news – Aspirational Adventures

Thoughts on celeb status, the church and our attitude to rape

The title I gave this photo was “bad light” which works for me for this post

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I’ve been pondering this whole Russell Brand rape case for the weekend. For me there are many factors but two or three here that I’ll mention

Firstly CHURCH and the way the congregation Brand attended handled him. I’m not going to say much about it as Jon Kuhrt does a great piece here on cheap grace and the truth – Russell Brand: three lessons in grace + truth – Grace + Truth

But I would like to add that we, as in church and as in human beings and how we live life now don’t do accountability well. I remember my first husband worked in a factory that was family run – father and his best mate started the company and their sons worked on the shop floor and would eventually take it over. Some of the conversations he had, as an teenager starting work at 16 and onwards, helped him in many areas of life. There was lots of “walking together”. Now my current husband works from home at a computer all day, rarely sees anyone and rarely has those “life” conversations. I’d also say too that school has changed. There is much more competition and less collaboration. It is hard to be accountable and open with each other when you are in competition with each other.

Even when I first became a Christian over 30 years ago there was much hanging out together, eating together, sharing lives together. Now I don’t remember the last time I was invited for a meal. People are busier. There might be discipleship groups and bible study groups and events but it is not the same as just being together and talking life.

Then there is our attitude to RAPE. I think too often we don’t understand how a woman, or a man for that matter – and that is another whole matter!! – feels when they are rape or when they live with the fear of rape. Someone I know was raped over 60 years ago and she still has flashbacks. It is a deep trauma that we don’t like to talk about. Really this case with Brand has only come to court because a reporter went all out to make a case and prove his guilt. It is hadn’t been for Urwin and her team this would never have come to court. How many other women, who were raped by men who are not big name celebrities, have never been able to get to their case heard? Have had to be told to “get over it” to “move on”? Or been taken through the ordeal of a court case only for it to be throw out due to lack of evidence? Due to a judge who thought maybe they “asked for it”?

It is said that the number of rape cases reported are only a small proportion of the number of rapes that happen. And of those that get reported there are only a small number where there is enough, what would be called “clear concrete” evidence to take them to court. So there are a lot of men out there who don’t get tried, who don’t get convicted, who then go and do it again because there really is no team of reporters working towards getting them to court. How do you try a case that happened 60 years ago, that still affects the victim, but the perpetrator may have forgotten about?

I would like it if this famous case helps us open our eyes to rape, to how hard it is to convict people of rape, and to the damage it does not just to those raped, not just at the time but how it affects their futures.

And many it would be great if the Christian church could take the lead on this? Wouldn’t that be a testimony?

Local Elections

Renly outside our local polling station.

Today was a local election. Not even a county one. Just a town one. But because it is an election I believe it is my moral duty to all those people, not just the women, who fought so that everyone could have the vote, not just a selected few, that I need to turn up at the polling station.

But that’s where the dilemma comes. I have been a socialist, as a teen and young adult I even joined the Communist party for a while and subscribed to The Morning Star. As time has passed I’ve become more and more disillusioned with politics. They all seem a bit same old same old and not really in touch with day to day life.

So the choices were – a local lad of just 19 doing a politics degree in the capital four hours drive from our town, someone from Reform UK and then I noticed a name I recognised, a poet I had worked with 7 years ago.

The nineteen year old was keen and knocked on doors, handed out leaflets, but then he was funded by the local Conservative party who have money to spend on campaigning. He was lovely to chat to, very keen, very enthusiastic. And he was the only one to knock. But the bit I struggled with was the Conservative party rhetoric of it almost being every man/local area/community for themselves whereas I’m more of a global person believing what we do here does affect people across the world.

The Reform UK guy might have come round but his leaflet came when we were out so who knows. But then I find the whole thing of blaming immigrants for the ills of our country is not the way to look at things. Again to me it that global thing that we all need to be working together, supporting each other. I also believe that most people who migrate to another country do it because their own country isn’t safe to live in. I think most of them would rather stay at in their own lands but cannot do it for fear of so so much we’d never understand int his country.

The poet guy I know didn’t appear at all. Or if he did we were out. And he didn’t drop in a leaflet so we don’t know his views on anything.

But then at the last general election we only met our Labour candidate though knew a couple of the others because they were local – so we knew them and their blemishes too.

So who to vote for? It is so hard especially as there seems to be such a lackadaisical approach from those who were standing – apart from the Conservatives and their budget to campaign. But still I made my way to the polling station with my dog and put my cross where I felt it was right to put it and walked away hoping I was helping to keep democracy ticking over.