Current Affairs Free Speech

[Moomin]

Bit much for the people working here to get abuse for it.

 

[dead_soft]

My god if only people did act that way...

And by 'normal', politically I mean where you win elections. The old 'Mondeo Man' way of looking at it. I understand the preference of looking at people as individuals, but elections are about being 'catch all' as much as possible. It's simply pragmatic; the more people you appeal to, the better your chance of being elected.

But because you think they don’t then we should go for lowest common denominator politics? In fact, not just politics but social and cultural discourse too. Wouldn’t your anger and effort he better directed at those who are whipping up this anger and purposefully misdirecting the conversation?

Who do you class now as the normal person?

 

[Tubey]

But because you think they don’t then we should go for lowest common denominator politics? In fact, not just politics but social and cultural discourse too. Wouldn’t your anger and effort he better directed at those who are whipping up this anger and purposefully misdirecting the conversation?

Who do you class now as the normal person?

Aspirational, lower- to middle-class, either sex, family orientated, values general financial security, doesn't tend to take risks, generally suburban, GCSE educated, 30-50 years old.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

deadsoft can prefer there is no picture of John Aldridge.

Nobody is saying the footballers can't kneel; they're booing to tell them they don't approve of it and they'd prefer them not to do it. They're not telling them they can't; therein is the difference.

Your banging your head against a brick wall with a sensible, rational posts like that mate.
Some people look for and find offence for everything. It's not them who have been offended,
but they are offended by proxy for someone else. Makes them feel good I guess?

 

[PaulPowersTash]

Who ever said anything about infringing human rights? Why are you taking it to such extremes? No one else has.
Whoever said the boss was wanting to keep it? There wasn't a boss who wanted to keep the picture of the Queen up in the common room was there? Just those of us in the office decided we didn't want a picture of John Aldridge up because we were Everton fans so we all agreed it should come down.

You could always organise a demonstration or a march in the works car park against it.
Then you could storm the building and reappropiate the picture of John Aldridge and
replace with a piece of blank perspex. That way no one would be offended and everyone is
happy. It's a win / win.

 

[dead_soft]

Your banging your head against a brick wall with a sensible, rational posts like that mate.
Some people look for and find offence for everything. It's not them who have been offended,
but they are offended by proxy for someone else. Makes them feel good I guess?

There’s only one set of people who appear to have been a offended and it doesn’t seem to be those okay with graduate students redecorating how they wish

 

[dead_soft]

Aspirational, lower- to middle-class, either sex, family orientated, values general financial security, doesn't tend to take risks, generally suburban, GCSE educated, 30-50 years old.

And these are, on the whole, furious about this picture are they?

 

[Tubey]

And these are, on the whole, furious about this picture are they?

I'd say the general voting public would find the idea of removing a picture of the Queen to create a safe space as pretty stupid, yes. I think if you took a poll you'd find about 80-90% of people would find that stupid.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

There’s only one set of people who appear to have been a offended and it doesn’t seem to be those okay with graduate students redecorating how they wish

And they will be offended by someone else or something else next week. Guaranteed.

 

[dead_soft]

I'd say the general voting public would find the idea of removing a picture of the Queen to create a safe space as pretty stupid, yes. I think if you took a poll you'd find about 80-90% of people would find that stupid.

And it would change how they voted? Even though that’s not what happened?
What percentage would say that getting worked up about some grad students redecorating their space and then lying about why they did it is a bit stupid?

 

[dead_soft]

And they will be offended by someone else or something else next week. Guaranteed.

I know, always looking for the next little slight against the Queen or the country to be offended by, probably best to ignore them but hard sometimes

 

[Prevenger17]

Some people look for and find offence for everything

I still find it astonishing that these kind of sentences are coming from the lads who cry about people kneeling

 

[Tubey]

And it would change how they voted? Even though that’s not what happened?
What percentage would say that getting worked up about some grad students redecorating their space and then lying about why they did it is a bit stupid?

That's literally what happened by their own admission, but no, not on its' own, but as I've said a few times it's death by a thousand stupid cuts - they all add up, they all become associated with a persistent ideology, and the Labour party get the blame and the Tories benefit. Hell, the picture has absolutely nothing to do with the Labour party in theory, but because of their strategy they are implicated by political position anyway due to the lurch to the extreme left under Corbyn.

Here's an unnamed Tory MP:

'The Labour Party is losing the plot. They can carry on banging on about all this stuff. The reality is most of the public are not with them on it. We are just agreeing with the public saying this is ridiculous.'

He's right. They are benefitting every time. If I was a Tory, rather than get annoyed I'd just do what they do - shake my head disapprovingly and express manufactured outrage while privately laughing about how the left eats itself. But I get annoyed, because the opposition should be credible, and Labour aren't.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

I still find it astonishing that these kind of sentences are coming from the lads who cry about people kneeling

I really couldn't give a toss if anyone kneels or not. It's a free choice or at least it should be.
Just because you are a Christian you don't need to go to church everyday to prove it. Or do you?
Racism is abhorrent and evil. But people shouldn't have to adhere to certain signals or behaviours just to
prove they are not racist. If so, George Orwell didn't know half of it.

 

[Tubey]

P.S. @dead_soft, here's word for word your argument - https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-war-on-woke-loony-left-political-correctness - I know it, I've considered it, I'm actually a 'Stewart Lee' kind of person who laughs at the old 'political correctness gone mad' stuff.

But it doesn't wash because the problem is it compares a digital age with an analogue one; it doesn't accommodate the dawn of social media and the 'progressive movements' it has engendered, which are real. This is no longer an empty scapegoat; it's too easy for the right to validly point at the boogeyman and benefit from t.