Titanic Tragedy
'Hundreds of Pakistani, Kashmiri and other refugees have died in the Mediterranean, from the sinking of an overcrowded boat, and it hardly rates a mention on Western media. Yet five people go missing on the Titan submersible and it gets non-stop attention for weeks on end,’ said Janno.
Alphy nodded his head in affirmation.
'The answer is black and white,’ said Johno. ‘There is a spectrum, on one extreme end are WARP’s Whites of Anglo-Saxon appearance, rich & privileged. On the other end are the FUCD, Fortuneless, Unseen, Coloured and Defenceless.
'The Media scale for this spectrum is not linear, but logarithmic from WARP’s to FUCD, in UMI’s, units of media interest. So for example, in terms of UMI’s the death of the Titan crew, which comprised both WARP’s and Billionaires, it would require the deaths of thousands of the FUCD, to get a comparable level of attention.’
Another sad indictment of Sap society thought Alphy. But on reflection, he hated to admit it to himself, but back on AC, millions of Saps to one Centaurian, would be the equivalent ratio!
'What an eventful few weeks we’ve had,’ said Janno. ‘Yevgeny Prigozhin leaving Ukraine and marching towards Moscow with his band of mercenaries.’
'Yes another intriguing episode of Tsar Wars,’ said Johno. ‘Makes you wonder if there was a secret deal between RasPutin and Progozhin, to convince him to stop and go into exile in Belarus?’
'I presume he has now employed some-one to taste all his food, before eating’ said Alphy.
'I also wonder how long before we read that he has committed ‘suicide’ by jumping out of a high-storey window,’ said Janno
'Sky-diving Vlad style,’ grinned Johno.
’Well at least we have the Ashes to keep us entertained,’ he continued.
Alphy had been bemused by the recent Barstow ‘stumping’ controversy. The fact that the Prime Ministers of both the UK and Australia became embroiled in the dispute, was something he had decided not to report back to AC. Firstly, trying to communicate the Laws of Cricket to Centaurians was a cultural chasm too far to contemplate. Secondly, it would just reinforce the Guardians view of the Saps as a primitive civilisation. He could envisage the response, ‘The Saps are experiencing hyper-inflation, barbaric wars and catastrophic climate change and a ‘stumping’ incident is deemed worthy of Prime Ministerial engagement... (insert Centaurian expletives)
The thing that was causing Alphy some concern, was the fact that much to his amazement, he too had become a convert to the Cult of Cricket, and deep down was really enjoying the banter and derision between the opposing teams and their fans.
’Yes and wasn’t it interesting to see who the esteemed members of the MCC, in the long room, directed their abuse at, Usman Khawaja. An Australian cricketer of colour, who was born in Pakistan,’ commented Alphy.
'It goes to show, discrimination knows no boundaries,’ said Johno, ‘from sinking ships to puce-faced gits!’