Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[TheQ]

On 03/11/2021 at 15:23, Edwardian said:

 

Yes, I suppose that an unintended consequence might be a Game of Thrones between that bloke from Pwllheli (surname 'Tudor'?), some Stuart Pretender recognised as the true King of England by President Macron in a fit of pique over fish, submarines or just Somerset brie, and the bogus claims of a 'bus driver in Wolverhampton whose bogus candidacy is promoted secretly by Russia via multiple fake social media accounts.

 

Pass the popcorn ....

Marcrons gambit could backfire since three lions on our shirt is a reference to Aquitaine.. and the British royalty has had a claim on the throne since 1340..

And the Stuart pretender, currently Franz Duke of Bavaria, also still claims the throne of France...

[monkeysarefun]

Meanwhile in The Land Of The Free To Own as Many Big Guns As you Want where the Republican party believes personal freedom from government interference of any kind is the bedrock of democracy  a Wisconsin senator is moving amendments to  a recent  bill to ban certain words from being used in the states  classrooms. 

The Wisconsin Assembly passed legislation on a party-line vote Tuesday that would bar public schools from teaching critical race theory.

 

But in testimony before a Wisconsin Assembly committee considering the bill,  one of the measure’s lead authors went farther, spelling out specific words that would be barred from the classroom. 

 Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R) attached an addendum to his legislation that included a list of “terms and concepts” that would violate the bill.

 

Among those words: “Woke,” “whiteness,” “White supremacy,” “structural bias,” “structural racism,” “systemic bias” and “systemic racism.” 

 

So that's race issue  dealt with then. Now to ban "COVID 19" "Vaccination" and "pandemic" and they'll have that sorted too.

Edited November 4, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Nearholmer]

Have they burned any books yet?

[monkeysarefun]

3 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Have they burned any books yet?

Books!?! We dont own no books!

[Edwardian]

On R4 just now .... Go Sir John Major!!!!!

[Edwardian]

Stupid Club

 

In the last few years, everything has become so bonkers that it can only be explained as the result of a worldwide conspiracy to believe in and propagate belief in worldwide conspiracies. 

 

I have been tracking this sinister and egregious movement from the safety of my tin-foil hat. Finally, I have identified this global phenomenon as The Conspiracy of the Stupid, or, Stupid Club for short. Literally thousands of people are queuing up to join Stupid Club, and they can, because the first rule of Stupid Club is "tell all the other stupid people about Stupid Club".

 

The threshold test for Stupid Club is to be stupid enough to believe the digital age's equivalent of some random bloke you met down the pub in preference to believing anyone actually remotely qualified to comment on the controversy du jour. This is some random bloke you found on social media, whose completely inexpert and demonstrably incorrect views have chimed with one or two or your ill-thought through prejudices.  Actually, this man is not an expert qualified in the field about which he pontificates. Rather, he is either Barry from Chelmsford, a former UKIP candidate consistently out-thought by his own tattoos, or his friend, Ivan, who runs several thousand social media accounts from an Orwellian style ministry building dominating the Moscow skyline. 

 

Stupid Club's second level on the road to Unenlightenment is The Path of Insulation, whereby you insulate yourself completely from fact, knowledge, critical reasoning, objectivity, logic, expertise and, finally, from truth itself. You do this by persuading yourself that all mainstream media, academia, scientists, non-populist politicians, in fact anyone who has any kind of knowledge or expertise or just anyone who isn't as batsh1t crazy as you is a p@edophile engaged in a worldwide conspiracy that controls everything in the name of denying you the actual truth. These guys make SPECTRE look like the General Synod of the Church of England. They are Everywhere! You must be constantly vigilant to avoid believing anything anyone (apart from Barry and Ivan) tells you!

 

If you pass these levels, you are then ready to take your place upon the Pinnacle of Stupidity: 

 

  

 

 

 

    

[Caley Jim]

Spot on, James.  I'd love to go up to one of those people, grab their placard, throw it to the ground, stamp on it and give them a 'Glasgow Kiss'!  Problem is I'd then be the one appearing in court!  Anyone know a good lawyer?

 

Jim

[Regularity]

You missed out the important, validating factor.

It is not whether someone more trained or qualified is right, but how many “votes”/likes/supporters/followers the random bloke on social media has. The “court of public opinion” must reign supreme in our lives, which to me validates having a general election every five years (to put in place some people to get on with it) but which will be used in the future (probably by the political descendants of those who evoke the phrase now) to justify why we have had such things as the vote taken away.

 

If we are, as some would have it, the sum of our actions, then not doing anything unless it is validated or chosen by followers on social media, means we have reached a strange position in the devolution of the human species.

[Annie]

People wanting to join the ranks of the Freedumb marchers here in NZ didn't surprise me all that much due to the world wide Stupid Club* phenomenon that has come to the fore as a result of COVID-19, - but what did surprise me is the numbers of trained professional medical personnel who want to join the club.  In one district health board area they've had most of their midwives refuse to be vaccinated and there have been problems here as well with two or three general practitioners who have been speaking out against vaccination which has to be the craziest thing I've heard of to date.  Having spent part of my working life in and around hospitals and clinics I find such a state of affairs almost unbelievable. 

 

*Great name for it by the way.

[Annie]

double post

Edited November 8, 2021 by Annie
Um.........

[Caley Jim]

I cannot understand those who claim that compulsory vaccination of workers (at all levels) in the health and care professions is somehow a breach of civil liberties.  Since the 1980's, at least, it has been compulsory for those registering with the Medical,  Dental and Nursing and Midwifery Councils (and others I may not be aware of) to be vaccinated against Hepatitis-B for the protection of both themselves and their patients.  No Hep-B vaccination = no registration = not able to work (unless there is a medical reason why you cannot be vaccinated)!  Seemples, Igor!

 

I want to ask those anti-vaxers how many children they see going about wearing callipers on their legs because the caught polio, why do we no longer have TB hospitals, how was Smallpox eradicated from the world?  One simple answer - vaccination.  A study just published a few days ago has shown that in those girls who were vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which started here some 20 years ago, the incidence of cervical cancer has fallen by 90%!

 

Jim (off soapbox)

[Edwardian]

2 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

I cannot understand those who claim that compulsory vaccination of workers (at all levels) in the health and care professions is somehow a breach of civil liberties.  Since the 1980's, at least, it has been compulsory for those registering with the Medical,  Dental and Nursing and Midwifery Councils (and others I may not be aware of) to be vaccinated against Hepatitis-B for the protection of both themselves and their patients.  No Hep-B vaccination = no registration = not able to work (unless there is a medical reason why you cannot be vaccinated)!  Seemples, Igor!

 

I want to ask those anti-vaxers how many children they see going about wearing callipers on their legs because the caught polio, why do we no longer have TB hospitals, how was Smallpox eradicated from the world?  One simple answer - vaccination.  A study just published a few days ago has shown that in those girls who were vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which started here some 20 years ago, the incidence of cervical cancer has fallen by 90%!

 

Jim (off soapbox)

 

I agree. Compulsory rules are not to be shunned in all circumstances. Compulsory ID cards and compulsory disclosure of lots of information I dislike. I dislike it because, sadly, I do not have confidence that HMG, GCHQ, local authorities, Trading Standards, the police etc won't at some point abuse these tools. It is excessive and unnecessary and will make society substantively less free over time.

 

In contrast, compulsory vaccination, particularly in the case of health or social care sectors, I fail to see the problem with. It's not truly compulsory; you can always say "no", but if you do, you might disqualify yourself from work in certain sectors or be unable to engage in certain communal activities. It's classic J S Mill; you should be free to do what you like unless it causes harm to others. The minority cannot be allowed to put the majority at risk in the name of freedom; a real risk in the name of an abstract right. We are often told that far east Asian countries tend to take a more collectivist view - witness mask-wearing habits - and, certainly, pursuing our individual freedoms to an extent that causes jeopardy to others is to take western liberal philosophy off on a perverse and dangerous tangent.  Western governments should have the B@lls to say 'no' to such ill-informed selfishness.   

[Regularity]

12 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

A study just published a few days ago has shown that in those girls who were vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which started here some 20 years ago, the incidence of cervical cancer has fallen by 90%!

To be pedantic, 87%. Also of interest was the improved resistance to other infections such as genital warts.

But, these vaccinations have to be started early/young - so a prevention against cancer and other diseases, but not much time for anyone to deliberate on yes or no, and sadly not something that can be given to women who have reached adulthood. 

[Nearholmer]

I sometimes wonder what motivates the Grade A Stupidiots, and I’ve concluded that it is a sort of narcissism, the self-flattery of kidding themselves that they are different and special, chosen to know The Truth, when the rest of us don’t.

 

I’m afraid to say that they remind me of the worst sort of religious zealots.

[Edwardian]

1 minute ago, Nearholmer said:

I sometimes wonder what motivates the Grade A Stupidiots, and I’ve concluded that it is a sort of narcissism, the self-flattery of kidding themselves that they are different and special, chosen to know The Truth, when the rest of us don’t.

 

I’m afraid to say that they remind me of the worst sort of religious zealots.

 

Could not agree more. It's a way people who feel, rightly or wrongly, de-valued can feel special. Being 'in' on a conspiracy theory is privileged access to truth and puts the Believer in his estimation above all those clever-clogs who are telling him he's wrong.  

[Nearholmer]

3 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

rightly or wrongly, de-valued

 

Rightly, in the case of every such bonkers-bonce I've heard.

 

BTW, and to clarify, I'm not seking to compare every religious person with these people, and maybe I should have specified "cultic zealots".

[monkeysarefun]

 

 

For nutty as a fruitcake, the latest from a breakaway group of Qanon   that even Qanon has dismissed as being too nutty  ("Splitters!")  is my current fave. Its like a fruit cake that someone forgot to add the cake to - and the  fruit, so its just a big pile of nuts.

 

Here is the premise. I've quoted the guy proposing it, so the mistakes in what makes someone a brother rather than a cousin and what sibling means is theirs not mine. Would make a great episode of "Who do you think you are? "

 

General Patton was the son of William Wallace Lincoln and therefore the grandson of Abraham Lincoln.

 

Benito Mussolini was the son of  Thomas Cad Lincoln and therefore also the grandson of Abraham Lincoln.

 

General Patton was therefore the brother of Benito Mussolini.

 

JFK's older brother Joe Kennedy  didn't die in WW2 but went into hiding for protection and begat children.

 

One of them is  General Michael Flynn who is therefore a sibling of JFK.

 

Donald Trump is the biological son of General Patton and therefore first cousin to JFK.

 

John Kennedys son, JFK jnr didn't die in a 1999 plane crash, but on this years anniversary of JFK's assassination  would reveal himself at the grassy knoll  to announce that he is going to be President Trumps running mate for the 2024 election.

 

Literally hundreds of believers lined the streets of Dallas around the grassy knoll at the appointed hour waiting for the motorcade to arrive. 

 

So many highlights in the clip -  from the Trump/Kennedy campaign banner with the date wrong, to the lady in the cowboy hat who claims that not only is JFK Jr actually not dead but neither is Michael Jackson or Robbie Williams.

 

I've seen another clip where the supporters chant "Did We Land On The Moon?" "NO!"  as they wait. Then at the appointed hour they break out into the Oath Of Allegiance. 

 

The unexpected nonappearance of JFK jnr didn't daunt the crowd, some of who then went to a Rolling Stones gig because they now claim that Keith Richards is actually JFK Jnr in disguise.

 

 Champagne comedy from the US of A

 

 

https://www.insideedition.com/media/videos/qanon-conspiracists-waited-for-jfk-jr-to-rise-from-dead-for-hours-in-dallas-71007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Compound2632]

5 hours ago, Regularity said:

“court of public opinion”

 

Sorry.

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

In contrast, compulsory vaccination, particularly in the case of health or social care sectors, I fail to see the problem with. It's not truly compulsory; you can always say "no", but if you do, you might disqualify yourself from work in certain sectors or be unable to engage in certain communal activities.

Here there are various carrot and stick strategies to get us stabbed. In the northern Territory all those who's work brings them into contact with others (thereby excluding only hermits)  must have the first stabbing by Nov 13 and be twice as stabbed by mid December or not go to work at all. Ignoring that rule will rain down a $5000 fine upon you.

 

In NSW its the carrot approach. No need to get vaccinated but if you dont you cant go to any venues or non-essential shops and cant travel to the regions or interstate.  

 

Other states have variations of them - some dont which is indicated by their lower vax rates.

 

The states that missed any serious covid outbreaks like WA and Queensland have the lowest vax rates, I guess from complacency. They still keep everyone locked out, you'd think they'd be pushing the vaxxing and getting the place opened up again but they are too busy telling us how awesome they are.

 

Queenslands low-vax rate I can understand given its our version of the deep south, although, Victoria seems to have been leading the way in anti-masking/  anti vaxxing nonsense with protests etc, though they have had horrendous amounts of lockdowns which understandably are hurting many. 

 

They have a history of fighting for rights - The Eureka Stockade, and a union movement that has got pretty punchy over the years, but this seems to have morphed into fighting for "Ïndividual" rights like the right to not have to put on a mask. Many of them seem to be young blokes in the trades. Do they also fight for the right to not wear breathing apparatus when spraypainting, welders goggles when welding? 

Edited November 8, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Regularity]

26 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

No need to get vaccinated but if you dont you cant go to any venues or non-essential shops and cant travel to the regions or interstate.  

That’s the essence of public health administration in a free society: it’s not mandatory, but it is a requirement of freedom.

[enz]

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I sometimes wonder what motivates the Grade A Stupidiots, and I’ve concluded that it is a sort of narcissism, the self-flattery of kidding themselves that they are different and special, chosen to know The Truth, when the rest of us don’t.

 

I’m afraid to say that they remind me of the worst sort of religious zealots.

Greetings all

 

I think this could be seen as knowledge empowering  - unfortunately, the knowledge doesn't have to be correct...

 

- E

[Annie]

Now we've got teachers refusing to be vaccinated which means that they're likely to lose their jobs and become unemployable.  As James has pointed out certain types of vaccinations have been mandatory for a good while now for anyone working in clinical situations so this sudden rush to join the Stupid Club over being vaccinated and become unemployable beggars belief.

Our national airline has come out and said, no double jab, no flight, which is something I heartily applaud.

 

9 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m afraid to say that they remind me of the worst sort of religious zealots.

At least back then during the great plagues they had flagellants which would at least have been mildly entertaining.  

Edited November 9, 2021 by Annie

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

At least back then during the great plagues they had flagellants

 

But at least the flagellants thought they were in the wrong.

[Edwardian]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

But at least the flagellants thought they were in the wrong.

 

Time for ...

 

 

[Edwardian]

Just listened to the first episode of a new R4 series, Things Fall Apart exploring origin stories of elements of our current 'Culture Wars'. 

 

The title, I assume intentionally, is a quote from W B Yeats' The Second Coming, which rather sets an apocalyptic tone!

 

Today's episode concerned the take up of an anti-abortion stance by US Christian fundamentalists. It says a lot about how a virulent movement can be invented, almost randomly, overnight.

 

It is a fascinating and chilling listen.  Recommended.