JUSTICE

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

We’re beginning to lose touch about what Justice really means. I
say this because victims are becoming central to the outcome of
trials. Now, don’t get me wrong – I can feel for the victims.

But a trial isn’t victim
v accused.

It is STATE v accused. This is important. It keeps proceedings
formal and unemotional. Victim-centred trials do the opposite, and
by bringing out emotion, verdicts can so easily be swayed. The end
result is bad justice. I blame the rise of individuality over community
for this. We’ve begun to think it is the ‘person’ who deserves justice,
and not the good of all through community.

Paranormal Flash

Okay, as promised, my Paranormal Flash is now
complete. Click the link at top of post to access.
As well as a general narrative on the subject, I
also link to dozens of previous essays so you
can go deeper into the mysteries that seem to
baffle us.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science to
religion, politics to crime

MEDIA NEWS: Creation, a new
British film about Charles Darwin, has
failed to find a distributor in the US, according
to its producers. Bought in nearly every other country,
religious sensibilities seem to be behind the failure. Where is the
line between freedom of speech and faith, I wonder?

BRIT NEWS: A survey by The Guardian shows that top company
executive’s pay has risen 10% in the last year. It’s good
to see that their standards have not gone down
because of a mere thing like a Recession.
Sometimes I think Earth is really
two planets – ‘cos they’re
not living on mine.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

Carry On Tuesday
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem
Three Word Wednesday

THE BOOK

The greatest invention there’s ever been,
Wherever you go books are seen;
Whenever things change you can be sure,
It was fuelled by a book – nothing so pure;
Whenever you want to escape the world,
Pick up a book, let stories unfurl;
And whenever you want to express your thought,
Write a book and hope it’s bought

THE INSIDER

Fiction: I thought of those words by Albert Camus: ‘Don’t walk behind
me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just
walk beside me and be my friend.’ I often thought I walked alone.
Here was I, experiencing life, but outside. The existential nightmare
was my reality. Alone – absurd. Life was a surreal dance around my
body, but never touching – or so I thought. I had choices, you see;
and those choices were mine and mine alone. My friend – my only
friend – tried to make those choices come right for me. My aspirations
seemed to work through him. But I thought wrong – that surreal
dance did touch me. It touched me always, out of the blue, catching
me unawares – until I realized the choices of others were valid to my
life. So now I’m neither lion nor mouse, neither leading nor led, and
my friend – my inner being – walks beside me. I now know I am me
because of them. How can I be absurd?

RICHES

The day I made a million, wow!!
Poverty? Ha! Taken a bow;
Great big house and chauffeur driven car,
Holidays to lands afar,
Gourmet meals – never mind the harm,
Beautiful lady on my arm,
Nothing more I need to seek …
Oh well … maybe next week

VELOCIRAPTOR
(Updated 23 Sep 09)

No time to languish, velocity high,
Is that prey ahead of me, I spy?
I may be little but I rule this place,
Got to keep going or I’m eclipsed in the race …
Survival of the fittest is how it is,
Got to keep going, know our biz,
Extinction won’t ever stop this buzz,
‘Cos if you read it again, you’ll find it’s us

© Anthony North, September 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

PARANORMAL FLASH – SIX

Friday Flash 55 and 3 Word Wednesday
Have you had a go?

PARANORMAL FLASH

Six – FutureNow

So far in this study certain factors are arising. First of all, culture
seems to play an important part in what is paranormal. Second, far
more information enters the mind than we consciously realize. And
finally, the ‘tags’ we use for a particular phenomenon hide the fact
that there could be ‘mechanisms’ that can answer many phenomena.

Could these elements provide
an answer for premonition?

We can ‘see’ the future in many ways. Typical is the precognitive
dream, where a person dreams of a coming major disaster. However,
looking at the literature of such abilities, they usually arise when
there are fears in society of a particular kind of disaster. Hence,
culture predisposes the dreamer to dream such things. We can
combine this with chance. On any night in the UK, for instance,
there will be well over a quarter million nightmares. Combine this fact
with cultural disposition and it is statistically inevitable that some
people will have nightmares that can be accurately compared to a
disaster that occurs a few days later.

Other premonitions are
more personal.

A typical case will be of someone dreaming of an explosion and, in a
half-awake state, taking action to remove themselves and family from
the scene. Moments later, the building blows up following a gas leak.
To answer this and similar cases perhaps we need to look at the wider
information we unconsciously receive about our environment. So
unconsciously the mind registers gas. A dream image surfaces into the
mind, makes the person restless, and just conscious enough to act
upon the information. Of course, these ideas do not cover all of
premonition – we will return to the subject later – but it begins to
suggest that what we class as a premonition is nothing more than
unconscious analysis of the present.

Other Posts

WORLD NEWS: Afghan strategy is
coming in for much criticism, in the UK as
well as the rest of the world. It all comes down
to what we’re really there for. If we’re there to keep
the terrorist camps shut, it’s a sensible goal. If we’re there
to build a democratic state, we’re interferring too much and it’s
destined to fail.

BRIT NEWS: The BBC’s decision to have the British National Party
leader on Question Time is forcing Labour to rethink their
policy of not debating with the extreme right wing.
For once the BBC have done something right.
Labour’s feeling of superiority in thinking
their ideas cannot be challenged is
not as vile as the BNP, but not
far behind.

STRATEGIC SUCCESS

Fiction: It was mayhem. The noise erupted all around me, flashes
lighting up the dark. At first disorientated, I acclimatized myself –
moved forward towards the target. I passed bodies moving from one
surreal pose to another as they writhed. I wondered how long they
could last. The target was surrounded by various obstacles. Using all
the tactics available, I negotiated through them, leaving many
defeated men in my wake. And finally I was there. At first I just
stared, weighing up the best moves and then I went into action. The
target was easier to disarm than I first thought. And within minutes
we left the club. Went to her flat – to engage.

FLASH 55 – GOING HOME

Fiction: He walked down his street – passed
the houses. Thoughts invaded his mind; of his
friends – his neighbours. He looked at their
houses. Remembered how it had been. Affair
in that one. The next? Divorce. The one after
that? Murder. He approached his own house.
Opened the gate. Walked up the path. Paused.
Thought. Walked away.

© Anthony North, September 2009

SERIOUS READS

Have you tried Booking Through Thursday yet?
Find more prompts below

BLOGGER BARD

What serious books have I read recently? Well, due to blogging I
haven’t managed any serious novels for a while – mainly modern
adventure – just something light to clear the mind. But I read serious
reference books and essays all the time. At least, I consider them
serious – works on philosophy, psychology and also lost civilizations,
the paranormal, etc. Now, these last ones are considered NOT serious
by many. I guess the word ‘serious’ is subjective – and quite often an
indication of our biases. And I mean this seriously, folks.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

HEALTH NEWS: Study show average
50 yr old has healthier lifestyle than 25 yr old.
And they say modern lifestyle will make the kids live longer.

GREEN NEWS: Copper mining for our small change causes
massive eco problems. Big Biz will like this. They
want e-money so we’re enslaved by banks.

Totally Optional Prompts
Three Word Thursday

COLOUR ME

Sometimes I am very red,
Embarrassment, anger, emotion fed,
Then you must see me when I’m green,
Something new, a road unseen,
Better not say about when I’m blue,
More intimate moments – not for you,
Colours change as they can,
I guess I must be a Rainbow Man

THE SOLIPSISTIC SOPHISIST

Fiction: He would rogitate: why am I always ignored? Of course
, he was solipsistic – always had been; totally nequient regarding
social interaction. People were – well – lesser. He could take no
more. That’s such a false argument, he’d say to their criticisms,
if he said anything. Then – why am I always ignored? They
never found his body.

rogitate – ask frequently
solipsistic – self-obsessed
nequient – socially inept

© Anthony North, August 2009

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A IS FOR ATMOSPHERE

Including ABC Wednesday, Carry On Tuesday and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

PAPPA RAZZI

Atmosphere is important to media. We bounce all kinds of signals
through it nowadays. But we forget how fragile the atmosphere is. It
is a balance of forces in a thin veil wrapping Earth in life. But it is left
to the media to define whether the atmosphere is changing due to
man’s insanity. I think the probability that we are is enough to stop it.
But maybe the people aren’t angry enough yet. Anger creates quite a
stormy atmosphere – and it is better to have the storm in our opinion
than in the atmosphere above our heads.

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

BRIT NEWS: IMF rebukes Britain
for state of govt borrowing. Prudent
Brown was always a sham. He symbolises
spend, spend, spend culture.

BRIT NEWS: Business guru Digby Jones tells Mail On Sunday,
place top Cabinet jobs with businessmen. Do this and govt
for the people is over!

MEDIA NEWS: BBC exec calls older presenters
’silverbacks’. Proof positive of ageism at
BBC – and indication of why it’s
losing commonsense.

WEAR WHERE?

Modern fashion I often dread,
It appears such a slender thread,
Where do they wear it? I haven’t a clue,
Maybe they really need two;
And even then you can go very pale,
Wondering if it fits on head or tail;
But it seems to me they really pay,
For items that let bits go astray

MY HERO, MY LIFE

Fiction: Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life …
Copperfield would like those words, he knew. He sat back, satisfied.
It was the great question – the question his life’s work eventually
asked of so many, from Pip to Nickleby – even Ebenezer. As to
whether he WAS the hero of his own life, he summised that writers
always did, and always would, ask it – and not be sure of the answer
– for them, at least. But he was satisfied that he belonged to a craft
that inspired others to be theirs.

THE MONSTER

He creeps upon you mysteriously,
Somewhere else you want to be,
He’s in the world, doing bad,
Always making you very sad;
When he’s gone the world is kind,
He’s back inside your inner mind

© Anthony North, July 2009

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After announcing my 1,000th post last week, fellow
blogger Dr John has sent me this symbol to celebrate
the fact. I accept this with many thanks.

WHAT IS HUMANITY?

Including Three Word Wednesday and Totally Optional Prompts.
Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

To be human is to think in the abstract. This is what raises us above
animals. But this isn’t our humanity. To me, humanity is empathy.
Much of modern culture is to do with only the individual, so in a way,
modern life is not humanity. In particular, we are supposed to shun
spirituality, yet to me spirituality is bonding – of man to man, nature
and the universe. Does denying such spirituality make us less human?

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

HEALTH NEWS: My beer belly is not
my fault! Study finds it is genetic, so my
beer intake has nothing to do with it!!! Yeah, right.

WORLD NEWS: So the US and Russia agree to more missile cuts.
For a few days all is calm as the President does the deal with
the Puppet.

BRIT NEWS: Freeze on public sector pay? Necessary,
but that’s when the strikes really start – even
if, for some, the rises were too much.

A MOVING EXPERIENCE

Moved a lot, never still,
Couldn’t fight my wandering will,
To experience many a lovely place,
Then find another, with haste;
Settle a while, then I’m gone,
A moving experience in more ways than one

A VISIONARY TALE

Fiction: As he saw the Oracle he knew he should kneel. The world
had gone mad, and he had to know what he could do. Soon the
Oracle had transformed his mind and the vision came. All was death
and gloom, the atmosphere acrid and dead. As visions came it became
transparent. He saw early man in a universe with nature spirits, and
man was that nature. And with organized religion he saw man as an
ordered, spiritual being, reflecting the ordered universe of God. And
as science rose he saw man in a universe of specialization, and his
society fragmented, as the cosmos. And with technology, the
universe became machine-like, and man a cog; a machine spewing
its exhaust … And he now knew we are always a reflection of what
we see the universe as being. Yet, as he returned to the dead
outside, he knew he could do nothing. If only it had been a vision of
the future, and not a remembrance of the past.

BIG WORDS

Incongruous, bombastic,
Big words made of elastic,
I try to despatch them terminally,
But they rebound indubitably,
Forcing me to write erratically …
I must have swallowed a dictionary

© Anthony North, July 2009

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HELL BOUND – THREE

Find current affairs & prompts below. If you came from Heads or Tails, this is wrong link. Click Glastonbury Rocks, above.

She was, of course, correct. When Rose had raced to her
daughter for help, it had not been the whim of a twenty year
old Amanda had thought. She had known Bradley to be a
smoothie, but that didn’t matter a damn, at the time.

He took her on a roller-coaster of ecstasy, and that was all that mattered. But now, several months down the line …
‘I’m getting bored, Rose,’ he had said. ‘I don’t how much longer we can go on. ‘
And to stop boredom, Rose Fidelity sold her soul to the devil. And she rung every ounce of desirability out of herself that she could.
Roger was having problems of a different kind. Jessie was demanding, and despite the doctor squeezing his testicles and advising a truss lay in the future, he knew what he had to do to keep her. And even the Viagra only worked for a while.
The lies had come out on the afternoon they had bumped into each other and decided to have a quick drink. ‘How’s life,’ Rose had said to Roger.
‘Brilliant,’ he replied.
And vice versa, the lies continuing as Roger limped away and Rose hid her face to sniff back the tear.

But to every sad tale there must be redemption.
The sounds of Amanda’s screams filtered into the waiting room as Roger and Rose sat expectantly. Rose said: ‘It’s going to be a girl, you know.’
Roger wasn’t having that. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he said, ‘it’s so obviously a boy. Listen to those screams.’
They both laughed at that, and both were touched by a familiarity of old. Somehow it seemed so right. But how could it be other than a stupid, temporary feeling? After all, they had been through so much of late.
Within hours they were stood by Amanda’s bed, greedily passing the new born amongst themselves. Finally, the midwife came in. Said: ‘Time for mother and baby to have some rest now.’
Roger and Rose Fidelity walked out of the room awkwardly. Outside the hospital, they stood, not knowing, really, what to do. Finally, Roger said: ‘Your car or mine?’
Rose smiled, and said his. Gran and Grandad drove home, the vacuum filled by their grandson; and another new life to begin.

Previously

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: Loyalist paramilitaries
in Northern Ireland pledge to disarm. I hope
this is the end, though it’s too early to tell. Another
50 yrs yet.

WORLD NEWS: Relations between Iran & UK hit bottom as tit-for-tat
measures increase. At least it’s a milder form of gunboat diplomacy.

BRIT NEWS: MP’s report on G20 tactics tell police
‘herding’ is wrong. About time. This was
mass false imprisonment by
the State.

Weekend Wordsmith
ABC Wednesday

X is for … XTREME SPORTS

Jump into the void, climb that rock,
Adrenalin flows, loving shock,
Putting life on the line,
Hoping that after, you’ll be fine,
But why do they do it, these xtreme twits,
Similar to masochism seems to fit

FLAG

Beginning to flag, must go on,
No longer many, they’ve all gone,
The battle rages in body and soul,
Keep going, reach my goal,
All is weary, my body drags,
Finally, light! I see the flag

© Anthony North, June 2009

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HELL BOUND – TWO

Find current affairs & prompts below.

Roger was approaching work now. He was a successful
office manager, and had a boring, normal life to go with
it. Until now, of course. But then again, could it be that
Rose was right?

‘Morning, Mr Fidelity,’ said Jessie, his secretary, as he walked into his office.
Roger returned the greeting, aware of the look she always gave him; aware of what this not unattractive woman thought of him. After all, she had played up to him enough. And it was to his eternal shame, he thought, that he often fantasized of actually having her.
But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? He was getting on; the body was beginning to fail … he couldn’t. He was happily married. But suddenly he remembered that he wasn’t. And because he had had these fantasies, perhaps he hadn’t been happily married for some time …
‘Jessie,’ he called, ‘can you come in here, please, I’ve got something for you.’

Roger and Rose fidelity packed at the same time that night. What the future held for them both, neither of them really knew. Perhaps they were both too old to begin again, but it was clear to them that neither could continue as they were. There was a huge vacuum in both their lives, and even Roger, as he made love to a girl twenty years younger than him, realised this in the end. Indeed, he had never performed so long, and so frantically, in his life. As the slowly developing pain in his groin testified.
Of course, Roger and Rose kept in touch over the following months – they were still good friends – but they had new lives now; lives which they were determined to enjoy. But to every dream of happiness, there is a cloud …
‘Well I think it’s disgusting,’ a heavily pregnant Amanda said as she slumped in her father’s new flat. Jessie was hovering about, picking up the hostile glares from her lover’s daughter.
Roger limped over to his daughter. ‘But our marriage is over, dear, please understand. And try to be happy for us.’
Amanda snarled. ‘Happy? You must be joking. Look at you?
You’re not a young man, and you’re wasting away in front of my eyes.’
‘That’s ridiculous, Amanda, and you know it.’
‘Don’t come that tone with me,’ Amanda retorted. ‘Your life is pathetic, and no way do you get the respect for a father from me.’
‘And do you speak to your mother like that?’
‘Mother?’ queried Amanda. ‘Some mother, rushing over to see me to check that her make-up is alright. For God’s sake, you’re both nearly fifty. Start acting like it, and not a bunch of twenty year olds.’

© Anthony North, June 2009

Chapter One – Final Chapter.

Inde-Pol

CRME NEWS: Top UK cop says drivers
not to leave car keys in house. Encourages
burglars. Excuse me? Wii? Hi-fi? Jewellery …?

BRIT NEWS: Tories align themselves with 7 right wing parties
in Europe. This is a mistake and could lose them votes here.

BRIT NEWS: Pictures released of female climate
protester grabbed round throat by police.
Their violence is getting too common.
Who are the bully boys now?

Booking Through Thursday
Totally Optional Prompts
Thursday Thirteen

TONY’S MUSE – SEASONAL READS

I sometimes think I know Him Outside better than he knows himself.
Just take his reading patterns. We don’t often see this in seasonal
terms, but I think it is. For instance, during winter he is more likely
to descend into a Dickens or other 19th century classic. Either that,
or a nice scary horror such as King or Herbert. There’s something
about dark, cold nights that adds to the tingle. Alternatively, summer
is more likely to find him reading the more modern book – not modern
lit, you understand; he prefers a story to an angst-fest. The
adventure thriller doesn’t take as much commitment, I suppose, so
a Smith or Higgins is just the job. Of course, in terms of classics,
there’s Hardy – he’s a good summer read, even though the place he
set his summers didn’t exist. Oh, and a good old whodunit such as
Christie. There’s something about a literary murder that brings the
sun out.

HORROR SCOPE
(13 lines for Thursday 13)

Look in the scan, see what will be,
Electronic astrology;
Any path you follow is always sad,
Everything going so very bad,
No matter how the programs align,
Nothing, ever, turns out fine,
Conflict and crime wherever you go,
The ‘me’ society delivers a blow,
To any hope of sorting it out,
Whether you’re atheist or rather devout …
Look to the past, why is it so?
Way, way back, we have to go,
To where it arises – Ego

© Anthony North, June 2009

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HELL BOUND ONE

Find current affairs & prompts below.

When Rose Fidelity returned home she felt guilty, but, in a
way, ecstatic. She had never done anything like that before,
and being nearly midnight, she couldn’t even remember a night
when she had been home so late. Approaching forty eight
years of age, Rose suddenly realised a new woman was
emerging from over twenty five years of marriage.

As she entered her living room, Roger, her husband, said: ‘You’re late,’ a hint of worry in his voice. And his alarm was heightened when Rose took off her coat, revealing her, and Roger’s, favourite plunging neckline.
Roger was taken aback by this. Rose had kept her youth well, and was still a desirable woman. ‘What on earth have you been doing, dear?’ he asked, puzzled.
Rose thought of an easy way to say it, but was suddenly lost for ideas. Holding her head up, she said: ‘I’ve been with Bradley. ‘
‘Oh, I see,’ said Roger. ‘And what do you mean by with?’
‘Having sex, husband, dear,’ said Rose. ‘I’ve been having the most exciting lay of my life.’
It took several seconds for the news to sink in; and perhaps a couple more for Roger’s first-tear to flow.

In a way, he’d been expecting it. Things hadn’t gone right for some time now. It was the next morning and Roger Fidelity tried to think it all out as he walked to work. He even knew what the final straw was …
‘I’m moving out,’ Jonny, their youngest, had said a fortnight ago.
Roger had been rather pleased by this declaration. Their daughter, Amanda, had already gone, and was happily married and heavily pregnant. Now that Jonny had felt the need to fly the nest, he and Rose could finally get on with their lives.
Rose had felt different, of course. ‘But all the bills, the responsibility. You’re so young.’
When Jonny had finally left, he’d kissed his mother on the cheek. ‘Don’t worry mum. You’ll still see me a lot; and I love you. ‘
But no matter how much Roger tried to instill a feeling of new life, Rose simply looked around an empty house and thought: ‘What now … ‘
Well, thought Roger, we know what, now, don’t we? Bradley, that so called family friend ….
‘How could you?’ he had asked the previous night, as the news sank in.
Rose stroked her husband’s face. ‘I never wanted to hurt you,’ she said, ‘but I have needs.’ She walked to the cupboard; took out the family photo album. ‘Look through it, Roger. Tell me what you see.’
Roger flicked through the album. ‘I see a loving family; a family happy with itself, and with life.’
‘And that’s true,’ said Rose. ‘But the family’s gone now. And take that away and what’s left?’
‘I don’t understand,’ Roger objected.
‘There is not one single picture in that album that says we are a couple. That went when we had kids. And I’m not sure, after all these years, we can recreate it.’

Chapter Two

© Anthony North, June 2009

Inde-Pol

GREEN NEWS: There are plans for
laser-guided cars, allowing you to sleep
and eat in 70mph convoys. Already done. They
call them trains.

HEALTH NEWS: Research shows men 40% more likely to die
of cancer due to fear of doctors. It’s not fear, but the
macho culture.

WORLD NEWS: World Bank needs trillion dollars to
help developing countries in Recession. Or do
they mean to prop up failing Big Biz there?

ABC Wednesday – Acrostic Only
American Sandwich – Naisaiku Challenge

W is for … WEIRD

Once upon a time things were strange,
Unusual forces were arranged,
To colour and frighten a person’s life,
Superstition could cause such strife;
Now we’ve condemned such things as wrong,
We sing a more rational, reasoned song,
Yet have we lost a part of our soul?
Those stories and traditions made us whole

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

A few words on how Him Outside got cfs, I think. After all, it’s a big
part of his life. Now, there are many suggested ‘reasons’ for the
condition, but Him Outside tops the lot. How about stress? Well, he
always played hard in those days and he also had a stressful job for
the two years leading up to it, so we can tick that box. Then there’s
the aftermath of viral infection. Well, he’d caught three viruses in the
6 months beforehand. How about chemical concoctions? In the RAF,
he was jabbed up with everything, ready for any overseas
emergency. Injury? A couple of weeks before he’d cracked two ribs.
And in this state, he’d just finished a 3 day military exercise with
minimal sleep, arrived home and packed the family into the car to
drive 200 miles for a holiday. He never made it, passing out at the
wheel. He doesn’t remember stopping, but somehow he managed it;
and he hasn’t felt well since. So I suppose we can add stupidity
to it, too.

ELVIS PRESLEY
(Acrostic American Club Sandwich)

Elvis still lives on
Life is more than flesh and bone
VIRTUE IN CULTURE
Icon’s more than flesh and bone
Singing still lives on

Preened in blue swede shoes, audience all shook up, Jailhouse rocked to his great songs.
Return to sender, his burning love, we remain moody blue still.
End suspicious minds, love me tender, ‘cos I just can’t help believin …

Serene is Gracelands
Living still on noble throne
ELVIS WAS THE KING
Yes he’s still on noble throne
… Elvis IS Gracelands

© Anthony North, June 2009

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EVENTS & MORE

Find current affairs & prompt below.

Let me upset all you conspiracy theorists. JFK was
assassinated by a loner called Lee Harvey Oswald and
Princess Diana died in a tragic car accident. Yes, I
know, it’s so boring, but so is much of life. And maybe
this is the point about such events.

The reality of the life of JFK and Diana was that they were far from boring. Rather, they were sensational; so to admit that their deaths may not be as sensational as their life is a bit of a let down. Maybe we need to invent something more, to do justice to who they were.
This does, infact, fit into a historical pattern. Although seemingly different people, JFK and Diana were charismatic and died tragically young.
The template for this kind of death was set two millennia ago with Jesus Christ, who was also charismatic and died tragically young. With Jesus, it was not acceptable that he could have a normal death, so almost immediately we find the beginnings of a conspiracy. Judas betrays him, and the Sanhedrin conspire to have him executed.
After the event, the death cannot, of course, be normal. Rather, he is Resurrected – he cheats death – and finally ascends to Heaven under his own terms. And in this way, the whole thing is sensational (NOTE: it is not my intention to upset anyone of the Faith here – simply offer an opinion).
JFK and Diana share the sociology of the above – and in more ways than this. For instance, all three were in the business of changing society. Indeed, following them, society DID change. So could it be that it was the event of the death that became a catalyst for change?
If we accept this as a possibility, then we can see how additional factors are placed upon the death by a social need for them to be seen as iconic. Which brings us to a simple point about an event. Is an event a circumstance in itself, or does our appreciation of the event after the event become part of the event too?
Basically, what I’m hinting at, here, is that there is a ‘relativity’ to an event which automatically takes into account the impressions people have of the event. And what is remembered is not the event itself, but a social history stamped upon it.
In times past the social processes involved formed new religions. Today, we live in a more secular society, so to satisfy the need to sensationalise a point of social change, we have invented conspiracy theory to keep the process going.
Hence, conspiracy theory may be a thing to be ridiculed by many. But it could well have an important social function. But I still think JFK was killed by a nutter, and Diana died in a pointless accident.

First posted: Dec 08

BRIT NEWS: Professional body warns
350,000 public sector jobs to go in next 5
years. Well, that’s a start, but I think it’ll get worse.

GREEN NEWS: UK is having first project to create power from
methane from human waste. If done right, this is a step in the
right direction.

HEALTH NEWS: Healthy food and dieting could make
you eat more, say experts. Of course
it does – it’s psychology, stupid.

Three Word Thursday

THE CELEBRITY
(Quilly’s word meanings below)

Fiction: Her summotion from normal life was absolute. Pulchritudinious,
she sat in the studio, in front of the audience, acting like a
phlyarologist. The interviewer was fascinated by her – her reticence,
her annoyance, her pain. And the audience jeered. How dare she,
they thought. Didn’t she know how things were nowadays? The
audacity. Still, she was a celebrity now – famous for not
wanting to be.

Pulchritudinious – beautiful
Phlyarologist – one who talks nonsense
Summotion – removal

© Anthony North, June 2009

TONY ON THE EASY WAY

Including Friday Flash 55, ReadWritePoem and Three Word Thursday.
Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

The Easy Way

Everyone wants to make life easy nowadays. In everything the easy
road is said to be best. Catering for the easy way has become the
main impulse of Big Biz, making life seem so easy. The problem is, the
easy way rarely satisfies. There’s no challenge to it, you see. And
nothing is more satisfying than accomplishing a challenge. No wonder
we’ve descended to a trivia-based society.

My Columnists
Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: So Brown nobbles his
party and stays in power. Next day, new
initiative to change constitution. Typical distraction
from his failings.

BRIT NEWS: National Health Service to face biggest money shortfall
ever from 2011, which will be crippling, ‘cos we had to spend when
we had it instead of saving.

GREEN NEWS: China wants 20% green power by 2020.
don’t applaud. That still leaves 80% dirty, which,
as power increases, is enough to
tilt climate balance.

THE PHILOSOPHY

To know is to empower

History of Man

ICONS PAST

Met Churchill the other day,
About his life, what can I say?
I’ve also had dates with many more,
Prophets, statesmen, generals galore,
Gaining a glimpse of their ultimate destiny,
There’s nothing better than reading history

EXAM PASSED
(Quilly’s word meanings below)

Fiction: He was a good opsimath. You couldn’t fault him, really. His
assiduity was guaranteed. But maybe that was the problem. He
considered knowledge a true quest – and combined with his absolute
confidence in himself, it could be a potent mix. Criticism, failure –
such things were not on his radar. But we all fail sometimes; we all
need criticism – sometime. And as I sat here, ready to open the
results of his exams and tell him, I knew I had to obarmate him. A
magnum of champagne sat on the desk, ready to celebrate his
success – and if he’d failed … a Magnum of a different kind under
my jacket.

Opsimath – student
Assiduity – devoted to effort
Obarmate – arm against

FLASH 55 – BEAUTY UNFOUND

Fiction: She needed confidence, she knew that. ‘Find
your inner beauty,’ she was told. But life is fast. Life is
trivial. Life is without meaning. Today. She searched –
the best she could. She searched everywhere but within
her own soul. She didn’t know how to find that. So she
failed, and opted for the surgeon’s knife.

© Anthony North, June 2009

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

Writers’ Tips

Him Outside has been thinking again. Now I’ve told him to leave it up
to me, but will he listen? Well, he’s been feeling guilty that he isn’t
posting every day. I keep telling him there’s the equivalent of at least
5 posts in every Magazine Post, but it’s no good. AND he wants to do
more of his little current affairs pieces. Anyway, he’s realised that
there are hundreds of pieces of fiction and short essays on this and
other blogs he used to run that have hardly been read as he had no
one coming to him then, poor thing. So as well as 3 Magazine Posts a
week, he’s decided to start updating and re-posting them, together
with some current affairs. He should be able to do these with minimum
effort, so his cfs shouldn’t be affected. He’ll start tomorrow (Sat), so
don’t forget to pay a visit.

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