Messages

[Republic]

Fair point.  Also, it is the "People's Republic of China."

Now there's a place where freedoms are universal ...

So it turns out that Republicans are being arrested in London before they've actually done owt.   

As has been mentioned elsewhere, next week's shenanigans have prompted an outpouring on anti-social media and in the more bizarre corners of the slowly devolving British media-sphere.  Auntie Beeb is dutifully trying to pimp events on Monday in London lest someone worse than Sharpie is foisted on them.  Meanwhile, a large chunk of the nation is displaying the sort of indifference to the event normally reserved for the Eurovision (post Wogan) song-contest.

So it seems only appropriate that we dutifully recognise this historic event as well.  It seems utterly appropriate to muse on such thoughts as:

- has anyone bothered to check if Elizabeth is still dead?  It does seem a while since anyone has devoted hours of viewing time to her and probably Charley boy might well be up for another check.

- in a nod to Mr Grimes of Gbeebies who feels we should recognise the importance of an institution that has lasted over a thousand years (not counting the small matter of Charley-1's rather sharp haircut), could we give some consideration to how the founder of our modern monarchy, William of Normandy, would have fared under a Home Secretary who wants to demonise all economic migrants as "Invaders" and pack them off to a part of Africa world-renowned for its welcoming attitude towards different ethnic groups?

- Meghan or Kate ... which of the brothers' 'significant others' is most deserving of sympathy over the scurrilous gossip spread by the same media that is now frothing at the bits over every possible slight to the monarchy?

- the tower, hung-drawn-and-quartered, flogging, hanging, birching, transportation, pilloried or forced to watch endless coverage of the Coronation, the death of Diana, the death of Elizabeth, the Prince Andrew Interview ... what is the appropriate sanction for those who refuse to "accept the invitation to recite the pledge of allegiance" and which circle of hell should those who have the temerity to actually protest on the day be sent to?

- who would win if it came to fisticuffs - Harry or William?

- does Andrew really not sweat?

- what should Meghan apologise for ... the Oprah interview, not bothering to show up on Monday or Suits?

DBT, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, is an offshoot of CBT.  Designed for people with a diagnosis for Borderline Personality (Emotionally Unstable) Disorder.

Because the condition involves insanely wild emotional swings, hyper-anxiety and depression it focuses on ways of coping with these aspects as well.  Things like "mood-surfing" come into play.  There is a strong focus on distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness since the condition also often leads to misinterpretation of other people's actions and behaviours.

In terms of maps there have been various ones in annuals / progs.  There are several map images in Block Mania that show the Florida panhandle as part of the city (albeit the maps are somewhat distorted). That said, the first Judge Dredd annual map has the city stopping much further North so there are clearly inconsistencies there.

It looks like the city at that time spread westward as far as Louisiana, Illinois and Tennessee.  Some of the Northern parts of the city look like they might have crossed the border into Canada.

The Sov bombardment in the Apocalypse War nuked out "every sector south of the 35th parallel, suggesting that prior to this point the Carolinas down to Miami were part of the city. This is before we get into more recent 'callings' as with the Total War storyline.  Even by the time of the Pit the city was in quite a different state with numerous wide open spaces that hadn't ever really been reclaimed since the AW.

I think Sharkey's idea that different parts of the city have been built from ground level whilst others have been built over / domed-off makes sense. The first appearance with Troggies uses places like The Bronx.  Fergie lives by the Ohio river, the Big Smelly.  The Werewolf storyline used Manhattan.  There is nothing to suggest that these are connected though.

The geography of MC1 has always been something fluid in some respects.  I would agree with LOTP, a map of the undercity as well as the city itself would be an interesting exercise.

That's a fair point.  I guess I'm just distinguishing the root causes of such beliefs.  If they are based in certain types of treatment / activity then unpicking them can sometimes be more challenging.

I like CBT (although I find BDT more useful for specific / personal reasons).  It has a sound basis and can be easily applied.  Sometimes though it needs supplementing to get a better understanding of the distorted cognitions that underpin problems.

Perhaps this is where I sometimes find myself troubled by how CBT is currently being delivered.  Short group courses that skim very briefly over the core ideas and teach a couple of simple techniques. 

Not that this is inappropriate in all cases.  Just that quite often it is a bit of a sticking plaster for more complex cases.  Unfortunately right now it seems that this is about as much as many people can hope for.

It seems like we are pretty much on the same page in terms of some of this stuff.  The only real point of departure seems to be how far CBT is effective.  As you say, mistreatment is regrettably incredibly commonplace. 

There are degrees though, some of which are horrendously extreme.  At key formative points in an individual's life this can have significant neurological implications.  In those cases, the cognitions are more resistant to CBT techniques.

Sorry, you're right.  It was poorly worded.  What I was trying to say is that sometimes thoughts about lack of worth, general pessimism about circumstances and scope for change are based in experience.

The third paragraph is dire and I can only apologise.  My point was that this is how people are sometimes viewed and treated.  When you are on the receiving end of that kind of treatment it becomes the basis of robust self-beliefs that are hard to shift.

I get what you're saying about depression creating cognitive distortions.  The full range of circumstances that can lead to depression is incredibly broad and there are numerous circumstances where your position is probably far more appropriate than mine.  In Hawkie's case it may most likely be the case.

I guess my point is that this is not always the case.  Sometimes depressive thinking is based on empirical evidence.  That requires a different approach to tackling it.  In those circumstances the 'con artists' are those that have created such mindsets through their behaviour and treatment.

Thanks for mentioning Dr Burns.  Sounds like someone worth looking into.

I guess JBC that there is another school of thought.  Or Maybe it is a case of the school of thought is somewhat inexperienced.

I get that thought processes can be distorted.  Then again, experience can also substantiate thought processes. 

Sorry but it is hard to put this straight.  The idea that someone is utterly worthless.  That they are a complete waste of space.  Contempt is not even close to describing how they should be viewed.  There is no way to describe how useless the are ...

Depression may well be a con.  Then again there are a hell of a lot of con artists out there that make depression look like an amateur ...

A Jamaican Judge ...  Judge Dreddlocks?

Wasn't there a rick Random strip in which Ezquerra was so embarrassed by the final episode it was credited to "Long John Silver?"

This is America.

I think you will find that the correct lyrics are ...

"This is not America,

Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah Nah ..."

Considering how massive the multiverse as a genre concept has become, the tooth editorial team in the 90's must really be kicking themselves they didn't just take the path of least resistance, as Sheriden points out.

Just got one word for you "Helter-Skelter" (or is that two?)

Actually, I need to backtrack on some of this.  There is little evidence of the police in the early tales full stop.  One seems to appear on a vid-screen in the first tale but is not identified as such and could just as easily be support staff.

Is it possible that you are thinking of Ezquerra's "Bank Raid"?  That did end with Dredd handing off a perp to a policeman but since that wasn't used as part of the original run ...

But then you also had Dredd handing villains over to the police, and a meeting of "all the judges" which seemed to imply that there were only about a dozen of them.

That's a fair point and also an example of where the weaknesses lay in the original development.  It feels a little at times like ideas around our criminal justice system influenced the way it worked.  So Judges were more specialised and there were fewer of them compared to police.  Similar to the way our police are more numerous but have fewer powers than judges in terms of sentencing.

That idea pretty much died out within a very short space of time.  It is hard to recall many instances of police officers after that first episode and arguably by the time of Robot Wars it was pretty much written out.

When you look at it from a continuity point of view in terms of Origins or Dreadnoughts, what we see of the police in those first few episodes is arguably the last vestiges of a system in its death throes as it were.  The police utterly subservient to the judges and actually largely redundant (totally so within the space of a few months of the strip beginning ...)

It's not completely surprising when you consider the ethos of IPC back in those days.  Tooth wasn't really expected to last more than a few years, much less the nearly half a century ( ) it has to date.  It probably explains why it is only now that we've got to a point where we have a far more coherent world than we did back then.

In some respects this is a bit like the debate about the best Dr Who actor.  There's something to be said about when you were first exposed.

I would agree with comments about where Dredd was pre-Cursed Earth.  There wasn't really a clear vision for the character or the world, it grew organically.  Just look at the history of the character's development.

There are some clear moments though when the potential is starting to shine through.  Even in the earliest days you have bizarre crimes and criminals, Dredd being quite brutal and MC1 quite oppressive.  Not just MC1 but even Luna City.

Perhaps the biggest issue was that it was aimed at a juvenile audience.  As we entered the 80's and the audience's age profile was rising, so too were the sort of stories being written.  This was long before the days of Watchmen and Dark Knight.  The legacy of Action comic cast a long shadow over the sort of risks the writers and artists were willing to take, notwithstanding the mis-steps of Burger Wars and Green Giant.

Even so there are plenty of gems there for the discerning.