Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I understand that over in Washington there is a massive hoo-ha at the moment about the Republican Party paying actors and party members to pose as journalists who then peddle the party line to the media as though it were 'genuine' news.

I've just learned today that here in Britain this has been going on for ages. We apparently have a huge number of fake media outlets selling news items to TV and radio stations (including the BBC) and the press in the guise of straight news reports. A number of these organisations are wholly funded by the Ministry of Defence. So why am I surprised? I guess I'm surprised that they have managed to operate for so long without being exposed on Independent media websites.

It's great to know we live in such an open, free and democratic society.

It's a little unsettling, isn't it? It seems so much has changed since I was a youngster, believing and wanting to believe the best about people. It is indeed getting more challenging.

I don't know about you, John, but I really regret that sense we had as kids of living in a world that was benign and secure, where we just got on with our lives and believed that those in positions of authority had nothing but our best interests at heart, even our teachers - the worst we could say about them was that they were prats.

Maybe I was just naive

It was good just being able to believe all the things we were taught about ourselves.

I try hard not to become automatically cynical about everthing, but the more I learn the harder it gets.

I must have been naive, too, but wish I had a way to savor it at the time. It was the last time I felt at peace with my world.
I lost the war with cynicism some years ago, but have come to a certain acceptance of things as they are, and the fact that I can change nothing. I am now simply an observer, watching a train wreck.

Fundamentalist Christians seem to have sorted out their peace-of-mind problem by submitting themselves to what they take to be the promptings of the Holy Spirit - a nice idea if you are prepared to shut down your experience.

I was a at a Buddhist talk many years ago and someone mentioned how God spoke to them in prayer. The Buddhist teacher just smiled and said that it was probably just indigestion.

At first I thought he was kidding, but I heard the same reply again some years later and I asked about it. It does seem to be a Buddhist belief that many examples of communion with God are no more than the result of digestive problems. 'One good burp usually sorts it out' I was told.

So twenty years meditating on the contents of your mind might restore peace of mind, but a plate of boiled eggs might be quicker.

Cheers

Richard

I can't spend twenty years meditating on the contents of my mind, because my memory only goes back a couple days. Every third day, the world is new again. You should be so lucky....

C'mon John. Some people would pay a fortune to achieve that kind of state.