Chances are, if you are of irish extraction in the UK or the States (47 million in the states are of irish extraction), a big part of your gene pool will have emigrated due to An Gorta Mór euphamistically known as the (potatoe famine)in the 1840s. You don’t know what the gaelic means do you? Neither do I, thats because our language was near destroyed too, but thats another subject we’ll be dealing with on this blog at some point….
This song Skibbereen captures this period well and we should pay heed to its message which has contemporary relevance to the famines we periodically witness in places such as Africa. All of which are social!!! The last verse demonstrates that it does not take Amartya Sen to suss this out and that the victims know fine well who the perpetrators of such holochausts are and that there shall be payback for these injustices.
Below are the lyrics and a version of the song that i found on youtube.
Oh father dear, I often hear you speak of Erin’s isle
Her lofty hills, her valleys green, her mountains rude and wild
You say she is a lovely land wherein a saint might dwell
So why did you abandon her, the reason to me tell.
Oh son, I loved my native land with energy and pride
Until a blight came on the land, my sheep, my cattle died
My rent and taxes went unpaid, I could not them redeem
And that’s the cruel reason why I left old Skibbereen.
Oh well do I remember that bleak December day
The landlord and the sheriff came to take us all away
They set my roof on fire with their cursed foreign spleen
I heaved a sigh and bade goodbye to dear old Skibbereen.
Your mother too, God rest her soul, fell on the stony ground
She fainted in her anguish seeing desolation ’round
She never rose but passed away from life to immortal dream
She found a quiet grave, me boy, in dear old Skibbereen.
It’s well I do remember the year of forty-eight,
When we arose with Erin’s boys to fight against our fate;
I was hunted through the mountains as a traitor to the Queen,
And that’s another reason why I left Old Skibbereen
And you were only two years old and feeble was your frame
I could not leave you with my friends for you bore your father’s name
I wrapped you in my cota mor in the dead of night unseen
I heaved a sigh and bade goodbye to dear old Skibbereen.
Oh father dear, the day will come when in answer to the call
All Irish men of freedom stern will rally one and all
I’ll be the man to lead the band beneath the flag of green
And loud and clear we’ll raise the cheer, Revenge for Skibbereen
I heard the Christy Moore version of this old scottish song about the Blantyre Mining Disaster which took place on October 22, 1877 where 207 miners died and 92 widows made, and 250 fatherless children. I had never heard of this explosion yet, this town is just next to my home city Glasgow till i heard this song. Tears came down my face first time i heard this..
Dunno there is something about this song that really touches me, makes me think of all us ordinary people that get fucked over by a system that reduces us to a means of production or reproduction, or a wastage underclass and how precarious our existances are within that set up…
It is songs like this that gives us an insight into the real lifes and emotions of such events that can alas only be generally put into statistics for us to recount such is the magnitude of the problems of this world….
I came across the chords for it and have been practicing it, i like to sing real songs about real people, and the real struggles that we all have to endure that rarely get noticed.
Anyway heres a great version by Luke Kelly and below are the lyrics..
By Clyde’s bonnie banks
as I sadly did wander
among the pit heaps
as evening grew high.
I spied a young maiden
all dressed in deep mourning
a weeping and wailing
with many a sigh.
I stepped up beside her
and this I adressed her
“Pray, tell me fair maid
of your trouble and pain.”
Sobbing and sighing
at last she did answer
“Johnny Murphy, kind sir,
was my true lover’s name
twenty-one years of age
full of youth and good looking
to work down the mine
of high Blantyre he came.
The wedding was fixed
all guests were invited
that calm summer’s evening
my Johnny was slain.
The explosion was heard
all the women and children
with pale anxious faces
made haste to the mine.
When the truth was made known
the hills rang with their mourning.
Three hundred and ten
young miners were slain.
Now husbands and wives
and sweethearts and brothers
that Blantyre explosion
they’ll never forget.
And all you young miners
who hear my sad story
shed a tear for the victims
who were laid to their rest.”
Right this series is going to be posts or parts of posts from various PU forums that i think challenges the prevailing paradigmns in the PU scene which has a strange form of idolitary for the alpha male image. Also, i shall bring forth posts challenging dishonesty and manipulartion. I believe that there is a shift in some sectors of the PU scene towards ‘being oneself’, ‘(genuine)respect for women’ and a distaste for manipulation and dishonesty emerging in the PU scene. There seems to be a lot of momentum gathering in this sector, and its a process that is by no means nearly finished and it appears to me that this process is going through a lot of refinement discarding the old mold, but at times is still present. Its an exciting development and i think it may go much further in the future putting to death many of the old idols in the PU scene…. What i post in this series is what i think challanges these notions although i may not agree with everything i post here…
This has been partly inspired by the thinkinggirl thread on PU with regards to alphaness, manipulation et al that i thought i should post here rather than clutter up further the thread…..
with that said onto post#1: exerpts from the thread titled ‘Fuck Value’ by Comecuca on the badboycafe forum (direct seduction forum).
First off I am absolutely fed up with the obsession with value that most guys in the community have. What the fuck is going on? This obsession is leading to a lot of unnecessary trouble with guys not understanding what to do to the point where they can’t figure things out and just drop off back to their old habits and give up on the community.
……….Most guys who are reading stuff about seduction have this imaginary 200 pound uber macho guy as an example of a guy that gets laid. So what happens? The community has you compare yourself to this guy not even knowing that this is not the only thing that women find attractive. Sure these guys get laid but at the same time the women who are going out with them would go out with a regular guy just as fast if he learned how to get out of his own way and show something which these guys may or may not have. So in this post I’d like to open up your eyes to how you can get over your obsession with value once and for all and start learning how to open up to women………
Most of the guys that PM me have the same small problem. They have finally decided to go out and approach women but they’re so scared that instead of being AFC now they become ass holes or worse unfriendly/creepy. This dawned on me because it was the same shit that I was doing until recently. Sure I was getting laid but I was putting in too much work. So what was it? I created the perfect masculine image for myself to hide what was truly underneath. Sound familiar? Well it sure as fuck should if I’m getting 10 to 15 of you guys writing me a month and it is the same fucking problem over and over again.
What this does is that it takes you from one extreme to another but it doesn’t find the sweet spot where you need to be. This sweet spot is made up of what a woman finds attractive in a man (masculinity) and what she finds even more attractive a guy who can open up to her and listen to her as well. This my friends is the ideal that women long for. See you can be the best looking, machoest man in the world but a lot of women will not go for you if you don’t show your natural side because you come off as a fake. You’ll get chicks but you’ll get the ones that go for fakeness. On the other hand if you’re super friendly and give out a good vibe they’re willing to overlook a lot of things because they want to feel good around you. This phenomenon is real because women, as much as some may not want to reveal, are just as scared of you as you are of them. So in these instances the ability to make friends is a very valuable one. You ever hear an expert telling guys how they should talk to women as if they were talking to their guy friends? This is why. So you have all of your body language and leading down pat for attraction but don’t let that be the only side of you.
See opening up and revealing yourself is what value truly is. It’s not just posturing and sprawling yourself all over a couch and it most definitely isn’t a well placed DHV or anything like that either. We here talk a lot about leading and one of the most important characteristics of a leader is being proud of who he is. If you were to allow yourself to open up and share your own embarrasing stories or your deepest secrets then guess what? Women will too. You’ll create a bond so strong that you’ll have her. If you go back to my sweet spot commentary above there’s no reason why a woman would LJBF you. LJBF is a big reason why guys have sworn off opening themselves up. By showing your natural side to a woman you allow her to open up to you and women really, really like this.
There is the attempt to construct what is happening in palestine that Hamas seized power. They never siezed power. They were democratically elected, but all the powers that be such as the US and the EU (which withdrew its funding for the emerging palestinian state), and including the old palestinian adminstration rearguard combined together and did thier damned hardest to countervaile the democratic wishes of the palestinian people.
Secondly, PLO, Fatah etc are hardly famed for thier democratic credentials, i mean lets face it arafat was a gangster that was towards the end of his reign was getting loathed by the palestinian people which was also the time of the rise of Hamas.
Thirdly, there isnt any historical precendent to justify the notion that if islamist type administration get into power through democratic or the very least quasi-democratic means that they will impose antidemocracy. Becuase, the contingent facts regarding islamis regimes is that whenever they nearly come to fruition through the popular will of the people they have always been undermined by forces within the nation states (military juntas) and forces without these nations states such as US support. Algeria is a classic example of this.
And i believe to an extent that in a sence its by the fact that whenever there is a move to islamism by the popular will of the people that is repressed that actually shapes the anti democratic islamist responce. Since thier aspirations no longer can be achieved through democracy of course its going to channel it in another direction. Thats exactly what happened in Algeria.
IMHO if islamic aspirations had been allowed to manifest themselves through the will of the people and then for them to Feck up just like any other grand social experiment it wouldve probably meant that radical islam woudlve died off a long time ago, but now its a hornets nest.
The lessons never get learned, i mean look at how in turkey where they are making small cautious islamist steps have the military waiting in the wings to defend the ‘free’ secular state…
One last point. Its only when you get the people at the extremes of poltical viewpoints to come to a resolution that progress can get made. People in the middle of two opposing viewpoints always have common ground its the people at the fringes that really call the shots. I mean look at the sucess of the power sharing they’ve got going in stormont with Ian Paisley the leader of the DUP as the first minister and Martin McGuinness the deputy leader of Sinn Fein as the deputy first minister.
The sad thing is, whilst hamas where still going for thier death to isreal rhetoric *which they had to do so as not to alienate aspects of thier support* they were moving pragmatically towards a tacit acceptance of a two state solution. This was a great opertunity that was missed there, and it will be a long time till it comes back again. IF ever.
In my hour of need
Ha [no] youre not there
And though I reached out for you
Wouldnt lend a hand.
Through the darkest hour
Grace did not shine on me
It feels so cold, very cold
No one cares for me.
Did you ever think I get lonely
Did you ever think that I needed love
Did you ever think to stop thinking
Youre the only one that Im thinking of.
Youll never know how hard I tried
To find my space and satisfy you too.
Things will be better when Im dead and gone
Dont try to understand, knowing you Im probably wrong.
But oh how I lived my life for you
Still youd turn away
Now as I die for you
My flesh still crawls as I breathe your name
All these years I thought I was wrong
Now I know it was you
Raise you head, raise your face your eyes
Tell me who you think you are, who?
I walk, I walk alone
Into the promised land.
Theres a better place for me
But its far, far away
Everlasting life for me
In a perfect world
But I gotta die first,
Please God send me on my way.
Time has a way of taking time
Loneliness is not only felt be fools
Alone I call to ease the pain
Yearning to be held by you, alone so alone, Im lost
Consumed by the pain
The pain, the pain, the pain.
Wont you hold me again
You just laughed, ha ha, bitch
My whole life is work built on the past
But the time has come when all things shall pass
This good thing passed away.
So…. how did i get into social and political issues. Well i guess having a socialist for a father was one thing. Secondly my own thought processes. Thirdly Heavy Metal…..
Metal was not just a scene of spotty teenager males that couldn’t get girlfriends.. Indeed it was the vanguard of critique of all that is existing. This shall be my first post proving this case, about how radicalism and heavy metal are entwined.
Nuclear Assault in this song ‘Brainwashed’ tackle thought control of the mass media. Apt for these fox news times. I like how they link media to perpetuating our consumer capitalist society..
Brainwashed by Nuclear Assault
Radio, an insidious form, helps shape your thoughts making you conform
Programming music easy listening, help you achieve that moronic grip
Playing you regurgitated pap, selling products that are mostly crap
Rarely hearing music you want to hear, it bas an effect over all these years
Why don’t you think for yourself
Live in this self made Hell
Television, the idiot tube, helps to raise our children as fools
Watch the news see what they want you to see, our awareness is limited by network
Moronic sit-coms and one-sided news alter your feeling give you conformist views
Why can’t you get that garbage out of your Head, you’d better off to read a good book instead
Newspapers, what do they say, Not much I think when they want school kids to pray
Getting the facts from some daily news, you hate the system but adhere to it’s view
Blaming the dead because they can’t complain, shielding officials holding them above
You’d better wake up and see what’s plain to see, or end up a willing part of the machine
I have been at a serious impasse regarding life direction since the loss of my religion, breakdown of my marraige, homelessness, at all those wonderful things. All the motivating factors for my studies were no longer there, all that defined me ceased to be.
I am now finding my way as a single dad who sees his kids less than hed like to. Its a tough adjustment going from stay at home dad to weekend dad. However, i know what i want, i want to be as involved with my kids upbringing as much as possible. Ideally, i would like to have them 3 days a week overnight – that is the goal im kinda working towards although im realistic enough to know that i will have to approach this in an ad-hoc manner.
What this requires though is for me to have a liveable income, and at the moment my studies which are going nowhere is hampering my efforts. Univerisity at the moment means that i am sleepwalking towards being a teacher something which is cool and all that but considering that my studies was with the aims of being educated where i could be a progressive muslim academic its quite different to being a teacher. I lost my ideology anyway so i can no longer engage with it or try to be a polemicist for it. For the sake of income to be the family man i so desire to be again i need to work full time, that is not possible to do with full time studies at university. So what do i do? It came to me this week and it feels fucking awesome to find direction again.
I withdraw from university, and do a credit transfer to the ‘open university’. I can study at the open university part time which means i can work full time and get my finances sorted. It will take me 3 years to do the degree that i want to do at the open university which means it would only take me a year longer than to complete the degree im currently doing at Glasgow. But heres the really cool thing. The degree that i’m changing to doing instead is a LAW DEGREE!
I can’t wait, now i need to get these wheels moving…..
About the Site:
Procrastinating through the means of pontificating.
