The door was open so you could see through the frame.
But the door can also close. These are possibilities only.
All I had to do was offer up the possibility. That’s all I have to do.
From there it can go anywhere, or nowhere. That’s not my choice to make.
But I am not going to hold onto a situation, even a pretense only, that only makes me look like a fool.
I never will, and I never have. What I wrote will stand up to time, especially given my situation while writing this stuff.
I have to be recognised for what I have written. It will happen sooner of later anyway, even if I die tomorrow. That recognition has to be there before I can do anything.
It is the CHEAPEST OF SHOTS – absolutely the cheapest – to claim that the ideas on this blog would result in a disconnected kind of relation between faith and the wider public. I can not act publicly because no one has spoken to me about this blog – no one has recognised it publicly. This new liberal democratic framework is one where people can act in concert and responsibly.
Imagine if I do try to step out and act publicly without that public recognition being given prior. What would people have labelled me as?
‘So you think you are Jesus Christ do you?’ [The answer to that is NO. I NEVER have. I NEVER will.]
‘He must be crazy!’ [Well NO actually, I don't think so, and I can make a good case for my points of view. A very good case, and a much better case than many people who are paid to do that kind of job.]
Then there were the weird accusations that I suspect were made about me – but that no one actually made to my face so that I could not confront those accusations – that I might be some kind of devil or something like that. This is what I am arguing for – a liberal democracy with human rights and the rule of law, as opposed to regimes based around violence – terrorist or state based. The posts on solar energy in this blog will eventually, I think, be the basis for a lasting long term solution to the energy crisis and global warming. Then there is the language use – some of it not very grammatical and with atrocious spelling, yet still engaging. How did we typically compare animals with humans – with the ability to reason, be creative with ideas and the creative use of language in particular – humour. To build tools that are useful and to imagine, etc. How on earth can people characterise me, going off this blog, as anything less than human?
And a person is a SOCIAL being. If you conspire to totally ignore a person, NO MATTER what he writes – no matter how GOOD it is – you diminish that person. People are social. I am not bragging about this stuff – I am ASKING TO BE TALKED TO ABOUT IT. I have had NO public recognition of this stuff. That kind of forced isolation is a vicious attack on someone who has been contributing publicly with such creativity and quality over such a long time – over 800 posts for the blog. And claiming that I am not wanting to be conected with others – BECAUSE I HAVE NOT BEEN INVITED TO – is really rich. If I step out while the mood is still hostile to me then NO MATTER what else I say write or do – everything will be intrepreted from that hostile perspective – regardless of the arguments and reasons presented. That is already what has happened up till now.
I am arguing FOR our democratic system against those who are trying to destroy and weaken it – many of those people hostile towards our democracy are working within the democratic institutions themselves, and are trying to undermine and dismantle it from within. If I thought that I was wrong I would have stopped years ago. I could go on, but I have covered this stuff SO MANY TIMES ALREADY.
Finally, in a liberal democracy you have dissenting voices and you engage with them. They are accepted as part of the system and vitally important for the wellbeing of the system actually. You don’t turn your back on them and try to blot them out all together – that attitude has nothing to do with liberal democracy or compassion or anything else we would have thought our democracy was about. By contrast, fascists would try to silence dissenters. That hasn’t happened to me yet, but I have always had to live with that possibility – especially if I were to try to step out into the public without first being invited.
In these times it is much easier for someone with extremeist and violent views to have their views published and broadcast by the major media networks.
***
8 Jan
Yesterday there was an article about identity fraud on myspace.
I have only commented publicly through this blog Pharoz, with a few comments posted on other Australian blogs occassionally, but not for a while now. If there has been a page on myspace or anywhere else that pretended to be from me, it is/was a fraud. I have not seen any such thing, and I have not been alerted to the existence of any such site. However, I suspect that things are going on behind my back and that my reputation is being deliberately damaged, but there is nothing I can do without any specific knowledge and I suspect that keeping me in the dark would be part of any plan to damage my reputation. In a liberal democracy it is open debate, and talking, that can easily dispell illusions and deceptions.
