What on Earth is going on in the world today? It's gone mad

[britbox]

Coles, Australia (Second biggest supermarket chain in Oz... kind of like a Tescos, Walmart)

 

[Federberg]

^that one doesn't really surprise me

 

[Front242]

The cause of the trans boom in the US was Obama care.

 

[Federberg]

Biden's biggest threat is because of the cost of living crisis. This is because of the great covid inflation. It's not unique to the US, but I doubt the average voter would tolerate that excuse...

Revealed: How much £50 really gets you in pubs around Britain

EXCLUSIVE: To gauge how expensive the average trip to a UK pub has become in 2024, MailOnline visited a collection of venues across the country to see how far £50 would go.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[britbox]

Wimmins Rights...



Planned Parenthood... Founded by Eugenicist Margaret Sanger who thought the white working class, and blacks were utter trash.

Planned Parenthood: Rooted In Racism - Human Coalition

Rooted in Racism – The Negro Project This blog is part two in an installment...

www.humancoalition.org

 

[Kieran]

Wimmins Rights...



Planned Parenthood... Founded by Eugenicist Margaret Sanger who thought the white working class, and blacks were utter trash.

Planned Parenthood: Rooted In Racism - Human Coalition

Rooted in Racism – The Negro Project This blog is part two in an installment...

www.humancoalition.org

Yeah, she certainly did a great job for women…

 

[Fiero425]

Like Putin, it appears Netanyahu has been finally cited by the ICC for war crimes in Gaza & is subject to arrest! Israel's about as nutty as The States allowing this man to retain power throughout criminality going on w/ him & his family for yrs.! The world is truly LOST!

 

[Kieran]

Don’t know where to put this, it’s so good:

 

[Kieran]

If there’s a politician I despise more than all the politicians in Ireland put together it’s the vacuous boy prince of Canada, Justin Trudeau. What a nasty, narcissistic, hateful creature he is. A totalitarian at heart, a wealthy absentee when it comes to actually doing things. I’m in a Bob Dylan group on Facebook and I posted a link from the New Yorker to a review of the Bob Dylan biopic that’s out now.

This was one reply:

 

[Kieran]

The world is a scary place but the kitchen is scarier. Terrifying!!

 

[Federberg]

Trudeau resigns! Good riddance! Canada can become a normal nation again. Maybe we’re past peak woke now

 

[Kieran]

Trudeau resigns! Good riddance! Canada can become a normal nation again. Maybe we’re past peak woke now

What a useless evil individual he is. Finally he did a good thing, and I imagine it was very reluctantly. His tyrannical bullying of truckers during Covid will never be forgotten. Any good he's done will be forgotten because there's none. Apart from - as I say - his leaving, which will probably be forgotten too, with a bit of effort..

 

[britbox]

Very interesting perspective:

 

[Federberg]

Very interesting perspective:

lol! I'm actually surprised you listened to him. He's the neocon's neocon geopolitical strategist.

I've been trying to figure out a best case scenario for this unfolding Trump foreign policy disaster. There were always a few things I agreed with, not least a more combative stance on Chinese mercantilism, but also Europe needs to stop freeloading on defence spending. Is it possible that a new German economic model comes out of this, with next generation defence equipment as they rebuild their military? Maybe that's what happens because as things stand the old German model is dead, and it's hard to conceive of what replaces it, other than terminal stagnation. Maybe the stresses that Trump represents force something new?

 

[britbox]

What a useless evil individual he is. Finally he did a good thing, and I imagine it was very reluctantly. His tyrannical bullying of truckers during Covid will never be forgotten. Any good he's done will be forgotten because there's none. Apart from - as I say - his leaving, which will probably be forgotten too, with a bit of effort..

He's only been replaced by another WEF poster boy in Carney.

 

[britbox]

lol! I'm actually surprised you listened to him. He's the neocon's neocon geopolitical strategist.

I've been trying to figure out a best case scenario for this unfolding Trump foreign policy disaster. There were always a few things I agreed with, not least a more combative stance on Chinese mercantilism, but also Europe needs to stop freeloading on defence spending. Is it possible that a new German economic model comes out of this, with next generation defence equipment as they rebuild their military? Maybe that's what happens because as things stand the old German model is dead, and it's hard to conceive of what replaces it, other than terminal stagnation. Maybe the stresses that Trump represents force something new?

Period of Chaos mate. Logic flies out of the window. Old rules no longer apply.

 

[Kieran]

He's only been replaced by another WEF poster boy in Carney.

Bad as Trudeau was - and I’ve seen nothing to say contrary to the fact that he was an empty headed bitch with authoritarian cravings - this careerist Carney will be similar, but less off putting to voters. Nowhere in the western world needs a left wing government now, they’ve all blown it by their lack of care for their people, but he might appeal to people who think he’ll be the “adult in the room..”

 

[Kieran]

There was an interesting exchange recently on the Joe Rogan Experience between the author Douglas Murray, Joe, and a comedian Dave Smith. Murray was on the ostensibly promote his new book, and Rogan made it a condition of his appearance that Dave Smith should be there for a discussion on the war that Israel is waging against Hamas.

Now, the interesting discussion I’m referring to isn’t the part about the war, but the preamble where Murray called out Rogan for having so many guests with a conspiratorial mindset, so many one-sided anti-Israel guests, pro-Russia guests, and so many guests who are pushing bogus history, pseudo-science, etc.

The discussion got a little out of control and I feel the point Murray was making got lost a little in the wind, but it was a valid point, and it refers to a weakness of people who might tend to be called “right wingers.”

Essentially Murray was saying that Rogan can have whoever the hell he wants on, and people can say whatever the hell they want to say, but it’s bad “social hygiene” - as he called it on his appearance last Friday on Bill Maher - to be constantly muddying the water and platforming people who don’t understand or know their history, as if they’re historians.

Dangerous misinformation is being spread unchallenged, and of course, given the nature of the web, the problem isn’t even Rogan or his guests, the problem is we who watch but don’t follow up and research whether or not what we were told is true.

The discussion got messy because Murray questioned people’s expertise in these things they’re talking about, and so his argument was reduced to him saying “listen only to the experts,” when that wasn’t what he was saying at all. In fairness, he’s generally a more precise communicator than he was on this occasion, but the point he was making got dismissed in favour of what people thought he was saying, which was actually a very good point.

Dave Smith replied that “the expert class let us down” regarding covid, which isn’t strictly true. If we were let down during covid it was by the political rulers who chose only experts that supported their political goals, and excluded other voices. Sweden chose to go this way, Ireland chose to go that way. It wasn’t a failing in the “expert class” of scientists. But this is now an issue that we, as members of the public, have often taken a lazy approach of lumping all “experts” together and deciding that there are other ways of knowing things without all the rigour and expense of committing ourselves to getting PhD’s in a particular subject.

Where this is a real problem is not only in health matters but also in modern political matters, particularly the two most famous wars being waged. And I think it’s a big problem on the ascendant right, where conspiracy theories get smoothed into the conversation when we’re told “there’s more nuance” to certain topics, a phrase I came to suspect during covid, actually.

One of the examples Murray complained about was Daryl Cooper - a podcaster - who is into revisionist history, believing among other things that Churchill was a warmonger who started WW2, Hitler wasn’t really anti-Semitic in the 30’s, and some other David Irving levels of Holocaust denial. This is the far-right, on steroids. And it’s dangerous. And we thought this kind of thinking was dead, but now it’s being welcomed back into the mainstream.

Another platform welcoming such guests is Tucker Carlson. The welcoming of the guests isn’t the problem, according to Murray, but it’s the lack of balance in who becomes a guest. Surely there could be guests who are actual historians to contradict these views?

It’s an interesting argument and it’s still going on, and I hope the effect might in the short term be positive, in that - for instance - Rogan often welcomes Graham Hancock and his hopeless jackass Atlantis theories, but if he also took time to bring on Tom Holland, an excellent historian, for some balance, his audience might have more to think about.

Douglas Murray on the JRE (the discussion in question is at the beginning):



Murray on Bill Maher:



Niall Ferguson on Darryl Cooper:

 

[Federberg]

Wow! Twice in a week. First Canada then Australia. Trump has made the Centre Left popular again I wonder if this new mood blows back into US Politics eventually

 

[Federberg]

There was an interesting exchange recently on the Joe Rogan Experience between the author Douglas Murray, Joe, and a comedian Dave Smith. Murray was on the ostensibly promote his new book, and Rogan made it a condition of his appearance that Dave Smith should be there for a discussion on the war that Israel is waging against Hamas.

Now, the interesting discussion I’m referring to isn’t the part about the war, but the preamble where Murray called out Rogan for having so many guests with a conspiratorial mindset, so many one-sided anti-Israel guests, pro-Russia guests, and so many guests who are pushing bogus history, pseudo-science, etc.

The discussion got a little out of control and I feel the point Murray was making got lost a little in the wind, but it was a valid point, and it refers to a weakness of people who might tend to be called “right wingers.”

Essentially Murray was saying that Rogan can have whoever the hell he wants on, and people can say whatever the hell they want to say, but it’s bad “social hygiene” - as he called it on his appearance last Friday on Bill Maher - to be constantly muddying the water and platforming people who don’t understand or know their history, as if they’re historians.

Dangerous misinformation is being spread unchallenged, and of course, given the nature of the web, the problem isn’t even Rogan or his guests, the problem is we who watch but don’t follow up and research whether or not what we were told is true.

The discussion got messy because Murray questioned people’s expertise in these things they’re talking about, and so his argument was reduced to him saying “listen only to the experts,” when that wasn’t what he was saying at all. In fairness, he’s generally a more precise communicator than he was on this occasion, but the point he was making got dismissed in favour of what people thought he was saying, which was actually a very good point.

Dave Smith replied that “the expert class let us down” regarding covid, which isn’t strictly true. If we were let down during covid it was by the political rulers who chose only experts that supported their political goals, and excluded other voices. Sweden chose to go this way, Ireland chose to go that way. It wasn’t a failing in the “expert class” of scientists. But this is now an issue that we, as members of the public, have often taken a lazy approach of lumping all “experts” together and deciding that there are other ways of knowing things without all the rigour and expense of committing ourselves to getting PhD’s in a particular subject.

Where this is a real problem is not only in health matters but also in modern political matters, particularly the two most famous wars being waged. And I think it’s a big problem on the ascendant right, where conspiracy theories get smoothed into the conversation when we’re told “there’s more nuance” to certain topics, a phrase I came to suspect during covid, actually.

One of the examples Murray complained about was Daryl Cooper - a podcaster - who is into revisionist history, believing among other things that Churchill was a warmonger who started WW2, Hitler wasn’t really anti-Semitic in the 30’s, and some other David Irving levels of Holocaust denial. This is the far-right, on steroids. And it’s dangerous. And we thought this kind of thinking was dead, but now it’s being welcomed back into the mainstream.

Another platform welcoming such guests is Tucker Carlson. The welcoming of the guests isn’t the problem, according to Murray, but it’s the lack of balance in who becomes a guest. Surely there could be guests who are actual historians to contradict these views?

It’s an interesting argument and it’s still going on, and I hope the effect might in the short term be positive, in that - for instance - Rogan often welcomes Graham Hancock and his hopeless jackass Atlantis theories, but if he also took time to bring on Tom Holland, an excellent historian, for some balance, his audience might have more to think about.

Douglas Murray on the JRE (the discussion in question is at the beginning):



Murray on Bill Maher:



Niall Ferguson on Darryl Cooper:

I wholeheartedly agree. I would go a bit further in expanding the problem. On the right they tend to focus on platforming the conspiracy theorists because they have an anti-establishment bias. The tendency is to believe the Establishment is the "Deep State" and thus anything coming from it is fruit of the poisoned tree. It's dangerous and irresponsible for people like Joe to participate without trying to achieve an apolitical balance.

BUT... in my view what's going on, largely on the left, but even on the centre right is actually more dangerous. There is an orthodoxy that is largely unquestioned that is doing tremendous societal harm. It's the phenomenon where so called marginalised groups can be openly biased or hateful to majority groups with no consequence. We see this in so many ways now. Here are a few examples...

• there are multiple cases of immigrants committing heinous crimes like violent rape in the UK and the courts have felt it unnecessary to punish them with custodial sentences. Yet on the other hand citizens who voice dissatisfaction with what immigrants have actually done have been jailed. Make that make sense

• Or I can bring up TikTok, where women are allowed to say horrific things about men, like wishing they didn't exist, or they're evil or stupid, with no consequence. But yet if a man even suggests that a woman is overweight or ugly on the same platform they can get demonitised. Again.. make it make sense

I could go on. But you get the point. I hate to be that guy, but there are problems on both sides. I bring this up, not as a defence for the conspiracy theorists, I find them frustrating to be honest. But we can't take our eyes off the ball. While I see harm from the conspiracy theorist, probably most seriously when it comes to the real world implications of refusals to vaccinate. There are profound implications to the cancel culture and social destruction we see on the other side. It's actively harming the productivity of companies now, where workplaces more concerned about protecting feelings than ensuring productivity its maintained. Where universities no longer have the courage to foster innovation, rather to focus on protecting feelings and stifling real debate. Thankfully I think that the virus is probably playing itself out in Hollywood now. Money talks. Snow White is the perfect example of how badly out of sync these folks are!