Jim Stewart's Blog

Sorry, no, I can’t say that. We can only say Black Lives Matter, and Palestinians are just people of colour, so we can’t include them.

Okay, that is a bit tongue in cheek. I am getting a bit annoyed at people that make the Salem witch trial look tame with their attacks on “them” that say “All lives matter”.

There are two different things racism and racists. We need to understand the difference. The term “All lives matter” is true. It is accurate. There are a lot of people that are not racists that want to use the phrase.

I find it difficult to generalise on a people group simply because of the colour of their skin – it really feels bad. And that is every use of a generic term whether for negative or positive reasons.

I really dislike the MOBO awards, because I do not believe music has a colour. It may have a regional origin, it may have a people group origin, but I cannot accept it has a skin colour origin. Willie Ruff came up with a theory (based on a talk with Dizzie Gillespie) of links between some southern call and response in african american churches and in scottish highland churches. You can listen to the isea here:

If you want to do a test then try listening to the video below while picturing slaves in plantations. What colour is this music?

So I understand why some people will innocently want to use the term “All lives Matter”. But there is another side to the phrase. There are racists that use the phrase. The phrase can have either a racist or an innocent meaning based on the intention of the person saying it.

To my mind we need to be aware of the company we keep. By using the phrase “All lives matter” we put ourselves in a group that racists feel happy in, where they can take comfort in walking beside us. I don’t want to be in the same group as racists, so I will avoid using the phrase “All lives Matter”. But I also choose to believe that the majority of people using the phrase are not racists (in fact like me they may have strong anti-racist views that leads them to say it) and I will not attack them. I would ask them to think twice about the company they keep.

Somebody recently wrote about their dislike for the actions of the Israeli government related to the treatment of Palestinians. They were not anti-semitic. They held genuine concerns about some of the events of the day. But the language was language that an anti-semite would happily use. Changing from “Israeli government” to “Netanyahu government” is a simple example of choosing language that makes the point but makes the language less attractive to racists. This comes back to the idea of commenting based on a broad characteristic of people.

We need to try to keep pushing for change, but at the same time we need to watch the company we are keeping.

At least that is what I sometimes feel like when I see the name sticking to some others. This was a video a friend shared recently (not because he supported it). Okay, a little bit of artistic interpretation is good in life, but this is just odd.

This follows on from other interesting performances like this one (of several) from Kenneth Copeland.

So the USA was healed and well on the 30th of March. Did that happen? As you watch stuff like this you start to see why the old rule was that false prophets should be killed. I suppose the closest to killing them today is the daily show.

That’s all America isn’t it. Well, actually no. It is surprising how many magic spells are used in UK churches, including the traditional churches.

I always say that denominations are groups of people that share the same heresy. What I mean is that when like minded people group up they don’t often challenge the areas they agree on.

But it isn’t just religion, it happens in other areas like politics, maybe even golf clubs. Next time somebody tells you their political candidate is best try asking them to name one thing they are worse at than the opposition. So what is your heresy?

Great sing along song. Everybody knows the words. He originally said the song was about his wife. Then a few years ago he told people that Caroline was the daughter of JFK, who was 11 when he wrote it. I’ve always felt uneasy about the lyrics after that.

The one line I decided to write about tonight is “Hands, touchin. hands”

I watched Boris with his elbow bumps at London Ambulance today. On Saturday and Sunday I watch the F1 teams find alternative ways of reacting with each other. I see the same when somebody scores a goal at football.

Today was an odd day. I went to a funeral of a really nice guy, but I didn’t leave my house – I watched a live stream. As the people stood up to follow the coffin I watched as they reached out to each other – it was so natural.

In churches people shake hands to share “the peace”. In some European countries they kiss you twice on the cheek to say hello, in others it is three times – gets confusing – but certainly closer than a handshake.

Watching Celebrity Gogglebox you see the dogs and cats that like to be touched. You see chimps on film grooming each other.

Physical contact comes natural to us in many aspects of life, for example shaking hands to signify a deal. It is so much a part of our lives. Go to a meeting in France and everybody shakes everybody’s hands before starting the meeting.

Several people have suggested we stop shaking hands. Forever! I watched a doctor on TV the other day suggesting it would be good for us to never shake hands again (apparently Fauci suggested it to the Wall Street Journal as well).

So do we adopt the Japanese bow (which brings your faces closer together – so is probably a worse option) or do we adopt the Mr Spock greeting?

I think a world with physical contact is probably worth the risk. I’ve been in places where there has been a lot of disease and I simply kept a small bottle of hand sanitiser in my pocket for use after shaking hands.

Anyway – would love to hear from anybody that has a wild touch free greeting alternative – especially if they provide a video of themselves using it.

I saw a few programmes on TV today and I was left with an odd impression of a departure from reality. Okay, so TV dramas are about a departure from reality.

I think one of the best ways of explaining it is that one small square in East London has, over the last 20 years, averaged 2 murders and 1 manslaughter each year.

There were several progammes that stood out. But perhaps the one issue that stood out most was the american cop show. Every time they go through a door it seems they have guns pointing.

I started to wonder if the drip drip of violence was affecting out society in a negative way.

When I moved back to the UK I noticed that almost every day there was a film about the second world war. I had not been aware of it before I left the country. And the negative image of the “enemy” came over. Maybe that is one of the reasons I like the memorial to the Christmas truce – because it shows that the guys killing each other were not that different to each other.

There is a level of aggression associated with the “old normal” TV that we could probably do without.

Today was hot – lots of time in the garden has left me a bit warn. But a lot more work done. I finally planted out the leftover chili plants. I doubt they will produce in time, but there was no point keeping them if I didn’t give them a chance. Managed to get the supports for my passion fruit plant in place.

I spent an hour sitting deciding the final layout of the garden. It will be next year before it is finished (I need to let some plants get to the end of this season before moving things). I’ll get there.

Watching a drama about art forgery. The art forgery could only be detected by x-ray in the drama. Got me to thinking – if you had both of them hanging on the wall in front of you you would be unable to see the difference. Actually, I imagine a poor forgery might be hard to see if you didn’t know what the original looked like.

So what is it that we value so much about the original artwork?

Don’t get me wrong – I like original art. But I like to buy it from the artist – after all it is the artist that has done all the work. With antique art the cost has nothing to do with rewarding the artist. What are people paying for?

This is a photo I took of a painting I like. I could never afford that painting, nor could I really afford a good copy (over £100). But I can look at the photo – a poor copy – and it is better than nothing. So what would a real painting give me that a photo would not. I can see a difference there – but is it really £100 different?

So why is that painting worth 10s of millions of pounds? What is it we value? What do I value elsewhere – do I like a nice shiny car or do I like a car that works really well?

Sorry, but I have obviously slipped in to some alternate reality. When you see Shaun Ryder and Bez singing along to Summer Nights from Grease you know this cannot be real life. Celebrity Gogglebox.

I have to admit I have got a bit hooked on this programme. I look at it a bit like zoom bookshelf watching. The thing I find interesting is the background that comes out about the celebrity lives. This comes in two parts – the first part is the celebrity magazine stuff – what the celebrities have done. I’m not too interested in that. What really interests me is the list of things they have no understanding of.

I think they may have invested so much in their career that they may have missed a lot of the life others have experienced. Just a guess, but they certainly have some parts of life experience missing that many others have.

We all have dreams when we are young. I always wanted to be a garbage collector. Never made it though. I would love to get in to space, not much chance now. I challenge anybody to achieve everything in life. In reality we all choose a path at the expense of the alternatives.

This week saw the memorial for Gilberto. There was one thing that struck me.

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Hebrews 12:1-3

I’ve had a lot of things to do this week. The memorial challenged me to get a focus on a simple single goal and work toward that. When you look at a life well lived like Gilberto’s you can see a single hearted purpose – to love and serve others. Leave everything else behind and walk on.

Big day today. My first Costco grocery delivery. And just look what you can buy! They seem to have opted for a better system than most supermarkets. There is no delivery slot to book – you just order goods and they deliver sealed boxes of goods by a standard box delivery service. True, the range is limited and the prices are not always the lowest, but they do some stuff that is hard to find (I found it hard to find un-popped popcorn anywhere else).

And Formula 1 is back – so I will have popcorn with the race this weekend.

It was interesting listening to Lewis Hamilton talk about his hardships as he grew up. It got me wondering about how easy it would have been for me to become an F1 driver. Not really an option. Becoming an F1 driver is about access, and there are a wide range of barriers to access. Skin colour is certainly one, but actually finance is probably a bigger one. Lewis may have been disadvantaged because of his skin colour, but there were many white kids that had even less access than him.

I’ve seen racial bias in action, but it always seems more extreme where people have less money. Over the past half century the rich/poor divide has been growing. I wonder how much racism could be reduced by dealing with poverty.

Another nest in the bush outside my front door, and an egg shell near my back door. No matter what people say I am sure there is more nature in my garden than before lockdown.

My mind started to wander. I started to think about the Cuckoo – a brood parasite. That means the Cuckoo lays eggs in the nest of another bird. Who teaches it to do that? If a Cuckoo is brought up by the other bird species then why how does it find out that it should lay eggs in another birds nest?

In fact who teaches a bird how to build a nest?

Nature is amazing, and there are so many complex tasks that come natural to animals without any teaching. How do salmon know they should go home to lay eggs?

Makes you wonder about the whole nature/nurture argument. Just how much choice do we have? Even if we have a natural drive to live one way I like to think that we can choose to do different. Otherwise there would be no benefit in releasing criminals from prison – it would be once a criminal always a criminal.

But there is another side to that. It does mean that what we “feel” to be right may actually be the wrong way to live. I wonder what are the things in my life where I need to live in a way that is contrary to what comes natural. What are the standards, the values, that you use to measure your life against?

There used to be a show on TV that was all about a bunch of people singing and dancing. Decent singing. The thing was, the men painted their faces black to perform. There is a good write up here. The show was one of the most popular on TV and won international awards. The album of the show was at number one for three consecutive years. It would be hard to imagine the show today.

What would be even harder to imagine would be turning up at a BLM march and painting your face black to show solidarity.

Gay pride marches have not happened in many places this year. I always feel uneasy about them. Several friends (most of them are not gay, I think) take part in them regularly, and often dress in gay colours. I have some gay friends that would not be seen dead dressed like that. I wonder if the gay pride marches of today will be tomorrows black and white minstrel show.

For marches that are primarily about being true to yourself there are a lot of people being something else (their image of what a gay person looks like). Wouldn’t it be better for those of us that are not gay to be honest to what we are?

As Polonius says in Hamlet (and yes I know it has two meanings):

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Act 1 Scene 3. Hamlet. William Shakespeare

BTW I quite like the Danny DeVito version of this:

Too many people have not learned how to navigate their own lives, and get diverted by the prevailing wind of the day as a result.

I know I live in England, but occasionally when I am sitting in the garden I hear somebody playing bagpipes in the distance.

I was watching local hero last night and there is a scene with a dance band playing three accordions.

It struck me that there is a harmony created by some of these more traditional instruments that doesn’t come over in a lot of modern music. I think I like the more complex harmonies. Same in life – I don’t really like perfect uniformity – I like to hear the harmonies in life.