Despair, no. But you need detachment. No point checking the depressing news every 5 minutes. If they'd had rolling online news in WW2 they'd have quickly gone mad.
Despair, no. But you need detachment. No point checking the depressing news every 5 minutes. If they'd had rolling online news in WW2 they'd have quickly gone mad.
Because it might prejudice the inevitable forthcoming trial.
I think the problem is a whole load of people were prevented from being openly racist by almost universal condemnation. If it gets to the point where 50% condemn and the other 50% cheer them on it won't be a deterrent.
That just demonstrates it's become a symbol of bigotry rather than patriotism.
Yikes. Given that's the Shahada that would actually cause colossal offence, what with it being driven over the whole time.
I live in West London and there's been a YesCymru sticker on a lamp post near my house for a couple of years...
*Fach. Thought as much...
Yr Ddraig Bach (hope I've got that right. Never tried getting the hang of initial consonant mutations)
This reminds me of Dougie Howser MD.
By being such a buffoon he actually limits the damage compared to a potential coherent cult leader. Worse could be to follow. Especially if middle eastern events ultimately lead to a 9/11 sequel - imagine the far right reaction to that.
I'm feeling relieved I've been completely booted off Facebook because during this latest fad I'd have been incredibly rude to loads of people in the various groups, who were cheering it on...
Yes but what about when people put it on every lamp post in a street or on a mini roundabout?
Probably just par for the course for someone his age with his lifestyle. Most people's health is pretty buggered ages before they actually die.
Would the subsequent nosedive have happened anyway though? Unfortunately I think the only thing that will boost their ratings, at least in the short term, is some Jenrick like character, given that we live in polarised times.
When Jenrick gives her the boot they'll be relevant again, but in a bad way. That's why Reform are polling so high, because the Tories are so crap.
This looks similar to one of those accounts putting people on a blocklist for allegedly being a 'TERF' for no reason at all. There seems to be a lot of list building going on.
This business of her alleged offer makes her sound like Dougie Howser MD
Are all of the Tory Party's ills blameable on Badenoch though? She didn't come too long after Truss and Johnson, who set things on a downward slope. Much though politically I'd be politically closer to Corbyn, I think he out-craps her...
For every "Drifting towards Reform" won over they'll alienate two more who will vote Lib Dem, Green, or just stay at home. They probably know this but hope those people would hold their noses on polling day just to keep Farage out.
Re: outside someone's house, no I wouldn't automatically think it worrying, but when I saw a neighbour had one on a huge England flag on a pole it did make me go and check the leaked BNP membership list. And he was on there.
They'll be painting kerbstones next.
Seeing as he now lives in Alabama, probably not
The 'joker' being Rod Liddle, presumably...
That scout group thing was especially depressing. I was hoping this idiocy wouldn't spread to Wales as well but that happened in a part of the country I was familiar with, right next to where I used to go to see my gran when I was younger...
I don't have a blind spot for people on my 'own side' and there are plenty on here I've blocked. I think the direct action threshold comes at the point where you can't change things by voting. Emily Davidson couldn't. If Trump tries to rig elections people in America might be in a similar situation.
But he sort of has a point in that even though this isn't justified, there must eventually come a point when direct action is. Like against Trump's authoritarianism, for example...
Meanwhile, their crappy AI moderation has booted me off Facebook while appalling bigots remain.
Wasn't the outside of Tufton Street daubed with orange paint at one point? Not sure if it was their offices...
If it was just about patriotism it wouldn't have appeared on roundabouts in Wales.
Possibly a bit late for trying to reclaim it. I've never been in the English-not-British category anyway and current events are pushing me further in that direction... Now just dreading 'Poppy season' - another symbol whose meaning has changed.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong" - HL Mencken.
I hear people have been painting it on roundabouts in Wales..
This is more like Ulster style kerbstone painting
Yes, but I'm talking about how it's stored in the DB. There's birth gender and current gender. Obviously some thought would have to go into the various categories for each.
All I know is the dataset behind it. I've only worked on the back end with stuff like this, not the user interface.
I wonder whether those are outweighed by times when the birth gender might be more significant. It might not be especially obvious things.
Or they just didn't want to get caught. The ddraig goch would have taken too long.
Yes, I'm afraid this reminds me of when I lived in Brum in the 90s. I'm sure it's better now but I remember people who'd use the N word every five minutes and I'm afraid I'd have been able to predict exactly which areas this would be happening in. They'll be painting kerbstones like in Ulster next.
But Reform would be worse
OK I'm losing track of what you're on about now, so time for me to hit block.
They're not. But there are plenty of people who see transphobia where none exists. And then fire off a load of abuse, probably on other issues as well. That's why I want to get onto a whole load of blocklists.
Added by a notorious account that abuses the labelling system. I'm not transphobic but not bothered about the sort of people who come out with a load of abuse online putting me on blocklists.
How else are they supposed to gather the info?
There's another field in the datasets for current gender. There used not to be. How else are they supposed to collect the info? On a service like this gender at birth might possibly be safety critical in triaging what condition someone might have.
TBH the second people go around calling everyone and everyone a TERF I hit block...
If I were them I'd have changed it to something not at all like WHSmith. This is just like TK Maxx/TJ Maxx.
If you're referring to the blockings they're the sort of people I want to be blocked by.
According to the possibly unreliable Daily Mail the shooter was trans. I mean, with all the shootings it was bound to happen eventually that one would be one of MAGA's designated enemies. So it might be point 2 on steroids.
That ipnotica guy is now posting about 'White supremicists' and polls. I just block people like that.
Unfortunately if Facebook posts are an accurate guide, the far right might do well in Wales. Same party in power there for ever, poverty... the conditions are right for it I'm afraid. A bit depressing really...
I'm not really sure it's guilt by association when people go on local Facebook groups and make it clear exactly why they're doing it. And also say "It was me who vandalised the mini roundabout and I'm doing more" and are praised by huge numbers of local people.
I would guess that far more of the Raise The Flags enthusiasts have extreme views than pro Gaza campaigners are antisemitic, especially now that Gaza is now far more in the mainstream than it was. For quite some time I stayed quiet on Gaza because of the antisemitic behaviour of some online
The act itself is not happening in isolation though. People are putting the flags up and vandalising stuff *because of* all the migrant protests. This isn't a spontaneous display of positive patriotism. I'm not presuming the motivations, people are being very clear about why they're doing it.
The campaign? Absolutely. If people want to put a giant England flag generally, no. I mean, if you were to superimpose where the flags are going up in Birmingham on an ethnicity map there would be a major correlation. Raise The Colours is backed by a load of Tommy Robinson types.
It's not specifically white at all - but unfortunately if things keep on in this direction it might start to head that way. The people in Grenada aren't suddenly doing it for right wing political reasons. Symbols can mean different things in different contexts.
We'll have to disagree. I've just come back from Grenada where the national colours are all over street furniture but I don't see it like that, this is far more towards the Ulster end of the spectrum. It's defined by being against people and things, not for.
Also, blaming making it divisive on the wrong people here. Large numbers of people have bad intentions in that none of this would be happening if it weren't for the migration issue - it's not like it's the football. At the very least the flag is now political, in many contexts at least...
If they're painting it on mini roundabouts and zebra crossings though it's not much different from painting kerbstones in Ulster.
I'm switching from Diet Coke to that, for health reasons as much as anything else. Diet Coke is full of crap. No idea why loads of people hate mauby.
Switching over from Diet Coke to mauby as of today. Considerably healthier for starters.
So just sticking with whipping people up into a frenzy of Roundabout vandalism on Facebook, then...
Forgotten? Politicians are falling over themselves to appeal to the "White Working Class" and "Middle England". Not really being in either category it's like I don't count...
That bit of Solihull isn't too posh. Close to the Castle Vale Estate. I lived in Birmingham in the 90s, maybe it's changed now but I witnessed horrific racism and the areas where this Ulster-style territory marking is taking place are exactly where I would have predicted.
Personally I feel that politicians are so keen to appease Farage, if you're not in either the "White Working Class" or "Middle England" category they don't care. You can't possibly have any "valid concerns".
And one of the local Tory Town councillors has been sharing a post alleging (wrongly) there are asylum seekers are at the local Travelodge. A lot of people cheering it on on the local FB pages which I can't post to, having got caught up in the AI ban wave.
Yes. I see from the RBL's Facebook feed they're keen on undoing that damage, but not sure selling car radiator poppies the size of satellite dishes helps. When I see one of them in about March I tend to assume the person driving the car is incredibly right wing.
At least if this sort of thing spreads to Wales they'll get caught as it will take so long for them to draw the flag...
How long before some of these protesters deliberately sunburn a St. George's Cross onto themselves by selectively applying sunscreen? Would probably appeal to them as that sort of thing only really works if you're very white...
Can you add me to a blocklist for alleged transohobes please, then I won't have to hear from people like you hurling abuse.
I'm off X but it's crap because now I've been booted off by the Meta Ban Wave and on here I'm getting on blocklists/blocking people because of the extreme abuse thrown around by those at the ultra-woke end of the spectrum. I'm basically cut off from social media completely.
Oh my sides.
You just said exactly the same elsewhere. Are you a bot?
Not even sure what you mean by pounding sand. TBH I don't really 'do' woke. It's well intentioned but it just degenerates into a load of online abuse and pile-ons. Only really commenting here so that hopefully I'll get added to a load of blocklists which is quicker than me blocking others.
Trouble is, you'd probably put a huge majority of people in that category, and like everyone else spewing abuse in this thread, alienate anyone not in your echo chamber.
Only someone in the world's biggest echo chamber says stuff like that.
So your attitude to anyone you disagree with is "Shut the fuck up?"
So anyone you disagree with has to shut up?
Just for saying something you happen to disagree with?
He still has a right to an opinion, and you're just being abusive.
Some of the stuff coming from Tories these days... I've seen one of their town councillors reposting obvious bollocks about their being asylum seekers in the local Travelodge. The rest of his feed looks like something from Calvin Robonson. Sure they'd have clamped down on that in the past...
I'm not even American so it's not as though I can even vote for 'Blue MAGA' even if I wanted to. But if there are any blocklists feel free to add me to them!
Well. Better put me on more blocklists then!
All the replies here reinforce my opinion that blocking people who call others TERFs is the best way to avoid getting on the receiving end of abusive behaviour and pile-ons...
Agree. Of course by saying this I'll get on even more lists created by people who call anyone and everyone a TERF for no reason at all.
I see an anonymous user is trying to spread rumours that there are asylum seekers in the Travelodge in Devizes, when apparently it's just some foreign NHS workers. Luckily not many seem to be falling for it.
Look at the person adding those labels on Clearsky, they've been added to loads of lists for their malicious behaviour. Not that I'm bothered because hopefully the sort of people who engage in pile-ons and abusive behaviour will block me en masse so I won't hear from them again.
Should be an anti gerrymandering constitutional amendment. Something about a maximum ratio of a district's circumference to its area would make gerrymandering extremely difficult.
Maybe something a bit like prison but more like a deradicalisation centre.
If he met your standards of not being a transphobe would he win a presidential election though?
And pointing out that sometimes it's a case of 'least bad option' has landed me on 'transphonic bastard' blocklists.
Quick, if Havering make such an undertaking display the flags in the most tasteless (to Rosindell and co) way possible...
Oh so *that's* what it was all about then. I did ask him - commented on his threads on the local Facebook pages in Devizes, only now Meta's AI has booted me off Facebook entirely for no reason whatsoever.
* Who's not whose. Introduce an edit feature, Bluesky!
Going through blocking anyone whose called someone else a TERF. The reason for this is nothing to do with the trans rights issue, I just don't want to be on the receiving end of pile-ons and abusive behaviour (for any reason) and these people are most likely to behave like that.
I'm in favour of trans rights but not in favour of going around calling people TERFs. Came across this post because I'm going through people who behave like this and blocking them.
Came up in my feed somehow. I have also seen him dressed like that, in real life.
Does that guy live in Acton? I'm sure I've seen him there, not in a flag suit but in a similarly OTT brightly coloured suit/hat combination.
With England flags it all depends on context. It's like the difference between a poppy worn during the first week of November and one the size of a satellite dish on the front of your car during March.
Probably depends on whether your family has a genetic tendency to have boys or girls. My youngest son was boy #9 in a row in my wider family, and although I wasn't bothered some people might have been wishing for a girl by that point.
I've been booted off Facebook for no reason by Zuckerberg's crappy AI...