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Opinion versus the Law

Head Rambles Posted on by

Opinions are funny things.

When I started this site, oh so long ago, I thought it would be a nice place to put down my thoughts and musings.  That’s why I eventually called it Head Rambles  – because it contains the thoughts that ramble into my head.  Logical?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Who gives a shit.

I love doing it, because I can give vent to my various opinions on such vital matters in life such as why someone keeps dumping a shit outside my gate every day, or why we have such insane laws.  Opinions are great things, because without them, we would become an amorphous mass with no individual thought, which seems to be the way the world wants us to go.

I am a bit of a rebel.  I don’t like being told what to do or what to think.  I rebel against a society that orders me not to drink on Good Friday because it offends someone else’s opinions, or not to smoke because people don’t like the smell of it, or a society that tells me that I am incomplete because I don’t have an iPad or a mobile phone that tells the world where I am at every God given second.

Some people may say I am opinionated, and I take that as a compliment.  I know my own mind which is something that seems to be severely lacking in modern society.  I don’t believe all I hear or read.  I steadfastly refuse to feel inadequate because of an advertisement.

The funny thing though, is that when I have an opinion, I can get severely criticised for it.  I like that for two reasons.  The first is that maybe I have woken people up to have an opinion of their own, and the second is that it amuses me.

Why should I be amused at someone disagreeing with me?  Because I am not God [yet].  What I say is my opinion.  It is a thought – a head ramble.  It is not law, nor is it a moral dictat.  If I say something is shite, it doesn’t mean it is shite; it means I think it’s shite, so why would anyone get upset at the thoughts in my head? 

Of course there are those who are upset by my opinions, but frankly that is their problem.  After all, there are many out there who are of the opinion that I am a shit writer, humourless, begrudging and a carbuncle on the arse of society.  Fair enough.  That’s their opinion and they are more than entitled to it.  I will even agree with some of it.

As I said, I love writing.  I love using words, though at my age, I’m beginning to remember fewer of them.  Writing keeps my brain active and is a lot more productive than solving Sudoku puzzles.  I have made many friends through my writings and I value those friendships. 

It is also a lot fucking cheaper than therapy.

 

Comments

Opinion versus the Law — 18 Comments

  1. Damn straight, Grandad!!! I mightn’t agree with everything you say, but I bloody well respect you for writing it and debating it fairly!!

  2. Have they opened a head shop near you? You’re fucking chilled and it’s worrying. What’s even more worrying to me is that you have done a little updating on the graphics on your site – at the same time as I did. Maybe it’s a moon thing.

    I have just reduced my therapy sessions from weekly to once a month. I intend filling the gap by visiting the office more often. I reckon the gentlemen there know me better than that self-important pretend shrink. And I can have a black bush or two while undergoing therapy.

    That way I can be as chilled as you are.

    For today.
    .-= kerryview´s last brainfart .. Kill a man. Go home. Don’t do it again. =-.

  3. As Clint Eastwood famously once said .. “Opinions are like arseholes .. everybody’s got one” …

    And like you Grandad, I reserve unto myself the right to express mine .. whenever & wherever I see fit .. and if other people have a problem with that .. it is they who have the problem ..

    Errm .. not to put too fine a point on it .. and beyond reinforcing & re-affirming your right to express your opinion .. is there any reason for this thread being posted 3 times ?? ..

    Just wondered .. Lol

  4. What they said.

    Even (especially) if you visit a professionals site (lawyer, doctor, copper etc) they are at pains to tell you that “the views of the author do not blah de blah blah blah”.

    I think and hope that people come here for a laugh, or because a topic interests them.

    If anyone wants to nail you to the wall over something you said, well, feck ’em. Twice.

    CR.
    .-= Captain Ranty´s last brainfart .. Reality TV….No, Really. =-.

  5. Hermia – Isn’t that what it is supposed to be all about?

    Kerryview – The secret is out.  My latest crop.  It is fucking goooood stuff.  Man.

    Haddock – Sorry about that.  My server threw a hissy-fit and posted twice and shoved out three RSS thingies.  It has been severely repremanded.

    Cap’n Ranty – Thank you, Sir.  Actually I think I remember writing something like that somewhere – ah, yes – my Disclaimer page.  Some people don’t seem to understand the language, unfortunately.

  10. Grandad,

    You understand what is going on in the world! Postmodernism means a suspicion of all authority and a rejection of attempts at imposing a single view of the world. This runs completely contrary to traditional Irish thinking, in both communities. Worryingly, for you, strong individual rights and identity are much more an American thing!

  11. Ian, I’d say we could have some conversation about identity in the states … while I admire the pioneer spirit among Americans I strongly suspect that all the overt patriotism (flags in front yard, warbling the national anthem at the drop of a hat, flagwaving at primaries etc) is precisely because America is still growing its own definable culture.

    Take Hollywood out of the picture and pretty much everything else is built on other cultures’ input into America.

    I’m not having a pop at America or Americans but this idea that Americans have some kind of ownership on individuality is a nonsense. There’s a lot of evidence to say that the US is a very conformist society given the Puritan strain in the background.

    Try being different in the mid-west…

  12. Cap’n Con

    I think cultural syncretism is not unique to America. Ireland has imported, or, in the case of Gaelic sports, invented most of its culture, and when I go back to the West Country in England I can find nothing, apart from shopping at Sainsbury’s and drinking warm, flat beer, that is distinctly English.

    The US does have a very strong tradition of individual responsibility and dislike of ‘big’ government, viz. the opposition to the healthcare plans and the popularity of the awful Palin. The Puritan desire was, as the late great Alastair Cooke put it, for freedom to be intolerant. It is very conformist, but there are no bishops or cardinals telling you to behave so.

    Grandad’s maverick stance is more in keeping with traditional American society than with traditional Irish society!

  13. Ian. you are right about Ireland. It hasn’t escaped my notice from trips home how much the ‘elite’ had taken on West Brit culture.

    From the FF tent at Galway Races (Lads aren’t we great ’tis like Henley Regatta for us. Another bucket of Guinness there Michael’) to the sudden springing up of dodgy MDF versions of Essex mansions and electric gates on the drive.

    How many of these new houses out in the country have ‘anglicised’ names to go with the mock-Victorian palladia?

    I remember seeing my first election night when I was 17 and couldn’t help seeing how the local FF crowd had hired a lady to serve them tea and spent a large amount of time ordering her about like a skivvy- the worst sort of lower middle class Daily Mail behaviour you can imagine.

    I thought then that FF were the real West Brits of Ireland … a cheap peasant version of the Tory party where the main thing was to find someone to look down on in order to elevate oneself.

    I can’t make up my mind whether it was the effect of ‘Dallas’ on people when they were growing up or whether its some slort of subconscious inferiority complex that makes the Irish lower middle class follow what happens in England and America all agog.

    Wish it would fuck off though, whatever it is. Still, I suppose you can’t blame people when you see that little toilet Bertie Aherne who was no more than an accounts clerk for the Mater Hospital suddenly claiming to have a degree from the LSE and all sorts.

  14. Cap’ Con,

    Fintan O’Toole’s ‘Ship of Fools’ has some very sharp insights into those who pretended to be Ireland’s new ‘aristocracy’ and their aping of British ways – it’s a very worthwhile read.

    I think there is still a big post-colonial legacy. It always fascinated me that the Northern Prods, as unionist as they might have been, were far less deferential than many of the people here.

  15. I am getting extremely worried at the turn of conversation here.  I am more American that Irish?  Fuck!  I suspected that would happen when more Americans started visiting here than Irish.  I still refuse to go into a McDonalds or Starbucks though.

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