Well me personally I happen to think that all religion is demented to one degree or another…so I don’t have one and have never subjected my kids to one either…they are free to choose a faith as and when they feel they have informed consent…so far they haven’t been convinced…both my daughters (and me) have taken pity on elderly ladies knocking on the door…inviting them in for a cup of tea and 15 minutes later being accused of being the spawn of the devil once they spotted an astrology book or a tarot book or a pentagon necklace…lol…
But joking aside it wasn’t so long back that the Islamic crescent and Christian cross as one emblem adorned meeting places/churches the world over and appeared together in many historical documents and paintings…once upon a time and not so long ago it would seem we all got along fine…
“All forms of religion are demented…” LOLOLOL, well that suggests universal brain-rot, 'cos religions (as defined) have sprouted and flowered (or spread like fungal growths) throughout human history, and are fascinating phenomena, worth study! Astrology has had its religious fling, of course, and still has a firm grip on us all, or most of us. I find French astrology very pessimistic, but gripping stuff all the same. I’m Taureau, my wife Scorpion, a good conjunction in most books, mais avec une touche de feu d’artifice
Maybe a good topic for an exciting thread, he said, lighting the blue touch paper and beating a hasty retreat to a safe distance. Fingers in your ears, Stella, and bring your First Aid box and best
bedside manner LOL…
A face and its expressions reveal all!
When we watch an actor we are feeling the emotions by looking at the face.
Yes the voice also plays a part.
Without seeing the true facial expressions we are masking our true presentation and this can be intimidating in a public place.
I feel that all people should be able and willing to show themselves in the same manner as others.
There fore no masks, or covered faces.
But I am finding the world to be a dark and depressing place as it travels back in time taking so many passengers of with hate in their hearts.
So many people out there seem to want to shout their heads off and mock others with their negative thoughts.
I can not hide the existance and horrors of the recent attacks on innocent people which has occurred in many countries but we should not making universal statements about any one race or religion and should try to look at others as individuals.
At the same time I am finding it very hard to realise that people whom I have known for a great many years live their lives with hate in the hearts.
I agree Barbara… nothing quite like face-to-face communication… and even those folk we pass in the street or at the shops… our brains take it all in without us even knowing… the smiles/frowns and all the emotions in between and beyond… what a varied world we live in…
If we are sitting in a bar/resto etc… I love to “people watch”… fascinating…
me too but also love people…nice people!
Fortunately we keep meeting new people in France.
You never, ever know someone until you see them face to face.
All the talk on forums and telephones never gets you to the real person.
Demented, a good description Helen, I was never, my kids were never, cajoled to attend church etc.
But I did go to Sunday school, just for the min two weeks to qualify for the annual day trip
Before I had metal knee jointsI was a keen motorcyclist. I was often asked to remove my safety helmet when entering a shop or filling station: was I then a victim of racism, or was it simply that I could then be identified?
If I see someone covering their face I feel threatened and in my opinion, Boris’s remarks were to highlight that and nothing else.
In my opinion… from babyhood one learns not only to recognize folk, but to to be able to discern a mood etc etc by the face one sees… and this is an important part of communication in general… Whether or not one feels threatened or merely disconcerted depends on other things… and you have outlined a quite understandable situation, where you were asked to remove your helmet. No offence was meant… and no offence was taken.
Boris was as usual, attention seeking, in his attempt to be PM, but I think/hope ‘it’s’ disgusting references to “letter boxes etc”, have ‘backfired’ on ‘it’.
The thing about full face crash helmets is that they are easy to remove and serve no purpose when the bike is parked. They have also been used frequently in garages and banks by robbers who want to avoid being identified by CCTV, and make a quick get-away.
I have yet to learn of a woman in a burqa or niqab committing armed robbery and making her escape on a motorbike or car.
The comparison is invalid and tendentious. I am 80 and I don’t feel threatened by someone with a covered face, unless they are actually posing a threat. What is threatening to a man about a woman wearing a face veil? Even little children will smile at a veiled woman if her eyes alone are visible. It is truly said that the eyes are windows to the soul, and - whatever the rest of the face says, trust comes through the gaze, the light in one’s eyes. The whole idea of a burqa threat is to manufacture and spread suspicion and fear, and is preposterous, and xenophobic, perhaps with racist overtones, in my view.
Whether he intended to show his bigotry or not, Boris Johnson has shown his dark nature clearly, again. I remember his characterisation of black children as picaninnies with wide melon smiles. A racially demeaning stereotype from a man who believes he can get away with it.
Well that’s your view Pete, I appreciate/need to see a persons full face, to judge mood, intentions etc, yes the eyes convey a message too, but not anyway near ‘the whole story’.
I often need to see a person’s mouth … (almost to lip-read) … in order to fully understand what they are saying (in French at least… not so much in English)…
and when in an office situation… when making enquiries… I choose whichever person looks most “sympathetic” from their facial expressions … of course, it does not always work out like that… but more often than not… my choice works out very well…
Well, Bill, you are a sociable and intelligent man, and I’m completely confident that - if you needed to know a woman’s intentions, mood and anything else about her, within a few minutes of talking to her as you would any other stranger, you would have learned as much as you needed to feel comfortable with her.
I’ve never seen you or heard your voice, but I found you to be a warm, kindly and interesting goose, with a fascinating back-story, and a strong attachment to a man, standing beside you by a lake. Then I discovered you were the man, not the goose. But I still like you
I just wonder how many people (% of populatalion) wear the Niqab or the BurKa, and how many will adopt it just to react to BJ or others provocations ? I can remember in France when they banned the veil at school, suddently more and more young girls started to wear a veil … In any case provocation is never good one way or the other. In our last trip to Belle Ile, we’ve seen on the same boat a nun and a muslim wearing the hijab. Not a lot of difference in fact !
I have to admit that I have a facebook page but I only call people friends if we have met face to face.
A friend has a face and that face shows and shares emotions;
what a varied world we live in…
