We’re gonna need a bigger boat…

I write. I like to play with words and language. Witchy Woo will attest that at times I get a phrase in my head and have to explore it or use it. The last one was Exsanguination.

ex·san·gui·nate [eks-sang-gwuh-neyt]  to drain of blood; make bloodless; to bleed to death

Fabulous word that, really rolls from your lips and flows beautifully. It has a softness and a sibilance that I love. I used it but not in a scene that involved bloodloss.

The phrase that is fascinating me at the moment is Paradigm Shift.  It’s wonderful isn’t it?

Think of a Paradigm Shift as a change from one way of thinking to another. It’s a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It just does not happen, but rather it is driven by agents of change.

I am slowly looking at the world in a whole new way. My attitudes are changing. It’s like the world is slipping sideways and I can’t keep my balance. Someone or something keeps slapping me in the back of the head and I sit here with my words gone, apoplectic, stunned in my anger.

ap·o·plec·tic   (āp’ə-plěk’tĭk)

Of, resembling, or produced by apoplexy: an apoplectic fit.Extremely angry; furious: 

I am unable to type coherently and yet the words somehow flow anyway. My world has become fluid and I must become harder to stay stable amongst the free flowing liquid forms. It would be easy to allow myself to be washed away, to conform to the malformed patriarchal structure that I am being pushed into. Life could be so easy that way, just conform, be normal, do as you’re told.

But no. The Paradigm shift is happening, right here, in my head. Once shifted there is no going back. Once people discovered that the earth was a sphere there was no way to then believe  it to be still flat. There is now now way to sail off the edge.

To quote one of my favourite films:

My Mommy told me there was no such thing as monsters but there are, aren’t there?

There are. They live amongst us and we accept them and allow them to define us and force us to be how they wish. They do it so subtly that we don’t even see it. Unless the paradigm shift happens. Then we see. Then we get angry.

The politics behind the post below, and the underlying refusal to address the deper issues has triggered a spread of similar situations.

Article.  

Mr Reid’s plea for fewer people to be imprisoned brought public anger after two paedophiles were not given custodial sentences.

Public anger? No shit Sherlock! 

A second paedophile was released on bail by a judge who said that, a week earlier, he would have been sent to prison.

And then…..

the Home Office admitted that it had operated an unlawful policy by detaining child asylum-seekers.

Right, so they’re happy to lock up kids trying to seek asylum but not the paedophiles? I’m confused.  I wrote this earlier today as a response to a thread here.

This is politics. The judge got a memo saying he should consider non custodial options as the UK prisons are over crowded.

Now, to my mind, the problem goes so much deeper. Why are the prisons overcrowded?

Perhaps if the rehab programs for first time offenders were improved they wouldn’t be in there so long and then wouldn’t re-offend. Perhaps if prison was more of a punishment then offenders wouldn’t be so nonchalant about going back in. Perhaps the education system should allow our children more chance to internalise a moral code, rather than force feeding them one that at times makes no sense. Perhaps some offences don’t need a custodial sentence. Perhaps drug and alcohol addiction programs need more funding as an alternative to prison. Perhaps an alternative to custody while awaiting court would be appropriate for some.

Can you tell, this has my hackles up?

My gut feeling is that the justice system is just so wrong and is failing so many both inside the prisons and outside, offenders and victims. I’m letting the cauldron of thought bubble a bit for now, I’m sure there’ll be further posts as this develops!

Well, not here anyway.

A man who downloaded child pornography to his computer has avoided jail after the home secretary asked judges to limit prison terms due to overcrowding.

What is happening here? The sentencing guidelines issued to courts say a custodial sentence should be the STARTING point for possession of images like this. But the polititians are worried about prison overcrowding. So he walks.

But the council says the ages of the children, the seriousness of the images and whether the pictures are for "personal" use can mitigate the sentence.

You know what? I don’t care! A child has been abused to create those images and this is the start of more abuse.

 

Maybe if the prisons had better rehabilitation programs, maybe if they had the right people in them in the first place then there’d be space. Maybe if we dealt with people breaking the law in a better way then there wouldn’t be overcrowding.  

*sigh* I’m just sitting here getting angry. Do feel free to start a comments discussion. 

I have an online business. I also have a Spreadshirt shop and an Amazon shop. Most of you will already know about these, as I neverr shut up about them.

I am currently trying to word the business ethics and policies for publishing on my site. It’s not up yet but effectively I want to take a stand here. I want to draw a line for my own little corner of the online trading world. I trade transparently, if you want to know what I’m doing and why you can find out or ask and I will happily tell you. I’ll tell you all about what I sell, where it comes from all the good stuff and the bad. I want my little business to cause as little harm as possible. Hence my new website host is one who takes a similar stand.

You agree not to use our servers or services to propagate content that contravenes any laws. Content must not be offensive, libelous, obscene, threatening, abusive, racist, likely to cause unrest, likely to incur civil liability or capable of being interpreted as any of the above. Ihelm Enterprises reserves the right to suspend any account that in its sole discretion contravenes any of the above and to terminate such account if the client fails within seven days to justify its content.

When I asked they said this would include any sites containing "Adult" material. They will also terminate the account of anyone found to be spamming.

So, Ethics Trading is stating clearly where the line is for me. No child labour, no sweatshops involved in our products as far as we know. I can’t go out and visit every facility, I have to take my suppliers at their word. Beyond that I try and source products that are easier on the environment and do not pollute or add to global warming and climate change. Further still, I want to be able to say that I don’t link with sites, suppliers or business partners who in turn have links with p0rn and the sex industry.

But I have an Amazon shop. Go to the Amazon UK home page, 2 clicks in - DVD>Adult. This is what you get.  I abandoned Cafe Press for similar content. Spreadshirt don’t seem to have that sort of product or brand as easily available. Anyway, Amazon. My gut is telling me to dump the shop on principle and draw the line in the sand.

Actually, having typed all that, it’s not a dilemma at all is it.  

Bye Bye Amazon shop…… 

On BBC 1 tonight. Sir David Attenbourough presents the findings from this report.

A computer model of climate run on home PCs in conjunction with the BBC has yielded its first results.

It’s interesting and I’ll be watching as long as the kids settle tonight!

The results suggest the UK could be about 3C warmer than now in 75 years’ time, agreeing with other models.

Warmer but with higher rainfall and rising sea levels ………

I’ve redone the business website, switched hosts and generally tinkered about.

Do feel free to take a look. 

Interesting Article here.

I never used to shave but just over a year ago I started to shave again, armpits and legs. It was something I chose to do. But now I’m fed up with it and have stopped it again. Shazia Mirza has made it her New Years Resolution to Not shave. Nice one Shazia.

Like most women, Shazia has dedicated a significant part of her adult life to hair removal.

"I have done everything to remove my hair. I have waxed, shaved, used my dad’s lawnmower. It has taken so much time, so much effort, so many red blotches," says the 32-year-old comedian.

All that stopped at the start of January, as Shazia took a New Year’s resolution to shave no more. The evidence is already starting to show.

 Hairy legs this summer I think.

I need to do some thinking on this one. The story is here, and here. I’ve read debates and comments in various places, but this one grabbed my attention. In case you missed it, this is what’s happened.

Along with hormone doses to limit her growth, Ashley’s parents also opted for surgery to block breast growth and had her uterus and appendix removed.

They say the treatment will help to improve her quality of life.

 Ashley is 9 years old and has static encephalopathy, a rare brain condition which will not improve.. The doctors claim she has the mental abilities of a 3 month old infant and can not walk, talk, lift and hold her head or swallow solid food effectively. So they are stunting her growth to keep her small and manageable. They have had her juvenile breast buds surgically removes so her breasts never grow. They have removed her uterus to prevent puberty and menstruation.

My gut reaction here is one of sheer horror, it all just feels so very very wrong. I’d call it mutilation. But I don’t have a disabled child. I don’t live with that every day.  Who am I to judge?

But today, I was browsing round a blogring I am on and I found this.  Sharon says in the comments:

I don’t know where this ‘mind of a 3 month old’ statement is coming from. How do they know? Just because she cannot speak doesn’t mean she can’t communicate. Lots of people with experience of autism know that. She is so young and may still develop further, given the right support.

But whether she does or not, the rights of a person with a severe developmental disability should still be protected. They should have protection from such mutilation for such spurious reasons.

I need to ponder further as I am simply not qualified or experienced enough here to comment properly. But I just had to say something.