The truth about #Grenfell is slowly being revealed.
Imho, it's now crystal clear that all the key decisions flowed from free-market fundamentalists' desire to always push for more #deregulation, regardless of the consequences, in order to maximise profit.
#Regulation - or "red tape" - exists to keep society safe & civilised, for example by conserving biodiversity, preventing quack remedies, & ensuring air, food, water, products & working & living conditions are safe, thus protecting consumers, workers, the environment & children.
The Tories, the libertarian Right & free-market think tanks talk a lot about removing 'red tape', & deregulation 'removing barriers to trade'.
What this means in reality is letting corporations & unethical individuals get away with exploitation, pollution, & sometimes, murder.
A 2011 Govt initiative aimed to cut down the 21,000 statutory rules & regulations. The permanent secretary of the Govt Dept in charge of fire safety, said the strong focus on cutting red tape meant it was “very difficult to get anything changed”. #Grenfell theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/a…
Regulation & "red tape" keeps us safe from those who would cut corners: 'cutting red-tape' is a euphemism for getting rid of worker, consumer & environmental protections, so the already wealthy can ruthlessly exploit workers, consumers & the environment.
Sadly, democracy can no longer compete with the unimaginable wealth, power & influence of a global cabal of free-market fundamentalists, who have built a network of influence taking in media & Govts across the world which make even Thatcher look left-wing.
And even now, the grotesque ghouls in the right-wing press, on GB "News", & in parliament - supported by a global network of billionaire-funded libertarian-right think tanks - STILL push for ever more deregulation.
They won't stop until the planet can no longer support life.
The @Conservatives & the US Right want to take the UK & USA back to a time before working people had become organised & demanded improvements in working & living conditions, along with increasing the quality of goods & services - the Right see this as "barriers to trade & profit"
It sometimes feels like an impossible task to reign in elite power, but the ONLY reason the Right win elections is because of the support of VERY rich individuals, corporations, press barons, think tanks & investors, who fund & push the "free market" agenda.
Echoing objections to social-media fuelled violence from the government of the UK & others, the Chamber of Progress, a tech business advocacy group, is urging delusional adolescent billionaire Musk to take his leadership role at @X more seriously - or resign if he cannot do so.
Since July 29 when right-wing influencers made false claims on Twitter/@X & other social media platforms that falsely blamed the murder of three children on Muslims & asylum-seeking immigrants, dozens of far-right #FarageRiots erupted around the nation.
The #FarageRiots started with a lie – a fake name and false information that suggested the teenager alleged to have killed three young girls in #Southport was a Muslim asylum seeker. He was neither.
There is an uncomfortable hypocrisy at the heart of this story, which is that people didn’t react the same way when, earlier this year, a white man killed a 14-year-old black boy, Daniel Anjorin, with a sword.
While that perpetrator was treated as a horrific anomaly, the Southport attacker was viewed by racist rioters as representative of migrants & Muslims, despite being neither.
A psychologist explains the cognitive biases and psychological responses behind this disparate treatment.
Researchers have developed & articulated the concept of “everyday extremism” to acknowledge that extreme narratives derived from non-mainstream sources can become a part of mainstream political discourse via social media.
As usual, @elonmusk takes a half-truth, removes important context, then selectively presents a misleading claim implying something about contemporary society, in this case mobilising a 'white victimhood' racist dog whistle narrative to fuel anger, division, & engagement.
Musk presents the claim that the etymological origins of the word word slave derives solely from the exploitation of 'white people', rather than, say, emphasising how religious texts from Judaism, Islam & Christianity all recognise slaves as a separate class of people in society.
Before examining Musk's misleading claim, it's worth knowing that the word 'Slav' refers to a member of the most numerous ethnic & linguistic body of peoples in Europe, residing chiefly in eastern & southeastern Europe but extending also across northern Asia to the Pacific Ocean.
#NEW opinion poll: "73% of the British public say that the riots are shaming rather than standing up for Britain, & the public overwhelmingly believe that those helping clear up after the riots (87%) represent British values." - @Moreincommon_ 🇬🇧
Rather than attitudes to the riots sitting in two contrasting pro- & anti-riots camps, public opinion is akin to Russian Dolls: small groups are willing to condone the riots but much bigger groups with opinions cited as motivation for the violence condemn it without hesitation.
The smallest group are those who express support for the unrest: 7% of the public say they are ashamed Britain is a multi-ethnic country; 8% think violent demonstrations outside asylum seeker accommodation are acceptable; & the 11% who have a positive opinion of Tommy Robinson.