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Post by cato on Mar 25, 2020 0:03:17 GMT
No one predicted this . We now think of time before the virus and hope and pray for a time after the virus. This hit us like the biblical thief in the night.
On a slightly lighter note it struck me the present emergency is exactly what many ideologues have wished for.
Greta called on us to panic last year and we obediently freaked out and stripped the supermarket shelves of toilet rolls. Her wish of a world without aircraft and polluting industry has been granted.
The Marxists have seen the greatest crisis of capitalism so far. Is this the end and the beginning of the new long predicted communist utopia?
The anti globalists have seen the end of free movement and the restoration of borders.
Secularists have seen the abolition of public worship
Islamists have seen the closure of pubs , night clubs and saunas.
Family value advocates have seen family life made compulsory.
Strong armed tyrants have seen the western democracies struggle to cope and adopt unprecedented draconian restrictions on freedom and liberty.
And finally the Irish Blueshirts have more powers than any other party in our history despite getting less than a quarter of the public vote. They have given police widespread powers of arrest, banned meetings of more than 4 ? people and even abolished St Patrick's day. No revisionist ever dared dream that would happen! And Simon Harris is still one of the most powerful men in the land.
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Post by cato on Mar 26, 2020 15:58:50 GMT
I am going to keep some musings on the times that are in it here. I mispelt the title of the thread above but as Maolsheachlann was kind enough to like it I will delete the corrected duplicate and keep the original here.
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Post by cato on Mar 26, 2020 16:19:13 GMT
Where the streets have no people.
I have a job that is regarded as frontline so for five days I was in and out on of the city of Dublin on buses carrying often fewer than half a dozen people. Public transport has kept going and drivers are among those quietly doing their duty so that others will survive.
At night time the city is still and silent. Walking home through empty streets is a strange experience. Last week I saw a man about to touch a virgin Guinness in a restaurant as I passed by. I was suprised the premises were still open. The next night the lights were all out and the windows boarded up. I can only compare it to a Christmas night when all are home in bed or watching tv stuffed and dozing off. No one is about. This sort of Christmas night has gone on for a few weeks now.
There are more guards than homeless people now on the streets. Noisy confident Pubs are boarded up , dead and forlorn. I stand in a bus queue of one waiting for the bus that is never late now and that will take me home faster than ever.
It may not be the end of time but it feels like the end of an era. An era I in many ways detested but also grew up in , loved and took for granted. Something is dying too. I am not just thinking of people who may die alone and in great pain.Something big is in the air.
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Post by Séamus on Apr 11, 2020 11:04:53 GMT
No one predicted this . We now think of time before the virus and hope and pray for a time after the virus. This hit us like the biblical thief in the night...etc.... I saw a report of one Protestant minister who's claiming to have 500 weekly listeners for her sermon compared with an actual congregation of 90> when her church is actually opened. Amazing what people do when there's less choice. One Catholic news service has ingeniously pointed to French/Chinese saint John Gabriel Perboyre as someone to consider during Paschaltide this year as his executioners' method of killing was a strangulation not visually unlike crucifixion and the place was Wuchang,now an area within Wuhan. As a Vincentian his feast was often celebrated in Phibsborogh parish;he's honoured in the famous Rue du Bac also. |
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Post by cato on Apr 11, 2020 11:16:42 GMT
I know some clergy who are wondering will people come back now that the habit of mass going has been broken. Apparently overall many people aren't watching on line masses but are praying privately if at all. The shock at having the sacraments switched off suddenly may be a final straw for some. The over 70s were the 1960s kids .
It seems to me quite likely the over 70s who make up a large section of mass goers will be asked to cocoon long term even after restrictions are lifted. Many priests are in this age group .Most Irish dioceses have most of their clergy cocooning. At least 6 bishops are in isolation including the archbishop of Dublin who retired during the week. This brings home the melancholic truth the Irish church is old. Older than the population in general. This is not a good sign.
Churches are also not getting their regular collections either. Contrary to prejudice churches generally don't have vast reserves to tide them over an emergency. The smaller poorer church may come sooner than expected.
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Post by Séamus on Apr 13, 2020 12:43:31 GMT
Despite not being familiar with night clubs,I'm rather glad that the dystopian styles and dance,not to mention people, portrayed in Blondie's Atomic video have been spared us thus far. Bryan Adams' HEAVEN clip has proven more prophetic- before internet who'd have believed that performers would really be playing to an audience of screens? Pity we don't wake up from the nightmare like Adams' Heaven video persona.
Bored film reviewers, perhaps also anxious to keep their jobs, have been listing apocalyptic films that seem eerily relevant,but I somehow keep thinking of HG Wells' The Days of the Comet, for similarity to today, because of the unexpected,subtle but universal nature of the change. Not expecting a loving socialist utopia at the end however- I've still no more idea of the names of my nextdoor neighbours than I ever had.
One thing we didn't expect was secular media remarking on empty churches in acknowledgement of the abnormalities of this or,indeed,the broadcasting of services.
Or almost lamenting Bocelli singing to an empty Duomo di Milano for Easter. Of the twelve lessons used in the pre-'55 Easter Vigil liturgy, one that might strike us is the passage of Isaiah where seven self-sufficient women try marrying the same man,presumedly a sign of Israel's purification through war- but the abnormality of a decimated but wealthy population might reflect the abnormalities of today's situation,where rich nations have spectacularly decided to take unprecedented measures.
Easter quotes we mightn't have forseen,two incidentally by homosexuals:
"Many of us turn to faith for meaning and comfort. It was a privilege to talk to religious and spiritual leaders" Varadker
"I don't think equality means that everybody plays everything all the time" Fiona Shaw against an actress playing James Bond.
Or Boris Johnson's hospital inadvertently bringing to everyone's lips the name of possibly the only apostle to touch the Risen Christ's wounds on Easter Sunday.
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Post by Séamus on Apr 20, 2020 3:17:33 GMT
I've not looked in detail at the current retail restrictions in Dublin; currently our state hasn't closed many categories of store by force,but a majority have done so by choice.
"All the stores were closed and shuttered, all the streets were dark and bare,in our town no scarlet ribbons..."
After walking through an empty city centre on Saturday, I was a bit surprised when visiting a local shopping centre for the first time since before Easter to see that,amidst the many closed-up clothes, jewellery and cafe retailers,that a book shop,which also sells jigsaws and a cd/DVD store (which also sells themed board games- StarWars Monopoly,or whatever) were managing to continue- the very things that the digital age was predicted to push out altogether (especially at this time when people were expected to rely on the digital age more than ever before). An author who was appointed as a Booker Prize judge this year is recently quoted as saying,in regards to visual adaptions, "forget the movies,long-form streamed television is the way to go. That's the natural home of the novel". If that's the aim of writers these days I'm glad I don't read many current authors. Not a definitive opinion,but I would have imagined that the most unfilmable authors were often the most talented. Heaven knows what long-term effect enforced tv addiction will have after all this.
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Post by assisi on Apr 20, 2020 14:03:04 GMT
An author who was appointed as a Booker Prize judge this year is recently quoted as saying,in regards to visual adaptions, "forget the movies,long-form streamed television is the way to go. That's the natural home of the novel". If that's the aim of writers these days I'm glad I don't read many current authors. Not a definitive opinion,but I would have imagined that the most unfilmable authors were often the most talented. Heaven knows what long-term effect enforced tv addiction will have after all this. If the Booker Prize judge means the long box-set series like Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad etc. I can see that he has just simply identified probably the most popular medium of the last ten years or so. It's a bad idea for a novelist to write a novel to suit a visual medium such as that as the novel then becomes subservient to the idea of a long drawn out series just as some novels were to the movies prior to that. In short the novel becomes a kind of glorified screen play. I must admit to coming to dislike the box-set craze. I watched my share of detective, adventure, sci-fi, serial killer type long form series only to begin to eventually resent the time I was spending watching them, sometimes well into the night. They became a drain on my time and energy. They were entertaining and compulsive, but after watching what I thought were the best of them, I hit a peak and I stopped. I also resent the conversations with people who insist you 'must' see Peaky Blinders or Breaking Bad. Indeed at a school talk a few years ago one of the teachers, when talking to a hall-fill of parents made a reference to Peaky Blinders and assumed that everyone was watching it. I can well appreciate how good the production and storyline can be on these series and how much time they have to develop characters, but in my suspicion of all things media and global now, I'm sure that they are a staple of the circuses element of the old roman bread and circuses. |
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Post by cato on Apr 29, 2020 10:41:36 GMT
I haven't been posting a lot as it's hard to get my head around the events of this year as they impact on us personally , as a nation and globally. There is little left of life that isn't impacted by Covid. I wish I could say I was spending my time productively and reading Proust, getting fit, keeping in contact with cocooned neighbours, praying more etc
I have a job and am an introvert bibliophile with hundreds of unread books so I am very lucky compared to others but living through this time is anxious and I have a sense of dread. It is tempting to overindulge in alcohol or sleep. Losing simple innocent freedoms only dawns on you when you would like to meet friends for a coffee or hop on a bus to travel to the other side of the country.
Gemma O Doherty and John Waters have taken a high court challenge to the governments legislation. I sympathise with them somewhat in being alarmed at how quickly fundamental liberties have been suspended without a peep from civil rights groups who are usually very vocal. It's ironic two eccentric journalists now occupy the place of the radical opposition to the state.
It is concerning though to see their followers at the Four Courts make little attempt to stand 2 metres apart. Most people are unaware that the right to peaceful protest has been suspended by the emergency laws. A group of workers protesting at losing their jobs were also dispersed by Gardai and told to go home.
We still have free speech but the Irish media are in Green Jersey mood at present and ignore serious queries about nursing home death rates and the lack of information around who makes important decisions and based on what evidence. David Quinn is one of the few journalists asking awkward questions at media briefings. A small group of ministers and a few doctors control the Irish states most radical social experiment ever.
There are no easy answers. To create the the infamous herd immunity we may lose many more lives. We cannot continue the lockdown indefinitely either. We can only hope and pray that our leaders do the right thing.
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Post by assisi on Apr 29, 2020 13:47:29 GMT
I think we go through different stages with this virus lockdown. For the first several weeks I was monitoring the numbers of affected and the deaths in each country. Now I've stopped doing that.
I have been out and about. I'd have a walk every day and just bought an indoor fitness bike at the start of the lockdown which I use for a 20 minute indoor spin every second day.
I haven't touched alcohol at all even though I have a big bottle of Bushmills I got on my retirement that is tempting me every time I look in the cupboard where it is stored.
I read a lot in the mornings if I can as I like reading in daylight rather than under artificial light at night.
I've watch a movie most nights on the computer, but they are usually thriller or horror types as I don't seem to have the patience for the more mainstream serious or historic movies.
I have tried to watch eucharistic adoration and Mass online but it hasn't worked well for me. I just need to be there in person and, God willing, will increase attendance at Mass once this is all over. I did try to watch one Mass on RTE early on, but instead of it being from a beautiful inspiring church, it looked like it was in some sparsely adorned modern meeting room; the priest began talking about Trocaire and made me think, probably ungenerously on my part, that I don't want to hear about charities, even Trocaire, where their references to Christ have almost disappeared and the new secular mantras like 'sustainability' and 'human rights' dominate. I almost thought that RTE tried their damnedest to make the ceremony drab and colourless.
We will need at least one complete year to understand how this new virus works. Will there be a second wave if the lockdown is relaxed? Will there be a second wave this winter when we will have Covid and the ordinary flu to contend with? How many people have already got the virus and been mildly sick or asymptomatic - the estimates so far go from 2% to 40%, it is likely to be somewhere in between, probably higher in Italy and lower in Germany at the moment.
I fear for the mental and social consequences of all this. People need the Spring and Summer periods to get out and do things. If we find ourselves going into October/November 2020 still in some sort of partial breakdown, it will prove immensely difficult for many people to once again enter a long Autumn/Winter period without having experienced the healthy and beneficial fruits of a Spring and Summer, particularly the old and sick.
What all this proves is that, for the utopianists in particular, man's science and technology is always playing catch-up with nature and will always be that way. Doubtless some more unthinking and hedonistic individuals will not change their spots and carry on where they left off when things hopefully get better. I would like to think that some others will think hard about the way they live and become a little less materialist and a little less self centred. Others will be scarred by this, financially and emotionally. And in the long run some people will become less sociable and more isolated, not wanting to sit beside others or interact in groups due to fear of the virus, even after a vaccine is administered. Despite knowing the gravity of the situation I can't help feeling annoyed when someone actively avoids me in walks even when I consider the distances safe. On one of my walks near the start of the virus I was walking with my wife and was about to overtake a couple in their 60s when the lady, without looking around stretched out her right arm to the side to indicate that we walk around her in a wide arc which we were going to do anyway. However that little impersonal act came across as crass and annoying even under the current circumstances. Bit like being treated as a leper in Christ's day...
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Post by Tomas on Apr 29, 2020 17:00:52 GMT
Can´t help feeling an intuitive fright that major political-economical impacts of the whole disturbance will end up quite problematic. Even if people will show patience, and wait for proper medical science to work it out, in comes additional new effects and risky new deals... so that the best possibilities never really get their chances to counter.
Not entirely unlikely that crude factors somewhat converge into manifold "streamlined" patterns. Less room for freedom, graces, kindness, only one size fits all left to society at large. (Since this particular thread has Dystopia theme, and the forum is admittedly for political incorrectness, it may be forgiven to utter such suspicion.)
What kind of cultural life will be allowed and not allowed? Who will decide over peoples daily lives? When systems fail, will focus go to the architecture of the systems or to those that criticise?
Apart from medical science there remains the strong dangers of damaging economy and politics. Second chance for Ethics could definitely make a difference, but that would naturally not be a wager to count on as it stands in the short sight. Perhaps only whatever happens in terms of conversion could make things very different and a lot more brighter than the gloomy sketches in my own feeble mind. Hoping hard I am wrong as usual!
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Post by cato on Jun 11, 2020 21:49:50 GMT
I walked through Dublin city centre on Monday after some shops reopened.It was a rather dispiriting experience as the streets looked dirty and smelled filthy. Most cafes and eateries are still closed. It reminded me of a scene from the movie 28 Days minus the zombies.
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Post by cato on Jun 29, 2020 13:35:40 GMT
The last few weeks have witnessed an explosion of radical woke demonstrations in the USA and in Europe demanding racial justice. Sparked off by the death of George Floyd and fuelled no doubt by unemployment , boredom, frustration and rage all brought about by Covid restrictions we saw mainly peacefully demonstrations but also a disturbing amount of violent rioting tolerated if not excused by many media and democratic party apologists. The media accept all the statements of BLM without any criticism or questioning. George Floyd is the Martin Luther King of 2020. Fr James Martin SJ posted a a tweet with Floyd juxtaposed with the dying Christ - I cannot breathe.
Of concern to conservatives is the re-racialising of public discourse . Radical leftists are using this moment of chaos to push their demands in full confidence few will resist their non ceasing demands. A self absorbed narcissistic president has failed to rally middle America. Witch hunting of anyone deemed not to be sound on race or gender identity on social media is now common. Statue smashing is a sign of secular holiness.
Apart from ignoring facts like America is the most tolerant open racially diverse nation on earth racial discourse plays into the hands of real racial obsessives on the right. Calling all white people racists inflames tension and helps the very cause it claims to abhor. No doubt the KKK and race warriors are delighted at recent events.
Similarly demands to abolish the police which a few months ago would be seen as loony are now discussed as if they were reasonable demands. The state exists to protect us from agressors and criminals. The demand to abolish policing is a direct threat to the established order. Into the void will flow strong armed men. Heaven preserve you if you are a class enemy.
Much of this may pass by and life may return to normal. Or the chaos might become the new normal.
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Post by assisi on Jun 30, 2020 20:25:07 GMT
Out walking in town a few days ago I saw a poster that said 'You can't have Capitalism without Racism', attributed to the black nationalist Malcolm X, famous in the U.S. in the 1960s.
Now later that day as I was ordering a book online all the online booksellers had the 'BLM' logo on their homepage. They also had a list of special offers on black history and black writers, loads of books at £9.99 and so on. Books that I guess they could hardly sell at any other time, but the current violent situation in the U.S. allowed them a good opportunity to move on a good few books.
It would seem to me that Capitalism is probably colour blind and not inherently racist at all, and that Malcolm X probably got it wrong. It would be more accurate to say that Capitalism, in its most unprincipled manifestation, will strive to make profit and will simply attach itself to the most appropriate political or cultural vehicle that prevails at that time as long as it is able to exploit the situation to its favour or benefit.
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