Outsider


I grew up in Northern Ireland and have been a teacher and lived in England, Ghana, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Malawi, Mexico, Colombia, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia.

These are my memoirs which are arranged chronologically by year. Much is social commentary.

Aside from narrative recount, the style is often anecdotal, aphoristic and ironical. I try to soften the heavy social commentary with humour. Some friends have said I tend to 'rant' at times. I don't deny it! Perhaps it is the Irish in me. I apologise in advance then, if that is your impression too.

I do not intend to stereotype various nationalities but inevitably I will generalise for dramatic effect.

In a globalised multicultural world there is an urgent need to identify and face up to our national idiosyncracies and shortcomings. Nationalism has always seemed to me to be a bogus substitute for a genuine sense of connectedness and community. It is a highly dangerous concept when manipulated by politicians to get citizens to do things that are unpalatable to them-like going to war for instance.

If we don't begin to see ourselves as others perceive us - and not as we would like to see ourselves, then catastrophe looms.

I contend we can be comfortable with our heritage and still be able to criticize and even laugh at ourselves at the same time.


The two are not mutually exclusive.

Outsiders are in a unique position to show us our shortcomings because we simply cannot see them ourselves.

I believe that no culture has found the ideal 'solutions' to the challenges of life. Every culture I have lived in has both positive and disturbing characteristics.

In which cultures do people appear happiest? (notwithstanding natural and man-made disasters such as war and famine)

What question can be more profound than that?

The results may be surprising. In my experience, the happiest cultures were Ghana, Malawi, Mexico and Colombia. At the bottom of the list would be England, Ireland and Australia.

I think we need to learn from each other-not try to 'teach' each other...there is a big difference.

Please send me an E-mail if you would like to comment on anything.


Outsider


Outsider1952@gmail.com









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Retirement, Kota Kinabalu

Retirement, Kota Kinabalu
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Winners and Losers
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

summer heights high humour in Australia

At last, I have found some real humour in Australia.

I once knew a friend (not a Pom) overseas who revealed a quite commonly held antagonism to Australians (which most Aussies seem to be unaware of) when he said

"Australians are just a just a bunch of people who laugh at other people and other people's misfortunes"

I know what he means. How any times have I seen Aussies roaring with laughter at someone else's expense. Yet, they almost never seem to laugh at themselves.

Finally, I've found something completely different.

"Summer Heights High" is a DVD box set about life in an Australian High school.

At last I've seen some real humour.

It's taken me twenty years to find it but it has been worth the wait.

Some friends of mine gave it to me and my son and daughter have now bought it.

If you see it in the shops be sure to buy it -you will not be disappointed.

I have actually laughed out loud sitting watching it on my own in my little lair here. As you probably know by now it takes quite a lot to make me laugh. (It does help if you have a bottle of Coopers handy , but it is not essential for the humour to be appreciated.)

Aussies laughing at themselves-and NOT mocking others?

Am I joking?

No, indeed I'm not.

There is hope.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 5, 2009 at 1:47 AM

    I enjoyed this series. It captured precisely the State-school milieu in which I worked for a number of years. Strangest of all public responses to the show were those of students who adopted Jonah's 'dick-tation' tag without any apparent sense of irony. Chris Lilley has an unusual ability to lampoon Australian character types in a manner that does not greasily presume that we should be 'laughing with' the characters - as we were supposed to when watching _The Paul Hogan Show_ in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His earlier series _We can Be Heroes_ is just as good as _SHH_. Lilley's comedy work is an encyclopaedia of Australian brutality, passive-aggression, pettiness and sneakiness in human form.

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    1. OutsiderDecember 20, 2015 at 4:26 PM

      Hello again..

      Its been six years-are you still there?!! I am still using "Summer Heights High" to teach foreign students English. I still enjoy it as much as they seem to! I have used it since to reach teacher trainees overseas. Disappointed with the follow-ups though.

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