I like Blogger. Since beginning this drivel several years ago Blogger has brought me into contact with many strange and far flung parts of the world. The system is simple, like me, easy to use, accepts pictures usually without difficulty and is easy to read. There are a variety of templates and I find it somewhat better than the much praised 'WordPress.' However every so often things happen, as they do with Google owned items. Today I notice the wee line at the top, the one where you sign in, move to the 'next blog,' and all that has disappeared. Actually I noticed this last week but thought it just Chrome playing up (Chrome also owned by Google!). Why have they done this? Is there a reason? Is there a fault? Do they think they will make money from this action? Usually that is the only reason they do anything. I note also that on the Google page on the browser we now have links forced upon us jumping out for no good reason whether we like it or not, and I don't! Who suggested this? I certainly didn't! Get back to how things were and stop annoying me will you???
Community? What Community? Every TV commentator, police spokesman or half wit that appears on air talks about 'Community!' The shooting of a black gangster has caused much resentment in the 'community,' or so we are told. Now regarding that situation I am somewhat skeptical. A violent drug seller who gets shot by the police while possessing a gun is not a reason for rioting in my humble view. The fact that he was black is irrelevant here, many blacks would agree but will wisely not speak out. However what is the 'community?' The word first became the word to use in the early 80's. You will recall the riots in Brixton, Liverpool and elsewhere. You will also note no petrol bombs were thrown in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen, at that price no-one there was going to waste petrol on a few bombs! It was in those riots that 'Black Community Leaders,' came to the fore, others soon followed. Who elected these people? Not me, you or indeed the 'community' they represented. As always they were the ones on the make willing to serve the 'community.' No-one elected or chose them. Now the word 'community' appears everywhere as hacks are too lazy to use other words, words such as town, city, area or district. PC PC's use the word constantly as it helps them climb the constabulary ladder, TV news folks use it because they only read the prompt, written by a lazy hack, politicians use it as they do every other word, with double meaning and only to avoid repercussions upon themselves.
There is NO community! There are towns and villages, cities and areas where people live but don't lets pretend there is 'community' there where human beings reside! Certainly some areas are friendlier than others, some places are a joy to reside in, some are not, some contain many friendly people but all contain miserable selfish types also, both amongst the rich and the poor. Let us drop all the PC terminology and let us instead talk only about 'people,' they after all matter, not an imaginary 'community!'
I'm feeling a little 'liverish' today. I realised this when I wandered through Tesco and dumped one of the rude customers inside the 'Birds Eye' freezer compartment, used a chainsaw on a chap who attempted to pick up a five pence piece I dropped, then detached the head from a woman with a trolley when she rudely barged past me. I was remarkably calm and patient through the Heart of Midlothian's game with Motherwell however, except for that incident with my neighbour and the cheese slicer. Maybe my diet requires changes.....
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6 comments:
Would you prefer they use congregation instead of community? Although, horde seems more appropriate in many cases.
Hello A-man have you had a great week, in spite of your Saturday?
For sometime I tried to work out what was meant by community ~ like you, I had noticed its elevation in our public discourse. And I have determined that community is not a passive sit on your bum and hide from the world thing ~ because that is my preferred community ~ me and the cat, peppered with doses of teenage son. No community is a personal construction ~ different for each of us based on how much we get out and get involved in things in our suburbs, towns and cities. For example, I have my work community, then if I decided to get more involved in things I would have my church community, my volunteering community, my gardening group community, by book club community, my exercise group community and so on ~ you get the idea! even if my life is not this full or exciting. So what is really happening I think is the definition of community is being redefined from what we would have understood a community to be.
As for the user interface on a Blogger, I haven't noticed ~ but will check next time I am on the laptop. They will never change it back though ~ sorry to break the bad news.
You and me both, Adullamite, 'community' sceptics.
The line at the top of the blog, it's still there for me, on yours, mine, and others. I've lost it too, in the past, can't remember what I'd done or why. I do use the 'adblock plus' extension on my browser, which deep-sixes all those annoying ads and animated banners, and I think I once, inadvertently, told adblock that the top line was offensive, so it wiped it out, and it took me a long while to figure what I'd done.
But... The community. I lived, for quite some time, over ten years, in Chapeltown, Leeds, which has seen its share of riots, gang shootings, drug raids and so on, and I got used to hearing reporters on the TV and in the national press telling me what the community thought, how the community was reacting, and quoting those 'community leaders'.
And, when chatting with my multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-charactered, and multi-talented neighbours, the subject would often crop up. "Who asked you?" "Nobody asked me"
"Who's this community leader?" "No idea, never heard of him."
"Does he speak for you? Do you share his views?"
"No idea what his views are, and he's never asked me about mine."
So. Although we all lived IN the community, it seemed that nobody'd ever invited any of us to express our views, before telling the press what we thought. My next door neighbour, a very large, very dark, and sometime very dangerous bloke, was a very good source of information about the gangs, though he'd put criminal behaviour behind himself after one too many jail stays.
So I knew who'd started the seed of the riots, and what had sparked the whole chaos, I knew why a particular building was set on fire, and guess what? the reasons the 'community leaders' gave were absolute um... -balderdash?
In another life, I used when filling forms in, to give my humble little semi-detached bungalow home at No 44 Lockwood Bank the rather more distinguished sounding title "The Old Manor House, 44, Lockwood Bank", and, when asked on the form for a title, I'd put M.P.
This tended to get a magical extra respect and obsequious behaviour, and of course, I would never disabuse, say, a hotel, of its misbelief that I might be a Member of Parliament, whereas, in my case, M.P. stands for Member of the Public.
Although I've never actually filled in a membership application, and The Public's never actually asked me to join.
So maybe The Public will unmask me as a non-member.
You and I can then start our own club, for Non Members of the Community.
As for those leaders? In the words of Big Dave "They couldn't lead a slug up a cabbage!"
When I started reading the post I thought you were going to write that blogger brought you in contact with many strange people. I was rather disappointed that it was only parts of the world that seemed strange. I too noticed all the talk about "community" about this case, and also found it annoying. It's become a sort of shorthand for "people I approve of" when said by "representatives of the community" On the other hand, it is also a useful word to use when you mean "a group of people who are all the same in a certain way" Like, the "blogging community" I suppose. What other word does one use?
I am not sure that most people do care an awful lot about this verdict. I think they're much more interested in what is going on in their own life, and....er....community, I guess. Or whatever one calls it.
Such intelligent comments...and all I can think of is Jeremy Brett from "My Fair Lady" singing "On The Street Where You Live". (His voice was dubbed but still, it was Sherlock Holmes himself as a gorgeous young man!)
Not sure what this says about me, don't know if I want to!
Jerry, I would they just spoke properly!
Carol, I understand your idea of a personal community. the PC one probably would not understand that.
Soub, I think you are right in that somehow one of the items protecting me from baddies has cut the top off. I must go through them all and check!
I recall being about 10 or 11 and coming across a few women I had never known who were the local area representatives. The word community was not used but something similar, which I forget. It struck me even then that these were pushy women, who never came near us, but who had some influence for their street but did not cover us all. Today i note there is a more democratic organisation in place, and info is available! The type who push are the ones who 'lead the community!'
Your black neighbour, who I would be very nice to, the community leaders talk to their folks and decide what the community wants!
I love the idea of being an M.P, it sounds great!
Jenny, Strange people? There is Jerry of course! You are right about using community to mean people I approve off!
Kay, Anything makes you burst into song!
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