Author: Chatter

Do you know what an ‘ordinary ‘ person is ? No me neither.  I hear it quite often though.  I’m sure you have too. Are they a race from a far off land?  What do they look like?

The dictionary definition of ordinary is:  of no quality or interest ; commonplace ; unexceptional.

“So what does the ordinary person on the street think?” asks the BBC/ UTV interviewer or our local politicians.  Cut to an interviewer talking to a person on the street.  But how do we know this person is ‘ordinary’ and do we know if there are extra-ordinary persons out there on the street too. I take exception to being called ‘ordinary.’  This begs the question,  if the rest of us are considered  ‘ordinary people’  who are the extraordinary people?

One would expect that extraordinary would mean that those who fall into this category are thicker than us ‘ordinary’ people but NO!

The dictionary definition of extraordinary is:  amazing,  incredible, phenomenal,  outstanding etc. etc. etc.

I presume a Member of Parliament is not an ordinary person.  After all they are members of the ruling class. So for example Sammy Wilson would not be classed as an ordinary person.  Well that’s true. Sammy has been pictured gallivanting in the nude. Not many ordinary people would do that and they certainly would have had the sense not to record it on camera for us ‘ordinary’ people to laugh at years later.

Royalty would also be considered extraordinary.  So another example could be Prince Andrew.  Unlike ‘ordinary’ people the prince leads a charmed lifestyle flying from place to place, sponges of the’ ordinary ‘people and has done little in his lifetime to contribute to society.  Unless you call chasing after young women an heroic act. 

There are a choice of words that can be used to describe us ‘ordinary’ people. These are words that are used by the extraordinary people to describe us.  Civilians,  the general public,  the little people,  the grass-roots, lowest common denominator and if you do make a bit of money you become nouveau riche or the hoi polloi.

But we are not ordinary people.  We are unique. We may not be members of the ruling classes but we are mostly hard-working people, the salt of the earth, the foot soldiers who keep the world turning.

Society couldn’t exist without us so-called ordinary people.  So I’ve redefined ordinary in my dictionary.

Ordinary is ; tolerant of nobs and politicians who think they are better than the so-called ‘ordinary people’

Socrates believed that the best form of government is neither a tyranny nor a democracy.  Maybe we need more ‘ordinary’ people showing the extraordinary people how that works !!

I have never thought of myself as having an addictive personality but that was before I became aware of Facebook, Twitter, Whatsap and now Periscope.  When I heard about this latest  communication device I couldn’t resist logging on to see what it was all about. Now at the sound of a whistle ( ‘up periscope’  ) I march zombie like to the nearest media device and tune in.  Bit like an episode of Dr Who.  Nine times out of ten, it is Basil McCrea, who must have his camera at the ready at all times.  Basil seems to think it is the next big thing in social media, I’m yet to be convinced. Not all people react well to a camera been stuck in their face and become embarrassed and tongue tied.  ( I wonder can you get patches to control the desire to be in touch with what is happening at all time.)

Anyhow judge for yourselves. Is it a gimmick or will it replace Twitter? You can tune in and listen or watch your followers talk to the camera. Will it become an important tool in the months running up to the 2016 elections?

Periscope on the App Store on iTunes – Apple
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/periscope/id972909677?mt=8

The recent discussions about Christians and their beliefs got me thinking about how the concept of Christianity came about. So I did a bit of research and I have come up with my version which is probably irreverend but nevertheless relevant.

I am going to tell you a story.  It’s about a boy and girl who fell in love. They weren’t married and by the time they got round to telling their parents the baby was almost due. Naturally the parents were upset and insisted they go away from the village to have the baby,  thus avoiding any scandal. The couple who were uneducated on matters of a sexual nature tried to deny that any sexual contact had taken place resulting in family members referring sarcastically to a virgin birth. Yes you’ve guessed it, the baby’s name was Jesus and he grew up and founded a movement called Christianity. We don’t know much about his early life other than he served his time as carpenter. He was baptised late in life by John the Baptist in and around his 30th year. This might suggest that his parents were not very religious or didn’t believe that a child of a few weeks could decide what religion they wanted baptised into.

John the Baptist was a hippy. He wandered around in the wilderness, dressed in clothes made of camel’s-hair.  Like a modern-day Bear Grylls he lived on locusts and wild honey.  Fuelled by the stories of his ancestors who believed that a Messiah was coming,  John saw in Jesus a charismatic figure who could fill the role and so declared that he was the Messiah and the Son of God.  Jesus was raised as a Jew and until his meeting with John probably didn’t have any intention of starting a new movement. But egged on by John and not happy with his lot ( he came from peasant stock) he had an epiphany and realised he could do something to change society.

He was determined to better himself so he went to the temple where he mixed with the scribes and Pharisees who helped educate him. He also realised he was good at performing tricks, a bit like Dynamo. People were amazed and their only explanation was that Jesus was the Son of God. I suspect in 33 A.D. it was not always possible to tell when a person was dead or in a coma, so perhaps he got lucky on many occasions.  Jesus started to believe his own hype and as his reputation spread he amassed a large following. It is reported that he was friends with all kinds of people but we know he was friendly with Mary Magdalene who some described as a prostitute while others have suggested she may actually have been his wife. It would have been unusual for a man of his age not to be married in the Jewish culture but I’m not going there. There are claims that he spend 40 nights in the desert fasting. While there the devil tempted him.  More likely he became delirious through a poor diet.  John being an inhabitant of the desert was probably not too far away keeping him supplied with locusts and honey.

Meanwhile Jesus was gaining attention from political leaders and particularly from Pilate. When others started referring to him as King of The Jews,  Pilate  accused him of treason and summoned him before a tribunal.  Judas who was jealous of Jesus daubed him in while on on a visit to Gethsemane.  It strikes me as strange that Judas had to identify Jesus with a kiss as he was well known to the authorities. Where’s Crimewatch when you need it? Pilate, who was a Roman governor, was reluctant to convict Jesus but after persuasion from the Jewish authorities he washed his hands before the crowd and told them to do what they wanted. Now this is where I have a problem. How can anyone believe that a loving father i.e. God would have his only son (allegedly) crucified and exactly how would this save us from our sins? What sins have the young children who die every day through abuse and starvation, committed? And don’t start me on original sin. What’s that all about?

Jesus was buried in a large tomb but during the evening, wary of his followers trying to view the body either Jesus was taken by his followers or by the authorities and reburied in a secret place.   In order to placate his followers the apostles spread the word that, as he was the Son of God he had ascended into heaven. Easy in those days to convince uneducated followers.  His fellow disciples perpetuated the story.  Thomas was obviously a bit sharper than the rest of the apostles or was not included in the conspiracy as he couldn’t be trusted. Whatever the reason, he didn’t believe the story and who can blame him?  The story was retold and probably was embellished as it was 80 A.D. before three of the four gospels were composed.  The authors remain anonymous but they are thought to be Jewish.

The spread of Christianity was perhaps due to a desire by a disillusioned people to believe in an afterlife. While the ethos of Christianity is love thy neighbour and do onto others as they would do to you, this has not been translated into words and deeds. Christianity has also been hijacked and used as a weapon to attack non believers and those of other religions and lifestyles. The misuse of Christianity by a number of religious orders in the middle ages to justify crusades where hundreds of thousands were killed in the name of God is a prime example.    ( ” Kill them all, God will know His own” )

My intention in writing this is not to offend or insult anyone but to look at the birth of Christianity and to question the belief that Jesus was the son of God. I believe Jesus was a man who saw a role for himself in helping his community. He started a movement which has lasted two millennium but as stated earlier the movement has been hijacked along the way by those who want to rule and control.