foxes21

Lots of dupers delight going on in that trial.

It’s not a conundrum. Anti-Vaxxer is a derogatory name and dehumanising. The necessary restrictions for COVID were achievable without the hatred of the other being spun. Hopefully such division is not promoted during the next pandemic, which unfortunately might not be far away with the diminishing geopolitical climate and access to biowarfare.

Anti-vaxxer falls under the “othering” of people rhetoric btw. You are putting people into a group and then dehumanising that group. Yes I am vaccinated.

It is by design. The top hierarchy and their propaganda machine, celebrities, influencers, online bots and agent provocateurs have gone into overdrive in recent years, promoting groups, labels, division and manipulating our tribal instincts. Divide and conquer is still the most successful strategy when it comes to maintaining and increasing power. It’s never been easier with the technology we have today & our understanding of behavioural science. “The literate man is a natural sucker for propaganda. You cannot propagandise a native. You can sell him rum and trinkets but you can’t sell him ideas. Therefore, propaganda is our achilles heel. It’s our weak point. We will buy anything if its got a good, hard sell tied to it. So propaganda is the great big soft spot in the makeup of the literate man”. - Marshall McLuhan, 1977.

Speaking of language in the 1930s, for anyone who hasn’t already, it would be worth studying that period to understand how politicians and the propaganda machine can turn well educated citizens into tyrants. Because those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I wouldn’t underestimate the modern day propaganda machine which is the most potent and powerful in history.

Bread and circuses

Kagawa & Minamino

Mass disobedience is required. We need thousands of fans to refuse showing their ID. If they get kicked out then you’ve got a large crowd outside the ground protesting these ridiculous measures.

There will certainly be food security issues with the new farming subsidies coming soon. Large farms with more resources will be able to make the necessary changes but small farms will struggle (no doubt the oligarchs in this country will be drooling at the prospect of adding to their portfolio when these small farmers have no choice but to sell up). The UK will certainly have to rely more on imports (currently at 46% for total food consumed), which as you highlighted, is already a fragile system.

We have politicians trying to be scientific and scientists trying to be political. We saw so many terrible govt decisions during covid which went against current data at the time. I've just listened to Maria Van Kerkhove at the WHO saying we need more govt surveillance as if the snoopers charter wasn't bad enough . Quite the shit show.

Give the man a gun and he can rob a Bank, but give a man a Bank and he can rob the world. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is coming worldwide and if we accept it then I fear for our future generations. CBDC will be introduced as an alternative to the inflated, depreciating currencies (in particular the world reserve currency) and everyone will of course jump on it. Rishi Sunak recently revealed the govts plans to look into CBDC as did Jerome Powell of the federal reserve. Infact most countries around the world are planning to implement CBDC. Here is why CBDC is a major concern: Central Bank Digital Currency will allow the govt to insert programmable smart contracts through the API into the banking systems digital wallet, to stop you from paying for activities that are deemed 'socially harmful' eg: buying too much oil. I wonder if the elite class will suffer from the same restrictions and be forced to stop flying around in their private jets . The issue here is who gets to deem what is socially harmful? These programmable smart contracts are virtually limitless in terms of control. Oh you were at a protest last weekend the govt don't agree with? Didn't comply with our latest regulation/mandate? Let's just freeze your wallet. Sorry according to our smart contracts you've reached your limit on meat consumption this week, unfortunately we can't process your payment (meanwhile Prince Charles is eating a grass fed steak). Please spend the digital tokens we just transferred to your account within the next 30 days. But only in shops within a 10 mile radius. It's basically the Chinese social credit score system on steroids . There are some positives however, as it would help reduce crime, fraud, create automated money laundering checks, etc. But ultimately it will be a rule for thee not for me system like no other and whilst we're making all these sacrifices, the CEOs, billionaires, royals, politicians and most powerful amongst us will continue to pollute and do as they please. Meanwhile, we will be at the mercy of this new financial system. The BRIC countries plans to develop a new reserve currency and challenge the US Dollar, will only make this transition to CBDC quicker.

China have pretty much mastered the art of war. "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting" - Sun Tzu. It's possible China will try infiltrate the Taiwan elections in a couple years time and push for a regime that's in their favour. This is in order to complete the final phase of Xi's 'Two centenaries' goals by 2049 (1) and achieve the 'Chinese Dream' (2). The unification of Taiwan is paramount in the completion of the Two centenaries and although 2049 is a long way from now, Xi has stated he doesn't want the issue to be passed on from generation to generation (3). In regards to the upcoming Taiwan election in 2024, there are popular politicians such as Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang party (KMT), who support 'One China' policy (4) and the 1992 consensus (5) which whilst unpopular, could still be a potential threat to the DPP. The good news is the Democractic Progressive Party are still hugely popular in the polls and refuse any move for reunification. But then again things can change quickly in politics, as we've seen in our own country with the 2016 vote leave campaign. They have already infiltrated the Philippines 2022 election, in order to try end the maritime dispute (this is despite UNCLOS findings of Philippines sovereignty in the exclusive economic zones (6) and strongly deny China's 9-dash line claims saying they are against international law (7). Marcos Jnr (son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos) is leading the Philippines polls and he has ties to the CCP and has openly stated he rejects UNCLOS findings, will seek a 'deal' with China and prefers them over the US. China's 9-dash line claims brings the entire region of SEA into dispute. Political infiltration and foreign investment is how China has gained so much influence in Africa and will soon reap the rewards with access to an abundance of minerals and resources. If however, invading Taiwan with boots on the ground is the route China decides to take, their talks with the Saudis to trade some of their oil in Yuan could be vital (8). These talks have been on-going for many years now, but have accelerated since the pandemic. If talks are finally successful, it could give the Yuan a standing against the petrodollar making sanctions less effective, although this is disputed amongst some analysts.

Start by holding the powerful elite more accountable, not just the individual. They account for a big percentage of the worlds co2 emissions. Whilst we're recycling and doing our bit, you will have CEOS and companies continuing to pollute the ocean and Prince Charles going to Cop26 telling you we need to save the planet, meanwhile jetting off to Transylvania whenever he feels like it. Soon you will have Boris and Rishi tucking into a nice steak during a dinner party and you'll be going vegan. We need to do our part, but so do they. Unfortunately, there is no evidence in history to suggest the most powerful in society will ever stoop to the same level of the peasants . And that won't change with the climate crisis. On the topic of Apple, they could be moving to a subscription model (1) (2). So instead of buying the iphone, you pay a subscription fee similar to Netflix. Not sure how the right to repair will fit into this as you will need to return the device eventually. Perhaps it's a move to circumnavigate these new regulations (which are being introduced elsewhere, not just in the UK).

It really depends on the mask you and others are wearing. If we all return to wearing the single face cloth mask it probably won't have the desired effect of reducing a significant amount of airborne transmission and therefore lowering cases. Depending on the mask you're wearing, effective reduction in transmission can be as low as 20% (0). The N95 mask is way more effective than the single face cloth mask that most people were wearing and experts warned long ago the single face cloth mask may not be effective against Omicron (1) (2). Really, we should all be following CDC's latest guideline (3) and wearing NIOSH-approved respirators which offer the highest level of protection. The big problem of course, is supply. We would probably need a war time effort if we wanted the supply to meet demand for N95 Masks. But if we want to significantly reduce transmission, this would be a priority. Some countries such as the U.S however, have made steps in the right direction, offering free N95 masks to pharmacies and health centers (4). In order to circumnavigate the supply issue, we may see the development of a smart mask which some researchers are looking into (5) (6), that could potentially detect Sars Cov-2 through the wearers saliva. These smart masks may even be re-usable, which would greatly reduce the pollution levels of covid waste, which is another major issue. In 2021 the estimate was there is 25,900 tonnes of plastic covid waste (masks, etc) in the ocean (7). Is wearing a cloth mask better than nothing? Yes. But will we see the required reduction in transmission levels if everyone is wearing the single face cloth mask? Unlikely. The required change in what face masks we wear will need to be a govt-led initiative, so good luck with that! (They probably wouldn’t follow their own rules anyway ). It’s better than the government continuing to borrow to fund furlough and increase our debt to GDP (8) leading to the decrease of 6.5% in SME employment during 2020-2021 (9) and of course many other issues. We're now seeing the side effects of what such spending does to an economy. Economic recession (especially on a global scale) is probably inevitable now given the plethora of current and future crisis we’re having to deal with. Just like Covid, economic crisis will cause an increase in deaths mainly from suicide, mortality rates, etc, especially if its more severe than 2008. But I guess there won't be a 'death by economic recession within 28 days' count on the news everyday so maybe people won't care as much.