Sampson

Yeah I don’t really get it either. Seemed like very civil discussion.

Just thinking about how Deus Ex and Metal Gear Solid 2 - games from 2000 and 2001 respectively sadly got a lot right with regards to the internet. I remember when I used to think this was about conspiracy theories, now it kind of accurately describes Facebook and YouTube algorithms and AI.

He’s saying there’s a difference between the religion and ethnic background of Jews and the country of Isreal and the government of that country. Just like there’s a difference between the religion and ethnic background of Punjabs or Hindus and the country of India and the government of that country. And that you can support one and not the other.

Given who is behind the technology, I don’t trust that one but sadly. 4 more years of AI slop improving until it’s hard to tell facts from its self-checking made up “truth” will have a huge impact on the 2029 elections.

Interesting video on AI slop

It’s the internet and forum I have problems with not the social media apps. They went years ago.

On another note - trying to cut down on doomscrolling. Are there any devices where you can listen to music/podcasts and get emails or messages but can’t really scroll online so I can leave my phone at home and not tempted by the doom scroll? I wondered if smart watches do this?

I was banned from the last general news thread for an incredibly innocuous post where I just said something like “I wonder what would’ve happened if the wind rush scandal had broken now” There is definitely a filter in certain key words though. I don’t think Raj should be banned for having that avatar at all btw.

If you’re just measuring in years like normal people then nah. Person x can be 2 years old when person y is 1 and person x can also be 4 years old when person y is 2.

I don’t share your view sadly. Reform have already moved the goalpost to “we want net negative migration” and “we want to deport people and strip them with permanent residency even if they’ve been living here for 50 years with a British partner, children and grandchildren working hard and paying taxes.” And this kind of right wing populism is still just as rampant in Japan, which is a westernised economy famous for having very little immigration and Australia which already did all of that brutalising of its immigration laws a few years back and it hadn’t helped stop the populists. The “we just reduce immigration and Reform go away” feels like the optimistic talk of 2 or 3 years ago that hasn’t really paid attention to world events since. Reform will always go one further and they have their base now who’ll follow them regardless and their supporters will never be happy because their whole schtick is to constantly talk down the country, keep repeating what a shithole Britain is and keep it chaos and keep people in fear.

This is it for me. Social media exacerbates misery and amplifies fear to make it sound like Britain is some post-apocalyptic Hell hole, “a failed state” is a popular line of many who are on social media too much, but it’s not something most of us actually recognise in real life if we’re honest with ourselves, unless we’re actively looking for it in any little thing so we can complain about it. Go outside on a normal evening and you’ll see normal people enjoying themselves, sitting outside with friends or family and drinking or eating and laughing, people walking their dogs or going out on a jog, construction workers out fixing roads - just as they all did 25 years ago at the height of Blair-ite optimism before the Iraq war. Sure there’s some idiots, but the country is hardly some anarchist hellhole. Don’t let it grind you down, Britain is a good country and we only live once, so go out and spend time with friends and family and you’ll see most people who live in Britain are good people, enjoy life, and hope we don’t vote away democracy because social media has tricked us into saying the country has anarchy on its streets.

Agreed. I voted LibDem last election because Labour had it in the bag but it’s anyone but Reform as long as we have PR.

On one hand you had people on the left cancelling people for making mistakes and jokes and dredging up old posts from years ago which made people feel like they couldn’t make mistakes or change their believes anymore (which caused a lot of people to feel understandably cornered and go in defence mode, see someone like JK Rowling as an example of that) On the other hand you have that massively unpatriotic snake oil salesman Farage on the right who’s spent the past 15 years getting unheard of tv and media coverage never having a single good word to say about the country and who whips up people with absurdly negative things acting as if the country is some Mad Max anarchist hellscape to make everyone feel constant fear in order to get power. Then I think social media like Twitter and Facebook have exacerbated this problem because it’s something humans have never had to deal with before and because everyone is anonymous and I think a lot of us (myself included) are addicted to the drama and anger, because we just browse when we’re bored and want to feel any kind of emotion and angry debate every we massively exaggerate and say things we wouldn’t dream of saying in real life 15 years ago give us that fire in the belly and in the brain. Brexit and Covid also played massive roles too because they also dominated the airwaves and were very shit times that lasted years for many of us. All these things have in common that they’re made people feel fear and dejection, it’s very hard to find hope anymore in the country and the world. Just my 2 cents anyway.

Pretty sure it’s the police’s decision to release the names not the prime ministers regardless

I agree. However he absolutely needs to win back the 25-30% of the country who now say they’ll vote Green or LibDem and overwhelmingly hated Brexit. I think it’s more aimed at them.

Finally Starmer allowing himself to mention the B word again and hammering Farage by pointing out the obvious that the Brexit Farage brought about is the reason we can’t return asylum seekers to other European countries

It doesn’t matter if he gets a majority though. The Tories purged all the moderates from their party and under Badenoch or Jenrick they are basically Reform wannabes who’d happily form a coalition with them and let Farage walk all over them and do what they want. Even though I wasn’t a fan at the time, I’d happily vote for a Theresa May, David Cameron or Rishi Sunak led Tory party if it meant keeping Reform out - at least those believed in science, the institutions, checks and balances of democracy and international law, but the Tories are no longer that party and let it get taken over by their furthest to the right politicians.

Agreed. Not too expensive and it takes like 2 minutes and then Bob’s your uncle…. and also your Father-in-Law.

That seems more like a Shelbyville idea.

What about mouth breathers?

Hard to know what any of us would do in that situation I think. People act on instinct in those situations not rationale and he’s probably going to be hearing those screams and beating himself up for not acting sooner for the rest of his life. Can’t imagine it’s a thing you would ever be able to get out your brain. Definitely doesn’t belong in this thread, I know they’ll be some vice signalers saying “he was a coward, he should’ve done xyz” but I feel quite sorry for him tbh.

High ups in Reform UK admitting being bribed by Russia? Who’d have thunk it?

I don’t really get the opposition to it. They already exist in basically every other European country. It’s just the same as a driving licence or passport. I expect the cringely over the top backlash because Starmer is implementing it regardless but they’re really not a big deal either way.

This is the first time I’ve actually seen Badenoch show signs of a spine towards Farage and not just tacitly agree with him or even try to out-Farage him. Tories might actually stand for something again it they can actually keep this train of thought.

In other news, impressed by Ed Davey this week. He won’t get heard in the press, but it’s nice there’s at least one leader of a party in the uk at least still out there trying to defend and go out to bat for international law, institutions and western ideals