Locus Classicus

Ahem! I know it's late in Chicago, but hopefully you're still up. The nuns don't have you going to bed early, surely??? I'm posting from work, like the wannabe supervillain I am.

Anyway, talitha78, best of good buddies, a very happy birthday to you and many happy returns. This is a first installment of what I'm calling Twelve Several Days of Christmas Talitha's Birthday. I thought I'd take a whirlwind tour of your current fandoms, but some things never change so I started with your oldest, the one where we met.

( Clark/Lex Ficlet )

[I don't know where this came from, or where it fits in the timeline. Consider it a happy post-S3 AU future fic. IDEK. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.]

One of my favourite fallacies: after this, therefore because of it.

Here follows a list of recent events in chronological order:

1) Several Israeli citizens were wanted by the police in Australia, and by extension New Zealand, for dealing in counterfeit Australian and New Zealand passports.

2) Two Israelis were arrested, and eventually convicted, for falsely applying for a real New Zealand passport in the name of a living, though incapacitated, cerebral palsy sufferer.

3) Allegations were made that, far from being mere private criminals as they insisted, these men were in fact Mossad agents, on Israeli state business.

4) The NZ government demanded an apology from Israel for this fairly egregious invasion of sovereignty. Israel declined.

5) The NZ government cut off high level contact with Israel till the matter could be resolved.

6) Hamas praised NZ as a friend on its website. Prime Minister Helen Clark responded that her actions had nothing to do with the Israel/Palestine question, and were limited to the situation at hand.

7) Holocaust denier David Irving was invited to speak at a Press Club luncheon in NZ.

8) David Irving was automatically refused entry to NZ as he had been previously deported from a like minded country (Canada) as specified in the Immigration Act.

9) Person or persons unknown smashed the gravestones of various early settlers in the Jewish section of the historic Bolton Street Cemetery in central Wellington.

10) Person or persons unknown burnt down a chapel and knocked over many headstones in the Jewish section at Makara, the main Wellington cemetery.

11) Right thinking New Zealanders were horrified and appalled!

12) Parliament reflected the national feeling by passing a unanimous condemnation [if you think it's hard to do anything bi-partisan in the USA, try getting six parties to concur on anything] and forwarded it officially to the Israeli government.

13) David Irving decided to fuel the fires by offering a reward for information.

14) David Irving announced he intends to lauch a challenge to Immigration NZ's denial of entry, and vowed he would come and speak.

15) A letter to the editor in today's paper from a Jewish American blamed the NZ government's hysterical overreaction to the petty spy scandal for fomenting anti-semitism.

Now, my question is: Where is the causal evidence that these events are linked? Some are, plainly. But all? Why are people who should know better insisting on jumping to conclusions and making rash statements without evidence?

More than anything, I feel embarrassed today, because I know that photos of the desecrated cemeteries are winging their way around the world. I'm angry too though, because the actions of a few lone malcontents are not indicative of a nation and should not be portrayed as so being.

I'm also torn, as is often the case, on the issue of free speech. I think David Irving's a hack, and an extremely poor historian. I find his views repellent, and the uses to which they are put dangerous. But I think I'd probably go to hear him speak, if I had the opportunity, if only to do my best to tear down his argument.

The fact is, however, he wasn't denied entry on the basis of his beliefs. He was denied because he'd already been deported from Canada. And I *am* a little perturbed that we just followed the line, instead of making up our own minds. Seems like an abdication of responsibility there.

Lastly... I don't think it *is* an overreaction for our government to be annoyed about the passport thing. We're *all* annoyed about the passport thing. *I* am annoyed about the passport thing. My New Zealand passport is precious. Not because I'm a patriot, but because I'm a traveller. I travel a lot. And New Zealanders are welcome almost everywhere. We reap the benefits of our reputation. Using NZ passports for spying and illegal activities will only damage that.

A deal's a deal, and I never renege, so here's my picture for those who requested it. I am, however, not quite as au fait with the mechanics of the whole thing as you artistes are, so I've had to link to a separate page. I apologise for that.

arysteia

For the record, I do, *occasionally*, open my eyes more than that. It was just a particularly sunny day, and our southern hemisphere sun is particularly bright. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It's strange the power an arbitrary date can have over us. I woke up this morning prepared to be miserable, and I was. My aunt died a year ago today, succumbing to cancer after a lengthy battle. My favourite uncle (her brother, not her husband) died four years ago today, of a drug overdose. Pretty crappy day in our family. I feel sorry for my cousin, who was unfortunate enough to be born on this day, nineteen years ago. Bad luck, Alley, that one's never going to be the primary focus of March 21 again.

I was at work for several hours before I looked at a calendar and realised today isn't March 21. In any timezone. And okay, I was pretty sick over the weekend, and doped to the gills, but how did I get from the 19th to the 23rd without noticing? Was it some sort of defence mechanism, to somehow skip the worst of the grief - the first double anniversary?

The fact is, I didn't suddenly feel magically better when I realised today was not, in fact, the day. So it's March 23. Big deal. I still miss my uncle. It still makes me cry to think about him. I miss my aunt less, but we weren't as close. I know my sister adored her, and would have been a wreck on Sunday. So why do we attach so much importance to what is, after all, just another day?

Is it because otherwise we couldn't cope, if we spent the entire year thinking about our losses? So instead we allocate one day, on which we'll focus all our grief, in the hope that the rest of the year will be easier?

I need to call my cousin, and wish her a happy birthday. And my grandmother, who has buried four children, and has altogether too many anniversaries.

I can no longer deny it. My one true love for Lex and Clark's... one true love... has a rival. I dreamed about them last night!

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are my new OTP.

And I'll just take this moment (belatedly) to thank cruisedirector for the icons she made me. Big weevils indeed!

Apropos of nothing in particular, hums innocently I really wanted to be in the navy when I was about seventeen. My distraught mother called in the big guns (my saintly and beloved Latin teacher) to talk me out of it. On such things does the world turn...

Don't despair, Lex, I still love you. I swear I'll get you out of that asylum one of these days... Not the, you know, Asylum one, the other one, the one I put you in and left you in. Sorry about that...