The Sun is shining, it's Friday, so what better way to enjoy it than with a Joke
A lady gets in a lift. There is a guy already in. She makes a deep sigh and exclaims, "T-G-I-F!"
As ever I expect bad news. I have a few weeks before hand where I am anxious and edgy. I had the Euro 2020 to distract me, but from Monday, I didn't even have this. I generally don't drink during the week, so I didn't really even have alcoholic solace. Wednesday was the day. I normally have Wednesday off work, but my studio manager is on leave, so I had to work and get another staff member to cover the phone. Bang on the dot at 4.20pm, as I'd been informed, the phone rang.
In previous years, these consultations were face to face. Covid has brought in phone consults. I suspect that we won't go back to the old system. The news was very good, all was remarkably normal. In the circumstances, the phonecall is great. I didn't have to waste half a day travelling up to town. I do wonder what happens if the news is grim. It would be a different cup of tea if they were telling you that you had six months to live? When I was initially given the diagnosis in 2011, I had all sorts of pamphlets and other info thrust on me and a chat with a MacMillan nurse. That really wouldn't be the same on the phone.
The prognosis? Prostate looks normal for a bloke my age. I won't even need an MRI next year unless the PSA starts to go up significantly. The news doesn't really get much better. I felt quite elated. I sent an email to Eddie Nestor on BBC Radio London that he read out. I broke my own no drinking rule and had a bottle of Cobra with my friend who runs the Mill Hill Tandoori (just the one). He was delighted to hear the news. I had a band rehearsal, which inspired me to write a song to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer. It is provisionally entitled "Dont be frightened of a finger up your bum" it is a bit of a cross between the Pioneers and Ian Dury in sound. I may change the title and lyrics to make it less in your face for the radio edit.
So the bad news for all of you trolls and haters is that I'll be around a little while longer, God willing and if something does do for me in the near term it won't be Prostate Cancer. Tonight I play five a side football and then an early night. Tomorrow I'll celebrate.
The bottom line is that I was diagnosed early. That has massively helped my prospects. Don't be shy. If you have any concerns or you are in your fifties, ask your doctor for a check up.
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For those of you who are regular readers and have read the previous posts on Cancer, there's what this is all about. I write this blog because knowledge is power and if you know what you are dealing with, you have more weapons in the locker to fight it. It is a personal view, I'm not medically qualified. This is for the sole purpose of information for those who are interested.This is the latest installment in my occasional series about how I'm adjusting to living with a big C in my life. For those of you who aren't, here's a quick summary. I'm 54years old and in October 2011 I had a prostate biopsy following two "slightly high" PSA tests - 2.8 & 4.1. The biopsy took ten tissue samples and one of these showed a "low grade cancer" which gave me a 3+3 on the Gleason scale. I was put on a program of active monitoring. In early February, I got the results of the a PSA test - down to 3.5 and an MRI scan which found absolutely nothing, two more tests in 2012 were at 3.5 and 3.9, in 2013 my test was 4.0, Jan 2014 was 3.8, August 2014 was 4.0, February 2015 it was up to 5.5 and my latest in August 2015 was down again at 4.6. In October 2015 I had a transperinial Prostate biopsy, that revealed higher grade cancer and my Gleason score was raised to 3+4 (Small mass + more aggressive cancer). On 22nd Jan 2016 I had HIFU (Hi Intensity Focused Ultrasound) treatment at UCHL). My post procedure PSA in May was 4.0 which was down, followed by 3.7 in August, and 3.5 in October which means that the direction is positive . However in January the follow up MRI revealed "something unusual which requires investigation" After a follow up biopsy, it appeared this was nothing to worry about. My two most recent PSA tests were Ok (3.7 and 4.6) and an MRI scan in March was very positive. A PSA in October 2019 was 4.6, so stable and good news, the last in May 2020 was 5.45 a small rise, so worrying, however after a review against the most recent MRI, it was decided that this was fine.
I've no symptoms apart from needing to wee quite regularly and sadly for a few people, if I'm gonna die soon, it won't be from Prostate cancer. Got the picture?
What about the situation where a planning officer is headhunted from Company X by another company who wants to develop in Barnet? Employment terms restricting where someone can work are very narrow and notoriously difficult to enforce."
Further review –Cemetery and Crematorium
2.38 The service has performed well throughout the life of the contract and has clearly benefited from the commercial freedoms of being delivered by a third party. The service has been particularly impacted by the pandemic over the last year, but successfully operated a safe and secure service throughout the periods of peak demand.
2.39 However, this is not a core service for Capita and is the only cemetery and crematorium they run. Whilst this does not present any immediate issues of concern, the potential for them to add further value to the development of the service over the medium-term may be limited.
I was rather hoping that waking up this morning would be one of the happier days of my life. Regular readers will know I'm a football lover. England have just had their best performance in a major tournament since 1966 when I was three years old. The side is young, dynamic and packed with talent. They took a brilliant Italian team, a team I picked out as my pre match favourites, all the way. We were even ahead in the penalty shoot out at one point. The team has players such as Marcus Rashford, who has redifined how we think of footballers, with his campaign for school dinners for hungry kids. The manager has shown a refereshingly honest and open approach to the job. As an act of penance, I reread the blog I wrote when England were knocked out of the Euro 2016 competition. It is like reading a blog from another age. We have so much to be happy about. And yet....
The stories today are all about 'on line abuse and racism'. Out of a country of sixty million people, a minutely small band of racist idiots have pissed on all of our parties. They have hijacked the narrative and moved it into where they want it. We are talking about race rather than national unity. They have defined a subset of our players as other and we've bought it. I am sickened. I genuinely didn't know what to write this morning. And then.....
No I refuse to let a bunch of racist twats define my memories, piss on my nation, label football fans in any way. I REJECT THEM. I am a proud England fan. I am proud that Raheem Stirling of Manchester City had a great tournament, scored three wonderful goals and got us to the final. This is not because of his colour. It is because he is a damn fine footballer and as an intelligent person, that is what matters. I am proud that John Stones, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden also represent my club in the England set up. I am proud that Harry Kane, Raheem Stirling and Buyako Saka are from my home City of London. I am proud that the game I love produces young men like Marcus Rashford, who recognise that they have influence and use it for good. These amazing young men and their brilliant manager have lifted our mood. I am not going to let a bunch of racist cowards, hiding in their bedrooms, bashing furiously at their keyboards spoil a second. Lets look forward. Lets dream of them lifting the World Cup next year.
As to the violent scenes. These were not about football. They were about people being drunk and not being able to behave themselves. We've all been locked up like farm animals for eighteen months. Far too many, shackles released, went over the top, got completely bladdered and acted like idiots. This has nothing to do with football. The police will tell you our pubs and clubs see this every weekend in normal times. The football just gave a release, so there was a higher than usual number of drunk people in one place than usual and the press were looking for stories.
In five years time, the morons will be forgotten, I just hope this is the start of a golden era for English football. And I hope that golden era is one which is inclusive and where we finally put the ghastly shadow of racism behind us and embrace the fact that the reason we have such a great team is because we welcome everyone.
I wrote a song last year and made a video that sums up my view of racism.
The week has been all about football, but other things have been happening in the Borough of Barnet. Here is our pick of the finest tweets.
1. Lets start with a shout out to these amazing people
Another victorious community effort today! 🎉 Removed a huge amount of plastic and all sorts of rubbish from the reservoir! Thanks to all the volunteers who turned up and helped make such a big difference! 💚🌷 pic.twitter.com/gkx66vIOYf
— Friends of the Welsh Harp (@welshharpies) July 4, 2021
2. Thanks to Donald for bringing this to our attention, we'll be looking out.
The Red Arrows are due over Wembley at 19:48! They're at Bournemouth, to fly over Goodwood, but will make their way back to Scampton, which should bring them over Finchley! Of course, in reality they could be off track by a mile, but worth looking out for. Times shown are GMT. pic.twitter.com/B7KnXVKTZ0
— Donald Lyven (@barnet_rebel) July 11, 2021
3. Well done Barnet Council, should be fun
Are you ready for Sunday night?
— Barnet Council (@BarnetCouncil) July 10, 2021
Watch England bring it home on the big screen in Victoria Park, Finchley! ⚽
England v Italy at 8pm - 11pm
This event is now sold out and entry is strictly ticketed.#discoverbarnetpresents #euros2020 #england #celebratesummersafely pic.twitter.com/KBu7heiIZh
4. Nice bit of local histroy
Happy birthday to East Finchley tube station, which was rebuilt in 1939 to accommodate the Northern Line, alongside the existing LNER line. https://t.co/wPE3Fh0FUk
— East Finchley (@EastFinchleyN2) July 3, 2021
5. Great to see live music back in Edgware
What an epic gig we had in The Three Wishes last night! And the craic just keeps on comin! Don’t miss The Quiet Men tonight (Sat 10 July) in Gertie Brownes, East Finchley from 9:30-11:30pm! Alternatively our Enda is in Buckleys, Queensbury from 9:30-11:30pm! #SaturdaySession 🪗🎸 pic.twitter.com/dyFlhOQS7m
— The BibleCodeSundays (@biblecodesunday) July 10, 2021
6. I couldn't not post this today. Great tweeting
The night before the 1966 World Cup Final, Sir Alf Ramsey took the England team to the Odeon cinema in Church Road, Hendon, to see 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'. They were staying at the Hendon Hall Hotel, and walked it. @movie_theaters image pic.twitter.com/5TuGYj2jtG
— NW London TimeMachine (@time_nw) July 10, 2021
7. Some rather sad news about a local celebrity
Apprentice star to miss next series after serious bike crash near Mill Hill home https://t.co/CdCxeduZm0 pic.twitter.com/rtgUlOBZ9M
— Inside Mill Hill (@InsideMillHill) July 9, 2021
8. Fascinating local history
US Founding Father visited Mill Hill in 1757 and 1767 to see his friend, the botantist Peter Collinson
— Mill Hill Hist Soc (@MHHistSoc) July 4, 2021
Collinson had supported his experiments with electricity and generously supplied Franklin's library in Philadelphia
Happy 4th of July! #IndependenceDay #FourthofJuly @BFHouse pic.twitter.com/aLU5trR5K6
9. Regular readers know we love a good local historical map
On the road with Samuel Pepys from the City, to Chipping Barnet, to Hatfield and back. Blog post introducing our new paper published in the journal Heritage: https://t.co/TWI4EuE3Ky@Heritage_MDPI
— Prof Laura Vaughan (@urban_formation) July 2, 2021
Image Cary’s Survey, 1790.https://t.co/xiGuFTwJGj pic.twitter.com/vekqmmNdNb
10. Congratulations to Mill Hill's finest studio winning a prestigiuos award
It's been a tough old year, but we are delighted to announce that we've won an award! The studio has won the award for most innovative music studio in the Greater London @SMENewsUK Enterprise Awards
— #MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) July 8, 2021
We'd like to thank all of our customers and friends who made this possible. pic.twitter.com/HCgp3jZoQU
That's all folks ! Come on England. We'll finish with a blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury (a role my mother always told me I was destined to fill when I was a nipper. Sadly she was wide of the mark on that one).
Prayers for @England and Gareth Southgate tonight. You've shown courage, resilience and compassion – on and off the pitch – and brought joy to millions.
— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) July 11, 2021
ps – It’s coming home 😉🏴❤️#ENGITA #ThreeLions
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I'll be 60 next year. I find it very hard to believe. When I was eighteen, I assumed that a sixty year old me would have long since put away the punk rock records, my hobbies would be fishing and sitting in the shed, I'd smoke a pipe and have the occasional tipple of whisky at the bowls club. There is still time, but the Damned are, much to my surprise, still the most played record on my turntable. To my surprise, I still play football, go to gigs, play in a band and feel as angry about injustice as ever. I have probably got a better sense of humour, am a bit less intense and am not so unforgiving of fools as my teenage self, but I feel very much the same person. As a result of being diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2011, I have a much healthier lifestyle than perhaps I would have had otherwise. It is ironic that cancer may even help me live longer. But the signs of ageing are upon me. Many of these I really hate, some you may find quite sad, some you may find quite amusing. Here they are
1. Waking up from a dream, only to remember the mate who you were having a great time with in the dream passed away many years ago. Two people especially come to mind. Paul Hircombe, who played bass with The False Dots for 28 years. Paul would have been 57 this year. Paul was what I describe as a quiet Hellraiser. He was a co founder of the studio, a great musician and at the heart of all of the best times of my life. When the band toured Sweden, when we made our finest recordings in the early years, when we played the Bike rally circuit, our triumphant shows at Dingwalls and The Moonlight club. But he passed with cancer in 2011. Ernie Ferebee, who was my studio partner from 1994 until 2001, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2001, was another pivotal character. Without Ernie, the studio would simply not be what it is today. Ernie was 14 years older than me, came in with a world of experience. He'd been involved with the band as tour manager in 1985 when we went to Belgium and was a massive figure. His Dad, Nod, had been an East End bare knuckle fighter. Ernie had driven overland buses from London To New Dehli. He was never phased and always up for a laugh. God do I miss the pair or them.
2. Not having my parents. My Dad died when I was 24 in 1987. It was a monumental shock. We had a tempestuous relationship. When I was small, we were inseperable. When I became a teenager, we could hardly be in the same room for more than five minutes. In November '86, we had our last evening together. Beers at the Services Club, a curry and then half a bottle of Scotch and a chat until 3am. My Dad told me something which it took me a long time to understand. He said that he owed me an apology. As a teenager, he thought I was a lazy bastard and a waster. It had taken him a long time to appreciate that my love of music was serious and not just and excuse to doss. He said that he'd come to realise that what had driven him mad was simply my determination to assert myself and do things to my agenda. I never saw him alive again, as he had a heart attack following an extended US holiday. As to my mum, she lived until 2008. She had a stroke in 2000 and the last years were difficult, but we became very close. My mother was plain speaking. She told me that she'd also struggled to even like me for many years. All of my siblings had always been quite respectful to her, I hadn't. She said that whilst she had hated this, as she aged, she realised that it wasn't disrespect, it was the fact that I simply wouldn't tow the line and go along with things. When my father died and she became more reliant on us to help her run the business, she realised that this was a quality, not a defect in my personality. I would take no nonsense from anyone who was mucking her around and I was quite prepared to be very straight talking. This resulted in a huge increase in the income she got from the business. She told me that my Dad would always make silly compromises to keep people happy. I didn't, although I was fair. She said that it had taken her a long time to appreciate this. I had seen and heard people think she was a soft touch after my Dad died. We soon corrected this. I miss them both, they both supported me unconditionally, even though they didn't really like me much sometimes.
3. Having arthritic knees. I love playing football, walking with the dogs and being active. These days it hurts pretty much all the time. But what do you do? I have decided to do all of them until I physically can't, even if it hurts. I once read about George Orwell, he said he'd had poor health all of his life, but this had been an incentive to do things when he could. He felt that if he'd have had rude good health, he'd probably have achieved nothing.
4. Having hairy ears. I have an irrational hatred of hairy ears. I'm not a super vain person, but this is one thing that drives me to distraction. It started a few years ago, when we went to Turkey. The barber shoved some green gunk in my ear, left it five minutes, then pulled it out. What emerged was like a hedgehog. The gunk pulled out had hundreds of hairs on it, all very ugly. I was horrified. Since then I've had a massive aversion to ear hair.
5. Friends moving 'to the countryside'. Over the last few years, ever more friends are moving out of London, for a quieter life and to 'cash in on the value of their house". I think they are mad. Why swap gold for lead? London has everything. I try and keep schtum when they talk about it. I quite looking at the ocean for ten minutes. I want to eat curry, go to gigs, drink peroni's at Bar Italia and drink beer at The Rake. My mum moved to Bournemouth after my Dad died, she was back within six months.
6. People expressing surprise when I tell them I still play football. This seems to happen all the time. The 'aren't you a bit old for all that' question is ridiculous. Why on earth should we stop doing something we enjoy just because we reach a certain age. Many of our squad are a similar age, one member retired aged 73 a few weeks ago. He only retired as he'd had a pacemaker fitted and the cardiologist told him it would be sensible. I've noticed that those that are still active look far younger than those who have sat on the sofa for the last 20 years.
7. Watching old comedies from the 1970's. These are almost invariably rubbish. These things that we had such fond memories of turn out to be completely unfunny and we wonder how we could ever have laughed. The fact that so much of our early lives was such tosh is something which troubles me.
8. Getting indegestion when I eat curry. I love having a curry and beer, but I do find that sometimes it gives me terrible indigestion. It never used to.
9. Not being able to wear the Ramones T-Shirt I bought at the Rainbow in 1977. In truth, it hasn't fitted for a very long time. But even if it fitted like a glove, Ramones T Shirts have become passe. It is a cruel irony that a band that had no commercial success have become a fashion icon. Having seen the band 20 or 30 times, it is just plain wrong.
10. My missus saying 'Grow up Roger'. This has become her catchphrase. In her head, I should be in the potting shed, football boots long ago hung up, pubs and currys a distant memory and the band playing elevator music jazz as people eat chicken and drink Pimms. I think she finds it hard to reconcile the fact that she's lumbered with a 58 year old idiot who hasn't realised that the sands of time have rolled in. In fairness, she's the one kept up when I can't sleep through bad knees, indigestion and frequent loo trips. She's the one who has to listen to The Damned on Xmas day at full volume as dinner is prepared. She's the one who is acutely aware that my Dad dropped dead when he was 69 and doesn't want the same to happen to me. So she's probably right, but don't tell her.
As you might have guessed, I had a dream about my old mate Paul Hircombe last night. As ever in these dreams, he's come back to rehearse and I realise he's dead. Here is his finest moment, he wrote this number. If you like mellow, guitar based instrumental songs, you may like this. One day, I may re-edit with a proper video
Rog: So what are the plans for Sunday and the match Fred
Fred: Well, I'm going to get up and have a nice big Full English breakfast.
Claudia: No you are not, you've got high blood pressure, you can have a nice Espresso and a fette Biscottali like you have every Sunday.
Fred: Then I am going to nip down and get a crate of Carling for the match.
Claudia: Oh no you're not, you know what the Doctor said about drinking, you can have a nice glass of Barolo, Italian red wine is good for the blood pressure
Fred: I think a good old fashioned English Roast beef dinner would also be fitting.
Claudia: What are you talking about, you know we're having chicken linguini and salad.
Fred: And when Harry Kane bangs in the winner, it will be the best night of my life!
Claudia: Only if sleeping in the shed is your idea of the best night of your life
Rog: So Claudia, what are your plans for Sunday
Claudia: I might get Fred a tin of Alphabetti Sphagetti so I can enjoy watching him eat his words at ten O'Clock (as she scowled menacingly at Fred).
Of course I will be cheering England on. I feel a bit nervous, if there was one team I didn't want to play in these finals, it is Italy. I love their manager Roberto Mancini, who took Man City to their first title in 36 years. I love the way Chellini plays the game, as a former centre half. But I want to see an England team with Stirling, Walker, Stones and Foden stuff them.
The strangest thing happened this morning. I got up with a hangover, having last night had a curry and then watched the match at The Mill Hill Services club. I probably had a couple of pints more than I should have. I'd left work, gone straight to the Mill Hill Tandoori to meet a couple of friends, then we adjourned to the club. It was a tense match and with extra time and celebrations, it was not an early night. When I got home, I had to take the dog out for a walk, so by the time I was in bed, my good lady was fast asleep.
This morning I woke up with a sore head, but in a happy mood. I shuffled down and had my porridge. We then took the dogs out for a walk over the fields at the back of the Ridgeway. To my amazement, my wife said "It was a good match, wasn't it". She has previously had zero interest in football. She then told me that the wife of the friend I had a curry and watched the match with, had asked the girls around to for a girls football party. Even more strangely, she then told me that they'd been winding one of the girls up as she'd put a £10 bet on Denmark.
If someone had told me that my wife would be at a girls football party, and winding her mates up for placing dodgy bets, I'd have thought you were mad, but this tournament has been such an amazing journey that I think we are all joining in. I know plenty of females who love football, have season tickets etc, but most in our circle have shown little interest and would rather chat in the kitchen whilst their partners avidly watched in the sitting room.
In part, I think it is the fact that England have an eloquent manager, who acts like a grown up and you can't help but like. Most of the squad are the age of our children and we have marvelled at how eloquent and aware the current brand of footballer is. I asked my wife what is different with this tournament and she said that the problem for her has always been that she associated football with 'sweary, sweaty blokes drinking to much beer". This generation, with players like Marcus Rashford, seem to be a little different. They seem to be using their position to show a degree of moral leadership. Twenty years ago, footballers all seemed to be about WAGS, crashing expensive sports cars and getting caught out for being drunk and cheating on their partners. There was little that my missus would see to admire in such people. We are a family with many sporting associations. My daughter was a national swimming champion, so we know what elite sport is about. My wife has always loved watching swimming and tennis, but until this tournament, football was not on the menu.
I think there was a key moment, when the world shifted on its axis. It is interesting to think that if Sam Allardyce had not been stitched up by The Sun, filmed drinking pints of wine, he'd probably be the manager and we'd probably have a very different team. That sliding doors moment has transformed England as a footballing nation.
It seems to me that football has brought the country closer together and perhaps healed a little of the divisions that have separated us. I think that it is probably too late, but I can't help but wish that we had a Team GB rather than England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. If the whole nation could get together behing our team, then it would be a really unifying force. Unfortunately I think there is now zero chance, with a Scottish Nationalist govt. To me, that is a real shame because I believe we are better together.
One of the things which I despair of is the number of people who cannot differentiate between stupidity and evil. In our world today there is an abundance of both, which causes us many of the problems we encounter. The reason we find it so difficult to address these problems is because so many of us misidentify the cause of the problems. Whilst the difference is quite simple to describe, evil people do bad things because they enjoy doing bad things, whilst stupid people do bad things because they know no better, there is a stubborn refusal by many to admit this. We see evil people willfully causing mayhem and label them as stupid, when in fact they are acting in a calculating and planned manner. We also see stupid people causing mayhem and label them as evil, because their actions cause mayhem. Evil people generally have an agenda for their actions, stupid people less so (although they may convince themselves they have).
So lets start off by properly identify what stupidity is, as manifested in human behaviour. It is taking a determined course of action, based on either no evidence or obviously flawed evidence. Generally stupid people form an opinion, and once they have made their mind up, will stick to their position regardless of sound evidence that they are wrong. Intelligence is by definition, the ability to change ones mind when presented with compelling evidence. In the modern, information age, it is possible to find evidence to support just about any position one chooses. It is the quality of evidence that is the key. Research for many has become watching youtube videos and reading conspiracy websites. People with proper qualifications and experience are treated with suspicion, whilst providers of questionable information with no scientific evidence are seen as trusted sources. A prime example of this was the belief that 5G phone networks were responsible for the covid pandemic. You don't see too much about this theory any more as the covid deniers have moved to pastures new. An analytic and intelligent mind welcomes challenging information and understands how scientific method works. They understand that the basis of science is studies, where theories are tested and verified by repeatable experiments, statistical correlation between cause and effect and peer review of results.Stupidity works on a different methodology, usually unverified anecdotes and unproveable claims.
With Covid, the situation is easy to understand. A virus can be observed, its effects monitored and the usefulness of treatments, vaccines, suppression methods measured and calibrated. The UK has had an efficient vaccination program, so we can see the effect of vaccines on hospitalisations and deaths. Other measures can be similarly assessed. It is perfectly sensible to challenge the methodolgies used, if you know they are incorrect. It is perfectly sensible to raise questions if there is something that seems to be incorrect. What I'd describe as stupidity is rejecting such studies with no rational basis, simply because you don't trust them. If you don't trust the science, then you are rejecting the same process that gave us vaccination that ended smallpox, diptheria, TB, etc. You may feel that the vaccines have been developed 'too quickly'. Bear in mind the first telephone was invented in 1920. The first iPhone was released in 2007. Look how that has developed. Technologies move more quickly. It is an iterative process, so each generation of development is more rapid than the previous one, as we understand the process better.
Finally it is worth remembering that even the brightest people do stupid things and make bad decisions. We are all prone to a bit stupidity. If we weren't the gambling industry wouldn't exist, and we'd all be eating vegan diets, as data amply demonstrates the sound logic in both cases. But that is not how we work as a species. So I am not saying I am in any way above a bit of stupidity.
Then there is evil. As I explained, stupidity is making decisions that fly in the face of reason, simply because one doesn't like the truth. Evil is a totally different thing. It is knowing that something is bad and doing it anyway, knowing it will harm others. It is the misrepresentation of facts, in the hope that other people will act in a way that is beneficial to the perpetrator of the evil. Evil thrives on the stupidity of others. There are two distinct types of evil. There is that which is undertaken for personal gain. Sadly this seems to often be normal human behaviour. We know something is wrong, someone will get hurt, but we don't give a damn and do it anyway. At least it is logical in that there is a clear purpose. The other type of evil is more pervasive. It is when people do bad things, just for the satisfaction of seeing the hurt it causes. Typically the people who perpetrate this type of evil are what we call psychpopaths, although many are very low level psychopaths. Often it can be difficult, if not impossible to differentiate this behaviour from stupidity as there is no gain for the individual beyond knowing they've hurt people. Often these characters embed them at the heart of what the more rational of us call crackpot causes. They recognise that there is a fertile community of vulnerable people, who can be mislead, exploited and taken advantage of. Such people rarely have any empathy with other people. They feel a great sense of superiority and entitlement and are never slow to explain how they are better than the rest of us. They are often quite feral in their behaviour. When they cannot defend their behaviour, they attack. They care not what they destroy in the process, even if their own reputation is a victim, as they care nothing for the view of others. Those of us who lack psychopathic tendencies, find it hard to comprehend the fact that they care nothing for the opinion of society.
We often are perplexed as to why such characters are so obsessive and so irrational. The on line world is perfect for them. They don't need to interact with what they see as real people. Whereas in the pre digital age, their behaviour would often end with a fist on the nose in the pub, safely tucked away in their bedroom, they can be as beastly as they like. When things don't work out as they plan, they become even more obsessive. They will invent new characters and new online persona's to rerun lost fights.
I was discussing this matter with friends recently. Some are horrified by some of the on line behaviour of certain individuals. For me, I am actually quite comforted. I suspect that if we'd had Twitter and Facebook in the 1920's, the likes of Hitler would have stayed in his bedroom and ranted to himself. A friend said he thought Donald Trump was proof I was wrong, but Trump predated Twitter and I think Twitter massively reduced the damage Trump was able to do. In a pre Twitter world, all of the energy he spent ranting on Twitter would have most likely been channelled into seeing his bonkers scheme's through.
These days it is unfashionable to believe in the Devil as the personification of pure evil. I am not going to speculate one way or the other about his existence, but I do think that if the Devil really were to exist, he'd hate Twitter. All of his biggest advocates seem to spend all there time typing pointless tweets, which the world ignores, in their bedroom. Those of us who are not stupid soon realise that such characters are best blocked and ignored. Those who are stupid, get enraged for a short while then move on to something else. They are not really that interested in checking facts, so once they find something else more interesting, they move on.
What would really worry me is when all of the evil genius's twig this fact and start re-engaging with reality.
