Round of applause on 8 minutes for Gazza

Both of the books touch on the boak inducing sentimentality surrounding Princess Diana's death - her early departure immediately propping her to sainthood (for little other reason than being famous, and having departed early - oh and being the personification of the state - to not indulge in Kim Jong-Il style grief was to be unpatriotic).

Dalrymple (book rating 6.0) is a grumpy old man with right wing views, uses too much Latin and French and believes that almost everything today is worse than what it used to be. Worryingly enough his overtly cynical outlook on everything from Dianna to the parents of Maddie McCann found an ally in my brain. I particularly liked this analysis:

"When sentimentality becomes a mass public phenomenon, moreover, it becomes manipulative in an aggressive way: it demands of everyone that he join in. A man who refuses to do so, on the grounds that he does not believe that the purported object of sentiment is worthy of demonstrative display, puts himself outside the pale of the virtuous and becomes almost an enemy of the people. His fault is a political one, a refusal to recognise the truth of the old saw, vox populi, vox dei — the voice of the people is the voice of God. Sentimentality then becomes coercive, that is to say manipulative in a threatening way."

It made me think of quite a few scenarios which have left me frustrated; such as that of the hyped grief over Princess Diana, people on these forums telling me that Maddie McCann jokes are off-limits, or the annual November ritual of forcing everyone who appears anywhere in public to wear a Poppy (and to tell them to **** off back home if they don't like it, as in the case of young James McClean).

Foley (book rating 7.6) is a grumpy old left winger constrained by limited sources in Buddha and Socrates (and is quite obviously a big fan of a certain 20th Century Novelist, you'll figure out who with the clues in the first few pages) - his book is quite different from Dalrymple's but touches on many of the same areas (mostly how the youth of today are worse behaved than ever...). I liked Foley's effort because he entertained me more (while possibly teaching me less) - a hedonist and overly concerned with sex (or maybe just honest) much of his pedantic quibbles resonate with my own - more nodding in agreement from my end produced a higher score - that and I suspect this book might be a one hit wonder, a dump of 60+ years of accumulated opinions from a slightly higher than average mind (whereas I suspect Dalrymple could produce another 4 books of similar quality on different subjects, an opinion mercenary). If it helps you decide, I'm not sure he actually puts that much effort into helping people find happiness (to be clear, this does not read at all like a self-help book) - I think he spends more time pointing out the absurdity of chasing happiness and how the modern world is ruining us by over supplying us with everything we want (900 channels on Sky, **** all on that I want to watch - why does the world not deliver me better entertainment - I deserve it ).

On the subject of alcoholism - I believe there was a study showing that Aboriginal Australians were more prone to addiction than Aussie Anglo-Saxons and this was possibly explained through genetics. I haven't looked into this and can not verify but from experience I tend to find my own alcoholism changes with circumstance - I drink a lot less (almost never) when I'm at home with my missus and kids than I do when I'm offshore surrounded by the lads and with nothing but an empty flat to go back home to. I imagine Gazza is a bit like me on the Isle of Man, only with no job or daily purpose which ensures he spends at least half his day sober. A few times in the past he has been given opportunities to make himself useful once again (such as Football management) but he has got the sack for turning up drunk - so there are some obviously deep character flaws, which if we are honest were always lying slightly below the surface even when he was one of the best football players in the world.

 

I can't help myself Tina, none of my real life friends want to hear about the book I read last week - people are usually intimidated enough on here not to tell me to **** off because I am seen as some sort of authority figure

 

I guess pretension is measured on your intent - if your sole intention is to present yourself as more clever than other humans (and no better place to do it than on the hun board) then you deserve ridicule for your vanity. It's judging whether someone engages in potentially pretentious activity such as reading and reviewing books or talking about politics in order to appear clever - or if they actually really do these things because they enjoy them and want to discuss these subjects with other people. If I was all about my ego on here I wouldn't have let slip insecurities such as Anthony Stokesesque hair loss, over-indulgence in alcohol and being decidedly unhappy with the evolution of my social life... But then again maybe I'm trying to sell myself as the archetypal flawed genius

What's it worth Tina? I got a picture of yer boobs last time I did anything for you. It was a dangerous precedent on your part.