[kj] Recent KJ trivia (and Raven)

[Mark Kolmar]

On 5/31/06, Alexander Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I believe even Geordie has made his fair share of cringe-worthy statements.
> I seem to remember him saying something about how Ethiopians are being
> irresponsible for breeding or something.

I used to have a photocopy of that article, from 1986.  The general
effect was to say the Ethiopians were bringing new people into a
condition of misery and starvation just for a fuck.

A few points here:

First, you must remember political correctness had not yet taken the
kind of solid hold it has on so many (especially) left-leaning people.
 Geordie's statement was shocking because it is an obvious truism,
stated indelicately.  These days it is always necessary to say that
all other cultures are not just equally valid in an objective way, but
also all equally well-adapted to present conditions.  Obviously
aborigines are well-adapted to modern, urban life because their 40,000
years of culture has prepared them equally well as European or
American urban culture.  And obviously aborigines are superior because
Europeans or Americans don't do as well in the Australian desert.
That's not to say anything against one culture or another.  That's to
say I would celebrate the unique qualities of Ethiopian culture, while
I appreciate the ironic inhumanity (the killing joke, if you will) of
bringing a newborn into the world who is likely to die of
malnutrition.

Second, against Geordie's statement, if Ethiopians stopped having
children, that would be a surrender against hope.  Not hope in the
sense of, "hope is for the loser".  Rather, hope in the sense that
conditions can improve, and life can continue despite serious
adversity.  Not a false, clingy hope, but a basic belief in the
capacity for self-improvement.

Third, for a bunch who like a band of wind-up artists as much as we
do, some are too sensitive.  Seems like it ought to take a lot more
than it does to wind up this bunch.

Fourth, that goes to Raven's comments about Iraq and terrorists.
Without wanting to defend some pretty lunk-headed statements, I took
it as general-purpose inclination to fight -- as in to fight a war, as
well as to cause an argument for the sake of entertainment.  At some
point in the meantime, the position seems to have gone back to
anti-authoritarianism, which is probably healthier and easier to
defend.  Subtlety and intellectual consistency is not a quality I look
for in punk/metal bass players.

Lastly, is it a British cultural thing that dirty words have to be
spelled sh*t, p*ss, f**k, c*nt, c*cksucker, m-----f---er, and t*ts in
this kind of forum?  And of course, "bl@@dy".  It's one thing to
respect the demands of, say, church or court.  But I half expect to
see words spelled like c**ntry music or sh**ake mushrooms out of
deference to younger or more sensitive readers.

--Mark