Past Present & Future

slippery slopes and high alert

Haven’t written for a long time although that’s not because there hasn’t been anything to say. On the contrary - far too much has been happening. First, on the “2 week-a-versary” ( yes i like creating words) there were some more attempts to “terrorize” London. Now the bombs didn’t go off, and no-one died, but this time around there was a lot more panic, confusion and chaos. Anyway, ever since then, it’s been a case of London being compared to Beirut. ( okay that’s excessive given that this lot of idiots who seem hell bent on wanting to start war world 3 [or 4 or 5..] don’t seem to have access - luckily- to the kind of bombs Beirut’s seen for god -knows-how-long, but never mind..)

And everyone seems to think its a state of emergency and “all is well in love and war”. I am of course referring to the sad story of the poor Brazilian bloke who got done by the police. It’s a well-known fact that generally times like this are manipulated by government apparatus all over the world, that ain’t nothing new , but hey! we all have to make sure our civil liberties are protected. Otherwise what’s the bloody point? what’s the difference between a police state and military occupation? not much really - if you’re the unlucky individual who’s designated the enemy of the state. anyway my point is - at the risk of sounding like some automaton - ( or the kind of bots who leave such lovely comments on my blog) by the time you’re dead it don’t matter who killed you.

Anyways, at least there is a debate about this sort of thing, whereas i can safely say it was almost impossible to have one in the US post 9/11. ( and that’s because some people have great difficulty engaging in a reflexivity exercise) And people aren’t as hysterical, nowhere near it. okay the police ( or cops as they are now referred to by the Sun) enjoy racing up and down with their sirens on ( *come we musn’t be such spoil sports must we - let ‘em have a bit of fun*) but generally most people aren’t being silly. Although a lot of individuals are taking their chance at airing previously hidden or not-so-well-hidden prejudices. I don’t mean this to be a one-way thing though, oh no, far from it. Now this sort of “othering” is as some of us know part and parcel of the problem.

But anyway, not to go on about that in this particular post. The point was there’s been a lot to read up on and monitoring of the media-type thing, what with the hoo-ha here and in sharm-el-sheikh. And like i said, this is a critical juncture at which we need to emphasize the need not to engage in all this slagging of this group that group blah blah and stomping on of civil liberties.

P.S. I have just found out that if you take the overground from Waterloo East to London Bridge it’s £1.25 one-way vs. the £2.00 ( zone 1 single) for the tube ride from waterloo. There you go, you learn sth new everyday!