"Currants Bw..."

[IBK]

You'll be unsurprised to hear I don't really see that happening.
I just don't see a clear direction of travel towards authoritarianism. And I would note that the people who scoff at that are the ones who saw the Covid restrictions as a land grab on our rights. Multiple people on here said that the restrictions were here to stay. That was never going to happen. They were clearly a response to "a situation". The wrong response, sure, but a response nonetheless. As the situation changed, so did the restrictions. And while it did feel at times like it would go on forever, we are past all that now and it's back to BAU. I just don't see what freedoms our parents or grandparents enjoyed that we are now denied. For some people rights have increased. We are less than a century since women earned the right to vote. Being gay (well, having a gay relationship, anyway) was actually illegal in my parents' childhood and for some of their adulthood actually. Imagine that. Two adults having a relationship was illegal because they were the same sex. So I really don't see evidence for the march of authoritarianism that some on here suppose. And those that do claim to see it never give concrete examples of how it's happening, it's always "this is what is going to happen". But given some of their predictions about how Covid restrictions would persist and increase, I'm sceptical of their 20:20 foresight.

I think we are talking different timescales. I see our system eventually failing - mostly because of the growing disparity between the haves and the have nots. We are already seeing a marked decline in real wealth amongst most in Western society - and this has been happening for a long time - masked by cheaper consumer goods and increasing efficiencies. We also need to accoutn for increasing automisation, that will make many jobs defunct. Whether 50 years or 200 - I think we are going to see massive and fundamental social change - after all there is a pattern of this throughout history.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I think we are talking different timescales. I see our system eventually failing - mostly because of the growing disparity between the haves and the have nots. We are already seeing a marked decline in real wealth amongst most in Western society - and this has been happening for a long time - masked by cheaper consumer goods and increasing efficiencies. We also need to accoutn for increasing automisation, that will make many jobs defunct. Whether 50 years or 200 - I think we are going to see massive and fundamental social change - after all there is a pattern of this throughout history.

It was Mark Twain that stated that History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes.

You can see repeating patterns, in the rise of authoritarian strong men like Putin, Xi, Modi and Erdogan as well as the rehabilitation of men like Netanyahu and the Marcos family in the Phillipines

It’s essentially a rebuke of Fukuyama’s claim of the end of History at the fall of the Berlin Wall

It won’t ever look exactly the same and in the west the system will buckle rather than break.

This stress testing in the west has come about via the complacency and laziness of the institutions. You’ve pointed to one factor which is the growing economic inequality but on top of that there is an unreliable media ecosystem which thrives on division and sensationalism. The rise of identity politics and circles of purity.

For me it’s that our technological evolution is outstripping our biological evolution and we are still the same aggressive and fearful apes we were 500 years ago.

The thing on top of that is, instability is the norm and whilst it feels like the last 10-15 years has been extraordinary…it’s really the 60 years before hand that was conspicuous.

[Globalgunner]

Human nature has not changed not in 5 thousand years. We are greedy by nature and will routinely do outrageous things, If we think we can get away with it

The Romans were the prototype of todays western empire. They created an economy based on war and conquest. Did not produce their own food and relied on imports. Imports that were levied from conquered nations rather than bilateral trade. Created multiple enemies that they couldn't face down at the same time and got destroyed.

Its happening all over again

[HCZ_Reborn]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64557459

You have to hand it to Nicola Sturgeon, before the ham fisted GRB passed to create a constitutional battle with Westminster and the subsequent “Might this not help Rapists get access to womens spaces” the News would have called this animal a woman, and not a man with a female alias.

As I’ve been saying for years, what’s bad for the SNP is good for the rest of society

[Niall_Quinn]

You'll be unsurprised to hear I don't really see that happening.
I just don't see a clear direction of travel towards authoritarianism. And I would note that the people who scoff at that are the ones who saw the Covid restrictions as a land grab on our rights. Multiple people on here said that the restrictions were here to stay. That was never going to happen. They were clearly a response to "a situation". The wrong response, sure, but a response nonetheless. As the situation changed, so did the restrictions. And while it did feel at times like it would go on forever, we are past all that now and it's back to BAU. I just don't see what freedoms our parents or grandparents enjoyed that we are now denied. For some people rights have increased. We are less than a century since women earned the right to vote. Being gay (well, having a gay relationship, anyway) was actually illegal in my parents' childhood and for some of their adulthood actually. Imagine that. Two adults having a relationship was illegal because they were the same sex. So I really don't see evidence for the march of authoritarianism that some on here suppose. And those that do claim to see it never give concrete examples of how it's happening, it's always "this is what is going to happen". But given some of their predictions about how Covid restrictions would persist and increase, I'm sceptical of their 20:20 foresight.

You see the world in one dimension and through strobe lighting. There is no complexity, just conformity without question, let alone analysis. So of course you can't see, of course you can't extrapolate the path of the unimpeded bullet. It's not as if the BBC is going to warn you. So many are like you. Stubbornly uneducated, at a time when all the knowledge of the world is a button press away.

[Niall_Quinn]

Human nature has not changed not in 5 thousand years. We are greedy by nature and will routinely do outrageous things, If we think we can get away with it

The Romans were the prototype of todays western empire. They created an economy based on war and conquest. Did not produce their own food and relied on imports. Imports that were levied from conquered nations rather than bilateral trade. Created multiple enemies that they couldn't face down at the same time and got destroyed.

Its happening all over again

There's a game changing difference today. For the first time in history genuine control can be established through technology. The worst of us always had to fear the rest of us, to varying degrees, because numbers mattered. Now those numbers, for the first time ever, can be measured, tracked and organised down to the individual. This is a new history, never seen before and to be seen for evermore if we miss our final chance to reject it. Many are welcoming it.

[Letters]

You see the world in one dimension and through strobe lighting. There is no complexity, just conformity without question, let alone analysis. So of course you can't see, of course you can't extrapolate the path of the unimpeded bullet.

But your claims of being the one who can see these things, of being the one who can extrapolate, are undermined by your record in predicting things that will happen. I've quoted it all before numerous times.
In October 2020 you said they were "gearing up" for marshal law. And...oh you know all the other stuff you said.
None of it happened. It just...didn't. The opposite happened, the restrictions were lifted. There's no debate about that to be had, it happened.

And that doesn't make you wrong about the direction of travel. I don't agree with you because my experience of the last few years has been of a load of pandemic restrictions which at times I thought necessary, at other times I thought ridiculous, but I always felt that they were temporary measures intended to deal with "a situation". I'd suggest I was right about that, because none of those measures are still in place. We are now back to BAU. You predicted ever increasing restrictions, that just didn't happen. A reasonable position for you would be to admit you got those things wrong and point to other things going on which lead you to believe you are correct about the general direction of travel even if you got some of the details and timelines wrong. But you don't do that, you just keep ignoring that you got anything wrong - at times doubling down and pretending you were actually correct because of things which were going on in different countries. That clearly isn't what you were talking about.
To be fair you have mentioned a couple of things recently, one was about some government report which you suggested I look up. So I tried, found a page with a load of reports on, asked which one you were talking about and you ignored me. So...

Stubbornly uneducated, at a time when all the knowledge of the world is a button press away.

But which button? There's the problem these days. We can all find sources which reinforce our worldview and pander to our biases. In fact, the algorithms make sure that happens. The YouTube video suggestions, the Google results I see. These things are tailored to things I've already shown interest in. I personally don't think this is malicious (you, no doubt, will disagree), they're just trying to show me stuff they think I'd be interested in. But whether malicious or not, it does make it easy to become entrenched in one's position. It's part of why things are so polarised these days, IMO. The best you can do is try and read a range of sources and be aware of your biases. You may do the former, you seem poor at the latter. I've mentioned the USPS interview numerous times, you listened to it and your distrust of authority led you to hear things which just weren't there. Some of the YouTube channels you watch and some of the ones you dismiss when I post them speak to your biases (and mine, of course). But you never seem to acknowledge it or attempt to account for it.

[Globalgunner]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64557459

You have to hand it to Nicola Sturgeon, before the ham fisted GRB passed to create a constitutional battle with Westminster and the subsequent “Might this not help Rapists get access to womens spaces” the News would have called this animal a woman, and not a man with a female alias.

As I’ve been saying for years, what’s bad for the SNP is good for the rest of society

Is there any sane person who feels sorry this woman is gone. I thought nothing about her either way a few years ago especially when she was giving the middle finger to Teresa May, but in the last 2 years she has shown the political acumen of a Toad in boiling water. Bring back my former local Rep. The touchy feely guy from N Lanarkshire, former First Minister

[Globalgunner]

There's a game changing difference today. For the first time in history genuine control can be established through technology. The worst of us always had to fear the rest of us, to varying degrees, because numbers mattered. Now those numbers, for the first time ever, can be measured, tracked and neutralised down to the individual. This is a new history, never seen before and to be seen for evermore if we miss our final chance to reject it. Many are welcoming it.

Those who welcome it think it will never affect them. Until it does.

[Mac76]

Is there any sane person who feels sorry this woman is gone. I thought nothing about her either way a few years ago especially when she was giving the middle finger to Teresa May, but in the last 2 years she has shown the political acumen of a Toad in boiling water. Bring back my former local Rep. The touchy feely guy from N Lanarkshire, former First Minister

Well I'd be less harsh but there's no denying she has got herself into a bit of a mess recently

Tbh if I was Scottish I'd be out campaigning for independence on a daily basis to get away from Tory rule and rejoin the EU

For our sake I'm glad she's gone as it makes independence less likely, which if it happened would make this pretty much a one-party state and much worse for it