markslater74.bsky.social
Dismayed optimist, cautiously considering the possibility that idiocy and hubris will undermine evil before it can do too terrible or permanent damage, and that something new and much better will eventually rise from from the chaos and destruction.
586 posts
183 followers
286 following
Active Commenter
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They'll probably deny that bombing people overseas who are trying to kill you back is a war.
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You haven't read or listened to the lecture, so I'm afraid you are not engaging with my point, you're just repeating counterfactual slogans. Not enough has changed yet, but it's nonsense to claim there hasn't been significant improvements already despite the catastrophic state of everything.
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Can I suggest you read Rachel Reeves Mais Lecture? She clearly identifies Thatchers pivotal and toxic legacy of funnelling the nation's weath to the wealthy and commits Labour's primary mission to undoing it. I'm afraid you may have been blindsided by your bubble. Easily done - we're all vulnerable.
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Instigated by extremists attempting to claim Britain is a hellhole teetering on the edge of the abyss, and massively outnumbered by counter-protestors defying the paranoid racist fantasies fuelling the criminals.
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Which of his statements was incorrect? You changed the subject to things that are wrong with Britain. You're attacking the strawman position that the OP claimed Britain was perfect.
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People now largely experience the internet the algorithms think they want, so they're surrounded by ideas and information that confirms and reinforces what they already think, and they tend to assume different views are ignorant or downright evil.
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Is he a racist bullshitter? Heard the name but fortunately have not heard or read anything he's excreted.
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No they didn't, bless them... If I'd been a few years older they probably would have, but not in front of Grandma... No-one has ever mentioned it, and my Mum is no longer with us sadly as I'd love to ask her about it as I'm sure she would have found it hilarious.
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I wonder if she's realized yet and died of embarrassment?
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It's not up to the relatives though is it? They have absolutely no say in the decision whatsoever.
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You have my deepest sympathy.
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They're improving: at least this one showered red hot chunks of metal over a much less vast area this time...
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As a precocious child of about eight I once tried to show off my fancy new phrase for prison at lunch at my grandma's - penile servitude. I took me a few years to understand the very strange frozen silence that followed... I still shudder with horror writing this now...
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Even if it is totally legitimate and authorized thugs doing the kidnappings, how are people supposed to tell the difference between them and an opportunistic gang of unofficial kidnapping thugs?
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Absolutely. Even if we had superlative palliative care there would still be some people enduring unrelievable and hopeless suffering.
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The survivors at least. The US was built on genocide - only a tiny percentage of Native Americans survived the arrival of the Europeans.
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I genuinely think Trump's main motivation is revenge and the attempt to make up for the narcissistic injury of loaing to Biden and the fact that far more people hate him and think he's a dangerous clown than lovd him. He craves respect and admiration, and is doomed fo fail. This cannot end well.
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She has no respect whatsoever for either the interviewers or the viewers/listeners. She is not engaged in an honest attempt to communicate, she is attempting to create an alternative reality in which she is relevant, competent and driving the agenda. She's fundamentally contemptuous of the audience.
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The media are now almost completely driven by attention: whatever gets the most clicks is what they will cover. It's how we got Brexit and Trump got elected. Scandal, drama, ludicrous behaviour and controversy makes their lives easy, so Reform, Johnson and Trump are perfect.
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That looks like AI. Don't put people out out of work with worthless digit hallucinations.
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The rage and impotence that Reform and Trump are riding will eventually revert to relative competence, honesty and actual delivery. Probably soon, because they are repulsive, amoral, egomaniacal, utter bullshitters who only deliver chaos.
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These 'National Guards' will think twice if a good few citizens refuse to recognize the supposed authority of these blatantly unconstitution sheep see a good few unafraid citizens, with thousands behind them. They don't have the numbers, & hardly anyone really believes in this hateful bullshit...
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Probably, unless enough probably nameless heroes defy this illegitimate and unconstitutional would-be dictatorship.
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The solution lies in the rediscovery of a popular, contagious and seemingly obvious rediscovery of the value of truth for its own sake. Not in the name of any particular ideology, but for its own sake. To replace the power of popularity, and the algorithms that can't tell the diffence. Morality.
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Ali is truly a transcendant human being. He's a shining example of the best of humanity and the truly extraordinary beauty and brilliance we are capable of.
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Having said that, Starmer has a hell of a lot of ground to make up as the Parliament progresses to make up for the alarming disappointments amongst the good stuff so far...
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Whilst I think he'd do well, I trust Andy Burnham less than Starmer. I think he is from the Boris Johnson school of politics: see which way the crowd is running and shout "Follow Me!". That's way too harsh I know, but I fear he is a bit that way...
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That's proper heroism. Fear tactics & peer pressure gang violence from the 'authorities' cannot last long in the face of more people doing this sort of thing. Fearlessness from the people takes away fear from the people, & the soldiers of oppression will fear the consequences of obeying evil orders.
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Ooh I like that, nice one! 😁😂
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Is the Democrats want to learn from the Republicans how to win they need to dominate most forms of media with relentlessly pro-Democrat messaging. They wouldn't even need to copy them to the extent of also frequently making stuff up and blatantly lying about really important issues.
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He probably remembers it, it's just he has bottomless contempt for his target audience and this sort of contemptible behaviour got him where he is today and he knows no other way.
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If President Trump does it, it can't be illegal is their fundamental premise, so it doesn't even depend on the facts in their world of dictatorial make-believe.
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The Witchcraft album Idag is an absolute belter. Incredible hooks, great singing, great band chemistry.
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The basis of modern right wing politics is scapegoating and misdirection: flatter your supporters and tell them their problems are the fault of vulnerable minorities and privileged decent, successful people. Their media backers firehose this narrative constantly. It is right-wing propaganda.
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Yes, it seems to be ego driven for the most part, with a few probably doing it because they've found it lucrative and they enjoy the adoration from conspiracy nuts.
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I like it. If I'm sitting next to a manspreader I sometimes gently press my thigh back against theirs and give them a shy little suggestive smile. Works like a charm!
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Indeed. They either don't care about or just don't understand the unarguable and collossal amount of evidence from the astronomical number of doses given.
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I'd like to hear him, or anyone, describe an ethical randomized control trial for covid infections & vaccine safety/efficacy. There's a good reason why other forms of study have been used; it's unconscionable to put people at risk from covid when we already have an unassailable mountain of evidence.
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If you got into the papers for being a collossal arse on a regular basis for any other reason besides politics then you'd struggle to get a job just as much if not more than poor Mr Baker... Don't make a name for yourself spoiling the lives of many of your fellow citizens is my advice.
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Interesting - didn't know about this, thanks for posting.
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Yep. It's infantilizing - absolving them of responsibility for their own lives and behaviour, while condoning the use of pretty much the only personal power they have - violence.
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It's the flip side of believing they are naturally superior: they think they don't have to work as hard because they've been raised to believe they are better than women and other ethnicities. Then when it turns out not be true, they blame the people they've just proved are better than them.
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I think much of the anger comes from them actually feeling inferior when they believe they are supposed to be superior. Like so much evil in the world it is born of the inadequacy of over-entltled men.
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I think a lot of the hatred is born of the fact that they know deep down that they are not the superior breed of humanity they were raised to believe in, and rather than blame themselves, they blame it on people they actually feel inferior to. It is a sublimated lack of self-esteem.
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Is it wrong to assume men like this are overcompensating for repressed homosexual urges?
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Darkest of black comedy I think - public humiliation and disgrace for the Reform councillors but plenty of horrendous real life consequences for innocent people. Grim.
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Had we not just had 14 years of ever more shambolic Tory governments, I would say no because Reform are a bunch of one-trick clueless buffoons who would collapse under the scrutiny of an election campaign. But I fear the English public are indeed stupid & gullible enough for it to be possible.
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I have had no interest in anything that man says since the pandemic. He only ever says what he wants you to think at that moment. The informational content of his speech is zero: everything he says is wholly unreliably unless confirmed by other sources. It is literally pointless listening to him.
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What on earth does parroting the opposition's lines for them have to do with impartiality? If they want to cover the opposition's views, then say that 'the opposition says you've sold out - have you?' To so consistently ignore such basic journalistic good practice must be deliberate. Shameful.