TheOldestHatred

What do the Roman Emperor Hadrian, Eric Newby the famed travel writer, Aldus Huxley, Roald Dahl, PG Woodhouse, all of these great writers, the French philosopher Voltaire, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler the Russian and German despots, Napoleon Bonaparte, the all conquering Frenchmen, have in common?

They all hated or despised Jews to a greater or lesser extent. They and many others like them, felt it was OK, even a good thing, to persecute, hate and malign an entire people just for being Jewish.

This was brought home to me this week in a series of jarring incidents. Two of these were insignificant and others that were far more profound.

Eric Newby was a famous travel writer and, in the documentary about him on television he came across as a very nice guy. That’s why the casual comment in his book, “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush” was upsetting. He was describing the different groups of people to be found in the Afghanistan of a half-century ago. For all other groups and looks his attitude was romanticized until he came to the men who, he felt looked like Jews with their big hook noses and dark hair. I look around my Jewish family and friends and there is no one who fits this description, but this is clearly Newby’s casual, off hand, even unknown and self unaware anti Semitism.

Last night there was a comedy program on one of the British TV channels, I shall not dignify them by naming it, in which the comedians lampooned the dilemma of a woman given “Sophie’s Choice”, in which the idea of a woman having to choose which child of hers she has to send to the concentration camp to their deaths, is the subject of a joke. These bright boys and girls even thought it was funny to have a fake article condemning themselves in their program, as if from the British newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle.

Neither of these programs would have dared transmit the same, casual racism about Muslims or black people, and there would have been, correctly, mass outrage had they done so. Why is it acceptable to do this to Jewish people in a modern, politically correct society like Britain?

Currently there is a British Museum exhibition on the life of the Roman emperor, Hadrian. This led to TV programs and a few debates in the media, which in turn led to several in depth articles. Hadrian was, unquestionably one of the great emperors of Rome. He imposed Roman culture and methods of worship on the peoples under his control. In Judea this took the form of having statues of himself erected, expressly against the Jewish prohibition of a graven image, and banned the Jewish rites of circumcision.

This led to a Jewish rebellion both throughout the empire and in Judea, which Hadrian put down and then massacred over 500,000 Jews, dispersed those from Judea throughout the empire, sold the survivors into slavery, banned the religion and its teaching and destroyed the Second Temple and any Jewish social center in Jerusalem. Hadrian even banned the name of Israel and Judea, making the country known (in modern parlance) as Syria Palestine.

Throughout history it’s harder to find leading people in the world’s societies who were pro-Jewish than the other way around. Why is this, did the Jews, throughout history do something to bring this hate, vitriol and terrible acts of violent suppression down on the Jewish people?

Maybe the age-old calumny that the Jews killed the Son of God is the reason for all this hate? Yes, Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, was killed by the Romans with the connivance of some his fellow Jews. But if nations and religions are going to feel the vitriol of the descendants of victims throughout time, then surely the Jews could declare war on the entire world.

If you examine the facts the Jews were, almost without exception, a positive influence for the societies they inhabited.

The Jews, as a group but mainly as individuals, created such entities as monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, political creeds like Marxism, psycho analysis, the theory of relativity, from which flowed nuclear science, modern international banking, most of what makes the film and entertainment industry today, the list could go on endlessly.

Jews have, in addition, won an enormously disproportionate number of awards such as Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes, Academy Awards, Emmys, Tony’s, in fact any competition for excellence. Perhaps the Jews very success is what brings them into sharper focus and makes them a group to be jealous of.

The strange thing is that this group of people currently number just over 13 million in a world of over 6 billion, far less than .1%. But the Jews do have a disproportionate influence on the world around them, and this is clearly by accident, not design.

There are as many Kurdish or Armenian people but these nationalities simply don’t resonate the same way.

Perhaps if the Jews had simply been left alone in their original Middle Eastern homeland no one might have heard of them. Perhaps there is an accelerated form of Darwinian theory at work here. As the world kept mass murdering the Jews who were not quick or lucky enough to escape the pogroms, inquisitions and pillage of the last two thousand years, the ones who survived were the faster, more cunning or clever, physically tougher, or just plain luckier folks who were destined to produce tougher, brighter and more articulate survivors. The world, including the Nazis, in their efforts to categorize the Jews as sub humans had, in one of the great ironies of history, created their own nemesis, Jews who would be great achievers.

Whatever the reason, it would be great if everyone just left the Jewish people alone and in peace. We all know that isn’t going to happen, the question is why? The answer, when you find it, will tell you much more about the world than it does about the Jewish people.

BarakinBerlin

Barak Obama was in Berlin speechifying to 200,000 Germans yesterday. As ever, he was very impressive. However, reviewing this as a European you could be excused for a certain uneasiness in finding Barak in this prominent a position at the center of Germany and our continent.

There have previously been two American Presidents who made outstanding speeches in Berlin since World War 2. The first was the famous John F. Kennedy, identifying himself and America with that city’s plight whilst they lived under the threat of the Soviets. The second great piece of oratory was delivered by Ronald Reagan when he told the Soviet leader, Gorbachav, to “take down that wall;” referring to the Berlin wall, then separating the West from the Eastern, Soviet dominated sector.

The big difference between both of those men and Barak is that they were the President when they delivered those speeches and Barak seems to have overlooked the fact that he is not yet in this position.

There is a man in America called John McCann who stands a very reasonable chance of winning the coming election and Barak Obama seems to have allowed a little triumphalism to creep into his campaign. The last time we saw something similar was when Neil Kinnock was standing for the job of Prime Minister in the UK and made the same mistake, and he immediately went from being hot favorite to loser.

Once again Barak’s public, set piece speech said nothing of substance whatsoever. In fact, other than producing wonderful sound bites you could find them the subject of fun, but when delivered by a master orator they can be spellbinding. What does this mean, “People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time. A new generation must make our mark on history;” or another of his phrases, “Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.”

Wonderful and generalized words, that without specifics attached are exactly like anyone saying, love your family and country, and be kind to everyone. That’s how we all feel until the other guy starts kicking sand in our face. Barak Obama, what do you believe in, and what, precisely are you going to do if you win the reins of power?

Watching Obama and the reaction to him in Europe is a little like watching Beatle mania at its peak in 60’s America. There was talent, a lot of it, and a certain charm and freshness about the Beatles, that have echoes in Barak. However there was little to warrant the wild adulation for the boys from Liverpool and similarly there is not enough known about Barak to justify the hero worship for him.

You can watch and listen to Barak a great deal without obtaining the answer to that old question, “where’s the beef?” It seems obvious that he has led his campaign to the center ground of politics from the left of the left where it started. You can’t blame him for doing this, as anyone wanting to win the Presidency would have to do so. But the specifics of what he’s actually planning for the USA are unknowable from his public utterances.

This is more reminiscent of another British politician, who was determined to win, and who reinvented the public perception of his party to win, his name is Tony Blair, and he transformed the unelectable Labour Party to the unbeatable New Labour Party for an entire decade. This was one of the most remarkable re-branding and marketing jobs in political history. It is hard to believe that the fingerprints of the British political spin-doctors of the Left have not been doing some work behind the scenes with Obama and his team. This is ironic when you consider the fact that Barak’s rise coincides with the simultaneous long-term decline of the British Labour Party under the leadership of Blair’s successor, Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

One thing we learned in the UK with Tony Blair was that after the too idyllic a honeymoon comes the inevitable messy divorce. If Barak’s popularity does sweep him to power in America there will be a glorious opening to his Presidency, to be followed by an equally terrible fall from power when the realization sweeps the nation, he promised more than he could deliver.

The primary reason for Barak Obama being adored in Europe is this; he isn’t George W. Bush. As much as Bush is hated and despised Obama is loved and admired as the new, black JFK. Next Obama will arrive in London, where no doubt the presidential candidate will enrapture another country’s population. Is it possible for a man like Obama to win the election in the US without our discovering how he intends to run that country?

SorryMax

It seems that we all owe Max Mosley a huge and groveling apology. Max is the man who heads up the world’s Formula 1 racing. He was wrongly accused by the British red top tabloid, the News of the World, of taking part in a Nazi oriented sadomasochistic sex romp with several women dressed in German prison garb and speaking in German. This was a private moment in a private apartment, paid for by Max, ever the gentleman; it was clearly not to be shared by everyone.

The News of the World reported this story in all its glory and was the loser in the British High Court this afternoon when Max Mosley’s case against them was won. He was awarded substantial damages and costs and this is a potential curb on the freedom of the press in the UK.

But, we all have to bow to the law; it was not a Nazi sex romp, just a private session for the discerning sexual tourist. Sorry Max!

FundamentalistsVsAmerica

In yesterday’s blog we discussed the reasons why America was, and will remain an empire for the foreseeable future. I have received some comments regarding the fact that I didn’t mention the rise of Islamic fundamentalism amongst the threats to this hegemony.

This was intentional. Islamic fundamentalism is a force for danger, revisionism and sprinting backwards to a far worse time in history. However, Islamic fundamentalism is mostly a threat to the Arab and East Asian world it emanated from. American power is far bigger than anything this enemy can dream of mustering.

Never misunderstand this blog; this is not a rant against the followers of Islam, whose faith is respected alongside all the other major religions. It is a reminder of what is to be fought and why. The fundamentalists have sworn to destroy America such and America is entitled to defend itself. Such a defense can and should take many forms, ranging through the ideological, military and political. I suggest a strong offence will continue to be America’s best defense. Sometimes, as the Irish say, you have to get your revenge in first.

Let’s put the threat against America into perspective. The country was, in the past, threatened far more by its own native Americans (the red Indians) when it was becoming a nation, and in addition then had to fight one of the world’s mighty empires, the British, before it could become a nation.

Whenever and wherever Islamic fundamentalists have come into open conflict with the West they have either lost big or small. They are very clever at manipulating the media to make their defeat look like small and heroic victories. The majority of their own potential constituency rejects their ideas.

The biggest fear the common people share about this minority sect of fanatics is their fear of the unknown.

Put it in perspective, what can the fundamentalists really do to the American empire? What threats do they pose? How can this be countered?

9/11 demonstrated the type of damage a determined radical organization can inflict on America. The type of damage was awful, sudden, shocking and unexpected by many.

Israel, a tiny power when compared with America, has suffered the equivalent of hundreds of attacks of this proportion from the same sources. Despite having to live with this horrible situation it has not destroyed any aspect of that country’s life. Its effect, it could be argued, has been to toughen Israel’s stance militarily and politically. Israel, under constant attack from such sources, has, in fact, prospered.

If Israel can survive and prosper, so can America and its way of life. There are bigger threats, such as Islamic fundamentalists managing to inflict the destructive capacity of a nuclear device on American targets. In that context you could well envisage American bombers unleashing tactical nuclear weapons on the largely un-policed borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan where such orders to attack America would have come from. But even the made mullahs do not want to be nuked.

The ideal way to counter the threat of Islamic fundamentalism is to relentlessly expose them for the maniacs they are. The more they are put under the microscope the more they will lose any natural potential support.

Such support is much more likely in the UK or Germany or France than it is in America. All of the former countries have sizeable Muslim communities, which appear to be becoming more orthodox and far less tolerant than their parents in their religious observance. However, this should not be confused with their adopting the murderous attitudes or tactics of their fundamental co-religionists.

The West, led by America, must not lessen its resolve in dealing with the Islamic fundamentalists. These fanatics are the sworn enemy of every form of democratic and liberal ways of life. They must be eliminated.

RomeUSA

Currently, in many parts of the world there are many articles, exhibitions, films and shows about various aspects of the Roman Empire. It is one of the great stories in the history of the human race, this city-state that grew to dominate or control much of the known world for a millennia. Perhaps the striking parallels between America now and the fall of the Roman Empire unconsciously spark this interest.

There is no suggestion here that being an empire is necessarily a good thing. However, like being tall or short for an individual, sometimes there is no choice. For me, the idea of being a taller tree in the forest has always appealed, but it’s easy to understand a different, perhaps less dangerous ambition.

America has been one of two or three super powers for just under one hundred years. Like it or not, at the point the USA joined the First World War in 1917 and demonstrated the ability to project its power anywhere in the world it became an empire. It started, mainly as an empire of the dollar and became an empire of ideas, culture and power as time passed. Latterly this has resulted in America becoming the only super power as the Soviet threat evaporated.

Will America go the same way as Rome, and be overwhelmed by the barbarian hordes?

Rome expressed its power by military conquest over a very long time, as inch by inch it grew to totally dominate the then known world. It enforced its will by ruthlessly destroying or enfolding any local culture it found so that they were dominated, emasculated, or made to disappear. Then the Roman bureaucracy would be installed to extract tax and other revenues and it was ultra efficient compared to anything that previously existed. It was this stage of economic domination when Rome truly demonstrated any empire’s true role. Empire’s are created by their need to suck in raw materials and labor and export finished products for sale.

Rome after many years as top dog, begun to lose the certainty in itself, in its rightness as its power began to wane. For many hundreds of years Rome was confident in its civilization and systems. It was certain that it had things right and that they were destined to rule the earth. All empires possess this self-confidence or they could never expand to fill the world of their time with their ideas.

America first demonstrated its self-confidence with the use of this name. It is, of course, not America, just a part of that continent. However the self-image was that the United States of America was so dominant that all the other countries in that continent were somehow less important and not worthy of the all-encompassing name. You never hear any Canadian or Mexican or any other country in that continent claim the name, America. Only the USA has ever claimed to be America, and throughout the rest of the world it became the name that stuck. It says a lot about the psychology of a nation that its people can call themselves American and it is totally accepted and understood by the world. You have never heard British people call themselves a European and be understood to have meant he was British.

America’s power originally came from its huge industrial capacity. Its rapidly growing cheap labor pool, drawn largely from immigrant population growth, enhanced this. This is a very similar model to that enjoyed by the Roman Empire’s use of slaves. The nearest parallel today is the huge shift in population from rural to urban by the Chinese nation. It is this growth of China’s industrial capacity that threatens to end the American Empire.

The demonstration of America’s hegemony is best achieved by understanding what it does, that we either like or tolerate or admire, but would make us very fearful if enacted by others, such as China. Imagine the outcry if our cinemas, music downloads, a majority of our television programs, and almost all our fast food outlets were Chinese in origin. Add to this the concept of a mighty Chinese navy, including a dominant force of aircraft carriers prowling all the major oceans of the world, and the Chinese invading and then being stationed in countries far from their own borders. I am describing what America does and China still only dreams of.

Is this American domination coming to an end? To accept this contention means you don’t understand the modern world. In this era of globalization it is the American corporations that are the ambassadors of American power. As long as they exist and prosper, wherever they seem to be based is largely irrelevant. They culturally and economically remain anchored in the American dream.

This American originated, market driven capitalism has largely been a huge success, but is inherently neutral as a moral force. There are threats to this domination. Chief amongst them is China, which is the ultimate paradox; having allowed the individuals total immersion into this system whilst the state still centrally controls the country’s economy in a stifling Communist embrace. It is this inherent dichotomy that dictates China will either ultimately implode, or morph into something unrecognizable, before it can truly threaten American dominance.

Russia is rapidly asserting itself as a regional power but is far from being the world giant it was during the Soviet era. Much of that power was purely military or scientific rather than cultural or commercial. The country is still an industrial basket case in many ways. Yes, Russia will increasingly flex its muscles by economic coercion allowed by its huge levels of gas, oil and other raw materials. However, it should be born in mind that Canada is similarly placed with these raw materials and cannot dominate the giant neighbor to its South.

The only other economic super power is the European Union which is a behemoth, if it were to ever act as a whole rather than as a fairly lose association of 27 sovereign countries. There is no practical political centre to its power and whilst this remains the case the EU will not become an empire.

There are no other powers yet capable of taking over this super power, empirical role. America, you will be overcome, one day, but that day is not quite now. America, we salute you!

Beautytobehold

Guys, let’s be honest, when the sunshine comes out there are certain things that come to the mind. Amongst them, for many of us, are pretty girls in brief clothing cavorting in the sun. Clearly there are many women who collaborate with this because they disport themselves in this manner. I suppose it comes down to who you believe, do we dress for ourselves or for others? It’s obvious to me that we do both. Younger men and women have always shared the instincts of the animal kingdom to be attractive to the opposite sex. The reason for this is that in nature the strongest survive and prosper, and the strongest are generally perceived to be the most alluring and attractive.

In the recent past there has been a widening age range for women to fit within the category deemed to be looking for and finding a mate. This might well not be their first mate, as serial monogamous relationships have become the desired norm for most of us in the modern world. That is probably the reason that more women take better care of themselves for longer than has ever been the case previously. The results are a self-evident improvement in how women look after themselves, and the consequence of this for many women of a certain age is that they are looking great when their mothers were, at the same age, looking tired, frumpy and frankly unattractive.

There is a now famous photograph of the film star, and great actress, Helen Mirren in the British press last week. The picture generated enormous coverage and much debate. The fuss concerns the fact that this Dame of the British Empire, who was on vacation in Italy, is clad in a revealing red bikini that shows the 63 year old in all her mature, sexy and alluring beauty.

What other women seem to find encouraging about this is the fact that Helen is someone that they believe shows a real woman, in all her natural glory, that they might aspire to themselves. She is not impossibly skinny, nor too glossy, or airbrushed or received too much cosmetic help, but someone who exudes confidence, femininity and mature sexuality. Women admire and envy her, men would like to spend time with her, and let’s be frank, become intimate with her.

I can certainly understand all of this, but put it in context with another situation evident when I was reading the same newspapers on the same day Ms. Mirren’s picture was published and realized that the Miss England contest had happened without my realizing it. Years ago this would not have been possible. Such contests would have pushed to the top of the media pile in years gone by and were irresistible for every TV scheduler. Now they are largely invisible.

Beauty pageants now routinely come and go and are not allowed on terrestrial television. No Miss World or Miss Universe shall sully the British television airwaves intone the feminists and politically correct. The same is true in many other countries where these contests have been marginalized to the outer regions of satellite or cable television.

I could understand this a great deal better if the same idiots were equally adamant in their blanket rejection of shows about nudity, prostitution or various sex antics of groups that are almost sub human and certainly very ugly in their design. But those are OK because they are acceptable politically whereas anything beautiful is not. Unless the person is being peered at, such as Helen Mirren, she a paragon of female empowerment and equality is the woman being stared at.

What is it that the feminists object to in beauty pageants with such venom? They said it was that the women in the shows were objectified and this was dehumanizing and therefore was not acceptable. But surely that is ridiculous since all of us are objectified every day by anyone who bothers to look in our direction. We’re too thin, fat, tall, short, ugly, handsome or just right for the person or persons looking in our direction. Is it wrong to look at someone else?

Is every woman or man who dresses or undresses to please someone else who is looking at them guilty of a huge conspiracy? Of course the answer is no. Not everyone should join in the peep show if it isn’t for you then don’t look.

What offends a woman about another woman wearing swimwear? Is it that the women they’re looking at in swimwear looks so much better than they do? This surely cannot be the reason for women being commonly perceived as being anti beauty pageants. There is a degree of truth in this, as women always scoff at the pneumatic and shapely forms of the young women who compete in such beauty contests. Whenever a woman sees such women on their radar they routinely make a series of disparaging comments such as, “do you really believe that she is naturally built that way?” or “a woman that slim couldn’t possibly have boobs that size!” or simply, “listen to how stupid that woman is!”

None of us men, least of all me, can really understand the workings of a woman’s mind which can admire Helen Mirren in her bikini photograph but condemn some younger woman, and possibly, although this seems very unlikely, who is even more attractive, on a television program.

My message to all women, including feminists, is get over it, and please let us men watch the occasional beauty pageant without guilt or recrimination. The girls want to do it, and we want to watch it, and I promise, on behalf of all men, that we will respect you in the morning.

BeingRich

I believe there is a saying that no kindness goes unpunished, and to some extent I believe that to be the case. Does this mean we should stop being kind, or trying to be kind? I don’t think so and I hope not.

Years ago a young man, who shall be nameless, asked me for a big favor. Could I help him realize a dream? It was a major undertaking, one that I was not sure I had the time for, although my inclination, for reasons best left unspoken, was to help. I did, I tried my best. We completed the project, which I paid for and did a number of years work on. The young man failed to live up to his word and, on many occasions has not, in my opinion, told the truth, and accused others of this, and others, of his own faults.

I am not trying to suggest I am this sweet and vulnerable to everyone, but when people get close to you, you do become progressively more open and easy to wound. I wish it were not so, and I envy those who can be tougher and more circumspect, but we are what we are. I prefer to be soft and loving, and live with the consequences, than hard and ungenerous. Who wants to be the richest man in the graveyard?

Another example I fairly recently experienced was in regards to an exceptionally good student at one of the higher education establishments at which I lectured. I helped to train and educate this young man, although, like the other chap I’ve mentioned, he does possess a great deal of ability without any help from me. I nurtured this young man, gave him some of his first jobs for about a decade. I granted him shares in quite a valuable company, and then, one day, years later, and out of the blue, he became a Judas, and for the sake of a little money to give him imagined security, turned against me. Because I trusted the man, who I had considered an additional son, I was especially hurt.

A very good friend, or so I thought, turned out to have assumed my identity, especially in the USA, where people were led to believe that everything I had done in my career, had, in fact, been done by him. According to this craziness I had somehow arranged for all of his credits to be attributed to me over a period of many years. Some people actually believed this nonsense, and I had to prove the truth. Such examples might sound far-fetched and I seriously wonder whether I do anything to create such situations. Maybe they exist because my openness and the creative industries I inhabit encourages these kinds of patterns from some very insecure people. I don’t feel it excuses a person, but I would like to understand them better.

Then there’s the guy who sells the Big Issue outside the local Co-op supermarket. He smiles at me automatically every time I go near because I am clearly a regular, I almost always buy a copy, to help him on his way. His need is greater than mine.

I have tried my best to help these people and the hundreds of students and new kids in the industry who have sought my help, and got it when I could assist.

Was I wrong, as some of these awful results would seem to indicate?

I don’t think so, and I will continue to try to help wherever and whenever I can, because in the final analysis by trying to help them I am making myself a bit better. By trying to nurture others I am growing my own heart. What they do with my help is their business, and to the lying and cheating amongst them, and you know who you are, when you look in a mirror, it doesn’t make me stupid to try and be a good guy, your terrible behavior diminishes you in your heart, where it really counts, even if your wallet may be fuller. Your curse may be to be the richest person in the graveyard one day, but you will always be alone in your hearts. My revenge will be to live a good life and sleep well every night.