I am 62 years old. I have lived, or worked for extended periods of time, in Aden, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, the Former Yugoslavia, Germany, Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Republic of China, Thailand, Viet Nam. I have worked for shorter periods of time in Canada, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Laos and Turkey. I am literate in English, Chinese, (Mandarin and Cantonese,) German and Greek. I also speak Russian and Serbo-Croatian. I can read a newspaper in Russian. I can chat in Spanish and French. I have some knowledge of Thai and Shanghainese and a few words in Bahasa, (Malay and Indonesian,) Vietnamese and Shanghai dialect. I read a lot, mainly in English and German. My current news sources of choice are The Telegraph, The Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, the Times of India, the South China Morning Post, Da Kong Pao in Hong Kong, CNN and Al Jazeera. By training I am an analyst. I served 25 years in the Army. I have been to war twice. I have also done my time in counter-terrorism in Northern Ireland. I am now an Independent Security Consultant. My role involves anything to do with the security and safety of people and assets, including information and intangible assets. I train, teach and coach. I am the father of three well-adjusted, successful children and grandfather to two more as well as sponsor of a number of children in different countries. I have friends on all continents of the World with whom I correspond more or less regularly. I have contacts in many countries, and if there is somewhere where I don’t know someone, it is almost certain that ‘I know a man who does.’ I am an atheist and a true libertarian. I do not categorise individuals by race, colour, creed, gender or private sexual preference.* I do understand that there are distinguishing social and cultural viewpoints and values that are shared, to varying extents, by groups of people.
What is my point? It is to make a request. Please do not assume that any opinions I express here, as opposed to matters of fact which I generally attempt to support with appropriate references, are lightly formed or based on other than experience, education, (in the sense of reading and researching as widely as I can on subjects that concern me or about which I wish to be informed,) and reflection. Please do not, (as is particularly the case with the followers of organised superstition,) tell me I do not understand – show me, by all means. Learning is a continuing process, if not, one’s brain turns to cold porridge.
Thank you.
*This does not preclude my personal opinion that the insertion of part of one’s body into a tube full of excreta is a revolting act.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Permission to speak, Sir?
“Ah, but what is truth?” quoth jesting Pilate. Are you sure you understand?
Chinese proverb.
Knowledge of some, or even all of the facts does not guarantee a correct analysis. Most judgments are, to some extent, coloured by emotion.
Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.
Alan Watts
Sipu, I did say I am an analyst by training – the dangers of ‘situating an assessment’ are drummed into analysts from the first day of training.
In any case, I do not claim infallibility, nor do I resist criticism – anyone I have taught will tell you that one of my mantras is ‘criricism is good.’ What I object to is the dismissal of arguments by the claim that, ‘you do not understand’ – there are a number of bloggers on superstition on the old site who default to this argument whenever someone disagrees with them – or, ‘you should think about a different viewpoint,’ – as if this is a blinding revelation that will convert one instantly to the POV of the one who says it.
If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead. ~Gelett Burgess. 🙂
But Bravo,
Climbing a tree to catch a wary carp with a cheeky floating bait is a recognised and well documented practice. They get spooked by the line otherwise.
A fine apologia, Bravo, but…
William Shakespeare .
Zen.
Confucius. (It just so happens that I picked up a copy of ‘The Analects,’ in a remaindered-book shop in Bucharest.)
Araminta,
PS. Nothing apologetic about it, it’s a polite request, that’s all, with a atatement for the reasons behind the request. it doesn’t just apply to me, either.
Bud Bray? Odd choice, Bravo; are you feeling OK? I quote Shakespeare and you come back with Bud Bray! 😉
Bravo; Apologia doesn’t need to be apologetic, and I wasn’t using the word in that sense.
That Billy Shakespear, he didn’t ‘alf spout some complete and utter tripe.
Not as bad as Bud, old buddy; )
Well he needed to look up the word ‘comedy’ for a start. His stuff is about as funny as a toe punt in the gooseberrys.
Araminta, I did say I read a lot.; try this:
(He also wrote: Women are not to be treated lightly…women are endowed with seven kinds of powers while men have only three. It is sinful to look down upon women.)
..and for the ‘other’ point of view, I give you a previous whacko of the week:
One of the wisest heads* spoke of his ‘eironeia’ – his ignorance. Yet another word which like ‘apologia’ has changed its meaning.
*Socrates
I direct the right-honourable gentleman’s attention to the last sentence – less the thanks and the footnote – in my post.
Yer man’s Apologia ( 🙂 ) is among my favourite passages, btw.
Oops, his final one, that is.
And, in case youwere wondering, No, I’m not going our for a pint of hemlock.
Your #18, Bravo. Nice one!
Yes, your whacko of the week quote is priceless! I shall remember that next time I venture forth into the Oxfordshire countryside. So far, I haven’t managed to stir up many earthquakes, but perhaps I should try harder. 😉
Araminta, another of my favourite quotes about women comes form the koran, (by way, originally, I confess, of ‘A Town Like Alice,’ though I have read the actual book since.)
“A Town Like Alice” is one of my favourite books, Bravo. I haven’t read the Koran from cover to cover, and I probably never shall. I haven’t read the Bible extensively either. Lack of intellectual rigour, perhaps? 😉
Or lack of interest? I read the koran on the theory of knowing your enemy. It is a shame that I don’t know Arabic, since Arab friends tell me that whatever else I might think about it, I did miss the poetry reading it in English translation.
My father was fluent in Urdu and Persian as he called it, and Arabic and I have a copy of the Koran somewhere in Arabic.
Everything we pass on is opinion, your facts as seen through your own eyes are not necessarily facts when seen through another man’s eyes.
Oh dear!!!!
Well, I was hardly going to read it for the sake of superstition, now, was I?
And you can’t get away with that, either – fact is fact, no matter whose eyes it is seen through. If it’s not fact, it’s opinion – or superstition. If you really want to understand another, you have to analyse what he says or does on his terms, not yours, otherwise you are situating the assessment, a common error.
Fact is fact, is it Bravo?
I find that most of the so called “facts” presented, are in actual fact; opinion. 😉
Or superstition. 2 + 2 = 4 is not a negotiable opinion. The purple flying spaghetti monster…
Yes, that too!
Substantive argument?
It was the enemy bit that caught my attention, I’m Muslim yet I don’t see you (or anyone) as an enemy …. sure we have differences of opinion, we may both come across as aggressive in how we present ourselves ….. but enemies??? Nah!!!!!!!!!
Like everything else in life ‘facts’ are not clear cut, let me give you a small, petty, insignificant (in the grand sceme of things)
I say for FACT that Manchster Utd fans are the worst team, the loyalty of their fans revolves only around their success.
alternatively
A Man Utd fan will say due despite my OPINION it is a FACT that Man Utd are the best team.
Both are valid facts, both are opinions.
What we must learn to do is appreciate that their may be an alternate viewpoint, we might not like it yet to the holder of that viewpoint it is his/her everything.
Regarding my previous response … you may opinionate that my spelling is crap, however the fact of the matter is …. I rushed my response.
Bravo, Bravo! That’s quite a lifetime, packed in there; it all makes for a very impressive array of skills/languages/knowledge. I feel quite stupid en comparaison…
Regarding your military background, well do you think this may have shaped your approach to debate and learning – which I find logical, rational and based on high levels of precision…?If so, I daresay you are actually the polar opposite of someone like me – liberal, arty and all over the place.
I don’t want to sound sexist or misogynistic, but I think a lot of men are more rational and linear in mindset than a lot of women. I’d probably be shot down in flames on MyT for saying that but I think it’s true.
Calm down Kev,
At the present time our enemy is the Telly Tubbies, they are rabid muslims, they follow the Kuran, ergo know the enemy. In this case all the enemy are muslims, but not all muslims are the enemy.
You got yourself into Larry/Bubbles mode there buddy.
Ferret, blimey Larry mode eh …. I best go dunk me head in some water.
I know Bravo well enough to know what he meant … not all are the enemy etc etc. It was more about how it ‘read’ and also somewhere in there to try and understand how Bravo’s arrived at his position.
Not sure if I’m making sense, then again I seldom do.
Claire, not necessarily the military training – though 21st Century professional soldiers, (I was a 20th Century professional,) are not as dumb as people tend to think – neither were 18th Century soldiers, come to that, but that’s a different story. Military training teaches quick thinking and precise response. It also teaches more directness than is the case in civvy street – when it’s important, you do not have the time for circumlocution. I think what you are noting is the analyst training.
I’m not at all sure that I agree that men are more rational in mindset than women, though I would agree about the linear bit. Women make excellent analysts – I have a story that touches all the non-PC bases, (exceot homosexuality,) if you’d like to hear it.
I believe I have read that women think differently to men – the actual process, I mean, rather than a gender-specific difference in viewpoint which is well established. That in no way hinders, and may even be a help in, women analysts producing good insights. One of the best analyst bosses I worked for in the Army was a woman – now CFO of a FTSE 500 Company.
Lol, ignoring the last line in your quote (the one I have omitted) …. oyyyyyyyy as a Muslim I follow the Quran ……. but I ain’t no enemy. So take that back yeah …. or … or …. or I’ll get me mates from Peterlee to fart on ya … ok.
Nah seriously, it just goes to show that people can, will and do read into whatever is written … whatever they want to. Me, I’m a strong believer in taking every individual on one to one basis … good and bad in all mate, good and bad in all.
You’re at it again, Kev. My #13, last line. You’re trying to teach a professional how to use his tools.
You are right, of course, and wrong. Just because a guy is a muslim doesn’t make him my enemy. Islam, however, is the enemy of Western thought and culture – and that is not bravo22c’s opinion, but an analysis of majority islamic opinion culled from wide reading. Before you point out that is not your view, I reiterate that you are not a typical muslim – poor, ill-educated and backward. And before you throw your hands up in horror again, do the numbers for yourself.
Bravo, all I can say to that is ‘I appreciate you alternate viewpoint, I don’t agree with it however I respect your right to hold it’
Damn … I can’t resist …. I have to say it – we all see ‘the other’ as a threat to the staus quo. Therefore for you it is fact that Islam is the enemy of Western thought and culture …. and somewhere some Muslim believes for fact that Western though and culture is the enemy to his status quo.
As for attempting to teach you or anyone else, nah not really. I was merely suggesting ‘I believe … What we must learn to do is appreciate that their may be an alternate viewpoint etc etc’
Stop looking for fights where there are none ….. that’s my job!!! 🙂
Kev.
let me say his once more, with feeling: that. is. what. I. spent. a. large. part. of, my. life. learning. to. do. and. doing.
That was the point of the rant. Don’t make me come over there.
Bravo, wanna fight!!!! I’ll have you know I’m dead hard me … yeah.
On a serious note, I am not disputing that you have gone through this process … however there are many on all sides of the many divides that have not and it is that ignorance that flames the resulting conflicts.
Well then, tell them, not me 🙂 Hard? You play kissbal, don’cha?
I’ll tell them and they will respond with … ‘err tell him first’. Vicious circles and all that …. ya’ll need to spare a thought for the folks in the middle ehhhh.
Kissball??? as opposed to a game where the scrum is just an excuse for fellas to touch each other up. No I ain’t homophobic … so don’t start that fight … although I’m not sure about that Ferret chap …. oh no I don’t mean he could be gay but I’m certain he is a southern fairy.
Oops. Now you’re in serious trouble.
Our lass has just informed me she’s off out wi’ her mates …. anyone got a spare burka lurking around. I fancy gettin me head kicked in so I might suggest she wear to go to restaurant and then pub.
Baby sitting duties for me tonight.
Bravo, without wishing to be argumentative here, if it not your opinion, then whose opinion is it? An analyse done by whom? What numbers?
Why is it that every Muslim who is not ill-educated, poor or backward is seen to be the exception and not typical? I appreciate that this is really not quite what you saying, but this is not the first time I have heard this, although not from you.
Araminta, the numbers refer to ‘poor, ill-educated and backward. Count the heads in muslim majority countries. Check the stats for literacy – the numbers for females are particularly illuminating, GDP per head, numbers at or below the poverty line, numbers of teachers per 1,000 pupils, energy usage per head, deaths in childhood, infant deaths per 100k etc, etc, and depressingly etc. …that’s what makes the ill-educated, poor, and backward typical. As I said, do the numbers, they are all out there.
Ah yes, thank you for the clarification. I know this Bravo, but I’m querying your statement that this makes Islam the “enemy of Western thought and culture”. It’s a bit of a jump.
Oi Kevvo,
Are you looking for teeth in a basket?
This small furry mammal is strictly butter side up.
Araminta, it’s not that that makes islam the enemy of Western thought and culture, it’s the very principle of islam. The billion plus poor, backward and ill-educated are a confounding factor, easilyl influenced and led not by the word of a non-existent god but by old men with beards – in exactly the same way that the taigs are led not by the word of their non-existent god but by an old man, sans beard, but in a silly dress – only more so.
Bugger, meant to add; Kev, told you so.
Um well, I’m not completely convinced as you may have suspected, no doubt the subject will come up again, but thanks for an interesting exchange of views, Bravo.
Ferret, sorry did I say ‘southern fairy’ …hmmmm what I meant to say is ‘shandy swilling southern fairy’ …….. nah just kidding mate.
As for teeth in basket, I nearly got that when I said to our lass for a laugh ‘as you do’ oiiii if your going out you better get a burka on …… no idea why but her reply was something on the lines of ‘f**k off’, which I think meant ‘not on your nelly’
Bravo, then what of say the African countries which are not Muslim yet poverty stricken, largely uneducated and so on …. who is to blame there? The communist/stalinist countries who are similarly afflicted … who is to blame there?
My opinion, based on the facts I know would be …. the leaders … as in the Presidents, the Kings etc …. bugger all to do with religion but everything to do with power …. bugger all to do with poverty …. the leaders never seem to go short of a bob or two … but everything to do with the corruption at the highest levels …. and these highest levels are protected and kept in place by the West.
You say ‘it’s the very principle of Islam’ that makes it the enemy. What principle would that be? Maybe I’ll learn something new or maybe I will clear a misconception.
Kev. I didn’t say it was islam that made them poor, simply that it is the case.
The principle that the word of god is the law. It’s not the word of god, of course, it’s the word of whacky old men….like this, on fitna:
Cuckoo, cuckoo. Life is a fitna. http://www.bakkah.net/articles/LifeIsAFitnah.htm
Bravo, what I was saying does sound a bit stereotypical – a bit Men are from Mars etc..and it’s to your credit that you don’t subscribe to that.
I think what I was getting at is that there is a kind of ‘feminine’ way of seeing the world and a masculine one, which can be gender orientated, but not always. There are, as you correctly pointed out, women with a more hard, rational – what I call masculine – linear way of perceiving the world, and men with more feminine tendencies like creativity, doubts and irrationalism. I’m not talking about sexuality; I just think that people generally fall into one category or another – masculine or feminine – in terms of how they perceive and relate to one another.
In my case, I’ve always been prone to the wider, emotional feminine outlook, with all its creativity, superstition, and navel gazing, which is probably why the discipline of going to work is so good for me! But having said that, I believe that those who are more ‘masculine’ – ie, logical and linear – still need something of the chaos and the creativity of their more ‘feminine’ counterparts.
I’m not being very clear…but it relates to your way of seeing the world. I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe you do need some irrationalism, some superstition and some chaos, just like every single one of us needs a kind of nemesis; just to grow, to learn and to remain spiritually and emotionally alive.
Or maybe I’m navel gazing again, as Christina would say..
“maybe you do need some irrational-ism, some superstition and some chaos”…
are you religious, Clare?
hey Pseu.
No, not really. I’m just not a sceptic or an atheist, so I suppose you could say I’m a believer that ‘there are more things in heaven and earth’, as Shakespeare put it.
Too much navel gazing by half all round here!
Self absorption is a very easy way to drive yourself into the hands of the psychiatrist!
Start thinking ‘out’ not ‘in’, much more healthy.
One tends to forget, perhaps Tina. that Claire is very much younger and a certain amount of questioning is far healthier than smug self-satisfaction, I know it all, sort of thinking perhaps?
Aw, Ara, you are so sweet! It’s alright; Tina is only saying exactly what my mum says. Tonight, in fact, she said; ‘you want to stop all that internet business and start looking after your house a bit better.’ My mum, not Tina…
But I also think that the questioning instinct, as you put it, is a healthy and normal one. The Romantic poets called it negative capability, or the ability to doubt oneself, and believed it allowed for enlightenment and greater experiences.
IF I’d have said that on MyT (RIP) imagine what Bubbles or Bluenote woud have said. I daresay they’d have blasted me into ether by now.
Claire; I suggest that your mother has every right to say that to you; but I think you do a great job. It is not easy to combine a career with small children, and I say that because I found it difficult enough to deal with sometimes and I didn’t have to work for a living at the time. So, keep questioning; the alternative as Bravo said is that your brain turns to mush, or porridge!
I don’t deserve a friend like you Ara, especially after some of the crazy emails you’ve been sent…
But I suppose that just proves what I was saying about the irrationalism/hysteria of the feminine psyche, which I appear to have by the bucketload.
I bet Boa would put me right on that one though.
Am missing dark side tonight. It’s round about this time I go over there for a spot of trouble making 😉
Ah well, you will just have to cause a bit of mayhem here, Claire. 🙂
I haven’t actually missed The Dark Side today; but I’ve been talking to Bravo, and visiting other WordPress sites.
Ah, Ara! I daresay I would be told to grow up and rightly so, if I tried any of that full on fightin’/flirtin’/flouncin’ over here! It’s a cross between some kind of weird masquerade and the messy, seedy bar at the end of the street where you know you shouldn’t go, but where you always somehow, inevitably end up anyway…
That’s why it’s called the Dark Side, Claire. 😉 It has a bizarre sort of attraction, but after more than two years, for me, it is losing its appeal. It is however, a focus and there are still some interesting people there.
Yes, I suppose so! Dark Side by name, Dark Side in nature.
I wish short story comp hadn’t sunk with it. But to be honest, I think it’s the silly arguments that I’ll miss the most!
OMG you are a lost soul. 😉 Only joking.
Don’t! You could be right…!
Well, it’s late but hair needs washing. Night night 🙂
Nighty night Claire. 🙂
Well, Claire, we do have a short story comp here, even though Louise may not be making comments. Just a petite reminder that only two more days before the deadline closes. So harness that dark side energy and put fingers to keyboard! Guidelines are at http://bearsy.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/the-new-creative-writing-and-photo-challenge/
‘But I suppose that just proves what I was saying about the irrationalism/hysteria of the feminine psyche, which I appear to have by the bucketload.’
Hm! must have got my share,I don’t do hysteria or irrationality, to be avoided like the plague as terminally boring after the first initial entertainment value.
PS where’s the husband, let him get on with it all for a while if you are under pressure and having a hissy fit.
Bravo
Nice CV my friend. You certainly sound like an amazing person.
Look, I do try to get you, I really do. I even understand your arguments, taken from a certain point of view, and see that you are impartial, or for need of a better word, independent, in your criticism of certain issues.
What I don’t understand is your single mindedness and rather aggressive demeanor when you argue your points.
Blogging is about communicating, and as all of us are different and come from varied educational and cultural backgrounds.
Your approach of “bring me the facts” is lacking in understanding that not all the people of the world are Oxford scholars, but most importantly, truth is a variable of observation and experience, and therefore we all live different worlds. None of this can be taught in a book or publication.
Ask me to ” substantiate” this statement and I shall decline the challenge.
Should say :
…and all of us are different and come from varied educational and cultural backgrounds.
…and therefore we all live in different worlds.
I am 54 years old, hold three degrees and speak four languages, Am a direct descendant of Caligula, come from one of the most ancient families in the world whose original founder was directly baptized by St James the apostle.
I too have been to war although only once and would never do so again and nothing shites me more than an educated man who has not only no idea whatsoever about religion, what makes it worse is that in his ignorance he sees nothing more than his own ego and totally disregards the intelligence of others.
Ahhhh, I feel so much better now 🙂
How you going, Rainer, got any BBQs coming up? I wouldn’t mind a free T-bone steak cooked by someone else 🙂
For you IS, it will be a rib eye.
You are welcome anytime. Just don’t asked me for well done. 🙂
Rainer – can you cook it an send it to me by courier please? I’m usually starve at this time of night; don’t forget the potato salad, fried rice and small servings of snags for aperitifs. Else it just ain’t worth it 🙂
Then bugger off.