This will have been one of your Earth 'weekends'.

[davywavy]

There isn’t a single major muscle group in my body that doesn’t hurt in one way or another. I have a string of bruises all over my body, and I think that the sore spot on the back of my arm is probably a cigarette burn.
I love going clubbing.
So, Manchester for a weekend. Some things of note – firstly the pro-war march on Friday by what appeared to be the entire Iraqi and Kurdish population of Manchester. It was wending its way past the Students unions when I saw it, and the looks of astonishment on the faces of the passing students was amusing, to say the least. Even more amusing was the “Socialist Worker” seller (Headline: “No to war on Saddam”) getting cornered by a couple of angry Kurds whom, as far as I could make out, had lost family members to Iraqi mustard gas attacks a couple of years ago. They were, unsurprisingly, not very impressed with the message the SW was putting out.
Didn’t do the all-nighter on Friday, but off to Rockworld on Saturday where they’ve opened up the fourth room for the first time in years and stuck the Goths in there, making room for ‘Skate/Obscura/Emo’ in the back room instead (Gosh, I bet raggedhalo is kicking himself for not going now). Plus of course the fine Angus Young lookalike, complete with school uniform & devils tail. It makes me think the next time I go out I ought to wear a vest and a flat cap…
Then on Sunday hefty walking round Alderley Edge, where the wench got the bright idea into her head that climbing up the edge would be a cracking wheeze. By the time we got to the top I was too knackered even to beat her for this one.
And so home again home again jiggetty jig.

Addenda!
driving through the dodgy outskirts of manchester, I couldn't fail to be tickled pink when we drove past a 'massage parlour' (yeah, right) which had a sign in the window: "Back entrance now open".
Made me laugh all weekend, that did.

Comments

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the massage parlour :)

[ex-boog351.livejournal.com]

Even more amusing was the “Socialist Worker” seller (Headline: “No to war on Saddam”) getting cornered by a couple of angry Kurds whom, as far as I could make out, had lost family members to Iraqi mustard gas attacks a couple of years ago.

When I first went to University, SWSS were offering more or less the same anti-war arguments as they seem to be now ... Its all about Oil ... they got their weapons from us ... innocent people will die. I was fairly close-minded about things at the time, and was quite shocked at what I thought was naivety on their part. I saw things in fairly simplistic terms: Kuwait needed to be liberated from an aggressor - end of argument. To me SWSS were just rebelling for the sake of it

As I got older and wiser (and balder and fatter) I began to see the complexities of the world in which we live, and to see that using simplistic arguments often failed to give an accurate understanding of the world in which we live. Yet looking back on it, the points SWSS made were valid ones, and absolutely need to be accounted for in any serious discussion of whether or not we go to war.

Back then, I think the first Gulf War was necessary. And I think this one is too, though there are many complex arguments both for and against. I imagine the vendor is an intelligent idealist who firmly believes in his convictions and principles and that the impending war is totally unjust. He's probably given more thought to the subject than I had back in 1990, but does he really understand the way SH has brutalised his own people and the threat he poses to the region and to the world if we let him rebuild his military and continue his WMD programme? I hope those Kurds made him think.

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[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I enjoy arguing with people like that, not necessarily because I even disagree with all of the points they're making, but because I know from experience that by and large student groups tend to be full of people who sit round reinforcing each others views with no intelligent argument against the commonly held truth of that group.
I see it almost as a requirement on my part to make people understand that there are valid arguments against pretty much any commonly accepted wisdom.
Plus, of course, I'm a contrary bugger and I enjoy it.

I'm half tempted to post up on here my 'Party invitation' that I posted up around the students union the day before gulf War 1 started :)

[susanofstohelit.livejournal.com]

I see it almost as a requirement on my part to make people understand that there are valid arguments against pretty much any commonly accepted wisdom.
Plus, of course, I'm a contrary bugger and I enjoy it.

I do the same thing, albeit mostly in classes. Lately I've started playing the extreme conservative (in terms of political philosophy, not actual politics), asking my classmates questions that won't be addressed if we stay all politically correct and more-liberal-than-thou. Like "why shouldn't the US be the global hegemon?" it's fun.

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[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Great, isn't it?

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[ex-boog351.livejournal.com]

The big mistake they made was spending too much time ranting and preaching that they forgot the talking and listening part. That's just a common failing of politicial idealists, and though there are some who like a good argument, there are others who feel threatened by others' views and resort to retreating into groups where they can preach their mantras to one another and work out how to convert the great unwashed.

I don't remember you Party Invitation, though I can imagine it was a tad provocative!(?)

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[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I agree, which is the part that irritates me. People who can't see that there is more than one point of view are wrong wrong wrong, and political extremists should be shot.


"Saddam Hussein invites the rest of the world to a beach party, barbeque, knees up and heads down! Tonight!..."

Provocative? Me?

[weejock.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Somehow work is so much brighter.

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

Remind me, what was the bet between you and Zack ([Unknown site tag]) about whether there would be a war or not?

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[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Double or quits on a fiver, no war before April 7th.
Looks like I may have missed out on some free money then.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

"Skate/Obscura/Emo" sounds like a more appropriate room description than puddingcat's. Something I would expect raggedhalo to mosh around in.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

*nods*

You'd not be wrong, either...

*grin*

Re:

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

But Nooooo, you wanted to go and party....