www.owohrod.com.

But in the past, were willing to do the 'upfront', the 'face-to-face' killing and torturing.  With the much vaunted  'free nations of the world.'  Such as the United States of America, Britain, France and their Nato allies, and Saudi Arabia and her allies, providing them with all the military gear and weaponry they needed to keep Syria in a state of Hell. Yes, it might well be the case that we humans are becoming inured to the shock of war and killing and destruction.  As it is almost becoming the 'norm', in some parts of the world, and commands us to adjust to and accommodate it as such.  So, it is necessary for us, at times, to be reminded, to remind ourselves of the what was then the 'unspeakable brutality'of the war in Syria.   The war in Iraq, the war in Libya, the war in Yemen, the war in the so-called Democratic Republic of Congo, the war in Liberia, the war in South Sudan, the war in Somalia, and the wars in .......

A people who are still living in great and in some cases, terminal shock, as a result of the years of nightmare which they have been forced to endure.  A nightmare, an hades-like existence which was prolonged by many nations and foreign alliances contributing and/or arming jihadistic men, both young and old.  To come and join the hellish cauldron that Syria had become, and in which the people of Syria had been thrown.  Some thinking that it was the honourable thing to do, to achieve their 'freedom and their political rights' though probably being unaware of the cost they and their country would have had to pay for it.  Which would have also negate the 'freedom and political rights' for which they had fought what would have been, for them, at best, a pyrrhic victory of sorts.  Others knowing it to have been the right thing to do, to fight for their country and nation to retain its independence and sovereignty.  And not to fall prey to those who d

Do we now lump all of their complex lives, along with them, into one container and label it "bad" and throw it into the figurative or literal river?   Or do we apply a sense of balance to how we, society, the law, deals with what is a complex issue? What if 'bad people' are not as bad or are always as 'bad' as they appear to or have been? What if 'bad people' do good deeds, would that commute or cancel or compensate for some or all of their 'bad deeds', or does it depends?  Depends on the amount and quality of good, compare to the amount of 'bad', that person has done? Or is it the case that 'good', however much, can never balance the 'bad' we do, however pale it is, in comparison? And what of the 'good' and the 'bad' deeds of nations?  Is there any balancing to be done when we  consider the enslavement of people of African origin and the colonisation of the African Continent and the

So, 'extremism' and 'radicalism' are not, of themselves, concepts and practices which should be shunned and disapproved of, wherever they are found.  The 'extremist' and 'radical' path which, probably all of us humans who who aspire to bring added value to our lives and the world.  To make a difference, instead of simply becoming a part of the status quo which we inherit.  It is an act of 'extremism', of 'radicalism' to bring the voices and animated faces of a humans and animals from across the distant oceans.  Into the homes of people thousands of miles from them.  As the inventors of the television have done. It is an act of 'extremist', of 'radicalism' to have invented and developed the written text of the different languages which us humans speak. But it is not an act of 'extremism' or 'radicalism' to for Islamic State and its affiliates to have murdered thousands of people.  

It is said that, ' no news is good news.'   However, we should not close our minds to the possibility, at least, of acknowledging that.  The fact that we have not heard a thing or of something happening, does not mean that nothing has happened, which could later generate 'bad news.'  Take the near absence of 'news' or reports about what is now happening in Syria and to the Syrian people, after the widespread killing, maiming and destruction has, it appears, largely abated.   Why the blatant disinterest of the media and the absence of reports about how the Syrian people are getting on or not getting on?  Why the absence of the same massive effort to convey men and arms from abroad to prosecute the killing, maiming and destruction of people and infrastructure?  Why is it not being converted into  prosecuting the full attainment and consolidation of the peace, and the rebuilding of the country?  Why, now that the killing and destruction is nearl

We can, eg., become 'extremist' in our love of someone, or in our belief in something or someone.  Yes, it is probably not surprising that it seems to be in the practice of religion, of probably all kinds, that the worst and most extreme forms of 'extremism' occurs.  With people mercilessly slaughtering and oppressing people, ironically and erroneously, 'for the glory of their god.' So, 'extremism' is not, of itself, 'a bad or undesirable thing.' Like 'radicalism', is, arguably a necessary, let us say, phenomenon in both the evolution of the Cosmos and of human development. Indeed, I would argue that, we can detect 'extremism' in all or most instances where the old, or the existing state is required, made or forced to make a 'radical' transformation into becoming a different state.  The birth of a human, for example, requires and act or process of extremism, as any of most women would attest to.  So is

Set to some beautiful and timeless Classical music, is this rather longish video of the Garden, at a certain point in its Autumnal transformation, getting read for the harsh and less colourful scenery of Winter. Please have a view and, if you are so inclined, do extract some moments of visual and auditory pleasure from it.

That the lenses or prism through which she sees, interprets and filers the world she lives in, seems to be pre-set to find no joy at the end of the tunnel or rainbow. Or that she speaks with the apparent certainty of someone who has ascertained the 'facts' by speaking to the relevant persons and confirm them to have been so. Indeed, the somewhat improbable imagery of my dear mother, as soon as I leave her. Sometimes looking weak and frailer than usual, on her bed or in her armchair.   Pulling herself together, as it were, and hopping onto her motorised scooter and speeding along the long corridors and consulting with her neighbours.  Making enquiries about how they are being treated by their relatives and by their contracted care workers, and their GPs.  Is conjured up in my mind. It is possible, I know, but how probably is it?  And if she is not getting the information her arguments suggest she is getting, this way, then how is she getting it? 

So, what if things are not as bad as they sometimes are or seem to be? What if 'good people' are not as good as they appear or are believed to be or have been?  As we have seen from tragedy of the many lives and livelihoods of once venerable or almost venerable men and women, but mostly men, which has come tumbling down and crashing spectacularly.  Following disclosures of offences and crimes they are alleged to have committed.  As we have seen from the thousands of innocent lives which have been destroyed, blighted by evil actions of people who, at sometime in the past, had authority and power over them? As has been the fate of the scores or hundreds of actors, journalists, business men, religious figures and politicians who have been 'outed', and have their reputations, livelihoods, and even lives destroyed. How do we humans evaluate the 'good' which these or some of these men and women had done, before they were 'outed' and effectiv