A man was driving down the road when a policeman stopped him. The officer looked in the back of the man’s truck and said, “Why are these penguins in your truck?”
The man replied, “These are my penguins. They belong to me.”
“You need to take them to the zoo,” the policeman said.
The next day, the officer saw the same guy driving down the road. He pulled him over again. He saw the penguins were still in the truck, but they were wearing sunglasses this time. “I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!” the officer said.
“I did,” the man replied. “And today I’m taking them to the beach.”
A good article. Thanks. Plus, I'd love to see those Eastern European car park photos! And I didn't know "Shanghaid" as a verb, I need to fit that into my parlance.
I'm a big fan, you know that. I love your writing and your thoughts - the AI piece is great timing as I'm exploring it and worrying about the implications too.
But I think that the world is moving fast towards the one you wrote so compellingly about in Spares.
Surely we have to get away from this Left / Right thing now. I have always voted Labour with the odd flirtation with Lib Dems, but some of the worst anti-freedom and draconian things have been done in the last three years by those considered Left, and Keir Starmer (leader of the Left in the UK) was howling louder than anyone for harder and longer lockdowns.
There are so many inconsistencies; just as an example, the Left say women have a right to choose what happens to their bodies (even to the point of what most 'normal' people would call infanticide) while nobody has a right to choose what to put NOT to put into their bodies. While the Right are so eye-poppingly corrupt it's beggaring belief - and certainly most ordinary people in the UK.
Talking of the UK we have a Conservative Government (Right) who are so far left they are practically communists and the Labour (Left) are even worse. Neither of them - from Westminster to Local Councils - are taking the blind bit of notice of what the people want and only the other day, 46 beautiful old trees were ripped up from Plymouth City Centre IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, because the Council knew the townsfolk would not be happy.
I use this as just an example, as we are all being marched towards much worse it seems - 15 Minute Cities, Digital ID's and Central Bank Digital Currencies - and it all seems to be at the behest of people who sit far above those 'useful idiots' in our divisive political parties. Should those of us who lean more towards the centre not be coming together to fight those who regard us as cattle?
I would love to read more of your thoughts about whether the bi-party system can ever really serve the people and what might be a better alternative. Have your views changed at all over the last three years?
I haven't finished reading this dangerous correspondence yet. My anxiety levels were rising and I had to stop and take a break. I wasn't aware that we would head to these extremes so quickly.
Mar 13, 2023·edited Mar 13, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith
There was this bloke, Jeebus or something like that, mentioned something similar. "Why can't we all just be nice to one another?" Sounds fair to me, I can be alongside that as an idea.
However, over the course of time, some other people, all fans of this guy, they had posters on their walls of this mid-brown-haired white guy who looked a bit sad… powerful stuff... who decided that the best way to be nice to each other was to force everybody else into also being a fan of this sad white guy, even if it meant killing them to prove a point. I'm sure there was some logic somewhere in that thinking.
It seemed to all go a bit downhill from there. It turned out the were other groups of people who all believed in almost exactly the same thing, but in a different shade of turquoise.. & the one thing each of them just couldn't stand was the other guy's shade of turquoise. So they ended up fighting each other over exactly which shade of turquoise was the right one.
I think that's how the story went. It all gets a bit confused after a time.
Perhaps we could fix it all by not caring what the other guy's shade of turquoise is, exactly?
Maybe this is where it could have been useful if we'd *actually* been constructed by an intelligent designer. Maybe it could have worked a little harder on the co-operative gene, which we have but could be stronger; and spent less effort on the tribalism gene. We do seem to have been constructed with a tribalism gene that can construct a 'tribe' out of almost any commonality, from same village, football team, skin colour, gender orientation. We can make patterns out of anything, even clouds in the sky. It may have been useful at some time, but I'm not seeing it as so much of a positive as perhaps we once thought.
This is exceptional, the absolute best piece I’ve read on this subject. Hard-hitting but positive, an honest and elegantly expressed desire to understand the motivations and try to put the train back on the track. We need to care. Beautifully done. Thank you.
Wonderful piece Michael. Perhaps you can help me wrestle with this morality tale? I was in a pub with my brother recently and a group of his friends who are a tad right of centre if you catch my drift? When asked what my opinion on whatever they were talking about I replied "Sufficient to the day the evil thereof ". There was a very long and very uncomfortable silence. Did I add or subtract
to the world's misery? I confess I did enjoy their discomfort.
Great piece. Btw - about those Penguins:
A man was driving down the road when a policeman stopped him. The officer looked in the back of the man’s truck and said, “Why are these penguins in your truck?”
The man replied, “These are my penguins. They belong to me.”
“You need to take them to the zoo,” the policeman said.
The next day, the officer saw the same guy driving down the road. He pulled him over again. He saw the penguins were still in the truck, but they were wearing sunglasses this time. “I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!” the officer said.
“I did,” the man replied. “And today I’m taking them to the beach.”
A good article. Thanks. Plus, I'd love to see those Eastern European car park photos! And I didn't know "Shanghaid" as a verb, I need to fit that into my parlance.
I'm a big fan, you know that. I love your writing and your thoughts - the AI piece is great timing as I'm exploring it and worrying about the implications too.
But I think that the world is moving fast towards the one you wrote so compellingly about in Spares.
Surely we have to get away from this Left / Right thing now. I have always voted Labour with the odd flirtation with Lib Dems, but some of the worst anti-freedom and draconian things have been done in the last three years by those considered Left, and Keir Starmer (leader of the Left in the UK) was howling louder than anyone for harder and longer lockdowns.
There are so many inconsistencies; just as an example, the Left say women have a right to choose what happens to their bodies (even to the point of what most 'normal' people would call infanticide) while nobody has a right to choose what to put NOT to put into their bodies. While the Right are so eye-poppingly corrupt it's beggaring belief - and certainly most ordinary people in the UK.
Talking of the UK we have a Conservative Government (Right) who are so far left they are practically communists and the Labour (Left) are even worse. Neither of them - from Westminster to Local Councils - are taking the blind bit of notice of what the people want and only the other day, 46 beautiful old trees were ripped up from Plymouth City Centre IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, because the Council knew the townsfolk would not be happy.
I use this as just an example, as we are all being marched towards much worse it seems - 15 Minute Cities, Digital ID's and Central Bank Digital Currencies - and it all seems to be at the behest of people who sit far above those 'useful idiots' in our divisive political parties. Should those of us who lean more towards the centre not be coming together to fight those who regard us as cattle?
I would love to read more of your thoughts about whether the bi-party system can ever really serve the people and what might be a better alternative. Have your views changed at all over the last three years?
Loved it. Thank you.
Nice.
This is an absolutely brilliant piece!
Simulacrum, going be using that in a sentence one day. 🙏
I haven't finished reading this dangerous correspondence yet. My anxiety levels were rising and I had to stop and take a break. I wasn't aware that we would head to these extremes so quickly.
There was this bloke, Jeebus or something like that, mentioned something similar. "Why can't we all just be nice to one another?" Sounds fair to me, I can be alongside that as an idea.
However, over the course of time, some other people, all fans of this guy, they had posters on their walls of this mid-brown-haired white guy who looked a bit sad… powerful stuff... who decided that the best way to be nice to each other was to force everybody else into also being a fan of this sad white guy, even if it meant killing them to prove a point. I'm sure there was some logic somewhere in that thinking.
It seemed to all go a bit downhill from there. It turned out the were other groups of people who all believed in almost exactly the same thing, but in a different shade of turquoise.. & the one thing each of them just couldn't stand was the other guy's shade of turquoise. So they ended up fighting each other over exactly which shade of turquoise was the right one.
I think that's how the story went. It all gets a bit confused after a time.
Perhaps we could fix it all by not caring what the other guy's shade of turquoise is, exactly?
Maybe this is where it could have been useful if we'd *actually* been constructed by an intelligent designer. Maybe it could have worked a little harder on the co-operative gene, which we have but could be stronger; and spent less effort on the tribalism gene. We do seem to have been constructed with a tribalism gene that can construct a 'tribe' out of almost any commonality, from same village, football team, skin colour, gender orientation. We can make patterns out of anything, even clouds in the sky. It may have been useful at some time, but I'm not seeing it as so much of a positive as perhaps we once thought.
Love this, thanks for sharing.
Love this
This is exceptional, the absolute best piece I’ve read on this subject. Hard-hitting but positive, an honest and elegantly expressed desire to understand the motivations and try to put the train back on the track. We need to care. Beautifully done. Thank you.
Wow. This is simple truth. Thank you.
Wonderful piece Michael. Perhaps you can help me wrestle with this morality tale? I was in a pub with my brother recently and a group of his friends who are a tad right of centre if you catch my drift? When asked what my opinion on whatever they were talking about I replied "Sufficient to the day the evil thereof ". There was a very long and very uncomfortable silence. Did I add or subtract
to the world's misery? I confess I did enjoy their discomfort.
You are wonderful. I hereby return your dream cat to you.
If you’re not woke, in its original African-American sense, then by definition you’re in a stupor. Hmm. Is there an adjective to describe that state?