Compelling Characters: Character Analysis With Cartoons to Boot

The Sh*t Show of Racism! 7 to 10 min read People can feel as if they are racist these days for not integrating much, or by having no friends outside their group comprised of the same ethnicity.  Update: re-exploring those years when racism was weaponised against the UK For years, however, science has told us we all have an own-race bias. A bias for recognising the faces of other people who share our own ethnicity, experts say this starts when we are babies. It's natural. Holistic based explanations are straightforward: we bond to what faces we see frequently, recognise familiarities and identify with those who we resemble us—is it fair to call this racism? I don't think it is.  Maybe this factors in on people's choice to auto segregate, Mandaeism and Islam, for instance, both show that endogamy preserves culture. Though, for all accusations, is Britain really institutionally racist? Historians such as David Olusoga and Kehinde Andrews do refer to Britain as a countr...

Beyond the DNA Hype: Unveiling the Complexities of Celtic Ancestry 5 to 7 min read Years ago, a friendly man with the surname Maxwell noted that we shared similar YDNA on Y-Seq, a genetic testing company. We both held an interest in each others family history. My paper trail reached its limit and strongly points toward involvement in the Welsh Wars: generations of my 'Page' forefathers  seemed to serve the noble families therein. Through the Norman era Baron Corbet and some of his men showed up in records near the location of Clan Maxwell in Dumfries, Scotland, bordering England. This Norman actually died in Roxburgh near Kelso; the Corbet family occupied both the Scottish and Welsh borders. My ancestral grandfather, William Page, lived along the Welsh borders on Thomas Corbets land in the 1240s-1250s in a place called Aston Rogers.  Out of the blue, during one of my less common explorations of Family Tree DNA, an alert reminded me again, confirming my genetic match o...

My go to Secular Claims That Challenge Jesus...  5 min read 1. L ater Generations of Christians Re-Branded Jesus . Later generations re-branded Jesus, embellishing his story, but sometimes it's contradicts the Christian message. For instance, in Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus's comparison of a gentile woman to a dog and his initial refusal to help her shows this.      2. A  Trouble Maker . The bible shows Jesus as a troublemaker as he challenged Israel's rulers by publicly declaring himself as a great figure with the use of apocalyptic symbolism. Instigating disturbances in the Jerusalem Temple heightened tensions, especially as some of his followers carried weapons!      3. The Gospels Resemble  Historical Fiction!   Some scholars think the gospels are like what  Bernard Cornwell has done with his works about Uhtred of Bebbanburg! Jesus Christ did not teach our Christianity, his followers did— scripture writers had the final word!...

Why Was it so Ugly to See? 5 min read Not long after the Queen died, I saw a couple of posts accusing her of being a parasite. As well as this, there were quite a few art posts on Instagram portraying her in a very negative light, as well as regular memes done in bad taste—not forgetting that booing up in Scotland. It is sad this behaviour is churning out before her funeral! I'm not even a Royalist. In fact, I don't even read about them.  It's The Principle I think one particular moral value of mine is that decent folk shouldn't spit on graves, the flavour of disdain is not palatable for me. That and usually, before we start smashing the jokes out, we wait a month or so. What's with the Parasite thing?  Years ago, the level headed pop culturalist David Ike earnt a crust smearing the monarchy in his conspuracy books. He once said, The Queen and her bloodline were a reptilian alien. I could only think of 'V' that 80s show I used to watch imagining a yo...

Have We Ignored The Key Things in Common? 5 to 7 min read What is a Cult? A cult is a sect perceived as different from everyday life because it is considered radical or simply wrong. In contrast, religion is integrated into society. Cult members don't lead normal lives compared to free civilians; their group identity centers around their communal lifestyle often based on theological arguments . Often, a charismatic autocratic leader may facilitate undesirable outcomes, such as dictating financial measures or imposing sexual and/or work-related demands. In extreme cases, there have been instances of mass suicide. Unsettling indeed!  There have been cult-like comparisons made with Jesus before. These seem reasonable. Why not? For instance, Jesus's followers voluntarily devoted their lives to him and willingly faced death for their beliefs. Manson's family surrendered their lives, but they committed murder for Manson. Osho's 'Red People' took up arms for Osho, ...

Annoying Cosmological Arguments That Promote Religion: it's not quite evidence.  6 to 8 min read Essentially, debates like the Kalam cosmological argument or the watchmaker analogy, typically place emphasis on annoying claims that play on intuition which religious and cult leaders  have often utilised. For example, since Christianity arrived in Europe people started crediting God for anything good that happened in their lives and the Devil was the cause of the bad. Modern religious minded folk are doing the same to this day!  The evangelist, William Lane Craig , stressed that it's obvious how everything with a beginning, was, in fact, caused by an almighty Abrahamic god, or likewise, they attribute marvels of nature to intelligent design. It's never ending: what always follows is that God did it if it is good. Even the cosmological assertion that the universe must originate with some kind of non-material, all amazing God who existed before time itself came to be, ...

4 min read When we read a book such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will conjure up various images of Victor Frankenstein, even though the classic black and white film used a mad scientist archetype, which is not in the novel at all.  There's nothing wrong with borrowing this popular movie icon to visualise Shelley's words. Victor Frankenstein, (like many fictional literary characters) have to form into your concept of what they might be; we take on the job of visualising or bringing characters to life through interpretation—this is where the work of the author ends and where we begin.  The cartoonist and illustrator does exactly the same with character creation or the composition of visual comedy. Symbols, pop culture, stereotypes, tropes and memes are all tools. We all saw the caricatures of Trump that saturated Instagram, especially the tantruming child or cry baby? This man has been symbolised, mocked and postured more than most political figures I can think ...

To what extent are we moulded by our movies?  7 to 9 min read F ilms, Books, T.V Boxed sets, have so many transitional archetypes,  such as the bibles fall of Lucifer, along with the spiritual transformation of the disciples,  there's the u-turn of Saul to Paul, who was temporarily blinded by the divine light of the alleged resurrected Christ.  Themes of Change  Transition in common with various compelling characters. Look at Bruce Banner/Hulk or Bruce Wayne, the Batman. Other examples are Beauty and the Beast, or the story of Anakin Skywalker who transformed into Darth Vader. None of us Brit's are a stranger to Doctor Who, the regenerating time lord. Our mythology and lore across Europe, has shape-shifting pagan gods along with werewolves and vampires. Further east the narrative of the Buddha's awakening is easy to find. We could compile a huge list. Today the internet VSBattle Tiers rate characters on strength and ability out of dedication to their...