Saturday, December 13, 2008

Conspiracy theorists full of sh*t? I hope so...

I've had a few emails over the last couple of days from friends who are currently going through a bit of a downer...

The nights are long and the weather has been terrible

The mainstream reaction, or rather lack of reaction, to the JCdM inquest verdict has been apathetic and accepting of the 'New Normal' that has been imposed on us

Even the most dissonant dipstick must now realise that the UK, and the world, is on the brink of a once in a lifetime economic depression that's going to hurt all of us, with the possibility of something worse


Many apparently unrelated issues appear to be converging towards a point in the not too distant future and, yes, it's bloody depressing

The positive thing is that there's a chance that a critical number of people will be motivated to help make a genuinely better world by the kick up the arse they're about to receive

Provided the kick up the arse isn’t terminal

I really hope I'm wrong about the Global Warming thing and that climate really is going to get warmer, not colder

I hope I'm wrong about where our economy's being taken

In a perverse way I hope I'm wrong about 7/7, the De Menezes killing and the real objectives of the War on Terror

I hope I'm wrong about the malevolent intent and competence of the people who are really pulling the strings

I've never in my life so wanted to be so wrong about so much

.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

England's not the mythical land of Madame George and roses

It's the home of police who kill blacks boys on mopeds

And I love my boy and that's why I'm leaving

I don't want him to be aware that there's any such thing as grieving.

Anonymous said...

If anyone's ever watched some of the documentries about immigrants into the UK, you will have seen them shattered at what they find here.

Yet some remain because once they get here, they are financially trapped - sometimes having paid large sums of money to get to the UK. Some also report they cannot return home too quickly for fear of losing face. And they are the legal migrants!

Anonymous said...

Even if I wanted to leave, I have a) nowhere to go and b) Lack the resources required.

Stef said...

Even if I do, finally, manage to get out of it next year I'm not sure that it's really going to make much difference

It's not just the UK that's gone bonkers

Having said that, it's certainly at the front of the pack

Stef said...

It's not just the UK that's gone bonkers

e.g.

Anti-terror squad spies on protest groups

Police officers from the Special Investigation Group (SIG) have carried out surveillance and used a paid informer to gather information not just about planned protests but the personal lives and sexual relationships of group members.

The police informer, Christchurch man Rob Gilchrist, whose activities are revealed in today's Sunday Star-Times, was a key member of various community groups during the past decade.

He helped arrange protests and was close friends with leading campaigners, and advocated radical and illegal activities by the groups.

Last week he said he was embarrassed and sorry for what he did. The people he spied on were not security threats. "I know they are good people trying to make a better world."

Wellington human rights lawyer Michael Bott said the surveillance of peaceful groups was repugnant and "has shades of Big Brother and Soviet Russia". Surveillance of the personal lives of members of peaceful groups meant the basic right to privacy was being eroded. "It just appears fundamentally abusive and wrong."

Gilchrist was unmasked recently when his animal rights and Labour Party activist girlfriend Rochelle Rees was helping him fix his computer. She stumbled across signs of him passing information about protest groups to an anonymous email address.

This address has since been traced to two SIG officers based at the Christchurch central police station, Detective Peter Gilroy and Detective Sergeant John Sjoberg. Gilchrist privately referred to them as "Uncle Pete" and "Uncle John"...

Anonymous said...

Makes you feel much older
Sublime the blind parade
It wrecks me how they justify their acts of war
They assemble, they pray
Take good care of what the priests say
After death it's so much fun
Little sheep don't let your feet stray

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tpGkiZ7FGmg

Anonymous said...

A couple of pieces from NN Taleb. Doesn't seem appropriate in this thread, but there you go, anyway. (Click through for the links).

Anonymous said...

Gilchrist was unmasked recently when his animal rights and Labour Party activist girlfriend Rochelle Rees was helping him fix his computer.

Just wonderful. Spying on your girlfriend. Just peachy.

(And the thing is, I'm active in a peace group in my country. And I have been advocating blocking some of the fucking US bases here. I wonder if somebody thinks I'm a agent provocateur...)

Anonymous said...

I've never in my life so wanted to be so wrong about so much

Well what are you waiting for, you're 90% of the way there, start believing! Get with the program... some people, sheesh

Stef said...

It was just a tragic schoolboy error

Stef said...

The Sun isn't the key driver of global temperature

Stef said...

Buying lots of imported crap with a credit card will make for a strong economy

Stef said...

The problem with conspiracy theorists is that they credit the rich and powerful with way too much competence

Stef said...

Anyone who disagrees with what's written in newspapers needs to be locked up in a secure psychiatric facility for their own good

Stef said...

Doubting official narratives supports terrorism

Stef said...

To be honest, I don't think this is working

I don't think my heart is in it

Anonymous said...

Stef, if you are leaving the country I hope you've found somewhere good to go. I can't imagine where, though. I've just returned to the UK after fifteen years away, mostly in Thailand. Great fun but I'm not sure I would want to be there if things start heading south. That goes for most - how shall I put it? - places. As for the rest, NZ, OZ and various other places are doing the same bogus War on Terror, take away your civil liberties nonsense as here. It's clearly orchestrated, so how do you escape? Or maybe you are off to the Moon. Good luck anyway.

Stef said...

As for the rest, NZ, OZ and various other places are doing the same bogus War on Terror, take away your civil liberties nonsense as here. It's clearly orchestrated, so how do you escape?

Quite

I don't think it is possible to escape. Lately I've been prone to the occasional outburst about wanting to leave this madhouse (UK) but I'm not about to start kidding myself or anyone else about the chances of finding somewhere sane to take refuge

I am planning (hoping) to leave the UK very soon now but I have personal reasons for doing that

I think everyone who passes through this blog knows what they have to do, wherever they find themselves; be as decent as person as you can be, live a low impact lifestyle, turn off the TV, don't poison yourself, don't be fooled into hate, find a way to make a difference...

It sounds a bit cheesy writing it down but it's what I'm aiming for

cheers

S.

Stef said...

As for the rest, NZ, OZ and various other places are doing the same bogus War on Terror, take away your civil liberties nonsense as here. It's clearly orchestrated

clearly

Anonymous said...

I just want to fight. I've wanted to fight for a few years now.

Anonymous said...

A couple of pieces from NN Taleb. Doesn't seem appropriate in this thread, but there you go, anyway. (Click through for the links).

I know I keep banging the same drum here but reading that Taleb piece in the FT it seems to me that Taleb is arguing that the current crisis was a predictable outcome of the way people were carrying on

Not really a Black Swan then?

Anonymous said...

I just want to fight. I've wanted to fight for a few years now.

yup, I know that feeling

Anonymous said...

If you don't read newspapers, you are uninformed. If you read them, you are misinformed.

Anonymous said...

Afshin Rattansi talks to to Phony Benn:Iraq and Shoe-Hurling
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mgd7D67UORg

Stef said...

/ massive Mr Benn fan

Stef said...

/ not as massive as Shami Chakrabarti though

Stef said...

/ because they use their copious access to mainstream media to say the things people just don't want to hear