Famous for 15 megapixels: Blowback

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Blowback

I've already linked to this video by way of a comment under an earlier post but this speech given by George Galloway earlier in the month, whilst the assault on Gaza was in full swing, has been bugging me since I first saw it

The punchline, where George threatens Britain with a horde of 'radicalised' British Muslims, comes about 4:20 in

It's also worth remembering, as illustrated by this recording of Gorgeous George on the radio, that Galloway supports the US and UK governments' Official Narratives of the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks.

An opinion that the shifty fucker is perfectly entitled to

However, it is clear that George is not above attempting a little of bit of radicalisation himself, and in a manner that is perfectly in keeping with the objectives of the State.

Anyone daft enough to follow a c**t like that onto a battlefield is more than likely to look around at some point and discover that George is nowhere to be seen

The State has absolutely no fear of violently radicalised youth, Muslim or otherwise. In fact, it is positively gagging for it

.

47 comments:

The Antagonist said...: Galloway is perhaps one of the most dangerous fucks going. 99.8% radical truthiness, all slapped together with 0.2% bullshit that seamlessly holds together official doctrine while pretending to offer a little in the way of dissent.

That's why it's refreshing to see the likes of Lowkey taking the stage at political rallies instead of the old establishment has-beens.

Oh, and check out The People's Army, they certainly have a way with words, music and politics too.; 21 January 2009 at 22:21
Stef said...: On the plus side, the way various UK bloggers and talking heads in the UK responded to what was being done in Gaza has helped clarify where some of those characters are coming from

I've always been ambivalent about Galloway

Not any more; 21 January 2009 at 22:31
Stef said...: cheers for the links by the way, and there was me searching for 'Loki' the other day; 21 January 2009 at 22:32
The Antagonist said...: You're most welcome.

The People's Army deserve an award for a few things, at least one of which is the line:

"Fuck illuminati, the new Nazis"; 21 January 2009 at 22:47
Stef said...: I'm guessing that Lowkey couldn't come up with anything that rhymed with Tescos; 21 January 2009 at 22:48
Stef said...: and it's just as well he doesn't have a problem with Orange; 21 January 2009 at 22:52
The Antagonist said...: Luckily, I didn't have to rhyme Tescos with anything; 21 January 2009 at 22:55
Stef said...: Outstanding!; 21 January 2009 at 22:58
Anonymous said...: I've been hearing murmurs about M&S, Aldi, Lidl and possibly others that have been financial donors to Israel.

I don't think the latter could have managed without outside help, and of course the persistent brainwashing of its citizens with one-sided information.; 21 January 2009 at 23:03
Stef said...: I try and give Dixons/ Currys/ PC World as wide as berth as possible

but that's because they're shit, nothing to do with Stanley Kalms; 21 January 2009 at 23:11
Anonymous said...: DSGi used to be my main competition back when I was in the IT trade as an independent.

Sadly they got the better of me, brand recognition wins over quality it seems...; 21 January 2009 at 23:12
Stef said...: One lives in hope; 21 January 2009 at 23:17
Anonymous said...: Well, I have had some "customers" since then, just not on a level required to make a living from it. Usually just friends needing a system set-up or some troubleshooting done.

Even though I should probably have charged more, my average bill was £10 an hour, well below the typical competitors (such as DSGi, who charge multiple times that just for copying your data to another computer).; 21 January 2009 at 23:24
Stef said...: aaaah, but DSGi customers are paying for the kind of expertise that doesn't come cheap and unparalleled levels of customer service; 21 January 2009 at 23:32
Stef said...: even as a joke, I can't believe I just typed that; 21 January 2009 at 23:32
Stef said...: Weebl and bob visit Pissy Werld; 21 January 2009 at 23:36
Anonymous said...: Ah, but how you know I'm any better? Serious question as you haven't used my services Stef. I know we've conversed several times before, but that wasn't business...; 21 January 2009 at 23:37
Stef said...: If you're no good you get no repeat business or referrals

Chain stores get business simply because they're there and they spend a fair old slab of their margin on advertising

Setting up folks PCs is a tough game though and potentially very time consuming. I'm often surprised at just how much shit non technical users end up amassing on their desktops. There are awful lot of fucked up windows installations out there...; 21 January 2009 at 23:45
Anonymous said...: I suppose you're correct. I did get offered several times the original agreed amount after spending a few hours on a new gaming PC build for a civil engineer last year. The bloke did install the operating system himself though.

In other words, for about an evening's worth of my time and a friendly chat with the gentleman and his other half, I earned what would have taken 40 hours work at the ol' desk job.

Unfortunately most of the people I know can't afford much, and I lack the funds for an advertising campaign.; 21 January 2009 at 23:51
Stef said...: Most people in my extended family ran small cafes from the year dot. I grew up living over one. Margins were tight, the hours long and customers would howl if you ever had to put so much as a couple of pence on the price of a cup of tea or coffee

And then, about ten, fifteen years ago the market changed. Thanks mostly to marketing, people were happy to pay double or triple what they used to pay for a cup of coffee, provided you mixed plenty of bullshit in with it

And where did all that extra margin go? Not to the coffee producers or the people who worked in the shops. One way or another most of it fetched up with the money lenders - either to service the coffee chains' debts or in property costs, which were going through the roof

The same has happened to plenty of other businesses

And now the whole thing looks like it might unravel

The big UK retail chains which drove so many independents out of business are saddled with crippling debts which they no longer have any hope of repaying and many of them are going to fold

It would be nice to think that, once property costs have fallen back to a sane level, that independents might move into that empty retail space once the dust has settled

Too early to say which way things will go yet. People will be buying less stuff in general, that's for sure; 22 January 2009 at 00:53
rob said...: I thought used to think Galloway was ok.Good ranter.
However after hearing his comments on Sept11th I now believe he is a well dodgy fucker.
911 the weather vane of sincerity; 22 January 2009 at 06:38
Anonymous said...: Dang, I really like it when Galloway gets angry. I shall consider removing his videos from my blog. Yet, the SKY interview regarding Lebanon 2006 is just too good.

On related news: "The banks are fucked, we're fucked, the country's fucked."; 22 January 2009 at 10:51
Anonymous said...: And I like graphics!; 22 January 2009 at 10:56
paul said...: The ISI strikes back?; 22 January 2009 at 10:58
paul said...: More here
British counter-terrorist sources, however, played down claims of links between those who were arrested and the July 7 bombings.; 22 January 2009 at 11:01
rob said...: Jim Rogers U.K.is Finished Sell all your Pounds; 22 January 2009 at 11:08
Anonymous said...: Job 38:11; 22 January 2009 at 13:18
Stef said...: @rob

You don't think Jim and his pals are sitting on an open short sterling position by any chance?

He's right, of course, but these guys don't appear on TV just for shit n giggles; 22 January 2009 at 13:27
Anonymous said...: Hope your reading all this galloway,you fuckin weasil fuckin scotlands oil ya punk. sorry folks,couldnt resist it; 23 January 2009 at 14:31
paul said...: I don't think his gorgeousness the george is that bad. Excellent stump speaker and just about the only visible pro arabian parliamentarian since ian gilmour.

(Maybe jenny tonge but she has rather more serious contradictions)

Probably one you should count your fingers after shaking hands with him, but no one's perfect and we aren't spoilt for choice.; 23 January 2009 at 14:52
The Antagonist said...: @Paul -- with the utmost respect....

The problem with Galloway, and it's not a new one with him or others of his ilk, is that if the analysis of whatever issue is wrong, then the conclusions to which that analysis leads are also wrong.

With regard to the massacre in Gaza, Galloway has suggested that the actions of the illegal Israeli apartheid State will radicalise British Muslims and that this will result in mythical Islamist terrorism on the streets of London.

Well, the fact of the matter is that the holocaust in Gaza, along with the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and various other geopolitical issues, is definitely affecting people's political outlooks, but this isn't specific to Muslims. Further, to suggest that it is solely Muslims who abhor and detest Imperialist mass murder through the ages is - at best - utterly disingenuous and - at worst - an outright lie.

The proof of this? Recall the millions on the streets in various protests around the U.K. against the invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza. Were they exclusively Muslim, or were the majority non-Muslim?

Galloway himself exemplifies this. He's not a Muslim and he repeatedly gets more worked up than most, as demonstrated by his rhetoric. So why then does then does he repeatedly keep fingering Muslims in his bombastic rhetoric as the only humans disgusted by U.S., U.K., or Israeli barbarism?; 23 January 2009 at 16:37
paul said...: More than fair enough, ant.
The blowback position is indefensible.
However I (like to?) think there might be a baby, however flawed, in that murky bath water.
When he sticks to his knitting, he can be OK.; 23 January 2009 at 17:31
The Antagonist said...: The blowback position is indefensible.

You've just reminded me, not only is the blowback position indefensible, it's been thoroughly debunked by those that invented it and who would have us believe it explains anything.; 23 January 2009 at 17:38
paul said...: My biggest problem with blowbollocks is that it suggests some sort of supernatural justice.
If you do bad things they will return to your door. Serve you right etc...

But as far as I can see, many bad things are carried out with impunity.; 23 January 2009 at 17:55
paul said...: Though when I have seen gorgeous talk, he stuck to the iniquities of the occupation/iraq wars - no mention of blowback those times.

<clutching at straws>May be he's tailoring his message to something the fearful public might heed?<throws away straws/>; 23 January 2009 at 18:04
Stef said...: I don't know what he's playing at but George referred to blowback as an explicit threat more than once this month

Judging by the few folks I've spoken with about it, he's lost a lot of goodwill as a result; 23 January 2009 at 18:11
paul said...: I have to admit I don't know what he's playing at either.; 23 January 2009 at 19:15
The Antagonist said...: Galloway, the good shepherd, would appear to be corralling popular dissent up the one-way dead-end street on which we already find ourselves.; 23 January 2009 at 19:19
Anonymous said...: Blowback is real in Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan, but not here. Even then, I have my doubts about just how many "suicide bombings" etc the natives are actually responsible for.; 24 January 2009 at 14:35
Stef said...: What is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan is not 'blowback' as it is defined by Gorgeous George et al

It's still 'blowback' alright but a different kind

And, yes, US/UK/Israeli forces haven't been above putting a headdress on and committing a few atrocities in the past, just to keep the pot boiling, and I am unaware of any reason why they won't have continued to do so through to the present day

Just because a man is in a car when it blows up doesn't always mean he knew his car was going to blow up; 24 January 2009 at 17:43
The Antagonist said...: ^ All together now:

Dirka, dirka. Dirka, dirka

Word verification: SizesTea (?!); 24 January 2009 at 18:27
Stef said...: I'll see your dirka dirka and raise you one convenient suicide; 24 January 2009 at 18:39
paul said...: 7/7 definitely not blowback according to Jacqui Straw:

"The terrorists have struck across the world, in countries allied with the US, backing the war in Iraq and in countries which had nothing whatever to do with the war in Iraq."; 24 January 2009 at 18:42
The Antagonist said...: Ken Masters, a veteran of the Conspiraloon Alliance Sudden Adult Death Syndrome public health campaign -- a campign which, just like the Gaza appeal receives no coverage from the media.

Clever this BBC boycott bollocks -- what we now have is the Stop the War mob aligning themselves with the State in lobbying the State's own broadcasting organ.

Stop the War seem to have forgotten that it is the government with which they are aligning themselves who are waging the bloody wars they profess to wish to stop.

The enemy of my enemy isn't always my friend.

Never mind Manufacturing Consent, Manufacturing Dissent seems to be the in thing these days.; 24 January 2009 at 18:48
Anonymous said...: Hmm, guy gets summoned to US base in Iraq for "questioning" or some such. Guy gets told to report to official building, police station or something. Guy notices car driving strangely (or breaks down) after leaving base. Guy worried about car doesnt make it to destination. Car explodes. Guy not marked down in the statistics book as +1 fanatical suicide car bomber. Inconveniently not dead guy tells press instead.

Dont have the link for that one :p; 26 January 2009 at 13:08
Stef said...: Fisk has hinted at it a couple of times...

Suicide bomber attacks UN Baghdad headquarters; 26 January 2009 at 13:11
Stef said...: alternatively, you could really fuck with peoples' heads and produce a mainstream Hollywood flick entirely based on this premise...

Arlington Road (1999); 26 January 2009 at 13:20