I'll get the printing done first* then let you guys know. Half price shirt though, so should be sorted already. * code for "book my holiday*
I'm very proud to say I've never heard of the late David Gest. I've just looked him up on W'pedia and am now doubly proud Iv'e never heard of him...
The actor, 58, was speaking to chat show host Dave Rubin about the controversial Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel college, Oxofrd, which campaigners want removed. And he said some people are becoming too sensitive and criticised those who avoid “trigger words” for fear of controversy. “They’re terrible things and they have to be thought about, clearly, but if you say you can’t watch this play, you can’t watch Titus Andronicus, or you can’t read it in an English class, or you can’t watch Macbeth because it’s got children being killed in it, it might trigger something when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you in a nasty place, well I’m sorry. “It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy – but your self pity gets none of my sympathy.” He added: “Self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.” Following the comments, Fry, who is the president of mental health charity MIND was branded “hypocritical” and “dangerous” by angry social media users. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ex-abuse-victims-to-grow-up-prompting-social/
Stephen Fry effectively says pull yourself together. Some people can't because of the world they live in. But we live in individual worlds, unique to ourselves. Some of us could pull ourselves together while staring death in the face. And some of us fall apart because our dinner is overcooked. And some of us might be the very same people. I'm prepared to believe that Fry said what he said while not feeling at his most euphoric in his bipolar world. In doing so I might be showing more tolerance and understanding. Fry's own condition could give rise to self-pity, an emotion he obviously loathes. And it isn't an emotion to be admired, which is why people need to be understanding because it's some peoples sole and ingrained way of coping with their lot.
Anyway, Stephen Fry aside, I came here to say I watched a pretty good film this evening. Called Pawn Sacrifice [2014] it tells the story of Chess genius Bobby Fischer. Played by Toby Maguire, he's not a lovable character, which will turn many people off straight away, but then the real guy wasn't either. He exhibited paranoia, from a kid onwards, living in an isolated Brooklyn apartment with his Mum, who wasn't loved by him. From that early age he grew to be anti-Semitic, xenophobic, racist and his paranoia increased. At his most extreme he believed that people were trying to listen in to his very thoughts, by various methods. He took apart and inspected telephones, radios, power sockets, ripped backs off pictures and mirrors, etc... And generally, he was a pain in the neck to those around him. But one thing he could do was play chess better than anyone else and some of it was considered the best that has ever been played. And, as far as the USA was concerned, he was playing at just the right time for the free world because the USSR had all the best chess players bar one. And he was going to show them that he was that one. And so he eventually came up against then World Chess Champion Boris Spassky in 1972. Game 6 is considered the best game of chess ever played - Youtube reconstruction: Got to admit it brought a lot of that history back. Not to everyone's taste, but a good film nonetheless.
If you picked up The Shortlist on the way to work today, you may recognise the young lady (and future celebrity Saints fan) on page 21.
I do agree in general with what Fry is saying because his words were taken out of context. He was talking about over precious students who want to erase past history and be protected from discussing anything. And in many cases they throw the baby out with the bath water and assume because someone in the past did something that is unacceptable now, nothing else they did was of any value. Just in the one instance of Rhodes, he left a lot of money to education....which is what the statue was commemorating. The past is another country etc. As for sexual abuse....it can have terrible effects and I have compassion for the victims, especially in their helplessness if no one cared enough to protect them. Being unloved and unprotected can have a devastating effect on a child. But I am also not a huge fan of navel gazing....in mild cases (which it appears Fry was talking about) you can't go on being a victim all your life. You let evil win if you allow it to change everything about you (again I'm not talking about the worst cases). The Adam Johnson case is a prime example....the damage to her is primarily that of his betrayal and the subsequent fall out socially (not underestimating that in such a young girl who should be enjoying herself), but her parents need to point out to her that all things pass, she has to lift her chin up and move on.
Well what do you know.... Just boarded a plane at Heathrow and look what they had on the paper shelf...
There are real victims in life and there are people who have had crap happen, but could get over it if they set their minds to it. Present society encourages victimhood by allowing them to blame others. If you've been dealt a crap hand in life, success is even more admirable. My two best friends had drunk wife beaters as husbands and started out again with nothing and 3 and 5 children, respectively....one in a damp slum in London. Both are now in the middle class, home owning category....by their own efforts. My message to most people is save yourselves and let the real downtrodden and helpless get the help and financial support they need.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/octopus-makes-gr-eight-escape-7743517 On a lighter note, an octopus in NZ climbed out of her tank, slithered across the aquarium floor and escaped to the sea down a pipe. They are pretty smart creatures and have been known to escape before by copying human behaviour to open tanks. And another escape artist.
As a Fable and a Saints fan I'm happy to put in a fiver for her shirt too! Missed all the initial conversation as I've been on a long weekend in Berlin.
I sort of agree with what he said but not how he said it. He didn't even need to bring up sexual abuse at all. He was talking about a statue! Then his lack of empathy is sad to see.
Stephen Fry's autobiographies are heaving with self-doubt and self-loathing. He's painfully honest about it. Given that, I'm perfectly happy for him to have a view on the same thing in other people and to speak out about it. He's worked hard on it so he's entitled to tell other people to work on it. As for arguments about historical morality, have no doubt at all that there are things being done today that are utterly uncontroversial that people in the future will consider despicable. You have to accept that morality really is a function of time. I mean, the statue of Alfred the Great in Winchester commemorates someone prepared to go to bloody war just to save his hereditary title and his income; the blood on his hands are a vile stain on Winchester and the statue must come down. Vin
And the statue of Oliver Cromwell in Westminster commemorates the last man responsible for regicide in this country. People tend to take a dim view of that sort of thing nowadays!
