Serenity Now

 Just recently in New York, a man, who was quite angry about homelessness, the condition of the subways and just generally how shitty society was, spoke almost like a scene from Squid Game, of how much the general public does not give a shit about each other. This man took action and opened fire on a bunch of poor and unsuspecting souls on the afternoon train. Lucky for them (and him too, since he basically turned himself in) no one was seriously hurt. No deaths. 

Two things I wanted to talk about regarding Frank James. He is a 62 year old man, looks like every other dude that you would see, but with one difference. He’s probably not a lunatic. If he really wanted to make a statement, he would have killed. He didn’t aim to kill. He aimed to maim. This says that he wanted to get someone’s attention but wasn’t violent. He probably didn’t plan on killing people, he wanted some authority figure to notice him. If he stood on a street corner in New York, people would just walk by and think that he was just another nutcase on the street. He took the time to drive a van from another State and then did his thing. Common sense tells me that this is an angry man that is trying to get noticed. 

The other thing is an idea. I may have stolen this idea from a comedy, but I think it would work (in theory). However, it would only work if a few rules were followed. I’ll get to those after I describe my idea.

Remember the ‘Festivus’ episode from Seinfeld? George Constanza’s father, Frank Costanza, installs a pole in his house. He says that he needs to walk up to the pole, state his grievances for everyone to hear. He wants everyone to know what is pissing HIM off. Most of it was to do with George of course. George Costanza is the most self-destructive, self-loathing and arrogant character ever. That is what makes him funny. However, Frank does not find him funny at all.

So, my idea is this. Set up a Festivus Pole in each of the Boroughs of New York. Make NYC a pilot/test project. This  Festivus Pole would be in a public place, but you can only record one message per month. This would be controlled by a card issued to you by the City. This card would also give you a free public transit ride, round trip from your home to the Festivus Pole. The Festivus Pole would have the ability to record your video message, which would be seen by someone who works for the City. If it is a general concern that is valid (dirty subways, too many homeless people, too much garbage in your hood) then the City would address your concern the best way that they know how. Perhaps put this out to the public for ideas. Some concerns, perhaps cannot be solved easily (depression, anger at authority, can’t stand your neighbor). However, if you have a concern and someone says to you “..I feel your pain and I wish I could help…”, that will sometimes make a difference. Perhaps someone who is angry, when they know that someone listened to him/her, then they may realize that they are not alone.

So, now for some simple rules:

1. Every concern must be acknowledged - the Boroughs can hire a few people to watch/listen to these and get back to everyone. Even if it is just an email/text saying we hear you. 

2. Please, no violent threats. That is just going to create more animosity. We are all adults, let us act like adults. If you want to curse and swear, that may make you feel better. If it is about a person, and you despise them, so be it. But - no threats. Violence begets violence. Two wrongs do not make a right.

3. If you have an idea or a solution, please share it. In the days of old, where there were town meetings, we all spoke to each other. Perhaps that is what we need again.  I know that if someone hears my concern and just validates what I said, that makes a huge difference. We all want to feel like we matter. 

I wonder - if we would have had these Festivus Poles years ago, could we have avoided many violent acts of past days? Rodney King? George Floyd? I’m sure that even the cops are pissed off. I’m not condoning what they do or did. I am saying that there has to be a better way than violence to get your point across. 

Cut the shit - all of you!

It makes me a little sad that there are 3 things that are dividing the country at the moment:
1. The current Administration
2. Black Lives Matter
3. COVID-19


You would think that the people would step up and come up with sensible solutions, and act like adults, instead of Middle School children.


I am not an infectious disease expert, so I cannot really comment on COVID-19. However, I think of history repeating itself. I'm thinking of the Swine Flu of almost a century ago. Why do we get so angry about a microscopic enemy that we know fuck-all about and kills some people? Why do we get angry about it? This virus doesn't care which way you swing, what colour your skin is, how old you are or what type of coffee you drink or how many times that you shit in a day. It just wants to reproduce. In it's wake, it's killing people. I will have to look at the numbers, but it has killed more than the seasonal flu. Again, I didn't research that, so don't flame me because of that. I, for one, am being cautious. I don't know if it will kill me or not, but I don't think it's a scam. I think it is something to be concerned about.


Black Lives Matter - why are we fighting over this? Why are we taking this to the N-th degree and tearing shit down? Keep in mind, folks, that the White House, the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument were ALL built using slave labour. Yes - look it up. No one is calling to tear that shit down, are they? Double Standards.

(note - I think that tearing things down will not solve anything - what's next? A dystopian society like Fahrenheit 451 where we burn all the books too??)

A bully cop killed a Black dude. Was it racially driven? I don't know. I wasn't there. I never met either of them. However, someone somewhere decided to turn this into a fucking Crusade. I think that cop killing George Floyd was because the cop is an asshole, not a racist. No crime being an asshole - I am an asshole most of the time. However, I don't beat people up. I don't have the authority to do what that cop did. He got carried away. He fucked up. He killed Floyd. I don't think it had anything to do with the colour of his skin.


The Government - some of you hate it, some of you love it, some of you don't care. What really bugs me is the pettiness that I see. I just saw a thread on Facebook where people were calling Joe Biden a pedophile. The question I ask is why? As far as I know, he does not pursue young girls or boys. Not that I'm taking sides, and this doesn't make him guilty by association, but the President used to run with Jeff Epstein back in the day. Again, doesn't prove anything, but still - that sounds like a classic case of "..I know you are, but what am I...?" Sounds like something I used to say when I was 7 or 8 years old.

So, instead of acting like a 3 year old, try acting like an adult. Maybe you will accomplish something good. When you slag someone, you just make them feel bad. I know I feel bad when someone insults me because of my point of view. Just because we disagree, doesn't mean that we can't debate. If I disagree with you, so be it. Let's just deal with it.

We The People....right?

"....Sandra met Raymond at the Race Relations, Much to the dismay of her family and friends..."

I don't know if there are any Billy Bragg fans in the Facebook/Twitter-Verse but he was a singer from back when I was a kid. He's still recording apparently.
This is the first line of one of his tunes called 'The Guitar Says Sorry' - it's about a young girl that gets pregnant from a Black dude in England in, I think the 1960s.
Interesting that when I was there for a short time in the 1980s, I saw many, many mixed race couples. Lots of mixed race babies, lots of Black Mums and White Dads and vice versa. Was it because the UK had their own form of Segregation and the Government outlawed it? People said "..fuck it....let's all get together to piss off our Mums and Dads..." Knowing the Brits, that's probably the reason. They love to be different. Almost every Brit that I have met tends to be oddball and not afraid to speak his/her mind. My ancestry comes from Scotland so maybe that's why I can't keep my mouth shut.

So, let's talk about the current climate in the USA. A statue of Robert E. Lee  in Virginia is being threatened. A statue of Christopher Columbus is being destroyed in Boston, MA. Everyone is up in arms (again!) about the Confederate Flag. This last one - it's just fucking ridiculous! The country Group 'Lady Antebellum' is renaming themselves to just Lady A - why? Because Antebellum describes the architecture of the plantation homes in the South. Oh, and plantations meant slavery! Ooooh...I'm soooo offended....I'm gonna burn all their CDs and tour t-shirts! I'm gonna protest outside their concerts! Ooooohhh......shut the fuck up! Seriously!?

Now, I'm going to quote some things from memory here. If I get it wrong, I apologize. I'm not going to cite sources, so its just all off of the top of my head.

Let's start with Robert E Lee. He lead the Confederate Army fighting the Union Soldiers of the North. He had some oddball viewpoints of slavery, for and against. However, this shows me that the man was able to think for himself, not that he was a racist.

Christopher Columbus. This one is a Pandora's Box. He's the dude that discovered the Caribbean Islands, which led to the settlement of North America by the Europeans. Like everyone, he was greedy and wanted gold. This led to animosity by the indigenous folks, and the shit hit the fan. I don't condone the massacres, but let's think about today. What happens when someone wrongs you? You fight back, whether you tossed the first spear, fired the first arrow, or in our case, launched the first drone. If you kick a dog enough times, he's gonna bite you. Was he a racist? I don't know. I think like every other White European, he thought he was superior to anyone else. Especially if they paraded around the jungle half-nekkid and worshipped statues and birds. 

Confederate Flag - personally, I think it has some nice colours. I like it. However, it was used as a racist symbol by the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryans and other White Supremacy Groups. However, it was originally created as a symbol of pride and sovereignty. I think it was a great big 'Fuck You' to the Yankees, above the Mason Dixon Line, saying "..we're gonna do our thing...we don't like your ways, Yankee!!..." In those days, no one thought about racism. The word Negro was tossed around constantly, and the other word, that rhymes with 'bigger' was also tossed around. That is the way it was. We were barbaric, un-evolved, greedy and ruthless. However, that was centuries ago.
Speaking of flags, you could argue that the Stars and Stripes Flag is racist too.

Take a look at the map - New Hampshire had slaves! Six years before Confederation! How about that? So, does that make the Old Glory a racist symbol too? My point - it's bullshit. All of it. When I see the Confederate Flag, I think of two things: The Dukes of Hazzard - The General Lee Car or a Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers concert. Are those two things racist? Not to me.

Finally - Lady Antebellum - so, because this represented something to do with the South and Plantations, it's racist. Seriously? Do you think that the architects and designers said "..okay, let's design these houses to be racist symbols, because we're going to make a shit-load of money as we have all this free labour...let's all be racist..." No, slavery was a way of life.  Oh and while we're at it, let's make Washington DC racist! The White House and The Capitol Building, both were built using slave labour. So, let's make them racist symbols too! Tear 'em down!!! (Yeah, that's gonna go over REAL well, isn't it?)

So, my point? Well, our ancestors were dicks. Total dicks. They kept slaves, whipped and beat them, killed Indians just, well because, beat their wives and kids to death sometimes, burned people accused of being Witches, frowned on, and ostracized homosexuality, but married 12 and 13 year old girls and banged them up like Nickel Balloons. What happens today if a 12 year old winds up sproggen? Someone calls the cops, and they are there faster than you can say 'child-molester' .

Our ancestors were total dicks - we all need to accept that fact and move on.

Get over yourselves people - seriously!