Absolute *** of our time Pt.MXXVI

[Trav Le Bleu]

Were people autistic 100 years ago?

 

And what were people on before Isaac Newton messed around with prisms?

[bovril]

They probably think women should feel pain during pregnancy as it's God's will

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, bovril said:

They probably think women should feel pain during pregnancy as it's God's will

This is one of those statements that The Onion could use as a satire headline but would hit far too close to the nose. 

[bovril]

If only the mayflower had sunk 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, bovril said:

They probably think women should feel pain during pregnancy as it's God's will

Well we got being kicked in the nads, so fair is fair.

[urban.spaceman]

Liz Truss

 

[StanSP]

She's an absolute nutter. 

[urban.spaceman]

This is the most unhinged UN speech. 

 

The man is insane. Completely unfit to be in public life let alone politics.

 

He's ****ing evil. 

[Muzzy_no7]

16 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

This is the most unhinged UN speech. 

 

The man is insane. Completely unfit to be in public life let alone politics.

 

He's ****ing evil. 

For a bit of balance he is bang on about Europes continued use of Russian oil and Gas. 

[leicsmac]

14 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

For a bit of balance he is bang on about Europes continued use of Russian oil and Gas. 

Apart from the bit where he's simply wanting Europe to use the cuddly American kind of oil and gas instead and overlook other ways of generating power at the expense of the future. 

 

Edit: though tbf he would be right to warn against authoritarianism regimes and dealing much with them except as a matter of utmost necessity. Pot and kettle, but also right. 

Edited 23 September 2025 by leicsmac

[reporterpenguin]

37 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

This is the most unhinged UN speech. 

 

The man is insane. Completely unfit to be in public life let alone politics.

 

He's ****ing evil. 

The thought of him being in control of anything more dangerous than a butter knife is scary, but a nuclear arsenal... 

 

I know in politics it's very hard to criticise your own side, but it blows my mind that anybody can defend this (notwithstanding @Muzzy_no7's fair point about him being correct to highlight people buying Russian energy, a stopped clock and all that...). 

 

I listened to an interview with him from before his first term a few weeks ago, it's astonishing and frightening how much he's changed. I didn't like what he was saying before, but at least it was pretty coherent and kind of funny in his delivery. Now it's completely detached from reality and he's completely absorbed by his own ego.

[grobyfox1990]

44 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

This is the most unhinged UN speech. 

 

The man is insane. Completely unfit to be in public life let alone politics.

 

He's ****ing evil. 

Pretty standard for his recent speeches, he's hit all the usual themes. He's a marketing man after all.

[bovril]

Just now, grobyfox1990 said:

Pretty standard for his recent speeches, he's hit all the usual themes. He's a marketing man after all.

yeah it's all a bit boring now 

[Bellend Sebastian]

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

[reporterpenguin]

1 minute ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

I've always assumed it was a general mistrust in science that's grown over the years, as well as fossil fuels being a quicker buck than renewables.

 

I suspect @leicsmac will be able to give a much more detailed answer!

[Grebfromgrebland]

7 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

Yes it's greed and profit over health, the environment and the future. 

 

That's what makes it right wing.

[leicsmac]

11 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

 

8 minutes ago, reporterpenguin said:

I've always assumed it was a general mistrust in science that's grown over the years, as well as fossil fuels being a quicker buck than renewables.

 

I suspect @leicsmac will be able to give a much more detailed answer!

It does come back to money. 

 

Oil and gas companies have it, they want to keep it (two of the key tenets of conservatism right there), and so they value the status quo over a future where they might not get as big a slice of the pie. The vast majority of arguments I've heard (and I've heard practically all of them) against change come down, fundamentally, to not wanting short term cost and losing market control. There are no legit scientific arguments, and the environmental ones are mostly strawmen regarding birds and wind turbines or cobalt/lithium mining that they really wouldn't care about without the above economic concerns to add. 

 

The science denial is mostly just an adjutant to that belief, but a rather important one given that the policy decisions taken in its name may, one day soon, doom us all. 

[RoboFox]

39 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

Lobbyists.

 

The Republican party is controlled by big industry. 

 

[grobyfox1990]

2 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

Trump, Farage, Robinson aren’t right wing or conservative. The traditionally labelled ‘wings’ are about as outdated a model as two genders and 99.99% of people being heterosexual. They are in it for whatever lines their pockets the quickest, the ideas are irrelevant. 
If reform get any power in the next election it will be an absolute riot for the city and certainly not rational logic. Get rid of all regulation and squeeze the working people to death whilst making them believe reform are for the people. First thing I’ll be doing is picking up the phone to a broker and getting as much liquidity as possible to join the party. 

[Grebfromgrebland]

36 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Trump, Farage, Robinson aren’t right wing or conservative. The traditionally labelled ‘wings’ are about as outdated a model as two genders and 99.99% of people being heterosexual. They are in it for whatever lines their pockets the quickest, the ideas are irrelevant. 
If reform get any power in the next election it will be an absolute riot for the city and certainly not rational logic. Get rid of all regulation and squeeze the working people to death whilst making them believe reform are for the people. First thing I’ll be doing is picking up the phone to a broker and getting as much liquidity as possible to join the party. 

While you're celebrating getting rich me and my family might become refugees or sent to concentration camps.

[CornwallFox]

3 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

For a bit of balance he is bang on about Europes continued use of Russian oil and Gas. 

That is the only bit he was right about though, right? 

I'm prepared to accept there's discussions to be had around mass immigration also.

But the anti climate change stuff was bona fide bonkers. 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, CornwallFox said:

That is the only bit he was right about though, right? 

I'm prepared to accept there's discussions to be had around mass immigration also.

But the anti climate change stuff was bona fide bonkers. 

And, lest we forget, getting that one wrong renders practically all other policy positions null and void. 

[CornwallFox]

3 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

 

I don't really get it

This is the weird thing. It's never been right wing/conservative to not believe in science, but somehow here and in the US this has become a core tenant of right wing popular thought. Crazy how easy it was to brainwash the masses against science.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, CornwallFox said:

This is the weird thing. It's never been right wing/conservative to not believe in science, but somehow here and in the US this has become a core tenant of right wing popular thought. Crazy how easy it was to brainwash the masses against science.

It's never been a uniquely right wing position, no. 

 

That being said, like the discussion above I think such terminology, on this topic anyway, is obsolete. You're either in favour of using scientific advancement to guarantee the future or you aren't and you value your own present over all of that future. That goes beyond political compassing IMO.

[bovril]

American conservatism (e.g. pro gun rights, pro Israel, anti government interference) is influenced by the specific history and makeup of the country. The puritan streak runs deep through it. It's not really analogous to European conservatism. English conservatism has unfortunately drifted over the last few decades from more European to more American.