Double Standards….. Survivor Anger….. When Is A Wirk….
by Bernie Bell - 07:37 on 22 February 2023
Double Standards…..
The people/organizations who are responsible for this …. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64702224 ..... just don’t get it – they don’t get the ideas behind the messages that Roald Dahl was meaning to get across.
We watched the film of BFG again recently, and it’s a heartening thing to watch in these times.
Kindliness is the main theme of the tale – and Roald Dahl is quoted as saying….
“ I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being.”
And there are the ideas in ‘The Magic Finger’….. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6670.The_Magic_Finger . If only…..
I only hope that there are enough original editions of Roald Dahl’s books already ‘out there’ so that people can still read them with their original text.
“The books have been amended after being reviewed by sensitivity readers, who check for potentially offensive content.”
‘Sensitivity readers’ – gawd ‘elp us all. What a load of whizz-poppers – (BFG reference).
Admittedly, I question the tendency of both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien to equate the blond, fair-skinned folk with being the good-guys, while the swarthy, dark skinned folk tend to be the dodgy ones. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were friends, and part of a group known as ‘The Inklings’ so I suppose some ideas would be shared, or it could be said to be a sign of their times. “Blond=good, Dark=bad” is simply wrong – but I still think the books stand as they are – as they were written at the time. I read the Narnia books when I was very young, and the ‘Hobbit’ and ’Lord of the Rings’ when I was quite young, and they didn’t produce in me a prejudice when it comes to shades of skin or hair. I pay more attention to shades of kindliness in a person’s disposition.
I’m reminded of what happened to the text of Chicken Licken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Penny
I think Chicken Licken has a sound theme, and sometimes I lend my copy to people who have a tendency to fret unnecessarily. My copy is very old and falling to bits, so I tried to get a new one. They've changed the story. The story has been changed so that it doesn't have what could be seen as an 'upsetting' or 'sad' ending - no lesson to be learnt there then.
This is the modern world – everything has to be anodyne and 'safe' - or at least seen to be anodyne and ‘safe’ - whilst the actual, real world around the children goes to hell in a hat box!
Meanwhile – on the television – ‘Eastenders’ and ‘Coronation Street’ promote the idea that if someone annoys you, you kill them.
Double standards.
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Survivor Anger
Standing amid the smoldering wreckage
of my life with just a few scratches
I wonder how I got so lucky
Somehow I survived a childhood
of sadistic schoolyard bullies
and teenage double-dog-dares
While so many of my colleagues and lovers
are still trying to dig out from the debris
of racist cops and handsy bosses
We’ve all suffered losses
of friends and sanity
of limbs and memory
and the belief
that it all happened
for some reason
But there’s no higher purpose
we’re just the unlucky survivors
left behind to clean up the mess
Bartholomew Barker
******
I went to see the Doctor yesterday morning. I might need to undergo an uncomfortable procedure. I was fretting about this – then I thought….”Hang on a minute. You’re not being bombed. Your house hasn’t fallen down, with your family under it. What have you got to gripe about?”
Bart’s poem was a timely message. I told the Doc. about it.
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When Is A Wirk….
…not a Wirk? When it’s a castle?
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2023/02/21/link-the-wirk/
Rousay just keeps on giving – keeps on revealing – ‘ The Egypt of the North’ .
PS
Just appeared on the Ness of Brodgar blog...
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/rinyo-neolithic-settlement/
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/07/07/a-couple-of-interesting-star-trek-episodes/
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