The Post-Dialogue World

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Permalink Reply by Alan Lake on August 6, 2018 at 1:57

Yes Joe, this supposed philosopher, who certainly knows about Gramsci's long March thru the institutions, doesn't seem to grasp that he is now a powerless minion in the face of those institutions, and that they aren't going to just cede power to him after waiting 50 years to get it. He doesn't realise just who irrelevant his fancy arguments are, to those people.

Permalink Reply by Joe on November 17, 2019 at 14:03

Remember Tan, and his religion worshipping a can of Tango?

Having been deported from the UK back to Malaysia, he's now concluded after his meteoric rise to fame at Speakers Corner that debate doesn't work.

https://twitter.com/TanSpeakersCor/status/1162123041695862784

It was around September 2015 that a "friend" I've known since the early 1990s came round to my house.  This lecturer at the LSE lives in la-la-land when it comes to Islam.  When the conversation once more turned to this subject as he was in my house rather than a pub, I offered to go and get the books that prove what the Koran says, that prove what the history of Islam was.  His response?  "I don't want to see them".  My response was "If things can't be settled on the basis of fact and reason, then this problem will descend into violence".

"Bring it on" was his response.

Permalink Reply by Philip Smeeton on November 17, 2019 at 18:07

I would like everyone to stop believing in God, but that is not going to happen and there are countless millions of them. However that will not make me begin to believe in God, that is just never going to happen, unless God actually physically and indisputably manifests himself in a way that anyone can see to be a reality, like this keyboard I am writing on, any sane and reasonable person would see and understand that I and the keyboard exist, if they were here now. Even if they were not here then they would accept that keyboards and people like me do actually exist. There is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of God. To me it is a figment of imagination.

My point being I constantly test and compare my political beliefs and try to be reasoned and objective when looking at what other people believe. I try to base my conviction that certain people are wrong, on fact and the reality of how human interactions function. Everything evolves, but I am never going to agree with those that I constantly find to be wrong. Especially when their political beliefs cause harm and suffering.

I am never going to give up, it is not in my nature to do so.

Long ago, late 60's, I had a friend that could not understand my hatred of immigration. He said it was not worth bothering about "these things tend to sort themselves out". In other words what is the point of caring or trying to do something about what you feel is wrong. I, as I think most people do, found my views to be unpopular and kept mostly quiet. I was a teacher in my middle years and well it was easier to keep politics out of the work place. Now I see hope that those hounded into silence for generations are turning and nationalism and patriotism awake. Had there only been a bunch of angry old men that agreed with me, I would not have changed, only neen disappointed. What keeps me going is all of the young people that, despite indoctrination, see the value of a homeland and are willingto fight for their national identity.

Permalink Reply by Alan Lake on September 16, 2022 at 16:47

I just looked at some old posts on the internet attacking some members of 4F including myself. 

It was thought provoking looking back thru those old articles, which include vilification of myself and Kinana as well, and comparing them with my position now. Basically now I see myself in Stalin's Soviet Union, and the whole point is to not be visible and not speak up about anything, because it only makes you a target for the secret police (aka left wing bloggers and NGOs), who will drag you off to a gulag in Siberia (aka de-platform you, get you fired, and freeze your bank account - all without the legal system ever being invoked). 

As for the idea of actually talking to the press and making statements (like one I made to revise the Code of Conduct of 4F) - that is beyond the pale. Because it doesn't matter what you do or say to them to try 'correct' the situation, they will twist and distort it, or even outright lie, to defeat whatever purpose you had. Once you're identified as a target, all bets are off, and whatever can be used to damage you will be, whether its truthful or not, decent or not, accurate or not.

We were so naïve back then.

Permalink Reply by Philip Smeeton on September 17, 2022 at 7:57

I am small fry so say what I like because I have nothing to lose. And reckon no one thinks it worthwhile to persecute me. I tend though unless something really gets my goat to comment outside of Norway. And then my comments are not much noticed(I never look at replies). Norway, though having a left wing bias, does not yet have a thought police and politicians genuinely defend the right to have an alternative opinion here. Some of the things I say are probably illegal in Britain(race and gender) and I would have most likely recieved a visit from the thought police. I can only hope that reason will prevail eventually in Britain.

You and Kinana have a lot to lose, so be wise and safe. You will of course never betray what you yourselves know to be true.

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