Got a question...

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "hg_skmg" <hg_skmg at y...> wrote:
> snip>
> 
> Also, Kneasy, you said, "I *really* don't like Sirius. Whinging 
> traitorous creep IMO."  I'd love to hear more -- or am I tickling 
> another sleeping dragon?  
> 
> hg, off to tuck in little Damien and Clarissa...

Oh, yes. I  had great fun and games on TOL, putting the boot into Sirius.
Splendid fun. The Heathcliff of the WW -  if not something worse.

Not sure the members here want to hear the arguments again so it's
probably better if you lock the door and sneak off to HPfGU.
Two major posts from yrs truly (among many minor ones) - the first a 
detailed consideration of his 'escape' from Azkaban (I think Fudge let
him out for nefarious reasons):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/79808

and a more general bashing in:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/103685
 
ah, the quondam days of my youth; it brings it all back.


> David:  
> Sadly, in the UK, this is not always the case, and one sometimes finds 
> that people draw political conclusions from quite incidental cultural 
> features.  For example, one might look at a person and say "this 
> person wears a Fair Isle sweater, and therefore supports entry into 
> the Euro" or "this person sports a beard, and therefore sets explosive 
> devices near laboratories where animal experiments take place" 
> or "this person takes part in discussions of fiction on the internet 
> and therefore cannot be trusted to take part in the electoral process."
> 

Stereotypes, true. And obviously there are exceptions (odd that I've
proudly sported a beard for 30+years - and I hang around labs), but the
worrying thing about stereotypes is that to be stereotypes they have to 
have some basis in fact. For example, if I said to you - "tie-dyed dress, 
hairy legs, sandals," which part of the political spectrum would you 
connect the description with? Be honest.
 
> It's hard to see how we can get away from this backward state of 
> affairs.  My own solution is to make handguns available to the 
> population on demand, and then these people would soon be put in their 
> place.  It does Mr Blair credit that, in his adherence to Mr Bush's 
> lead in everything, he shows that he recognises this problem.
> 

Guns? For blowing away Fair-Isle sweater wearers? Seems a bit extreme,
even to me. Education and aversion therapy would be adequate IMO.
Mind you, guns would be very useful in discouraging the police from 
shooting innocent (and invariably unarmed) members of the public. 
Happened too often for comfort over the past few years. Maybe the 
prospect of getting ventilated themselves might curb their enthusiasm.

Kneasy