Friday 22 July 2011

I have just watched the BBC news, needless to say that the Newspaper scandal is still high on the list of items, and now it appears the media, the BBC TV news included is out for as much blood as they can get. It is interesting to note that where they are pushing for top policemen and our prime minister to accept responsibility for the appalling behaviour of the media, have we ever seen a news reporter or a TV reporter resign because they have got something wrong? Have we seen them apologise to accusing, lets mention Spain in the recent Salmonella scare, no we haven’t. I loathe the way the media, all of them, apparently feel they can run the country. There is an aggressive bias in the way the TV people interview subjects, there is a complete lack of compassion, or understanding that very often humans in all walks of life will make mistakes.

Regardless of the knock on effect of this mess, the responsibility for the initial disgraceful behaviour, the spying, phone hacking and bribing, lies firmly and squarely with the media. At the moment the Murdock empire is taking the blame, but I very much doubt if it stops just with his newspaper group.

I remember seeing on the TV news many years ago a camera man filming a woman who had just been taken in to see her husband, or relation had survived one of the ferry disasters, now he was there filming it – by chance? I don’t think so! So you can pretty much bet he knew before she did, and he was there as a voyeur to spy on the event. I was disgusted, as indeed I am when I see the media like a scurrying horde of ants over powering an animal and killing it, chasing after people to get a picture of them in their car fleeting away, are we such awful creatures that we need this rather poor picture of whoever the person is who may in the end turn out to be completely innocent. I have no affection for Mr Murdock, but do we really want or need to see an old man buffeted, pushed and shoved by the media desperate to get a picture.

I believe that the media, all of them, need to stand back and have a good long look at themselves and their behaviour and remember that sadly they do have far more power than they really deserve. Therefore they should treat that power with respect, honour and decency, none of which has been very evident in their behaviour during my life time, and which is rapidly getting worse.

One of my staff just sent me this!

In the queue at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator or lift in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. We were also not an overweight lazy bunch of humans because of it.

But he was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappy’s because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that was right we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them before we had paper throw away ones?), not a screen the size of Wales .
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used a padded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised and kept fit and lean by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But he's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a tap or water fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water, and amazingly we survived without carrying drinking water we drank when we were thirsty! We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got blunt.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the train or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service, which causes a nightmare for those trying to get to work, and keeps our children fat. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. We even had enough brain to use a map.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Interesting eh?

Oh and two other things, yesterday I drove along the M50 - very slowly - not through choice, but because there are 7 miles of roadworks along there. Every so often we passed a sign stating that the road was closed for the safety of the workers - WHAT WORKERS!!!!!!!!! in seven miles a friend who came the other way earlier saw none and we saw (we were counting at that point) two people, one driving a truck and the other playing around with cones, and that ladies and gentlemen was all being done with your taxes!! As for the idiot driving the Asda lorry at 10.30pm on my return journey, thanks whoever you are, at least I had no chance of being done for speeding, we never even got to 40 mph!

My last beef today is the price of fuel on the motorway, I was staggered to pay 10 pence more per litre than a garage I had stupidly passed the previous day and not thought about filling up. Why are these places allowed to charge so much more and don't tell me its because they are on the motorway because they get a ton more customers by being there, it is an undiluted rip off and I hope they get ripped off in the same way!

3 comments:

Mike Willis said...

You certainly brought back lots of memories from 'back then' I think we recycled almost everything, and most things where bought just in a paper bag unlike today. Well done you for making such a very good point.

sue hyde said...

sorry mima but if the road was down to a single carriageway, the asda truck was by law restricted to 40mph. love the 'back then' email

Jemima Parry-Jones MBE said...

Ah but Sue, I would not have minded if he had been doing 40 mph, however he never got near it!

Hello

I have to say that keeping a weblog can at times become compulsive and at other times a chore. Sometimes I am berrated for not keeping it up and sometimes I get wonderful comments from people who follow the news of the Centre.

It is fun to share the daily goings on here, some good and some bad, some funny and some sad, but all a part of our daily lives.
And as I said before its a pretty cool to be here and it is a great place to visit, you should try coming and watching the birds and meeting the staff and of course the dogs.

An interesting video on Lead

An interesting video on Lead

I find it staggering that people who want to hunt don't see the value in changing their ammunition from lead to a safer product. We have stopped using lead in petrol, in paint, in our water pipes, but they still want to use lead - ah well, apparently eating it not only kills birds but leads to reduced intelligence in humans......................

NO ONE is asking you to stop legal and genuine hunting, they are just asking you to change your ammunition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHZGQ8i8AwI

HC

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