WE watched two programmes recently, ‘The Cancellation of Kenny Everett’ and the week before the same with Benny Hill and had a jolly jaunt down Memory Lane.
Yes, a lot of their humour is dated and a definite public ‘no no’ in this day and age but I did have a moment of head-shaking when the programmes were run past younger people clearly horrified by most of what they were watching.
My goodness, ‘titillation’ with Hot Gossip/Hill’s Angels dancers scantily dressed. And I thought how can they be so puritanical and critical of ‘objectifying women’ when in today’s society there are millions stripping off and selling the sight of their objectified bits for exactly the same titillation on Only Fans… and for cold hard cash as if it’s the height of respectability?
It’s really not – and the internet makes sure mistakes are no longer just yesterday’s chip paper, the stains are indelible.
These days, women are in more danger from men than ever before. There is wall-to-wall porn at the press of a button, and so much worse that even young children can access. Young people are crumbling. Is society too afraid to instruct them? There is a lot of difference between the normal stuff of life worries that galvanise us, and hardcore anxiety in case we cause them hardcore anxiety *throws hands up in air*?
Did we leave resilience behind with the last century? You’ve got people desperate to wear a ‘label’ – for instance the new buzzword ‘incel’ because it gives them the excuse to act as they do, as if it’s part of their genetic make-up, out of their control.
They need to belong to a tribe, even if it’s a dysfunctional one. And everyone and their dog ‘has’ AD/HD. Of COURSE there are genuine cases, but I’m pretty sure if you look for symptoms of neurodivergence in yourself, you’ll find them even though many symptoms are just our individual ways and faults, our less than perfect personality traits. I know for definite I’d find a fair few labels to attach to myself if I went down that rabbit hole.
Then I could wear one of my choice like a fashion accessory. But I don’t want to, thanks. I know my idiosyncrasies and they might explain a few things, but they shouldn’t excuse them. Progression from yesterday’s flawed world has been a curate’s egg and I’ll stick out my neck and say that if all that were wrong with the world were that Kenny Everett and Benny Hill were still on the box, we’d be laughing.
There have been way too many crashes in Barnsley recently. Folks, when you get behind the wheel of a car, you are in charge of a wonderful, fun tool – or a ton of metal killing machine if you take your concentration off the road for even a moment.
Or you are driving like a dick to show off. Keep others as safe as you should keep yourself. No more.
I’m with Dan Jarvis on the issue of romance fraudsters, as per his letter last week.
Take someone asking for money in a new relationship as a massive red flag, however sweet their nothings or sobby their stories.
These people are VERY good at reeling you in, they can smell vulnerability and that desperation to trust. Remember: love brings gifts, gifts don’t bring love. And ladies, if some stud thirty years your junior declares undying love in a foreign pub/on the net and tells you muffin tops and wrinkles make him sweat with desire, girls his own age ‘don’t do it for him’ but a mature woman really lights his young, fit candle… Keep your hand on your ha’penny, all your loose change, notes – and your Visa.
