17 February 2013, Lent
I have recently been thinking about how things are reused – hyped up or dumbed down – especially on TV and in the advertising world. For example if Sir Winston Churchill had been told that someday a generation of kids would believe he was the bulldog on TV saying “ohhh yes” as he promotes insurance, he would never have believed it! Dvorak’s New World Symphony with sweeping panoramic views of the countryside concludes with a loaf of Hovis bread. And then there is the Go Compare man singing opera. In the same way, the meaning of the word temptation has been hijacked. It is now generally associated with a box of chocolates – “dark temptations” they might call it, an expensive perfume, ice cream or a pudding. Temptations today are more a nod and wink towards indulgence and the slightly naughty. We in turn relish the thought of succumbing to it. As Oscar Wilde put it “I can resist everything except temptation”. Continue reading