Remember this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14934352
Given his dwindling popularity at home it must have been lovely for a man who relishes the adulation from a good PR campaign, boosted by that warm Libyan son. We learned how he took the gratitude of the new freed Libyan people with their chants of "Thank you Cam'ron" and "Thank you Britain".
That was October
This is how that gratitude is panning out now:
Like my fellow blogger, Prodicus, I am lost for words. In this video I see the efforts of our armed forces who provided cover for these militias during the uprising being used to spit in our faces by desecrating the memories of those of have fallen in previous defences against tyranny.
I'm not saying they're one and the same group of people as those who once thanked us. What we're probably seeing here is one of the militias that are running wild in Libya. There is however an important lesson to us before we go jumping in to "save" a nation. It's one of that we had better know what we are getting in to before we do so.
It's no good going off half cocked into a conflict for the sake of some transient positive PR to fluff up our credentials as defenders of democracy. These things might start off with all good intentions but having seen several of these now, it is clear that how they start out is not how they finish. The path we seem to repeatedly is that once these "revolutions" start they not only attract the west, but bands of armed groups who make a beeline for the region to bring their own brand of revolution and post revolution "democracy". Somewhere along the way we work hand in hand with them, help them achieve their aim and leave them to their democracy. It's just that it has so often turned out, that their interpretation is very different to what we had in mind when we waded in.
Now we find Syria lining up as the next battle ground. Are we certain we know what we're getting in to there?
Was this worth the plaudits eh Dave?
Friday, 2 March 2012
Friday, 24 February 2012
Where are our Mia Loves?
Over at Witterings from Witney, is another article raising questions about direct democracy, one in which the people take forward the nation through active participation in the process in whatever form it takes. Not that he needs me to say it, but he's absolutely right that:
It is for that reason - and that reason alone - why the active and participative involvement of the people is not just desirable but is, one could suggest, mandatory. It therefore follows that the more distant from the people that decisions are taken, the closer democratised dictatorship becomes
Our participation in taking this nation forward, politically has been questionable. As a people, we've been asleep on the watch for too long. I think we've partly been seduced into such a stupour with the decline in our standards in which our ambitions have only been honed to worship the cult of cheap celebrity among other things. But that's only part of it. I also see impotent outrage, in the comment sections of news websites in which the people cry out for "someone to do something before it's too late". There is lots of activity to look externally for someone to restore this nation and take it forward. There is little activity to take those that claim to represent us to task, to hold them to account and to expel them from their cocoons when they fail in their representation.
Regular readers will know that I often compare what happens (or more to the point what doesn't happen) here with that going off with our cousins in the USA. I often wonder where our equivalent of the Tea Party movement is - a collective coming together to bring its representatives back to the basic principles of democracy.
There's something else - the counter offering. Too much of our political scene is run by a professional political class. These individuals seem to work the corridors of power as though the people and through them, the nation come a very poor second to their own enrichment and advancement.
Again such people thrive because we let them in two distinct areas. Firstly we let them by not holding them to account. Secondly we don't seem to offer alternatives that the the people can identify with. People who will stand against them with a message of genuinely wanting to put the country back on track.
Again looking back at the US there are people addressing this deficit in their political scene. Overall the US has woken up and the people are striking back. I think it has helped that patriotism isn't as dirty a word over there as it is here, but nonetheless people are doing something.
Take Mia Love for example. Chances are you won't have heard of Mia and her two terms as Mayor of Saratoga Springs in Utah. Read her story as she looks to stand for Congress in the US. She potentially has every piece of equipment in the 21st Century grievance kit bag that she could have used to do nothing. When you read however both Mia and her parents had different ideas, choosing to strive for the life they want and to contribute. She has offered up a simple message as to what she wants to stand for and to see from government.
Many of those messages apply here. People like Mia are the counter offer to the managed decline of our nation. They can exist to take on the status quo by standing against those who do not stand for the benefit of the nation and it's people.
We need people like Mia Love
It is for that reason - and that reason alone - why the active and participative involvement of the people is not just desirable but is, one could suggest, mandatory. It therefore follows that the more distant from the people that decisions are taken, the closer democratised dictatorship becomes
Our participation in taking this nation forward, politically has been questionable. As a people, we've been asleep on the watch for too long. I think we've partly been seduced into such a stupour with the decline in our standards in which our ambitions have only been honed to worship the cult of cheap celebrity among other things. But that's only part of it. I also see impotent outrage, in the comment sections of news websites in which the people cry out for "someone to do something before it's too late". There is lots of activity to look externally for someone to restore this nation and take it forward. There is little activity to take those that claim to represent us to task, to hold them to account and to expel them from their cocoons when they fail in their representation.
Regular readers will know that I often compare what happens (or more to the point what doesn't happen) here with that going off with our cousins in the USA. I often wonder where our equivalent of the Tea Party movement is - a collective coming together to bring its representatives back to the basic principles of democracy.
There's something else - the counter offering. Too much of our political scene is run by a professional political class. These individuals seem to work the corridors of power as though the people and through them, the nation come a very poor second to their own enrichment and advancement.
Again such people thrive because we let them in two distinct areas. Firstly we let them by not holding them to account. Secondly we don't seem to offer alternatives that the the people can identify with. People who will stand against them with a message of genuinely wanting to put the country back on track.
Again looking back at the US there are people addressing this deficit in their political scene. Overall the US has woken up and the people are striking back. I think it has helped that patriotism isn't as dirty a word over there as it is here, but nonetheless people are doing something.
Take Mia Love for example. Chances are you won't have heard of Mia and her two terms as Mayor of Saratoga Springs in Utah. Read her story as she looks to stand for Congress in the US. She potentially has every piece of equipment in the 21st Century grievance kit bag that she could have used to do nothing. When you read however both Mia and her parents had different ideas, choosing to strive for the life they want and to contribute. She has offered up a simple message as to what she wants to stand for and to see from government.
Many of those messages apply here. People like Mia are the counter offer to the managed decline of our nation. They can exist to take on the status quo by standing against those who do not stand for the benefit of the nation and it's people.
We need people like Mia Love
The Missing Words
A couple of the MSM sites have tipped us the wink on something that is bound to cause some anger among the working taxpayer. Both the Express and Daily Mail have picked up on the story in which those one benefits are to be awarded a 5.2% increase in their benefits so that as the government spokesman chose to put it "no one is left behind". Certainly QuietMan has given his take on the matter.
Having looked a little further into the reports it seems the lions share could well be aimed at pensioners, to which I would say "about time". If I have indeed read the reports correctly I would question what the papers are up to pitching it as a boost for the unemployed, although I accept that approximately £1billion is for them.
There are however two things about this story that need looking at and show where the real scandals lie.
The first point I take issue with is the quotation from the relevant minister mentioned in the Express:
At a time when the nation’s finances are under severe pressure, this Government will be spending an extra £6.6billion in 2012-13 to ensure that people are protected against cost of living increases
You see there unfortunately some words missing. Words which put this into real perspective. If used those words would make the following sentence
At a time when the nation’s finances are under severe pressure, this Government will be spending an extra £6.6billion of taxpayers' money in 2012-13 to ensure that people are protected against cost of living increases
Adding those words puts a whole new slant on it and one more reflective of the truth. The reality is one in which the money you and I pay in tax is being dressed up to masquerade as their generosity. They always conveniently omit the fact that governments don't in themselves have any money. The only money they have is that which they gather from the labour of others. Those others being you and I. To put it another way, it's like being in a bar whilst someone who claims to be your friend boosts his popularity by telling the bar the drinks are on him, only to ask you to stump up the cash.
Worse still with today's story is the notion that people who are in the middle of various income freezes are to fund increases to the income of others. To achieve that the taxpayer has to take a hit to his or her disposable income, because there is no obvious growth strategy to the economy, nor are there any meaningful tax breaks for these people. The government won't consider that as part of their austerity packages. So it comes from potentially two places, given that governments don't have any of their own money. One is an increase in taxation. The other is to borrow the money, which will result in debt that will be laid at the door of the taxpayer. Either way, you and I will be saddled with the bill for a policy which the politicians alone will attempt to take the credit for.
The second scandal is one further down in both stories. As well as increasing the amount of money they intend to spend, it also turns out that the government is overspending in its welfare commitments with each year due to fraud and errors. For some reason, the two sites are reporting different figures, but either way we have a problem. Fraud will always be with you, especially in a nation in which you seem to have a make a very determined effort to get imprisoned for committing a crime, but it's the error part which I find insulting.
There are pledges to try and reduce these over payments by a quarter, by 2015. According to the Mail, the year 2010/11 saw over payments of £3.2billion and suggested that over payments stayed stable in that year. I'm fascinated to see what they mean by that. Assuming it stays stable as they so simply put it does we could be looking at at £3.2billion in over payments for each passing year. Will the quarter they plan to reduce it by be across the total overpayment for the next 3 years (i.e. £2.4billion) or will it be a quarter of 2015's £3.2billion overpayment which will be £0.8billion.
Either way, it's nothing short of a disgrace.
Having looked a little further into the reports it seems the lions share could well be aimed at pensioners, to which I would say "about time". If I have indeed read the reports correctly I would question what the papers are up to pitching it as a boost for the unemployed, although I accept that approximately £1billion is for them.
There are however two things about this story that need looking at and show where the real scandals lie.
The first point I take issue with is the quotation from the relevant minister mentioned in the Express:
At a time when the nation’s finances are under severe pressure, this Government will be spending an extra £6.6billion in 2012-13 to ensure that people are protected against cost of living increases
You see there unfortunately some words missing. Words which put this into real perspective. If used those words would make the following sentence
At a time when the nation’s finances are under severe pressure, this Government will be spending an extra £6.6billion of taxpayers' money in 2012-13 to ensure that people are protected against cost of living increases
Adding those words puts a whole new slant on it and one more reflective of the truth. The reality is one in which the money you and I pay in tax is being dressed up to masquerade as their generosity. They always conveniently omit the fact that governments don't in themselves have any money. The only money they have is that which they gather from the labour of others. Those others being you and I. To put it another way, it's like being in a bar whilst someone who claims to be your friend boosts his popularity by telling the bar the drinks are on him, only to ask you to stump up the cash.
Worse still with today's story is the notion that people who are in the middle of various income freezes are to fund increases to the income of others. To achieve that the taxpayer has to take a hit to his or her disposable income, because there is no obvious growth strategy to the economy, nor are there any meaningful tax breaks for these people. The government won't consider that as part of their austerity packages. So it comes from potentially two places, given that governments don't have any of their own money. One is an increase in taxation. The other is to borrow the money, which will result in debt that will be laid at the door of the taxpayer. Either way, you and I will be saddled with the bill for a policy which the politicians alone will attempt to take the credit for.
The second scandal is one further down in both stories. As well as increasing the amount of money they intend to spend, it also turns out that the government is overspending in its welfare commitments with each year due to fraud and errors. For some reason, the two sites are reporting different figures, but either way we have a problem. Fraud will always be with you, especially in a nation in which you seem to have a make a very determined effort to get imprisoned for committing a crime, but it's the error part which I find insulting.
There are pledges to try and reduce these over payments by a quarter, by 2015. According to the Mail, the year 2010/11 saw over payments of £3.2billion and suggested that over payments stayed stable in that year. I'm fascinated to see what they mean by that. Assuming it stays stable as they so simply put it does we could be looking at at £3.2billion in over payments for each passing year. Will the quarter they plan to reduce it by be across the total overpayment for the next 3 years (i.e. £2.4billion) or will it be a quarter of 2015's £3.2billion overpayment which will be £0.8billion.
Either way, it's nothing short of a disgrace.
Friday, 3 February 2012
The Mustering Point
Many moons ago on another planet I wondered if the start of a hole was being punched in the AGW narrative. Not the science I might add, but the real important battle of perception amongst the public. The narrative has always been the important part as evidenced by the lengths and efforts the AGW proponents have gone to to dominate minds of the Joe public around this concept. At the time I felt the story I mentioned earlier seemed to be a small but telling victory. They've always needed the wall or shield of propaganda because their science doesn't stand up well against scrutiny
Since that time the challenge has been ongoing (and in fact started before that), but it would seem that groups have been very industrious in chipping away at the small hole in the AGW propaganda wall, slowly turning it into a larger hole that people can pour through and take the battle right to its proponents.
I thought about this when I began to see more inconvenient truths such as the ever increasing stories of cold across Europe and the very real problems its causing. I also stumbled upon this over at Facts Not Fantasy.
Why it particularly concerns me, is that Britain is still making spending and policy decisions on an argument that is collapsing around its supporter's ears. Every day, more and more of the flaws in the science are being exposed and so is the duplicity being used and tarted up has hard impartial science. Those policy decisions are bankrupting its tax payers for reasons known only to the politicians pressing on with the nonsense and pretending that the cold doesn't exist long term. Worse still is that people will die because of this fallacy. Any politician who can live with that to maintain their own vanity and overinflated sense of self worth must have ice inside their veins.
I often feel that at the heart of this, remains the battle for perception. If there's one thing those on the left (particularly the hard left) do well it is perception. They do it better than than those of a more centre right / conservative / libertarian nature. They've always done it better and I often think it's a key reason why we find ourselves surrounded by madness that makes us think we are in a Franz Kafka novel. It's not that they're right and we're wrong, they just know it matters and so they fight for it.
Why do they do it?
Well I don't think they are the majority. In fact I see anecdotal evidence all around that suggests they are actually in a minority and the majority is mostly silent. I also think this goes to the heart of another behaviour of theirs - shouting down dissenting voices. If there's something else they do well it is arguing against the counter narrative. Whenever a member of the majority makes a reasoned comment, the response is immediate and hard and it comes in numbers. They operate a zero tolerance policy for two reasons.
Firstly it's a size thing. They need to give the impression that they are legion and that their viewpoint is the dominant one. If you believe they are everywhere, you are more likely to retreat and hide. It's a tactic promoted by Saul Alinsky in his book Rules for Radical, a sort of street fighters guide for activists. Secondly they treat dissenting argument like a virus. Given the notion that they are smaller, it is important that they snuff out all evidence of a counter argument taking hold which the majority can take heart from and begin to rally around. Giving any ground whatsoever cannot be permitted because it permits a counter idea to possibly thrive and that too cannot be permitted.
We on the "right" tend to expect an argument to stand on its merits. We are however up against a mindset that works on the notion that The War is Everything.
In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the background to the Zero Tolerance approach to crime in New York. The real story is so much more fascinating than that the simplistic version taht gets told here in the UK. Much of it started on the New York Transit System where William Bratton first started out. In fact, a significant part revolved around graffiti on the subway trains. They decided that's where they would start their fight back as the graffiti riddled carriages were a travelling advert for the malaise that had swept New York. First they "reclaimed" each car by cleaning it, or repainting it. Then having reclaimed it, they determined it would never fall again to the graffiti artists. Graffiti was usually a three stage process typically done over three nights in the siding yards. First night a base coat was laid. The next night came the outline and on the third night, the detail work. Any efforts to vandalise a reclaimed car was nipped it in the bud on that first night. Once the base coat was down, they would simply paint over it or remove it. Night after night they did this. Eventually the artists got tired of trying to fight this act of will and moved on. Having took back the first piece of ground it gave them as base from which they could start to take back the rest of the subway. It also acted as a beacon to everyday people as well that a law abiding way of life was fighting back.
On first examination, the above story can look like a parallel with the AlinskyiteAGW being one of them. As I mentioned earlier that has much to do with our perception that we may be in minority.
But as I also mentioned, the AGW story is starting to show some cracks in its wall. Those cracks can be made into gaping holes that the propagandists won't be able to defend if the perception battle is won. There are many fronts in the battle to restore this nation to greatness but here's one that some headway is staring to be made. Maybe therefore, like New York, we need to start by mustering our forces to take back the initiative and perception on this topic by acting in numbers here. Once those numbers start to act and demonstrate their size, the battle for perception tips in the favour of honesty as everyday people who want to see honesty brought back to the nation join in and send the message loud and clear.
Right now, we're not cut out to act on every front. We haven't understood what the hard left have for so many decades and as such they have a headstart. If however our natural majority acts on a single point, they simply cannot hold it and we can win the battle to write the correct narrative that once established on genuine facts and science cannot be undone with propaganda. In turn it gives us a better ground for to influence political decision making based on common sense because we will have established that that is where the votes are won and politicians always go to where the votes are won. Once we have taken this ground, the argument and common sense can hold it, allowing us to concentrate our majority on another battle ground where we can push back by getting in their faces once again.
So how do we do it? We need to do what those who propagandise do and go where the argument is performed in front of everyday people - the press. As the stories crop up, we need to go there and outnumber the AGW argument, demonstrating how it is collapsing around their ears. We need however to go there in numbers and be prepared to hold the line no matter how vicious they get, because they will kick, scream and spit (metaphorically of course) as we call them out on their lies. It's a numbers game and you therefore need to be organised to go in numbers. One way to do this is to sign up for alerts on services such as Google. Tell them what you're looking for and receive emails to showing you when these stories appear online. Start on safe ground by taking back home territory by visiting those sites and news outlets that most reflect the centre / right hand side of the political debate. Keep it polite but no nonsense. Correct misperceptions with fact as some will be what Lenin referred to as useful idiots which is a translation for well intentioned but wrong or misinformed. Once you have taken back the narrative on those sites, get ready to go into their back yard in numbers and take the argument right to them.
Why, because that's why they do what they do - they fear the idea getting out that decent honest people are in the majority.
Since that time the challenge has been ongoing (and in fact started before that), but it would seem that groups have been very industrious in chipping away at the small hole in the AGW propaganda wall, slowly turning it into a larger hole that people can pour through and take the battle right to its proponents.
I thought about this when I began to see more inconvenient truths such as the ever increasing stories of cold across Europe and the very real problems its causing. I also stumbled upon this over at Facts Not Fantasy.
Why it particularly concerns me, is that Britain is still making spending and policy decisions on an argument that is collapsing around its supporter's ears. Every day, more and more of the flaws in the science are being exposed and so is the duplicity being used and tarted up has hard impartial science. Those policy decisions are bankrupting its tax payers for reasons known only to the politicians pressing on with the nonsense and pretending that the cold doesn't exist long term. Worse still is that people will die because of this fallacy. Any politician who can live with that to maintain their own vanity and overinflated sense of self worth must have ice inside their veins.
I often feel that at the heart of this, remains the battle for perception. If there's one thing those on the left (particularly the hard left) do well it is perception. They do it better than than those of a more centre right / conservative / libertarian nature. They've always done it better and I often think it's a key reason why we find ourselves surrounded by madness that makes us think we are in a Franz Kafka novel. It's not that they're right and we're wrong, they just know it matters and so they fight for it.
Why do they do it?
Well I don't think they are the majority. In fact I see anecdotal evidence all around that suggests they are actually in a minority and the majority is mostly silent. I also think this goes to the heart of another behaviour of theirs - shouting down dissenting voices. If there's something else they do well it is arguing against the counter narrative. Whenever a member of the majority makes a reasoned comment, the response is immediate and hard and it comes in numbers. They operate a zero tolerance policy for two reasons.
Firstly it's a size thing. They need to give the impression that they are legion and that their viewpoint is the dominant one. If you believe they are everywhere, you are more likely to retreat and hide. It's a tactic promoted by Saul Alinsky in his book Rules for Radical, a sort of street fighters guide for activists. Secondly they treat dissenting argument like a virus. Given the notion that they are smaller, it is important that they snuff out all evidence of a counter argument taking hold which the majority can take heart from and begin to rally around. Giving any ground whatsoever cannot be permitted because it permits a counter idea to possibly thrive and that too cannot be permitted.
We on the "right" tend to expect an argument to stand on its merits. We are however up against a mindset that works on the notion that The War is Everything.
In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the background to the Zero Tolerance approach to crime in New York. The real story is so much more fascinating than that the simplistic version taht gets told here in the UK. Much of it started on the New York Transit System where William Bratton first started out. In fact, a significant part revolved around graffiti on the subway trains. They decided that's where they would start their fight back as the graffiti riddled carriages were a travelling advert for the malaise that had swept New York. First they "reclaimed" each car by cleaning it, or repainting it. Then having reclaimed it, they determined it would never fall again to the graffiti artists. Graffiti was usually a three stage process typically done over three nights in the siding yards. First night a base coat was laid. The next night came the outline and on the third night, the detail work. Any efforts to vandalise a reclaimed car was nipped it in the bud on that first night. Once the base coat was down, they would simply paint over it or remove it. Night after night they did this. Eventually the artists got tired of trying to fight this act of will and moved on. Having took back the first piece of ground it gave them as base from which they could start to take back the rest of the subway. It also acted as a beacon to everyday people as well that a law abiding way of life was fighting back.
On first examination, the above story can look like a parallel with the AlinskyiteAGW being one of them. As I mentioned earlier that has much to do with our perception that we may be in minority.
But as I also mentioned, the AGW story is starting to show some cracks in its wall. Those cracks can be made into gaping holes that the propagandists won't be able to defend if the perception battle is won. There are many fronts in the battle to restore this nation to greatness but here's one that some headway is staring to be made. Maybe therefore, like New York, we need to start by mustering our forces to take back the initiative and perception on this topic by acting in numbers here. Once those numbers start to act and demonstrate their size, the battle for perception tips in the favour of honesty as everyday people who want to see honesty brought back to the nation join in and send the message loud and clear.
Right now, we're not cut out to act on every front. We haven't understood what the hard left have for so many decades and as such they have a headstart. If however our natural majority acts on a single point, they simply cannot hold it and we can win the battle to write the correct narrative that once established on genuine facts and science cannot be undone with propaganda. In turn it gives us a better ground for to influence political decision making based on common sense because we will have established that that is where the votes are won and politicians always go to where the votes are won. Once we have taken this ground, the argument and common sense can hold it, allowing us to concentrate our majority on another battle ground where we can push back by getting in their faces once again.
So how do we do it? We need to do what those who propagandise do and go where the argument is performed in front of everyday people - the press. As the stories crop up, we need to go there and outnumber the AGW argument, demonstrating how it is collapsing around their ears. We need however to go there in numbers and be prepared to hold the line no matter how vicious they get, because they will kick, scream and spit (metaphorically of course) as we call them out on their lies. It's a numbers game and you therefore need to be organised to go in numbers. One way to do this is to sign up for alerts on services such as Google. Tell them what you're looking for and receive emails to showing you when these stories appear online. Start on safe ground by taking back home territory by visiting those sites and news outlets that most reflect the centre / right hand side of the political debate. Keep it polite but no nonsense. Correct misperceptions with fact as some will be what Lenin referred to as useful idiots which is a translation for well intentioned but wrong or misinformed. Once you have taken back the narrative on those sites, get ready to go into their back yard in numbers and take the argument right to them.
Why, because that's why they do what they do - they fear the idea getting out that decent honest people are in the majority.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Today
Blogging would have been non existent today. A very dear friend is in need of some help and support and I'm going to do what I can. It's strange that amongst all of the mess that seems to be overwhelming us, there are pockets of humanity going on, especially as we approach Christmas. It puts everything into perspective. I thought I would therefore wander off topic with some music and a favourite of mine. I hope you enjoy it:
Friday, 18 November 2011
Buy it. Fly It!
I still find myself almost overwhelmed by the stuff that needs blogging about. Some days I feel very fired up to have my go, only to crash when it feels like shouting at a hurricane. Fortunately, many of my fellow bloggers are made of sterner stuff and more ready for the fight. I wonder to what end I am blogging and who is listening. It is one thing to want to save a nation, but it is another thing entirely for a nation to want to save itself. Blogs in this niche has lost one of its champions this week as Captain Ranty. Ranty will be a loss to the cause but he is very much like Gene Hackman's preacher character in The Poseidon Adventure - sick of shouting his message of salvation to deaf ears and I understand the idea that he should focus his energies on himself and his kin in such circumstances.
For all of that, there is still a flicker inside of me and this week a little air was added to that small flame with a few things that came up.
First I had a real head shaking moment when I saw this video (h/t Vlad Tepes)
The story is utter nonsense when you hear the underlying logic as to why the flag shouldn't be flying year round. The story is even more odd if you know anything about the village itself in terms of its demographics and where it sits geographically. It sits right on the edge of one of Nottinghamshire's most prosperous suburbs - West Bridgford. I'm not here to debate the whys and wherefores of this except to say someone is making mischief here.
What it does show is how far we have slipped when a story such as this can gain traction and present with a degree of seriousness that any flying of the Union Flag is act of racism and hatred. In all seriousness, when the BBC first got this story the response should have been along the lines of "oh do p*ss off" or at least the interviewer should have asked if the offended man was out of his tiny mind with such a conclusion. They didn't however because it is a notion that has been given credence of the years and is an embedded part of the narrative and I'll explain why.
First, however I want to contrast that with a documentary I watched this week on the construction of the Ground Zero 9/11 memorial. The programme touched me in so many ways but the parts that particularly stood out, was the reverence for the people lost there on that fateful day and the dedication and care it inspired in those constructing it. Everything it seemed, mattered. Even making as much effort as possible not to break branches on the trees that were being transported to the site from their nursery.
There was however something else and it was flags. The US flag was everywhere and was flown with pride. It was swinging off cranes and even around the memorial, flags were added to anywhere that could take one. Furthermore, pretty much every hard hat I could see on the site workers had a stars and stripes on the back. They don't wear or fly their flag as tokenism in the US, they believe in it and all it symbolises and it is stirring stuff to see it in its host country
Flags have meaning. Regardless of the oft suggested idea that they are mere pieces of cloth I find flags have real meaning and symbolism. Flags are rallying points which call on individual and collective effort to keep them flying and send a signal to those behind it. They are a distress signal when flown upside down. They are also a signal to those who identify with it as their stronghold and their place of safety. When lost or in need of help, head towards the flag because that is where your own are. Like the US demonstrates also, they area symbol of pride in who you are and your nation.
It is for all of those reasons that I think it is part of the narrative to degrade the flag in this country and to ascribe the notions of evil and hatred to it. For me, flags are potent and uniting symbols. If I were part of group or ideology that wished to collapse a nation and its identity from within, including its social fabric, I would recognise that a key part of that would involve creating a toxicity to the symbolism of the flag so that people would be afraid of uniting behind that. Deny a point where like minded people could come together to stand behind their nation and its values and you keep them on the run. They remain weak and vulnerable to attack. Let them rally behind the flag and things begin to change. From that strong point they can begin to take back the argument and collapse the lies on which the propaganda stands. Not only that, more start to find their voice also putting to bed the falsehood that they are in the minority.
The flag doesn't belong to the BNP and any suggestion to the contrary is an out and out lie. The flag belongs to everyone who ascribes to the values of this nation and spends every day contributing to it. It does not belong to the BNP. If it was theirs, it would be because an ideology and movement has handed it to them by denying its true owners of it by creating a false narrative around it to suit their own ideological ends in order to make it toxic.
So what's my point?
We're not alone though and we need to send a signal to that effect. We need to start taking back our nation for all the good things that it is and ever was. We need to start sending a signal that all those who think likewise are not alone so that we can start finding each other, because as we do, more will stand. We need to create our rallying points so that we can start to push back the decades of decay.
How do we start? With our flag.
We start by taking back our flag by flying it wherever we can. Buy it and fly it! We prepare our argument to shoot down the notion that its a symbol of hate so we can explain politely and firmly that it is the flag of a fair place and a fair people and that it belongs to anyone of regardless of their colour or place of birth who comes here, contributes assumes our way of life and stands behind the values of this country.
For all of that, there is still a flicker inside of me and this week a little air was added to that small flame with a few things that came up.
First I had a real head shaking moment when I saw this video (h/t Vlad Tepes)
The story is utter nonsense when you hear the underlying logic as to why the flag shouldn't be flying year round. The story is even more odd if you know anything about the village itself in terms of its demographics and where it sits geographically. It sits right on the edge of one of Nottinghamshire's most prosperous suburbs - West Bridgford. I'm not here to debate the whys and wherefores of this except to say someone is making mischief here.
What it does show is how far we have slipped when a story such as this can gain traction and present with a degree of seriousness that any flying of the Union Flag is act of racism and hatred. In all seriousness, when the BBC first got this story the response should have been along the lines of "oh do p*ss off" or at least the interviewer should have asked if the offended man was out of his tiny mind with such a conclusion. They didn't however because it is a notion that has been given credence of the years and is an embedded part of the narrative and I'll explain why.
First, however I want to contrast that with a documentary I watched this week on the construction of the Ground Zero 9/11 memorial. The programme touched me in so many ways but the parts that particularly stood out, was the reverence for the people lost there on that fateful day and the dedication and care it inspired in those constructing it. Everything it seemed, mattered. Even making as much effort as possible not to break branches on the trees that were being transported to the site from their nursery.
There was however something else and it was flags. The US flag was everywhere and was flown with pride. It was swinging off cranes and even around the memorial, flags were added to anywhere that could take one. Furthermore, pretty much every hard hat I could see on the site workers had a stars and stripes on the back. They don't wear or fly their flag as tokenism in the US, they believe in it and all it symbolises and it is stirring stuff to see it in its host country
Flags have meaning. Regardless of the oft suggested idea that they are mere pieces of cloth I find flags have real meaning and symbolism. Flags are rallying points which call on individual and collective effort to keep them flying and send a signal to those behind it. They are a distress signal when flown upside down. They are also a signal to those who identify with it as their stronghold and their place of safety. When lost or in need of help, head towards the flag because that is where your own are. Like the US demonstrates also, they area symbol of pride in who you are and your nation.
It is for all of those reasons that I think it is part of the narrative to degrade the flag in this country and to ascribe the notions of evil and hatred to it. For me, flags are potent and uniting symbols. If I were part of group or ideology that wished to collapse a nation and its identity from within, including its social fabric, I would recognise that a key part of that would involve creating a toxicity to the symbolism of the flag so that people would be afraid of uniting behind that. Deny a point where like minded people could come together to stand behind their nation and its values and you keep them on the run. They remain weak and vulnerable to attack. Let them rally behind the flag and things begin to change. From that strong point they can begin to take back the argument and collapse the lies on which the propaganda stands. Not only that, more start to find their voice also putting to bed the falsehood that they are in the minority.
The flag doesn't belong to the BNP and any suggestion to the contrary is an out and out lie. The flag belongs to everyone who ascribes to the values of this nation and spends every day contributing to it. It does not belong to the BNP. If it was theirs, it would be because an ideology and movement has handed it to them by denying its true owners of it by creating a false narrative around it to suit their own ideological ends in order to make it toxic.
So what's my point?
We're not alone though and we need to send a signal to that effect. We need to start taking back our nation for all the good things that it is and ever was. We need to start sending a signal that all those who think likewise are not alone so that we can start finding each other, because as we do, more will stand. We need to create our rallying points so that we can start to push back the decades of decay.
How do we start? With our flag.
We start by taking back our flag by flying it wherever we can. Buy it and fly it! We prepare our argument to shoot down the notion that its a symbol of hate so we can explain politely and firmly that it is the flag of a fair place and a fair people and that it belongs to anyone of regardless of their colour or place of birth who comes here, contributes assumes our way of life and stands behind the values of this country.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Move First - Move Now
I am a little bit fatigued by the whole Europe thing. The mess in Greece which is always seemingly going to bring things to a head only to then pull back from the brink too is tiring as it seems that the main thing at play here is Papandreou seemingly contorting every possible way to hang on to power. Why he would want to do that escapes me. I still think it is all likely to go horribly wrong and all he seems to be doing is making himself a key target for those who will come hunting for the politicians who abandoned the Greeks to a stark future. Back in Europe, the leaders demonstrate that they too are not really willing to solve the problem because their dream must succeed at all costs.
We need to be out of Europe for our own good, based on its current model. Europe seems to be heading for collapse and staying there hoping it won't do so is folly. The most promising future will fall to those who get out and set a different course as quickly as possible. The term first mover advantage was never truer than it is now and we need to make sure that is us. Over at The Devils kitchen some thought has been given to this.
The argument that we need to stay in to trade with them is another poor argument. If it collapses what exactly will be the size of the market to trade with? Banks with serious asset write downs combined with tax payers hocked up the eyeballs will not exactly be awash with cash. The reality is that it isn't a market but an incestuous welfare programme in which the cronies both corporate and political draw down on the incessant remortgaging of the future of its working people. All of this made worse by a growing population of wealth takers.
Our future lies not in this model but in other models. We need to re find our ambition as a nation as well as the energy to take ourselves on a different path. There is plenty of evidence of what works. The Germans have a strong economy based on their work ethic and their ability to make good strong things that people buy. India, China and other Far East countries demonstrate a similar ethic and a similar belief in themselves and the essential ambition to take a nation forward, underpinned by a commitment to education.
But that requires a sea change. Right now, the malaise in Britain is obvious to pretty much anyone who cares to look hard. One only has to visit blogs such as Winston Smith or to ride shotgun with Inspector Gadget around Ruralshire and observe the antics of Wayne & Shaznay to see that we need a change. But its not just down there with what have become our underclass, it runs right through like our nation choking everything it wraps around, in the same way Japanese knotweed does in the plant world.
At heart of this is thinking. What we have in front of us is a manifestation of a cocktail of sinister and flabby thinking. This thinking has dried our ambition up and I'll explain more in future posting (although I have alluded to it in the past). Some of it is deliberate and we've fallen for it. Some of it as appealed to our instincts because it has promised something for nothing, an idea which becomes ever more appealing as we are dumbed down to worship celeb culture. Right now we are in a mess and we need to lift out of it.
But of course if it was thinking backed up by influence that got us here, it is counter thinking and influence that will get us out. We need to start demonstrating new thinking on all fronts in order to move the change forward. It will not happen overnight and I believe it is one of the mistakes we make. We did not get in this mess overnight. Those that put us here will not give it up easily either. They've worked too hard to get us here. We must push back against them.
I believe however that there are more of us than them. There are more of us that want great things for this nation and its people than there are that want to collapse it. Even among those who are seemingly lost and are on the receiving end of our criticism are people who want what we want. They are only lost through demoralisation. We can get them back.
There are more of us than them and they know that. In our nation is an inherent good and an inherent strength. It just needs firming up and deploying. Those who would have it otherwise know that too. That is their fear. That is why they shout down and shoot down every attempt at to forge this new path. I believe, however that we must keep going forward towards a notion of British excellence.
That starts with each and every one of us.
We need to be out of Europe for our own good, based on its current model. Europe seems to be heading for collapse and staying there hoping it won't do so is folly. The most promising future will fall to those who get out and set a different course as quickly as possible. The term first mover advantage was never truer than it is now and we need to make sure that is us. Over at The Devils kitchen some thought has been given to this.
The argument that we need to stay in to trade with them is another poor argument. If it collapses what exactly will be the size of the market to trade with? Banks with serious asset write downs combined with tax payers hocked up the eyeballs will not exactly be awash with cash. The reality is that it isn't a market but an incestuous welfare programme in which the cronies both corporate and political draw down on the incessant remortgaging of the future of its working people. All of this made worse by a growing population of wealth takers.
Our future lies not in this model but in other models. We need to re find our ambition as a nation as well as the energy to take ourselves on a different path. There is plenty of evidence of what works. The Germans have a strong economy based on their work ethic and their ability to make good strong things that people buy. India, China and other Far East countries demonstrate a similar ethic and a similar belief in themselves and the essential ambition to take a nation forward, underpinned by a commitment to education.
But that requires a sea change. Right now, the malaise in Britain is obvious to pretty much anyone who cares to look hard. One only has to visit blogs such as Winston Smith or to ride shotgun with Inspector Gadget around Ruralshire and observe the antics of Wayne & Shaznay to see that we need a change. But its not just down there with what have become our underclass, it runs right through like our nation choking everything it wraps around, in the same way Japanese knotweed does in the plant world.
At heart of this is thinking. What we have in front of us is a manifestation of a cocktail of sinister and flabby thinking. This thinking has dried our ambition up and I'll explain more in future posting (although I have alluded to it in the past). Some of it is deliberate and we've fallen for it. Some of it as appealed to our instincts because it has promised something for nothing, an idea which becomes ever more appealing as we are dumbed down to worship celeb culture. Right now we are in a mess and we need to lift out of it.
But of course if it was thinking backed up by influence that got us here, it is counter thinking and influence that will get us out. We need to start demonstrating new thinking on all fronts in order to move the change forward. It will not happen overnight and I believe it is one of the mistakes we make. We did not get in this mess overnight. Those that put us here will not give it up easily either. They've worked too hard to get us here. We must push back against them.
I believe however that there are more of us than them. There are more of us that want great things for this nation and its people than there are that want to collapse it. Even among those who are seemingly lost and are on the receiving end of our criticism are people who want what we want. They are only lost through demoralisation. We can get them back.
There are more of us than them and they know that. In our nation is an inherent good and an inherent strength. It just needs firming up and deploying. Those who would have it otherwise know that too. That is their fear. That is why they shout down and shoot down every attempt at to forge this new path. I believe, however that we must keep going forward towards a notion of British excellence.
That starts with each and every one of us.
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