'Dancing on Lies' from www.nicholsoncartoons.com
'Crime Does Not Pay' from www.samueldesign.com/comics
'Sherlock Holmes' from www.nachshon.org
It’s rather uncanny how people like George Simmel, writing in the late 1800’s, managed to capture city living so minutely. In 2007, we tend to think of those times as the dark ages, but everything he’s written about people living in the Metropolis, is painfully true – the paranoia, the mannerisms, the psyche, the fear. How did he know all that? Could we have changed so little?
Veblen spoke about showy nouveaux riches in America just after the Industrial Revolution, using their women as mannequins to display their wealth. Has anything changed? Isn’t it the same now? People get a bit of cash and all of a sudden, the only thing they deign to eat is organic fair-trade gluten free sashimi.
And the powers that be still lie. For those of you who didn't know, Sherlock Holmes was very partial to a shot of heroine now and then, when there were no crimes to solve. Or so he told Watson. When, in the history of London, has there been a time when there were no crimes to solve, eh? I suppose his shooting drugs wasn't necessarily criminal, not like it was for the crooks he brought to justice - old Sherlock was just a little bored, that's all! Give the geezer a break, will you?
Veblen spoke about showy nouveaux riches in America just after the Industrial Revolution, using their women as mannequins to display their wealth. Has anything changed? Isn’t it the same now? People get a bit of cash and all of a sudden, the only thing they deign to eat is organic fair-trade gluten free sashimi.
And the powers that be still lie. For those of you who didn't know, Sherlock Holmes was very partial to a shot of heroine now and then, when there were no crimes to solve. Or so he told Watson. When, in the history of London, has there been a time when there were no crimes to solve, eh? I suppose his shooting drugs wasn't necessarily criminal, not like it was for the crooks he brought to justice - old Sherlock was just a little bored, that's all! Give the geezer a break, will you?
Apparently, crime in London has dropped consistently over the last four years, and we are now the safest city in Western Europe. Yeah right! Do we all look that stupid? Someone tell me this isn’t reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984? How can they tell us crime’s gone down, when we all know it’s gone up, probably higher than ever. I bet they'll have the Thought Police after us next - Oi you, you disbelieved when we told you crime had gone down, you'll be tried for treason! I forget who, but someone suggested recently that the powers that be, be made to take lie detector tests publicly. Whoever you are that suggested this, I think you’re a modern day genius.
© April 2007
© April 2007
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