Wednesday 23 July 2014

Pob Spat In My Eye And On My Grave.

In light of the revelations about Jimmy Savile and ensuing investigation: Operation Yewtree, the paranoia about kids tv presenters from the 1970's and 80's has reached fever pitch. Nothing and no one are sacrosanct. My mind is now filled with images of a Rolfaroo hopping from bush to bush with a leering grin on his face. for people over a certain age, it's as if someone came along and kicked in our collective reality tunnel. The comfortable, twee, slightly naff, play corner of our psyche has been shat in by the very people who helped to manufacture the illusion in the first place. They have poisoned the noosphere. Sensitive being that I am, I have become soul-sick. Now, everyone and everything is tainted. Not just the certainly guilty or even the suspected, but the ostensibly innocent also. Watching old clips of kids tv shows one starts looking for sinister subtexts in everything that is said. I cannot watch The Trapdoor without thinking that Berk was being sent out as some kind of procurer for the thing upstairs and poor old Boney hadn't been the same since he was skull-fucked and his brain fell out. {The claymation style on The Trapdoor always reminded me of the denouement of Evil Dead} That the fate of the kids who didn't survive Tregard's dungeon on Knightmare was indeed nasty. That Mike and Angelo was the story of a paedophile alien living in a young boy's wardrobe. Watt on earth was a shapshifting, nonce alien who caused an emotional disturbance in the young boy he abused and coerced into silence. Simon was obviously being groomed by The Witch to be part of her Satanic cult. Ohhh.. the horror... If you go down in the woods today you're sure of a big surprise, if you go down in the woods today you're sure to cover your eyes, 'Cause Mr.Noseybonk, is ramming his conk, up the arse of all of The Moomins.... Chas and Morph are spit roasting their tinfoil girlfriend Folly while Nailbrush the dog licks Morph's arse. Basil Brush, Sooty, Sweep, Gordon The Gopher and Edd The Duck  are all gang banging Sue the panda while Nobby The Sheep off Ghost Train snorts poppers with George off Rainbow. Bungle is obviously a bear and that's the way Geoffrey likes it. Just when I can't take anymore Mr.Claypole strums his lute and shoots ectoplasm into my eyes...and I awake in a cold sweat. You get the point. I suppose it has something to do with my Catholicism, with my pleasure and guilt circuits being so closely intertwined. Whenever the artist Eric Gill is mentioned I am confronted with an intellectual dichotomy: Gifted artist/depraved pervert. Can the art be divorced form the character of the artist? Can it stand alone morally? Cardinal Basil Hume once said that if Gill's Stations Of The Cross could inspire religious devotion in people then they could not be rendered an evil work, though Gill was undoubtedly a warped man. Which begs the question: What is the greatest threat to childhood innocence? Evil people whose crimes, though terrible, are slowly but surely being brought to light. {Which in itself is a sign of progress} Or the collective guilt and paranoia we are all currently feeling? The personal hurt of the minority inevitably ripples out through human society.That said, do we wish to destroy the innocence of all children? By innocence I don't mean ignorance. Instructing them in morality or carefully making them aware of the dangers presented by certain individuals is both necessary and commendable. What I don't want to see is them become cynical. All Adults Are Bastards. Trust no one. There are no innocent, unalloyed pleasures, which will not be tainted by future revealations. I for one, never had any love for Jimmy Savile's work. Though, I did enjoy Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital. As an informed adult I have no desire to revisit such programs, but I refuse to make my innocent, child-self feel bad for liking them at the time. We have to be realistic: The world can be a shitty place, but do we want to burden future children with our complexes? The first step to healing is acceptance. We got it wrong about certain people.We based our character judgments on very little information. The availability of  said information was tightly controlled by people who KNEW. Though we will doubtless think the best of certain individuals and be disappointed in the future, does that mean we should stop seeking for and thinking the best of people? The guilt and the shame belong to the guilty, not the innocent.