evil is real
So at the beginning of the new year I'm finding more reasons than ever to get angry. An obvious starting point would be the question of why stupid, obnoxious people with ill thought-out, poorly expressed opinions can't stay the hell away from the places I spend time online, but that's a recurring problem that can only really be dealt with by HOLDING FAST - knuckling down and putting the work in, concentrating on upping the quality of what I write and not getting too distracted by the more tempting but ultimately less constructive and rewarding pastime of kicking fools to the kerb.
There are some crimes, however, which cannot be ignored.
Many thanks to for bringing to my attention a whole new level of smug offensive patronising Barefoot Doctor idiocy, which either tips the scales in favour of the "it's a wind-up" argument, or proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man should be publicly blinded and then beaten to death with his own severed limbs.
I find myself being driven along on the well-sprung rear seat of a smart Mercedes to an early morning TV studio, there to talk about the antidote to the January blues. As we stop at the lights, my eye is caught by a man in his mid-30s rummaging through an Oxford Street rubbish bin with well-practiced hands.
...
He reminds me, that guy, as he wipes something from the inside of his lips with fingers fresh out of an Oxford Street bin, to have the humility and grace to appreciate my current position and condition.
...
Just then, the traffic lights change, the Mercedes moves off and he looks up. Our eyes briefly meet - both of us slightly, subtly shocked at the contact. 'Thank you,' I mouth, smiling. He looks confused for a second, then smiles back and winks.
Over on Barbelith, someone asked whether this was any worse than the standard reaction of effacing any encounter that takes place between people who live on the street and the more privileged ('us'). That's a hell of a question - although if this is an accurate representation of a real encounter, I'm Mutya from the Sugababes - but I think I'd have to conclude that what the Barefoor Doctor is doing *is* worse, because apart from anything else, the political ramifications of this column are actually actively conservative if you scratch the surface. Fate has dealt the Barefoot Doctor one lot in life and the nameless object of his condescension another, and that's just the way it is. Several times during the column the Barefoot Doctor makes a statement which you would expect to be followed by the suggestion that the status quo is unfair and that action should be taken to rectify this in some small way (if this had been written by anyone with a shred, a fucking SHRED of humanity), only to swerve to avoid even the slightest implication that anything should actually be done to change things. Example:
This scene and revelation could be occurring at any time of year, but the thought of all those billions just spent on presents, decorations, food and drink, and being spent even now in the sales, lends it a particular poignancy that drives the message home and inspires me to suggest...
To suggest - go on, let's guess what he's going to suggest. Making donations to Shelter? Doing volunteer work? Sparing 10p? Oh no. Oh no no no no no.
...inspires me to suggest a moment of recalibrating your own set of expectations of how external reality should be treating you against a more humble attitude.
So what this column does is claim to present a realisation of privilege and inequality whilst simultaneously setting up a reaction of inaction and complacency (in the form of the borderline meaningless hippy jargon claptrap above) as if it were a morally laudable, 'enlightened' and even radical form of action. The man in the Mercedes writes a list of his privileges and other benefits in his life, writes "I am deeply thankful for this" at the bottom, and the debt is squared. He can sleep with a sound conscience. This is evil filth. I mean, FUCK. Someone explain to me how it would be in any way morally objectionable to hunt this gross little shit of a man down and put him out of his misery?
So at the beginning of the new year I'm finding more reasons than ever to get angry. An obvious starting point would be the question of why stupid, obnoxious people with ill thought-out, poorly expressed opinions can't stay the hell away from the places I spend time online, but that's a recurring problem that can only really be dealt with by HOLDING FAST - knuckling down and putting the work in, concentrating on upping the quality of what I write and not getting too distracted by the more tempting but ultimately less constructive and rewarding pastime of kicking fools to the kerb.
There are some crimes, however, which cannot be ignored.
Many thanks to for bringing to my attention a whole new level of smug offensive patronising Barefoot Doctor idiocy, which either tips the scales in favour of the "it's a wind-up" argument, or proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man should be publicly blinded and then beaten to death with his own severed limbs.
I find myself being driven along on the well-sprung rear seat of a smart Mercedes to an early morning TV studio, there to talk about the antidote to the January blues. As we stop at the lights, my eye is caught by a man in his mid-30s rummaging through an Oxford Street rubbish bin with well-practiced hands.
...
He reminds me, that guy, as he wipes something from the inside of his lips with fingers fresh out of an Oxford Street bin, to have the humility and grace to appreciate my current position and condition.
...
Just then, the traffic lights change, the Mercedes moves off and he looks up. Our eyes briefly meet - both of us slightly, subtly shocked at the contact. 'Thank you,' I mouth, smiling. He looks confused for a second, then smiles back and winks.
Over on Barbelith, someone asked whether this was any worse than the standard reaction of effacing any encounter that takes place between people who live on the street and the more privileged ('us'). That's a hell of a question - although if this is an accurate representation of a real encounter, I'm Mutya from the Sugababes - but I think I'd have to conclude that what the Barefoor Doctor is doing *is* worse, because apart from anything else, the political ramifications of this column are actually actively conservative if you scratch the surface. Fate has dealt the Barefoot Doctor one lot in life and the nameless object of his condescension another, and that's just the way it is. Several times during the column the Barefoot Doctor makes a statement which you would expect to be followed by the suggestion that the status quo is unfair and that action should be taken to rectify this in some small way (if this had been written by anyone with a shred, a fucking SHRED of humanity), only to swerve to avoid even the slightest implication that anything should actually be done to change things. Example:
This scene and revelation could be occurring at any time of year, but the thought of all those billions just spent on presents, decorations, food and drink, and being spent even now in the sales, lends it a particular poignancy that drives the message home and inspires me to suggest...
To suggest - go on, let's guess what he's going to suggest. Making donations to Shelter? Doing volunteer work? Sparing 10p? Oh no. Oh no no no no no.
...inspires me to suggest a moment of recalibrating your own set of expectations of how external reality should be treating you against a more humble attitude.
So what this column does is claim to present a realisation of privilege and inequality whilst simultaneously setting up a reaction of inaction and complacency (in the form of the borderline meaningless hippy jargon claptrap above) as if it were a morally laudable, 'enlightened' and even radical form of action. The man in the Mercedes writes a list of his privileges and other benefits in his life, writes "I am deeply thankful for this" at the bottom, and the debt is squared. He can sleep with a sound conscience. This is evil filth. I mean, FUCK. Someone explain to me how it would be in any way morally objectionable to hunt this gross little shit of a man down and put him out of his misery?
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