Everybody Loves...?

Well, it's budget week here in Oz and the Opposition leader just made a very stirring speech which got a standing ovation. The consensus is that it is the unpopularity of the government which is making him more popular. This got me thinking about popularity--the sine qua non in a democratic society--and who has it and who doesn't. Think of the difference between Gillard, Cameron or Hollande, frantically trying to hold on to government, and the reception Prince Harry received when he visited America recently (here's a clue: think of how young people felt about the Beatles in 1963). Politics is unpopular in and of itself these days, synonymous with all the aspects of contemporary society which got us into our present economic and social predicament. It almost reminds one of how discredited liberalism and/or nationalism seemed to so many people between the first and second world wars.

There are however people a lot more unpopular again than politicians--there is the Catholic Church. Poor Pope Francis recently canonised his first saints but people only have one association with his brand nowadays. Now, they can only dream of the popularity of the royal family...

Popularity is obviously partly about your personality (you know what Harry has going for him) but it is also about the people's esteem for the ideals you represent. A popular politician nowadays is a bit like a popular lawyer, which isn't surprising given that they are mostly lawyers...

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Not a Walk of Punishment but some confusion...!

Well, Easter is over but the season of great TV is just getting started! I've been so enjoying catching up with Don and Roger on Mad Men and Tyrion and Tywin on Game of Thrones to name but a few...but ay, there's the rub, there are soooo many characters and sooo many story-lines in these shows these days. Joan got her picture taken in the premiere, and had a drink in episode two, but that's all we've seen of her so far and she hasn't had one scene with Roger; meanwhile Stannis and Melisendre's appearance this week was a case of 'blink and you'll miss it' (shallow vintage footnote: was anyone else thinking of From Here to Eternity with the two of them there on that beach?). There are so many characters off on 'ice-flows' too--Betty and Peggy live in the haunted mansion and the land of comic hygiene products respectively; and half the cast of GoT is believed to be dead by the other half (Bran, Arya, Theon, Jaime all wandering about in the wilderness). Then there are the new characters, so many new characters that they barely have the chance to explain who they are and who they are working for--Bob Benson, the guy from upstairs who is neither God nor Cooper but is now buying Pete's toilet paper, could be a Russian spy for all the insight we have into his motivations, and the three-minute scene which would have explained who the Brotherhood Without Banners are was clearly cut so we could see the crucial plot development of a topless girl do contortions...!

There is such a lot of plot my head is spinning, then again I could watch Cersei and Tyrion move chairs with sarcastic expressions for a whole episode, or Roger lie on a couch in analysis. Neither advances the plot but they're my favourite moments so far this season.

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But then again God works in mysterious ways...

Hello everyone,
Well, wasn't yesterday historic, what with the Pope choosing to retire? He reckoned that he was too weak to go on working and yet he gave the speech about his retirement in Latin! He sure has high standards for competency, something which seems an interesting line to take in view of the fact that others have remained Pope when in prison or exile, etc., etc. However, what it brings home is an intriguing issue I have been talking about for a while and which has been transformed perhaps by developments in modern technology and society. For a long time ordinary people have been taking for granted the notion of a retirement in old age, something which sits oddly with institutions such as monarchy or bishoprics which traditionally are held until death and are seen as coming to one from divine grant. This in turn enmeshes with medical advances which make it possible for infirm people to live much longer than they would have formerly. It remains uncertain how our conception of such offices will work in future. It seems most odd to imagine that there might be two or even three consecrated popes at a given time...But then again God works in mysterious ways...

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TV Life after Tragedy

Well, a well slightly delayed happy new year year to you all... And the world is still here! However, one of the main characters in a favourite television drama is not. Spoiler alert for those Australians who still haven't seen Downton Abbey! The death of Matthew Crawley thanks to Dan Stevens' desire to leave for pastures new in the US was agonising. And it got me to thinking about the characters a show can lose before we begin to worry about shark-jumping. Game of Thrones recently provided us with a brilliant exemplum for killing a show's much-loved hero while the ratings simply keep climbing; however, some of you might remember the nose-dive Primeval took a long while ago when its hero Nick Cutter left the series. Or again contrast how happy we were when in season two of Babylon Five--yes, I am nerdy enough to remember that far--Sinclair was replaced by Sheridan with the way none of the Doctor's companions since Rose Tyler has quite been the same...

Though of course the case Matthew's death most reminded me of was the final season of Deep Space Nine which was conducted without Jadzia Dax because her portrayer, Terry Farrel wanted to pursue other opportunities. It still annoys me whenever I think about it that Worf and Jadzia were denied their happy ending because of a miniseries I have never seen...

Then again we thought Seachange couldn't go on without Diver Dan... So we'll see.

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Whose birthday is it anyway?

Well, Christmas is on us again, if we believe it! Every year it seems to start earlier, seem scarier (we just never got when were younger what a mad scramble it is to get all the gifts nor did we know that a fifth of English men buy their presents on Christmas eve in service stations) and to involve less religion. Think about it, could you find a religious advent calendar? Cards with a message mentioning God? A nativity set on sale beside the innumerable Santas?

I do understand that a lot of people celebrate Christmas despite being atheists or Buddhists, or whatever, but it seems to me that the difference between our modern celebration of Christmas and the ancient Roman Saturnalia is becoming increasingly obscured. And do you want my verdict on why this is happening? Yeah, sure you do, it's Christmas, you're rushed off your feet and worrying that the Joneses are going to arrive over from next door any moment now and find that your house  (unlike theirs, which has a giant blow-up reindeer on the lawn and a 'jingle-bells' door alarm) looks as though a bomb has hit it--and what you want to think about is spirituality in modern society.

I think that religion is being leached out of Christmas because of the vanilla problem. People are crying out for a spiritual compass in today's hard times but Christianity in particular (though other religious traditions such as Judaism or Buddhism in Japan have the same problem) is just too beige these days. Where once they used to erect large cathedrals filled with some of the best art and music ever composed by mankind, today's Christians worship in white-washed suburban boxes in which they mutter dirge-like hymns. Where's the emotion, excitement and beauty? Well, there's certainly some temporary excitement to be gained in evangelical mega-churches, but we all know that that isn't the same.

Maybe next year we should try to make Jesus as exciting as Santa Claus, if only to make it easier to explain to children whose birthday it is.

Merry Christmas,
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Liberalism and Democracy

Today on the news, I saw a guy from the Egyptian National Salvation Front talking about how Morsi should not use his majority to act against "universal human rights" and "democracy". This seemed to me to sum up how little most of us in the twenty-first century understand what democracy is really about. Mostly we confuse "democracy"--decision-making via majority vote--and "liberalism"--a doctrine of respect for the life choices of individuals. In fact, these two concepts, while historically entangled in nineteenth century Europe, are analytically entirely distinct.

So often today we see believers in liberalism--usually urban and educated--agitating for a political system which in actuality allows the mass of the populace who have very different values to choose leaders whose views are totally incompatible with liberalism. There can be a positive relationship between democracy and liberalism--as there was in the nineteenth century in Europe--but there can also be a quite negative relationship--as for example, in many European countries in the twentieth century.

We really do require greater clarity of thought when considering political philosophy, so it's just a great shame that we don't ever seem to teach political philosophy in universities any more...

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TV in a Time of Poverty

In television as in anything else, there are fashions. For example, there seems to be a wave of fantasy shows recently, as there was a wave of soapy medical shows not so long ago. What I think is interesting is American audiences' love in this time of economic scarcity of stories of people living the high life, as in Revenge with its snappily-dressed billionaires or Downton Abbey with its early twentieth century aristocrats. This more than anything else brings home to me that we live in a depression period--remember all those shiny movies from the thirties in which there is lots of singing, dancing and lingering shots of food! It also strikes me that reality shows today are not like reality shows from a little while ago--today people are obsessed with the Cinderella story of talent shows, it's almost like a Jimmy Stewart movie...

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