Rocked to heaven (or hell)

Sometimes surprise reaction follows once action.

Street justice. Revenge of the brutal kind. Served hot there and then.

Three men tried to rob school kids at their school in South Africa. The men had knifes and a gun. They wanted the cellphones of the students. And the little cash the kids had on them.

But that’s where the thieves miscalculated. The school kids fought back and stoned to death one of the robbers. The two others escaped.

Death by rocks. Very likely those thieves didn’t even dream of such a reaction from the kids as they woke up that morning and decided to go and steal some stuff from youngsters. Kick that. Those two surviving losers wont try that again. At least not at that school. Live and learn, and sometimes die by the sword if you live by the sword. In this case, die by the rock if you live like a criminal. Deadly fighting back by the school kids! Rocked to death.

Surprisingly human reactive behaviour can be the end for some.

The fakeness of political campaigning exploded in the open in the UK. Prime Minister Brown was out and about on the campaign trail for the May 6 general elections. You know, meeting people on the streets of the former empire and having chit chats about education , healthcare and immigration. All hot potatoes in 2010 in the UK (as in so many countries in fact).

So Brown meets this woman and has a chat with her. He then walks backs to his car and forgets he is still wired with a microphone from one of the British channels. Once inside the car he has a frank discussion with his aid about “that woman” and “who put her there” and calls her a “bigot”.

Later that day as he sits in a BBC radio studio, but with cameras rolling, he is confronted with the sound recording of that backseat chat. And you see Brown putting his head in his hands. He just knew there and then his world was coming down. Like a jumbo jet crash. And this so close to election day. He quickly summoned his team and off he rushed back to the woman to apologize.

Speaking of a PR disaster! But it also brutally exposed how fake these campaign walkabouts are. All set up and prefabricated. All fake. Brown didn’t expect that woman there and then asking those questions. It wasn’t part of the script and that’s why he asked his aid, when back in the car, “who put that woman there?”. And it showed the weakness and depth-less of political leaders these days. If it’s not part of a meticulously scripted campaign then they are taken by surprise and exposed for the fakes they are. The smiles, handshakes, comments as the cameras are rolling and the snappers snapping and the microphones capturing all the hot air, are just all fake. Like fast food. No substance. Not for real. Not openly honest and from the heart. Pre-cooked. Pre-heated. Pre-planned. Pre-scheduled. Pre-spinned. Pre-faked. Pre-lies.

So it’s a blessing, whoever the politician and his/her views are, that the fakeness was exposed so brutally and directly. It’s a heavyweight punch in the face in the 10th round. And there rings the bell.

Politicians are a specific breed. A breed apart. Detached from reality and living in a bubble of fake.

Political behaviour is a pre-cooked meal with no energy content nor creative composure and straight out of the microwave oven. So déjà vu...

It’s colourful chaos in Thailand. Have seen the images passing by on the TV screen. Political opponents of the current Prime Minister dressed up in red. The colour of anger. But also of blood. The Red Shirts’ protests in the capital Bangkok seem soon to turn into full scale revolt and turmoil. The UK government has already warned its citizens to avoid the touristic attractive Asian nation.

It’s red Shirts battling it out with blue-scarf wearing soldiers. Gun battles. A soldier killed. In other parts of the town Yellow Shirts are gathering to support the government.

Red versus yellow versus blue. Colours of uprising and resistance. Political disagreements and stalemates turned violent onto the streets of Bangkok. Season of trouble. And probably more trouble ahead. The standoff seems only to get worse. The clash of colours will spill more blood,... and all blood is red. Pools of life pouring out of protesters, soldiers, supporters, bystanders,... For now it all looks like a spiral downwards. Political disagreements spilled out of parliament and onto the streets. Dark clouds over Bangkok.

Throw out. “I thought that you were joking when you said you could not breathe”, Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba sings on the track “Dead End Road” from their “Remains” album. Gloomy punkrock. Alkaline Trio originates from Illinois and was formed in the mid 90s. They released a whole series of albums and many of its members have been involved in side projects, other bands and have done guest appearances on other bands’ albums (like for instance Matt on a track on NY’s H2O’s “Nothing To Prove” album).

C -Ya

collateral – as April 2010 is coming to its end