#comment is free

[manwhoarrangesblocks]

[mistace]

“There is a lot wrong with the world at the moment, isn’t there?

Can we agree on that? Let’s not get into the specifics of “What?“ For god‘s sake… 

Well not necessarily for god‘s sake or Allah’s sake or gods‘ sake (s-apostrophe) or the sake of human decency or nature or the power of crystals or even for all of our sakes, as there are some of our sakes that some other of our sakes consider worthless or objectionable. 

That’s one of the things that’s wrong with the world in my view. 

But I suppose in their view, the view of the people who think that other people are worthless, my thinking that their thinking that’s one of the things that’s wrong, is one of the things that’s wrong. 

Actually, that’s probably another focus of consensuses. We can all agree that one of the things that’s wrong with the world, is other people’s mistaken idea of what’s wrong with the world. And consequent problem-causing attempts to, in their view, problem solve. 

We‘re all of a mind until we get into the difficult territory of whom we mean. So let’s not. And let’s not invoke any idea or person or entity’s sake because as soon as we do that let alone specify any particular problem, the consensus is lost. 

In fact, even by saying the consensus is lost, I’ve probably lost the consensus, as some people would probably assert that there are problems over which there’d be a unanimity of regret. “There are loads of things that we can all agree on!”, they’d say, disagreeing with my point that there are very few things that we can all agree on. 

But my failure to achieve consensus on even the point that consensus is hard to reach must surely amount to some kind of argumentative victory. 

Let’s just stick to: There’s a lot wrong with the world at the moment. More than ever in fact. 

No! Lost it again! Not necessarily more than ever. Possibly less than ever. Or possibly somewhere in between. Depends how you look at it. 

There are more people than ever, so that might imply a greater summon of human pain. But they’re living longer on average, which implies a lower mean-level of human screwedness. 

But then there are those who’d say that measuring what’s wrong with the world in terms of the mean-level of human screwedness is fascistically homo sapiens centric. 

So let’s not compare things to the past, the probable future or any ancient, pre-Jurassic ages of magma, when all the molluscs had a hell of a time, and just stick to basics: There’s a lot wrong with the world at the moment. And let’s hope things improve. 

Oh, careful, ice thinning! Would serial killers agree with that? 

Depends… Some of them probably think that by serial-killing, they’re improving the world. That the scourge of whomever they seek to slice up is being addressed by their public spirited murder spree. So they wouldn’t see a hope that the world improves as in any way conflicting with their chosen profession. 

I suspect I may have stumbled on the premise of Dexter. 

But others, I’m gonna call them the nice serial killers, probably sometimes feel bad about all the serial killing and on some level they’d know that one thing that would improve the world, is if they stopped doing the thing they’re madly driven to do. So it might be harder for them to get totally behind my whole “hoping things to get better” campaign, without making hypocrites of themselves, and I can’t imagine a nice serial killer wanting to do that.

Consensus lost again.”

- David Mitchell on Comment Is Free

[teacherscrapbook]

Are British parents finally ready to give up the right to hit children, asks the Guardian writer Susanna Rustin

[boris-johnsons]

[tobiasmenziesdaily-blog]

Tobias Menzies, Rachael Stirling and Becky Ripley behind the scenes of ‘Comment is Free’, aired on BBC Radio4 October 5, 2016

[phillynessa]

we need to stop being non and start being anti “I didn’t vote for that guy, I don’t say the N word... what you end up with is an entire moral stance for dealing with the injustice of the world by not doing a damn thing. Meanwhile, black boys are getting killed. Your going to bed with a clear conscience is not going to stop the next hate crime. We need to accept that what hurts one of us hurts all of us. And we need to stop thinking that injustice in the world, to an extent, isn’t our fault. We need to stop being non and start being anti.”

[guardian]

“I didn’t start publishing Pennsylvania’s Orange Street News so that people would think I’m cute. I want to get the truth to people, even if it makes grownups mad,” says 9-year-old Hilde Kate Lysiak, publisher of and reporter for the Orange Street News.

After reporting on a suspected homicide in Selinsgrove, Pa., Hilde was harassed by “disgusted” adults commenting on her site, saying her time would be better spent at tea parties and playing with dolls. 

Hilde has something to say, and she takes no prisoners, firing back at her aging critics, with a video and in her column for the Guardian.