This is the News!

[The Legendary Shark]

Back in the Olden Days Ago, when jobs were all over the place, there was nothing quite so satisfying as walking out on a bullyboss. Preferably at some crucial or at least awkward moment.

I once told a boss to, "start with your shiny new artic and stick the entire place up your arse," because I'd read something similar somewhere and thought it sounded cool, and the bullyboss was being a pain in the arse. I walked thirty yards into the next unit and straight into another job. I was unemployed for like, a minute.

*sigh* Those were the days...

[Funt Solo]

I can't act too surprised at the very male, necessarily entirely heterosexual world cup being played out in Qatar. Advice to travelers: if you are gay, do your best to pretend not to be, as you may be executed for crimes against a mythical sky god. Also, if you're female, or want to commit a PDA, or ...

Wait? Why the fuck would anyone volunteer to travel to such an odd, throwback, backwater.

Better to stay safe in the UK. But don't hurt any statues. Oh, or try to defend yourself from a rapist. Or seek asylum. Or expect to have your views represented in the government. Or be a member of the press covering a climate protest.

[Funt Solo]

Twitter locks staff out of offices until next week

*hronch* *hronch* - munching on popcorn while the world's richest sociopath plunges the world's most overpriced buyout into the surface of Mars at light speed.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I sometimes think Musk is deliberately tanking twitter for the sake of humanity's soul.

But I only think that when I'm feeling particularly generous of spirit.

[Funt Solo]

He might be a Dadaistic follower of Discordianism staging an elaborate prank. There is the whole sink thing:



And his "let that sink in".

(On the other hand, I hate him.)

[Richard]

He's a prick, fuck him

[JayzusB.Christ]

Get off the fence and say what you really think, Richard.  You're right, though, of course.

[Funt Solo]

FIFA now helping Qatar achieve it's anti-gay agenda by threatening to sanction players, and the teams all quickly folding to the pressure: World Cup 2022: England, Wales & other European nations will not wear OneLove armbands.

I hope anyone *enjoying the football* feels suitably ashamed of themselves.

[The Legendary Shark]

I'm so glad that statism isn't my religion.

[Funt Solo]

I need a new gif, though, because it doesn't quite get across the depth of the trap you're laying there.

Maybe this:

[The Legendary Shark]

It's not a trap. I've said before that I regard statism as nothing more than a religion at best and a cult at worst. I also don't believe that rights come from governments. Others may not believe these things but to me they make perfect sense. How is it possible to believe that different governments have the right to decide whether individuals of the same species can be gay or not and at the same time believe that sexuality a personal choice? Allowing sexual choice is just as bonkers as disallowing it because it suggests that all sexuality must be assessed by the state.

[Hawkmumbler]

In your (i'm sure entirely earnest, if catastrophically misplaced) solipsism, Sharky, I can't help but wonder if you ever considered queer people don't care if the state accepts their existence or not, but if measures are being put in place to prevent them being bludgeoned in the street for the damnable offence of 'checks notes' holding hands.

[Funt Solo]

It's not a trap.

Reductive reasoning that devolves any topic at all into your home-grown redefinition of terms and pet philosophical tambourine (that also manages to victim-blame the oppressed) is definitely a trap.

Anyone presents any topic at all - you hit them in the face with your tambourine. Now what are we all doing? Talking about your fucking tambourine again.

[The Legendary Shark]

Hawkie, I sincerely hope they don't care whether the state accepts their existence or not. Orientations are nobody else's business - yours isn't mine, mine isn't yours - and especially not the state's. If we have to have a state, then it should at least be protecting everyone equally from being bludgeoned in the street.

But that's not the primary function of the state. The primary function of the state is to ensure the continuance of the state, and if that means throwing individuals or groups under the bus, they'll do it. If it means rescuing individuals or groups, they'll do that too. Everything else the state does, from corporate hand-outs to banker bail-outs to managing the country's infrastructure and services, is secondary - requiring just enough effort to look adequate - because the state must survive.

There are better ways of doing things, but first the fundamental flaws of the state as it exists today must, I think, be examined. One of those fundamental flaws is the belief that individual proclivities require official sanction from the state and that some can be allowed and some can be disallowed. The only metric, in my view, is harm - so long as there is none, there is no basis for discrimination of any kind by society, law, or state.

Ah, Funt - how to explain? It's not about victim-blaming. Although, taking that criticism on board and having a quick think, maybe it kind of is. In the sense that, we're all stuck with this system that nobody seems to really like, we're all the victims of it, all held back by it, all frustrated by it, and all responsible for it. We've let it get out of control, and it's our misplaced reverence for it that keeps us from reigning it in.

Because there's good news, you know. When I said that the primary function of the state is to ensure the continuance of the state, then that's a big plus. If the only way for the state to continue is for it to fundamentally reform, it'll do it. The tinkering that happens at elections and the squabbling madness that happens the rest of the time isn't going to cut it. That's just the Punch & Judy show. We need to clean up the whole seaside.

And it's not a tambourine. It's a buben.

[Funt Solo]