Labi Siffre - Into The Light

IN THE NAME OF "AGNABOBBAL"

The Appropriate and Honest Response to “Does God Hate Queers?” is, “There Is No Evidence Of God”.

The question, “Does God Hate Queers?” is dishonest, cynical and dishonourable in that it attempts to give legitimacy to a lie: the lie that we know God exists. The religious speak of "religious belief" but demand that the object of that belief be accepted as a fact. Belief is not evidence. "But there MUST be a God" is not evidence of God.

God is wielded by those wishing to present an unimpeachable authority for their views, beliefs, actions, attitudes, politics, behaviours, discriminations, abuses, lazy reasoning. The audience are expected to respond with "Well, if God says it's OK ... it must be OK". Substitute "Agnabobbal" for "God" and the responses would be "What is Agnabobbal?" "Does Agnabobbal exist?" "Before you crucify this guy on the authority of Agnabobbal please supply evidence that Agnabobbal exists and is not just a cynical and lazy justification for you to do whatever you want with universal approval".

In the name of Agnabobbal I suggest a more rigorous and honourable approach to discrimination, reasoning, and morality.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p050zvxs

Delusions Of Grandeur

Contrary to Prime Minister Theresa May's Electioneering Comment, the 27 remaining EU countries are not "lining up to oppose" the UK's Brexit plans. They are sticking to the rules.

 

We joined the EU club because it is in our financial/economic interests in the tough realpolitik world of Economic Trade Bloc Muscle to be a member of the most powerful Economic Trade Bloc In The world: The European Union.

 

We are now leaving that club, weakening it (and primarily ourselves) while childishly, arrogantly demanding preferential treatment so that we be allowed to "have our cake and eat it too” regardless of the club rules and to the further detriment of the remaining 27 members.

 

What do we expect the EU to do? What would we do if we were in their place? Roll over and be defecated upon?

 

As we "take back control” as trade-deal seeking supplicants and proceed (with Boris Johnson’s approval) to cede sovereignty to Donald Trump's USA, the government’s preferred Brexit strategy appears to be Arrogance Without Shame . . . on a journey Theresa May, in the economic interests of the United Kingdom, in the EU referendum, voted against.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4510792.stm

 

Brexit: A Second Chance

Brexit: A Second Chance

In terms of difficulty, Brexit is not we, the British people, clipping our toenails. Brexit is we, the British people, performing open heart surgery on ourselves.

As that penny drops I hope that we, the British people, will demand and obtain a second EU Referendum based on a much more informed understanding of the incredible complexities of Brexit, the advantage Brexit will give to our enemies and competitors, and the disadvantage and damage Brexit will bring and do to our allies, to our children, to our grandchildren and to ourselves.

Donald Trump Is Not Mentally Ill ... It's Worse Than That.

To the Editor:

Fevered media speculation about Donald Trump’s psychological motivations and psychiatric diagnosis has recently encouraged mental health professionals to disregard the usual ethical constraints against diagnosing public figures at a distance. They have sponsored several petitions and a Feb. 14 letter to The New York Times suggesting that Mr. Trump is incapable, on psychiatric grounds, of serving as president.

Most amateur diagnosticians have mislabeled President Trump with the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. I wrote the criteria that define this disorder, and Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them. He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn’t make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose mental disorder.

Mr. Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy. It is a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump (who is neither).

Bad behavior is rarely a sign of mental illness, and the mentally ill behave badly only rarely. Psychiatric name-calling is a misguided way of countering Mr. Trump’s attack on democracy. He can, and should, be appropriately denounced for his ignorance, incompetence, impulsivity and pursuit of dictatorial powers.

His psychological motivations are too obvious to be interesting, and analyzing them will not halt his headlong power grab. The antidote to a dystopic Trumpean dark age is political, not psychological.

ALLEN FRANCES

Coronado, Calif.

The writer, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical College, was chairman of the task force that wrote the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (D.S.M.-IV).

An Eminent Psychiatrist Demurs on Trump’s Mental State

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Democracy Is More Than A Slogan

In a Democracy, those of us who are enfranchised (have the vote), whether we voted for the current administration or not, while not culpable of, are responsible for the policies and actions of our governments. That is the inherent collective responsibility imposed on us by the luxury we have of living in a democracy. In a democracy, if you have the vote, everything the government does is in your name.

Possibly the most uncomfortable consequence of this is that in a democracy, only those without the vote are "innocent civilians".

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Rome

Today
In the USA
Under Donald Trump
Plutocracy, masquerading
As democracy, is attempting
To hold its citizens hostage 
To fascism; and the people
Voted for this

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Christmas Celebrations

I don’t "celebrate" Christmas. I recognise it as a holiday and employ and enjoy it as such. Some years I manage cards and gifts (though not this year) but I don’t “celebrate” Christmas.

I do “commemorate” Remembrance Day/Armistice Day. If I’m at home on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month I have the TV tuned to the broadcast from The Cenotaph in London. I stand for the commemorative silence.

I like Christmas for the children with their presents for being good (even if they weren’t good all of the time; who is?) but Christmas as a reinforcement of the lie that is theism (the rejection of personal responsibility for our moral judgements) is for me, like all religious holidays, a reminder of our continuing betrayal of human potential.

Taking control means taking responsibility. The buck stops with the maker of the rules. Theism claims morality is handed down to us by God. Theists claim God makes the rules. Theism is the mechanism by which theists shift the responsibility for our moral judgements from our shoulders to the imagined shoulders of God. That process is "the rejection of personal responsibility for our moral judgements".

Dinosaurs existed for 175 million years. Anatomically modern humans (the sub-species Homo sapiens sapiens) have existed for 200,000 years. Hopefully, within the next 200,000 years we will have gained sufficient courage to celebrate human potential by universally accepting personal responsibility for our moral judgements. That celebration I would happily be part of.

 

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The Kids Have Dreams

A new Video by Labi Siffre

 

 

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Both Collocutors Disabled By Cloth

I tweeted this question
In twenty eleven
It got no response

Still the question remains
The answer clear and clearly terrifying
For those who impose the clothing

The question is:
Concerning the human race
What is the function of the human face?

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defini…/english/collocutor

 

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The Thorns Of Democracy

Is it not the Democratic duty of a Sovereign Parliament to vote on whether to follow the (not legally binding) opinion of a referendum?

 

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Brexit Belief

We have yet to recover from the 2008 crash.
Austerity is still with us and shows little sign of evaporating.

Yet, we'll renegotiate 43 years of deals, intertwined business protocols and complex procedural arrangements and recover from Brexit smoothly, quickly, easily?

I don't believe it.

I vote to Remain. 

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The Evening Of The Day Jo Cox Died

"Britain first"
"God is great"
Patriotism
Theism
Scoundrels
Refuge

Penultimate
Ultimate
Radical? No.
Old as a lack of
Courage

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For The Orlando Dead - June 12th 2016

Fifty, yet, dead; a coward
Inspired by craven belief
Killed them; if
Angels exist they shit
In his mouth

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Rupert Murdoch - A Palpably Powerful Political Activist

As this morning on Sky News "Murnaghan" when TV media gives Brexit the last word remember this:

Life Goes On

From far and wide
Concerned friends,
Family and healthcare
Professionals advised him
"Strychnine is lethal”
“Nonsense” he poo-pooed
“You’re scaremongering!
Threatening, bullying!
Don’t tell me what to do!
Cast aside project fear
Be positive, optimistic
I'm the fifth healthiest person
In the room!"

We didn’t go to his funeral
As far as we know no one did
Times were tough
They're tougher now
Especially for the kids

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Muhammed Ali - Farewell

Farewell Muhammed Ali
You chose your name
And label

Despite white cowardice
You stung like a bee, and
Encouraged me
To be Me

Thank you
Muhammed Ali

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The Difference Between Atheism & Theism

Atheism is the acceptance of personal responsibility for your moral judgements.

Theism is the rejection of personal responsibility for your moral judgements.

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What The World and Homo Sapiens (humankind / hu-woman-kind) Needs

In these serious times we need folks striving to build on what we know rather than an overwhelming majority hiding behind what they believe.

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I Remember When Santa Was Fat

Ahh, the cuddly times.

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Now I'm also on Facebook

www.facebook.com/labisiffre

Paris Attacks 13-11-15

The lie of killing for God
There is no evidence of God
No murderers no murdered go to heaven
Nor to hell
No martyrs, no heroes, only corpses.

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A Small World

The young man shares

With us the sadness of his life

His story brings tears to my eyes

Dissimilar to mine it is the same

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At The Border

As Hungary forgets the revolution

World War Z progresses

I recall “Go back where you came from nigger!”

But Hammersmith isn’t Syria

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God Is The Last Refuge Of A Scoundrel

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I Can't Breathe

I Can't Breathe        I Can't Breathe

I Can't Breathe        I Can't Breathe

I Can't Breathe        I Can't Breathe

I Can't Breathe        I Can't Breathe

I Can't Breathe        I Can't Breathe

 

Eric Garner "didn't deserve to die"

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