Anyone familiar with the rules of state PR will
know that when a government has to bury bad news it will be done on a
Friday. And so this Friday, just too late for any Manx media outlet
to pick it up, this (see
http://www.gov.im/news/2014/apr/04/visiting-soldiers-to-deliver-personal-development-days-in-schools/
) appeared on the Manx government website. Just as offices were
packing up for the day and the local mediocracy were heading for the
pub.
You can look in vain for any critical reports on
Manx media websites and radio stations, or in the printed press.
There will be none. Likewise no questions to or by politicians.
In a nutshell, everything that I predicted would
happen after the Island signed the UK government's pathetic “military
covenant” is now happening. The British MOD, with Manx government
assistance, is openly recruiting in our schools. The UK government,
with Manx government assistance, will be able to sign up some of our
most vulnerable children - the ones who will fail in school and
become otherwise unemployable.
If or when any of them come back in a wheelchair,
or needing 24 hour care, the MOD will not pick up the bills or assume
any responsibilities. The Manx politicians who failed to think about
the consequences of agreeing to this awful covenant and allowing the
warmongers easy access to Manx children will by then be collecting
comfortable pensions paid by us. They certainly will not be bearing
the responsibilities of their actions.
If you have children or young relatives, or even
if you just consider yourself a responsible adult, read through the
first two pieces on this blog again.
Then either do something about
it or stop pretending you have moral values.
Friday 4 April 2014
Sunday 2 March 2014
Another sick joke? No thanks!
I find this (see
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/plans-for-war-memorial-1-6466282
) quite sad. Disturbing even.
For one thing, there is already a perfectly good war memorial in Ramsey. and public money was spent to make it wheelchair accessible as part of the recent square redevelopment. This means that a contingent of old soldiers and their relatives (which gets smaller and less mobile year on year) can pay their respects on Remembrance Sunday.
While I find that particular Christocentric and jingoistic ceremony absolutely pointless – even offensive - I would never make public comment on or interfere with something which, presumably, brings genuine comfort to those attending. And I have no problem with some of my taxes and rates being spent to make it easier and more comforting.
But in the 21st century, how sick is a cross as a mark of respect?
Any number of elderly men who fought on both sides of that conflict and their descendants I've spoken to over the years related to me how their lords and masters told them they would prevail because God was on their side. Even if you believed in a deity (which I don't) you would have to ask how he, she or it simultaneously and equally failed to protect millions of innocents on both sides, while seemingly managing to ensure those too rich or powerful to become cannon fodder emerged from that war even richer and more powerful.
So why perpetuate that lie into a new century?
Why spend any public money at all perpetuating a sick joke which will blight the side of a public building for years? I, for one, would find it so awful, so offensive, that I would never again waste time in a (currently very pleasant) public square which has just been renovated at considerable public expense.
If this is just a question of using up central government funds which are going begging, and if the Manx really want to mark the tragic waste of life in a more fitting manner perhaps, instead, they could stop using this centenary as yet another weak excuse to allow MOD recruiters into schools, and try some objective education on the causes, and possible means of averting, wars.
For one thing, there is already a perfectly good war memorial in Ramsey. and public money was spent to make it wheelchair accessible as part of the recent square redevelopment. This means that a contingent of old soldiers and their relatives (which gets smaller and less mobile year on year) can pay their respects on Remembrance Sunday.
While I find that particular Christocentric and jingoistic ceremony absolutely pointless – even offensive - I would never make public comment on or interfere with something which, presumably, brings genuine comfort to those attending. And I have no problem with some of my taxes and rates being spent to make it easier and more comforting.
But in the 21st century, how sick is a cross as a mark of respect?
Any number of elderly men who fought on both sides of that conflict and their descendants I've spoken to over the years related to me how their lords and masters told them they would prevail because God was on their side. Even if you believed in a deity (which I don't) you would have to ask how he, she or it simultaneously and equally failed to protect millions of innocents on both sides, while seemingly managing to ensure those too rich or powerful to become cannon fodder emerged from that war even richer and more powerful.
So why perpetuate that lie into a new century?
Why spend any public money at all perpetuating a sick joke which will blight the side of a public building for years? I, for one, would find it so awful, so offensive, that I would never again waste time in a (currently very pleasant) public square which has just been renovated at considerable public expense.
If this is just a question of using up central government funds which are going begging, and if the Manx really want to mark the tragic waste of life in a more fitting manner perhaps, instead, they could stop using this centenary as yet another weak excuse to allow MOD recruiters into schools, and try some objective education on the causes, and possible means of averting, wars.
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