Super Tags

I know I go on about it a lot but I have a librarian trapped inside me - and she's got an anal complex. At times it is frightening but most of the time it is, well, just stimulating!

Anyway, I've been checking out the old Technorati tags and it seems I had not quite got them right. All those with more than one word in them have to be joined by the plus sign in the code. Otherwise they don't work. Unfortunately, the second half of the code gives the impression that all is well but that is just a label. I have tried to write out the code for you but it keeps executing with rather bizarre results so you will have to go to the Technorati web site if you want to get it.

Why bother? Well the answer is that you can sprinkle the web with your own tags. This means that others can find your piece by searching on one of your quirky tags. For example, if my long lost friend, Mike Hall, types in his name, Colwyn Bay or Shastri, he will find me. Is that powerful or what? So will any of his friends from those days if they say to themselves "I wonder what happened to Shastri." Give it a try. Go on. Go on. Go on.

Pierre

Tags: librarian anal stimulating long lost friends Technorati

Bonzo Blog Blah Blah

Yet another friend of the sixties who still has his own hair is this gentleman, who's name escapes me. If anyone can help me out - he is Neil Innes, Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater, Sam Spoons, Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell, Bob Kerr or "Legs" Larry Smith - collectively known as the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. I briefly worked with him in a children's home in North London. I remember he came to work on a bicycle and was quite reserved. I guess that was his day job!

If my appalling memory serves me rightly (unlikely, but stranger things have happened in the Band) they had already become quite well known by then and had certainly been on the telly, yet no one treated him as special. No one asked for an autograph or went into hero worship mode. I guess this was before the mass hysteria of fame fame fame which seems to haunt so many today. As I recall it, living in Hampstead, he had competition. As students we often went for a wander across Hampstead Heath and commented on the possibility that we might see some pop groups also going for a walk. And we did! I could never work out who was who but I daresay there were some pretty famous names in there.

Students in those days were quite snobbish about who was "in" and "cool" (a word resurrected) and I think Bonzo Dog was not "cool" at that stage. I remember liking them but keeping quiet about it. I had already wrecked what little street credibility I had by playing "I'm a Tiger" by Lulu at a Westfield College gig we did. Someone much more savvy rushed across and quickly changed the record. I was never allowed to be a DJ again! However, I did bump into Tony Blackburn in Kilburn one Sunday morning and I thought about asking for an autograph but all I had with me was a loaf of bread so I just said "Hi". No one was very impressed about that either. Sorry, Tony, and that was before The Goodies got their teeth into you.

Well Bonzo Dog are still on the touring circuit, almost as cheaply as the geriatric trips to the German Christmas markets. More info HERE. As for me, all this excitement has brought back a load more ALMOST FAMOUS memories which I will post another time. Perhaps I could re-write my life in the sixties around the bass guitar I played and finally gave as a present to another friend, Shastri (otherwise known as Mike Hall from Colwyn Bay, read medieval literature at North West London Poly) . Giving up the guitar was a huge symbolic gesture for me. I made my mind up that day that I was not going to be a pop star (a wise decision) and I knew how much Shastri wanted to be one - for all the right reasons - he was totally immersed in it. I hope he got what he wanted and I hope my donation helped along the way. Trouble is, we have all lost touch with him (yes, another one) so if anyone out there can find Shastri let me know.

Pierre

Tags: Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band bicycle Hampstead pop cool Lulu Westfield College DJ Tony Blackburn Kilburn Goodies sixties ALMOST FAMOUS Shastri Mike Hall Colwyn Bay North West London Poly

Lord of the Sings

Just something to cheer away the weekend. It won't make Crowbarred's top 1000 tunes but it's good therapy for the terminally insane.

I have not had time to explore this strange web site properly yet but I think it shows promise as one of those wacky doos sites (Did I just invent a new word then?). Anyway, whatever. It was never like this at the Old Bull and Bush on a Saturday night! Enjoy.

Pierre

Link: http://www.compfused.com/directlink/3995/

Tags: Lord of the Rings therapy insane wacky

Brainwashing and Democracy

If anyone asked you what you thought of brainwashing and whether or not it had a place in a free society I expect you would have no problem or hesitation in your answer. Part of what we mean by freedom includes freedom of mind or choice as we would say.

It has long been accepted that our choices are limited by the necessity to have rules and, of course, the making and breaking of those rules constitutes a huge part of the character of our society. It is also accepted that a certain amount of "brainwashing" is required to train and socialise children. It is more commonly known as behavioural psychology. In my own diagnostic career I established very early on that all people can be divided into one of two groups. Generally, my first step, which I thought of as an orientation procedure, was to classify a patient/client into an over socialised or an under socialised person. Delinquent behaviour, for example, could be caused by lack of supervision in a child who has been allowed to run wild or rebellion by a child who has been surrounded by rules. These are neat opposites which, therefore, indicate a solution in the area of increasing or decreasing structure. Obviously, it is crucial that the therapist is clear about which is which.

As well as finding the right solution it is necessary to devise a little procedure which can be followed over and over again. Life is structured around big things and little things, nice things and chores, all with different levels of importance and appeal. The trick is to take something the child wants and make it conditional upon something you want the child to do. All this works much better if you put a positive spin on it. So, lets suppose the child wants to go out to play. Your answer might be "Yes, you can go out just as soon as you finish your tea". This is far preferable to threatening the child with "No, your'e not going out because you haven't finished your tea". The reason a positive spin works better is because it keeps the focus on what you both want to achieve instead of allowing the agenda to be hi-jacked by an argument about what neither of you wants.

So there it is. Once we nasty psycho-babblists came along we opened the door to all kinds of thought control. If only you knew!

First off the mark were the greedy money makers - sales and advertisers. The shocking statistic, which inspired this piece, is that on average, each of us is exposed to around 500 adverisements per day. Now, I don't care how much trite rubbish they dig out to defend the need to advertise in a capitalist society. My concern is quantity. Many, many television adverts are run over and over and over again at every commercial break. Why? There is only one sane and reasonable explanation. We are being bombarded by brainwashing techniques. And the scale of it is greater than most psychologists and most parents achieve in socialisinmg their children. Shock. Horror.

One of my pet mental procedures is to contemplate where a currently popular idea will be in 50 or 100 years time. I predict that at some time in the future there will be a mass revolt against what will be called psychological abuse, akin to child abuse, and that it will radically alter the world of advertising for ever. People will become very conscious of all forms of thought control and it will be akin to racism, sexism etc to attempt to enter someone's mind without permission. I think the idea of psychological rape is already understandable in our society and that is a huge leap forward.

In my next piece I will take a look at the economics of this hollow freedom to persuade. What would happen to society if we took out huge chunks of advertising making millions redundant. Would it cause a world recession? Would it affect climate change?

In the meantime, may I recommend that you do what I have done for a good long time and hit the MUTE button when the ads come on.

Pierre

Tags: brainwashing democracy freedom choice rules society behavioural psychology diagnosis delinquent supervision rebellion child structure solution conditional positive spin agenda hi-jack statistics advertisements capitalist television abuse economic mute