The Political Thread

[Tjm86]

I'm trying to figure out if that one is satirical or not Prof.  I'm going to reserve judgement until I have a better idea.

[Funt Solo]

I'm an immigrant to the US. The thing is that the Trump supporters aren't going to argue that I don't belong there (because I'm Caucasian). It's double-speak at the least and double-think otherwise when people say they don't like immigrants when what they mean is that they're white supremacists. Or anti Latina/Latino, at any rate.

[shaolin_monkey]

Yeah, I very much get the impression that if you're a white person visiting the US you're in a much better position than someone of latin descent who was born there, in terms of attitudes towards you. It's not about immigration, it's about race.

Coming back to the whole situation where democracy currently seems to be ruled by the right wing in the UK and in the US,  I take it you've all seen 'the Great Hack' on Netflix?

If it's a TL:DR kind of show, try this TEDtalk from Carole Cadwalladr, and you'll get a flavour of it:

https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy?language=en

(apologies if this is old news)


Basically, democracy is dead in the water.

[TordelBack]

Oh, he's just pursued and stamped on a field mouse. I think our relationship is unfixable.

Kill him. Hide the body. If you need an alibi, you were with me all day. :-)

While I stopped short of justifiable homicide, I did shout at him in quite an uncivil manner. Apparently he doesn't value "telling it how it is" quite as much as he claimed.

Ironies continue to abound, as we're supposedly working on a coastal greenway for a Council ecologist (an EU immigrant, naturally). Twat.

[The Legendary Shark]

"In February 2019 I spoke to students at a public high school in El Dorado County, California about the things they're not allowed to say."

[Frank]

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Not sure Franklin would describe the right to moan that immigrants get all the council houses as essential liberty.

Actually, young Benji F would have defended his right to spread racist myths, but Old Man Franklin wouldn't. The question is whether the benefits of allowing teen-Benny his essential liberty to promote lies that don't stand up to a moment's scrutiny outweigh the perils (i.e. disabling his Instagram and telling him to read a book).

SPOILER: they don't. Holding social media platforms to the same basic standards as any broadcaster strikes some as onerous and expensive but any tech giant can bear the cost, even before AI rides to their rescue and makes this whole argument seem like Victorian fears train passengers would be turned inside out at speeds over 60mph.

[sheridan]

"In February 2019 I spoke to students at a public high school in El Dorado County, California about the things they're not allowed to say."

That's an hour and twenty minutes long - what kind of things are they 'not allowed to say'?

[JayzusB.Christ]

Oh, he's just pursued and stamped on a field mouse. I think our relationship is unfixable.

Kill him. Hide the body. If you need an alibi, you were with me all day. :-)

While I stopped short of justifiable homicide, I did shout at him in quite an uncivil manner. Apparently he doesn't value "telling it how it is" quite as much as he claimed.

Ironies continue to abound, as we're supposedly working on a coastal greenway for a Council ecologist (an EU immigrant, naturally). Twat.

Fuck me pink, you've got a live one there.  Keep us posted, I'm genuinely fascinated.

[The Legendary Shark]

"In February 2019 I spoke to students at a public high school in El Dorado County, California about the things they're not allowed to say."

That's an hour and twenty minutes long - what kind of things are they 'not allowed to say'?

I'm not permitted to tell you...

[IndigoPrime]

I'm an immigrant to the US. The thing is that the Trump supporters aren't going to argue that I don't belong there (because I'm Caucasian).

I dunno. A family member until recently owned a place in Florida. He ended up on various boards, and got shit done. Some of the long-term residents didn't like that, because there were fewer backhanders, and they ended up looking comparatively useless. He got quite a few "fuck off back to your own country" and the like. He's white British. Clearly, he didn't get it to the extent a black person would, but it was still straight up anti-foreigner xenophobia.

[Hawkmumbler]

Oh, he's just pursued and stamped on a field mouse. I think our relationship is unfixable.

I know the best bridges in Manchester to dispose a body off of, if you travel by night they will never trace you here!

[Professor Bear]

I'm trying to figure out if that one is satirical or not Prof.  I'm going to reserve judgement until I have a better idea.

If it makes you feel any better, I don't know anymore either.  Once the president of America is openly praising Nazis and calling for non-white politicians to be sent back to the countries their ancestors came from, there's not really anywhere for satire to go.

[JayzusB.Christ]

"In February 2019 I spoke to students at a public high school in El Dorado County, California about the things they're not allowed to say."

That's an hour and twenty minutes long - what kind of things are they 'not allowed to say'?

Haven't listened to it yet, but...

I'm always a bit suspicious of those types who love to trumpet that they say things that they're not allowed to say.  Not being allowed to say things involves secret police kicking in your door and arresting you, not being made to explain yourself using hard evidence and being ridiculed if you can't.

That said though, of course, you can be arrested and put in prison these days just for saying you're English.

[Tjm86]

.... there's not really anywhere for satire to go.

I think satire gave up the ghost and just let journalists go for broke a long time ago.  America is not unique in that respect.  When you stop and think that this country is now 'ruled' by a politician with the sort of reputation that would bar him from pretty much any other job in the country and has been 'elected' by a select group of lunatics, advised by someone who is on record as holding parliament in contempt and in a former life has run a political campaign that has flirted with abusing this country's electoral laws and 'governed' by a cabinet containing more disgraced ministers than any other in living history, then satire just does not stand a chance.

On the plus side, allegedly Spitting Image is making a comeback (or possibly it already has but we keep thinking its the ITV news?)

[radiator]

Yeah, I very much get the impression that if you're a white person visiting the US you're in a much better position than someone of latin descent who was born there, in terms of attitudes towards you. It's not about immigration, it's about race.

Coming back to the whole situation where democracy currently seems to be ruled by the right wing in the UK and in the US,  I take it you've all seen 'the Great Hack' on Netflix?

If it's a TL:DR kind of show, try this TEDtalk from Carole Cadwalladr, and you'll get a flavour of it:

https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy?language=en

(apologies if this is old news)


Basically, democracy is dead in the water.

It's bad, but at least it's not as bad as whats currently going down in Brazil. This was all news to me, and genuinely shocking. Essentially, a righteous crusade against entrenched public sector corruption has slowly been revealed to have been cover for what amounts to a whole scale far right coup. Scary stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Car_Wash

Entire story covered here, starting at around the 4min mark:

https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/336-neom-2049-feat-glenn-greenwald-72919