That's Life

Fakir ... off the record

If someone tells you something is off the record, I don't print it. If they don't tell me something is off the record, then it's fair game.

- Michael Hastings

Hearing something off the record merely makes you wonder if it is worth further investigation. Is it worth one's time and effort to establish if a rumour is true?

That's all off the record remarks are - just simple rumours. If someone hears something off the record, then who did they hear it from? Perhaps they were meant to hear it so they can spread disinformation?

Our claims at Fakir News are fanciful interpretations of what the real truth could be. We make no secret of what we say and expect everyone to understand this.

So, whe you read something on our website, just remember that our rumours are just inventions. But they are also inventions which could come to be proven to be true one day.

As for the mainstream media, one wonders how much hearsay they publish to attract readers. One would suggest that some of the claims in the mainstream media are no less fanciful then what we publish quite openly, honestly and with the purpose to entertain. This is where we differ from the mainstream media. They publish to deceive for motives less than honourable. We publish merely to entertain and make no illusions about this. In this respect, our stories are sometimes more credible than what those put out by the mainstream media and of which they would like you to think they to be genuine.

But this, of course, is all purely 'off the record'!


Fakir ... off it's trolley?

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you're ugly too.

- Rodney Dangerfield

We live in a crazy world. When we were younger, there was no internet - only our TV set and our daily newspapers. We were at the mercy of the mainstream media and they could tell us exactly what they wanted us to hear. Now we have the internet and a substantial resource of alternative information, we can better judge what is happening in the world around us.

So what is the definition of 'crazy'? Dictionary definitions include: mentally deranged; demented; insane; senseless; impractical; totally unsound.

Reading back-to-front (isn't that what crazy people do?) we begin with 'totally unsound'.We know from hsitory that totally unsound (and dishonest) wars have been fought in our name. But does anyone really care? Not enough people do, we venture to suggest. Then we have 'impractical'. That word in itself deserves further definition. Not useful or sensible. That's how it is defined. And again, we can apply that to the wars we mention. Senseless we have already included in our previous definition. All of these can be applied to those who act in our name, whom we elect into power and then indulge in wanton recklessness. These sort of people could be defined as being not so much 'crazy' as criminally intent on mass destruction. But 'crazy' would be an easy label to apply.

Now we come to insane, demented, morally deranged. Some of those elected into power could also fit into any of these descriptions. We pity those who suffer from some form of mental incapacity, but at the same time continue to elect into power those with similar 'dysfunctions'. How can we think that one class of person should be put into an instyitue if we consider them dangerous, and yet give those with similar personalities the right to govern over us?

The whole world is not crazy, but we allow crazy people to take control. The lunatics are running the aylum, as the old saying goes.

So anyone who thinks this website is 'crazy', then think again. It is better to be 'crazy' as in amusing then it is to be crazy as in 'power-crazed'.

PS. Anyone reading this who thinks they are not at all crazy, then I ask this: Who did you vote for in your last election - and why did you vote for them?; Do you think it is OK to pollute the planet with billions of tonnes of plastics and other (virtually) non-biodegradable waste products?; Do you think it is crazy to decimate rainforests in the pursuit of luxury wood furniture - or just to produce more burgers?; Do you think it is crazy to conitnue to genetically modify food and hand over future production of said food to powerful companies?; Do you think it is crazy to continue to produce toxic compounds to use in medications and to dispose of in public water supplies?. I could go on and on.

The world we live in is in decline. Atrocities and abuse abound on a daily basis. So who's really the most craziest of all of us? Those we elect to power who quite willingly perpetrate abuses in our names, or perhaps those who elect them into power in the first place? If Fakir news is defined as 'crazy', then we are nowhere near as qualified as the millions of other people on this planet who cannot be bothered to alter direction and bring about change for the better of all humankind.


Fakir ... off life in general

No one is so completely disenchanted with the world, or knows it so thoroughly, or is so utterly disgusted with it, that when it begins to smile upon him he does not become partially reconciled to it.

- Giacomo Leopardi

We could just repeat what we have said in the previous editorial. When the world is perceived as being a dangerous place dominated by crazy people, one wonders what the value of our existense really is.

Are you one of those people who despair of the state of the world today? Join the club. But being an out-and-out misery does not win you friends or allies. There is still a lot of beautiful and wonderful things 'out there'. Nothing is more rewarding to get away from the bustle of everyday life and to escape to somewhere relatively untouched by human hand. After all, without these places to escape too, the world would accelerate into a maddening, chaotic lack of order or sense.

Do not take such place sof tranquility for granted though. With weapons of mass destruction now available, the whole planet is in danger. Depressing thought to have that it only takes one rash decision to start the process of nuclear devastation.

OK. Not a pretty picture to paint. But it is a picture in a gallery of life we need to look at on occasions to remind ourselves of what we could lose. Do you get the message? I hope so.

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