Ray’s Views Online …
Michelangelo, the Pornographer !
Is there no end to this increasingly ludicrous and perverse, if not actually perverted, lunacy? If Michelangelo is a pornographer, who’s next, and who’s safe? If Beatrix Potter were still alive, she’d be checking through all these books about “Peter Rabbit”, just in case ! After all, rabbits are reputed to be a reproductively randy…
The Populist Plague
These ‘POPULISTS’. These men (as they invariably are) of ‘the people’, who claim to single-handedly and single-mindedly champion, speak for, and fight on the side of, ‘the people’. Who tell ‘the people’ whatever they think they most want to hear, totally irrespective of any genuine intention to make good on their protestations and promises. Whose…
Push Button ‘A’ or ‘B’
I’m old enough to have often made use of those old-time, big red, roadside boxes with ‘push button’ public telephones inside. They needed your pocket to have a ready supply of little round pieces of copper called ‘pennies’. You’d to load three of these into a slot and dial a number. If someone answered, you…
God’s Life Story (ii)
A previous post noted that the first Israelites were Canaanites, and so their chief god was called El or Elohim (as in the name Isra-el). How many other gods and goddesses did they follow? The answer is, lots! Unsurprisingly, the Hebrew Bible doesn’t go into details, but frequently denounces Israelites who followed the weather/fertility god…
Here we go again!
On BBC’s Question Time, a panel member says that Boris Johnson’s father’s alleged history of violence is ‘on record’ and calls him a ‘wife beater’. Unless and until that’s proven to be the case, neither you nor I can know its truth or otherwise. Ms Bruce, required to maintain required BBC standards of ‘balance’ and…
Irony of Ironies
Who is this a statue of? It’s of George Orwell who, in his book “1984”, warned us about the abomination of total state control over the lives of its citizens; what they do from minute to minute, and what they say in any place, at any time. Such control must include language. The state decides…
Lineker, Language and Debate
In writing this, I have to confess that I’m not a fan of Gary Lineker, and have never watched ‘Match of the Day’. Since we’re dealing with today’s instant readiness to ‘take offence’, let me make it clear that this isn’t personal criticism, but a statement of fact and nothing more. As it happens, I’m…
Weaponising “Offence”
In Putin’s Russia, to say the slightest thing which in any way “offends” those in power means ten years in jail. Do we want that in the UK? It’s time for people who genuinely value freedom of speech, verbal or written (provided it breaks no law) to take a stand against the ‘shut them up,…
“For All Beings”
Here, from Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, teacher and author, is a beautiful, meaningful, moving, timelessly relevant, “if only” vision of humanity at its very best. It’s also ‘religion’ at its very best. It comes from the ‘beating heart’ of Buddhism, but surely also from that of Christianity, and all other religions worthy of the name. It…
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RAY'S VIEWS ONLINE 