JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC Archives

POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC  2002

POETRYETC 2002

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Re: Happy New Year

From:

Candice Ward <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and poetics <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 1 Jan 2002 21:48:33 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (99 lines)

Yes, it's a pretty well-defined psychiatric syndrome, classified with the
-manias (klepto-, etc.) I believe, and it's important to distinguish this
kind of arson from arson-for-profit (typically, the burning of a
money-losing property in order to collect the insurance on it), and the
arson-terrorism of fire used to destroy large tracts of land (settled or
unsettled) with the sole aim being the widest possible destruction impacting
on the greatest possible number (as with all terrorist acts) for its own
sake or allegedly as a political statement in some cases. (Is anything
political entailed by this current instance of arson-terrorism?)

Simple "arson" will of course not "do" for all these different--and
differently motivated--kinds, with only deliberate fire-setting in common.

Candice



on 1/1/02 8:45 PM, david.bircumshaw at [log in to unmask] wrote:

>> People who light fires (they all seem to be individuals who get off
>> on it) seem to have a very particular sickness.  I don't understand
>> it.
>
> There was a guy, a middle-aged man who drank all day, who used to live in
> these flats but is now awaiting trial for a series of arson attacks
> aroundabouts, who used to talk to me in the lobby or the lifts. He was
> forever cracking off-colour jokes and would go to local churches pretending
> to be homeless for free meals. All I could understand about him was that
> 'keep clear' signals flashed through my mind whenever he neared. What his
> psychology was, is, I think only he knows.
>
> While one of the most disquieting things I have seen recently was a
> documentary on the ironically named Burnley Wood area of said town, a
> district of almost Third World poverty where houses cannot sell for 5
> thousand pounds. The principal pastime of the local kids is starting fires
> both small and petty and full house burnings. There Guy Fawkes bonfires were
> spectacular, and enthusiastic, but also involved the dismemberment of empty
> houses as fuel.
>
> Best
>
> Dave
>
>
> David Bircumshaw
>
> Leicester, England
>
> Home Page
>
> A Chide's Alphabet
>
> Painting Without Numbers
>
> www.paintstuff.20m.com/index.htm
>
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alison Croggon" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 12:56 AM
> Subject: Re: Happy New Year
>
>
>> Alot of the fires were lit by aronists, but others are the result of
>> lightning strikes.  "Arson-terrorism" seems an inaccurate term to me;
>> arson will do.  So far nobody has been killed, and hopefully nobody
>> will be.  But the damage to the national parks must be very grim.
>> Though I suppose one must also remember that many Australia plants
>> need fire to seed, though the increased ferocity of recent fires,
>> ironically because they are not as regular as they once were and have
>> more fuel, might be too destructive.
>>
>> Bush has an amazing capacity for regeneration.   If you go through
>> bushland six months after fire it has an eerie beauty - all that new
>> fresh green on the black.
>>
>> Being a country child I remember the fires in my childhood - it was I
>> think 1979 when very bad ones burnt a lot of the Western District in
>> Victoria.  I remember being driven through a small town, Strathan,
>> which was completely burnt out while the firefighters were out
>> somewhere battling another fire and the spooky thing of a street of
>> houses completely reduced to ash, with one in the middle completely
>> untouched.  Acres of black with the bloated and burned corpses of
>> sheep and cattle in the paddocks, their legs sticking up.  My father
>> coming home completely black and red eyed after fighting fires in the
>> state forest behind us.  Or Ash Wednesday here, watching a huge
>> bloodred moon rise through the smoke, and flaming bits of bark
>> falling even in the middle of the city.  Enough to give anyone a
>> feeling of doom.  Horrible.
>>
>> People who light fires (they all seem to be individuals who get off
>> on it) seem to have a very particular sickness.  I don't understand
>> it.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Alison

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager