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#51 2022-10-04 08:10:25

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Londonistan?

Police drop probe into 'you're next' threat made to JK Rowling over her support for Salman Rushdie
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl … shdie.html

Is Donald Trump coming back to Facebook? Facebook may lift ban in January, exec says
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-don … -exec.html
Facebook may lift former president Donald Trump's suspension in January 2023

'Biden’s sneaky censors work to silence free speech'
https://www.dailynews.com/2022/09/17/bi … ee-speech/

Russia fines TikTok for LGBT propaganda, Twitch over Ukraine content
https://www.reuters.com/technology/russ … 022-10-04/

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#52 2023-05-18 14:03:06

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Rep. US politician Marjorie Taylor Greene files impeachment

'Marjorie Taylor Greene announces articles of impeachment against Biden'

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/marjorie- … 4814277918

Shortchanged: Seymour Hersh's Claim Zelenskyy Embezzled $400M in US Aid Lacks Evidence

https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/04/19/ … embezzled/

On April 12, 2023, journalist Seymour Hersh published an article on Substack titled "Trading with the Enemy."


Separatists fed up with Trudeau want province to break away from Canada, become 51st state
https://www.foxnews.com/world/separatis … 51st-state
A separatist group in Alberta, Canada


Canadian trucking groups sound alarm over 'tax scam,' call on CRA to step in
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canadia … -1.6401475
Several groups representing Canadian truckers are calling on the CRA to help end what they call a 'tax scam'


Macron sings in the streets after defiant speech to nation against violent pension riots
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/17 … orm-speech


EU backs Dutch government’s farm buyout plan to cut nitrogen pollution
https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/ … pollution/

more famous interweb bannings

PewDiePie banned on Twitch weeks after unexpected comeback
https://metro.co.uk/2023/05/09/pewdiepi … -18751719/
YouTube star PewDiePie has been hit with a Twitch ban after his channel got mysteriously re-activated to stream Trailer Park Boys.

Net censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet.

According to GlobalWebIndex, over 400 million people use virtual private networks to circumvent censorship or for increased user privacy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160610180 … e-open-web

Rated "free" by Freedom House in Freedom on the Net in 2011 (score 13), 2012 (score 12), 2013 (score 17), 2014 (score 19), 2015 (score 19), 2016 (score 18), and 2017 (score 21).
Listed as an Internet Enemy by RWB in 2014.
Classified by ONI as no evidence of filtering in 2009. There is no individual ONI country profile for the United States, but it is included in the regional overview for the United States and Canada.

http://12mars.rsf.org/2014-en/#slide2

http://opennet.net/research/regions/namerica

In 2014, the United States was added to Reporters Without Borders's (RWB's) list of "Enemies of the Internet", a category of countries with the highest level of Internet censorship and surveillance. RWB stated that the U.S. "… has undermined confidence in the Internet and its own standards of security" and that "U.S. surveillance practices and decryption activities are a direct threat to investigative journalists, especially those who work with sensitive sources for whom confidentiality is paramount and who are already under pressure."
https://www.refworld.org/docid/533925ac14.html

A 1993 Time Magazine article quotes computer scientist John Gilmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."
https://web.archive.org/web/20170113134 … ticle.html

and Russia bans sites seen as promoting illegal drug use
https://web.archive.org/web/20201111213 … rowid91343

Russians arresting critics of Putin

Australia Blocking WikiLeaks
https://web.archive.org/web/20201209213 … 6_Mar_2009

Blocking of pro–North Korean sites by South Korea
https://web.archive.org/web/20201209213 … etins/009/

maybe they feel people too foolish might get tricked and seduced by the DRPK propaganda

human rights record of North Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, the European Union and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of the country's record.

'Letters: Nicola Sturgeon will be remembered as a politician who sowed division'
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/202 … urce=email

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-05-18 14:19:36)

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#53 2023-08-15 07:13:17

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Germany shouldn’t ban the AfD
https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/08/ge … n-the-afd/

Autistic girl who told cop she 'looks like my lesbian nana' dragged from home by police
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/a … p-30673891

A video shows two West Yorkshire Police officers in the hallway of the family's home in Leeds

French riots led to an increase in small boats arriving in the UK, immigration minister tells LBC
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/france-riots … smugglers/

British tourists warned of Sweden terrorist attacks
https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/bri … st-attacks

Germany is heading towards its own ‘Rotherham-style sex abuse scandal’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl … warns.html

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-08-15 07:14:33)

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#54 2023-09-12 02:23:54

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,768

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

I am really begining to hate living in bullshit Britain.  Do you know it is now illegal to own a curved sword in the UK unless they consider it an antique?  They are talking about banning large knives as well.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k7_vb2_YB … Jkcw%3D%3D

I am not talking about walking around in a public place with these things.  I am talking about owning them on your own property.  Under UK law, you are not able to do it legally.  What does it say about a government that insists on an unarmed and helpless populus?  Does it suggest they are on your side?  The British government have always been obsessed with controlling and bullying people.  You being unarmed makes it easier for them to do that.  That is why they like it.  They like being able to push little people around with impunity.  Very soon, you won't be able to own a kitchen knife if its longer than six inches, or four inches, or is curved, or serated, or whatever other BS the home office comes up with.  These people just aren't on our side.

Last edited by Calliban (2023-09-12 02:28:49)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#55 2023-09-12 03:06:42

Terraformer
Member
From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
Website

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

It's insane we have rules about knife ownership *at all*. The knife is the most ancient hand tool of our species; any country that makes it illegal to possess something your ancestory have used for literally hundreds of thousands of years is by definition a totalitarian hellhole.

A lot of first responders in the emergency service carry knives. Illegally. Even though it's one of the most useful tools they have for their jobs, it's still illegal. Even though carrying a knife is far more likely to save a life than take one, it's still illegal. Fortunately an unenforceable law, which means only those fool enough to obey suffer. Do they honestly think they can ban a million year old technology? Just a bit of flint and someone can make themselves a knife.


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#56 2023-09-12 06:24:22

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,228

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

In contrast to the law in Britain, which appears (as I read it) to be designed to insure there is no argument when law enforcement is confronted with a knife wielding crazed UK citizen, the US has built into it's constitution a provision that allows literally insane people to own military assault weapons.

The policy of a group of Mars residents living together in a habitat is yet to be determined. 

The residents will have the option of choosing the British model, or the US model.

If I were there, I would argue for the British model.

You can possess and use dangerous tools in your daily life, but if you misuse the tool or threaten someone else with one, the community can remove the tool from you without an argument about your "rights".

(th)

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#57 2023-09-12 07:02:11

Terraformer
Member
From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
Website

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

That is not the British model, TH. The British model is that you don't get to have the tool in the first place, irrespective of what you do with it.

I'd like to get myself a knife as a present to myself when I finish my Master's degree. It's ecology, a knife is an important tool for that right?


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#58 2023-09-12 09:01:57

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,228

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

For Terraformer re #57

Thanks for explaining the difference between my perception and yours.

Setting aside the specifics of Calliban's complaint, i'd like to invite serious consideration of the best (optimum) policy for Mars.  The communities on Mars are going to be small for quite a while, and even when they are "large" they will be small by Earth standards.

Each community is going to have to deal with the issue of tools capable of hurting others, or capable of destroying critical infrastructure.

It seems to me that the attitude built into the US Constitution, of trusting every citizen with weapons, might have worked well for an extended period, when native Americans were still objecting to takeover of the continent by Europeans, and when outlaws were present in great numbers.

it seems to me that the situation has become very difficult indeed, and the US has increased in population, and the power of weapons has increased by orders of magnitude.

I'd be interested in links to history of this particular policy in the UK.  The policy itself may be of fairly recent origin. I don't recall reading of anything of the sort in the long and well documented history of the Island prior to World War I, and even after, but I'm less sure on that point.

At ** some ** point, Parliament must have felt a need to deal with the issue of weapons in the possession of deranged individuals.

Heck, the Guy Fawkes holiday is in remembrance of a citizen making (or trying to make) creative use of a match.

Without triggering emotions around this subject, I'm hoping members can review the history of this particular policy, with an eye toward attempting to provide guidance for those who will be setting up shop on Mars.

I am pretty sure that if you lived in the US, your chances of death by deadly weapon would be FAR greater than I gather is the case in the UK.

There is an opportunity for someone with a liking for numbers to fill in my guesswork here.


(th)

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#59 2023-09-12 09:20:42

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,228

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Singapore may be a model worth study, in planning for life in Mars in a small volume of air, where anyone at all can cause enormous harm through simple neglect or actual intent.

I asked Google about weapons in Singapore.. the answer that came back is about fire arms ... it would be interesting (to me at least) to aske the same question but to focus on weapons other than fire arms.

Generative AI is experimental. Info quality may vary.
Singapore has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. To legally own a gun in Singapore, you must:
Be at least 18 years old
Belong to a gun club
Pass a shooting proficiency test
Pass background checks on your criminal, medical, and mental health records
Store your gun at the gun club
Anyone caught using an illegal firearm in Singapore faces the death penalty. Illegal possession of a gun or ammunition can result in jail time of 5 to 10 years and at least six strokes of the cane.

The Arms Offences Act of 1973 criminalizes the illegal possession of arms and ammunition, and the carrying, trafficking, and usage of arms.
This is not legal advice. You may want to consult a lawyer about this question.

Why Gun Control Works In Singapore But Will Not In ... - Medium
Oct 5, 2017

Strict gun and border controls help keep out arms
Jan 17, 2015

The Straits Times

Arms Offences Act - Wikipedia

Wikipedia

6 Countries With The Most Strict Gun Laws - Live and Invest Overseas

(th)

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#60 2023-09-13 01:26:19

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,812

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

tahanson43206,

I think people searching for a way to blame the logos behind government not having a monopoly on violence, as embodied within our US Constitution, are part of the problem.  It means they don't comprehend or don't value their personal liberties, nor the sacrifices it took to provide them, nor the fact that a society which doesn't cherish and defend its own citizens will eventually devolve into a living hell, not some sort of utopia.  It's painful to know that so much blood has been spilled to grant unto others that which they don't value.  We reward those who sacrifice others and punish those who sacrifice themselves.  There is something profoundly wrong with that.

Weapons, criminals, and the mentally ill have always been with us.  We used to imprison the criminals and institutionalize the mentally ill, but now they freely roam the streets under the false premise of "caring about them".  We have people who think giving needles to drug addicts, who will then use those needles to poison themselves, equates to caring for drug addicts.  While that may make someone feel moral and virtuous, it's still profoundly evil and wicked.  You'd have to be at least somewhat mentally ill to believe doing such a thing was virtuous, but somehow a large swath of our population has convinced themselves that helping troubled people commit suicide is demonstrating love and compassion.  I think it's sloth masquerading as a virtue.  If my sworn mortal enemy asked me to push him off a cliff, I would refuse his request.  I will never be a paragon of virtue, but I cannot be a moral person by committing evil acts against the least of my brothers and sisters.  Doing the right thing is always simple, but never easy.

What we're seeing today is a total lack of morality combined with mind-numbing ignorance.  There's a certain religious group which worships power.  It's bereft of any other morality except whatever allows it to retain power.  They're willing to tell any lie and do any deed.  So long as people keep voting for them, they'll keep doing what they're doing.  Why would they stop?  There's no reason for them to behave any differently.  Some of us tried to warn others about what would ultimately happen if they kept enabling that "will to power", but our warning fell on deaf ears.  So be it.  Now we all get to suffer through the consequences of the poor decision making skills of some of our fellow Americans.

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#61 2023-09-13 06:35:21

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,228

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

For kbd512 re #60

We have an opportunity to attempt to work out procedures(policies/best-practices) for dealing with various human failings that may/will arise on Mars.

You have listed a few of the things that could go wrong, and you could probably go on at greater length.

Instead, here is an opportunity for you (and other forum members) to attempt to work out how best to deal with the many problems/challenges that are likely to occur over time, in any group of humans.

There are many populations of humans (as nearly as I can tell) who have managed to live comfortably and without violence internally, and without committing violence against their neighbors.

On the other hands, there are a great many populations where violence and committing violence against other groups is common.

In thinking about the populations where violence is endemic, and populations where it is rare, it seems to me that those populations who live nearer the poles tend to be less prone to violence.  I am guessing that the environment selects for those who can cooperate with others, and support each other, whereas in warmer latitudes the natural violence of human nature may have more opportunity to express itself.

The conditions on Mars may be so difficult and challenging that populations may follow the model of groups on Earth who live near the poles.

However, that conjecture avoids the responsibility of the members of each population to support and care for others. 

(th)

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#62 2023-09-13 06:59:21

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,228

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

As a follow up to Post #61....

I am acquainted with a gent who believes that war has been an agent to accelerate human progress. 

We may be seeing that occurring right now in the conflict in Ukraine, where the smaller population is having to invent at a furious pace to try to defeat and to drive out invading forces and weapons from a much larger neighbor. 

War can have a cleansing effect.  Ukraine (like all the Soviet Union) appears to have had a problem with corruption.  From news reports, I get the impression that since corruption works against the interests of the group, individuals who syphon group resources off for their personal benefit are being identified and removed from positions where they have betrayed the trust given to them.

The question of the pace of innovation where war is present vs where it is not is certainly an interesting one, and I hope that there might be someone in the membership who has the ability to comment one way or the other.  As mentioned earlier, the environment itself can drive innovation, but perhaps war is needed to accelerate the pace of innovation.

(th)

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#63 2023-09-13 07:38:57

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,812

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

tahanson43206,

I'm not aware of any human society that lives without violence, but there are certainly wide variances in violence rates.  Homogeneous populations tend towards lower violence rates, but even that is not consistent.  The distance of the environment from the equator has nothing to do with violence rates, either, although our highly industrious cherry pickers really love picking their cherries.  The Russians live in the North.  Their society is anything but peaceful.  All these northern societies which seem so peaceful today were also subjected to endless wars, not so long ago.  Many of these northern societies have very high levels of income and education, so there's little incentive to kill each other.  The obvious solution to their peace problem was to import violent extremists from elsewhere, and now they have more violence.

You think Ukraine has a corruption problem, but more than half the country voted for a President who bragged on national television about firing the prosecutor who was investigating the corrupt business practices of the company his son worked for.  The former President was impeached for merely inquiring about it.  Magical thinking aside, how do you imagine that they're going to have less of a corruption problem now that the person handing out the money thinks it's okay to intimidate that country into firing prosecutors by withholding aid money?

I don't view war as interesting math problem to solve, but I guess that's because I don't view people as ants on an ant farm.  Maybe that kind of thinking needs to change if you want to achieve a profound shift in human behavior.  People aren't guinea pigs for socialists to run their anti-social experiments on.

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#64 2023-09-13 08:18:00

Terraformer
Member
From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
Website

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Violence is very very rare. Very few people are willing to murder; even fewer will do it premeditated. We know this because tools to kill each other are widely available, even in Britain. Knives, petrol, screwdrivers... we're not lacking for murder weapons. And yet, only one Brit is murdered each year for every hundred thousand of us.

As far as off world colonies are concerned, look at ships and oil rigs and antarcic bases. Are murder rates elevated in those? What about in the arctic, where gun ownership isn't just legal but mandatory (bears)?


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#65 2023-09-13 11:43:35

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,812

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Terraformer,

That's the point I've been trying to walk people into, with respect to their viewpoints on firearms and other tools which are not intrinsically dangerous.  If there was something intrinsically dangerous about civilians owning firearms, then nearly everyone living in America should've been dead for a long time now.  We have more firearms than people, but it's the same individuals or groups of people, namely violent multiple felons and the criminally insane, who commit the majority of the crimes.  People don't go from, "I like puppies" to "I'm going to shoot every person I see", without quite a few steps in between.  Since "gunpocalypse" hasn't happened here, other issues must be in play.  Society has a very small minority of people, relative to the entire general public, who cannot control their emotions, for whatever reasons.  That has always been a problem.  We used to solve it by incarcerating or institutionalizing those people to prevent greater harm to themselves and others.  Taking things away from everyone else doesn't solve that problem.  The problem is still there.

There are certain people in our society who do not wish to address the root problem of violence, because it was either created or worsened by the governance policies they support, and wouldn't paint a very flattering picture of what they've done to themselves and others.  Guns can't be blamed for the fact that more Americans are murdered every year by blunt objects than rifles of any kind.  Morality is the heart of the violence problem.

This solution to the violence problem starts in the home.  It's created and perpetuated in fatherless homes, which our government incentives women to create by rewarding them with money by leaving the men they choose to sleep with, or by fathers who don't take care of their own children and wife.  I can show you who is most likely to not have violence problems based upon whether their father was present in their life and showed some basic care for his own children.  Someone else said it best, though.  Your mother would love you unconditionally.  Your father would love you based upon whether or not you behaved like a decent human being.  If no one is present to let a child know what acceptable behavior is, then that child is inclined to think whatever they want to do is acceptable.  A peaceful civilized society will be ruined if it tolerates this type of thinking.

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#66 2023-09-14 05:04:06

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,768

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

If you follow the 'British' model, then your country or colony will essentially be an open prison.  A place where you have no freedom of speech, are not allowed own tools that someone might consider dangerous; are viewed with continuous suspicion.  You will be surveilled, searched and monitored at his majesty's pleasure.  Your property will be heavily taxed and local government will control what you can build and do with it, to the point where it really isn't yours at all in any practical sense.  If you work hard and do well and earn a good wage, you will be so heavily taxed, that you will begin to question why you are bothering to try.  In short, if you follow the British model, your people will be subjects rather than citizens.  You will be a slave.

It was exactly this sort of behaviour from the British crown that prompted the American revolution in the first place.  It prompted the Irish uprising.  Unfortunately, the English themselves never rebelled against their oppressors the way the early Americans did.  We have always been apathetic pushovers.  So we still have the same shabby, controlling and abusive elite hanging over us.  The Norman conquest never ended and the Norman yoke was never lifted.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have no interest in travelling tens of millions of miles and living on a frozen planet, just to live under the same tyranny that I do now.  People went to America primarily because they wanted freedom from European powers.  Mars needs to offer the same promiss.  If it doesn't, then why not stay on Earth, where there is at least free air?
**********************************

Additional: London has fallen.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WwbNEVjW9jQ

A powerful speech.  What the young man alludes to, is that England has always been a land of two halves.  There is the Upper (aristochratic) class, who are the descendants of the conquerer.  Then there are the lower (middle and working) classes, who are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons.

Last edited by Calliban (2023-09-14 08:08:20)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#67 2023-09-15 02:58:06

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,812

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Calliban,

If I was creating a new government, its leadership would be based upon competence, morality, and demonstrating through action that they bear true faith and allegiance to the people they're supposed to serve.  Personal desires or beliefs must be subordinated to workable solutions for the overwhelming majority.  Perhaps leadership needs something more akin to a Hippocratic Oath than swearing that they're supporting the Constitution.  Whenever leaders observe results that don't correlate with whatever the stated intent was behind some command decision they made, changing the course of action must be mandatory.  If you're spending inordinate sums of money to prevent poverty, yet you have more and more people slipping into poverty, then the spending of money isn't solving the problem because the action is producing the opposite of the stated intent behind spending the money, so it's time to try a different approach.  They're running a system of governance that supposed to represent the interests of their people.  You can't represent them by impoverishing them.  You won't find anyone anywhere on Earth who wants to become poor or poorer.  Government is not an ant farm for petty and capricious children to play with.

What we are seeing right now is the arrogance of people who believe themselves to be removed from the consequences of their immorality and poor decision making skills.  We have people in Hawaii who don't have food, clothing, or water, but we can spend unlimited money on third-party killing of Russians and Ukrainians.  If the politicians in charge right now only cared about tribalism, the people living in Hawaii are predominantly from their tribe.  You would think that we could print more money to take care of them, if we can print endless money to kill Russians and Ukrainians in Ukraine.  This would at least demonstrate moral consistency in the application of their values- meaning, tribe above all else.  What is the average person supposed to make of this?  It's utterly ridiculous.

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#68 2023-11-01 10:33:15

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Propaganda and Psychological Warfare in time of war, sometimes it is difficult to see truth.


Swiss writer being jailed for insulting lesbian journalist alarms free speech advocates

https://www.foxnews.com/media/swiss-wri … -advocates


Hate speech laws are being used to shut down open, democratic debate

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/hate-sp … ic-debate/


Malaysia no longer under influence of British rule, or Russia USSR Communist or Dutch is more islamic and no longer leans Western?

Australian-based journalist Kean Wong arrested in Malaysia for editing banned book

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n … anned-book


a Justified Arrest or Londonistan Thought Police? something about Bethnal Green road.

British police arrested a man for posting a video on social media complaining about the Palestinian flags that have been going up in his neighborhood.
https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/ … 0455363018

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#69 2023-11-01 11:16:57

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,768

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

It always makes me laugh when socialist types talk about 'British values' and how much better this place is than China or Iran because of all of the 'freedoms' we have.  I think what is remarkable about the comparison between Britain and China is how similar they really are.  In neither place do you really have any freedom of speech, or any privacy.

Fun fact: If British police raid your home and find a sum of money greater than £1000, they can take it.  To get it back, you have to explain where you got it from and if they aren't satisfied, they can keep it.

They can ask to show them where the money came from to buy your car.  If you cannot show them, they can take your car.  If they find a sword in your house, they can confiscate it.  If they find a gun or taser, you go to prison, just for having it in your house.  You don't need to commit a crime with it.  You are a criminal just for having it.  If they find Nazi symbols or literature that could be considered 'hateful' you can be arrested.  Just for owning it.  They can confiscate your computer, mobile phone and personal possessions.  They can ask you for the password for your phone and if you don't provide it, you are a charged with terror offences.  You can go to prison for saying something or posting online something that someone doesn't like or finds disrespectful.  They have armies of trolls, searching facebook and twitter for anyone that posts things they don't like.

Welcome to 'Free and Democratic' Britain.  So much better than China.  It is actually one of the most oppressive places on Earth.  Television people never miss an opportunity to tell the world how free and democratic it is.  I think mainly because they know full well that it is the opposite and denying reality is easier than facing the truth.  It is as bad as anything that George Orwell could have dreamed up.

Last edited by Calliban (2023-11-01 11:31:13)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#70 2023-11-01 12:22:54

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,812

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Calliban,

The only difference between the modern political left and the worst historical mass-murdering communists is the degree to which they're allowed to exercise control over your right to exist.  If they were given absolute authority, then they would absolutely mass murder everyone who disagrees with them.  There's no historical example we can point to where such a thing didn't happen.  They're as thin-skinned, irrational, and petty as toddlers are, but for some reason they've won majorities in most western countries.

Have you ever noticed that almost nobody who has a "religious conversion", suddenly becomes a leftist later in life?

Their ideology can't withstand cursory logical scrutiny, nor wisdom gained through experience, which is why leftists always target children, whereas rightists typically target fully grown adults.  There are no right wing authoritarians in practice because right-wing people question authority and exercise of government power.  If you don't question government power, then you're definitely not "right wing", merely an authoritarian masquerading as something you're clearly not.

The mark of a valid viewpoint is being able to convince someone with a fully developed brain and some life experience that your way of doing something has merit and logically consistent arguments behind it.  When we have our "Republican meetings", we don't talk about what the party's approved way of thinking is, people who think differently are not shouted down and threatened, and we don't use coercion to get people to share our viewpoints.  We don't consult "experts" for what our opinions should be, either, because most of us have thought about what we think and why we think it.  I'm sure there are some irrational young people there who simply believe something because their parents do, but that's not normative.  We plainly state what we think and believe, make our arguments if there's a dispute, and then we move on with life.  Nobody is looking for ways to "cancel you", to marginalize you, or to insult you, on the basis of fundamental disagreement, because those are all the tactics of the left and leftists, and we're not them.

It's honestly a bit humorous that holding some traditional American values now makes me a "rebel" in a country founded by rebels.  At least now you know why we live there.  Being arrested for complaining about people waving more Palestinian flags than Union Jacks is how you know you've fallen farther and faster than you thought possible.  You have people living in your country who don't consider themselves British first and everything else second.

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#71 2023-11-02 01:44:58

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,768

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Agreed on all points.  The establishment in Britain has been telling people in no uncertain terms for quite some time, that they are subjects and slaves.  They have no rights - they are pieces of industrial equipment.  They are owned by the state.

The thing that annoys me most is the complete apathy of most people.  They don't seem to realise, they don't seem to care. So long as they can continue to get drunk, stoned and eat fast food, they don't think things like this effects them.  Previous generations were prepared to risk life and limb for their freedom.  Where are those people now?  What would they think if they could see the apathy and laziness of their descendants?  I think Britain needs a revolution.  We need to become a constitutional republic, with the state beholden to the people and not the other way around.  But the state is too powerful at present for even determined individuals to stand a chance in challenging it.


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#72 2023-11-25 11:21:34

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

The reasonableness of the European Right
https://asiatimes.com/2023/11/the-reaso … ean-right/
Geert Wilders’ surprise victory in last week’s Dutch elections portends an upheaval in European politics long in the offing, but provoked by two pressing events. The first is the mass demonstrations in support of Hamas by Muslim migrants after October 7, a triumphalist assertion of power by a minority that believes that it may become the future majority. This cast a harsh light on uncontrolled mass immigration, now Europe’s top political issue.

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#73 2023-12-04 09:23:24

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

The incorrect use of the English language in broadcast media seems to be destroying minds driving people on an irrational path but how insane could it get. In another 10 years will they accuse people of islamist-phobias will they say Palestine rebels went on a 'migratory' journey to Israel and then took other people on a migration back to Gaza?


The use of the English language itself seems to die, calling illegal jihadi rapist invaders 'migrants' as if they will migrate across the USA, Canada, Mexico, Greece and Spain, Denmark and Japan and Russia and North Africa like a bird, maybe a Pelicans maybe a Moose or Caribou, or maybe a Whale, Wildebeest, Fruit Bat, or Arctic Tern...cross a border or new region during Summer and then migrate back South during Winter?



why are they using 'migrant' to describe an illegal terrorist invader? Why does the BBC use 'Asian' to describe terrorists from Somalia, Pakistan, Niger, Albania, Kenya etc



NotTheBee is a spin off of the satire BabylonBee it is report is when 'news' gets so ridiculous it can not be parody piece, The Babylon BeeSatirical a the Middle-Ground like TheOnion and other paraody news, 'TheOnion' is now seen as left while NotTheBee or BabylonBee is seen as Middle Right or sometimes a conservative Christian news satire website

new White House initiative to combat "rising Islamophobia" ...or maybe they mean islamo-awarness

phobia describes an irrational fear, calling out jihads is not fearful nor is it irrational

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7699c6cy0_8

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-12-04 10:08:39)

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#74 2023-12-30 14:11:03

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

Seems like Antifa, Palestine flags, some of Arabic or Left groups and Hamas supporters have taken control of the World Trade Center, other flags might be Egypt, there might also be a Yemen flag or UAE or Sudan? I think I also see a South Africa and Lebanon flag among the crowd. Someone else seems to have a picture of a slice of watermelon? and there is the phrase 'Genocide Joe' among the crowd.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/wat … resistance

In the USA it can be confusing or offensive as watermelon has long been 'stereotype' image

'The incident comes just one day after pro-Palestinian protesters blocked off the entrance to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.'

https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1 … 6578714665


2023 was a ‘dire’ year for freedom of speech on campus, says this organization. Will next year be any better?

https://www.foxnews.com/media/2023-dire … ear-better

Claudine Gay: Harvard president’s tumultuous months in the spotlight

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/16/business … index.html

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-12-30 14:19:21)

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#75 2024-03-03 08:19:46

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Is the Western World Sinking into Totalitarianism?

I don't know where Brazil ranks on the world stage politically, many see it USA friendly pro-European, some see Brics as pro-Russia while the Huntington 'Clash of Civilization' map would rank them as a Hispanic Latin culture a different organic entity.

Bolsonaro denies coup plot as thousands rally in support of former Brazilian leader
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/americas … index.html

Secretary of State Blinken meets with Brazil's president after incendiary Gaza comments
https://www.foxnews.com/world/secretary … a-comments


Two Years and Day days after 'January 6' in the USA, a riot mob at the United States Capitol Building in Washington, Brazil also hit by a mob of protests riots, a mob 8th day of January 2023, following the defeat of then-president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian general election and the inauguration of his successor Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, a mob of Bolsonaro's supporters attacked Brazil's federal government buildings in the capital, Brasília. The mob invaded and caused deliberate damage to the Supreme Federal Court, the National Congress building and the Planalto Presidential Palace in the Praça dos Três Poderes or in English Three Powers Plaza, Lula announced that he had signed a decree authorising a federal state of emergency.

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