Mumblings on an Imperfect World

Mumblings on Rian Malan

2009-11-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

HE'S GOT A NEW BOOK OUT!!!!!!!!

http://jonathanball.book.co.za/blog/2009/09/14/rian-malans-new-book-resident-alien/

First one in twenty years. If you haven't read My Traitors Heart http://www.amazon.com/My-Traitors-Heart-African-Conscience/dp/0802136842 , shame on you, go and acquire a copy immediatley and read it in one sitting. It really is that good.

In keeping with the South African theme, I have just finished Every Secret Thing by Gillian Slovo http://www.amazon.co.uk/Every-Secret-Thing-Family-Country/dp/0349108560. It's also very good.

Why are my heroes all outsiders?

Mumblings on self-censorship, depression, the republic debate and the forthcoming Wallabies tour.

2009-11-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

I have been looking at last Mondays entry with a view as to whether or not I should delete it. At the moment I am still unsure, so for the time being, it stays. If this is meant to be a accurate and therapeutic (for me anyway) record of my current existance, any self censorship would be pointless, it would defeat the purpose of this blog. So as I said, for the time being it stays.

Anyhow.......

Found this quote the other day;
"The West won the world not by the superiority of it's ideas or values or religion but rather by it's superiority in applying organised violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-westerners never do." Samuel Huntington

Not quite sure why I put that in, but I like the quote.

It's clear, to me anyway, that I am trying to avoid writing anything, to be truthful, I am a bit of a broken man at the moment, some times are good, others, I linger in that big black hole that I have dug for myself. This intrigued me http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26302732-5013945,00.html. I do not like the people who run my state, in fact I put it on record here and now that for the first, and only time in my life I will vote for the Liberal Party at the next state election. This is for no other reason than the fact that I would like the cabal of small time political players running South Australia to FUCK RIGHT OFF. I am not for a minute suggesting that I think the opposition will do a better or worse job, but I am voting for them because they are someone else. Not an ideal use of my democratic right, more an indictment on the state of affairs here.
I have digressed though. After reading that article I found myself feeling sorry for Kevin Foley, he's a man who (in my opinion) has made a lot of errors, is a bit of a thug and a bully boy (like saying Hitler was a bit anti-semetic) and who's personal demenour has done no favours to himself. But if he is suffering, as the article suggests I feel for him and wish him all the best.
We are coming up to a pair of noteworthy anniversaries. Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall came down and ten years ago Australians, myself included (it was a cold wet morning that I cast my vote at Australia House in London) rejected our becoming a republic.
As is befitting a man with the amount of time that I have on my hands I have been reading a lot about both events. The former I will bore you with at another time, although I did like the timing of the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by the Czechs, but the latter, is worth commenting on now.
Let me say from the begininng here that I am a republican, I think that it is high time that we broke the apron strings of empire. But I also think that an Australian republic won't happen until the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a figure who is, rightly in my opinion, much admired.
With this hypothesis in mind, and the probable (at least) 5 years we have to work through it's nuances it is worth seeing what sort of form a modern day Australian republic should take.
So here's a few ideas.
Election of the head of state directly by the people. One of Howard's greatest political triumphs was the wording of that referendum, the crafty little cunt.
Let's get rid of compulsory voting, what is democratic about forcing people to vote?
A Bill of Rights per chance? I don't think that being the only liberal democracy in the world without one is a really good look. If you are interested in this I can heartily recomend this; http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9781741666823. Maybe because we never fought for our rights we seem to take a rather casual view towards them.
Formal acknowledgement of Aboriginal ownership of Australia in the constitution, even the aforementioned crafty little cunt thought that was a good idea. But I would take that a little further and put in place some sort of representation for the Aboriginal people in parliament. An emotive and complex issue but I think it needs to be done. Off the top of my head I can only think of one Aboriginal parliamentarian (Neville Bonner). Not sure how it could be done (must give it some thought) but I think it should be done. Maybe something along the lines of the N.Z. system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_seats. I know, wiki, but you think I could find anything on the N.Z. parliament website.
Good article in yesterdays A.L.R. on the republican debate; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26267822-25132,00.html
So there you have it. A few ideas. I think the republican debate should be seen as the perfect oppourtunity to redifine the Australian political system, it is not just about who is our head of state.
And on a note to finish. The Wallabies won the 1999 World Cup on referendum day and gee, haven't they come on in leaps and bounds since then. We've got a Grand Slam tour coming up and I fear it's going to be more 1981 than 1984.

Mumblings on thinking

2009-11-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

You should all have guessed by now that it's been a tough week, hence the no updating, but really should you have expected much more from a self described dillettante.
Anyway, I have been doing a lot of thinking, and not much mumbling.
Will try to mumble on my thoughts sooner rather than later.

Mumblings on guilt

2009-10-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

Guilt, that most of catholic of word. It can take many forms, guilt for prosperity while others suffer, guilt for something you have done, guilt for what you are putting others through. At the moment I am ticking all the boxes. Sorry that this is a bit of a downer of an entry but it's been a hard day.
I guess when you hit rock bottom the only way is up, but I' not sure I have a ladder at the moment.
We'll just have to wait and and hope I suppose. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
As one door shuts another opens. God I'm full of cliches today. But that's what I've got to hold on to.
Tomorrow is another day, and I am determined to make the most of it.
Gotta be optimistic, gotta be optimistic.
The pain will recede in time.
I've just to start to believe it.
That's the hard part.
To my family and friends, I love you all more than you could possibly realise. Without you I am not sure what I would have done.

Mumblings on Jim Jones, Afghanistan and Armistead Maupin

2009-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have always been a fan of lunatic American charismatic preachers. Clearly the 'Reverend' Jim Jones is one of my all time favourites, the Kool Aid incident aside http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_jones.htm . One of the intersting things I find about the whole sordid Peoples Temple business was the sign that was displayed at the front entrance to the peoples temple, it read; "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it". And all though he slightly misquotes Santayana http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/santayana/, it's something those other religous ideologoues, namely messers Bush, Cheney and Runsfeld may have done well to remember.
I have always found myself in a quandry about Afghanistan, clearly under the Taliban it was a barbaric state and no right thinking person could possibly support it. That said, I was never convinced that any form of intervention in Afghanistan was going to work. If you lookback through the history of Afghanistan you could see it was always going to end in tears. Most of the great empires have tried to conqer the country and in the most part, perhaps with Genghis Khan and the Mongols excepted, they have failed. The great Empires of Britain and the Soviets have failed, so I am not sure how the Bush et al expected their brand of American Exceptionalism http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3327839006982521557 to succeed.

Perhaps I should leave it up to some one far more inteligent than I to come up with an answer to this.
http://www.wanttoknow.info/brzezinskigrandchessboard

My guess in the short term, we will see Afghanistan fall off the radar slightly, because we are coming up to the winter months there and winters being the way the are over there, no matter what your point of you it's pretty hard to get anything done when you are waist deep in snow. But come summer it will all start again and I am not sure we will be any further towards a solution.

Richard Holbrooke http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7846654.stm has shit load of work in front of him.

On a lighter night, anyone interested in a alternate end to the Jim Jones story might want to check out Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin http://www.amazon.com/Further-Tales-City-V/dp/0060924926 /ref=pd_sim_b_3 In fact read the whole series. Written like Dickens or Tom Wolfes' Bonfire of the Vanities i.e; as chapters in a periodical, they are some of the funniest, heartwarming books you could ever read.

Mumblings on meditation

2009-10-20T16:40:00.001-07:00

I have got into meditation a bit lately. It was suggested to me that it would help reduce my burgeoning stress levels. And you know what? It does. Why this came as a surprise, I'm not quite sure. What I realised though, is that I had been unconciously using meditation for a while. I suspect that there is quite a lot of misunderstanding out there about meditation. Firstly I think people need to realise that it is not difficult, the concentration required to do this is no more than say reading a book. Secondly, you need to find out what works for you, what works for me may not work for others. Thirdly, and most importantly, is keep at it, the rewards are worth it.
http://home.att.net/~meditation/MeditationHandbook.html
This is probably as good a place as any to start, but remember, none of these techniques are set in stone, they can be tweaked to suit individuals.
I can now meditate for about half and hour and at the end of it, come away feeling totally relaxed in both mind and body

Mumblings on last night's Australian Story, addiction and Monty Python

2009-10-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Watched this last night; http://www.abc.net.au/austory/. Quite a sad story really. I just had to Google to see how old Mandawuy Yunupingu is. 53. He looks a lot older than that. End stage kidney failure brought on by years of boozing. There was a postscript at the end saying he was still a year and a half off being considered for a kidney transplant. Got to admit that I came away not feeling really hopeful for his future.
He claimed to have at one point been drinking 4 (!!!!) slabs of beer a day. I have a working knowledge of addiction, but that is extreme. Addiction, be it to alcohol, drugs, sex (I should be so lucky) is an awful disease. Graham Chapman wrote extensively of his alcoholism in his autobiography, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liars-Autobiography-Graham-Chapman/dp/0413740900, the pieces he writes of his attempts to give up drinking and the physical effects of the sobering process are harrowing. Like Yunupingu, Chapman was an educated man, a medical doctor, who more than anyone must have known what he was doing to himself. Still we all fight demons of one form or another I guess.
Which brings me, in a runabout sort of way to the 40th anniversay of Monty Python's Flying Circus. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/nudge-nudge-eric-idle-on-40-years-of-monty-python-1803501.html Being a child of the British Empire (Canadian mother raised in England, English father, raised in Rhodesia, as it was then) growing up in the '80's my cultural touchstones were very much English. That being the case it was inevitable that sooner, rather than later I discovered Monty Python. I had never seen anything like it. It was the most wild and original thing that I had ever seen. Still is at times. But 40 years ago, when the comedy heroes of the day were Steptoe and Son and that classic English bigot, Alf Garnett, it must have been revolutionary.

Mumblings on the Death Penalty

2009-10-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

http://static.reprieve.org.uk/stephenfryappeal.html

The death penalty is nothing but old testament barbarism. To execute a mentally ill man even more so. Take the time, if you can, to look at the link, if you feel that you are able to help, please do so.

Mumblings on Nick Giffin, B.N.P. and freedom of speech

2009-10-18T23:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6879536.ece

Apparently, Nick Griffin has been invited to go on Question Time, and this has caused our English friends some grief.
I find the man loathesome and am appalled by everything he stands for. That he has been invited on this august British program shows that democracy is alive and kicking. Let's not forget that he is an elected member of the European Parliament, just because we find his views distasteful, does not mean that he should be should be denied a forum in which to state them. Quite to the contrary, we should be proud that we live in a country mature enough not to stifle free speech. At makes a nice contrast to the Britain envisioned by Griffin and his thugs, freedom of speech is unlikely to be high on their list of priorities.
The B.N.P. is full of ignorant, bigoted, oafs. The more coverage they are given the more of a chance they will get to demonstrate this, and many of those who voted for them will come to this conclusion. It also doesn't allow them to complain of discrimination by the media.
You know what they say. Give 'em enough rope....

Mumblings on Justin Langer

2009-10-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

I am a cricket fan, and an avid one at that, which is probably the reason that I am not over keen on 20/20. But given that we are in the sporting twilight zone that occurs between the end of the football and the beginning of the cricket season and I don't like racing cars or horses I have been watching the Champions League.
New South Wales played Somerset last night, and slaughtered them. It was also Justin Langer's last competitive game of cricket.
I was never a fan of the Steve Waugh/John Howard era cricket team of which Langer was both it's cornerstone and most avid devotee. But he always struck me as a bit of a thinker and I always admire those who make the best of limited ability.
So in a way it was a bit sad to see him go out in such unremarkable fashion last night. Facing a test strength New South Wales attack his feet looked slow, you sensed he knew what he should be doing but just couldn't do it anymore. Age, he's 38, looked finally to have caught up with him. In the brave new world of 20/20 cricket, the only Australian batsmen to have scored more first class runs than Bradman left the game, playing for an English team, against an Australian one, in India.
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/6256.html
Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Mumblings on the virtual world.

2009-10-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

For reasons that I won't go into I have an awful lot of time on my hands at the moment. An awful lot of that is spent alone too. This has resulted in me dipping a paw into the world of being a netizen. Hence we have this, a blog, it seemed like the right thing to do, although what I am going to do with it another question altogether. I also have a twitter account, @master_grundy, should any of you read this and care to get a more concise version of what I might be thinking.
Spent an hour or so looking around and came to the conclusion twitter is not about about people posting inane comments about their equally inane life. If you had a life you wouldn't be spending it mindlessly sharing it with the rest of the world.
It is, I concluded, a very pure way to provide information. It is a way for companies and well known people to deal directly with their fanbase. I very much doubt too many people will follow my tweets, or indeed read this blog. But I followed Stephen Fry, and Billy Bragg , and Kevin Rudd. I will have regular, if rather one sided conversations with these people. It is an intriguing concept.
I also noted, and duly followed, the character from Neighbours, Zeke Kinski. A great meshing of new and old technology. A writer, in character, tweets, naturally the tweets follow whichever disaster is happening to beset Ramsey St. surely the most afflicted street in all of Australia.
This so-called virtual world is certainly a new frontier for me.