Following news sources online is a mug’s game. There are too many sites which concentrate disproportionately on hyped and blown up bad news. Headlines scream at you, deliberately phrased in such a way that you are drawn in against your better judgement. Result: depression and feeling down-hearted. Yes, bad stuff happens all the time, but concentrating on it to the exclusion of good stuff doesn’t make it better.
Living in a phoney bubble of privilege and positivity is plain stupid, we must face reality. After all, we are part of the human race, living at this time, constantly confronted with the awfulness of traumatic events.
Desperate refugees pressed up against barbed wire, children with huge hungry eyes, mass shootings, politicians in the UK all but shredding each other over the EU referendum; and then there’s the surreal and well nigh unbelievable spectacle of Donald Trump.
But there was better news too more recently:
What, really?
Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall? I can’t have been the only one whose face cracked into a huge sneery grin when the news came through. Finally, something to make me giggle. I loved the pictures of the happy couple, (particularly the close-ups), arm in arm, Jerry in flat shoes, so as not to tower over her shortish groom who's 84, and looks every day of it.
And so Rupert plays his part. Shifting
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.
However, it doesn’t do to make fun of Murdoch. At 84 his money bags can still cause our craven government to kowtow and let him have all the best programmes on the BBC for a song. Even for the man who can, and has, bought himself everything his mean and desiccated heart desires, the other man’s grass is always greener.
Not that you could mistake him for a sheep; a wolf in sheep’s clothing, more like.
Not that you could mistake him for a sheep; a wolf in sheep’s clothing, more like.
Paul knocked on the back door today. The celandines are out in the hedges.Yes, it’s that time of year, March, the most exciting and provocative month in the garden, full of promise, with blizzards one minute and sun as warm as in May the next, with thunder and lightning, frivolous snow flurries, fierce storms pelting you with sleet and hail and soft breezes to make you throw off your hat and gloves. Yellow-gold March, with daffodil, coltsfoot, aconite, buttercup, dandelion and marsh marigold all vying for the attention of the earliest insects.
Millie looks alert and alarmed. I expect she just saw Donny Turnip on tv.
ReplyDeleteI try not to watch the news too depressing. Donald Trump sure has people talking about him! I don't pay much attention but I am sure there is lots of mud slinging, I can hardly wait til he attacks Hilly:)
ReplyDeleteI love your photos Friko, Millie looks at you waiting for a stroll, isn't she? I agree with Far Side of Fifty I do not watch TV news, I prefer movies. It's pity that Downtown abbey finished. The nature news is more interesting.
ReplyDeleteHallo Friko,
ReplyDeletewar eben mit meinem Kommentar in den falschen (den nächsten Post) geraten. Mein Kommentar zum nächsten Post gehört hierhin.
Gruß Dieter
Hi Friko - good to see you and your Blogallimaufrey again ... lovely shots of Spring springing ... I was in Stratford at the weekend .. and wondered if you were going to be able to get across to the Shakespeare quantities that will be happening this year, 400 years after his death ...
ReplyDeleteLove that shot of Millie ... she looks resplendent by the grandfather clock ..
Don't make me laugh with Roops and his missus ... I wonder if she'll get short changed like Wendy Deng - the lady you saved him from the custard pie ... As for T he is a T ...
That's good Paul has turned up again .. at least there's some heavy lifting help around ... take care and all the best to you both and Millie .. cheers Hilary
Of all the things I'd expect to find on your blog, the last would be news about Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall. You continue to surprise!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen those pictures of the happy couple, but now I must go snooping! :-)
ReplyDeleteMy intentional ignoring of what the media insists on pressing on us as "news" sometimes leaves me a bit behind the curve. I had to turn to Google to find out who Jerry Hall might be. Truthfully -- I didn't know if "Jerry" was a he or a she. Or both. Or neither. It's so confusing these days.
ReplyDeleteNow I see that she's a she, and an American, and a model who was married to Mick Jagger. Mick Jagger? Well, I liked some of the music, but I missed that marriage, too. It amused me greatly to read that there's been a run on flat shoes since the nuptials. Good grief. It's fashion + advertising at its best: wear flat shoes, and you might marry a millionaire (or whatever he is.)
Spring's much more fun. Like you, we have dandelions, buttercups, and marsh marigolds galore. The traditional Texas signs of spring, the bluebonnets and Indian paintbush, are emerging, too. We've had good rains across the state the past few days, and that's surely going to help the wildflower crop. There's some flooding to contend with, but it's mostly river flooding: not good for those along the rivers, but not a source of widespread devastation, either.
Millie is a darling. That photo's so great. I makes me want to give her a scratch and a pat and say, "There, there. It will all be fine."
Donald craves absurd attention. He is rich, powerful and a complete idiot. He is as useless as a piece of well worn shite. No wonder dear Millie looks alarmed. I do not bother to follow him at all. I read enough about him before he ever decided to try and become president. God forbid that should happen. On the other part of your post, love the writing - you are so clever with your words. Have a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch the news on TV at all or read the newspaper. they are all bought and owned by just a handful of people who only show what they want to show and it is all slanted. I read several news sites on-line. I've had to pull back though because like you I am overwhelmed with all the bad, hateful, prejudiced, obstructionist people and I have a hard enough time with humanity as it is. and really...Jerry Hall? Well, she was a gold digger when she married Mick and I guess she still is.
ReplyDeleteEllen, your comment caught my attention. Why do you call Jerry Hall a "gold digger" on marrying Jagger? As far as I know she didn't need to dig gold since she had (and probably still does) a lucrative career herself. She bore him four (in words FOUR) children to then, when he fucked off (frequently) and eventually fathered another child with another woman, to be told the marriage had never been legally valid. I am sorry, Ellen, but what you said there is plain mean. But then that is what a lot of women (towards other women) are: Mean and spiteful.
DeleteAs to Murdoch. Sure, it stretches one's imagination what she sees in him. However, some people can be arseholes in business yet totally charming in their private lives. And, as the philosopher says: Love is where it falls.
U
Great writing, especially the paragraph of living in a phoney bubble. Donald Trump scares the ..........out of me. I just can't believe that people want him as our president. The other two republican candidates are just as bad.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this. Your Rupert verse and your observations (nature and political) are "spot on", but, I did utter a delighted squeal at the mention of celandines emerging. :) We have a bit more of a wait, but, the daffodils are poking through and there are buds swelling on branches. I am turning off the news today and taking a long walk in the muddy woods, preferring that mud to the mudslinging going on hereabouts, especially with "unbelievable spectacle of Donald Trump".
ReplyDeleteI am like a deer in the headlights. I cannot look away from the news.....but then I believe that if we all look away we deserve whatever happens to us. Rupert and Gerry - well, that is par for the course in the Never-never Land that they inhabit. Refugees and war - any country is just an incident away these days. Trump? He terrifies me. I can't believe that so many Americans see him as President. I want to start building that wall between the USA and Canada before he starts to build it.
ReplyDeleteMillie - well she is wise to have a good look before stepping out.
I don't have regular TV anymore, watch everything online or rent from Netflix...and avoid the news like the plague. Well, especially now with the politicians on the election rampage and Trump...what can anyone say? He is terrifying! What is wrong with this country?!
ReplyDeleteBut it is beautiful outside your door and you have gardening work to do. That is what I would focus on--yes! Some old male billionaires seem fairly easily ensnared by a younger woman who has set her sights on him. Well, you could probably say almost any older man--LOL! ;) ;)
Dear Friko, the photograph of Millie is a gem!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I just had to laugh at the Rupert/Jerry engagement and wedding. Several years ago, Ms Hall was in London appearing in a panto. Now, she's expanded that performance.
I do follow news from many sources, and am interested in how the world grinds on. Environmental, scientific and technological stuff interests me, along arts and fashion coverage, and even the dreaded economic/political situations. A lot of what I read is alarming, but not all of it.
Trump's continuing appeal to voters is frightening, as is the power of the Koch brothers, and I'm not at all keen on Hillary either.
Well, that's enough of a comment collage for now. xo
Shifting from all the negative to more positive is a soapbox I have stood on for a long time. Crime and evil will never be eliminated.
ReplyDeleteLooks like spring is opening windows and dusting the attics of yesterday's gloom. Glad for all the spring promises, for sure, though, in my neck of the woods, a storm as we had yesterday sends me back to the comfort and the warmth of indoorland.
ReplyDeleteWe watch the news, but what's the expression... "take it all with a grain of salt" (accept it but maintain a degree of skepticism about its truth).
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know who Rupert/Jerry are.
As for the primaries this year, it's a circus... and more than a bit embarrassing.
I do like your pictures!
Oh March! After my first winter in 30 years (albeit in N. Calif) means March is my dear friend this year. " Yes, bad stuff happens all the time, but concentrating on it to the exclusion of good stuff doesn’t make it better." You are right too that we cannot enforce a false never ending positivism, that it demeans our humanity. Very nice to see you
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the depressing news! I do try and keep myself informed, but I refuse to indulge in the horror-stories just for the sake of the thrill (as I'm afraid I suspect a lot of people do).
ReplyDeleteBy the time I get round to reading the ZEIT, the news in there have already been filtered through time - it's a weekly paper (as you know of course), and so the extremely short-lived hype of the daily (or even hourly) news is already gone.
It's been a very cold month so far, and doesn't look as it will change much; we expect snow at Easter. I really long for a nice, long walk, but it is cold and windy most of the time, and when the sun is out, I always seem to be shut up in the office. But warmer days WILL come, and WILL get my beloved walks sooner or later!
I cut myself off from most of the news. I am tired of facing current reality. Pray for Hillary. She might have made a few mistakes but she's head and shoulders above Trump the buffoon.
ReplyDeleteI start the day with the news - or propaganda - and am currently laughing at "The Guardian"'s attempt to portray Clinton as a desirable candidate for office. Desirable to the arms industry and Goldman Sachs perhaps,but what a measure of the fall of that newspaper as a voice of the left!
ReplyDeleteYes,I too hooted at the marriage...how long will it take Tony Blair to come calling...
Super hpoto of Millie and of the celandines.
Trump is an early April Fool's prank , isn't he ?
ReplyDeleteMuch too late for any comment noticed by you, my valued Great Britain viewer of my blog ... as Blogger is doing a real number on us right now as I have lost a few lovely commentors from wordpress ... why am I writing this? ... cuz I don't know where to go from here, Friko ... anyway, always appreciate your posts, always ... Love, cat.
ReplyDeleteTrudeau and Obama r smoozin rite now in da oval office ... do not like, do not like ... but a 100 times better than Donald ... smiles.
DeleteAhhh - the good news is that your garden is starting to sprout! Who can keep tabs on those in power or in the public eye. Better to keep an eye on the blooms!
ReplyDeleteTrump and Murdoch are of the same ilk...Trump is now causing near riots in some places...Be glad you live where you do...your garden is lovely.
ReplyDeleteNews has long since become mere entertainment -- except for the horror parts -- but I continue to include viewing much of it augmented by my all news radio station, various tech sources with some focusing on world news. I don't allow it to depress me though I'm well aware of the serious state of world conditions -- the scary possibilities that could occur, ridiculous situation in U.S. politics. I, too, hooted at the RP/JH announcement. The onset of your spring flowers is a welcome account even if they are emerging into the sometimes unpredictable March weather I remember from around the Great Lakes area.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel responsible for Trump's awfulness but I feel as if I'd like to apologize to the world in general for him. Really.
ReplyDeleteBut Spring is on its way and even the news takes a back seat to the bursting buds and rising tide of green. Oh joy!
Yes, Drumpf is an embarrassment and seems to become more dangerous by the day. You neglected to mention though the good news, Bernie Sanders, running as a new deal social democrat, promising fundamental change for the democratic party and US society. Bernie is more then a silver lining, but represents real potential for a better future. I have never been as informed as these days due to social media that far outperforms mainstream media in quality and content. The image of your dog peeking is adorable. Spring being as far advanced for your region is enviable, our blooms started this months, about a month too early with certain frost to kill off potential fruit. Delighted to find you posting again.
ReplyDeleteI am delighted again by your wit, your insight, and your brilliant description of March. Thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteDogs always can still our anxious hearts...I need a dog.
ReplyDelete25 years absent from TV and never wanted to plug it back in. When I catch it in other houses it's always yelling about something and makes enormous demands on your pocket.
ReplyDeleteYou're back in stride with your writing, wonderful. I think of Jackie and that awful Onassis when I see the Rupert and Gerry. There are a lot more layers to it, I suspect.
XO
WWW
So witty and truthful!
ReplyDeleteI love visiting your world, no matter what the season! Oh, Rupert and Jerry. It sort of is scary, isn't it? Kind of like "What was she thinking?!" Then there is the Donald -- don't get me started on that. During this election season I just want to stick my head under a bush and hide from the rest of the civilized world in embarrassment for our country. If Rick and I could emigrate to Canada (we've discussed it) we would. This, too, will pass (I hope) but it says so little about the state of the people in our country -- and I think that will take far longer to disappear.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, nice to see Millie peeking out and loving that grand and glorious sheep-in-a-fence! And of course seeing the flowers makes me smile! Welcome back, Paul!