Spotted a very thought provoking message today on how to determine the difference between a good and bad person:
“The Shopping Trolly Theory”
The shopping Trolly is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing.
To return the shopping trolly is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping trolly is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their trolly. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping Trolly. Therefore the shopping Trolly presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it.
No one will punish you for not returning the shopping trolly, no one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping trolly, you gain nothing by returning the shopping trolly. You must return the shopping trolly out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping trolly because it is the right thing to do; Because it is correct. A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it.
The Shopping trolly is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
Sometimes a simple image can hit you with a mountain of memories and that happened to me today.
The Official Therapy? Instagram feed this week posted this “Festival” poster for Donington Monsters of Rock 1995.
Donington Monsters of Rock 1995 / Metallica: Escape from the studio 95
It is without a doubt one of the most epic moments of my younger years.
Anyone that has ever been into music will tell you that the music you listen to when you were in your teens will always have the biggest impact on you.
I was 16 years old and was well and truly into the Rock/Metal/Grunge scene. The year before (1994, The Greatest year ever for music) some of the most epic bands released some amazing albums.
The Downward Spiral, Nine Inch Nails.
Vitalogy, Pearl Jam.
Dookie, Green Day.
Soundgarden, Superunknown.
Grace, Jeff Buckley.
Purple, Stone Temple Pilots.
No Need to Argue, The Cranberries.
Sixteen Stone, Bush.
The Holy Bible, Manic Street Preachers.
Deliverance, Corrosion of Conformity.
Troublegum, Therapy?
MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana.
It was an epic time of music in the UK, brit pop was at its hight and the fallout from the death of Kurt Cobain was driving interest in the Rock music scene.
One big name in the Rock industry that was missing however everybody wondering what they were going to do next. Metallica.
Therapy? – Infernal Love
For me; Therapy? was my band. They had hit it big in the UK with the track Screamager and I had not only become obsessed with the Troublegum Album I had also been absorbing their “Nurse” Album.
The day of Therapy?’s released the “Infernal Love” Album in the summer of 1995 I turned up at the record store first thing to get my copy with my best mate.
I sat in the living room of my mate’s house that morning, we put the CD in and pressed play. We both sat there and didn’t move until we had really listened to it. The amazing Photography from Anton Corbijn, the transitions between songs, the rock Cello from Martin McCarrick, the lyrics and the songs. I was in love with “Infernal Love”.
Metallica was on the backend of the Black Album and hadn’t put out any music for a while. While working on their new album they decided to start drumming up interest in preparation for their further release. They picked up that phone and called in some big-name band to support them. Metallica is a very big band and Therapy? by comparison was not, so when Metallica announced a massive UK gig that was basically a takeover of a whole festival for the “Mattalica: Escape from the studio 95” I was shocked to see that one line down on the bill was Therapy?
I had to be there.
My best mate and me as well as some only friends got coach tickets heading from Sunderland City Centre at 4 am in morning to Donnington for a full day of Epicness.
The full bill for the days in retrospect is one of the best lineups of a Rock/Metal gig ever. Looking back Therapy? had no write to be on that bill for such a big event but for me thay 100% should have been there.
I didn’t tell my parents about the Gig… I simply got up at 3 am and made my way to the coach.
My friends were aged 14-17 and not one of us should have been allowed into the gig without adult supervision…. But this was the 90’s.
I had my leather jacket, jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of boots. I had no money to buy food or drink for the whole day. I was just there.
One of my friends (14 years old) got drunk on the coach on the way and they made him wait at the gates for 2 hours to “sober up”.
During the Machine Head set I was down in the mosh pit when a guy ask to use my water to wash the sand off his thumb…. It was hanging off by the skin. We offer to take him to a medical tent… he said he would after the set!!
At the front – Castle Donnington 1995
The Therapy? The set felt so epic after spending the last few months wearing out my copy of Infernal Love, Troublegum and Nurse.
I also remember being totally overwhelmed and transfixed with the fireworks/strobes when Metallica played “One” after a long day of no food or drink and struggling to keep standing. I sat back to allowed it to take me.
In December of that year, me and my best mate both got the mirrored “?” logo tattooed on my body. It was my first tattoo. Ozzie, an old-school tattoo artist must have thought we were gay and was so uncomfortable with the whole thing and didn’t check our ages. I guess he just wanted the money, and us out the door.
When I got back home my parents were very confused while I looked like a sweaty hobo and simply asked…. “Where have you been?”
MTV’s Headbangers Ball – Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington 26.08.1995
Still one of the best musical moments of my life and all i have to remember it by is memory and a bootleg Tshirt with incorrectly spelt band names on it. (I blaged £10 off a mate for it)
It’s entirely possible that my wife thinks I’m a psycho and I’m okay with that.
For Christmas, she got me tickets to go see “the psychology of serial killers” at the Liverpool Empire. A talk from former Metropolitan police officer in crime scenes officer, now forensics lecturer, Jennifer Rees.
Spot the Serial Killer
Not really sure what to expect I took my seat and spent the first 10 minutes scanning the room, trying to work out who was the actual psychopath in the room. I’m not 100% sure if I spotted them, but there were certainly a few contenders.
The talk was fantastic. She covered the different classifications of serial killers and some of the statistics that sent them down that route. As my wife will content to, I do seem to know an unhealthy amount about some of the more popular serial killers in the world However, the thing I liked about the talk from Jennifer was that she covered some of the less common individuals and the stories around them and was linking that back to the statistical research done on serial killers.
The Psychology of Serial Killers
One of the most interesting sections of the talk was around hybristophilia (People who “fall in love with Serial Killers”.
The whole thing was fascinating, and I would highly recommend it if this is even remotely in your wheelhouse.
