You may think some people are loud, angry & uneducated.
You may think it's because god or nature made them that way.
To the extent they ARE loud, angry & uneducated, it's not because of nature or god.
It's because of how we run our society.
It's because of stuff we can change.
The people with the least power over their lives in our society would like even just A LITTLE power over their lives....
Just the beginnings of power....
Just a taster of self-determination....
It's not much to ask, is it?
It's something the Brexiteer nationalist populist billionaires and toffs have promised ordinary people.
But they were lying, weren't they?
All they wanted was to monetise or gain power from what ordinary people deserve and never get.
And Labour's new leadership? Are they offering even just a taste of self-determination to ordinary people?
Not on your life.
They're fighting tooth & nail to take self-determination away from their own members. Do you think they give a damn about giving power to ordinary folk?
Something needs to change.
• • •
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Let’s talk about populism.
Populists pretend complex problems have simple answers.
They like things so simple they become stupid.
They adore binary choices.
They demand you ‘take sides’.
1/10 #populism#populists#propaganda#Johnson#woke#antiwoke
Populists like division.
They like an enemy.
If no enemy’s handy, they’ll make one.
They like to act the victim, no matter how rich, powerful or privileged they are.
But, by creating ‘an enemy’, victims are precisely what they tend to produce.
2/10 #populism#populist#division
Populism appeals to our worse instincts.
It appeals to emotions of hatred, resentment, a tribal ‘us’ and ‘them’.
In today's world we need our better instincts:
•Caring
•Cooperation
•Empathy
•Compassion
Populism doesn’t care about caring. Compassion isn’t on its agenda.
3/10
Let’s talk about the Socrates Bomb.
“That sounds unpleasant.”
More than unpleasant. It’s lethal.
“Is ‘lethal’ moral?”
It’s not lethal for people.
It’s lethal for lies.
The Socrates Bomb is an anti-propaganda incendiary device for use in cognitive conflict. It’s a frontline armament in our battle against the 21st Century pandemic of lies. It’s a cluster munition for deployment against disinformation and deceit.
As the Socrates Bomb explodes it shatters into fragments of different shapes and sizes. It’s shrapnel includes:
– The evidence shard
– The logic sliver
– The language splinter
– The motivation particle
– The morality needle
Everyone’s trying to sell you something, or take something off you, or get you to do something.
Everyone’s out for themselves.
No one can be trusted.
People are greedy.
People are lazy.
It’s a dog-eat-dog world.
Our media is our enemy – and much of our schooling too.
We’re victims of cognitive imperialism – and the invading empire has established its outposts in the hinterlands of our minds.
“Violence,” you say, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
I can only agree. It’s a great saying. Whose is it?
“Isaac Asimov, I think. I’m not sure.”
The science fiction writer?
“Yes.”
I love the guy. He said a lot of great stuff. Have spacesuit. Will travel.
“No, that was Heinlein.”
Ah. Right-wing libertarian Heinlein. I loved a lot of his stuff, too. Starship Troopers. Stranger In A Strange Land. Shame he was a right-wing libertarian.
“He was probably ok with violence, too.”
Shifting back to the topic of violence….
“Shall we?”
Why not? I agree with you.
“With me or Isaac Asimov?”
Either. Both.
Occasionally we glimpse the foul cesspit of Johnson's mind.
How he must scorn climate activists if ‘bunnyhuggers’ is how he sees them....
How he must scorn gays if "tank topped bum boys" is his description of choice....
1/3
How he must scorn Africans if he can write of picaninnies with water melon smiles…
How he must scorn the British public if he feels able to so easily lie…
How he must scorn women if he thinks only “feeble” men can’t “take control of their women”…. 2/3 #BorisJohnson #cesspit
How he must scorn nurses if he’ll applaud them then cut their pay….
How he must scorn school children if he’ll send them home hungry….
How he must scorn anyone other than himself – a man whom he holds in the highest regard! 3/3