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Showing posts with label commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commentary. Show all posts

The A-Hole Theory. Is it accurate?

 

Hear me out.

20% of people are arseholes.




Another 20% are pretty great people. They'll help out others. In fact, they'll go out of their way to help others. These people keep society going. They often end up in careers that help others, but not always. And not everyone in those careers are decent either. But still, they're awesome and they balance out the arseholes.

The other 60% are just doing their own thing. They're not arseholes. Nor are they particularly great people but they're not bad. If asked, they'll help someone out. But they won't go out of their way without prompting, unless there's something in it for them, like recognition. They're just focused on themselves. 

Some people are just plain stupid. Yet, they still fall into one of those categories. 




I've had this theory for about thirty years. Many creatives are great observers. Writers, artists, musicians. A form of philosophy. How else can they reflect society in their art? 

It's a theory of generalisation and there will always be exceptions. It also depends on the culture. Some societies are very people/family orientated. Others are more 'it's all about me.' Especially in the West. 

China is interesting. It's both family orientated and self-serving. Walking on the streets there, people did not look at each other and would happily walk into you without a glance if you were in their way. (Just try getting off a train or bus without a crush of people wanting to get in first).

It's a little different in the workplace. There's a hierarchy and people behave differently than they may otherwise. Some have agendas. Some will do anything to get ahead. They will kiss arse and betray others. That's the 20%. Still, it's not quite an equitable playing field.




Same with locality. Country vs City. Even the suburbs are different. Example, it's well known that people in the upper class suburbs are less charitable than those in the low socio/economic areas. Yet in the poorer areas is where the most crime occurs. (The poor stealing from the poor).

On the average, across society, the same principle applies.


20 / 20 / 60. What do you think?

This subject must interest me because my two novels are about arseholes and narcissism. Lone Wolf World and Perve



A.J. Langford Books


Love to hear your thoughts on this one!

Great quote but no one listens to advice, much less change themselves.
People cannot escape who they are and will continue to do as they always have,
no matter if they're arseholes or not. 


What people aren't saying about Amber Heard


 "Everyone in the world is lying, except moi."
 



What people aren't saying about Amber Heard.


Amber Heard has revealed herself to be a complete narcissist. Unable to accept any responsibility for any of her actions and words and blames the entire world rather than herself. Johnny Depp. His fans. Men. The 'patriarchy.' The lawyers. His and hers. And the ones initially used to approve the Washington Post article. The police. Social media. The jury. The media. 'Paid' campaigns against her. And she covers her lies with more lies. She can't stop. Nor will she. This is what narcissists do. Any attention is good attention. We know this now.



'Forget evidence. Just believe me!'


Yet, it wasn't long ago that most people believed her. They believed that Johnny Depp indeed was an abuser. His career and reputation were destroyed while hers went on. What is really telling is that at no point, was there any evidence of her being abused and yet there was evidence of her abuse, in the infamous audio recording. 

"Tell people you are a victim of domestic abuse and see how many people believe you."

If not for that recording, Johnny Depp may still be viewed as a perpetrator. 

Why then, in the face of such polarizing evidence, was she believed and not him? Simple. She's a woman and he's a man. Read this crap article which shows the type of bias against him. "Nicki Norman, chief government of Women’s Aid, stated: “The allegations of home abuse towards Johnny Depp had been extraordinarily severe. Everybody who has skilled home abuse deserves to be listened to and believed."

Here's another pro-Heard article, from that great woke monstrosity, the BBC. 


Many are now saying, rightly so, that she has done a great disservice for domestic abuse victims. But where were these people when it was so obvious that Heard was lying for years? They stayed silent. Or contributed to ensuring others stayed so. Many supported her. And still do so. Hollywood was another. Shame on them. They should publicly apologize for deliberately destroying his career after he made billions for the industry over three decades. At least. 




Amber gets in with the right crowd

There's a lot more to it than the Washington Post article. She had already aligned herself with several women and human rights groups, bolstering the notion that she is a victim. She filmed a commercial for the GirlGaze Project as a 'victim of domestic violence,' in 2016, two years before the infamous article.

She was able to bolster her public standing, her career and become a 'hero' while doing it. All based on her word only. No wonder people bypass the judicial system the way they do.

Even the judge in the UK Sun trial found her 'credible' in regards to her testimony on the abuse and that she would pay the money she pledged (which she still has not).

Now we know that Heard is unhinged. She's been caught in far too many lies. But she's hardly the only one. Unfortunately, there are many people out there with an axe to grind. The classic, 'get back at the ex syndrome', which is what this case is. These situations should be played out in court or not at all. Certainly not in the realms of the media and social media. Companies and society in general should follow the policy of the law. That is, a person is innocent until proven guilty. The reverse has been true for far too long. Rather than report an incident to the police, people will go to the media. It pays better and has far more positive outcomes. 


'Woman of Worth'


Victim credits

For years now, those who publicly decry themselves to be victim are treated with public sympathy. And a whole lot of attention. Unfortunately, narcissists, which social media encourages, have lined up to get a slice of the popularity pie. All you have to do is write it. You don't have to prove it. Much of the me too movement was the same. Anyone can write five letters. And there was no distinction between a serious assault and a look. 

It extended until all women were victims and all men perpetrators. Any sort of alternate viewpoint or even a defence, such as 'Not all men', was branded as sexist. It's a lose-lose mentality. And this is what led to a giant demonizing of all men. It got to the point that men couldn't even defend themselves at all. Only women could do it, and are, because no one will listen to a man. Amber Heard certainly knew that. That's what people aren't talking about. The giant machine in operation that led her to become so powerful.



'Ain't popularity just the best?'




The end of Equal Opportunity

Unfortunately, this case won't change the tide in any significant form. It will rubber band back to how it's been for years now. Thee are too many powerful groups making a lot of money and getting more power in the process. Too many individuals are gaining from it. Like Amber Heard tried to do. And did do, for five long years. It's not about the plight of the downtrodden. Since when has power ever cared about those at the bottom? Never have and never will. Power looks after itself, no matter who has it. 

If Johnny Depp wasn't as famous as he was, he would have disappeared without a trace, his career, ability to earn a living, reputation and perhaps even freedom, taken from him based solely on a woman's word. The 'believe all women' edict has left a trail of discrimination and injustice in it's path. While good intentioned, it has gone too far. The media have fed the flames and self interested groups keep up the pressure. Companies want to be seen to be doing the right thing, only because they don't want to be seen to be aligned with anything negative, especially in regards to 'sexism', 'violence against women', 'racism' etc. so they simple cancel anyone who doesn't fit the mold. Innocent or not, it doesn't really matter.

It's really ironic as the people, media and groups who purport to be against discrimination are indulging in it themselves. And justifying it. There hasn't been such sanctioned bigotry for decades. You'd have to go back to the seventies or even prior to see it dished out the way it is now. It's become policy.


"I'm a woman and a lesbian! They can't touch me! ahhhahahaha"



Example, the Equal Opportunity Act was established in 1984, primarily to protect women from being discriminated against when going for jobs. (It followed the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975).

In just the past couple of years, they changed their laws so that they could employ people based solely on gender. After 35 years of protecting people from discrimination, now they want to indulge in it and pass it off as 'doing the right thing.' Forget education or experience. Now you simply have to be of a particular identity. Why bother to study or work hard at all? It's awful to even have to state it but it's widespread and simply unjust. It's legalized discrimination, all under the banner of equity. 

It's not just gender of course, but anyone who isn't white, straight or male. It began on social media with a vocal minority, many of them simple Marxists. Now people are scared of being ostracized so they're lining up to join in. 

Its no wonder then, that people like Amber Heard shouldn't try to rort the system to profit by it. It's been set up that way. She didn't even have to try. Self-interested groups and the media were all too keen to oblige her. This now populous ideology doesn't stand up to scrutiny but if anyone tries, they are censored. Cancelled. Ruined. The media have had more impact on our lives than we know.


In the era of social media driven narcissism and the mass medias need for more and more salacious content, there are many thousands, perhaps millions of Amber Heards lining up to take advantage. You might not know their names but don't expect them to go away.


'I'll be back.'


(Many points here really deserve to be expanded upon but there's simply no room. I have no wish to do more on this but it was worth doing one, as too many were looking to the person and not the system that helped create the situation).




Is he a PERVE? Or is there more than meets the eye?




Available through My Books or digital version via Amazon HERE





Not enough attention to Men


The Hidden Epidemic



It's Mental Health Week and yet there's not a lot of media coverage, particularly in the mainstream. (ABC2 has had some good programming). There's a hidden epidemic, that of suicide, particularly amongst males (75%). Despite much more awareness today, with help at hand, people and the media in particular, barely use the word at all. When I was working in News, it was policy not to report suicide stories. Do you think this is right? Should we be sweeping it under the carpet?


There are approximately 2000 men who commit suicide in Australia every year (2,292 in 2015). With a population as small as ours, its a shocking figure. It's bad for women too, approximately 700. (Overall in 2015 - 8.3 suicides per day). 

There is a lot of public awareness now regarding the rights of women, domestic violence, breast cancer etc. This is a great thing, yet there's very little said about men at all. Prostrate cancer kills more men than breast cancer does women. Yet, there's limited media coverage about it. One in three women suffer domestic violence in their relationships. A terrible statistic and its great to see commercials targeting this issue, and politicians talking about it. Yet, one in every second man is a victim of male instigated violence. One in three is also a victim of domestic violence. There is nothing said about it. (Excluding school yard scraps and bullying, of which there was plenty in both primary and high school, I've been assaulted twice as an adult, for next to no reason, other than the influence of alcohol. One assault in Ireland put me in hospital for a week).

www.oneinthree.com.au/malevictims







I feel sorry for young men today. They don't know what they're supposed to be. They certainly know what they're not supposed to be. Yet there's nothing that says, it's okay to be a man, to be masculine, to express your feelings etc. There's so much man bashing going on in the populous media and social media that even men are joining in simply to be accepted. It's political correctness with half a face.


It's not okay to hate on any race, religion, gender, sexuality, etc, though it's perfectly acceptable to bag males, particularly Caucasian ones. I don't disagree with any campaigns regarding anyone's rights but let's play fair and include everyone. Let's look after all victims of violence. Let's address all sufferers of cancer and disease. Let's not let young boys grow up feeling excluded from society. What's the fallout from that? More bitterness. More rage. More self harm, drug and alcohol problems and ultimately more violence. 

It's said that 75% of callers to LifeLine are women, yet its the men who are killing themselves. This strongly suggests that men are not reaching out, not talking about their problems, because men are supposed to 'cop it on the chin' and 'get over it.'

Men talking about any male related issues today can see them branded as sexist etc. There's still a stigma attached, in that it's okay to publicly ridicule men but not women. You can see that publicly, as one simple example, in the way sports commentators criticize male players during a sporting event but not female. 'Terrible play.' 'What was he thinking?' Many attitudes towards men, have simply not changed. Is it any wonder men keep quiet?


"... few preventive efforts or policies specifically targeting male suicide have been developed or evaluated, which further contri­butes to its lack of visibility as a major public health problem."    http://www.bcmj.org/articles/silent-epidemic-male-suicide     This is a very good article from a medical journal. Sadly it's five years old, which means nothing has changed.







Depression and anxiety does not discriminate. Yet men are often demonised for simply being men. They're caught between a rock and a hard place, having to take on gender guilt for the sake of a few bad apples. A lot of change needs to happen in our society. We need to stop referring to the races and sexes and peoples sexual choices as individual areas of concern, and start thinking about the well being of human beings in their entirety, from children to the elderly. This casual discrimination and ignorance must end.


(2021 Update. This problem is far worse now than when this was written in 2016. Every so called marginalised group is putting their hand up for attention, and getting it, and getting the funding, while men are at the bottom of the barrel. Particularly white men now it seems. A society is unable to function correctly with this type of discrimination. Reflected not only in suicide statistics but in declining relationships and birth rates. The ramifications affect everyone. This will not end well). 

****





In closing, I wanted to mention that the artistic world lost a great talent on Sunday the 9th of October, ironically during Mental Health Week, the death of 26 year old Fergus Miller from Melbourne. He had depression. He committed suicide. He was the creator of the band Bored Nothing, among other things. A very talented artist. What a tragedy.





This is an excerpt from the Triple J website:


On the eve of 2013, Bored Nothing scored a Next Crop acknowledgementfrom triple j and in August 2014, released a second album, Some Songs, (the first in 2012), which we featured for AusMusicMonth that year. 

Richard Kingsmill spoke to Fergus at the time, after he'd finished touring Europe, playing 26 shows in six weeks, discussing his influences and songwriting process.

"When I started writing music I was writing it was a lot more with rhythm than with melody and it took me quite a few years to get over that. I think once I really grew an appreciation for that kind of stuff I went back to my roots and listened to a lot of The Beatles, Velvet Underground & Nico, stuff like that." 

During his career, Fergus toured with internationals like Best Coast, Beach House and JEFF The Brotherhood as well as many locals that he struck up close friendships with, including John Steel Singers, Bleeding Knees Cluband Step-Panther.




RIP Young Man.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au

https://www.lifeline.org.au   13 11 14


One of my best friends committed suicide when he was only 21. 
I'm sure you know someone who has committed suicide too. 
Let's start talking. And let's start caring.