OK, the last two post have been a bit of fun. Time for another serious one.
I'm a fan of Mr John Birmingham's stuff. In his most recent book "Without Warning" a particular paragraph has stuck in my head like a piece of beef gristle between the teeth.
I hope he'll forgive my gross impertinence.
Caitlin:
'Think about what happens when you take the lid off Pandora's box and everything we forgot about in history comes spilling out to bite you on the ass. Do you know how unusual it is in human history, for children to be able to grow up in a place like this?' she waved her hands around to take in the city. 'Never knowing the fear of someone riding over the horizon to steal their family's crops and burn their hut to the ground, and all as a prelude to being snatched up as slaves for the rest of their miserable fucking lives - That's normality, baby. That's life as it has been lived by most human beings through most of our history.
Grim eh?
Can't fault his logic though.
So to today's ponderous ponderings.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.Wikipedia describes them as
"The "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" is a term used to describe four horsemen that appear in the Christian Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. The verses traditionally describe the four horsemen as Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death."
I'm not a big one for biblical references, but lets use them as a metaphor. Who is going to bring us to the end of days?
I was idly leafing through a Harvey Norman junk mail catalogue on the back deck this afternoon. Now I'm sure Gerry Harvey is a very nice man who is kind to his mother and gives regularly to charities, but this catalogue was whispering "what you need is a new television / dryer / coffee machine." No Siren ever sung to a sailor so sweetly. I strongly believe that this kind of rabid consumerism is going to send us to hell in a shiatsu massaging all leather fully imported hand basket. So I vote Gerry on the consumerism horse.
Mr Robert Oppenheimer - inventor of the A bomb, or some unknown in a lab currently refining a new & improved airborne pathogen? How about we just use old Mr "I have become the destroyer of worlds" as a symbol on the gathering knowledge faster than wisdom horse.
The Pope with his " breed for Jesus" & "condoms are bad mmkay." One of the American Televangelists gagging for war in the holy lands, or perhaps, A Beardy Wahhabi Nutbar who put the Fun back into Fundamentalism?* on a blinkered dogma horse.
That's three - I'm scratching for a fourth. So many candidates so few horses. Kim Jong Il and Robert Mugabe would have to be in with a shot on a horse called The dear leader is always right.
What I want from you are the 21century horsemen. Four would be good, but what ever you've got for me I'd be pleased to hear.
* I know I stole it, but I cant remember from whom. Birmo?
& Props to Albrecht Durer for the Art. Nice one al!
