I love history and can bore you to death talking about it. If there was one miracle I could perform, I'd time travel backwards. I have no interest to find out what happens in the future. Que sera sera... Athens in the time of Pericles, or Persepolis during the reign of Xerxes are far more interesting to me than a virtual hologram world in the future, in which the skin skin products are so good they keep you looking 25 for ever. 

History is also very frustrating. Humanity never learns, it seems. Or if it does, the lessons may only apply to one or two generations....

I think we have gone back full circle to similar condotioms as in 1920s and 30s, which is a scary prospect, if you think just for a moment the impact two world wars had on pretty much everyone that has lived ever since. The big players in the world seem to think they have an unalienable right to mess entire continents and regions up, most of the time due to silly posturing games to ensure 'their place in the world' is safe... stuff they come up with is often ludicrous and mostly false. The narrative is only for self consumption as other countries are also talking only to themselves. The current big powers are just as bad as each other but USA has far more to answer for. 

We are all victims of a false narrative backed by our pop culture, press, films, etc., that we somehow have the moral high ground because we are 'free ' We don't! Far from it. We aren't free either. We are modern serfs in a system that puts profit and comfort of the super rich above all else. We are mostly drone bees. We have to make the honey for them because the rotten hive will start showing cracks and holes. Massive ones  

The return of blind nationalism, inflation and the so called culture wars are of particular concern. They are the perfect ingredients for a powder keg. You just add fear and fantasy to it and boom. 

Unfortunately, we have plenty of all of the above. USA, China and Russia are playing stupid and old empire games. UK is a specific malady - it still believes in its fantasy empire and its place in the world despite the fact that it has been a US puppy for 70 years. How UK sees itself is both comical and tragic on so many levels. This is why perhaps Brexit needed to happen... the generally benign populace of tea drinkers and quiet mutterers needed to see the final nail on the Empire's coffin.  It is time we realised the size and importance of an island situated in a precarious climatic area in the North Atlantic as a medium, relatively peaceful and cheerful island that can't feed itself cannot be that great. It is painful to watch but I think the sense of English superiority and exclusivity is finally cracking up. Spain went through a reality check process quite a while ago and so did France and Japan. It'll be painful but we can do it  

As you can imagine, neither Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice nor Lord Grantham from Downtown Abbey will come to rescue us with quaint English solutions fit for a very complex world we live in; in the creation of which England played a big role. Past tense. C'est ça. 

To be continued... now, where's that kettle?

Every human is an archeological site - Pierre Bourdieu

Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past - George Orwell 

                                                                                                                                history will judge

myths, false narratives and period costume dramas

All nations are a mixture of myths, delusions and desires which create a false narrative of every nation that has ever existed. The belief in this false narrative is essential for the survival of a nation. The extend of self delusion and cherrypicking of history is both amazing and disturbing, for anyone who attempts to think logically; we choose to believe lies because the truth is often too painful. There are no better or worse nations, there are different stories and different circumstances allowing for certain things to happen or to develop. Humans are essentially exactly the same in their need to believe that their country or cu,Lure is somehow better or fairer than the other ones. It could be an existentialist desire to escape from absurdity of life or is it a way of attributing false achievements to ourselves through things and events that had nothing to do with us? It’s probably both and more… the human nature is very complex, fascinating and disappointing… we are equipped with reason but we reject it on a regular basis to conform to ‘our’ culture, class, religion, political views, etc. Scientists have proved many times that humans choose to believe lies if it suits their already formed concepts. It’s mind boggling but it makes sense in a way - challenging out beliefs can be very traumatic, especially if our findings clash with ‘our’ tribe’s established beliefs.  

A so called great nation gives a sense of achievement to its members, even if they are miserable.. it does not make sense but it also does.., Fantasy is an inseparable part of our survival skills. The naked truth is too depressing - we are born and from that moment, all we do is wait to die but we hardly ever think of this one thing we are most certain of. Instead, of being reasonable we choose escapism from this painful truth. Because we reject reason so readily, governments, religious leaders and politicians keep serving enormous amount of shit on a daily basis so that we keep buying and selling, getting laid, travel, go to church/mosque/temple,  argue, go to war, etc .. as part of a society we are either born or choose to live in… 

History, as we like to think of it, is embellished and/or twisted to create a story we seem to so need to believe in, even if it has no direct connection to our individual lives. Perhaps it is easier to accept the shit if you think you share it with a load of other people so that a particular smell can be created… Needless to say, our smell isn’t as sweet to other smell creators… some smells are so revolting that we give ourselves the right to eradicate it… often with very drastic measures, totally oblivious of our own smell. 

This is why I can’t bear it when people speak of ‘we’ did this or that. There isn’t a ‘we’ as there is nothing in history that any nation did together as one Therefore we cannot take any credit about what our so called ancestors did or didn’t do. As far as I am concerned, my ancestors don’t go beyond my grandparents, three of whom I was lucky to know. All the others before them are total strangers to me. It is tru,ly stupid to be proud of people who happened to share our set of delusions but it is understandable for reasons mentioned above.. We need fantasy to make the absurdity bearable… some more than others. The most deluded ones are often the loudest, as we know. 

repackaging the narrative 

cuneiform writing should be made compulsory. so beautiful. 

More to come 

Whoever thinks Communism was all about corruption and state oppression is a victim of ignorance.the idea was to create a better future for everyone based on equality and fraternity but human nature wasn’t ready for it.. Greed, envy, jealousy and fear took over all the idea of a different future for humankind collapsed. I think in 30 year’s time they will make a film about living through the fall of capitalism and I wander what they will show: people watching gogglebox? Farage waving flags? Food banks?? 

east & west - a love(less) story (1980s - 2020s) 

the dark side of history