tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post7784414847932468007..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: A hero of our timesDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-31353826671377624462014-07-07T17:05:23.489+01:002014-07-07T17:05:23.489+01:00I forgot to ask, please anyone reading the blog, p...I forgot to ask, please anyone reading the blog, please leave a comment of support and express what you feel about this, thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-18201370358821827002014-07-07T17:04:27.736+01:002014-07-07T17:04:27.736+01:00the blog link above from ANON no longer contains t...the blog link above from ANON no longer contains the story. It has been replaced and updated and proves that Dorset Police and the Wessex Crown Persecution Service still maintain their homophobic stance.<br /><br />This afternoon after a pretend 8 months criminal investigation of the men's abuser they have let him off. The Crown Persecution Service stating that homophobic crimes against the men including proven death threats and contract killing arrangements as well as an orchestrated gay hate campaign by the main known convicted criminal abuser is not in the public interest to prosecute and it would not be worth the financial expense to do so. They are all homophobic hypocrites. Peter Tatchell is still staunchly behind the men's campaign for justice but it is now looking highly likely that on the 1st of January 2015 a Thelma & Louise grand canyon scenario is likely to occur off of the high bournemouth cliff near where the men live, after they have ensured that their parrots are cared for after they have gone. They have been reduced to poverty in the last seven years by the actions of their proven abusers, and no one gives a damn. They had to sell their home and rent it back and all the money has now gone on rent. They cannot afford to move out of the godforsaken county of dorset, and even if they did, the government has now given private landlords the indisputable right not to rent to housing benefit claimants.<br /><br />Please read the new updated blog, and please I beg you, join in this campaign to help two wonderful elderly gay men in bournemouth. Even gay organizations in bournemouth refuse to help them and totally ignore their requests for help. Even the hypcritical Metropolitan Community Church who support homosexuals, they think !<br />https://www.facebook.com/groups/MCCBournemouth/<br /><br />Here is the blog, be prepared to be shocked beyond all expectations<br />http://thecyberstalkingcrimestoryofthecentury.wordpress.com/about/<br />The dorset police told the elderly non camp GoodAsYou gentlemen that if the blogger does not remove the blog you see, they will take no action against their abuser if he continues his reign of terror over them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-63106685642596489932013-09-05T10:04:08.522+01:002013-09-05T10:04:08.522+01:00Thanks for your thoughtful contribution, Anon. I a...Thanks for your thoughtful contribution, Anon. I agree that we need to look at our own problems, but AS WELL as, not BEFORE the big issues. I think the same point was made about America, an even more complex case. But the essential point is that in neither country is the oppression state-initiated. I really don't think from all I keep hearing recently that the parallels between Putin and Hitler are any longer far fetched. What's happening in Russia is government-licensed brutality and murder, and it seems to be getting worse. <br /><br />As for the anal fixation, well, I do find it strange that gay people are so subject to scrutiny as to what they get up to in the privacy of their own homes in the way that straight folk, until a scandal breaks, rarely are. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-68612936211896801272013-09-05T09:54:02.709+01:002013-09-05T09:54:02.709+01:00What a wonderful and lovely man Bishop Tutu is, fu...What a wonderful and lovely man Bishop Tutu is, full of love for everyone irrespective of their sexual orientation. I applaud him.<br /><br />Of course Gay marriage was once a Christian rite http://www.humanitysteam.org/node/3299<br /><br />The problem with bigots is they let their wild and filthy imaginations wander to the anus when they think about homosexuals ! and only a small minority of homosexuals indulge in anal intercourse, whereas it is rife in heterosexual relationships. This is a wonderful parody on the subject http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/Articles/000,015.pdf<br /><br />God would not condemn any part of his own creation !<br /><br />However, homophobia is on the rise. We have the Russian and Ugandan Gay Rights problems at the moment. However, we need to look closer to home before our governments and institutions criticize other countries. The Gay Rights Campaigner and former MP Peter Tatchell has exposed institutionalised homophobia in the UK Police. You can see a horrendous institutionalised homophobic dorset police force who have destroyed the lives, reputations and careers of two elderly gay men who have been together for 34 years in this recent scandalous and very well documented blog http://homophobicdorsetpolice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-pre-meditated-and-manipulated-16th.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-72754317273803312962013-08-08T12:52:27.712+01:002013-08-08T12:52:27.712+01:00But neither country had gone so far down the line ...But neither country had gone so far down the line as Russia has now to institutionalise a scapegoat for a failing government (some might argue the contrary, but I would have hesitated to use the Hitler parallel until now).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-73190483729525182082013-08-08T12:50:07.714+01:002013-08-08T12:50:07.714+01:00But so were the Olympic clauses transgressed ( in ...But so were the Olympic clauses transgressed ( in various serious ways) in 1980 in Russia and 2008 in China. I think that other means should be taken to make your ( and Fry's) absolutely valid pointsDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-9556710094463228512013-08-08T12:28:05.111+01:002013-08-08T12:28:05.111+01:00After some reflection, I'm still with Fry on w...After some reflection, I'm still with Fry on withdrawing. If we participate, the Olympic clauses he lists will be transgressed. If Russia decides as a facesaving exercise to suspend the laws on 14 day detention of 'gay-promoting' - whatever that might mean in practice - foreigners, then it will be just like Stalin's shop window tours for GBS and the Fabians, or the Nazi's promotion of Theresienstadt.<br /><br />And although there are plenty of countries similarly implicated, not least in Africa, the introduction of all the new laws IS akin to apartheid, as Tutu points out, and a licence to murder. The world has to show its horror.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-1963754681521182052013-08-08T08:47:31.026+01:002013-08-08T08:47:31.026+01:00Stephen Fry was at Queens' Cambridge, my own c...Stephen Fry was at Queens' Cambridge, my own college, which has made him an Honorary Fellow, an accolade awarded only to a small group, often very senior lawyers, civil servants etc. Splendid and highly commendable.<br />But I cannot agree with the argument that the Olympics in Russia should be withdrawn. It is a very prevalent and unfortunate view that in the face of evil regimes one should cut oneself off from the evil. But if we adopt this approach to all evil regimes there will be many very valid causes to list as to what is evil; and as Kant said, we should act as though our individual actions were to be made general rules. Then we should cut ourselves off from a large slice of countries, with many complex and undesirable results.<br />As for the Olympics as such, had we adopted this approach the 1980 Games would have been withdrawn from Moscow ( especially as the USSR had just invaded Afghanistan). Seb Coe after consideration ( and bearing in mind his leadership role)decided to compete in Moscow, so he has been round this question before. In the case of China, still a regime with many negatives, the Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008. Is the IOC to consider for the Games only those regimes regarded as ethical? Not easy to agree on a definition, plus the Olympic movement would collapse. And contacts have beneficial effects. The West has by opening up assisted in the move by China to a free market economy which has led to many good things and will eventually lead to political change.<br /><br />But the Western view that Putin is taking several highly undesirable actions should be made very clear - as President Obama is doing. I would still give Fry a knighthood <br /><br />David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-2439224761820814622013-08-07T08:31:13.429+01:002013-08-07T08:31:13.429+01:00As Freud said, when the emotions are engaged, the ...As Freud said, when the emotions are engaged, the intellect comes to the conclusions that the emotions dictateDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-77093919986683833892013-08-07T00:42:56.413+01:002013-08-07T00:42:56.413+01:00David, nothing more than it's more the case th...David, nothing more than it's more the case that people 'see' what they believe, or are lead to believe, rather than 'believe' what they see, that is, the evidence. Climate change comes to mind.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-88997195808652958302013-08-06T06:22:15.111+01:002013-08-06T06:22:15.111+01:00The Roman Catholic Church still believes in miracl...The Roman Catholic Church still believes in miracles, as witnessed by the need to find two miracles attributed to Jean Paul II before declaring him a saint. I remember an Anglican priest leaning across a dinner table in Cambridge to remark to a Roman priest involved in the process of making an earlier candidate a saint, and where the miracles had been agreed, "I hear your man has passed his practical"David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-19277501452956953922013-08-05T23:17:09.994+01:002013-08-05T23:17:09.994+01:00Wanderer - your last slipped while I was composing...Wanderer - your last slipped while I was composing the above. Would you care to expand?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-28845054932280028202013-08-05T23:15:22.075+01:002013-08-05T23:15:22.075+01:00The trouble is - and we're way off track now, ...The trouble is - and we're way off track now, but so what? - that there isn't one true message, but far too many confusing ones, and I'm not sure that Xians should be able to pick the ones they like while rejecting the dodgier issues. I have a real problem with the miracles, and wonder if they were added later to an essentially simple life and message. <br /><br />But you remember we discussed this with regard to Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. There are novels which discuss the anomalies more subtly, like Jim Crace's Quarantine, which posits the idea the Jesus couldn't possibly have fasted forty days and forty nights...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-8912067319028783542013-08-05T23:11:55.937+01:002013-08-05T23:11:55.937+01:00But, believing is seeing.But, believing is seeing.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-49635804775433761272013-08-05T23:07:53.826+01:002013-08-05T23:07:53.826+01:00I do not see why the existence of Jesus is a centr...I do not see why the existence of Jesus is a central point. And for the reasons I mentioned his existence is extremely probable. The central point is whether the message that has come down to us is true or not.<br /><br />One of the logical questions I studied at Cambridge was the difference between knowledge and belief. Not as easy as one might thinkDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-6560818445947112442013-08-05T22:44:18.263+01:002013-08-05T22:44:18.263+01:00Hmm. The proof, the proof. But no doubt Xians woul...Hmm. The proof, the proof. But no doubt Xians would howl me down as a Doubting Thomas, as a priest at a funeral service J went to last week did to the non-believers (many) in the congregation. He said the fatal words 'I know', which always provoke me to shout 'no you don't, you can only believe'.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-86824344264109654192013-08-05T20:28:12.280+01:002013-08-05T20:28:12.280+01:00The balance of scholarship appears to be heavily i...The balance of scholarship appears to be heavily in favour of the extistence of Jesus as a person, albeit without any detailed analysis of what sort of person. My own argument ( it may of course appear elsewhere) is that a message so flexible in the way it adapts itself to so many human hearts,so intellectually wide in its world view, and so successful, requires a source which can only irrupt into the world in a person charismatic to a very high degreeDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-15140445876058251062013-08-05T12:12:28.745+01:002013-08-05T12:12:28.745+01:00I wish someone could clarify for me once and for a...I wish someone could clarify for me once and for all whether Jesus existed or not. When we were in Jerusalem I was told that there was not one scrap of historical evidence to prove it. But that may have been propaganda too.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-9817160993687783912013-08-05T11:36:43.816+01:002013-08-05T11:36:43.816+01:00Those that take the Bible as the Word of God will ...Those that take the Bible as the Word of God will take it as that. So the Bible's record of Christ's words are relevant - even if scholars can show that the record is in some degree unreliable. Another example is from St Paul - he said ( 1 Corinthians 7/8) that it would be best if everyone remained as he was - that is unmarried and completely chaste. In which case the human race would have died out (maybe he expected an early Second Coming). Therefore nothing he said on sex is in logic admissible. So in these ways the use of the Bible as a literal guide can point to conclusions quite different from those that the fundamentalists usually insist upon.<br /><br />I am aware that St Paul also said that if one burned with lust then marry, but that was certainly second best, in his view. David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-68284929377511123052013-08-05T08:24:45.991+01:002013-08-05T08:24:45.991+01:00Yes, I sense a little that conflict within Tutu, t...Yes, I sense a little that conflict within Tutu, too: though the quotation from the preface to Robinson's book suggests otherwise. I'll check out Spong, who can't be wrong (couldn't resist that). And I commend the essays of the happily gay (sadly late) priest Eric James, recommended to me by my Parsee friend Themy.<br /><br />Whew, peasant, that's strong. I'm afraid I won't listen to much Netrebko because her singing seems to me so uncultured - no finesse, no taste. And I'm still unconvinced by the lustre of a voice which started as a tweety-pie coloratura with dodgy tuning (still a problem). If that sounds snobbish, so be it.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-21922437134831845942013-08-05T07:38:09.587+01:002013-08-05T07:38:09.587+01:00I admire Tutu enormously, and yet he remains someo...I admire Tutu enormously, and yet he remains someone who still sees the Bible as the direct word of a God, and I say this not to discredit him but to emphasise the hold that that text, the over-edited and collated ramblings of tribal elders, etc, still has. I recommend (Episcopalian bishop) Jack Shelby Spong as the one who deals with this best, in my humble, as well as sexuality and Christianity and the Bible. He could just be the holiest man I've ever met.<br /><br />And then David D quotes it as if he is quoting Jesus. Matthew might have said something like that, maybe maybe, but who knows what Jesus said. Call me Thomas, but I want to see the live video. Anyway, what David D does raise is the brilliant point that to wish something is the same as to do it. (I hope I'm in context here David). That to lust is to have lusted. To wish dead is to have killed. This is the stunning conclusion from the belief that on the level that matters we are our thoughts and our thoughts alone.<br /><br />I loved the image of children of loving parents, sex whatever, glowing with happiness.<br /><br />As to gays and evolution and Africa and Putin and babies and same sex marriage, the only thing which is likely to shift imposed tolerance toward true acceptance is education, and then I'm not optimistic that difference will not always provoke fear, and that fear will not always provoke attack. (If there's too many negatives I'm sorry, I get tangled sometimes).<br /><br />As for Netrebko, I'm not holding my breath - self-interest (she travels on an Austrian passport) seems a bit of a hallmark. When we were in Russia some years ago (and not going back anytime soon) she was poorly regarded by our (university educated personal) guide who called her a deserter and anyway a peasant - the eyes too black!wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-89127356365944937962013-08-04T11:13:09.817+01:002013-08-04T11:13:09.817+01:00I remember that era so vividly: crowds packed into...I remember that era so vividly: crowds packed into St Petersburg's squares selling everything they could: a boot, a packet of cigarettes, a plastic toy, anything. Culture was vibrant, though, as ever in a time of chaos. Maybe it still is, but I imagine the Bolshoi's creative era is over (Rozhdestvensky lasted one season, Ratmansky who created such a large body of important new work was kicked out and look at the 'politics' of the Russian ballet world now).<br /><br />I only hope that even those 500 artists who admired Putin's strength begin to see that this is a step too far. Most of the Russian public couldn't care less, unfortunately (30 per cent even thought that attempted blinding by acid was a legitimate way of going about trying to remove an opponent. That's the real measure of a sick society).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-28779856457459193112013-08-04T11:01:29.378+01:002013-08-04T11:01:29.378+01:00One problem in Russia is that the ten years after... One problem in Russia is that the ten years after the collapse of communism were years of economic and to an extent social choas......as was natural in the change from a command economy to the free market. There was dreadful inflation, a lack of cash leading to barter etc etc. But the problems were soluble because of the vast natural resources of the country. Unfortunately that decade is seen as the decade of democriacy, which is therefore seen to have been less than efficient, and the "strong government" that Putin has developed is seen as putting the problems right. So ( apart from any yearning for strong leadership inherited from the more distant past) what was economic coincidence leads many to say - better a strong Putin than the choas of the democratic ninetiesDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-46736730134207272702013-08-04T09:10:41.994+01:002013-08-04T09:10:41.994+01:00The problem is, it represents a going-backwards: G...The problem is, it represents a going-backwards: Gay Pride marches were always attacked by the police, but gay clubs flourished in Moscow. The new legislation will surely drive everything underground. And I have to say that while I strongly disagreed with most of Putin's policies up to now, you might see where they came from in trying to reconstruct a 'strong Russia'. This has no basis in any kind of justifiable policy and evocations of Germany in the 1930s are not misplaced, which is why the free world - whatever you may deem that to be, and there are still commonwealth countries where homosexuality is illegal - has to act.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-39297231345040437262013-08-04T09:07:14.803+01:002013-08-04T09:07:14.803+01:00A country coming out of a totalitarian regime is w...A country coming out of a totalitarian regime is without doubt backward when it comes to basic human rights. It will take time for ordinary people to evolve but even taking that into account and it is over twenty years lest we forget, this is beyond scapegoating. It is a cynical easy vote winner for Russians outside metropolitan areas and crazy orthodox believers. But it is also victimisation of the first order and for something completely natural. Henriettanoreply@blogger.com