The most delusional fantasies can be made to masquerade as sanity if you've got the political power to reinforce them.

Penny Skillman

TASTE - GOOD OR BAD

I was idly listening to the radio while I was driving today. A theatrical producer, whose name I didn't hear, said, in the context of producing Mozart operas in modern settings, "I don't care what Mozart would have thought. What would Mozart think a bout a tram, about underwear, about the Internet? Nobody can possibly know, so it's a pointless question." Fair enough, I suppose, although at a fairly superficial level.

Then he went on to say, "Of course, Shakespeare is in dreadfully bad taste." What? WHAT? WHAT? What the hell is that all about? How can anyone possibly make a comment like that? OK, I suppose it is possible to say that something is in extremely bad taste, but even that is a matter of context. White western middle class society (see, I'm already defining the context) regards spitting in public as bad taste. Most of the crude pornography that infests the 'net is in bad taste. But Shakespeare? I don't think so.

Can a genuine work of art ever be in bad taste? It may go out of fashion, but that's an entirely different thing. And I'm not going to join in a post-modern deconstructionist frenzy. I don't even understand what "taste" means - if anyone in the blogosphere happens upon this post and has any ideas, I'd love to know.

NOW, THEN, FOREVER

Half-remembered promises
Sink into the past.
Moments in eternal silence
Float by on the breeze.
And every moment is part of the larger meaning.

My friends forsake me like a lost moment.
We swore this would never happen
For the tender grace of a day that is gone.
But this may be the way it was meant to be.
Shame and pride come in no order,
So I become a keeper of the flame
As a form of self-discipline,
Attaining that state of being,
While memory whispers to itself
As if this were the last hour of life.

Reality
Has nothing to say.
It calls this beginning the end.
The real end is the journey.

HEROIN OR SPEED - NAME YOUR POISON

I was browsing through the 20 September edition of Time with my morning coffee (double strength latte with a shot of hazelnut syrup) when I came upon an article by Lisa Clausen titled Smacking Down. This started by commenting on the recent heroin drought in Australia, and how this was probably due to the diligence of the Australian Federal Police in strangling supply.

Hmm, yes; maybe. But it then went on to comment on the rise in use of amphetamines with the reduced supply of heroin. At first thought, that might be unlikely - heroin is a "downer" and speed is an "upper". But there was a very insightful quote, "It doesn't matter what the effect is, so long as it takes them away from what they were feeling." In other words, some (many?) people use drugs to hide deeper seated and more intractable problems, and it doesn't matter what the effect of the drug is if it hides the hurt for a while.

But the switch from heroin to speed represents a real problem. Being a "downer", a heroin overdose leaves the user comatose, but a speed psychosis leaves a user aggressive and possibly in need of restraint before any help can be given. But, what help? At least with heroin, there is methadone, or perhaps better, bupenorphine with naltrexone for immediate action. So far as I know, there is no pharmacological agent to assist with amphetamine withdrawal.

The other problem with speed is that it can be, usually is, manufactured locally, where heroin is imported. So strong supply side action can put a significant brake on heroin supply. But speed is another story; apart from anything else, it is almost invariably made in Australia - import is unnecessary. Statistics suggest a substantial increase in the clamp down on clandestine laboratories, but that probably means that there are a lot more of them to find. Manufacturing speed is a backyard operation that can be carried out in small areas quite quickly. In addition, however, it is extremely dangerous physically, and it is a wonder that there haven't been more explosions as uncontrolled speed manufacture goes out of control.

The point about this is to wonder whether any reduction in the availability of heroin is really a Pyrrhic victory. If this means that more people are using speed, the cost in supply side operations and overdose treatment could significantly outweigh the equivalent costs for heroin use.

It also suggests that we need to devote a lot more time, effort and resources to demand side reduction and harm minimisation. Education at all levels is essential, otherwise we're just trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. And, moreover, the Augean Stable!

DO UNTO OTHERS - BEFORE THEY DO UNTO YOU!

Dr Paul Vout, a Melbourne barrister and theatre producer, recently made the following comments in newMatilda (www.newmatilda.com/home/default.asp). I believe they are worth repeating because they state clearly and unambiguously the type of prejudice and narrow-mindedness that too often passes for Christianity.

Brigadier Jim Wallace AM is executive chairman of an organisation called the Australian Christian Lobby. The moniker 'Christian soldier' seems to aptly describe him. Brigadier Wallace was active in the recent campaign to ensure that the Marriage Act 1958 was amended - not only to expressly define 'marriage' as being between a man and a woman, but to dictate that marriages of same-sex couples under the laws of countries such as Canada and the Netherlands must not be recognised under Australian law. Brigadier Wallace said, inter alia:

I'm sure you will be aware of the push by the homosexual lobby for marriage. We had hoped this would be thwarted by an amendment to the Marriage Act that would have, as much as is legislatively possible, defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

However as we always knew, this group was not just after equality in social benefits and entitlements, they are without doubt aiming to remove every vestige of our Christian heritage which they find so offensive.

We cannot sit by this time on an issue as crucial as marriage and live to regret our inactivity later.

We have the leverage now, in the lead up to an inevitably close Federal Election, to force the parties to come clean on their intentions for marriage and so make it an election issue. If we do we can draw the line in the sand that will stop the encroachment of the homosexual lobby on Christian values.

A large minority of Australians will continue to be denied access to one of the fundamental legal institutions in our society. Marriage is certainly a religious institution (one central to Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and many faiths other than Christianity). But is also arguably as important a legal institution as constitutional democracy, liberty, due process, and rights over property. Should one person's religious beliefs be the basis upon which another should be excluded from such an important bundle of legal rights and obligations?

In short, a second class of citizenry has been clearly delineated, the separation of church and state has been blurred, and the due process of law has been interfered with. Something to be proud of, Brigadier. But was this a war worth fighting?

Absolutely not. Brigadier Wallace, 'They' were not just after equality in social benefit and entitlements. 'They' were after equality before the law. You were also wrong, Brigadier. 'They' were not 'aiming to remove every vestige' of your Christian heritage. 'They' were aiming to remove every vestige of legal discrimination. 'They' do not find your 'Christian heritage' offensive - only those who claim to march behind Christ, yet ignore his instruction to treat others as they would wish to be treated themselves.

All the Christian soldiers who fought alongside Brigadier Wallace to achieve this particular 'victory' should go back to their Bibles, and read well the accounts of Christ's teachings given to us by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They will find no references whatsoever to homosexuality or same-sex relationships. They will, however, find a powerful message of love, respect and dignity for all of God's children, by all of God's children.

As I see it, those who fight for anything else are not Christians worthy of the name.

Absolutely. I feel sad and frustrated that people can display such bigotry in the name of Christianity. True Christian values are those expressed in the parable of the good Samaritan or Chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and have nothing to do with exclusion on the grounds of some perceived lack of qualification. The idea of Christianity is inclusive, and Jesus didn’t say that you will be saved if you believe in me, unless you are gay or …… . I fail to understand the need to treat some groups and individuals as second rate, as undesirable or as less than deserving of God’s grace.

G K Chesterton said, “It is not that the Christian ideal has been tried and found wanting; it is that the Christian ideal has been found too hard and not tried.” This is exactly the point. Start with the “Golden Rule” repeated as nauseam, but seldom lived. But you can bet your bottom dollar that if members of the so‑called Australian Christian Lobby were to be treated by others in the way that they want to treat homosexuals, they would be the first to complain. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Don’t just say it, live it.