Baby Steps towards a “much needed reform” of the Roman Catholic Church.

Rome was built in approximately five hundred years of extreme labour, yet it only took six days and seven nights for this once great city to be completely engulfed in the Nero-induced flames to return to the ashes. The same concept can be applied to the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church, and now it is left to its new Pope to commence the reconstruction of his Church.

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of spectators cheered as a cloud of white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City – the traditional indication that the new Pope had been confirmed.

No more than an hour later, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aged 76, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was identified to the public as the new spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Unveiling himself on the balcony of the Vatican to the expansive crowds, Cardinal Jorge Mario presented himself as Pope Francis, after the St. Francis of Assisi, a humble friar and preacher who lived in poverty to serve his God, similar to that of Pope Francis’s previous life style.

Pope Francis has brought new excitement to the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, with a new heir of reform about him.

BBC reporter David Willey said that the 76 year old has already been swift to stamp his new style on the papacy.

Aside from being the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to become pope, he has also brought with him a new persona or ‘style’ – He remains Orthodox on sexual matters, however is strong on social justice.

According to Ms. Amborgetti stated “He is absolutely capable of undertaking the necessary renovations without any leaps into the unknown.”

“He would be a balancing force. He shares the view that the Church should have a missionary role that gets out to meet people... A church that does not so much regulate faith as promote and facilitate it.”

The Roman Catholic Church has suffered a severe and ironic lack of faith throughout recent years. Damage through the clerical sex scandal, internal divisions and ever reducing numbers of believers in parts of the world where Christianity was once prominent, has brought the Church into ‘a state turmoil’.

Pope Francis is seen as the redeeming force for the Church and its previous detrimental mistakes.

The extremely poor handling of the clerical sex scandal by previous popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II, where 200 cases of sexual abuse by members of the clergy were brought to media attention, has been noted as the Church’s most controversial and biggest downfall.

It is not possible to trust a pope who would attempt to cover up or ignore crimes of such unforgivable evil, an evil so contradictory of what the Church is meant to represent, for the safe keeping of the reputation of the Church.

One of the most prominent cases, the case of CardinalBernard Law, Archbishop of Boston and Archpriest of St. Mary’s basilica, has been labelled as a ‘paedophile-enabler’ through his attempts to destroy evidence of such disgraceful activities; the failure to protect children from known child molesters.

Now the mere mention of the Church evokes the memories of the vile misconduct of its previous crimes, which are heightened by the attempt to cover up its wrong doings.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has also been tied in with the sex scandal, when in 2012 his secretary was imprisoned for “stealing documents” which are said to have implied his complicity in the cover up of the paedophile priest sex scandal.

It has been said that the Church is in need of a hero unlike those Benedict’s or John Paul’s, who merely created this illusion of righteousness, the Church needs a leader who is less politically inclined and more focused on justice and morality.

Many have rejoiced in the ‘new style’ of Pope Francis, and see him as a reformist to not only rebuild the reputation of the Church, through higher transparency, but to adapt the religion better to today’s modern social climate.

Although Bergoglio is not seen as an extreme reformist, as he maintains his orthodox beliefs towards sexual activities. However he is the first out of 266 popes of his kind; he is providing the foundations for reformation. This may indeed be a slow process, and may not become evident in the near future, but it is important to remember that Rome was not built in a day. 

Pro-JONG Propaganda?
(Dictatorship vs. Illusion)

Former “Chicago Bulls” player Dennis Rodman appeared on ABC this Sunday to talk about his visit to the capital of secretive North Korea, Pyongyang. Viewers were shocked to hear him proclaim that he “loved Kim Jong” and went on to say that the diminutive dictator is “an awesome guy”.

Rodman, also known for his appearance on CelebrityBig Brother in 2006, had come back with a message from North Korea asking President Obama to “pick up the phone” and call Kim Jong to discuss the long standing dispute between the US and North Korea, which dates back to the Korean War of 1950 and which recently has centered around underground nuclear weapons production and testing. 

The retired basket ball star is now, being accused of spreading Pro-Jong propaganda in the US where only recently ex president, George Bush, had referred to North Korea as a member of the "Axis of Evil" and where there are fears of a nuclear attack. 

Temperatures have been rising with both South Korea and Japan who are Washington's allies in the region mobilizing their forces to counter a possible nuclear attack from Pyongyang.

What may confuse some is the outrage that is spurred in the fact that North Korea may be producing and testing nuclear weapons, when the US itself spent $35, 100, 000, 000 on nuclear and other weaponry in 1998.

It could be said that North Korean propaganda is in fact the mirror image of American spin and the question is sometimes asked, who is to be trusted; the bare faced dictator of North Korea or slick manipulators in the Pentagon and other Western defense establishments?

David Icke, English writer and prominent public speaker, most famous for asking the questions “who and what are really controlling the world?”, would probably argue that none of them are to be trusted.

In a summary of his famous speech, “Prisons without bars” in 2007, Icke said:
“One form of Dictatorship is being in a prison cell and you can see the bars and touch them. The other one is sitting in a prison cell but you can’t see the bars and therefore think you are free.”

Icke promotes the notion that in the West we live a delusion on freedom and democracy. Westerners are told time and again with almost hypnotic repetition that they are privileged when compared to benighted citizens of countries such as Mali, Libya, Madagascar, Egypt and a very long etc... Objectively it is hard to accept that our lives are as controlled as those of North Koreans, but Icke does have a point. 

Realistically we are indeed controlled by our governments, social norms, the media and powerful business to a greater extent than allows for comfort. Elected parties go back on their word, society and social norms inhibit those seen as “extroverts” or "free thinkers", the media feeds us propaganda, depending on their motives, and powerful businesses tell us what we need to survive in the modern world.

It is possible to go as far as even saying that in some ways, our governments are still oppressive, but we either too ignorant or too scared to fight back or even realize that we are being manipulated. 

Wikileaks notorious founder Julian Assange has been labelled by the American Government as the “enemy”, and all those who assist him in bringing valid yet ‘dangerous’ information on the government and its military policies are said to be assisting the enemy.

Is it coincidence that shortly after Wikieaks crossed "US policy" Assange was then accused of sexual assault of two women in Sweden. He is now living in a room in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The Ecuadorians clearly think that their American neighbors are pushing their weight around - something which most central American countries have been complaining about for generations. 

Do we not find it strange that a man who promotes our right of freedom of information, especially involving allegations of military and governmental misconduct, should suddenly labelled as some kind of crazed sexual predator? 

Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't. 

At another level we recall the tazing of student of undergraduate Andrew Meyer, 21, who had the temerity of asking the U.S. Senator John Kerry whether he was a member of the "Skull and Bones Society" – a secret society of students at Yale University which is said to be a club of the “Power Elite” who have been accused of plotting world domination.

The video below shows Meyer asking the fatal question, and subsequently being arrested and brutally tazered. Again this serves to demonstrate the sheer power of the Government and the severe repercussions of delving too deep into the hidden areas of power. 

Aside from Governmental dictatorship, we are also subdued to the invisible dictator which is the consumerist society. We have all been subjected to following social norms and main stream ideology. We see working class families, struggling to cope, and yet drive nice cars and use iPhone 5’s, why? Because they are told it is what they need and are squeezed dry to make profits for the multinational companies. 

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” - Frank Zappa

An Inside Look at North Korea - Vice Documentaries.

The Ebay Haunted Mirror

Joseph Birch, age 20, and Sotiris Charalambous claim to have found an antique  mirror which is said to be haunted by an evil spirit. According to a daily mail article which covered this story, Joseph and his flat mate would wake up in the middle of the night with stabbing pains and “covered in scratch marks”.

This story is relatively spine chilling, despite the fact that it is probably false and a clever marketing strategy designed to attract anyone interested in parapsychology and the supernatural world.

It is in human nature to be curious or even obsess about the supernatural world and what lies beyond death, as the prospect of a dead stop at the end of life goes against the humans struggle to find immortality.

This obsession is easy to take advantage of, clearly, as the bidding price on ebay for this ‘antique’, (a broken mirror found at the back of a skip), started at £100, with a warning attached “whoever buys it deserves to know”.

This story reminded me of the famous “haunted Ebay” painting, by Bill Stoneham, entitled “The Hands Resist Him”. This was a fairly ugly and creepy piece of work, featuring a little boy standing in front of a window where we can see hands pressed against the glass from the darkness.

The rumour behind this painting was that the boy would leave it at night, fleeing from the horror film-like doll which seems to be pointing a gun at him.

This painting, pictured on the left, was sold on Ebay for $1,025, and never heard of again. This clearly demonstrates my point that it probably was a clever marketing strategy which swindled some poor fool for a thousand dollars. 

              The "Haunted Sofa" by the Daywalt Fear Factory

The Harlem Shake

2013’s newest viral video featuring “The Harlem Shake” by Baauer has swarmed the internet like the Bubonic Plague, finally blowing Gangnam style off the map. We can all finally rest assured that the ‘musical’ act of terrorism they call Gangnam style will never be played obsessively on the radio or in night clubs ever again.

This God send by 23 year old Trap artists Harry Rodriguez, more popularly known as Baauer, has reached over 45 million views to date, and counting.

Baauer’s unique and extremely playful style of music, using a genre which is normally related to the ‘conventional’ sinister style of Trap / Crunk / Hip Hop, has been an incredible success and described as “irresistibly appealing” by online music site Pitchfork also seen as the Hipster Bible of music.

 However it seems that his musical talent is not the only thing that we can credit his high success rate to. A video, created by some genius teenagers, of a crowded room of people losing their shit to the song has become a viral internet trend, with Universities, Schools, Public Services and average people all joining in.

The up and coming musical style of trap seems to be making a hit world wide, pioneered by artists such as TNGT and of course Baauer, and possibly near changing the club scene as Dubstep a few years ago. 

In the Video below Baauer briefly talks about the Harlem Shake and his reaction to the sporadic burst of viral videos it seems to have inspired. Harry seems to be a bit uncomfortable in this interview, which I think can be put down the air head interviewer and her extremely obvious flirtatious behavior.

My Top 5 Harlem Shake Videos

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3)

4)

5)

What the Hell is Ask.Fm?

Following a recent drama which took place on Facebook today about a girl who "bitched" about another girl (are we meant to be shocked?) on www.askfm.com, I’m mortified to see the reaction of about 50 friends and acquaintances / people I actually don’t know.

Status upon status polluted my home page, all commenting on this ‘drama’ which is supposedly news worthy. In protest to this stupidity I refuse to give any examples of what has been said against this unlucky ask.fm user who thought it would be a good idea to insult people on a site which publicly publishes your “secret” answers.

Ask.fm is a website in which you sign up as usual, and are asked questions about yourself such as “who would you first call if you won the lottery?” and “are you the type of person with lots of friends or just a few close ones?”. Once you have answered these questions they are published and ‘friends’ can view the answers anonymously. This may seem like harmless and childish fun, however it is easy to see how these questions, and indeed their answers, can be very damaging depending on the way in which they are answered.

My question is how, in the race for new innovative ideas to create a new form of social networking or indeed, something completely new, are we lowering the bar? Or perhaps we are just facilitating the recreational needs of today’s society. However I find it very sad to think that something as trivial as this is what the public want. As seen on twitter and Facebook, it is clear to see that people give great importance to their daily lives, assuming each time that everyone else / their ‘followers’ will be interested.

I would say mind sets like this are built upon programs which glamorise fame and popularity such as “Made in Chelsea” and “The Only Way is Essex”. Despite the fact that I cannot claim to have never have watched and enjoyed these programs, I do think that they give a bad impression of how to succeed in life. For example, “The Only Way is Essex” portrays the life of young people who have made their success through their ignorance and eccentric / (to an extent) anti social behaviour. This is not how the majority of us will be able to make our name and money in life, but since we aspire to be like them we are convinced of the importance of our own personal lives. Or perhaps we struggle to reach the same level of recognition as these people.

But by giving out personal information like this, we are actually destroying our own privacy and the repercussions can be seen in cases such as the girl who bitched about other girls on ask.fm.

An Interesting Video on Facebook Privacy.

We are living in a time where privacy is almost nonexistent, and the stupidity / slip ups of our past (i.e. our Facebook activity, photos, comments, statuses) will come back to haunt us in the future. It has already been an issue of great concern that employers these days actually check our profiles to judge our character. On the 17^th of October 2012 a man lost his job at Ontario clothing store after posting an offensive comment on Facebook about Amanda Todd. People are even being sued over Facebook and Twitter comments, the internet is no longer a place of freedom and lawlessness; we now have laws in a virtual, almost nonexistent world. Even Obama has administered a law against the editing of a photo which was released of him shooting a shot gun. The internet is clearly going through a change, bringing a new definition to the word “public domain”.

We should all be wary of the long term repercussions when deciding to join needless, trivial sites such as ask.fm, as clearly the negatives will outweigh the positives in the end.

 Spanish / Gibraltarian conflict

There has, for a long time been great tension and dispute between Spain and the proud British independent colony of Gibraltar. Tensions have increased further recently, despite little media coverage in the United Kingdom, due to the regular Spanish incursions into the territorial waters of Gibraltar. The most unnerving case - the unauthorised intrusion of two Spanish Naval vessels, heavily armed with guns, into the territorial waters of Gibraltar on the 10^th of December 2012.

Mr. Stewart told MP’s during an emergency meeting “May I gently remind the house that an illegal incursion into British Gibraltarian sovereign waters is actually, technically and act of war?”

Had Britain been under the same heavy handedness of Thatcher and had the circumstances been similar to that of the Falklands war, those naval vessels, quite possibly, would have met the same fate as the Belgrano in 1971.

The outrage sparked a freedom of information request, revealing that there had been 42 formal written complaints to the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry since 2008 regarding similar Spanish incursions.

Intrusion by Spanish fishermen and the Spanish “Guardia Civil” / the Spanish Civil Guard have been a regular occurrence in these past few years; a prime example being on the 31^st of January when the Guardia Civil attempted jurisdiction over a working vessel within Gibraltarian territory – as close as the North Mole.

Pictured to the right is a Gibraltar National Day t shirt which humorously reads"Aqui no se pesca" / "You dont fish here"

The refusal of the Spanish Government recognize Gibraltarian territory is in violation of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, an agreement between countries such as Britain, Spain, France and the Dutch Republic to end the war. Although the treaty does   

not specify heavily on the Gibraltarian right to the surrounding waters, Spain is still in direct violation of the ‘UN Convention on the Law of the Sea’ which states that British Gibraltarian marine territory is 12 nautical miles (22km).

A comment posted in response to a recent article over the issue of soverignty over Gibraltar rightly read: 
"Spain only has the right to question the status of Gibraltar when they give up Ceuta and Melilla (in Morocco). Even if Spain were to give those up, then Gibraltar should still remain British as it's status was established by treaty. The bottom line is that the status quo is working - the people of Gibraltar are happy and the status of Gibraltar will not improve Spain's economic troubles."

Ex Chief Minister Peter Caruana stated that “Spain is subscribed to the treaty, making no reservations whatsoever in relation to Gibraltar. International law makes Spain’s denial of territorial waters in Gibraltar completely unsustainable in law.”

            Daily Mail: Most Recent Spanish Incursion.

Aside from regular incursions, it seems that the Spanish Government is partial to holding up the queue in the border to Spain to extortionate waits. Despite this being petty and an inconvenience to those Gibraltarians who work / have houses in Spain, it is also inconveniencing their own local workers who travel to Gibraltar daily to work and fight the wide spread poverty which can be found in the neighbouring city of “La Linea”.

In an attempt to curb the massive waiting times at the border, the Gibraltarian Government has set up cameras which stream live to the internet on www.frontierqueue.gi.

Being a proud Gibraltarian myself, I am outraged by the pettiness and provoking actions of the Spanish Government in these situations. The colony of Gibraltar is persistently trying to work with the Spanish Government to come to friendly terms, with regular charities to help the neighbouring Spanish city of “La Linea”, which is currently on the verge of Bankruptcy, frequent meetings with Spanish Governments and last but by no means least, providing the city with thousands of jobs. Hopefully one day soon these differences can be put aside and perhaps Spain and Gibraltar may finally work closer together to resolve these issues. 

For those unfamiliar with Gibraltar, there is a brilliantly produced virtual tour below.

The Generation of Entitlement
(Why the Middle Class do not become Wealthy)

The idea of the millennial generation is an interesting concept which was believed to have started during the 1970’s – a time in which Britons began to enjoy a higher standard of living due to economical stability and, what can be referred to as, a ‘social revolution’. The end of rationing and of war time austerity brought forth a new generation which became obsessed with leisure and commercialism; teenagers were experiencing a whole new life style to that of their parents; easily available skilled jobs were in abundance and money was theirs to spend it how they liked.

   Despite the occurrences of inflation, recession and economical difficulty which Britain has endured since then, we are still a society which is focused on comfort and leisure. The generation of the 60’s bred a new generation; Generation “Y”.

   From birth, quite literally, a majority of us have been spoon fed and helped by our parents. Our mistakes have been easily repaired with no major, life threatening repercussions, and our way of living has been relatively laid back. We have become a generation of entitlement, where the things that we once had under the shelter of our parents are expected once we enter the competitive and cut throat “real world”.

   Popular culture, especially in the music world, consistently promotes the extravagant spending of money of luxury items, which in reality, a normal person may never be actually able to afford. Yet we have seen young teenagers from poor family backgrounds, spend extortionate amounts on their cars, purely to try to prove a kind of social dominance that is depicted by music artists like Drake, Rick Ross, Nicky Minaj...

   It would be hypocritical if I were to say that I myself have never wasted money on needless things, however it is interesting to view these situations once they are put into logical perspective.

   This brings the question; is the current youth generation able to face the reality, in which we have been quite literally unexposed to, of the real word? Statistics show that the majority of unsuspecting University graduates, even those with highly intelligent degrees, are found at a dead end; their diploma becomes the most expensive yet worthless piece of paper ever bought.

   Perhaps our major down fall is this obsession with material and the things which are wrongly considered to be ‘essential’. Today’s society greatly emphasizes and encourages materialistic value; we forget to remember that what we are told are essential to our daily lives are, in reality, are clever marketing strategies. This is an issue which Brian Tracey (The most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world) mentions frequently.

   In a very short and interesting demonstration, Tracey picks up on the five points of what he considers the necessary means to become wealthy:

1)      The Occurrence of the idea to become wealthy:
(We are brought up and surrounded by normal people, who have normal expectations, who encourage the conventional ways of earning a living. The mere occurrence / ambition, is what drives the first step of becoming wealthy.)

2)      The Decision to become wealthy:
(The steps necessary to become wealthy, despite being inconvenient in the short term, must be taken to prevent the wasting of money and to ensure proper investment of money.)

3)      Procrastination Prevents:
(This is a self explanatory quote taken from his short video  - “People always have a good reason not to begin doing what they know they need to do to achieve financial independence.”)

4)      Delay Gratification:
(Consumerism promotes needless items, the ability to hold yourself back from becoming stuck in a vicious cycle of income / spend.)                 

        W. Clement Stone – “If you cannot save money then the seeds of greatness are not in you”

5)      Time Perspective:
(It is important to remember that short term sacrifice will inevitably lead to long term financial gain)

As logical and obvious as this may seem, to many of us it has never occurred to take these steps, or perhaps the incentive to do so has not occurred. It is interesting to contemplate how the Marketing world works, the information is available, we have the means, yet it seems that the great and powerful propaganda machine of the market is constantly inventing new ways to inhibit our vision of reality and importance.



Self acclaimed rapper popularly known as "Hopsin" comically touches up on some of the points on the negative effects of mainstream music on Society.