He didn’t say it, but its sentiments, if you read it in the way it’s intended to be read (I think), are fine. ‘Islamophobia’ Is used to shut down criticism of a belief/value system. If you think about it it makes no sense to call it racist, race isn’t involved at all. Anti Zionism is also a criticism of a belief system. Both however sit uncomfortably close to racism with the false assumption that Jew = Zionist and Arab/Middle Eastern = Islamist, so hatred is turned on people because of what they look like/where they are from (perhaps generations ago) rather than what they believe. The line has become blurred. Perhaps irreversibly so. ‘Racism’ is a very confused concept (as is race itself, there is much less genetic diversity between human beings than there is between chimpanzees) and it’s pretty fruitless to debate it in an academic way - but we all know racist behaviour when we see it. So many of the Tories railing against Islam are probably racist as are a lot of the Lefties attacking Israel. And Bobmid you should care about it, because it makes the world we live in a nasty place. My,my Mr Trump stirs up strong feelings doesn’t he? As his one technique is to disrupt, he should be delighted, but his vanity probably prevents that. All this protesting about him rather obscures the fact that he (like Lega/Five Star, AfD, Corbyn/Momentum, Erdogan etc) are a symptom, not a cause. The cause is the failure of rich liberals to manage the world in a way which prevents such populists from gaining support. It’s a failure of liberal values, and the longer we spend being appalled by Trump rather than holding our hands up and saying ‘we ****ed up, we have made huge parts of our populations feel alienated, ignored and scared by assuming that because we were doing ok, everyone was’ and then trying to do something about it, the more likely we will see more and more Trump like success and behaviour. And it will damage the rich liberals - but not as much as it will ultimately damage the people who think that the populists are actually going to make their lives better.
I've never got why people bring their kids on those kind of things. There's always a dangerous it's going to turn nasty and there's very few avenues of escape if you are caught in the middle. Like Staines said earlier I also think many were there for the day out as much as caring really deeply about it. I've only ever been on one - the Stop the War March in 2003. Nice morning out with some mates and then pottered to Camden to watch the rugby. The March was great but it just formed a part of the day.
As a kid I went to school in Hampshire and one weekend my mum and dad took me out for the day. We drove past Greenham Common where we were greeted by the loveliest of women (if you can call them that) demonstrators. they were banging and spitting at our car. My dad stopped to confront them and as he did noticed all these kids behind them. I will never forget how he ripped them apart with regards to parenting. While they were banging on about a nuclear war and the kids future he just pointed out that living in ridiculous camps was not the place for children and that they would be better off being in school. They then started to get angry but fair play to him he kept a cool head and discussed protesting with them. once again they were mouthing off but he just ripped them apart in a measured way. As we drove off they were chucking things at our car. My dad said 'kids put your hands over your ears', which by the way I only pretended to do. I heard him say "@@@@ing idiots". The moral of the story was I spent a fab day in Hungerford/Newbury with my parents which I will never forget. I wonder if those kids at Greenham Common would have said the same thing?
My seven year old niece doesn't like him because " he was rude to Theresa May and the Queen - and men should always be nice to ladies" . Good to see that the move to total gender neutrality we keep hearing about isn't working in some schools and households!
Clearly 52% the population either don't agree with you or don't know what they've signed up for. You do, though. You always have. It's more "whataboutery" of course. Don't argue against the reasons for the protest, instead, try and change focus on the perceived lack of parenting skills of the protesters because that (in the eyes of some) mitigates against the reason they're protesting. It doesn't. It's something else.
Fine post. Myself, I don't think the values themselves are the problem. It's the failure to take action in line with them. But that's just my belief system at work, I'm sure.
First para - Are you suggesting that most of those who voted to leave the EU don't know what they're doing and neglect their children?! Second para - Sorry, BD but it's impenetrable! Did you lift it from a Lib Dem manifesto?
Thank you. I’m not sure how liberal values have helped us with things like Islamic fundamentalism (or Buddhist or Christian fundamentalism for that matter), ‘no platforming’ and the closing down of debate, the response to the financial crash, war and economic inspired mass migration. They have raised more questions, doubts and contradictions than answers I feel. Not that I have any answers myself and I certainly don’t believe Trump and his kind do. I say this as someone who in some ways is probably the living definition of the liberal, metropolitan elite. It’s time we stood up and took some accountability for the state we are in rather than blaming Trump for being Trump.
The thing is, the indoctrination is happening without you knowing it. My 9 year old twins came home and when they saw Trump in the TV they started ‘Booooo......down with Trump, we hate Trump’...... Now I asked them why they disliked Trump that much and they replied ‘He thinks it’s ok to kill Elephants’..... Now they didn’t get that from me so it’s coming from somewhere.
Nor me. It's a balance between holding liberal values yourself and protecting yourself against the actions of people that clearly do not. I don't have the answer as to what the right balance is.
Exactly. So much of the focus has been on the protesters themselves, rather than what they are protesting against. How dare middle-class people protest about anything? And now they are bad parents for ****'s sake! Too lazy to do it myself, but I'm delighted that so many have taken to the streets to show how they feel about the fact that the leader of the nation that is supposed to be our greatest ally is actually a neo-fascist.
“Yeah right on....Power to the people !!! Now pass me another glass of pimms Tarquin, daddies yacht is docking soon” Listen to a song called ‘Suburban Rebels’ by The Business......sums them up pretty well in my view.
