CENSORSHIP
What is your reaction when someone tries to gag you?
Censorship will always have a boomerang effect on me. If I am prevented from learning about any subject I will put in far more effort to bust through the false ceiling.
I have always been rebellious and resentful of anything which sets out to control my thoughts. I read 1984 by George Orwell when I was a very young teenager and it had a profound effect on me, causing many contemplations and concerns. I could easily see how British life could, and probably would, go that way. My distrust of politicians and adults with racist prejudice began then.
I was fortunate to live in Forest Gate, East London when I left school. This meant that I shared my environment with lots of Jewish, Jamaican, Indian and Pakistani families. Being a gregarious girl, I would make the effort to initiate conversations with the neighbours. My curiosity was seldom satisfied. Basically I was a sponge for knowledge and I found that the women were always keen to chat. The men seemed to be less willing to engage but I understood that their culture was a hindrance so I would tease them about that. “Do I scare you?” would shock them out of their reluctance to talk to me! I had ways of making people open up and laugh!
Transportation to the City centre was very quick and reliable via buses and the underground tube so I was able to get a fantastic job working for an international freighting company which had its offices on Wapping Wharf.
Wapping was degenerating in those days and has since been completely revamped and up graded. I could not recognise it now, I suppose. My constant journeys between Forest Gate and Wapping gave me the opportunity to chat with lots of people. I learned about all sorts of cultures and cuisine, the stresses of immigrant life and the attitude that they usually encountered among us Brits, the natives. In the late 60s and early 70s Londoners were not usually as friendly as me.
My job, mainly translating French and Spanish transportation documents, was very varied and occasionally I would translate phone calls or during meetings between long-distance articulated truck drivers and my bosses. I would always do my best to make the drivers welcome and I frequently mis-translated their words…. you know, stuff like “You complete bastard!” would miraculously be translated into “I do not agree with you Sir!” - diplomacy when translating conversations is quite an art and even though I was still only 18 years old, I knew that the smooth running of any business depended on cordial communications! These Spanish and French drivers would tell me about their homes, wives and kids. They would always be in a great hurry to get a container load for their return journey. Staying in London was not something any of them wanted to do.
My social life at that time centred mainly around the music venue, the Marquee Club in Soho, where I had been a regular since 1965. I met people from all over the world there and we would often go onto an underground club in Shepherds Bush and dance until dawn. I became friends with a Chinese guy who had a really interesting dance style. I copied his moves but we did not talk much. He did not speak English at all and the music was deafening anyway! Many years later I discovered that he had been teaching me Qi Gong and Tai Chi to music! Amazing!
My home street was a very lively place. It was close to West Ham Football Club. I made friends easily there and my younger brothers attended the local schools so they had friends from many races too. Meanwhile, our Dad was full of embarrassing racist remarks (designed to shock us). I remember one summer evening getting home from work and my Dad was standing in the bay window tutting loudly. “Frances!” he called, “Go out there and get the piccaninnies out of our cherry tree!” I was mortified at his choice of word, but he was incorrigible with his humour. I went to the tree and helped the children to pick cherries and when they had eaten loads I got them down from the tree! Dad said I had always had far too soft a heart. He seldom ate the blooming cherries, so I knew he was just teasing me!
Learning about other cultures was just a matter of talking to people in multicultural London in the 60s. It was the same when I lived in Madrid in 2006/7. But finding out about Russia and China has been a struggle against fake news all my life. I would always dig harder and especially seek first hand knowledge from ex pats such as the staff at my local Chinese restaurants. I would ask questions like "Why did you leave China?" and "Why did you choose to come to Britain?". This would always develop into a very interesting conversation and the initiation of friendships.
People like to talk.
Finding Russians is less easy as they do not set up restaurants and take-aways! But via universities and business it is possible to meet Russians and get some idea of their feelings about their homeland and its relationship with the West.
In the late 80s and early 90s I worked in the City of London at a huge corporate insurance business. By this time I had worked my way up to board level PA so I was required to take shorthand notes of many important meetings. The people I worked for were highly influential businessmen. Their distaste for Russia and China offended me deeply but, as a professional, I had perfected the art of appearing to be nonplussed.
These were the movers and shakers. The real nobility which runs our country.
When they shut down the internet and they will, we will be governed by the most efficient global totalitarian system imaginable, that is their vision.
Think modern Chinese surveillance on steroids.
How do I know this?
Part of my assignment at the insurance corporation was to work as a PA for the inventor of the INMARSAT global surveillance system during its launch in the 80s. I assisted in selling the data collected by the system to the CIA for BILLIONS annually. You can read about that here:
The political ramifications are enormous and I wrote about that in the following articles:
Most importantly now, we have to watch for the selected politicians in the UK Parliament. The new Prime Minister was elected by the Conservative Party members on 5th of September. My bet was that Liz Truss would win, purely because she was selected to give a keynote speech at Mansion House in the City of London and the sentiments were highly charged straight from the City hymn sheet.
You can access the speech in my article about it here:
Nowadays I am retired and I live in a Dorset village quite close to Bournemouth and Poole. I have relied on the internet for my research sources for a decade. However, recently the censorship has reached epic proportions so I am returning to the old hack style of journalism.
I don’t drive any more, so an excellent source of information for me are taxi drivers! My local taxi company employs people from all over the middle east and many of the smaller ex USSR countries. I have had to use taxis a lot recently so I take the opportunity to pepper them with questions about their culture and their opinions.
They are usually very happy to chat and seem to enjoy the chance to improve their English, gain a few new vocabulary nuggets or phrases to add to their knowledge and they often impart wonderful personal anecdotes about their lives.
So….
Censorship in the media and online is having a limited impact on my ability to find out about other cultures and opinions. It is not encouraging me to fear China and Russia, even though that is now a mass media trend. It is not curtailing word of mouth or gossip, the good old fashioned ways to gather information.
The upshot of all this is a continually growing curiosity and respect for everyone and a determination to convey the information gathered to you, my readers on Substack.
Can't be a bad thing, can it?
Is this Article a Joke?
Because if I remember correctly it is you censoring other people to have an opinion.
This Article is double think double speak at best.