Days in the life of an Arts Graduate.

So, this is that blogging thing eh?

Whenever I even hear the word blog, I can't help but think of the words of an old history teacher I had, he said 'There's noone writing a blog who doesnt have an axe to grind'. And as I sift through the world of blogs, from fashion to food, sport to sex, I see he has a point. But is that such a bad thing? I reckon being passionate about something, within reason, is good. I mean, people get all sorts of mad about sports, and so be it. Me, I've lots of things I'm passionate about, too many if anything.So this will be a place for my ramblings, if you find any of them interesting, let me know.

So, without further whatsit, here's my first publication on my blog:

Killing your heroes.

Forever and a day, we've had heroes. For the Ancient Greeks it was the mythical heroes like Hercules and Perseus. Nowadays its more likely to be Kanye West, Katy Perry etc. For me, in my teen years, I had plenty of heroes, mostly dead, mostly political.

First and foremost was Che Guevara (yes, that bloke from the T shirt.) I read as much of the literature he wrote as I could, and I loved the idealism he shows in the Motorcycle diaries, a mix of gap year style travelling and political awakening. At 15, I even enjoyed his straight laced advice on armed insurrection in 'A Handbook to Guerilla Warfare', and as a film fan enjoyed Che: parts one and two directed by Steven Soderbergh.

So Che was a good writer, soldier, and committed himself fully to his ideals, even dying for them- his last words apparently being 'Shoot coward, you are only killing a man'. However, right wing commentators have condemned Che as 'brutal'. Satre described Che as 'the most complete human being of our age', but it is known he ordered numerous executions in the wake of the Cuban revolution. As for the endless bastardisation of his image to be used to sell everything from cigarette lighters to bikinis, that's more of another sick joke of history- a fierce opponent of Imperialism and Capitalism used to sell all manner of shite and fuel the industrial complex he sought to oppose.

But this is what I'm beginning to realise, and is part of the inspiration for this blog, is that so many heroes, and the idea of having heroes in general is flawed. I'm not going to the length of adding references to this, as most of the things I mention are only a google away.

So let me 'kill' a few more heroes- George Orwell, a fantastic writer, oft quoted, his works of literature are essential reading for any left leaning schoolboy, was almost certainly anti-Semetic (just read 'Down and Out in Paris and London').

Hunter S. Thompson, wonderful, brilliant, talented headcase, hit his first wife Sandy on several occasions.

Joe Strummer, lead singer of the Clash, had various affairs, not limited to sleeping with bandmates girlfriends.

Steve McQueen, 'The king of Cool' was majorly homophobic.

Jack Kerouac, king of the beats, another fantastic writer, denounced his early work in a haze of alcohol, saying 'Its not my fault if certain undersirables and communists take so much from my work'. I suppose Keroaucs eventual self destruction gives weight to Sick Boy's 'unifying theory of life' that 'You get old, cannae hack it anymore and thats it'.

I guess the axe I want to grind is don't blindly worship, ironically take some advice from Joe Strummer- Question everything! I have posters of Joe Strummer on my wall, and will continue admiring him for his music and style. I'll still enjoy Steve McQueen films cos he was so fucking cool. I'll still read Kerouac, Thompson and Guevara because what they write is beautiful. I'll still defer to Orwell when arguing against totalitarianism or imperialism. But people being talented doesn't excuse them from coming under the same scrutiny we give to our villains.

Especially now, with genuinely horrible people seemingly in charge- a collection of pig bothering, Eton educated, out of touch old fuckwits sat in government- that have been democratically elected.... we need some more heroes.

But I guess there are still some awesome people out there: Just look at Bill Murray dressed as Hendrix