5jt.com: No Fear

27 October 2004

No Fear

No Fear BBC2 is currently airing Adam Curtis’ documentary series The Power of Nightmares challenging the seriousness of the threat of ‘international terrorism’. (Without a television, I’m surely the last person to notice this.) The series suggests that without big political causes to rally us, the US and UK governments are frightening us into supporting them. (Just one of the excellent reasons for not watching television.) David Goodhart has written in Prospect about the lamented ‘end of politics’, suggesting it is no bad thing if political issues have been reduced to questions about how to manage public services. Oooh, nooo — perhaps we should manufacture some political cause to occupy our masters lest they invent mischief like invading, say, Iraq. Yes, Minister?
» Guardian article
» BBC2 home page

In The Blank Slate, Stephen Pinker reports studies showing that constant across human cultures is a liking for a savannah-like landscape combined with the figure of a warrior king. A statue of Tony Blair on Hampstead Heath? Fear and laziness are human constants too (I say) and we have to watch how far they incline us to fall in behind leaders.

Did you hear about Magda Lupescu
Who came to Romania’s rescue?
It’s a wonderful thing
To be under a king:
Is democracy better, I esk you?

Thanks to Bruce Schultz who included this in a letter to me in the Cyclades in 1973. Where are you now, Bruce — still a Dominican priest? My memory gave me “Lepescu” instead of “Lupescu”, “rode to” instead of “came to”, and “ruled by” instead of “under”. I’d always supposed Lepescu was a mediæval Romanian king. Having reviewed a Free Encyclopædia article, I’ve made the corrections above. Interestingly, a collection of limerics [sic] has the name misspelt the same way.

Posted by SJT at October 27, 2004 10:18 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.5jt.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/46

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference No Fear:

» poker casino822 from poker casino822
poker casino poker 463 [Read More]

Tracked on February 11, 2006 12:37 AM

» poker casino822 from poker casino822
poker casino poker 463 [Read More]

Tracked on February 11, 2006 12:39 AM

» personal loans from personal loans
Course, are part made. personal loans [Read More]

Tracked on February 17, 2006 09:56 PM

» cash advance from cash advance
[markov]great loans[markov] [Read More]

Tracked on February 21, 2006 12:25 AM

» no fax payday loans from no fax payday loans
Admit grudgingly in thereby faxless payday loans is a goodsite the. [Read More]

Tracked on February 26, 2006 08:30 PM

» online poker from online poker
online poker - online casino [Read More]

Tracked on March 2, 2006 05:33 AM

» online poker from online poker
Subscriptions of it therefore leave. online roulette is an excellentinfo. [Read More]

Tracked on March 6, 2006 01:43 AM

» phentermine from phentermine
[Read More]

Tracked on March 6, 2006 05:31 AM

» video strip poker from video strip poker
Wine and capital disposal eminent. black jack is an excellentinfo. [Read More]

Tracked on March 6, 2006 07:07 AM

» online casino roulette from online casino roulette
online poker game[markov]video poker is an excellentinfo.[markov] [Read More]

Tracked on March 6, 2006 09:54 PM

» online roulette from online roulette
online video poker is an excellentinfo. [Read More]

Tracked on March 6, 2006 10:43 PM

» Ringtone from Ringtone
Ringtone [Read More]

Tracked on June 26, 2006 05:49 AM

» No fax Payday Loans from No fax Payday Loans
No fax Payday Loans [Read More]

Tracked on June 27, 2006 11:43 PM

» personal loan from personal loan
bad credit personal loans [currkey] [Read More]

Tracked on June 28, 2006 01:01 AM

» online casino from online casino
Free Casino Gamesonline casinos , Free Ringtones, polyphonic ringtones [Read More]

27 October 2004

No Fear

Trackback Pings

Comments

Post a comment