It Needs to be Said

I've been reading a blog for several weeks, it feels like longer, written by a left winger who is so disgusted with British politics that he threatens to up sticks and go live in some left wing European utopia the rest of us have yet to discover.

I think I know this person quite well, not through his blog I don't think that shows the real him at all, but through some of his pseudonyms.  He and I have met before. He is not a friend.

Currently he is writing about a poor downtrodden member of the blogosphere who, no coincidence here, is a friend of his. As a friend of his this person is being given stalwart support and fulsome praise its all rather touching or it would be if I didn't know the blogger and I'm pretty sure I do.

I'm also a member of the blogosphere but I'm at the extreme end of those who write because we like to and my blog when it started was meant to be nothing more exciting than a small record of my life in retirement, obviously the blog would touch upon other subjects as they occurred and interested me.

Oh boy, little did I know when I began how precious, arrogant and pompous are some members of the blogosphere.  This post is about a particularly arrogant and aggressive member.  I've never known him waste courtesy on anyone nor have I ever heard him give way to any view that disagreed with his.

The main reason people write blogs is because they can't get full time jobs as journalists and their dream of writing a book may become a reality but their dream of anyone buying a copy probably will not.  I write because I enjoy it. I don't often do it properly I could spend a few extra minutes checking grammar, spelling, punctuation etc but where's the fun in that?

Pompous people irritate me he is one of them  

Sometimes

Quite often I get the distinct feeling that I'm being accused of blackmail.  I know blackmail is a dirty word its also a very serious word.  It says I know something about you that you don't want anyone else to know and if you don't do what I want, often involving large sums of money, I will tell the world.

Blackmail is a dirty and very serious word.  No doubt about it.  In this case if there is doubt its in the use of it in certain situations.   For eg.  Here are a group of people who have assaulted,  hacked, thieved, deleted emails and photographed an innocent person and no they did not do this in one terrible, mistaken night, they did this over a period of years for the fun of it because they thought the offending person was so stupid and ignorant and worse was unaware of their stupidity and ignorance.

Then they found out that the person not only knew but had for years been collecting hard evidence and the deleted emails etc were not as deleted as had been assumed.  The person lets call them by their rightful title: the victim let it be known as soon as the photography was brought to her attention that the game was up, they were caught and retribution was demanded.

The gangs reaction was to make a series of anonymous promises. Yep, the kind that are not worth the paper the gang wouldn't dare print them on. The victim isn't interested in cash, although admittedly cash is always useful.  The victim wants and needs the truth because without it there will never be a time when the victim is not at risk.

The blackmail accusation is yet another example of the way the gang tries to intimidate the victim. In some ways its typical of the kind of domestic abuse where the abuser over time and escalating violence manages to convince the abused that its all their own fault. If only they were not so stupid, ignorant and unable to see how stupid and ignorant they are the abuse would never have happened.

Google & Microsoft

Are to introduce new strict rules, checks and specific technology to try to ensure child abuse is not shown on the internet or on anything controlled by them I should say.  Its good news, very good news or it should be.

Why are Google and Microsoft only acting now to attempt to prevent this obscenity?  Is it likely they think child abuse is new? Frankly I'm not impressed. I don't understand the inaction.  Child abuse is known, the hot spots preferred by paedophiles are known.  The way some paedophiles direct their careers to give them easy access to children is known.

All of it is known and yet action against it always seems way too little for what is necessary and often appears to be nothing more than an attempt to allow the subject to drop out of the public consciousness by lulling us into believing everything that can be done is being done. And we believe it that is we believe it until the next obscenity is revealed usually by the death of one of the small children we were supposed to be protecting.

I'm suspicious of this latest move if the NSA can crawl all over American and every other nationalities emails etc why do paedophiles continually slip through the net and why has it taken the big two so long to do something they must have had the technology for a long time.

Many child abuse experts and even some online commentators are less than impressive drooling as they do or seem to over every newspaper clipping and report. I do understand their surface reasons I've mentioned them above but one or two individuals are less than convincing and that is what we should all be watching out for; the expert who on close examination may be found to have ulterior motives for his/her activities.

Google and Microsoft's latest actions are on the surface admirable but it highlights the deeper and unanswered reason for their inaction over a very long period. I hope it at least succeeds in cutting some of the evil that's out there but I'm not convinced it will get anywhere close.

I'm giving Google and Microsoft the benefit of the doubt here and assuming that this laudable if belated initiative has nothing to do with an attempt to distract us from any bad publicity resulting from the Snowden disclosures.....That would be a very cynical thing to believe.....

Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law!

I'm going to get one of those swish cameras the ones that let you load the pictures onto the laptop and when I do that I will take a picture of what's going on behind me. This will not be of interest to any of the usual pervs its only of interest to me and possibly anyone who likes to see a perfectly harmless rapidly aging woman being bullied by her cat. Pippa, as anyone who knows me knows, is a bully and a thug she bullies her much bigger sister unmercifully or she does unless the subject is food in which case she feigns contempt for such boring essentials.

This time the battle is being fought out over and on a chair.  I've posted a picture of her evicting Ollie from this particular chair. Some thick as shit unmentionable mentioned the chair as though it had some sort of snob appeal.  It doesn't it has long been Pippas chair and she does not care for snobbery, no aristocrat does, nor does she care for takeover or rather take back bids.

I have been busy moving furniture, these days it takes me longer and I have to be careful not to damage the fragile back but!  I decided it had to be done so done it has been. It involved moving the chair. I can't think why I didn't realise there would be a power struggle. The truth is it never even crossed my mind. I moved the chair to its new home in my spare bedroom come study not even giving a thought to the evil little squatters claim to territory.

Pippa doesn't mind the chairs new home which funnily enough is behind my desk. This would be the desk with my laptop on it. I need to use the desk because I sometimes use more than one piece of technology, the laptop and the net book fit easily on the desk neither is comfortable on my lap.

Aanyoldhow this has resulted in Pippa laying siege to almost all of the seat of the chair.  I'm reduced to perching on the edge and if I make a sudden or indeed any move even to get off the damn chair she counter attacks by running up my back. I don't like it!

I will take a picture and see just how triumphant is the look on her face. I'm not giving in and changing chairs. I'm not!

I've been Thinking

About Art, that's Art with a capital A thank you very much. Sometime earlier today there was an auction of paintings and stuff I think some sort of record was broken to do with the amount of dosh withdrawn with no need for anesthetic from the kind of fools who have no real idea of what they're looking at and nor do they care as long as its in the right package and with the right signature.

As you've probably gathered I don't care for Art art.  I am though I admit it a little bit arty I do tapestries, embroidery and sometimes knit and crochet.  All of which is arty if hardly recognised as such until if it survives its a couple of hundred years old.  Not that it matters recognition is not why I do it.  Nor have I ever wondered what it would be like to be a famous artist.  I simply cannot imagine living the lie or involving myself in the conversation we all have to draw a line somewhere.

I suppose its possible that these objects have been purchased by museums and if that is the case well done those museums.  I can't raise much enthusiasm regardless.  691 million dollars that's the amount of the sales net.  Don't you feel sick?  There are thousands of people all over the world who will go to sleep hungry tonight, there are more thousands recovering from that appalling typhoon and all of them will be as beggars homeless and deprived and the world has 691 million dollars to waste on Art.

I read something along the lines of 'I've stopped pretending I don't understand art'. It doesn't take a genius level IQ to know that it was a throw away remark probably part of a conversation quite likely meaning the opposite of what is implied here.  So what it was an immediate reaction and became part and parcel of my thoughts about Art.  

Here's a news flash I've always understood Art its not about art its about prestige and cash and its thoroughly depressing.   Am I being snobbish?  Are there works that enthrall and delight me?  Oh yes but are they worth saving and using almost as a form of currency?  No they're not.

I'm impatient; today people all over the world will be filling in forms, writing cheques using their credit cards to send money to the people of the Philippines I honestly doubt that they will get anywhere near 691 million dollars.  I hope I'm wrong. 

Now that I've sort of vented my spleen on the unmentionables I feel I should add that both my tapestry and embroidery are often done with what could be called an ulterior motive, oftentimes they become a kindofa part of ritual, they are for or about someone their good health and supportive welfare is in everything from the design to each stitch.  Its one of the ways to gather and construct my thoughts.

Think Dorian Gray but pink!

Cronetalk talked

Now that was strange or not depending on whether you’re as suspicious of characters as I am, I am steeped in suspicion and with very, very good reason.

I write for fun, for tears and rage. It may not be good but it is always me. Not a nice person? What the fuck is she? I can’t match nice I can only be myself.

Its known that some subjects bring an instant reaction in all of us. Child abuse is probably one of the main instinctive ‘kill’ ones, as is rape and when you combine child abuse and rape you have unforgiven and unforgivable. My reaction is typical nurture the wounded and render the pervert permanently incapable.

I watch some films consciously avoiding anything too gory I don’t need to see the blood to know we bleed and I’ve never outgrown a kindof fear of dark films. I watched and really liked The Last Samurai. Cruise should have won an oscar for that film.

Maybe there’s time for me yet if not as much as of yore. If I had to guess I would say recovering from child abuse is the work of a lifetime. If that work has to be continued in the face of other obstacles it must inevitably give rise to the question Why? And I don’t have an answer I doubt anyone has anything but glib nonsense sound bites.