . Thierings ‘theories’ are not evidence…whatever else they may be.
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February 15, 2015 at 8:47 pm -
And as someone who has dealt with my fair share of sociopaths during my life : and they come in every form and from every background and range from outright thick to extremely intelligent, you will know that the very best advice that can be given when encountering a sociopath is: run for the hills and don’t look back. But sometimes it is impossible to run and there is no-where to hide.
It is my firm belief that every now & then in the history of man there is a Perfect Storm of just enough sociopaths / psychopaths in key positions who can derail a civilised society. Germany was one such extreme example, possibly the most civilised in Europe before it’s descent into madness in the 30s. But England has been gripped by so many smaller movements in the past.
The current madness that is drip drip dripping away has some elements of that fanaticism and hopefully will not go as far.But these movements are always uncharted waters and where they go we can never guess or foresee for there is no rhyme or reason to the thinking of sociopaths including from the very dumbest to the brainiest.
As always the Raccoon Arms is a bastion of civilisation and it’s visitors always add to the quality of discussion.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:41 am -
What a good week for Raccoonista Articles this is turning out to be – and mirroring my own feelings on how wider society has been utterly polluted.
I waiver between the need for me to express my utter contempt for the – four letter word beginning with ‘C”s – references in the above who are destroying (or attempting to destroy) all that is good in exchange for fame, fortune, notoriety or completely misguided beliefs, and the hope for serendipity, that Karma will somehow level all the evil. Eventually.
Deep down inside though, I know this isn’t going to end well. Things cannot continue as they are on this ferocious downward spiral.
All I can do is try and articulate my thoughts and beliefs, and live the second half of my life in the best way I can, with good people who are on my wavelength, and remain true to myself – whilst needing to also protect myself and not fall into one of the many traps laid for the minions. -
January 27, 2015 at 10:50 am -
Two words: “Tony Blair”.
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February 15, 2015 at 8:53 pm -
I have always said ( not that anyone listens) that TB mimics the actions of the most Perfect Sociopath in every single way and contains every attribute.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:53 am -
An absolutely Bloody BRILLIANT piece of writing, Petunia, of which you should be very proud indeed. Shared to my own FB page and to the Support Rolf Harris page too. Thank you to you and Anna and to ALL who write on this blog now, for all that you are doing in trying to get others to see the evil in our midst.
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January 27, 2015 at 11:13 am -
“They have perverted the mainstream media with an unprecedented level of cynical opportunism, distorting the truth so that the truth is buried beneath impenetrable layers of a lie of their own profane invention; they have engineered the hounding, persecution and imprisonment of pensioners by capitalising on the confusion and vulnerability of the mentally ill and encouraging the avaricious instincts at the dark heart of the acquisitive society in an unedifying spectacle they appear shamelessly proud of as they gloat in the wake of each miscarriage of justice; they have ridden roughshod over the principles laid down in an ancient document celebrated as the foundation stone of what made this country a civilised beacon of fair-play for all; they have devalued and belittled the sufferings of genuine victims as their reclassification of crimes has placed the innocuous on a level playing field with the unforgivable; they have legitimised a cottage industry previously written-off as the irrelevant bedroom rantings of autistic virgins; they have manufactured a climate of fear unseen since the seventeenth century in order to profit from the paranoia of the ignorant, ill-informed and easily led; they have expressed a chilling absence of compassion for the casualties of their corrupt crusade as their lips, sullied with the untruths of the revisionist, drip with the blood of the falsely accused. They are reprehensible charlatans of the lowest order, wolves whose immorality is cloaked in the sheep’s clothing of morality, legal gangsters whose sleep patterns are an unfathomable mystery to me.”
That paragraph is positively Churchillian – indeed the whole piece is. Magnificent, mein Heir.
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January 27, 2015 at 11:48 am -
…someone has been cutting their Oompahs’ Bonk Bonk Tree Bark with PCP.
“irrelevant bedroom rantings of autistic virgins” . Genius! -
January 27, 2015 at 2:10 pm -
January 27, 2015 at 2:10 pm -
It is very nearly one whole sentence!
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January 27, 2015 at 11:31 am -
The Journalist’s Creed
I believe in the profession of Journalism.
I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of responsibility, trustees for the public; that all acceptance of lesser service than the public service is a betrayal of this trust.
I believe that clear thinking, clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocket book is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.
I believe that the journalism which succeeds the best-and best deserves success-fears God and honors man; is stoutly independent; unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power; constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of the privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance, and as far as law, an honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship, is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.
https://longversion.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/the-journalists-creed/I especially liked this one:
“I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.”
That neatly covers, “I told the truth as I believed it to be at the time”……-
February 15, 2015 at 8:59 pm -
Up to around 30 years ago journalists- especially tabloid ones- were the most cynical hard bitten breed of observer in society. Pulling the wool over their eyes was nye on impossible.
Today most are like the new breed of politician- ambitious, naive, eager , keen and opportunistic and ready to accept & promote any fantasy or fabulist with easily abandoned ethics with a singular purpose to succeed at any cost.
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January 27, 2015 at 11:49 am -
Brilliant script, Pet.
Sadly, the list of those for whom it should be compulsory reading grows by the day, as does their sense of personal immunity from any such coruscating critique – as Brother Gildas identified above, it’s Tony Blair to a T, amongst far too many others. -
January 27, 2015 at 12:04 pm -
A superbly eloquent rant, thank you.
What you describe is beginning to feel like a well-constructed plan by those in positions of power. What’s next on their agenda, I wonder? -
January 27, 2015 at 1:35 pm -
Journalist’s Creed? That’s as clever a piece of parody/satire as I’ve read in a long while.
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January 27, 2015 at 1:53 pm -
And whilst we’re on the subject of “bastards”, I have been listening to some of the coverage of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the Holocaust Memorial Day. It strikes me that there are many parallels with the fanaticism and racism of the Nazis and the modern day phenomena of ISIS and their ilk. In the end, inhuman, cruel, and supremacist.
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January 27, 2015 at 2:30 pm -
When one sees how the past is being subtly altered in true Ministry of Truth fashion, it’s hard not to see Nazi book-burning or even the portraits of the Saints being removed from the walls of English churches during the Reformation.
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January 27, 2015 at 2:45 pm -
Clearly the 1970’s was the Weimer Republik and Jimmy Savile was Frank N Furter.
Or, as Esther Rantzen would put it, “Sausages!”-
January 27, 2015 at 4:20 pm -
Savile in the guise of Frank N Furter – what an image that is!
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January 27, 2015 at 6:14 pm -
and one that will haunt me every bockwurst on from now to the Floorshow At The End Of Days.
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January 28, 2015 at 9:50 am -
Holocaust survivors also seem strikingly different in their demeanour. What could be worse: having your family destroyed and being made to dance for the executioner or having your left buttock squeezed some time in the 1970s?
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/25/world/auschwitz-dancing-mengele/
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-07-04/victim-rolf-harris-was-a-nasty-man-who-took-advantage-of-his-position/
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January 27, 2015 at 1:55 pm -
A tour de force, Petunia. Brilliant!
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January 27, 2015 at 2:15 pm -
As much as I go with either Ayn Rand worship or hate, the character she created for The Fountainhead called Ellsworth Toohey seems to have been the blueprint for the snidey charlatans this article is aimed at. If you haven’t read that book, please do ASAP
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January 27, 2015 at 2:23 pm -
*don’t go with* that should say. But nevertheless, great book.
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January 27, 2015 at 4:04 pm -
As is probably known by many here Rand’s Ellsworth Toohey was modelled on Harold Laski
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January 27, 2015 at 4:04 pm -
My son has been after me for several years to read Ayn Rand. I was glad their is a movie version of The Fountainhead. More people should watch it and remember what American principles are made of.
http://vimeo.com/68662628
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January 27, 2015 at 4:01 pm -
There should never, ever be a case for this Petunia being lonely in an onion patch. A profoundly genuine, moving and accurate piece worthy of Milady Raccoon-Hatte at her best.
As for Anna, ‘Mein Heir’ is a jeux de mots worthy of Wilde. My love goes to her as always, and of course the BFG – Big Fab Graham – always at her side: Prince Philip, only with a f**king sight better manners.
Bless me, but there may yet prove to be enough of us to stick digits up nasal passages in the end. Lawks a-mercy.xx
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January 27, 2015 at 4:26 pm -
Brilliant post, I feel the same impotent rage at what’s been done to justice, the perversion of our laws and lying journalism we see every day. I just hope I live long enough to see things change but given the way the majority seem to accept every lie as gospel I have my doubts. I think the Blair government debased everything in this country as more and more from charities to journalism was politicised.
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January 27, 2015 at 4:47 pm -
This was such a pleasure to read because it expressed so much better than I could the absolute reality.
I know we are all supposed to like reading what confirms our own view but this particular bit of truth has been, or seemed to have been, a long time coming.
In my own defense I always fall back on the fact that just because I am a grumpy old fart it doesn’t necessarily mean that any view I have is irrelevant. You don’t get to be as old as me without having to learn (however reluctantly) something along the way.
This here piece is bloody brilliant and at times almost poetic.
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January 27, 2015 at 6:15 pm -
Petunia, as a real life genuine bastard in the old fashioned sense of the word, might I ask that you refer to the forces of dissolute darkness by another term? We real bastards and sons of bitches have feelings you know.
“Arse-head” I find is a good substitute, as it manages to convey both contempt along with a robust description of the malefactors mindset and its origins.
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January 27, 2015 at 9:44 pm -
I must admit that I was almost all the way through before I realised that Pet was not talking about The Tobacco Control Industry.
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January 27, 2015 at 9:50 pm -
Well – what can one add?
I’m sure some of the lawyers, journalists and policemen involved will say, “Just doing my job”. Maybe – but is suppressing the truth really a part of your job? The truth usually outs eventually; that could leave some of you looking distinctly less than honourable.
On a wider point, I suspect that I’m not alone amongst the commenters in having run up against some rather less than straightforward people in life. They can make life very miserable indeed for a while. However, life does move on, and the bastards only win long-term if you let them.
So don’t let them. Do your best to be honest and kind, and in the end you’ll win.
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January 27, 2015 at 11:18 pm -
Sorry, I got stuck thinking about the Cisco Kid.
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January 28, 2015 at 8:03 am -
Dear Uncle Petunia,
Thank you for the priceless gift of these words. I’ve agonised for years on how to describe the various individuals I have encountered in my travels. You have nailed it exactly. Please may I use them in my own tiny fight against the “bastards”?And Anna, thank you for your continuing inspiration. When this becomes a legacy, know that the ripples you have created now will continue to spread. Good sense, verifiable facts and sound reasoning WILL triumph – the most we can individually hope for is to have made a difference.
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January 28, 2015 at 11:06 am -
“Cladding” – isn’t that a modern substitute for corrugated iron?
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January 28, 2015 at 6:33 pm -
Thank you for putting my thoughts and feelings on this subject into such an eloquent piece of prose – bravo, a real tour de force!
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