It's all doom - war in the Levant; war of the Russian steppes; genocide in western China; inflation; interest rates; non-Voice dividing a nation.

A curative is called for. A break from the doom.

Last night I, along with 40,000 others went to the Paul McCartney concert in Sydney. A curative indeed. Forty thousand people, united in their love of one man, who stood as a representative of three others. And through their love of that one man, they experienced love, comradeship and oneness with the strangers around them.

One man standing alone on stage (his band members taking a break) supported only by his own guitar and singing a song he wrote more than half a century ago (Blackbird). And 40,000 people in absolute reverent silence. A massively moving moment.
Then, later, 40,000 people joyously singing along to tunes that are sign-posts, not just of a generation, but of a civilisation.

That one man, albeit the most consequential musician in a century, can bring such lasting joy, engenders hope for the future and admiration for the past.

That's escapism, not a curative. An 81 year old Beatle isn't going to make a difference to the miserable world. I was never a Beatle fan; never went to a concert of any sort; hate crowds, and wouldn't go near one will all the multicultural nut jobs infesting the country these days.

I understand nostalgia though, I go in for old films (not 'movies') and reading philosophy to escape. But nothing is going to make 21st. Century living, existence, any better.

I'm one not to get sucked in simply because some hype about something as meaningless as an old Beatle or pop music in general. There's way too much hype about everything as soon as someone finds a way to make more money !
How sad ! How soul-destroying !

Hi mhaze,

A Beatle in 2023?

Wow! How lucky was Australia that an 81 year old
Sir Paul McCartney was still prepared to travel
the world to share his era-defining songs with
us Aussies.

He's a recipient of eight-figure annual royalty
cheques - so he didn't do it for the money.
He doesn't need the money.

It must have been awesome. I wish I could have been
there.

I would have loved to have heard him sing "Hey Jude,"
(Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na!).

As always, the best cure for boredom is truth.
Go back to truthful principles.
For example, accept that things which happen around you are just things which happen.
They are, in themselves, neither bad, nor good, nor otherwise.
They are the result of inevitable change around us, and nothing more.
But we judge them by the effect they have upon us.
When we benefit, we say they are good things.
When disadvantage results, we say they are bad things.
But the truth is they are just happenings, or changes, and nothing more.
And what benefits you might disadvantage another.
We can't all win a lottery can we?
The effect of something which happens can change over time too.
A benefit now, but less so later on, or vice versa.
Changes can be naturally occurring, or engineered by man.
The latter might be deliberately devised, and intended to cause harm and destruction.
Base your thinking on truthful ideas, not fanciful stories designed to hijack your thoughts.
It won't cost you anything to think creatively and logically.

Oh My, Mhaze - you took a great risk!

I hope and pray you are OK: Did McCartney order you to take drugs?

When I was small, my little friends told me that the Beatles were God.
My parents, on the other hand, told me that the Beatles tell people to take drugs.

That got me really worried, because if God tells you something then you must do it, no ifs or buts.

So I asked my parents, "where do the Beatles live?", so they answered "in England", thus I resolved that I will never go to England so that the Beatles won't catch me and tell me to take drugs.

Tell people that there's an invisible man
in the sky that created the universe, and
the vast majority will believe you. Tell
them the paint is wet, and they have to
touch it to make sure.
(George Carlin).

My escape is spending the next week in Raro. Been here in Sydney for 2 days, after flying down from Brissy. Will miss the g kids etc, but can't wait to leave! How did I once live here?

Mhaze, glad you enjoyed Paul Mc, as you always tell all those Paul's are great guys.

The old whiners, whine.

Here's the thing. There were 40000+ people at this event. Some were 'Yes' voters, some 'No'. Some support Israel, some don't. Some vote Liberal others vote Labor. Some were wealthy, some scraped to get the ticket price. Some were young, some were less-young.

But all those divisions and differences were left outside the stadium. Inside, all were united in their admiration for the most consequential musician of our time. And not just just this man, but also for the period which he did so much to define and formulate.

And even more than that. McCartney and the Beatles were part of western civilisation. They could only exist in Western civilisation. Muslim societies can't foster the Beatles. Nor can the various totalitarian regimes that so many admire these days. They were a product of, and a symbol of, a civilisation that is threatened.

I think, deep down, the 40000 recognise this passing and their attendance and joy at the event, was a way of fighting back against the unravelling of a civilisation.

"and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make". That sentiment only makes sense to those imbued with the western civilisation.

mhaze, did he do 'Back In The U.S.S.R? Or my favourite 'GET BACK'. BTW The Beatles were a very commercial product.

And, after the concert, reality was still there: the decline of the West; lunatic Palestinians who should never have been allowed into the West; multiculturalism; continued rise of the new communism; China; Albanese; mass immigration; cost of living - all still there and growing, while people try to escape into the past.

The Beatles were one of the 1st influences on
Lithuanian rock musicians.

Of course the Beatles music as pretty much all music
of that kind was banned in the USSR. But like
anything else it was listened to (Radio Luxembourg)
illegally and smuggled and could be purchased on the
black market.

The Beatles were considered as the "belch of Western Culture,"
but they were not only known in the USSR. They were loved.

You're right mhaze, we should celebrate and
rejoice in the good memories. And there's so
many to be had in this country. Of course not
for everyone. As we saw from the Voice referendum
our Indigenous people are still hurting today.
But that will be fixed.

And Australia's early immigration policy was hampered by
a narrow racist view of the world that limited immigration
to those who qualified under the White Australia policy.
That's now gone.

But in the 1970s Australia began embracing the virtues
of a multi-cultural immigration policy - a largely
bi-partisan policy that has now enabled Australia to
become one of the world's most admired societies in the
world . A nation to which so many want to come and live.

Think of our innovations, our technology, our science,
our music, our theatre, our arts, our films, our sports,
so many choices to celebrate. All made possible by
immigration.

We can look not only to the good bits in our past but
most importantly - to the good bits still to come.
Like our own flag, Head of State, and much, much, more.

Yay!

Dear Mhaze,

«"and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make". That sentiment only makes sense to those imbued with the western civilisation.»

Do I smell condescension?

Paul,

" did he do 'Back In The U.S.S.R? Or my favourite 'GET BACK'. BTW The Beatles were a very commercial product."

Didn't do Back in the USSR. He did do Get Back. The entire tour was called 'Got Back'.

They were commercially successful but that's not the same as being commercial. They didn't follow commercial trends. They set commercial trends.







Yuyutsu.

"Do I smell condescension?"

I don't know. What does condescension smell like?

My point was that this type of sentiment only makes sense to the western mind. A Muslim, for example, wouldn't understand that thinking and would most definitely not originate that type of thinking. That's not to say one is better than the other. Horses for courses.

But for me and mine, western thinking and western traditions are better than the alternatives. People from other cultures would think likewise about their culture - that its suits them better than the alternatives. I was simply pointing out that a feature of western culture is that it can imagine and foster a phenomenon like The Beatles and thinking like "the love you take, is equal to the love you make".

Of course, it all fosters naive thinking like that of ttbn who thinks that, since the concert didn't resolve all problems then it was useless. It rained yesterday and the sun didn't dry things out today, so what good is the sun!! By the way...Here Comes the Sun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQetemT1sWc

Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday ...

Dear Mhaze,

Thank you for this beautiful clip, "Here Comes the Sun".

That "the love you take, is equal to the love you make", is universal.
It could just as well been said by wise Hindus, Buddhists, Chinese and even Sufi Muslims.

You may know that the Beatles had a long flirt with India and Hinduism.
While the others came and went, George Harrison remained enfolded in the Hindu traditions.
Some Indians loved the Beatles, others hated them, just as in the West.

Here is a combined intercultural version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJKgPN04218

.

In my life ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqpysaAo4BQ&ab_channel=TheBeatlesStuff

.

The Beatles were an impetus to activism right & wrong ! Paul MC is just prolonging the making of money for as long as the gullible spend it !

" Paul MC is just prolonging the making of money..."

Unfortunately there is a category of no-hopers who think that being cynical in their abject ignorance somehow reveals their sophistication. They're wrong but too ignorant to understand it and too inane to have it explained to them.

The real problem is that people don't seem to 'get' what is happening, or being done to, Western civilisation. If they ever find out, it will be too late to 'escape'; and certainly people my age (same as McCartney) don't get listened to.

Nor are thinkers like this read:

"The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions which seem to be novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false". (Paul Johnson', quoted in 'Intellectuals and Society', by Thomas Sowell).

There is a conference called ARC - Association for Responsible Citizenship going on in London, which would give more scope for hope than an old Beatle could, but no one here would want to know about that either, so there's no point telling them where to find it.

The songs of the Beatles are even more relevant
today:

"In My Life."

There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain

All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all

And who can forget this one:

"Imagine."

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

The world certainly needs love today.

All you need is love, love is all you need!

wrong but too ignorant to understand it and too inane to have it explained
mhaze,
Spot-on self-assessment !

Indyvidual,

Sometimes the issue is simply that
your ceiling is their floor.

Foxy,
When you have to look up at people all you see is A..eholes !

The gloom in every generation is created by those elite-mongers who think they know better & by trying to force their insipid philosophy they're disrupting daily life for others.
Expectations are way too high in comparison to effort offered & all these 'Rights" compound the problem ! That makes a lot of people miserable !
A Gap Year National Service would positively change all of it.

"Spot-on self-assessment !"

Oh, the "I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I" retort. Very adult </sarc>

It's not at all surprising that there is so much doom & gloom. The out of control overhyping of frivolous matters whilst totally ignoring real-life needs is the driver of it all.