Susan Hated Literature

There are many little things running around my head. Like Black Books.^[1] My dislike of labeling.^[2] The sunny weather. The fact that I was stoopid enough to record the brand new Sharpe programme on ITV over the weekend, but then forgot about the second part. How Veronica Mars is all exciting. How Bones although light and fluffy^[3] it is still quite dark.^[4] How House is really good. Hmmm, most of these thoughts seem to revolve about TV. But there are others here. I swear. Books! and annoying students. And rugby. And taking time off. And, and and….

They are running too fast, I’ll have wait a while til they settle down a bit. At the moment, if you could see them, the thoughts would resemble rabid squirrels chasing each other round and round in circles. So fast they actually can’t be seen. So for all you know they aren’t really there :what: Yes, that makes sense. Of course it does.

Oh, which reminds me, must investimigate^[5] getting my paws on some more Fred Vargas books.

Oh, and that show on Bosco set in the garden, with the dog called Flaherty^[6] Remember him^[7] “woof” said Flaherty. And there was a cat and a magic crow? Cornelius?

Today’s insanities were brought to you by the letter hyphen and the imaginary number

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When I was at college, suffering through a year of shite in order to become a librarian, we were introduced^[1] to the world of classification, and language, keywords and descriptors. And how when you describe something you have to be accurate and careful in the language you use. You have to think about how other people might search. Extended terms, alternative spelling and all that sort of crap.

While messing about with the DDC a lot of people in my class complained about the fact that geographically Ireland was listed under the British Isles. I don’t really have a problem with that, because a geographic entity is not the same as a political one. But when Ireland is refered to as being British. Well, thats a whole different kettle of fish.

And so I must point the finger at the BBC America, who in attempting to help American’s understand some of the phrases used in their shows have launched this British American Dictionary.

And do they cover Irish terms? Of course. So already it should be British & Irish, but even worse than that, they’ve listed us as a region.

A region? not even a country, but a region. Whats that all about? The other regions are England, Scotland and Wales. How hard would it have been to ask people to chose a country?

Fecking gobshite eejits

And while I’m on the subject, is give out really just an Irish expression? Do other people not use it to mean complain too? Damnations, has this lying dictionary proved to be useful?

And while I’m giving out why can’t I manage to change my blogroll^[2] I mean, everytime I click on the link to Disillusioned Lefty I tell myself, must change that spelling, as I have an extra s in there. Yet I never do.

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There is this student at work who comes up and chats to me every now and then. He studying psychology, and philosophy and all that sort of rubbish, and usually that is the sort of thing he talks about. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but basically we talk about what is consciousnous, or god. You know, those big questions that you are never going to get an answer for.

And somehow I have ended up being the skeptic. I think it is my habit of disagreeing with people simply for the sake of it.
That isn’t quite true. I don’t disagree with everyone, but if some one says to me X is wrong when it is clearly an issue that cannot be proven then I am more than likely going to say no way, X is right. Because I don’t like when people think their opinions are right, and that everyone else just has to be persuaded.

And that probably ties in to my dislike of labels. I don’t think people fit into labels, and I don’t think there is any one answer to why things are the way they are.

Course, how this then fits into me taking the exact opposite stance I’m not quite sure. Because that means I’m doing the exact same thing, only in reverse.

Anyways, el studento is entertaining enough, and it passes the time. But I think he thinks that the answers I give him are what I actually believe. Which is amusing.

I am a skeptic of course. But I’m skeptical of anyone who says that This is TRUTH. I don’t believe there is one truth for everyone, and even if there is, that isn’t all that important.

If you cannot prove something is the TRUTH then it isn’t. That doesn’t make it wrong, or untrue. It just doesn’t make it the one and only way things could be.

Also, I have a tinfoil cut on my finger. You know the way you get a paper cut? Exact same, only from tinfoil. Honestly. Whats the story there?

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Okay, all joking aside lets look at the feminist debate going on at the moment.

I wouldn’t proclaim myself a feminist. But that has more to do with my dislike of labels than with any dislike of feminist theories.
As a 21st century woman, living in Ireland, it goes without saying that the feminist movements of previous decades have meant I have a vastly different life to what I would have lived even 50 years ago. But, from where I’m standing, feminism means too many things to too many people. For some it means nothing more or less than equality of opportunity. To others it means man-hating lesbians. Slight bit of a difference there I think.

In a way I suppose Sinead kicked the whole debate off, wondering about how many female Irish bloggers there are, and why aren’t there more. Saying that it’d be nice to see as many women blogging as men. And I agree, but^[1] I’ve never really paid attention to the sex of people I list in my links, nor those I visit. Many people take gender neutral handles, and so the question only really arises when I’m leaving a comment and don’t know whether to say he or she in reference to another blogger. At the moment the default assumption, out in blogland, does seem to be that if you don’t know, go male. But that doesn’t bother me, you can always correct someone later.

But what has really interested me is the reaction to UI’s post because I saw it as nothing but humour, and took no offence at his “anti-penile hysteria” and “Feminazis” simply because I read it as a joke^[2] But Sinead has a point in her recent post, that the language used in blogging about this online discussion is dismissive.

And I suppose I’m guilty because of yesterday’s “war” post. But then again, surely if you are confident enough in who, and what you are, then you can joke about it, and take terms that were once derogatory and offensive, and turn them into just words?

I reminded of when I was studying English at college and we were discussing some poetry^[3] which used very harsh terms to describe men, but if similar terms had been used about women, or a minority group, it would not have been acceptable. Not because of any PC issues, but because of the history behind the words.
They have baggage. The way whether you say Londonderry or Derry has baggage in other laces.

This, I think, is where the dislike of certain terms comes from. In the past women have been oppressed and the labels used then still have those connotations, they bring an assumption that women are not quite equal.

But if we are to truly be equal then we shouldn’t bring all that up. We should have the confidence to be able to accept it as nothing more than humour. Doesn’t mean you have to enjoy the humour. Just don’t take it so personally. There are far too many things in the world to get irritated over, why waste the energy.

Still, this whole debate, scattered over the web does make for very interesting reading.

Some of those participating: Realitycheck(dot)ie | Babblogue | Mental Meanderings | Broccoli for Breakfast | Sigla mag

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Was looking through the Times Literary Review earlier today at work and came across a review of The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin, edited by Christine Casey. Skimmed through it and read that Dublin is one of the greatest cities in the British Isles.

And I just couldn’t help it, my hackles went up, cause we aren’t part of the British Isles.

Only, well, we are. Because geographically speaking Ireland and Britain together form the British Isles. Still, if you ask most Irish people they’ll say that we aren’t, because of history and the political associations, and all that crap.

And I know this.

When we were studying the Dewey Decimel System a lot of people were giving out about various issues, and stuff that could do with updating, like the religions and why christian religions are quite prominent whereas paganism is relegated to something like the occult^[1] and one of the other complaints was regarding The British Isles. At the time I do remember saying that it didn’t really need updating because it was purely geographical. And yet.. still it rankles.

I blame brainwashing at school

Now, enough of this rubbish, go listen to Ricky Gervais’ podcast. Its frickin’ hi-larious.

- “If you haven’t bungee-jumped by the time you’re 78 you’re not going to do it, you know what I mean -”
- “Your hips’d come off”

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So I’ve discovered why I like Firefly so much. You know, apart from the storyline, characters and acting

Because the film is coming out soon, or is already out depending on where you live, there is a shit load of reviews and interviews floating around the web. And in one super-long, 9,500 word long transcript Joss covers a hell of a lot of subjects.

“I would say about the movie that it is very political, but it’s not partisan. And I think the curse, right now, of the politics of our nation is that a line has been drawn down the middle of our country — and that’s not actually how the human mind works”

Now obviously I don’t always dislike the whole good vs. evil storyline, otherwise I wouldn’t enjoy many of the fantasy novels that I read. But I do always prefer a less black and white viewpoint.^[1]

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So last week I was a socialist. Well today I’m a both a Liberal, and a Socialist. Isn’t life confuddling

Take the Moral Politics test. There are two options, a short two question test, and a longer “more accurate” one. Guess which one gave me which result

And in other news the Danish air force have paid out compensation to Santa after killing his raindeer.

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