Watched a DVD of Charlie Chaplin’s THE GREAT DICTATOR. Very interesting to see it after all these years and can’t help wondering if Charlie’s last speech is as relevant to-day as it was back then. An interesting reissue with lots of extras one of which is an extract from Monsieur Verdoux and that was rather startling with newspaper headlines showing banks crashing in the great depression. Is there nothing new under the sun and is history merely repeating itself because humans simply never learn from it? The punishment in hell for greed is to be boiled in oil. Maybe the world needn’t go that far with the bankers but why oh why are they still being allowed to propose huge bonuses for themselves when people are losing their jobs, their homes, and everything is on the slide? The whole thing is totally illogical and ridiculous, obscene is not too harsh a word. Do they really honestly believe they deserve those bonuses? Odium is all they deserve.
A new(?) revolutionary, that is, terrorist group has reared its ugly head in Greece. ‘Revolutionary Sect’ - another band of brothers who believe they’re going to change the world by shooting a few coppers, spraying police stations with machine gun fire and torching banks and car dealerships; a truly profound political strategy. They’ve obviously never taken history to heart either. They’ve never heard of The Red Brigade? Baader-Meinhof? N17? Black Panthers? Or any of the other groups starting off with the same idiotic ideas and ending in abject failure and death? Revolutionary Sect left its absurd proclamation on the grave of the fifteen year old shot by police last year, that incident giving everyone who wanted it the excuse to riot, loot, and generally cause mayhem. Greece is certainly not an easy country to govern, what with these terrorist groups, anarchists, bolshie students, Cretan farmers, Thessaly cotton growers defying everyone and everything and draining the water table dry. It would seem appeasement is the government’s only answer to violence, blackmail, extortion, and ransom demands. Give them the money, Mabel, in enormous amounts. Anything for a peaceful life – and votes of course when it come to an election. The police themselves seem to be another matter entirely, apparently acting when and how they feel like it or at least that is the appearance they give.
The Roman Catholic Church has evidently updated the seven deadly sins with seven (actually from the list in front of me, nine) new ones fit for the times. Murder. Well there’s nothing new about that. It has been stated quite categorically thou shalt not kill but killing goes on regardless and probably always will. Contraception. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! When will dear old Popie and the Vatican gang step into the twenty first century and realise that even if ultra-large families are good for the Catholic Church they are not, as the population grows at an alarming pace, good for the world? Ruining the environment comes next, so what have I just said about the world’s population and contraception? Abortion. Is this across the board, no exceptions for medical reasons maybe? Perjury. Hmn, what is the punishment in an overcrowded hell for that one? Now come two rather nebulous ones open to all sorts of interpretations. Like the Bible itself you can make of them what you will. They are ‘carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments’ and ‘allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA.’ Then comes taking or dealing in drugs. Does this include the use of tobacco, alcohol and caffeine or is it restricted to the really heavy stuff? Now comes a real beaut! ‘Social injustice which causes poverty or the excessive accumulation of wealth by the few’ (Bankers away to hell with you!) and would you and I consider the Roman Catholic church in need of a bob or two? Instead of stretching out the hand to rake in more would it not be a wonderful gesture to stretch out the hand and alleviate some of the world suffering they’re obviously so worried about instead of leaving it to the Mother Teresa’s of this world?
The Christians (Anglicans mainly)) in England are whining they are now being persecuted in this politically correct age because of their beliefs. What England needs is a leader such as the Prime Minister of Australia. Good for you, mate, tell ‘em like it is, even if members of the PC brigade are committing you to hellfires; but more of that next time. A piece too about lesbians and a Christian school in California but who is ever surprised by California?