I've never 'got'

I don't get Eastenders though.
I mean, why?

me neither, dosent stop this :-http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/20/grace-dent-world-of-lather
so good its worth quoting (I love you Grace)
"Despite the Queen Vic's ownership being wrestled from Peggy's angry elfin mits by her niece Roxy, they both stay committed to new business ideas. "Ere, I bin tawkin to Whitney, Kylie and the youn'uns," Peggy said this month, "they weckon we need a Gwime Night."

being one of the best reads each week, what, they dont haz the Grauniad in the north?

BBC's attempt at being right on always fails.

I mean, where are the hipsters?

they all work there, taking themselves faaar too seriously

On the reggae theme, can I add stuff white faux-reggae-esque bands like propaghandi?

Oh yes, and especially any cod reggae shite by The fucking Clash.

Clutch - 1
Hippy shite - 0

@Ronnie ,ooof, dont start that lot again..........

Grace Dent, a wit to match Lucifer

I've got a frock like that.

I don't get Eastenders though.
I mean, why?

the BBC has to cater for everyone. the regional tv companies have their chav/thick people soap operas like coronation street and emmerdale and the bbc has a london based one. you don't have to 'get' it you just need to understand why it exists and how it fits in with the remit of an organisation funded by the license fee then ignore it.

much like thick people do with alan yentob/newsnight/question time etc. (except they probably don't ponder 'why' and just call it 'boring political shite' and ignore it)

i dont get boring political shite though,
why?

Fail^ You are a freethinker, it's just not on.

irony fail ^ ;-)

i dont get boring political shite though,
why?

dunno? ask your M.P.

irony fail ^ ;-)

Irony fail yourself!

Ironing fail

Irony fail yourself!

ha! i thought that after after posting last reply!

Ironing fail

I never fail at ironing, by just not doing any. It's a bit like I have never got DFL in any competition simply because I don't compete.

I think reggae is something that make the white middleclass feel a bit cultured and 'I'm not racist cos I like reggae'
I find it so dull

I'd seriously rather go to a Chris De Berg concert than listen to 3minutes of reggae

Maybe try ska

Or just use less onion--reduce the amount found in recipes to suit your taste.

I can't use less onion than no onions at all can I? Or is there a hidden world of the negative onion that I need to investigate. Believe me, if I'm cooking, there will be no onions. Or shallots. They too are disgusting.

Now Garlic, that's a proper aromatic bulb.

Ma'afa
YouTube- Ma'afa Part 1

Amongst other more little-known channels, Roots music is about the untold history of the African diaspora. Without it, the Pan-African consciousness, 'Rasta', that might be identified with the civil rights movement in the African American peoples, would not exist or be an extremely rare thing to hear of. This music is about teaching another history, not taught in schools, one that denies the Northern Europeans' enslavement of African people as a legitmate (if now discredited) 'trade', and the misplaced credit that Europeans tend to place on other Europeans having emancipated enslaved people. It wasn't Wilberforce, he was a slaver. Enslavement wasn't banned two hundred years ago, it was pushed under the carpet: British people were still enslaving in Nigeria up to the Firist War. For instance, how many people here know the names of the leaders of African insurgence against enslavment? Their history is not told to us. They are depicted as troublemakers, even now, despite the fact the we have made a play for undoing 'slavery', yet we have done no such thing. When do you ever hear of reparation? Only in Roots music and some conscious soul music, some hip hop.

In Haiti, the French colonials were chucked out, and this was the first free state of formerly enslaved people. Ever since, Haiti has been locked out of the European-American political and economic system, and is one of the poorest countries in the region. They are still being punished for getting up and standing up.

Knowing the history of how my forefathers' and foremothers' country humiliated, murdered, tortured and enslaved African peoples is really important, to me. I value the things that Roots has taught me, because it isn't taught in school, and all the more important to me for that.

Thanks for reading this.

Slavery isn't just something Europeans did to Africans. It was also something Africans did to other Africans. Doesn't matter how much they deny it, most African slaves were traded to Europeans by other Africans. Those captured in raids are generally accepted to be a minority. In a wild and unsupported bit of supposition it might well be therefore that those Africans still in Africa are more likely to be descended from enslavers than slaves. It was also of course something Europeans did to other Europeans.

Reparation you say? Paradoxically, and somewhat controversially, throughout history slavery has been a short-cut to a better life. Northern Europe and Britain were civilised much more rapidly thanks to the Romans. Should we expect reparation from Italy? Greece, the birthplace of civilisation, democracy, philosophy, science, and so much more, was built on slavery. It goes without saying that the generations that are enslaved suffer greatly, but historically their descendants often benefit from the enslavement of their ancestors. These days the descendants of the African slave trade get to live in liberal democracies in the lands of the enslavers, enjoying all the peace, rights, privileges and opportunities that that affords. What percentage would prefer to live in Somalia, South Africa, Rwanda, Sierra Leone or Nigeria?

Of course why the above countries are in the state they are in is another discussion entirely, one you hint at with Haiti.

jesus...

I understand why people don't maybe get the music. But the messages (you must listen to the messages), in this music, is something to behold ... and like Eightball said, cherish.

This is why folk, rasta, soul, old hiphop, punk, those kinds of music are important to me. They are political ... Most kids seem to understand only the struggle for their next pair of sneakers, their next car. These trinkets aren't really valuable, they are a diversion. What I seek is something more cerebral.

I don't want to listen to the messages mate ... If I can't figure this shit out for myself that being nice to my mate is more important than my trainers ... you ain't going to be listening to the messages in the first place.

In the film I posted, this questionable assertion that Africans enslaved Africans is examined, and it asserts that this is pretty much a fallacy. Where some evidence of this does accur, it is in the context of military threat where people are forced to enslave neighbour tribes in order to protect themselves, who were then double-crossed anyway.

But good post, thoughful stuff. I agree that the freedom and riches of the developed countries seem like a good deal, but isn't it worth remembering that the industrial revolution that spurred our development was funded and supported materially by the capture and appropriation of land, mineral and agricultural theft and enslavement? We benefit from that theft and holocaust every day. Reparation refers to the re-distribution of wealth. The reasons that, to you, an existence in Africa is less attractive may be the direct result of colonialism.

yep,
You're right Skully. not just in the industrial age, but long before that, in every civilsation everywhere.
And colonialism is a whole other massive can of worms.

They're all connected! The reason Haiti is in the state it's in is a direct result of the suppression of liberation of enslaved Africans.

I can't use less onion than no onions at all can I? Or is there a hidden world of the negative onion that I need to investigate. Believe me, if I'm cooking, there will be no onions. Or shallots. They too are disgusting.

Now Garlic, that's a proper aromatic bulb.

Acquired Taste Mate you gotta do some HTFUing first ... so get some Onions in you ... taste awesome fried with bockwurst.