It is however difficult to know what to do when you find yourself in
the surreal Alice in Wonderland world of 21st century world
capitalism or British capitalism.
On the day that our dear leader Tony Bliar was announced `Peace
Envoy' to the Middle East, with no sense of sick irony by the BBC,
I went out with some friends and we discussed it. When something
absurd happens, you attempt to parody it with a satirical example
like;
"appointing Emperor Nero to be the chief fireman of Rome, and add to
that the notion of having the fox look after the henhouse."
As was suggested in a recent post elsewhere.
http://www.informat
We all decided that there was no satirical comparison available to
our considerable collective imaginations that could do it justice.
Robert Fisk subsequently understated it I think when he said;
"I suppose that astonishment is not the word for it. Stupefaction
comes to mind. I simply could not believe my ears."
The expression `lost for words' comes to mind. When I listen to
those serious straight faced talking heads on the BBC, I often end
up concentrating on the expressions on their faces, the inflexions
in their dialogue and the body language, to try to figure out what
must be going on in these `intelligent' peoples heads.
I suppose maybe the best paid prostitutes are the ones that can most
convincingly fake it , with `Oh what a big boy you are' and such
like, although I have no personal experience of anything like that.
National pride can be a pernicious thing although it does not always
have to be negative. I have noticed, having travelled around the
globe a bit, that especially when you get away from the tourist
traps that the natives are always keen to create a good impression
of their own community. This is often expressed with an enthusiastic
attempt to be especially helpful to visitors in order to create a
good impression of the excellence of their own community.
I suppose courage and determination to face up to the cruel
adversities that life throws at you is an admirable trait that
everyone would like to think of as innate, or at least as part of
your national cultural heritage.
But these kinds of things are always relative.
I am being embarrassed.
Britain is on a critical security alert, the nation is in crisis, a
car has caught fire at Glasgow airport.
Endless loops on the BBC news have attempted to terrify us, to small
effect I am pleased to say, that our very existence is at peril.
Meanwhile in Iraq millions have fled their homes in real terror and
hundreds of thousands are dead. Whilst Iraq really does burn the
talking heads of the BBC continuously fiddle over a burning car.
I thought I would never be able to live down the national ignominy
of our brave `Royal Marines', our toughest of the tough, complaining
about being forced to wear pyjamas by the wicked Iranians.
Will there be no end to this national humiliation।
Dave B
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