And Another...

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I hate to rain on your parade but Ms. Lowde will probably only serve about three months of a six month sentence. It would have been better for Ms. Lowde and her victims had she been given a treatment order. This is far from a ‘get out of gaol’ free card. She would have been detained for an indefinite period and her release would be dependent upon a psychiatric assessment. I was attacked (physically, irl, not over the ‘net) two years ago and my attacker got a suspended sentence but he was also sectioned and was detained in hospital for longer than he would have been detained in prison.

She is highly unlikely to receive the help she requires in prison.

A Response to

This:

I too look forward to Ms. Lowde's appeal. Only because she may get a half decent legal representative who should argue that this woman had little chance of a fair trial given the kind of heavily biased media coverage she was subjected to before her arrest and subsequent conviction.

(And, yes, I know this won't be popular and, no, I really couldn't give two hoots.)

Rating:

How dull. I was hoping for a PG at least:

Mingle² - Online Dating

Yet Another Response

to this:
(Scroll down to the comments section)

Post 1:

What is the world coming to when 'mentally ill' people are permitted to use the internet? You are aware that statistically 'mentally ill' people are more likely to be the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators? No, I didn't think you were.

Post 2:

My post was not an attempt to defend Ms. Lowde but rather a comment upon the somewhat disturbing views on the mentally ill. As I said most mentally ill people do not behave like Ms. Lowde. Most mentally ill people are more of a risk to themselves than to others. Will you not open your mind to the wider implications of people's comments on this case? I myself have a mental heath problem that is controlled by a small dose of medication. I have never nor would I ever deliberately harm someone.

I would also like to know why, if Ms. Lowde is deemed to be mentally ill is she not in a secure hospital rather than a prison. I was physically attacked two years ago and that crime was not deemed serious enough to warrant a prison sentence. And there was I thinking we had equality before the law.

Finally, to the person comparing Ms. Lowde's crimes to those of Hindley and Brady - seriously, get a sense of perspective.

Supernova

I went supernova
Invisible matter trust outwards
In waves and relativity
Does not concern me
Neither does this strange theory
Of gravity. There are no certainties
Just disembodied entities
I am not governed by the clock
I divorce myself from this force
Curvature, an overture, an encore
There are four dimensions
But we see only three
Changing shapes, Circles stretch
`Then they are compressed
Elevating, enervating
I deal with distortion, with contortion
I pass though unscathed.

These Strange Days

I am not in the business of gloating over anyone's death and I will not make an exception for Bernard Manning. I will, however, assert that he is no great loss to contemporary comedy. But that is merely my humble opinion. I will also admit to deriving some amusement from the praise being lavished upon him in the media by people who claimed to despise him. Everybody loves you when you're dead. It could even be asserted that it is an excellent career move. Even more amusing are those who try to justify his racism by emphasising his Jewish ancestry. I don't buy that. Was Merle Oberon any less racist when she forced her mother to pretend to be the maid because she was ashamed of her Indian heritage? Absolutely not. If anything it makes her racism even more reprehensible.

Rise and Return

They will tell me nothing of my origin
A sin, they say, that must never be repeated
I emerged from some obscure country
On some dark continent. I am an exhibition
I should charge for admission

The fog gathers and all the profanities
Directed at me reassemble themselves
In my mind relentlessly. It resembles
A kind of constant aerial bombardment
Insults issued in jest, they say

In dreams under cover of darkness
Guided by the yellow moon, I crawl
Slowly across the map of the world
To that once magical place that is the land
Of my birth and I unearth an elaborate
History that, until now, was hidden from me.

At Last

The establishment shows some backbone. Read about this miracle here. Some readers have commented that Salmon Rushdie's knighthood was only conferred upon his to inflame the Islamic world. Gotta love collective paranoia. There is an alternative suggestion: maybe he was honoured because he has succeeded in producing an extensive and compelling body of work. Why should we let any religious group dictate who is 'honoured'? This is supposed to be a secular society. Why should we capitulate to the hysterical demands of religious extremists?

Intellectual freedom, anybody? Sanity prevails for once. A true miracle indeed.

On a Blog Near You

Just a few salient points:

1) Jade Goody is badly educated in comparison to Ms. Shetty but have you stopped to wonder why? She spent most of her childhood looking after her mentally-ill, drug-addicted mother. How did the Upper-Caste Ms. Shetty cope with that - oh, that's right - she didn't have to.
2) Ms. Goody is of West Indian descent - she has West Indian features - much of the media's mockery is a result of this. Ironically, Ms. Shetty conforms to Western ideals of beauty more than Ms. Goody.
3) Could someone please tell me how people arrive at the conclusion that Ms. Shetty is intellectual. She failed to watch a single episode of Big Brother before agreeing to appear on the show and seems ignorant of the origins of its title. Germaine Greer observed that there was bullying on Big Brother when she walked out of the programme two years ago. My response was 'Well, duh'. The programme's title is derived from a novel that depicts a totalitarian state governed by a capricious, malevolent dictator known as 'Big Brother'. Bullying? In that kind of environment? Who'd have thought it?

4) Finally, how, for the love of cake, does this sully the reputation of Britain? There are 60 million people in this country and less than 8 million watch Big Brother. As the Americans would say: 'Do the math'.

I Really Am On a Roll

In response to this:

When Jade Goody was relentlessly abused by the Tabloid Press in the first series of Big Brother in which she appeared many columnists in the Guardian and other broadsheets it was suggested that there was a racial motive behind these attacks. (She is of West Indian descent). Fast forward to CBB5 and this was completely forgotten. Shilpa Shetty initiated the hostility in the Big Brother House by making derogatory comments about Ms. Goody's class origins. Bigotry is bigotry and, as far as I am concerned one form of bigotry is just as reprehensible as another. And, as if it matters, I am from a working class background and have experienced prejudice based on my gender and my class. The Guardian used to be a newspaper that championed the cause of the economically disadvantaged but I guess its response to this episode illustrates that broadsheet journalists are just as susceptible to the whims of fashion as everyone else.

More of the Same!

In response to this:

I guess the columnist believes there should be one rule for the well-educated, middle class Ms. Parr and an entirely different rule for the 'plebs' she labels as 'Goody et al'. It defies all logic and carries the stench of the profound class-based prejudice that permeates this society. Oh, and one more thing, doesn't the Guardian purport to be a 'socialist' paper?

Oh Brother!

In response to this:

Like many others I cannot help contrasting the reaction of this columnist to Ms. Parr's ill judged use of the 'N' word with the reaction to the behaviour of Jade Goody et al in Celebrity Big Brother. Ms. Parr is of a higher social standing and is better educated than the three women who were vilified for their actions in CBB and yet the former is judged less harshly than the latter. Is it just me or does anyone else find this ever so slightly illogical? Class-based discrimination is alive and well and living within the pages of that bastion of socialism (Oh, the irony) known as The Guardian.

Interview with a Bollywood 'Star'

Shilpa I
Shilpa II
Shilpa III

I found her tedious, vacuous, and horribly self-obsessed. I'd like to know from people who were charmed by her - at what point in the interview did Ms. Shetty's putative intellectual prowess manifest itself? And where was this legendary 'dignity'? A woman in her thirties giggling like a school girl is not my idea of dignified behaviour.

Finally, an extract from the 'Rapid Fire Question' round:

Interviewer: If you woke up as Jade Goody tomorrow, what would you do?

(*How old are these people again?)

The Delightful Ms. Shetty: (giggles) I'd kill myself.

What a perfectly charming young woman.

Closing In

Closer. Almost touching
I do what they wish
And in return they offer
A truly delectable dish
I savour the flavour
Of belonging, of venturing
Into unexplored regions
And the legions, they sing
They form a ring around me
They shelter me from adversity
From diversity, from complexity
They offer me symmetry
They infiltrate
And then they isolate.