A Generation of Narcissists

I have just read a Tanith Carey article “Why do people become so vile online?” in the Daily Mail of Thursday 11th August 2011. Generally it is a very good article, that is to say I largely agree with her arguement, apart from one arrogant and contemptuous comment.

“The downside of the free speech offered by blogs, Twitter and social networking is that it has created a generation of narcissists obsessed with their own opinions.”

The fact is we have always had these “narcissists” ever since newspapers began to publish the letters of their readers. There are two sorts of journalists those who report the news and those who comment on events, those who comment on events are just as much “narcissists obsessed with their own opinions” as a blogger or Twitter user; that someone is paid to express an opinion does not make them any more qualified, or less self absorbed than the unpaid letter writer or blogger. Frequently the online specialist commentator is better qualified to write than the columnist who covers a range of subjects.  Who is to say that a member of the general public has an opinion that is of less value than that of one paid to express an opinion? The papers are full of people like Littlejohn expressing opinions on a thousand and one things of which they have no experience or knowledge. Parliament is full of members who appear to believe that a public school and university education is a substitute for experience, and that a law degree somehow qualifies them to have opinions on such diverse subjects as military expenditure and fish farming. The downside of the free speech offered by blogs, Twitter and social networking to the professional pontificator ,is not that it has created a generation of narcissists, but that it has allowed ordinary people to share their narcissism.

Topiary - A Cruel and Unnatural Punishment

I suppose one should be pleased that Jake Davis aka Topiary – the hacker alleged to be a spokesman for LulzSec – has been released on bail, but I have reservations. Davis has not as yet been found guilty of any crime, but his bail conditions are tantamount to “cruel and unusual punishment”. For many people being denied access to the Internet is not a punishment, but to deny them human interaction would be considered inhuman. Some people’s normal human interaction is over the Internet because face to face interaction is unpleasant and confusing, to condemn them to only interacting face to face is the equivalent of placing a normal person in solitary confinement. Without access to the Internet one is deprived of the means to express one’s feelings and opinions to others, a denial of the Internet is like expecting a normal person to converse while wearing a gag, blindfold and earplugs. The Internet is a realm in which many autistic people can move freely and to exclude them from it is as restrictive of their freedom as incarceration in a jail cell would be to a “normal” person. I find a day without going on line difficult, the Internet has given me a freedom I never had as a child, but at least I have in the past managed without it, I am in my fifties, to deny Davis – who is only eighteen and has not grown up without the Internet –  Internet access is cruel!

I think our reaction to LulzSec and Anonymous is totally disproportionate. A politician who fraudulently claims expenses may go to jail for a few months, most did not. Journalists and editors who hack into voice messages and bribe policemen may go to jail for a few months, most get away with it. Bankers and financiers can indulge in rampant brinkmanship with other people’s money, very few are punished and many are rewarded. The activities of Lulzsec and Anonymous have not been for material gain, but they cause such ire in the establishment because they embarrass those in power who do not accept that ordinary people have a right to question their behaviour. It might be argued that if government departments, institutions and large companies like Sony behaved responsibly there would be no LulzSec or Anonymous, if they were not so desperate to conceal the truth, there would be no Wikileaks. Rather than pursuing those who are revealing incompetence and abuse, we should be calling for those they have embarrassed to correct their errors, and allow the police to focus their efforts on real criminals who are abusing the internet for dishonest gain.

Ryan Cleary - Threat to World Peace

Once again the powers that be are overacting to the activities of a loner with a PC. I am not going to question whether Ryan Cleary has done all that the authorities say he has, but I am going to question whether their response to his actions is appropriate.

We live in the age of the Internet and of cybercrime. We have seen deliberate cyber-terrorism from China. Every day there are new phishing alerts. What I cannot understand is why when every schoolchild is aware of the threat posed by those who want to steal private information via the Internet, Governments don’t bother to try and protect themselves and us. The Gary McKinnon case revealed that those responsible for the security of the United States couldn’t be arsed to protect files with passwords. The problem is that rather than owning up to their own criminal incompetence government agencies prefer instead to dump on those who have exposed them.

It is the nature of geeks that they want to explore and test things whether hardware or software. As long as we have geeks with Internet access they will try to get into anything just out of curiosity and to test their own abilities. As long as we have organisations that offend the values of these folk they will attack them. What is worse is that there are others – criminals and governments – whose attacks are more malicious and aimed at undermining security, freedom or performing theft. Cybercrime is wrong, it is crime, but what is more reprehensible is the failure of those who should be protecting our freedoms to put in place the protection their systems and websites need. As well as a crime of unlawful access, failure to protect sensitive material should also be a crime.

Hosepipe Bans

I was very disappointed to read in certain Gardening News that English water companies have promised there will be no hosepipe bans this year. One of the few pleasures alleviating the almost daily rainfall of a Glasgow summer is the thought of English gardeners – particularly those who write into gardening magazines to complain about too much dry weather – struggling with their watering cans.

The gardening advice in magazines seems to ignore us too, I’m still waiting for a dry spell to apply moss-killer to my lawn and then to rake it. Apply weedkiller  on a dry day, which dry day would that be? I’m hoping covering my weeds with a layer of newspaper may convince them they are not welcome! I know some would tell me to hoe on a dry day and leave the weeds exposed to the sun, well you know what I think of that advice!

This year I’m trying to grow my tomatoes outside. I didn’t intend to, but because the wind blew my temporary greenhouse across my garden I weighted it down with slabs and the wind just tore it apart and dumped the debris on top of my toms! Apart from distance there is nothing between me and the North Atlantic and the winds are horrendous, in my garden temporary is measured in weeks.

While I’m grumbling about English gardeners I think Alan Titchmarsh deserves a dishonourable mention. When pushing his new – admittedly enjoyable show – he suggested there was only one gardening program on television and that there was room for a second. He completely ignored The Beechgrove Garden, where Jim McColl will talk about his greenhouse tomatoes with the rain pouring down the glass behind him and garden visits are frequently made wearing raincoats, that’s what I call a realistic gardening program!

Poisoning Pigeons in The Park - what a good idea!

I am a vegetarian, a pacifist, I have never approved of killing, but now I have become a gardener and things have changed. Whereas, I once would not have harmed an ant, I now appreciate why people turn to insecticide and slug pellets. There is something demoralizing in finding plants one has grown from seed eaten by pests. There was a time when I was annoyed when a squirrel stole the food I put out for the birds but now I am sorely tempted to put out poisoned bird-food.

I was looking forward to a good display from my summer bulbs, they had sent up healthy shoots and I was really looking forward to lots of flowers, but today I arrived home to find the shoots torn away and the bulbs dug up. Had the shoots or the bulbs been eaten, I could have forgiven it, but this was just vandalism. I replaced the bulbs and looking up I saw the culprit, sitting on my roof, looking down at me and laughing, a pigeon. A self satisfied, evil, pigeon and he was gloating.

Tom Lehrer sang of “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”, but if I get my hands on the pigeon who got my bulbs, so help me, I'll tear him limb from wing!

Silly Cu ts

It is all a little bit silly, Sandi Toksvig makes a joke, 'The Tories put the "n" in cuts' and people behave as though British Society as we know it is on the verge of collapse. Our society may be on the brink of collapse, but I don’t think Sandi Toksvig is to blame. The most laughable idea is that she might corrupt children, children do not listen to the News Quiz on Radio 4, they’re far to busy killing people with extreme prejudice on their X boxes!

It is a little sad that we let Chaucer use the dreaded “C” word – although spelt queynt – and not Sandi Toksvig, of course Chaucer is “literature” and old so that’s ok! Cunt is a perfectly good Old English word and were it not for the Reformation and the puritans to whom it gave rise we might still be using it without batting an eyelid. The demonisation of the sexual organs and most of the basic bodily functions made the common words used to describe them unacceptable, but also allowed them to be used as insults. Were we a little less precious about our bodies and were we to use words in their proper context, there would have been no joke for Sandi Toksvig to make. As it is because she used, “cunt” in an inappropriate context she is perpetuating the centuries of abuse to which this poor misunderstood word has been subjected. A final thought, perhaps we should ban Chaucer, that might get kids to put down their consoles and pick up a book.

Respect for heroes

I think for many people little wars like those happening Iraq and Afghanistan don’t really occur as wars, they think of major conflicts like the two World Wars and discount the little wars. The fact is no matter how big or small a war may be it requires of the participating soldier the same qualities.

To be quite frank I am a pacifist, I don’t approve of war, I don’t approve of violence. However there are many young men and women who don’t share my opinion, and who are putting their lives on the line in what they believe is the service of their country, these people are heroes. I think it is appalling when people who are prepared to, or have made the supreme sacrifice for their country are treated with abuse as we have seen in some demonstrations against the war. Even though we may disagree with them, even though we may oppose the war, the soldiers who go to fight are worthy of respect for their courage and their willingness to serve.

Amongst the heroes we must include the partners, children and families of those who serve. Those who bear tragic loss with dignity and those who turn their loss to righteous anger.

I believe that those who set booby trap bombs, IEDs and operate them by remote control are cowards and worthy of contempt, even more so those who use the mentally impaired as walking bombs. On the other hand there are those we would call “terrorists” who are also worthy of respect for their courage, those prepared to engage in fire-fights and those willing to blow themselves up for a cause, although such action when civilians are the target is utterly reprehensible.

Men of courage deserve to be respected for their courage, however much we may oppose what they stand for. The politicians who choose war as an instrument of politics, on the other hand are utterly worthy of contempt and the sooner we rid ourselves of them the sooner the heroes can enjoy a long and happy life with their families.