Skewed World View

This will not be a pompous entry on abstract issues of perception.

I wish to specifically talk about a person that I see frequently who has a world view that I think completely incongruous with her reality. On several occasions she has told me stories about things that have happened to her recently or in the past and I have found it difficult to hold my tongue. At the very least, I generally have the thought of: "That's just not true".

Her stories place her in a far more autonomous and controlled position than I believe she has ever really experienced in her life. She has told me about how she has stood up to bosses at work and others that have sought to take advantage of her. I have overheard one such exchange and know that she capitulates far more easily than she states. She also commits to things with a huge amount of positivity before inevitably backing out with an excuse which she herself sees as an aberration. It is actually the norm.

In some respects, there is no harm in this behaviour and we all engage with it. But I do believe that her separation from events has a negative effect overall. If she believes that she is conquering her problems when in actuality, they are conquering her then she is heading down a very bad road indeed. Perhaps I am giving her too little credit and she is well aware of this pattern and thus knows how to manage it.

Perhaps my view is the skewed one.

-The English Student

Silent Phone Hacking

The recent phone hacking scandal in the U.K. brings up an interesting question of self-reflexive visibility in the press.

I knew that phone hacking was a policy of tabloid newspapers in the U.K.. I have known for about two or three years that this was the case. I am not trying to create some kind of bizarre "I told you so" situation here or claim that I am some sort of whistle-blower. Instead, I would just like to point out that if I knew that this was going on, everyone in the U.K. government, press and police knew it was going on.

As more 'revelations' emerge, the it is increasingly unavoidable to posit an entire web of complicity and corruption underlying the phone hacking scandal. Everybody knew and everybody protected the deceit in order to hold each other up in this nefarious syndicate. This is even more obvious when off-the-record interviews are taken with people close to the press, government of police which basically state "Yeah, of course this was happening, it was normal practice".

It is striking that something so pervasive was the very issue not reported on by the press. Granted, some news outlets like The Guardian took a steps to warn politicians of the oncoming storm. However, I find it hard to ignore the idea that this was such a mundane, everyday occurrence in tabloid media that they themselves could not see it as news-worthy.

The entire situation is a mess and I hope it foregrounds how messy the politics/media/police relationship has become in the U.K..

-The English Student

Umbrella

I have never really considered myself an umbrella kind of person.

I would always have a hood on the coat that I was wearing when I thought it would rain or failing that, would just resign myself to getting wet. Umbrellas have obviously been in my psyche for my entire life, I just never considered them part of my direct experience.

Last week I ended up buying one out of frustration with unseasonable rain. It is definitely at the lower end of the umbrella spectrum and is liable to fall apart at any time now. That said, I have quite enjoyed its company the last few days. Holding it aloft feels like I am carrying some kind of shield that is light, flexible and as a side effect, keeps me dry.

The umbrella itself is such a standard symbol humanity. When I think of the icon in popular culture I'm drawn to My Neighbour Totoro, The Penguin from the Batman series, China Miélville's UnLunDun and even the name of the evil corporation in the Resident Evil games. They are one of those rare tools that have retained their usefulness since their creation and have silently covered the globe.

I suppose I do not have anything special to say about the item and instead am using this opportunity to address my previous negligence!

-The English Student

Music Circles

Various factors have lead me back to the very first album that I bought as a child.

I illegally downloaded (I figured it was okay seeing as I owned the cassette) Blur's The Great Escape and honestly did not know what to expect. I have not listened to the album in over ten years and much of what I listened to at a young age has been discarded as my taste developed. I really do believe that it has been a development and of course, no-one would claim that their taste is poor, I believe that I have come to enjoy increasingly creative, accomplished and well-crafted music.

The Great Escape really is still great. I can quite vividly remember lying on my bed with the cassette in my new walk-man and drifting off to sleep with it playing. I even remember buying it in the shop and the kind people working in there giving me a free box of chocolates. It really was an amazing beginning to my love of music. The album now carries this weight while still being a brilliant collection of music.

I wish that I could say such things about all of my music purchases, yet feel comfortable knowing that I had such a good foundation. I am tempted to take this opportunity to pan people (and one irritating person in particular) for their taste in auto-tuned, shallow nonsense that is surely written for children. However, my ivory tower is not so high and music is obviously related to taste.

I'm just glad that I like my music and not your music!

-The English Student

Sibling Rivalry

I had a pretty disturbing thought the other day: what if my siblings had been of the opposite gender?

A friend of mine was talking to her brother and I absently had a wish that I had one too. It seems like a common enough wish as there are inherent activities associated with siblings of each gender which you can supposedly miss out on. Video games are for brothers, doll houses for girls and that sort of thing.

My friend tried to comfort me that such thoughts were natural and maybe they are. However, I was still disgusted by this lapse as to claim that my siblings should be anything other than they are is both highly insulting and completely nonsensical. I have wonderful siblings and any change they could possibly make would be for the worse.

More than this, to claim that I missed out on any aspects of sibling activity due to their gender is also complete nonsense. The reason that I missed out on these activities with my siblings (and indeed, everyone else in my family) is because I have never put in the effort.

I can't blame chance for my neglect.

-The English Student