"Hit THE ZONE, Jack, Then Come Back For More, For More, For More, For More" Edition
Hello,
Obligatory shilling. I was interviewed by Dan Palmer about life, death and everything in between.
I wrote a tribute to Gerald Russello and editors in general.
For my paying suscribers, I wrote a piece on professional wrestling as hyperreality. I also wrote for my paying subscribers about the dangerous Polish border crisis.
Heroism. According to British media, a taxi driver in Liverpool locked a terrorist inside his vehicle to prevent him from attacking innocent people. A Remembrance Day service, or possibly a maternity hospital, seems to have been the bomber’s target. Thankfully, the taxi driver survived.
The fact that bomb-wielding terrorists roam Britain should be the main story (though the nature of the plot has yet to be revealed). At this time of remembrance, though - which happens to coincide with Independence Day in Poland - it is good to remember the enduring value of selflessness and courage.
How dare you help me. Here is a lovely piece by All Elite Wrestling star Eddie Kingston about struggle and sacrifice:
Then he said, “Alright. Hey, you do you. It’s your life. What am I gonna tell my son, though?”
My nephew had just been born.
I said, “What the hell are you talking about?”
He said, “How am I gonna tell my son not to be a quitter when his uncle quit on his dream?”
And I just looked at him like: “You son of a bitch. How dare you help me? How dare you.”
Burdens of independence. Okay, that's enough positivity. Murtaza Hussain reflects on V.S. Naipaul:
Naipaul could be ungenerous to his subjects, most of whom were just emerging towards political independence after the long trauma of colonisation. But by shining a harsh spotlight on their failures, he also offered them a more comprehensive kind of freedom. Naipaul returned to those he wrote about moral responsibility for their own condition. This was the burden of independence, and accepting it, Naipaul suggested, was the only way that the formerly colonised would ever truly be liberated.
Britannia does not rule the waves. It is interesting that more British attention seems to have been focused on the border problems next to Poland this week than the border problems in, well, Britain. Thousands of migrants have been crossing the English Channel, with no signs of slowing down.
Round my way, there is the chance for conflict between Poland and Belarus, which certainly adds an extra dimension. But I think it is also because Lukashenko, the Belarusian strongman, is a recognisable bad guy whereas the Channel crisis is more difficult to frame in moral terms. Aside from the nameless, faceless evil of the traffickers, there is human tragedy and abject governmental uselessness.
Under the carpet. Charlie Peters addresses child sexual exploitation in the U.K.:
Conservative MP Robbie Moore is angry. Last month, he alleged that child sexual exploitation in the wider Bradford district, where his constituency is located, was being ‘swept under the carpet’ by the local government.
He was moved to make his claim after an independent review into five cases of abuse since 2001 published by the Bradford safeguarding partnership found that children ‘remain unprotected’ in the district.
Irreversible damage. Here is a sad article by a man who regrets having a vasectomy:
At first, we didn’t view this situation as a problem as it was common knowledge that vasectomies were easily reversed. My urologist even told me that it was reversible right before I went under the knife. However, in reality, they are only between 30 and 90 percent reversible; they are less likely to be reversed the further from the procedure the reversal happens; and they are hardly ever covered by insurance, costing upwards of $70,000 in some areas but averaging around $5000.
I fear that this kind of essay generally exists to make us feel smug for not making such bad decisions - even if ours, in fact, are similarly bad but different. This one makes a good point, though, about our desire to believe that we have a natural right to have our cake and eat it.
Have a lovely week,
Ben