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@docrussjackson

10 Jun

#Patriotism is a healthy pride in your country that creates a desire to help other citizens.

#Nationalism is identification with one's own nation, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations, & is often inherently divisive.

theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-eng…

Nationalism can be divisive because it highlights perceived differences between people, emphasizing an individual's identification with their own nation. When it submerges individual identity within a national one, it gives elites opportunities to manipulate & control the masses.

George Orwell distinguishes nationalism from patriotism which he defines as devotion to a particular place. More abstractly, nationalism is "power-hunger tempered by self-deception". For Orwell, the nationalist is more likely than not dominated by irrational negative impulses.

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@docrussjackson

10 Jun

"There is one fact that is now obvious to the whole country - the peerages, places in the upper house of our legislature, can be bought & sold like golf club membership. It is odious, & it must stop" - Boris Johnson, 2006.

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

In 2015, a judge ruled that then Tory party treasurer Peter Cruddas had corruptly offered in exchange for donations to Tory funds, the opportunity to influence Govt policy & gain unfair commercial advantage through confidential meetings with ministers.

thetimes.co.uk/article/sunday…

In the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, Cruddas was named the richest man in the City of London.

He was ennobled despite an attempt by the House of Lords Appointment Commission to veto the nomination - the first time in history the vetting body has ever been overruled by the PM.

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@docrussjackson

7 Jun

Negative stereotypes harm all of us.

Supporters of #BlackLivesMatter aren't necessarily 'woke Marxists' (though some might be).

Similarly, people who boo England players for taking the knee in solidarity with victims of #racism aren't necessarily 'racist dickheads'. 👍

Bonus Fun Fact:

As a New York born only child of Jewish parents of German origin, & a young socialist, the 'founding father of modern journalism', Walter Lippmann, was the first person to use the word "stereotype" in the modern psychological sense.

Lippmann, critical of US Chief wartime propagandist George Creel, advised Woodrow Wilson that censorship should "never be entrusted to anyone who is not himself tolerant, nor to anyone who is unacquainted with the long record of folly which is the history of suppression".

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@docrussjackson

6 Jun

@nationaltrust

The Tories & the press relentlessly attack & undermine the @nationaltrust & the @BBC, two of our most loved & quintessentially British institutions, not because they're "woke" or "anti-British", but because they're two of the only assets we have left which haven't been sold off.

Contrary to popular belief among the fewer than 3 in 10 of the electorate who voted Tory in #GE209, deregulated free market capitalism is not about "efficiency", 'driving down costs' or 'driving up choice & quality': it's about short-term profit & is not in the national interest.

Most countries have polices restricting foreign ownership on the grounds that there are strategic sectors which should be kept in domestic ownership.

Not the UK: public utilities, the media, manufacturing & property are in the hands of foreign companies & foreign billionaires.

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@docrussjackson

3 Jun

Just imagine the response had PM Corbyn overseen 150,000 deaths! 🤯

A short #THREAD on the *REAL* causes of Britain's mass deaths.

Despite the brutality & disarray of the current Government, the causes of Britain's catastrophic response to #COVID have been brewing for decades.

Since the 2008 financial crash — caused by the reckless irresponsibility of a greedy & woefully under-regulated & deregulated financial sector — our once genuinely world-beating public services have been utterly decimated, with tragic consequences for millions of decent people.

Following the imposition of ideological #austerity, council funding has been cut by 49%.

Essential public services have either been privatised or replaced with faceless profit-motivated corporate outsourcers, with only a superficial concern for the places in which they operate.

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@docrussjackson

31 May

The elite want more deregulated free-market capitalism.

Yet despite the best efforts of newspaper owners, broadcasters, politicians, lobbyists & think tanks, 67% of British people strongly support MORE REGULATION of business, compared to 53% in Germany.

pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021…

British people also desire a much more expansive role for the state: 62% deem it “very important” for the Govt to build more public housing, & 53% want to increase benefits for the poor - higher than other countries. 50% want a Universal Basic Income - much higher than elsewhere.

The fake 'culture war' fought every day by "Libertarians" & free-market supporters in the press, on radio & on TV, is designed to distract voters from the multiple catastrophic failures of deregulated free market capitalism by keeping us outraged, obsessed with trivia, & divided.

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