My Little World10

ok, not a serious title really, feeling better than yesterday, spent the day buggering about in town and drinking

i think i have resigned myself to my fate, i don't feel anything for other women - physically yes (frustration etc) but not emotionally - hoping this view will be good for me

work is looming like a "big looming thing" (i refer to some comedy show i can't remember)

i am spending far too much time on this interweb thingy, have a geeky mate who keeps putting me onto weird sites with left wing views and the such like, as well as people who spend far too much time playing on photoshop

ok i'm going to pad - as a historian i feel obliged to write about that David Irving bloke in Austria, i do find it bizarre that several modern European nations have outlawed denying something, even it is something as evil as the holocaust, the evidence is quite obvious and i feel this guy was just shit stirring, no true historian could actally say it never happened, they can question motives and why etc etc til the cows come home but the evidence is too great, so while i don't agree with him i don't think he was sentenced for a fair reason (such as supporting and encouraging racist factions - which he did) i doubt many people would call for someone to be jailed for denying the crusades or any other event in history that involves suffering (it may be a good thing that i can't find an exact parallel, the holocaust was fortunately unique in my opinion)

i am an advocate of free speech - a person is entitled to say what they want, and i feel the only limit to that should be when it incites violence (and i'm talking "go kill the infidel" stuff here) - a view is a view, and i think it is a huge part of the core of western civilisation, i concede that americans like to censor a lot but freedom of speech is still a right there - i personally find it an insult that religious types/extremists (who are a minority - but a lot do condemn "stuff") dare to condemn what we say in our own country, fine if we actually insult their religion they can make a little noise, but they should take it on the chin, those cartoons were very minor, in a private newspaper in a western country, the christians might make a stink when the da vinci code is released but they won't do much - peaceful - i'm expecting no embassy burning over that

the cartoons were actually more about the fear of cartoonists of drawing mohamed, only one or two are actually considered offensive, which the media have picked up on, i feel the point of the cartoons is highlighting that fear - there is none when drawing god/jesus/pope etc satirically - i feel its time to stand up to the intimidation and protect our freedom (and as for the introduction of sharia law over here, dont get me started)

i do concede that as a historian i like to question everything and feel that everything should be open to criticism, otherwise we run the risk of returning to a pre-enlightenment style of being told what is right (ok maybe a bit over the top here)