A Quick Word On The Most Recent Democratic Debate - The Populist Question

Criticism from someone here in the UK.

So, I'm currently watching the most recent Democratic debate on YouTube between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. I'm watching it as a keen Politics enthusiast and, I have to be honest, I'm disappointed.

Now, to highlight my own political leaning for a moment. I consider myself to the left of centre and tend to go for more socialist policies. However, if I could have voted in 2010 I would've voted Liberal Democrat. I voted Green Party in last year's election and I'm likely to join the Labour Party this year. So that's where I lean. However, I'm open to all party's policies when they are released. So I went into the Charleston debate with open eyes even though I do have a preference. As I'm not American, my opinion doesn't matter. But here's my own personal view on the debate.

Bernie Sanders
On the surface, Bernie seems like a pretty nice guy. He seems to be passionate about the little guy in society and has definitely brought up the class divide in America with some force. However, what I found about Sanders is that he continually makes the same point over and over again. While the point may well be correct, it comes up again and again. Even for someone who identifies as left-wing, it does get a bit bored after a while. While he makes some good points about Wall Street, campaign funding by the business bosses and the Republican thinking behind climate change but his continual spiel about the class system in the US and how we need to take down the big banks does become a little dry and repetitive. Which is a shame, really, as it is a good point to make.

I also find Bernie a bit difficult to relate to. Doing some outside research, it seems to be someone from the post-war generation who wants one more stab at the limelight. I don't for a moment question his experience but it does feel like he's desperately trying to relive the glory days one last time. This bothers me. I agree with him on some points but the majority of his stuff seems rather populist among young people. Which I'm not against but it does appear to me to be buying off youth voters with promises of things he cannot really guarantee.


Hillary Clinton
I'm wary of Hillary Clinton. Not because she's a woman, I'm not misogynist like that. But I find her quite scary actually. While I will admit she's very good at PR and does say the right things, I still firmly believe she is the populist vote. People were giving Hillary a lot of attention when figures in the party were announcing their candidacy and I firmly believe that she decided to run on the back of this renewed attention. While I'm not going to criticise much of what she did as Secretary of State in the first Obama administration but I do feel that she's in it for the glory. And I think that comes through during the debates.

I also find Hillary very arrogant. I just don't like her as a person. If I was more aware of what happened in the 1990s I might've been a bit more sympathetic to her during Monicagate but I don't like her now. I find her very arrogant and I think that she's definitely the candidate out of the three who's majorly bank-rolled. Which is an issue. Especially compared to Bernie who prides himself on not being bank-rolled as much. I also think she's riding off the back of her husband. Which is likely to be a sore topic in the Clinton household I'm sure.

Martin O'Malley
If I was in America, I would definitely want O'Malley to be the candidate. There's my bias. I just think he's a well-spoken, well-read and interesting man. And, personally, I think he had the best arguments of the debate. Being critical of national policy while giving some interesting anecdotes of where he succeeded in his own state of Maryland when he was Governor. However, what annoyed me most about the whole debate was how, when Sanders and O'Malley were vying to speak in order to counteract a point, Sanders was usually chosen to speak instead. This annoyed me as it seemed like they NBC were deliberately not giving him more of a platform to express his views and plans for the United States. Hence why I've just been clapping for a couple of minutes after his jibe about wanting "30 seconds" to talk about national security.

I think what's charming about O'Malley is that he knows he's not going to get nominated because of the slightly more high profile candidates of Sanders and Clinton. This means he can get away with saying a lot more meaningful stuff with less consequences. This is what I love about him. He can be slightly more cheeky yet still say the things that should in most circumstances ring true with many people.

But as I say, he knows he won't get the nomination so he can get away with more.


So, yeah. That's my take. Just my opinion. ONLY my own opinion.

It's Ok...

The power of music...

So, this blog post is a bit different today. I want to share some lyrics that I wrote today. And there's a story behind them.

I saw a video today from YouTuber TomSka who talked about an abusive relationship he'd been in when he was younger. Now, I've never been in a relationship that's abusive, but it did get me thinking. I ended up lost in my own thoughts and memories and I remembered some times when I'd felt really down. I had a bad spell a few years ago and I didn't enjoy it. But I managed to get out of that bad spot while others remain stuck there. So, I sat up to the piano I was next to and wrote out this song in 30 minutes. 

This song is for anyone who has/has had/still suffering from depression or any other kind of mental illness. While there's still stigma, I'm sure there's light on the other side. There has to be.

'It's Ok' written by Joshua Frampton.

"Dear past self, I forgive you

For all the things that you have done

And I accept how you're feeling

You were not the only one

And maybe it's ok

For us to carry on this way

And I can never judge another

Knowing what you're going through

And that's ok

I'm sorry you were made to feel that way

I promise that the feeling goes away

It's only one more dragon left to slay

So pick up that sword

And make it go away

Dear past self, can you hear me?

These aren't the worst days of your life

So let go of the handle

This can can be solved without a knife

And maybe it's ok

To make sure you're not astray

And I can never judge another

Remembering what you're going thorough

And that's ok

I'm sorry you were made to feel this way

I promise that the feeling goes away

It's only one more dragon left to slay

So pick up that sword

And make it go away

If I could travel back in time

I'd tell you it would be ok

So hear this from your future

You will find that sunny day...

It's not that far away...

Dear past self, I forgive you

Because it looks like no one will

And I accept how you're feeling

You're still not the only one

I promise it's ok

Helping others not to feel this way

And say that it's ok

I'm sorry you were made to feel this way

I promise that the feeling goes away

It's only one more dragon left to slay

So pick up that sword

And make it go away

And make it go away..."

I intend to record this at some stage. So, hopefully, next time you see/hear these lyrics they'll be through some speakers or something.

Thanks for reading. 

The Power Of Writing Music

We all have a story to tell.

At age 13; while messing around on my friend's guitar, I wrote a song called 'Love Is (The Hardest Word To Say)'. A shitty little song about the general perception of being in love.

Also, at age 13, I co-wrote a song called 'Black Thunder'. Originally about an assassin that later evolved to become one about the apocalypse.

At age 14; I wrote a song called 'Too Young' about how the teenage stereotype at that point was a lie.

Also, at age 14, I wrote a song called 'Say Goodbye'. For no reason in particular.

I then went on to write more songs over the years. Including:

1. 'Within Me' about a break-up I underwent. (2011)
2. 'No Stranger To Controversy' about the Chilcott Enquiry into Hacking in the Media. (2012)
3. 'Signals' about a girl who I was in love with at the time. (2011)
4. 'The Art Of Self-Destruction', designed to be an intro song for my band, Against The Tide. (2011)
5. 'A Losing Battle' about drug addiction and how it can affect a person's mental state. (2015)
6. 'The Mind Is A Powerful Place' about my own battle with paranoia and hypochondria. (2015)
7. 'Eccentric Circles' about how we've affected the world and how people like my cousin's baby daughter will judge us in the future. (2015)
8. 'To The Ends Of The Earth', a sequel to Signals. (2016)
9. 'Empty' about a man with Dementia. (2014)
10. 'Each Night Of My Life' about my two friends who are about to get married. (2015)
11. 'Girl In The Library' about a girl I met a number of times at uni who always seemed sad. (2014)
12. 'Field Of Starlight' about my friend, Sammy. (2009)
13. 'Killer Affair' about a man who finds his girlfriend with his oldest friend and kills them both. (2014)
14. 'The Last Charade' about the leader of a fictional country during the Arab Spring. (2012)
15. 'In My Mind' about another break-up I underwent. (2012)
16. 'Oh, Hometown' about my hometown. (2015)
17. 'Burned By The Ashes' about the apocalypse. (Co-wrote). (2010)
18. 'Accident' about various relationships I was aware of at the time. (2013)
19. 'New' about a crush I once had. (2015)
20. 'Cinta Sejati' about true love. (2015)
21. 'I Don't Care About My Heart' about relationships that often seem one-sided but not always. (2015)
22. 'Keep Calm...' about the prospect of a nuclear attack on the UK (Co-wrote with my cousin). (2015)
23. 'I Don't Know Yet' about a relationship the guy doesn't want to be in anymore. (Co-wrote with my cousin). (2015)
24. 'The Veteran' about the final veteran of the Second World War, (2015)
25. 'Enemy Eyes' about a man who goes hunting for a target. (Co-wrote). (2014)
26. 'Cariad' about my friend, Elin. (2011)
27. 'I Knew Jesus Before He Was Cool' about the policies of the current Government and protesting against them. (2014)
28. 'I Come With A Warning Sign' about a relationship I nearly entered and wrote to try and explain to the young lady how much of a mess I am. (2015)
29. 'Molly's Lullaby' about a future daughter I dreamed about who wouldn't go to sleep unless I played her this song. (2013)

These are just a small selection of songs I've written in the past. And why have I written them?

Because I can?

Because I want to?

No.

It's because they were all stories I felt needed to be shared.

Being creative is the best thing there is because there's never an end and there's never a dull moment. Though it can also sometimes bring frustration when the ideas don't come when they're either meant to or supposed to.

But here's something to remember. Creativity cannot and should not be rushed. And if you're a creative person and that idea you're looking for isn't coming then stop worrying about it. And stop panicking. Because, I promise you, that will hinder the creative process.

If you try and force something it won't be good. I've discovered this recently. I tried to create an entire album called 'Dancing With The Enemy' which was going to be about a journey through addiction, pain and paranoia. But nothing came but for 2 songs. And that's not an album is it.

I've laid my music to a moratorium recently. Though I have a couple of projects this year that I'm super-excited about that includes a new original song and a cover version for a CD project. But, beyond that, music will be something I will return to. But I have other priorities right now. But just because something doesn't come to you now it doesn't mean that you should stop or give up. Yes, it sucks, but what you write next might just be the best thing you've ever written.

I felt the same about 3 years ago and then I wrote Molly's Lullaby. I didn't like it when I wrote it because I wasn't myself at the time and I wrote it for a gig I really didn't want to play. But people loved it. And, trust me, it's saved gigs from going really bad by playing it. I now love the song because of the reaction it invokes in people. (Grown men cried when I first played it!)

I love writing music and sharing my stories. I also write superhero stories with the intention of one day writing and publishing a graphic novel. But being creative has saved my skin more times than I care to mention and music is one of the best things there is. Because everyone has one song that invokes a certain memory. And to write songs and have people tell me that it invokes certain things in them is one of the best things you can hear as a musician.

So please don't give up. And don't get angry about it. Just remember that the next thing you write could be the best thing you'll ever do. It'll come to you eventually.

Right, Aimo?

My Experiences With Religion, Faith & Beliefs

"If you climb the mountain you will see, there is no great distance between the Lord and me" - Thin Lizzy: 'Downtown Sundown'.

It certainly feels like in this day and age that if you have a faith, it's a dirty thing to have. People instantly try to judge you for what religion you are. If you're Jewish, some people might think you have a big nose and are after all their money. If you're Christian, some people might assume you automatically disagree with homosexuality or you're going to try and force your religion onto them. If you're Muslim, some might think that you're secretly plotting a terrorist attack or that you're awful towards women. The list goes on.

Obviously, all of those were stereotypes. And I don't agree with any of those. But there are obviously going to be some people that do. Recently, two Muslims were thrown out of a Donald Trump rally after people starting shouting accusations at them that they were carrying bombs. It's despicable. And it almost feels like that if you have any kind of faith, you're a bad person.

Now, I'm very ashamed to admit, I thought this for a short time too. (I never thought for a moment that every Muslim I meet would try and kill me or that every Jewish person was after my money but for Christianity I definitely thought this stereotype was accurate). I have a friend who is Christian and, in my eyes for a while, she seemed 'brainwashed' for a better word. She was saying a lot of things I was disagreeing with and it felt like she was trying to convert me to her cause. At the same time this was happening, I was coming to my own conclusion that God did not exist and that I was, by all accounts, Atheist. So, my own exploration of religion mixed with the things my friend was saying at the time didn't make for a good time. So I, wrongly, assumed all Christians were going to try and convert me.

Obviously, this is not the case. My friend has since found more stability in her beliefs and many things she says I still don't completely agree with but I agree with many of the sentiments she articulates from time to time. Not only that, I've been wrestling with my own beliefs on faith again.

I've been trying to figure out what I believe in since the age of 12. My mum is a Spiritualist and I was raised with that belief system in the background. It was never forced upon me but I always had that kind of spiritual aspect in the background. Though I was never 100% sure that I believed in it as well. When I was 12, I decided that I didn't believe or agree with a lot of what my Christian educational upbringing suggested. I went to 3 Church of England primary schools and the sort of thing they came out with was very much the same. Of course, it wasn't like a church sermon but I just found myself not believing in the God that our local vicar presented to us. Not only that, at the time I was convinced that God giving me Aspergers meant he didn't love me. (I was very ashamed of having it back then and being different. And when you think God hates you by giving you this disorder, it's a very dark and lonely place to find yourself. Trust me).

It was also around this time that I started to fully appreciate the scale and severity of events such as 9/11, 7/7, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and it occurred to me that, if God was as loving as our vicar maintained, why would he allow events like that to occur and why would he allow people to die in such horrible ways? To my 12 year old mind, that didn't compute. So I went searching for a new belief system.

One day, I decided that Judaism might be the way forward. But then I found out who you can get into Judaism as someone who wasn't born to it and, frankly, the circumcision didn't seem that attractive to me. Nor, coincidentally, did the idea of giving up bacon but that's by the by.

My spiritual quest, however, came to the attention of my woodwork teacher, Mr Harris. Who, very kindly of him, decided to do some extracurricular research into religions and beliefs for me in order to aid my journey to a new faith. (I seem to remember him saying he spent an hour looking at things like that but I was still very flattered and humbled that he decided to help me in this way anyway!) Eventually, during a woodwork lesson, he informed me that he found a religion that combined both the faith and belief aspect as well as my love of things sciencey and sci-fi. It was called Ralienism.

Now, upon further research, I discovered that Ralienism is more of a weird cult than a religion so I decided to leave it well alone. But, either way, I decided to keep looking.

I continued looking for a number of years until I came to the conclusion, in my mind, that God didn't exist and that science had all the answers. And I firmly believed this until my friend, who's studying physics at uni, started explaining a lot of things science is doing right now. It occurred to me here that science doesn't have all the answers and that, like religion and faith, there is room for human error. I'm not going to disagree that we have gravity, we have cells in our body or that blue is blue but when it comes to a lot of the theoretical stuff that's where I start to draw the line.

So, atheism it was. For the long haul. Or, so it seemed.

However, over the past 6 months, I've realised that for a long time I've felt empty inside. Not only that, I've done that stupid young person thing of doing some dumb shit. Which everyone does but it didn't sit well with me. So I decided to do a bit of soul searching to try and find what I felt empty about.

Then it hit me.

I was missing something to believe in. I evidently didn't believe what I thought I believed strongly enough. Which led me once more on a mission to try and work out what I did believe again. I spent whole nights thinking about what was missing and what I needed. I tried a multitude of things but nothing seemed to work. So I went down the path of faith again. I spoke to my housemate and another friend who has faith and I realised that I had a very narrow view on what faith could be.

I didn't realise that faith could be individual. I presumed that you subscribed to a religion or a denomination and abided by their rules and scriptures but I now know this isn't the case at all.

And then, one night, it all hit me. One certain event made me realise that I was perhaps more spiritual than I thought I was.

I followed a particular Atheist page on Facebook and, for the most part, didn't really pay much attention to it. However, one night shortly after the horrible attacks in Paris and Beirut back in November, an article appeared on the page about a group of "Christians" forcibly evicting and attacking Muslims in Central African Republic just because they could. The article was shared with the simple tagline "religion fuels violence".

Regardless of what my belief has been in the past; when it comes to religion I may disagree but I will always defend someone else's right to express it. And I did on this occasion, but it felt different this time. This time, it felt like a personal attack.

So I commented on this article and said how stupidly naive they were to suggest that all religion fuels violence and gave my opinion that religion is often hijacked by people in political power in order to appeal to a larger community and justify their nefarious acts. I like to think I argued the point quite well but, obviously, the atheists on the page didn't agree and argued back. Fair. I like a debate. And, to be fair to him, the young man that took me on did put forward a decent case.

However, what annoyed me most about him was that he seemed to dismiss the political angle every time I brought it up. He wasn't to be shifted and, as I made it clear, nor was I. Which we respected about the other in the end but it did make for a good debate.

There was another woman who tried to suggest that I was too young to know what I was talking about and started being quite juvenile by saying "I think someone needs to do some wider reading, not mentioning names - Joshua" and things like this. (But then I just told her that we were having a grown up conversation and if she wanted to continue making herself look stupid then she can carry on).

After this though, I felt better for defending religion in this aspect and it felt right to do so. It was at this stage that I knew that it was a faith that I was missing. Like I said before, that post felt like a personal attack and, in my gut, when I realised that it was faith that I was missing it felt right.

So, to cut a continuing story short, here's what's happened since that night.

• I've discovered that I don't believe in a single entity called God. I believe that God is a metaphor for everything that's good within the world.
• I also believe that, if God is a metaphor for all that's good, then it's logical to have the Devil as a metaphor for the bad. The Christian faith, in many ways, is like a comic book. There's an eternal battle of good over evil and sin over love. Just with different participants along the way. (Though, as a Guardians of the Galaxy fan, if the Bible had a talking belligerent raccoon I would've reconsidered this whole thing much sooner). 
• I believe that there was a man named Jesus. I also believe that he was a very good spiritual teacher. However, I'm still not 100% convinced by the walking on water or the feeding of the 5000. I'm still very much open to the concept he was a time traveller but we'll take it one step at a time. (By the way, the time traveller thing was a joke in case anyone isn't used to my sense of humour).
• I also believe that most of the stories in the Bible are more like fables rather than historically documented accounts. From the stories I remember, Noah's Ark could be interpreted as a battle overcoming a terrible problem or David and the Lion's Den could be seen as a metaphor for facing your fears and overcoming them. That's my own interpretation. And I'd much rather have a faith where I can learn lessons about how to be a good human by reading between the lines rather than read a story about a boat in a flood and just accept that these animals decided not to eat each other and not worry about the fact they pee and poop. (Seriously, I can't be the only one that wonders that).
• I've also come to the conclusion that a lot of what religion is, or perhaps what I think should be, about the community feel. Why else would most religions have a meeting place?

There's also a lot more I've discovered about my feelings on this but I don't want to bore you. But, in case anyone has any questions:

1. Yes, I know reconsider myself a Christian. However, I'm open to teachings from other religions.
2. Yes, I agree with homosexuality and I'm 110% for marriage equality as well as same-sex parenting. (Considering I'm pan-romantic myself, it'd be hypocritical if I didn't agree with this would it not?)
3. I'm pro-choice. 
4. I do believe this is a power bigger than us that we can't yet perceive or understand. But I don't necessarily believe this is a single deity.
5. No, I don't hate every other faith in existence.
6. No, I don't like the Westboro Baptist Church. They're assholes. I don't care if you're one of them reading this. You guys have issues.
7. I would happily hold hands with other people and form a human chain outside a Mosque to protect them if it came down to it.

As well as this, I would love to experience different religious practises. One of my goals for 2016 (that I didn't put in the last post) is to visit a Mosque, a Synagogue and Gurdwara and observe how they worship and what they do in those institutions. And, if I'm allowed to, take part! 

I'm also writing about counter-terrorism and religious fundamentalism for my dissertation. And, to help out with that, I have brought a copy of both the King James Version of the Bible as well as the Qu'ran. As an extra-curricular exercise, I intend to read both from cover to cover as well as using it to help my dissertation research.

Because, here's the thing. RE was my favourite subject through school. I always found the concept of faith and why people believe things very interesting. I also loved learning about different religions and different cultures. And my teacher, Mr Craig, was very instrumental in this. But also, one of my friends' comes from a Muslim family. Their grandparent's being very involved in their local Muslim community. And I always enjoyed meeting them and discussing Islam with them because I discovered so much the religion that most people don't know. I find learning about different beliefs and cultures very interesting. To know how other people live makes me feel humbled and amazed about how wonderfully diverse our little rock in a little solar system in a cornucopia of different galaxies in a seemingly infinite cosmos can be.

In fact, if my GCSE results didn't need to be remarked and I was able to do RE at A-Level, I probably would've gone on to do Religion and Theology at university.  However, this was not the case.

And I didn't write this to boast or to glorify my recent efforts or anything like that. I wrote this because I wanted to convey a very simple message.

Religion and faith is not inherently bad. Everyone can have their own faith and you don't necessarily need to conform to a single religion or denomination. And, contrary to popular belief, you can be spiritual and not be religious. And you may not agree with everything religion stands for but it can be good for many things. And no religion is inherently violent in its nature. While I believe humanity is not inherently violent, you cannot argue with the notion that people can dick about with a religion and make it look bad. (I'm looking at you, Rupert Murdoch, Trump and Britain First). So if you feel you need it, look for it. Seek and ye shall find.