Friday 20 July 2012

Bring me my Arrows of desire




This clip. Have a look. It comprises an impressively large number of things I can’t fucking stand. The petty middle-class jingoism we English do so very well. Hyper-idealized cod-religious guff about a place that never has and never will exist. Smug, self congratulatory pride in an idea which is well past its prime, if you can count centuries of subjugation and conquest as ‘prime’. Small minded, Little Englander parochialism played out in the faded grandeur of an empire which was obtained, like all empires, through the murder and exploitation of millions.


Was the holy lamb of god on England’s pleasant pasture seen!

Of course he fucking wasn’t. He was from Judea, in as much as he existed at all. The myth-making here is so desperate, so blatant. That big old gap in Jesus’ life story conveniently lets people make up whatever crap they feel like, all the better to claim some spurious connection as the ‘true’ chosen people.

At least try to stick to the story. You don’t get to fill in the gaps with whatever you fancy (there’s a can of worms, right there).


And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Jerusalem has caused enough problems in its present location. Just leave it where it fucking is. People in the UK have enough genuine reasons to harbor grievances; we really don’t need any more, thank you very much.

Just look at those twats singing. The moronic pride in a wholly confected idea. The imbecilic attempts at ‘humour’ playing into the dumb trope of the English Eccentric. That’s not eccentric, that’s just stupid. Take off your shitty little hat, and stop it with the ridiculous over-enunciation. But then what have you got? Nothing except a belly full of cheap lager and a crappy novelty bowtie.


I will not cease from Mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem, In England’s green and pleasant land.

This is a song espousing ideas which are complete anathemas to me. It's an empty symbol invested with unwarranted meaning by a bunch of cunts I’d cross the road to avoid in real life. It’s a combination of so many things which keep us anchored to a time which never existed, which never should have existed, and is a paragon of everything which prevents us from moving forward as a people, as a nation, and as a species.



Every time I hear it I get a lump in throat.

It’s my home and I miss it. I grew up in one of the greenest and most pleasant parts, close to the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Even the dark satanic mills have resonance for me. I should hate Jerusalem, but I can’t. The call of home is too strong. For all that I talk about seeing things rationally, and not taking symbols as more than they are, the heart pulls in ways the head can’t control.

Japan is my home now, but it’ll never be Home. And I know that that’s also a place and time which doesn’t exist now and never really did. So sue me. It’s beautiful and it’s mine.


11 comments:

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  2. 'Home' is an idea unmatched by reality. The 'Canadian' experience is more often high-fructose corn-syrop induced road-rage amidst acres of suburban sprawl than it is the life of 'les couriers des bois'. And as for the British 'home', for my father it was a coal-choked Yorkshire mill-town where the skies were only getting cleaner because the jobs were leaving, but not before he had got asthma, eczema and allergies. Incidentally, the moors are the result of raping woodlands and letting sheep lose on them to destroy an emergent endemic growth, as you probably know. And Japan? Japan! All that hagakure nonsense was just propaganda for the usual rapine of warlords.

    You can tell me to 'fuck off', but weren't Blake's "dark satanic mills" churches?

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    1. All of this is true. None if it lessens the emotional impact, more's the pity.

      Dunno about the churches. Mostly of the stuff I've read have taken it fairly literally as being about the industrial revolution. That said, Blake was never that linear at the best of times, so it could well be true.

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  3. "Jerusalem" the hymn is a powerful symbol, built from symbols.

    Like any symbol it can be interpreted in various ways by different groups and audiences.

    We can adopt a symbol for our own purposes without being slaves to the original symbology.

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    1. Oh, I agree completely.

      It does beg the question though; at what point do those personal interpretations diverge so far from their original meanings, or even their most commonly accepted meanings, that they lose that meaning?

      To go straight for Godwin, what if all a swastika provokes in me is fond memories of a seaside family holiday? Ice creams, donkey rides and so on?

      Don't know where I'm going with this, really. Probably best if I just stop now...

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  4. Home is where we learned to dream big. Unfortunately, for most, it's also where big dreams were crushed. But, home will always be home, for better or worse...

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    1. I was fortunate to get away without any serious crushing, but yeah, for better or worse. No doubt.

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    1. And did those feet in ancient time... William Blake. Read through the 'critical analysis'. Anything that merits one of those has got to be important. Kind of like the Japanese flag, unofficial until recently,
      party over...oops, out of time.

      By far, for some odd reason, this has been the most interesting post for me. Reference to Auguries of Innocence just showed up in Time, thanks to a Grossman.

      Partly due to your post, I'm seeing technology as a way out of the so-called Matrix. Instead of plugging into a virtual reality (through games, mindless entertainment, etc.), reality is becoming vastly more interesting than it ever has been before.

      Trippy, isn't it?


      Ok... think it's time to go.

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    2. No, stay. That's just some of the local good humour we're all so keen to showcase to the world over the next fee weeks...

      Reality is, largely, what you make it. Nothing 'virtual' about it unless that's how people perceive it. Or want to perceive it. If you don't actually open the box you'll never know if you're right or wrong. Do you think Pandora liked cats?

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    3. Local humor... have yet to watch anything. But just might, spouting seemingly useless 'wiki-facts' while reading epic poetry... as the Will of Zeus is done.

      There's that 'cat' reference again. Never aardvark or
      chauhauha...

      I am not going to speculate. However, this should be interesting.

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