No. Not at all. As you'd already know if you properly read my previous post. It was blatantly a parody, as was Jo brand's statement. A joke which those with no sense of humour got all soapboxy about for political reasons.
Erm. Read back. I wasn't seriously suggesting that North Korea, with possibly the most oppressive regime on the planet, has lots of happy citizens. My point was that its very easy to look at a documentary or media piece about a place and go "oh it's not bad at all", when the reality is that the place is almost certainly dressed up for the cameras. It proves diddly squat in terms of a real look into what a country is like. Albania is not some emerging paradise, not one bit. It has it's natural beauty and culture, but underneath there's a hell of a lot of corruption and organised crime running things. 40% of people leaving Albania do so because they are running from trafficking gangs which specialise in modern slavery. Unfortunately, these gangs have tendrils which stretch out across the continent and escaping them is very difficult. Gangs like this tend to hire "seekers", which I guess you could loosely label as bounty hunters to reclaim people who run from them. They are then punished, either by having their family harmed or having harm done to them personally. The children that disappeared in Brighton from a hotel was targeted by these gangs, a few were found working in a cannabis farm in Greater Manchester under an organised crime gang. It's fair to say many leave for economic reasons (around the same number that flee due to persecution from gangs); the country is poor and unless you work for a family member who is high up in government, your monthly salary will never be more than £700 a month. Even in Albania, that's difficult to live on. The government has taken steps to improve it, but the infrastructure is so poor that people are over reliant on family members and friends to help each other out. Lovely people, some of the most welcoming you could ever hope to meet and even though it's a mostly Muslim nation, it's quite secular and the people are laid back. I enjoyed my weeks in Tirana, though as I understand it not much has changed on a tourist level in 2023.
Stoke beat Blackburn so we dropped down a place. Oh, and KR got beat at home. Gusty Rovers as the HDM headline had it. Blowing hotband cold?
Why does Clarkson's get to be a parody and not Jo Brand's? How did you come to the conclusion that Jo Brand was serious about what she said and Clarkson's comment was "just bantz"?
There was something you could connect Clarkson’s parody to in Game Of Thrones.,There isn’t one where someone suggested throwing battery acid instead of milk at somebody. If a person on the right suggested doing that he police would have pounced,hate crime,inciting violence, right wing terrorist…
Good post. I was in Corfu 20 years ago this year. Albania was merely a place across the water where there were no lights. If you wanted to see dislike bordering on hatred you should have seen the reaction to Albanians who were just starting to be able to travel over and we’re selling cheap gear. Funny how all the countries which had the strictest communist dictatorships bred generations who have turned into the biggest criminals, ruthless and organised.
Kristallnacht, 1939. Over 90 killed, scores of innocent people arrested and deported to concentration and work camps. The Nazis didn't openly start mass murder until 1941, but there were plenty of killings before then that went unpunished or ignored. The baseless rhetoric used at the time was that Jewish people were to blame for the ills of Germany, such as the economic downturn following WW1 and the loss of the war in general. They were the "untermensch", undesirables that the government had persuaded the populous to look down upon. Initially there was resistance to it and Kristallnacht was generally thought of as reckless and cruel. Over time, however, people became worried that sympathising would lead to punishment and opinion swung in favour of the Nazis as Hitler's power grew. Among other things, Hitler outlawed Trade Unions, rid the media of critics and promoted populism and nationalism in order to "Make Germany great again". Nobody is suggesting that the current ruling party of 2023 is going down the same path. What Lineker was pointing out was that the rhetoric used to swing the populous in favour of something that historically is seen as horrendous is the same type used today to sell an idea that even the UN has criticised because it breaks human rights laws. It's discourse that has been used for some time in the UK and the US and it isn't a coincidence, it's entirely modelled on Hitler and Goebbels use of propaganda.
If you can't see this is a result of last gasp toryism haning on by whatever tenuous thread after a decade of failure and then having to use its thumb pressing might over state media to suppress free speech, then you might not be prepared for the future when we boot the ****s into touch. I'd suggest starting to dig your bunker and bulk buy tinned stuff now. Just an observation.
Jane Fonda sat live on TV and joked that murder was the solution to anti-abortion rights. They're media personalities, they tend to use hyperbole when they make a point. If Clarkson wants to make a joke about lobbing poop, so be it, he can do that. If Jo Brand wants to comment on upgrading dairy to acid, that's on her, they have to face the consequences of what they say. There is no whataboutism needed, it is what it is.
And we all make our own judgments about them based on what they say. When corporatism or political structures oppress this it needs to be resisted. Across the board. It's political censorship and absolutely a feature of authoritarianism.
Living under an authoritarian regime does that to people. If their ability to make a legitimate living is blocked, they will resort to "any means necessary" to survive. A lot of the people who worked as part of former regimes are still in government positions, so it's no wonder the people there feel so choked.
Absolutely, Lineker has 7 million twitter followers, so what he says will be heard. The BBC in recent years has been saying the quiet bit out loud. Speaks volumes that the only person that's come out backing the BBC here is Nadine Dorries. However you look at it, it's not good.
As a matter of consciousness... I'll be abstaining from presents in match off the dazed this week end...
The BBC is supposed to be impartial. If he’d tweeted support for the policy and used fairly extreme language to do so he would still be in breach of their rules. It’s not really relevant what he said, he’s paid a fortune by the BBC and is fully aware of the guidelines. He’s got previous, he’s been asked then warned not to do so, but he obviously thinks he’s bigger than everyone else employed by the people who pay his wages. His previous political tweets have ended with a slap on the wrist, as it’s now escalated to require a kick in the balls I would like to join the queue to administer the punishment.
A few surprises amongst this Lineker furore. The right have always viewed the BBC as a liberal left wing organisation, now the left are saying its right wing? Doesn't the solidarity within the BBC for Lineker prive the staff are predominantly left? I like the BBC but it does have that leftwing bias that runs through the arts and programme makers. The popularity of Lineker has to come into question, does 7M twitter followers make you deluded? I've been surprised at how many people are actually saying MOTD will be improved without his smug persona and they will now start watching it again. Time for a change, Lineker Raus.
