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In this kingdom by the sea
This has been a week of essays and campaigns, and interesting stuff on every single evening--half of which I couldn't go to due to essays. Why does everything always happen at once? There's also a poetry festival on... I haven't managed to go to any of it so far, and I'm not sure I will. Shame.
Monday night the Stop the War society hosted a really interesting panel discussion on the subject of, y'know, the war and all. The panel included several representatives of the 'far left', Greens and Socialists and such, and one Labour guy to make the thing interesting. Poor kid... it's got to take balls to speak to such a hostile audience. The whole time he was waiting to speak, he sat looking very sour and guarded, nervously drinking water like he was dying of thirst. The whole time he spoke, the CND guy was visibly clenching and unclenching his jaw, which amused me almost as much as the speech itself (highlight quote: "Labour should become a broader church").
Other speeches ranged from interesting to very, very dull, but unfortunately I didn't note down much from the interesting ones. Colin Fox was there, though. Every time I see him speak, I am more impressed by his mastery of the art of hyperbole. For instance, "Not five minutes ago, they were gonnae be home for Christmas", talking about the predicted length of the war. Someday, I want to be able to say such things with a straight face.
Afterwards Martin invited all of the guests and panel out for drinks, but Colin Fox was the only panel member to take him up on it. So he, some other SSP folks and a cluster of mostly StW students headed out to the pub. There, Colin Fox once again captivated a little audience with his rhetoric. Sat behind him, I couldn't hear what he was saying through the noise around us, but it was interesting watching the faces of those listening. The man is a masterful speaker, but he still creeps me out a little. I think it's that he seems to exude politician vibes through every pore: that heady mix of ambition and charisma that is at once captivating and repulsive, like looking at vipers.
Student elections were this week, too. Despite all the madness surrounding them, I was quite pleased not to have gotten that politician vibe off of any of the candidates I talked to (well, perhaps a little from Tom, but it was wholly countered by his general niceness). I don't know what it is that bugs me so much. Maybe it's the insincerity, smiling at everything and everyone and not really meaning it. At least that's how I feel whenever I'm campaigning for anything, as I was doing these past few weeks for Ethical Investment. It scares me how easily it comes, after a while: the empty sunny smile, the cheerful question or request ("Hi, would you like some information?", "Vote yes for Ethical Investment!", &c.). I don't like it at all, no matter how necessary it is, no matter how much I believe in what I'm campaigning for.
It has its benefits, though. Minor victory of the week: I got Sam Hart to flier for us. I was supposed to have been handing them out at mealtimes in Hall, but as this seemed a bit rude, I decided instead to just leave them around on tables and things while I wandered about, disseminating information like a cat spraying. While I was busy threading one through the chupa chups at the tuck shop, Sam was hanging around and criticising the whole idea of Ethical Investment. So I put a flier in his pocket, and instead of recycling or (I wouldn't put it past him!) binning it, he just took it out and left it on the tuck shop counter. Which is exactly what I had been doing--thus he fliered for us. Okay, I know it's a stretch, but it still amused me.
[Tenuous segue: on the topic of Good Things that Sam Hart opposes]
This rant has been bubbling for a while now, and it's finally escaping into words. I really, really hate Fairtrade packaging. One of the big criticisms of the whole Fairtrade movement is that it's just a way for we of the rich Western world to feel good about ourselves without actually doing anything to help people in developing countries; that it's just a way to soothe the guilt of our bloated capitalist wealth without actually changing anything. And maybe it's true that I do buy fairtrade out of a guilt of sorts; that is, when a fairtrade option is available, I think it's unethical to buy the non-fairtrade one. But that's not quite what the argument is saying.
The advertisers, however, have taken up this idea with great gusto. You are buying fairtrade, therefore you're a good person. See the smiling farmers on the side of your box of tea? You're helping them, you good person, you. Well, fuck them. Just because I want a fair deal for farmers doesn't mean I need to see their grinning faces on the side of the box. I don't even want to, because it makes me intensely aware of their advertising. The 'ethical' branding. I don't like feeling like I've bought into something, even "good things". Also, why, WHY is the fairtrade sugar bag made of plastic? Every single other white sugar comes in a paper bag. This one comes in plastic, decorated with jungle leaves, complete with a zebra. First of all, since when did zebras live in jungles? Second, what the hell do zebras have to do with sugar? It's just more of this "Oh, you're such a good person buying this fairtrade sugar; environmentalism is good too, so look at this jungle scene we've given you to look at." Nevermind that plastic is so much worse for the environment than the paper bags that the very same company (Whitworth's) puts their non-fairtrade sugar in. If it weren't for the discrepancy in packaging, would they even need such a discrepancy in price? But no, they have to make fairtrade look as distinctive as possible. It's not enough to have ethical consumerism, you have to have conspicuous ethical consumerism. Hmf.
[Not even a pretense of segue]
The St Andrews biology department has a little museum housing a Victorian collection of preserved and taxidermied animals. I'd been meaning to go see it for ages, and finally did on Thursday... with live music! I've seen bands play in galleries before, but never in a taxidermy museum. That was awesome. Maybe it's just that I'm a complete nerd (highlight of the evening: they have a cassowary!), but really, how often do you get to hear a song that talks about whale bones, in a room with whale bones in it? Good song, too--inspired, they said, by Poe's Annabel Lee, a poem delightfully ruined for me by reading Nabokov's Lolita, and by a knowledge of Poe's own life: how he fell deeply in love with his young cousin, and married her when she was 13 and he was 27. Still, I love music inspired by literature. "Pastures of Plenty", for instance, absolutely radiates Steinbeck; it's lovely.
Right. God damn that's a long entry. I think I'll put some of it behind a cut. Then I shall goFacebook cuddle up with Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Yes, such are my plans.
Monday night the Stop the War society hosted a really interesting panel discussion on the subject of, y'know, the war and all. The panel included several representatives of the 'far left', Greens and Socialists and such, and one Labour guy to make the thing interesting. Poor kid... it's got to take balls to speak to such a hostile audience. The whole time he was waiting to speak, he sat looking very sour and guarded, nervously drinking water like he was dying of thirst. The whole time he spoke, the CND guy was visibly clenching and unclenching his jaw, which amused me almost as much as the speech itself (highlight quote: "Labour should become a broader church").
Other speeches ranged from interesting to very, very dull, but unfortunately I didn't note down much from the interesting ones. Colin Fox was there, though. Every time I see him speak, I am more impressed by his mastery of the art of hyperbole. For instance, "Not five minutes ago, they were gonnae be home for Christmas", talking about the predicted length of the war. Someday, I want to be able to say such things with a straight face.
Afterwards Martin invited all of the guests and panel out for drinks, but Colin Fox was the only panel member to take him up on it. So he, some other SSP folks and a cluster of mostly StW students headed out to the pub. There, Colin Fox once again captivated a little audience with his rhetoric. Sat behind him, I couldn't hear what he was saying through the noise around us, but it was interesting watching the faces of those listening. The man is a masterful speaker, but he still creeps me out a little. I think it's that he seems to exude politician vibes through every pore: that heady mix of ambition and charisma that is at once captivating and repulsive, like looking at vipers.
Student elections were this week, too. Despite all the madness surrounding them, I was quite pleased not to have gotten that politician vibe off of any of the candidates I talked to (well, perhaps a little from Tom, but it was wholly countered by his general niceness). I don't know what it is that bugs me so much. Maybe it's the insincerity, smiling at everything and everyone and not really meaning it. At least that's how I feel whenever I'm campaigning for anything, as I was doing these past few weeks for Ethical Investment. It scares me how easily it comes, after a while: the empty sunny smile, the cheerful question or request ("Hi, would you like some information?", "Vote yes for Ethical Investment!", &c.). I don't like it at all, no matter how necessary it is, no matter how much I believe in what I'm campaigning for.
It has its benefits, though. Minor victory of the week: I got Sam Hart to flier for us. I was supposed to have been handing them out at mealtimes in Hall, but as this seemed a bit rude, I decided instead to just leave them around on tables and things while I wandered about, disseminating information like a cat spraying. While I was busy threading one through the chupa chups at the tuck shop, Sam was hanging around and criticising the whole idea of Ethical Investment. So I put a flier in his pocket, and instead of recycling or (I wouldn't put it past him!) binning it, he just took it out and left it on the tuck shop counter. Which is exactly what I had been doing--thus he fliered for us. Okay, I know it's a stretch, but it still amused me.
[Tenuous segue: on the topic of Good Things that Sam Hart opposes]
This rant has been bubbling for a while now, and it's finally escaping into words. I really, really hate Fairtrade packaging. One of the big criticisms of the whole Fairtrade movement is that it's just a way for we of the rich Western world to feel good about ourselves without actually doing anything to help people in developing countries; that it's just a way to soothe the guilt of our bloated capitalist wealth without actually changing anything. And maybe it's true that I do buy fairtrade out of a guilt of sorts; that is, when a fairtrade option is available, I think it's unethical to buy the non-fairtrade one. But that's not quite what the argument is saying.
The advertisers, however, have taken up this idea with great gusto. You are buying fairtrade, therefore you're a good person. See the smiling farmers on the side of your box of tea? You're helping them, you good person, you. Well, fuck them. Just because I want a fair deal for farmers doesn't mean I need to see their grinning faces on the side of the box. I don't even want to, because it makes me intensely aware of their advertising. The 'ethical' branding. I don't like feeling like I've bought into something, even "good things". Also, why, WHY is the fairtrade sugar bag made of plastic? Every single other white sugar comes in a paper bag. This one comes in plastic, decorated with jungle leaves, complete with a zebra. First of all, since when did zebras live in jungles? Second, what the hell do zebras have to do with sugar? It's just more of this "Oh, you're such a good person buying this fairtrade sugar; environmentalism is good too, so look at this jungle scene we've given you to look at." Nevermind that plastic is so much worse for the environment than the paper bags that the very same company (Whitworth's) puts their non-fairtrade sugar in. If it weren't for the discrepancy in packaging, would they even need such a discrepancy in price? But no, they have to make fairtrade look as distinctive as possible. It's not enough to have ethical consumerism, you have to have conspicuous ethical consumerism. Hmf.
[Not even a pretense of segue]
The St Andrews biology department has a little museum housing a Victorian collection of preserved and taxidermied animals. I'd been meaning to go see it for ages, and finally did on Thursday... with live music! I've seen bands play in galleries before, but never in a taxidermy museum. That was awesome. Maybe it's just that I'm a complete nerd (highlight of the evening: they have a cassowary!), but really, how often do you get to hear a song that talks about whale bones, in a room with whale bones in it? Good song, too--inspired, they said, by Poe's Annabel Lee, a poem delightfully ruined for me by reading Nabokov's Lolita, and by a knowledge of Poe's own life: how he fell deeply in love with his young cousin, and married her when she was 13 and he was 27. Still, I love music inspired by literature. "Pastures of Plenty", for instance, absolutely radiates Steinbeck; it's lovely.
Right. God damn that's a long entry. I think I'll put some of it behind a cut. Then I shall go