The swastika has been eternally embedded in our unconscious mind, as one of most widely recognisable symbols that exist today. Being forever associated with hate, anti-Semitism and intolerance in general, but does it deserve such a reputation. The swastika has always been one of the world's most widely misunderstood symbols, with an unbelievable set of variable meanings, stretching right back to the earliest of human civilisations. This next blog will delve into some of it's intriguing past, illuminating how differently it has been viewed since time immemorial.
After the publication of Hitler's Mein Kampf (my struggle) the swastika became popularised and politically recognised with the Nazi party in 1920's. The symbol was already being used in Germany at the time, but without the obvious genocidal connotations, it was merely seen as a symbol for creating, normally associated with working class parties. And although the Nazi party had strong ties with socialist ideologies, this is unlikely to explain Hitler's choice. There was however a theory prevalent at the time, of their Aryan cultural descent, believing that they descended from an earlier, racially pure, white population. Becoming obsessed with their Nordic ancestry, the swastika was a symbol of that imagined master race; a no brainer I suppose, from a seriously sinister perspective.
Hindu's for example far from viewing it as negative see such a symbol as a means of good fortune of auspiciousness, and have used it in this manner for thousands of years, representing one of the 108 symbols of their god Vishnu. It's widely used, adorning all their temples and architecture, even their art; hell it's even used as an essential part of wedding ceremonies, as a blessing to their union, ensuring good fortune.
Buddhism is also no stranger to this mysterious symbol, for followers of this faith it is synonymous with the footprints and the very heart of the Buddha himself. Now it's worth bearing in mind that we may view feet here very differently here in the west. Far from being a sight of disgust or sometimes horror, feet are deeply interconnected with that of respect, as feet themselves are symbolic of progress and Buddha's presence in our world. So rightly so they are revered, which should give you a level of keen appreciation for what this symbol would represent.
Here are some other examples of it appearing in other cultures all over the world
(right-Roman Vila, left-Church in Ethiopia)
Finally, why do you think it appears so universally? Across such expansive epoch's, with people's that had little or no contact with one another. I would argue that in this case Carl Jung had it right, he theorised that there was a duality to human consciousness. Firstly you have your immediate consciousness which contains our personal nature, thoughts, and the aspects of our individuality.
Then running parallel to that is the 'collective unconscious' which is a repository of knowledge, of universally shared symbols and meanings, that are understood by all, and are completely innate within us. These pre-existing forms are called archetypes, a mental version of an instinct, examples of this motif would be concepts like the serpent or the devil, concepts that are passed down genetically from one generation to another.
In this chapter, which I shall attempt to do in two parts, I will be exploring the hacking group known as 'anonymous', from there chaotic creation myth, to some of there more prolific, higher profile operations. I will however leave the moral judgements in the minds of the reader to decide, I will however endeavour to give a fair and true account of some of there deeds.
Now you can't begin to converse on Anon's conception, without the now infamous website knowns as '4chan', from the outside perspective it would appear as nothing more than an image board, to post amusing Gif's of cats and questionable anime ;) and although it is that to, it is oh so much more. Hard as it is to believe, this is where it all began; 4Chan was relatively unique at the time (early 2000) for it's complete anonymity. As it provided complete, uncensored freedom, to share any information with others anonymously, on almost any subject, linked only by a continuing thread. This melting pot of self-governance and meme creation, was the ideal environment for individuals that were formally ostracised socially in society for being 'abnormal' to be accepted, into a real community and gain that sense of belonging that we all crave.
It's worth articulating that at this preliminary stage, this was not a active movement in the sense that it is viewed today; as an aggressive political movement. They may have had the technological skill, but there was no unified agenda to speak of, just a collection of like minded individuals with adjoining interests.
'Habbo Hotel' is one of the most famous, early examples of anonymous coming together as an effective group, working collectively to complete a common objective. Habbo Hotel was pre-cursor to MMO's games like World of Warcraft and Skyrim, stylistically it resembled an early revision of The Sims. It proved extremely popular as a social networking site, as you could customise your avatar and socialise with others in fanciful imagined scenes, such as bars and restaurants. In late 2006 anonymous for reasons that are not entirely clear; probably racial in origin, as Habbo's avatars were critiqued widely for being completely monochromatic, they began a series of attacks on Habbo hotel, crashing the main forum and invading the game with thousands of identical black avatars. Forming themselves into swastikas and blocking entrances into the players pool, spawning numerous memes.
Then in January 2008 everything changed, code named 'Project Chanology' this campaign would come to define the movement. The conflict was sparked over a highly controversial and widely mocked interview with Tom Cruise, where he was attempting to promote the church of Scientology. When they ventured to recall the interview, causing several legal battles with any website that hosted the chastised footage, Anonymous reared into action as they were in consequence, from their perspective at least, attempting to censor the Internet. At this stage Anonymous made their first public statement, and set out in effect, their manifesto of operations e.g. "cover your face, do not use weapons".
What followed was one of their most sustained onslaughts against an organisation they have ever undertaken, and in numbers not before seen in previous campaigns. As well as receiving considerable media coverage, the movement itself began attracting sympathisers from various demographics, not just the nerdy/geeky archetype any longer.
Mass protests occurred outside Scientology centres in major cities around the world, all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, which are now become synonymous with anonymous(Sorry could not resist), this was the first time they were used in this political context. Anonymous flooded their official phone lines, ordered thousands of pizza's to there addresses; crippled there websites using a DOS ( denial of service) attack. More amusingly they had also managed to configure 'Scientology' as the main search result in goggle when users inputted 'dangerous cult'. The hacktivists also managed to obtain and release confidential Scientology documents that could be freely downloaded online.
Personally I believe that in this era of diminished personal freedom and expression, combined with our increasing dependence on all forms of technology. Anonymous were inevitable; an unavoidable response from a whole disfranchised generation, as all conventional forms of political process have little or no effect. Anonymous provides a real chance to have a measurable effect on something, on anything! That's not to say it's entirely positive, their methods are often contemptible can you deny there anarchistic tendencies. Stay tuned for the next episode.
Finally, I'll leave you with this little gem, hard to watch I know.
There are many humorous changes surrounding maturity that take place in the human body, such as hair in strange places, love for uninspired musical drivel, and indeed a complete unawareness surrounding physical appearance i.e. the ability to dress oneself. But that's not the purpose of today's meanderings, my focus is on true unflinching adulthood. When you finally hang up your vintage stundent-ee boots, lay down your liberal/socialist banner and join the ranks of the main streamers.
1. "There's no where to go anymore" Let's start the list with this, the most popular gripe of my generation, of course there are! The only difference is that were no longer aware of them. We must face the fact that a whole other generation has risen up beneath our feet and usurped our throne, CROM!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2. "Music isn't what it used to be" This is a personal favorite of mine, and a mistake repeated by every generation past and present, presumably since the first neolithic man collided two rocks together in a rhythmic fashion, and thought it sounded boss. This misguided notion states that their particular 'scene' is somehow more authentic, and has some sort of 'innate' truer meaning. There has always been, and always will be immensely talented musicians of all epochs; it's merely the case that it gains some sort of higher transcendental meaning to you because of you youth.
Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else.-Fight Club
3. "Didn't I used to be interesting?"
No, you merely have the time now to introspect, to recognize the vacuous waste land in your personality. No longer are you distracted by the continual buffet of superfluous activities we had on offer, we are now, at last, forced to reconcile our idealized self image, with realities grotesque interpretation. But do not despair! Use this as an opportunity to grow, to reinvent yourself, to cultivate the personnel attributes that you desire, the person that you want to be. The alternative is a depressingly meaningless existence, spent fantasying over time past. Or as my old lecturer used to hurtle across the class room:
'Nostalgia is like heroine for old folk.'
4. "I'm unfulfilled, baby or marriage?"
Okay, so you have finally got that job you hate, with a person you can tolerate, bored, what's next? I can't be the only one who has noticed the worrying trend of engagement related 'statements'. Because nothing says eternal love like a temporary 6 month engagement, and if that's not your game how about bringing a new to this sphere of knob jockeys. Now I have nothing against children, It's my job actually, but seriously ladies...has some form of mass synchronization of your wombs taken place? To some, a baby is like an accessory, to a perceived lifestyle or yet another form of competition over ones peers. Creating life is a tremendous privilege, not a right just because you find yourself human.
5. "Hipsters!"
For those readers thinking I've been a tad pessimistic in this installment, we could do a lot worse. You could be this guy, dressed as lumberjack for some reason, despite never actually doing any form of physical work. The extent of his actual exertion being the lifting of some sort of pretentiously over priced cocktail drink. While simultaneously, tucking into his bowl of fair trade sourced hummus; immediately followed by numerous quasi-political rants about a some middle eastern conflicts they know nothing about, while comparing shopping tips for even skinnier jeans. I'm puzzled as to why this affliction claims so many of us, perhaps if we could locate hipster patient zero we could finally end this pandemic.
Rebellion, riot, insurrection, uprising, mutiny, overthrow, change, insurgency, these are all the words that are conjured to the mind when we think of the word revolution. But is that truly theonly inevitable outcome? I’m going to try and persuade you in this blog, that this is not the case, that revolution is not a dirty word, that it belongs to every single one of you. Through time immemorial peoples freedoms and liberties have been impinged, their rights disregarded, and their lives taken.
lets look at a famous historical example i.e. the French Revolution of 1789-99.
I know what you’re thinking “That couldn’t possibly apply to us, right?”Well let’s draw some amusing comparisons shall we folks. Firstly,Frances economy was in tatters due to a titanic amount of debt andthe total incompetence of the current KingLouis XVI.Althoughobviously a monarchy isn’t voted into office, by a representative government, that's okay because neither was ours, they elected themselves into office, much like our glorious coalition.France endured crippling levels ofinflation; shortages of food and a poor transportation system that all contributed to an enraged,albeit starving populace, while the ruling bourgeoisie were completely indifferent to the sufferings of its subjects. In our allegedly civilized
times we have unprecedented multitudes of families falling into abject
poverty, a social welfare system that increasingly targets the most vulnerable within our society. Spiraling inflation, combined with abysmal job prospects, all amalgamate into a beautiful comparison to revolutionary France.
So what’s different? We share the same egalitarian ideals of freedom, liberty and justice and even the idea’s of private property. Despite being imbuedwith the same resentment towards our corrupt oligarchicaldictators, we do nothing. Now I’m not exempting myself from this uncomfortabletruth, if were honest with ourselves were all guilty of it. Regardless, we all feel betrayed, lost, forgotten even; a profound powerlessness over not being able to instigate any real change. were lumbered with a twisted, broken, political process that provides our ‘choices’ completely pre-selected, from a list of non desirable, over privileged, self serving, butt munchers. Whose lack of empathy is rivaled only by their complete indifference to the proletariat retainers serving beneath them.
We live in a world in which conventional forms of protest go all but unnoticed by the political ruling elite, our voices go unheard, our whispers of discontent and vexation go unanswered. We remain disjointed, fractured, utterly powerless to change our fate. So why knowing all this do we hesitate? Are content to suffer these heinous evils in the hope that they will one day pass, or happen to someone else. We are paralysed with fear; fear of losing what little we have left. Instructed through their scaremongering
that any form of resistance will only lead to anarchy and chaos,
fortunately individuals are beginning to speak out against this mass
hallucination. One of which we are all duty bond to be vigilant against.
I would assert that revolution does not have to be violent, that this is the great deception of our age and one we must endeavor,with all of our vehement vigor to change, if we are to have any hope of making a difference, to compel them to hear our voice. The ruling elite would have you believe that what little you have left, you would lose, and that death, destruction and anarchywould assuredly follow.We merely must decide as a politically conscious organic entity, that our current system no longer works, democracy has failed. The burden of developing a new system is not to be bared by any one person.We need only decide, organically, as a collective that enough is enough, there will be no riot, no protest, merely a singular voice declaring a statement.
"When life gives you lemons, fuck the lemons and bail!"
Experienced by many; understood by but a few, I have here laid out a rather personal account, of my experiences with this condition. Otherwise known as 'Bipolar' it translates to two extremes in something i.e. positive and negative, that is contained within one entity. In a psychological context it represents experiencing prodigious intensities of emotion, from dizzying/euphoric highs to plummeting bouts of despair. Long misunderstood and stigmatised, I have wrestled with it for not only my entire adult life, but the majority of my adolescence too. It comes to define you as a person, both in the favourable and the unfortunate. Although recognised as a mental illness, it rarely receives the acceptance it rightly deserves, due to it's subjective nature. As the illness itself cannot be directly observed, many fail to be correctly diagnosed, indeed by themselves or by qualified professionals.
The first thing you need to understand about manic depressives, is that most of us would choose it, over living a more conventional lifestyle. Although prone to severe, and sometimes psychotic episodes with little or no cause or warning. We also encounter insurmountable waves of creativity in whatever we do, combined with an indomitable will and almost desperate determination to move forward.
As if the very ground beneath our feet was set a blaze with the fiercest heat imaginable. In these moments, no obstacle is beyond our grasp. Engulfed with a sublime confidence/arrogance, the sensation is hard to quantify in words.
There is of course the sinister flip side of this state of being, but here to; there are myriads of misconceptions. Firstly is that of the cause; most people infer depression in a purely pragmatic sense i.e "I lost my job, or friend or loved one" etc "So I'm sad now". Manic Depression is different, affecting the poor and privileged alike, your circumstances are irrelevant. There is no convenient 'cause' to observe or label to assign, an episode can strike at any time, place or circumstance regardless of your condition. I've heard other suffers describe it as a dark and menacing cloud ,that follows them throughout their lives, always being without an umbrella at the mercy of this emotional downpour. It's an astute example to demonstrate the vicarious way you have no choice but to live. Imagine always being at the mercy of such a twisted creature, dictating how you are going to feel on that particular day.
Despite it's widespread prevalence (millions within the uk), affecting individuals from all walks of life, it remains difficult to quantify. Victims include Stephen Fry, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens and far more amusingly and unexpectedly, examples such as Jean Claude Van Damme.
I have included below a rather courageous account from Stephen Fry on some of his experiences with the disorder, demonstrating the unbelievable effect it has had on his life. Including his suicide attempts; it alludes a true insight into the illness suffered by so many. I've always thought when ending something, someone has always said it better.
“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
Being a renowned contrarian, polemicist, philosopher, journalist, and of course a bestselling writer, not forgetting an avid, out spoken socialist, and some would say champion of the working class; Hitchens' career has spanned the width and breadth of the earth, writing numerous best sellers such as “God is Not Great” and “Thomas Jefferson: Author of America” as well as regularly contributing to both Vanity Fair and The New Statesman.
If religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world. -God is Not Great.
His unique style of indignant vehemence, gained him adoration from both friend and foe alike, never being one to back down from any struggle he felt strongly about. Hitchens was also one of the few political figures at the time that supported the decision to invade/liberate Iraq, seeking those illusive weapons of mass destruction, never faltering in his resolve that is was the right thing to do.
I've composed a list of five things that may surprise you about the legend himself; both in the negative and the positive, they stand as a testament to his provocative yet enchanting character.
He’s probably the only man in recorded history to be spanked by Margaret thatcher. Now most days I wish this was not true, but nay. Life is rarely that forgiving. Not long after Margaret Thatcher’s ascension into power, Christopher had the pleasure/misfortune, depending I suppose, on your political denomination, of meeting the fair lady. Being the type of man that he was, he immediately picked a fight with the fearsome Iron lady over a point regarding Britain’s political stance on Rhodesian/Zimbabwean policy.After Hitchens conceded on a point, the Prime Minister then instructed him to bow, and then to “bow lower”. Calmly paced to his rear, pulled out a parliamentary order-paper and spanked him on the behind; exclaiming “naughty boy.” Knowledge I find is sometimes a double edged sword; it can be both beautiful… and piercingly horrific.
During the Salman Rushdie scandal around his work ‘The Satanic Verses’ and the subsequent Fatwa declared against him. Christopher became an indefatigable ally, declaring it a matter of free speech and to be defended at all costs. Even taking Salman into his own home at a time when there had been repeated assignation attempts. He immediately understood that the conflict was considerably bigger than just one man, it was a war against fanaticism, violence and bigotry itself.Indeed across the entire Muslim world, writers and journalists and artists were being censored; accused of causing blasphemy and offence and literary expression itself was at stake. I feel Rushdie himself summarizes him best here in Vanity Fair. “He was an intellectual with the instincts of a street brawler”
There aren't many journalists out there that back up their beautifully crafted, intellectual opinions with genuine action; Christopher however is one such splendid exception. I'm not sure if you’re all familiar with ‘water-boarding’ it’s a term applied to a rather unsavoury torture method, which employs continual submersions against your volition, which has the effect of simulating drowning.After Vanity Fair asked numerous journalists and reporters to undertake water-boarding. Hitchens was one of the few who agreed and not only went through with it, but immediately asked for it to be repeated so he could improve his time. This level of divine stupidity deserves our universal respect.
4. You remember that religious icon? That living saint and Nobel prise winner Mother Teresa? That untouchable symbol of mercy and indeed human charity itself? Well, apparently Hitchens did not get that memo. He was highly scornful of her stances on contraception, female empowerment, and indeed attempted to expose her as a fraud and fanatic until his last breath. Controversial would be an understatement, judgement I will leave to the reader.
Historically a staunch defender of the Left (socialist), towards the end of his life he defected, becoming a neo-conservative. Despite his working class roots and love for all things red ;) Throughout his career he had received considerable criticism for the way in which he would change his position as new information became available.
For me this is an essential attribute of greatness, to not become dogmatic, get bogged down and ignore one’s rationale. Although I do not agree with many of his political stances, I nevertheless respect his commitment to reason immensely. Although I'm certain he would not think so, I acknowledge his tremendous courage and morn his passing as an astoundingly astute mind and a warrior for all things human.
I feel it's only appropriate to end with the man himself; here's my favourite quote, suitable for any social occasions.
"The four most over-rated things in life are champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics."
We live in a cynical age, everything has already been done, said, experienced and lived, by men and women far greater than us. So many do not try and simply content themselves with the mediocre, never truly allowing themselves to experience there birth right. Do not be fooled for this is the most insidious of illusions, the true injustice of our age! From your very first breath you are unique, you are special and you have worth. Strive for what you feel is just and true, love without compromise or regret; fight for what you feel is right and be not concerned with fear or doubt for it is a passing thing.
Hindu's for example far from viewing it as negative see such a symbol as a means of good fortune of auspiciousness, and have used it in this manner for thousands of years, representing one of the 108 symbols of their god Vishnu. It's widely used, adorning all their temples and architecture, even their art; hell it's even used as an essential part of wedding ceremonies, as a blessing to their union, ensuring good fortune. 
