Whenever we have visitors, it seems to get very crowded inside the house. Its like there is an ever increasing number of elephants in the room, and increasingly less room to move around. Don't get me wrong, I love elephants. They are among the noblest of creatures, they mourn their dead, look after each other and like other animals, simply do their thing. However, it is getting harder and harder to talk openly about all kinds of subjects, and have any kind of sensible discussion.
Here is an example of what I mean. We were talking to my sister in law about how, living in a rural area, we aim to source much of our food from local farms. For us this has two benefits. Firstly we obtain good, organically grown food and we can, if we want, see the field it was grown in ( meat or vegetable). Secondly it supports the local economy rather than the large supermarkets, although we do go to the supermarkets for some things.
So in response to our saying that we like to support local business in this way, my sister in law responds with " Do you mean racist?"
Its like a similar exchange which I had with someone who had presented a show on BBC Radio a few years ago. He was talking about how non-native plants had been introduced to the British Isles, and although they were pushing out some of our native species and changing our landscape ( Notable examples of this being rhododendrons and Japanese knotweed..) this was a good thing because it was reflecting our "multicultural" society.
In an online chat session afterwards, he too insinuated that I was "racist" for wanting to preserve our native plants..
So, the purpose of this blog is to look at these elephants in the room, on a number of topics. What are the topics, and what thinking of them will cause this reaction of judgment and condemnation from some quarters.
No topic will be sacred.
I'll leave this inaugural post with two quotes. One from a socialist, and one from an individualist. Both free thinkers to some extent.
"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." Ayn Rand
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." George Orwell.
