“i fear we are not getting rid of god because we still have faith in grammar”
that’s fantastic. strikes a blow against self-congratulation of many an ideology. the revolution isn’t won because you kill the opposition figurehead, especially not if you erect the same structures in their absence. anyway i hope this makes you think as much as it has me.
coming next: my review of atomised by houellebecq.
this has been brilliant. i’m going to call it the best tournament in living memory. very few poor matches – even the less spectacular games seem to have been punctuated or at least finished with hugely dramatic moments. last nights germany v turkey game encapsulated everything good about the tournament to date. everyone was expecting turkey – who had, i think, 4 players – to be ultra-negative and germany to stroll into yet another final. but instead, turkey took it to germany from the first whistle. god bless the germans, they don’t know how to lose, but if they stand off and defend like that on sunday, surely either russia or spain would take them down to chinatown?
i love football and this tournament has proved that sometimes football can love you back. with euro 2008 it has taken us for a stroll in the country, surprised us with a picnic and read french poems we don’t understand that played giddily in our minds amongst the champagne bubbles. football has been a perfect date and all we need now is a brain shattering climax. come on football and score a goal!
you’ll like what i did there. george monbiot has attempted to perform (perform?) a citizen’s arrest on john bolton, citing the Nuremberg principles. although monbiot accepts himself that this was always going to be problematic given the fact that the crime of aggression, as defined by those principles, has not actually been assimilated into English and Welsh law, he apparently felt unable to allow one of the individuals who participated in the common plan that facilitated ‘the greatest crime of the 21st century’ (the war in Iraq, if you’re in doubt) to walk free amongst us innocents any longer. dizzying stuff.
a few points:
1. even definitions with good intentions come with complexities. e.g. the fbi’s definition of terrorism: “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a Government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” reasonable stuff, but by this definition countless heads of states are terrorists - that’s the real world i guess. but start chucking these words around and it gets a bit like rick from the young one’s calling everyone a fascist. sixth form stuff. how many fascists? how many war criminals? it’s degrading and if the most you’re going to do about these weighty accusations is attempt a ridiculous citizen’s arrest, well…
2. the greatest crime of the 21st century? a meaningless collection of words. what’s the point in quantifying these things? are we incapable of discussing these issues unless we think we’re dealing with the greatest hits? come on now people, this isn’t channel four and we’re not watching the 50 greatest crimes of the 21st century.
3. oh children, how did we get here? where have all the nuances gone? unthinking reactionary politics are supposed to be the right’s bag, aren’t they? can i make this point all questions? has the independent always been a bizarro daily mail? if politics is just an expression of ego, our affiliations just another consumer choice, then perhaps it’s no surprise we are where we are. so much else has become instant, superficial and degraded, why should politics be any different.
4. oh the hypocrisy: criticise 0 praise 1, analyse 0 ignore 1 (binaries not football scores). i can’t understand the refusal of some people to criticise the social and religious faults of radical Islamists or to acknowledge that the deposition of Saddam Hussein is – in spite of all the other horrendous issues arising from the war in Iraq – one thing we can all be happy with. moral consistency is more important than partisanship.
no more for now. i just wanted to say.
so here it is: my losing war against cliche, my attempt to find a voice, a platform for me to speak my brains. until i feel ready to let strangers skip amongst my words, it’s just me and me.
to me: be gentle with yourself, i love you viciously.
