I think we've all heard of Britain First. I myself cannot claim to be particularly knowledgeable about politics or current affairs, but I'm acquainted enough with the subject to know that their members aren't always the nicest of people. For anyone who hasn't got that odd family friend or twisted old school acquaintance on Facebook who shares the xenophobic content that the group try to get trending, then to quickly fill you in with the basics, Britain First are a right wing fascist party that claim to be a 'patriotic political party and street defence organisation' (britainfirst.org). They have a reputation for being particularly aggressive with their views, which are predominantly incredibly racist and discriminative, and they can be found fear mongering in busy city centres.
Up until today I have been fortunate enough to never experience the displeasure of meeting a Britain First member, at least not to my knowledge. If I have, they have been discrete and pleasant. Unfortunately this did not happen today. I was walking home from church, and as I crossed the road that lies between my accommodation and main campus, I saw that outside the mosque, which is on the corner to the path I needed to walk down, there were four or five people blocking the path with a huge Britain First banner. At first I thought it was a parody and they were standing in solidarity with the mosque as a sign of peace and tolerance after all the global tensions surrounding Islam over the last year. As I crossed the road towards them, I was reading the sign over and over trying to find a difference in spelling to prove this was a parody group. But alas, this wasn't a parody, this was the real deal. I kept my head down and walked past. But then something kicked inside me and I turned back around and asked the man who appeared to be the leader of the group 'is this legitimate? Are you from Britain First?', he confirmed they were. I can't remember the exact words and chronology of my 1 against 5 discussion, but I told them I thought they were incredibly disrespectful to stand outside a place of worship to intimidate people who simply want to pursue their own way of life. Their response interested me and took a path I haven't heard before. The man who I recognised as the leader dived immediately into feminism, saying 'you're a woman, so don't you think it's wrong what the Qur'an teaches about women?'. A lady in the group then piped up and started gruesomely describing to me the act of female genital mutilation. I didn't have the heart to tell her I already knew what it was. She tried to convince me that every muslim believes that women should be treated like this, and that this gave plenty of reason for all mosques in the country to be shut down. I argued that just like in any faith, there are differing opinions and practices within Islam, and I'm sure that FGM covers very little ground. And either way, my beliefs on gender equality lie wholly in the subject of choice and freedom, and this includes freely choosing to belong to Islam. I recognise that the culture of Islam frowns upon those who leave the faith, but standing outside a mosque with a poster saying 'BRITAIN FIRST - BAN THE MOSQUES' is not doing anything to help the women they claim to be helping. It could not be more transparent that they were using the argument of women's rights merely as a way of relating to passers by, and that at the heart of their aggression was a fear of change and people who are different to their hateful selves. Naturally, it goes without saying that I was bombarded with cliché phrases such as 'it's called freedom of speech, darling' and 'Oh, are we not allowed to stand here?'. I tried to politely explain that my biggest issue with their protesting lay not in the fact that they were expressing taboo opinions, but their method of expressing these opinions. The woman who previously described FGM in all it's clitoral gore laughed at me, asking 'shall we just stay silent then?' to which I responded 'of course not, but why can't you have a civilised discussion? Why not host a debate? Right now all you're doing is stirring up hostility and hatred and reflecting all that you claim you're fighting.' At which point an elderly couple came around the corner, read the poster and exclaimed 'not in my name' and 'childish, intolerant scum', which I took as my cue to leave as my post as outside resistance had been replaced. I took a few steps forward onto the path and with my back firmly turned away from the ignorance, I burst into tears. I am privileged to be able to say that passionate whole-hearted hatred has never been too close to me. Views such as those expressed outside Canterbury Mosque this afternoon have always seemed a world away, posted online by groups that were once nothing more than silly names to me. Today I learnt how real, raw and close to home hatred is, and it was surprisingly hard to swallow.
I'm not sure how to end this post as there isn't really an ending to the story; it's the same age-old tale of tolerance and loving thy neighbour that mankind seem to forget with every generation. So for goodness sake guys, lets start loving each other.
Peace.
Ro is listening to: Shout - Lulu
(Shout about love not hate!)
Sunday 7 February 2016
Friday 5 February 2016
An update of sorts
...And I'm back!
I'm alive!
Rushed off my feet and fuelled entirely on tea* and biscuits, but very much alive!
(*Oh, I drink tea now. PG Tips, naturally.)
So what's new since my last post? Too much, but I'll list a few things for the sake of chronology in my blog history lol.
-6th November: Travelled to London to help out on the set of Dodie Clark (doddleoddle)'s sketch Santa's Not Real and it was just the coolest thing because I've never seen such big cameras in all my life, and there was proper lighting equipment and booms and everything!!! On top of this, Dodie and Sammy are creatives who I've respected and admired for years so to be asked to help them create something that I would have usually watched in my bedroom was such a privilege. Dear life, more of this please.
-19/20th November: Was in my first drama society production, The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol in the Gulbenkian Theatre, which was nothing short of an absolute blast and my biggest acting learning experience to date.
-21st November: My Pop celebrated his 80th birthday with a lil shindig in a fancy hotel and it was so lovely and I got a bit secretly emotional because it happened right at a time in term when things were getting a bit overwhelming and I was beginning to really miss home and it was the best therapy to see all my family and go swimming and pig out on proper food. I remember people asking me how I was finding University and I'm sure I said nothing but positive things, but as we were leaving, everyone said 'you've only got four more weeks/ it's the final push/it'll be Christmas before you know it' as if they could see right inside me and knew that I was hurting a little bit, and I don't think that example of total understanding will ever leave me. I've definitely come to appreciate my family SO much more since moving away, even the people I didn't see regularly when I lived at home, it's bizarre, my heart is a puzzle.
-7th December: Was in a wacky production of Martin Crimp's Attempts on her Life, directed by the students of the Directing MA course. I got to where a pink gingham dress and draw lines on maps with fake blood and it was a lot of fun haha.
-10th December: Jess, Lucy and I signed for a house for second year! It was stressful and fun and scary and exciting, but above all, we proved that we are smart independent women who may not know everything about the housing market but we sure know how to assert ourselves in front of unnecessarily patronising estate agents (shout out to Stuart and Dave).
-11th December: House 5 cooked the bestest Christmas dinner there ever has been and I'm still baffled as to how we managed it all with only one oven because in true Parkwood style, our second oven was out of action for the majority of first term.
-I spent 95% of my Christmas holiday working at the cinema, but even though by mid January I was getting ill and showing signs of mild insanity, I loved it and I wouldn't trade an hour of my time there for anything, except another episode of War and Peace with my Mum.
-31st January - Got given a part in my second drama society production; King Edward in The Wars of the Roses; an adaptation of Shakespeare's earliest history plays. We're setting it in a children's playground with proper toys and climbing frames and I'm so excited!!
Et voila, an update. Not as brief as intended, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for self reflection.
So back to now and my inspiration for this post. I have very recently realised that I complete everything in bulk, with a very 'all or nothing' attitude. By this I mean I (subconsciously, on the most part) let things pile up because I'd much rather deal with it all in one go than commit to the little and often approach that teachers, family members and doctors have preached to me all my life. For example, the time on the clock as I write these exact words is 03:35am and I'm sitting down having just tidied my room top to bottom because over the last week I let it mutate into a rather disturbing mirroring of Tracey Emin's infamous bed. I'm also waiting for my washing to finish it's cycle, because the early hours of the morning are as good of a time as any to deal with your dirty laundry, right? I've also just noticed in my peripheral vision how dry my hands are having spent half an hour washing up 3 days worth of cooking utensils earlier because once you've filled the bowl up, you might as well do the whole hog.
But my arguably dysfunctional way of dealing with life's demands doesn't just stop at the menial day-to-day chores. Instead, it manifests itself into all sorts of other tasks, most notably writing essays, reading, responding to emails and messages and shopping. It's funny, as I pondered whether this was a blog post worthy subject earlier I thought my only coverage was my laundry and course work, but low and behold I've gone and found heaps more examples and I can't work out whether this is a good thing or an awful thing, haha.
I think this topic is, in a way, an unintentional follow up from my post on procrastination I wrote in November 2014, because this way of dealing with things is undoubtedly a form of procrastination, but the very fact that I am able to categorise it now is an almost exciting development in my understanding of myself and my brain and all that jazz. What I'm also finding interesting in this field of thought is the fact that my feelings towards my chronic procrastination were once numbingly negative with an almost self-loathing taste to them, but now, when I speak of it so rationally and in a practical sense, I'm totally at peace with it. I am able to recognise the positives that can come from it, and I understand that arguably, leaving things until near their deadline is simply a different way of working. By lessening the time I can spend on tasks, I find I focus much more effectively and I'm forced to prioritise simply by not having a choice. The trick is not to leave things too late...there's a fine line.
So if I'm a little slow in responding to a message you've sent me, know that it's nothing personal, you're not the only one, I'm just waiting for something to pass so that I can give you the time I think you deserve.
Likewise, if you haven't seen me for a while, I'm probably slaving away over something I've left a little too late, but will be back on the scene in the click of a turnitin submission. It might just be worth encouraging me to go to bed at some point.
Oh, would you look at that, it's 05:45am...lol.
Night!
Ro is listening to: Old Money by Lana Del Rey
AND
All the Wasted Time - Parade, London Cast
(It sort of starts at 3 different points, depending on how much context you like - 0:00/1:43/3:00)
I'm alive!
Rushed off my feet and fuelled entirely on tea* and biscuits, but very much alive!
(*Oh, I drink tea now. PG Tips, naturally.)
So what's new since my last post? Too much, but I'll list a few things for the sake of chronology in my blog history lol.
-6th November: Travelled to London to help out on the set of Dodie Clark (doddleoddle)'s sketch Santa's Not Real and it was just the coolest thing because I've never seen such big cameras in all my life, and there was proper lighting equipment and booms and everything!!! On top of this, Dodie and Sammy are creatives who I've respected and admired for years so to be asked to help them create something that I would have usually watched in my bedroom was such a privilege. Dear life, more of this please.
-19/20th November: Was in my first drama society production, The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol in the Gulbenkian Theatre, which was nothing short of an absolute blast and my biggest acting learning experience to date.
-21st November: My Pop celebrated his 80th birthday with a lil shindig in a fancy hotel and it was so lovely and I got a bit secretly emotional because it happened right at a time in term when things were getting a bit overwhelming and I was beginning to really miss home and it was the best therapy to see all my family and go swimming and pig out on proper food. I remember people asking me how I was finding University and I'm sure I said nothing but positive things, but as we were leaving, everyone said 'you've only got four more weeks/ it's the final push/it'll be Christmas before you know it' as if they could see right inside me and knew that I was hurting a little bit, and I don't think that example of total understanding will ever leave me. I've definitely come to appreciate my family SO much more since moving away, even the people I didn't see regularly when I lived at home, it's bizarre, my heart is a puzzle.
-7th December: Was in a wacky production of Martin Crimp's Attempts on her Life, directed by the students of the Directing MA course. I got to where a pink gingham dress and draw lines on maps with fake blood and it was a lot of fun haha.
-10th December: Jess, Lucy and I signed for a house for second year! It was stressful and fun and scary and exciting, but above all, we proved that we are smart independent women who may not know everything about the housing market but we sure know how to assert ourselves in front of unnecessarily patronising estate agents (shout out to Stuart and Dave).
-11th December: House 5 cooked the bestest Christmas dinner there ever has been and I'm still baffled as to how we managed it all with only one oven because in true Parkwood style, our second oven was out of action for the majority of first term.
-I spent 95% of my Christmas holiday working at the cinema, but even though by mid January I was getting ill and showing signs of mild insanity, I loved it and I wouldn't trade an hour of my time there for anything, except another episode of War and Peace with my Mum.
-31st January - Got given a part in my second drama society production; King Edward in The Wars of the Roses; an adaptation of Shakespeare's earliest history plays. We're setting it in a children's playground with proper toys and climbing frames and I'm so excited!!
Et voila, an update. Not as brief as intended, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for self reflection.
So back to now and my inspiration for this post. I have very recently realised that I complete everything in bulk, with a very 'all or nothing' attitude. By this I mean I (subconsciously, on the most part) let things pile up because I'd much rather deal with it all in one go than commit to the little and often approach that teachers, family members and doctors have preached to me all my life. For example, the time on the clock as I write these exact words is 03:35am and I'm sitting down having just tidied my room top to bottom because over the last week I let it mutate into a rather disturbing mirroring of Tracey Emin's infamous bed. I'm also waiting for my washing to finish it's cycle, because the early hours of the morning are as good of a time as any to deal with your dirty laundry, right? I've also just noticed in my peripheral vision how dry my hands are having spent half an hour washing up 3 days worth of cooking utensils earlier because once you've filled the bowl up, you might as well do the whole hog.
But my arguably dysfunctional way of dealing with life's demands doesn't just stop at the menial day-to-day chores. Instead, it manifests itself into all sorts of other tasks, most notably writing essays, reading, responding to emails and messages and shopping. It's funny, as I pondered whether this was a blog post worthy subject earlier I thought my only coverage was my laundry and course work, but low and behold I've gone and found heaps more examples and I can't work out whether this is a good thing or an awful thing, haha.
I think this topic is, in a way, an unintentional follow up from my post on procrastination I wrote in November 2014, because this way of dealing with things is undoubtedly a form of procrastination, but the very fact that I am able to categorise it now is an almost exciting development in my understanding of myself and my brain and all that jazz. What I'm also finding interesting in this field of thought is the fact that my feelings towards my chronic procrastination were once numbingly negative with an almost self-loathing taste to them, but now, when I speak of it so rationally and in a practical sense, I'm totally at peace with it. I am able to recognise the positives that can come from it, and I understand that arguably, leaving things until near their deadline is simply a different way of working. By lessening the time I can spend on tasks, I find I focus much more effectively and I'm forced to prioritise simply by not having a choice. The trick is not to leave things too late...there's a fine line.
So if I'm a little slow in responding to a message you've sent me, know that it's nothing personal, you're not the only one, I'm just waiting for something to pass so that I can give you the time I think you deserve.
Likewise, if you haven't seen me for a while, I'm probably slaving away over something I've left a little too late, but will be back on the scene in the click of a turnitin submission. It might just be worth encouraging me to go to bed at some point.
Oh, would you look at that, it's 05:45am...lol.
Night!
Ro is listening to: Old Money by Lana Del Rey
AND
All the Wasted Time - Parade, London Cast
(It sort of starts at 3 different points, depending on how much context you like - 0:00/1:43/3:00)
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