Today's Little List

Today's little list comprises what I've noticed these past few days.  First cab off the rank is:

1.  Today is the 35th anniversary of the senseless and ugly death of John Lennon.  I might be a little bit out in my calculations because his death is the 8th, but in Australia we probably heard it on what was our 9th December.  I'm a bit of a pedant that way, but it does not change the way I felt when I received the news.  It was after school, and instead of catching the school bus home I was doing what was commonly referred to as 'walking down the street'.  My mother worked casually in a dress boutique, and on the days she worked I would go to the shop instead of catching the bus home.  The shop was located a few doors along from the fish-and-chip shop, and the daughter of that shop's proprietor, who was in the same class as me, stopped me on my way past.  'They've assassinated John Lennon,' she told me, her already expressive dark eyes even more expressive.  'They've'.  It's always 'they' or 'they've'.  Who is this 'they', I wondered.  I'm not sure whether Lennon's murder would necessarily be an 'assassination', but it was a vicious and foul theft from the world.  Mark Chapman, I don't know if you have Internet access but you are seriously one sick fuck, and I hope you rot where you are.  (On an unrelated note, I saw Jared Leto give a great performance as Chapman in a movie, the name of which escapes me).  When I got home, I sat down in front of the television, and there was the image on the screen - an aquiline face framed with lank brown hair, and plain round spectacles over the bridge of the nose, and the words: John Lennon 1940 - 1980 as 'Imagine' played in the background.  It made me cry then, and it would make me cry today.

2. An unpopular decision by the judiciary brings out the armchair lawyers.  Oh, it's not like I haven't noticed this before, but it's happening again today.  Everyone starts up how the judges have to grow a pair, or the courts are letting us down, or it's a slap in the face for the victim's family, or how the courts and laws favour the criminals, or how the lawyers and judges are going to turn into giant venom-spitting pterodactyls. Okay, I might have embellished on that last one - just a little.  In case you're unaware, Gerald Baden-Clay had his murder conviction overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal today.  Whether all the armchair lawyers like it or not, he had a legal avenue of appeal, and the appeal worked for him.  The appeal judges interpreted the material before them and applied the law accordingly.  It's what they do.  The judges know the law; all you armchair lawyers don't.  And you know something else?  Our legal system and courts are not designed to protect to criminals, they are designed to protect the innocent.  I will shout it from the rooftops that I will see ten guilty men walk free before I see one innocent man go to gaol.  The judges have a law degree, and most of your moaners and groaners don't.  Don't like our legal system, which is a damn good and fair one?  Fine, fuck off and live in North Korea.   Something that is really grinding my gears about this is that I cannot comment on one of the most offensive sites for perpetuating this rubbish because I got banned.  Yes, harmless, innocuous, and inoffensive little me got banned from a feminist site where I would often point out the machinations of our legal system which crap all over pig-ignorant populist drivel spouted by no-nothing lynch mobs.  My husband has told me it is more likely because I called the writers on the site 'nasty slags'.  Perhaps he's right.

3.  People like to shout over others in discussions.  Last night I watched something about the use of pornography by Australians, which was hosted by someone from Triple J (who was something of a hottie).  It was an interesting show.  A broad spectrum of people were discussing - from the young woman who campaigned for the banning of Zoo Weekly from supermarket shelves, to an adult movie actress, to a couple who watch movies for fun, to a couple who have banned them in their house, to a gay man who found watching gay porn as a teenager made him accept himself for who he was, to a relationships counsellor, to a Lifeline counsellor, to Melinda Tankard-Reist from the organisation Collective Shout.  It occurred to me during the show this organisation might have earned its name because Ms Tankard-Reist kept shouting over everyone who was giving their opinion.  Now, I have spoken on the banning of Zoo Weekly previously, but my view in a nutshell is yes, the magazine in infantile which leads to my CHOICE to not read it, but what about other stupid magazines on view that promise women they can return to their pre-pregnancy bodies in two weeks, or that a friend of a friend of the gardener to the celebrity couple can vouch for the couple separating, or whatever the fucking Kardashians are up to? They are truly obnoxious magazines, too.  Hey, I still remember one headline from years ago promising to give advice on how we too could achieve Elle McPherson's perfect body.  I did not read the article but given Ms McPherson is much taller than your average woman and top heavy, I'm guessing the author suggested time on a stretching rack and silicon breast implants.  Other things I observed from the show were this: some people have issues.  The couple who separated because the wife likened her husband's occasional porn watching to another woman?  The woman needs help and the bloke was soooo pussy-whipped.   Ms Tankard-Reist?  Stop yelling over other people.  I still have the your clarion cry of 'gaping arseholes' ringing in my ears, like a bout of tinnitus inflicted by Satan.

Look, here's what I think if you care, and if you've read this far, it would tell me you do: I will spell it out: E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N.  Tell the young folk about whom we are worried that what they see in an adult film is being performed by actors and not everyone with whom they establish a sexual relationship will want to emulate what is depicted on the screen.  Teach people to respect other peoples' wishes and boundaries.

If adults in their right minds enjoy watching adult actors having a root in a movie?  Let them watch.  If others have a problem with a 'porn-addiction'?  Let them get help.  Let people use their common sense. 

A bad diet can cause diabetes and other health issues, but I don't see anyone campaigning for the banning of KFC.  It's all about education.