I was doing a bit of shopping on Oxford Street, after my weekly stint on the Andrew Collings Show. Down by Oxford Circus as many Londoners will know there is a mental man with a megaphone (or other amplification system) who constantly berates the sinful passersby and advising them to stop lying and caring about possessions and having sex before marriage and instead give their lives over to Jesus.
Depending on your mood this is either very irritating or very amusing. It's a weird mind that can think that your opinions are that important and right that you should broadcast them in a public place, or that can imagine that by essentially being rude to people's faces that you are going to change anything. I suppose some other mental people might be convinced by this display, but most seem to either chuckle or shake their heads or shout "Why don't you fuck off you stupid twat?"
He is a fixture of London life and has become a little bit of a celebrity appearing in Time Out and things like that. Though some might argue that it might be better if he were given some professional help rather than ironically lauded or laughed at. The problem with religion is that it's hard to sort out the mad from the merely deluded.
However as I walked up towards Marble Arch, I passed another younger guy, also with a megaphone, also blithering on about Jesus and I thought, "Blimey, the nutter's got competition!" At the moment they are working different bits of the street, but surely this new fella is trying to wrestle the first guy's thorny crown from his head. I wondered how that would make him feel - jealous? Uncomfortable? Or would he welcome the help?
Only one other guy isn't really a problem, but what if hundreds of people start pitching up in Oxford St and amplify their voices and tell people to believe in Jesus? Or worse if they told them to believe in different stuff instead?
At the very least the rivalry between the two Christians might prove entertaining, as both invest in ever more sophisticated and louder amplification equipment (don't get me started on the evils of the consumer society). I think there might be a film in it.
