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The Political Thread

Started by The Legendary Shark, 09 April, 2010, 03:59:03 PM

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Funt Solo

Quote from: Professor Bear on 14 February, 2020, 02:43:55 PM
Siri: zeige mir schadenfreude.

Wunderbar! (Auch ein tragisches spiegelbild der idiotie des menschen.)
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

sheridan

I thought the jew-hating painter was going to turn out to be Hitler until the bit about running for president...

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: sheridan on 19 February, 2020, 07:19:42 PM
I thought the jew-hating painter was going to turn out to be Hitler until the bit about running for president...

Hitler's paintings, though fairly dull, were pretty decent.

Here's one of the other lad's.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dermot+mulqueen+painting&oq=dermot+mulqueen+pa&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j69i60j35i39.9228j0j7&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=JFXvHrjeCk542M:



"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

The Legendary Shark


That's sad, JBC.

I just deleted my two penn'orth because... Well, it doesn't matter. What does matter, I think, is that you still care about this guy. What you do with that is up to you, but I think it's great that you care.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




sheridan

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 19 February, 2020, 07:26:59 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 19 February, 2020, 07:19:42 PM
I thought the jew-hating painter was going to turn out to be Hitler until the bit about running for president...

Hitler's paintings, though fairly dull, were pretty decent.

Here's one of the other lad's.

google

Archetypal use of the classic line during his statement when being arrested: "I am not a racist but I have found out that the Holocaust was a hoax and I wanted to highlight this."

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 19 February, 2020, 07:53:53 PM

That's sad, JBC.

I just deleted my two penn'orth because... Well, it doesn't matter. What does matter, I think, is that you still care about this guy. What you do with that is up to you, but I think it's great that you care.

I don't know the guy; think I met him once or twice and said hello and that's it. I think he's a complete arsehole and I detest his views, but he's very clearly mentally ill and maybe needs psychiatric treatment rather than death threats.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Professor Bear

The BBC's Andrew Neil infamously published Holocaust denier David Irving in the Spectator over the objections of the mag's own writers, I would have thought a BBC production could have managed to gain access or insight there and examine the role of the BBC in normalising extremism and conspiracy theories instead of seeking out a niche oddball in a whole other country to platform out of his well-deserved obscurity.

I'm thinking of that documentary the BBC did on Jimmy Saville's crimes and their aftermath and thinking how it would have been more helpful if the BBC just hadn't covered up his crimes for decades.

TordelBack

"Unskilled". I was (working) on an state training course on the '90s, and one of the older lads was an unemployed labourer, probably the definition of "unskilled manual". I watched him build the project workshop and toilets from the ground up: set-out, foundations, plumbing and electrics, floor, walls, roof, doors and fit-out. More skills than I'm ever likely to have. When the project foreman went on holidays, he handed me the keys and told me I was in charge. Because I had a college degree. I was in my early 20s and utterly clueless about essentially everything, but I was somehow "better". There's your problem right there.

Tjm86

Ah, brings back fond memories!  My first job after failing everything at school was as a plumber's mate on our local hospital redevelopment.  Many an hour clambering around ceiling spaces, holding pipes for him to weld, fetching and carrying, burring the ends of threads (and finger tips!) ....

Unskilled though?  TBH that there is the problem.  The whole academic / vocational debate has long been an absolute joke.  We now have more graphic designers and historians in this country than builders and brickies.  The only positive part is that both kids and parents are slowly waking up to this fact.  Fifteen years ago it would have been insane to suggest anything other than Uni to a parent.  Now though?

I'm just wondering how long its going to be before the government realises the fatal flaw in their argument that employers have got to wean themselves off 'cheap' labour.  Leaving aside for a moment the fact that some sectors rely on seasonal, mobile labour or that the cost of living is so prohibitive in some places that it makes it non-viable for locals to work for the sectoral wages, most businesses in the UK are operating on a shoestring when it comes to finance. 

The care sector in particular is about an inch away from collapsing under rising costs and collapsing funding, not to mention being massively over-leveraged.  The hospitality sector might as well close up shop if its going to have to put up prices since a lot of people are still living on 2008 (or worse) standards.  Considering the number of workers reliant on in-work benefits, its hard to see how they are going to be able to afford increased food costs and even harder to see how some of their employers are going to be able to find the money to pay them more without going under.

Let's face it, its a nice little sound bite that gives the appearance of 'taking back control' and 'honouring the referendum'.  As always the devil is going to be in the detail.

Gary James

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 19 February, 2020, 05:58:05 PM
I'm conflicted - he's repulsive and his views are appalling, but I remember the lonely, mentally ill fool that once was convinced he'd win the Nobel Peace Prize and shudder to think what will become of him now.
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 19 February, 2020, 07:53:53 PM
What does matter, I think, is that you still care about this guy. What you do with that is up to you, but I think it's great that you care.
Everyone has some good in them, no matter how far their views have taken them, and if someone was to reach out to him - to show him that his views are (to put it bluntly) disturbing - then there is still hope.
Most people who have these kinds of views are, in some way or other, damaged, so addressing that damage and assisting in the healing process is far more useful than the people calling for extreme measures. I'm not saying that such abhorrent comments should be dismissed, but it seems a shame that the culture of the time is to immediately jump to "burn the heretic" rather than something more nuanced and thoughtful.

Quote from: Professor Bear on 20 February, 2020, 01:01:46 AM
I'm thinking of that documentary the BBC did on Jimmy Saville's crimes and their aftermath and thinking how it would have been more helpful if the BBC just hadn't covered up his crimes for decades.
They're scared that the rest of the big names who have worked for them are going to get the same scrutiny. Understandable that they are covering themselves, but there is a lot which hasn't been made public yet. Of course the rumor mill can't be taken as fact, but when you hear stories from so many people you have to wonder how much of it is true.
What are we standing at now? Three children's presenters? Four?
Dammit, I'm trying to keep my head under the parapet. Note that I didn't name any names. I'm so not digging myself into another shitstorm...

Professor Bear

I found out a popular-in-the-1970s crooner (no names) has a taste for 13 year old girls and I wasn't even looking to find out such things, I was just looking up who'd performed in South Africa during the Apartheid boycott - oh, and also he performed in South Africa during the Apartheid boycott.  A real charmer.
If I know, the BBC certainly do, and it hasn't stopped them keeping him employed and maintaining his high profile.  When he dies - it doesn't look like it'll be long, but that's been the case for a while now - I imagine everyone will be shocked by the "new revelations" only just discovered.

Tjm86

Quote from: Professor Bear on 20 February, 2020, 01:01:46 AM
I'm thinking of that documentary the BBC did on Jimmy Saville's crimes and their aftermath and thinking how it would have been more helpful if the BBC just hadn't covered up his crimes for decades.

Not just the Beeb mind.  Considering that our esteemed Prime Minister considers historical abuse claims to be a waste, the 'revelation' of the scale of abuse back in those days is no doubt unhelpful.  I say 'revelation' because too many are able to attest personally to both how widespread it was and how supportive authorities were. 

JayzusB.Christ

First confirmed case of Corona in Northern Ireland.  Jesus.  I've been in touch with my old boss (actually an attractive young Chinese lady) in Beijing who told me things are worse there than we're told. People haven't left their homes for weeks and get everything delivered, and entire blocks are being infected through their water supply.  It all sounds very Block Mania, with a touch of Have You Seen the Mushroom Men.

She believes it's a conspiracy to attack the Chinese government. I didn't feel it was appropriate to bang on about Occam. On the vague offchance that she's right, the conspirators are doing a fine job.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Gary James

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 27 February, 2020, 08:45:03 PMFirst confirmed case of Corona in Northern Ireland.
The WHO map of Europe is slowly but surely turning blue. By the time this is over I doubt there will be anwhere completely untouched. Anyone who's already booked a flight for later in the year would be wise to check the cancellation details - just in case.

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 27 February, 2020, 08:45:03 PMI've been in touch with my old boss (actually an attractive young Chinese lady) in Beijing who told me things are worse there than we're told.
:o Is she okay? And how much worse are things than the already-horrific news stories?

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 27 February, 2020, 08:45:03 PMShe believes it's a conspiracy to attack the Chinese government.
We can't rule anything out at the moment, but the list of possible aggressors isn't very long. Only NK really stands out as being capable of anything, and it is highly questionable that they have the technological capabilities to do so. The notion that it is a conspiracy is somehow scarier than it being random bad luck.

This isn't blowing over any time soon:

Coronavirus: Outbreak at 'decisive point' as WHO urges action (BBC News)
QuoteGlobally, more than 80,000 people in nearly 50 countries have been infected. Nearly 2,800 have died, the majority in China's Hubei province.
Big European companies ban business travel as coronavirus outbreak escalates (CNN)
How the coronavirus outbreak is affecting travel in Europe (The Guardian)

IndigoPrime

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 27 February, 2020, 08:45:03 PMShe believes it's a conspiracy to attack the Chinese government. I didn't feel it was appropriate to bang on about Occam.
Shit happens – and increasingly so – when density ramps up, people are in close proximity to animals, and transport enables carriers to zoom across half the planet in well under a day.