Political Discussions And Ranting Thread

[The Old Crem 3,583]

I’ve decided to take a bit of a break from the forum. Take care everyone for now.

[AstroKat 532]

36 minutes ago, TQR said:

Putting my 'This isn't a troll I'm talking to' hat on for one second because, even if you're not being genuine, this kind of ideation can be triggering for anyone else struggling with feelings of wanting to disappear.

 

 

- Absolutely not this.

- "Trying to fit in" is a problematic term. Everyone should be different from everyone, that's what makes the world a vibrant and interesting place.

- The source of frustration here is your constant unqualified tweet-sharing, your doom-mongering, your habit of posing ill-founded opinion as fact, your bizarre sweeping generalisations based on absolutely nothing, your pedantry, your excessive posting on one topic and, crucially, your complete disregard of everyone who repeatedly tells you to stop one or multiple of these. If multiple people in a diverse environment point out the same things to you multiple times, maybe consider what they say?

- When some of us tell you to get out in the world and broaden your horizons, it is said because it really will help you. You'll have a new social outlet, and a vital different perspective. The obsessive doomscrolling on 'news' sources and forums leaves you twisted. This is meant to be a place to wile away a few spare moments, not a lifestyle.

- Not everything is bad. You just have to pay attention to the good.

 

FWIW bear in mind that for some people, myself included, physical and/or mental health problems can make it hard to get out in the world, at least physically. Obviously I don't know what @The Old Crem's situation is, but he has mentioned on another thread that he has some health issues.

 

The internet is a marvelous thing, but there are a lot of very toxic places out there, and it can be hard to find a place where you feel that you are welcome and are free to join the conversation. It can be easy to fall into a habit of doomscrolling, a habit I have had difficulty breaking, so I can understand why Crem finds himself there. That said, I agree that just reposting tweets and offering opinions without evidence isn't the best way to be part of a community.

 

Also, if you find yourself isolated from the world it can be hard to find the good when all you see is bad.

[TQR 14,387]

1 hour ago, AstroKat said:

 

FWIW bear in mind that for some people, myself included, physical and/or mental health problems can make it hard to get out in the world, at least physically. Obviously I don't know what @The Old Crem's situation is, but he has mentioned on another thread that he has some health issues.

 

The internet is a marvelous thing, but there are a lot of very toxic places out there, and it can be hard to find a place where you feel that you are welcome and are free to join the conversation. It can be easy to fall into a habit of doomscrolling, a habit I have had difficulty breaking, so I can understand why Crem finds himself there. That said, I agree that just reposting tweets and offering opinions without evidence isn't the best way to be part of a community.

 

Also, if you find yourself isolated from the world it can be hard to find the good when all you see is bad.

 

I fully appreciate that. I suppose 'getting out in the world' wasn't the key phrase; rather, 'broadening horizons' was.

 

I have spent a lot of my life dealing with the various mental health struggles of others (as well as mine). It's a cruel cycle of life that the more bad you see, often the more isolated you become, and it's a cruel trick of psychology that the deeper you are in a struggle, the less achievable things like positivity and self-acceptance seem. It all starts with taking a breath and being patient with yourself. When you're ready, try listening to everyone, laughing things off where you can and focus on finding the positives (or, at least, not the negatives), even if it feels like you're lying to yourself as can especially be the case with neurodiverse people.

 

Eventually, you might even achieve self-awareness, which all of us lose from time to time, and that's fine. I know that sounds all self-helpy which can be jarring AF, and that's also fine. Find it jarring. Have a little rant about it. Turn it into a joke. Laugh to yourself. Realise you've made a positive out of a negative.

 

The only ones who should not feel welcome here are those who spout hatred or seek to hurt others.

[Master Obit 830]

I did message TOC a while back to check if he was actually okay, but got no response. I hope he is okay.

 

TOC - Nobody wants you to be miserable and forcibly extricated from a hobby that you do seem to care about (albeit a bit too much for your own good). What people are saying isn't them trying to create a them vs you scenario, it's genuinely good advice that will help you. Stop scrolling through twitter/Daily Mail Online every minute of the day and actually see some of the world, away from your evidently very oppressive family. I've been there - I grew up in a very religous household that imparted warped views of the world to me, and it took getting out and speaking to others to realise.

 

Nobody should feel like they need to "fit in". Sure, you should conform to basic standards of decency, but your online persona should be the authentic you. Not something you've manufactured as a smokescreen for your insecurity because you feel that you need to be "normal".

[AstroKat 532]

4 hours ago, TQR said:

 

The only ones who should not feel welcome here are those who spout hatred or seek to hurt others.

 

 

It wasn't my intent to imply that this forum is not a welcoming place. For that I apologise.

 

4 hours ago, TQR said:

 

I fully appreciate that. I suppose 'getting out in the world' wasn't the key phrase; rather, 'broadening horizons' was.

 

 

In my albeit limited experience, when you become physically isolated from the world your primary way of learning new things and otherwise broadening your horizons is through the internet. The problem with that is it's all to easy to end up falling down misinformation rabbit holes, or find yourself in forums which act as echo chambers for particular, often narrow, worldviews, or, as seems to be the case, in a cycle of doomscrolling. To break out of that cycle you need a diverse group of people around you, who can help you see that there are other ways to view the world, which is a problem if you can't put yourself out in the world. Even in a world where we have the ability to have face to face conversations over the internet, your circle tends to shrink if you aren't able to participate in the world.

 

I'm waffling now, so I'll shut up.

[TQR 14,387]

Back on topic, 30p Lee's Reform reveal was unintentional comedy gold. 

 

 

Within a few seconds, that almost self-parodic, angry little shot at someone in the audience  Who's laughing, Leenoch? We all are. At you.

 

Interestingly, in joining Reform he becomes not just their first MP, but the first MP in history to directly represent a private limited company in the HoC. Presumably also the first ever MP with an IQ lower than a cabbage, though that needs confirming.

[Master Obit 830]

13 minutes ago, TQR said:

Back on topic, 30p Lee's Reform reveal was unintentional comedy gold. 

 

 

Within a few seconds, that almost self-parodic, angry little shot at someone in the audience  Who's laughing, Leenoch? We all are. At you.

 

Interestingly, in joining Reform he becomes not just their first MP, but the first MP in history to directly represent a private limited company in the HoC. Presumably also the first ever MP with an IQ lower than a cabbage, though that needs confirming.

 

Be fair, he's most certainly not the first.

[Sod's Law 445]

2 hours ago, Master Obit said:

I did message TOC a while back to check if he was actually okay, but got no response. I hope he is okay.

 

TOC - Nobody wants you to be miserable and forcibly extricated from a hobby that you do seem to care about (albeit a bit too much for your own good). What people are saying isn't them trying to create a them vs you scenario, it's genuinely good advice that will help you. Stop scrolling through twitter/Daily Mail Online every minute of the day and actually see some of the world, away from your evidently very oppressive family. I've been there - I grew up in a very religous household that imparted warped views of the world to me, and it took getting out and speaking to others to realise.

 

Nobody should feel like they need to "fit in". Sure, you should conform to basic standards of decency, but your online persona should be the authentic you. Not something you've manufactured as a smokescreen for your insecurity because you feel that you need to be "normal".

In fairness to him, this is a political news thread (in a time when politics is not in a good place globally at the moment and social media has a lot to blame for it) in a website whose whole existence literally revolves around waiting for people to die. If you come here expecting to find reassuring stories about the basic goodness of mankind, you're going to be sorely disappointed. 

 

Still, in TOC's case, a lot of people kind of fell off the deep end during Covid and it wouldn't surprise me if he/his family were among them. It put the idea of imminent doom into peoples' minds and gave them too much free time to worry and catastrophise. That's not a healthy mix. We need to remind ourselves nowadays that not everything is as completely fucked as social media has led people into thinking.

[Brad252 807]

This is my favourite take from the news today:

 

 

[YoungWillz 21,037]

Slipping under the radar are the following who took their seats in the Lords today.

 

Franck Petitgas - French banker, Sunak's personal investment manager.

 

Stewart Marks - Conservative party treasurer and donor to the party.

 

So we have another foreigner and a moneyman for the Tories. Sickening, isn't it?

[TQR 14,387]

[Master Obit 830]

1 hour ago, Sod's Law said:

In fairness to him, this is a political news thread (in a time when politics is not in a good place globally at the moment and social media has a lot to blame for it) in a website whose whole existence literally revolves around waiting for people to die. If you come here expecting to find reassuring stories about the basic goodness of mankind, you're going to be sorely disappointed. 

 

Still, in TOC's case, a lot of people kind of fell off the deep end during Covid and it wouldn't surprise me if he/his family were among them. It put the idea of imminent doom into peoples' minds and gave them too much free time to worry and catastrophise. That's not a healthy mix. We need to remind ourselves nowadays that not everything is as completely fucked as social media has led people into thinking.

It's a political news thread, not a twitter feed. He never adds anything of value to discussion, only pointless links to twitter/Daily Mail. Someone can be as negative as they want on a forum thread, provided it's actually backed up by fact. That's the thing people take issue with - baseless opinions being stated as fact.

 

Also, most people on here are capable of experiencing happiness, contrary to the miserable illusion that we conjure up. TOC badly needs to get away from twitter and actually relax a bit. 

[Redrumours 861]

2 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Slipping under the radar are the following who took their seats in the Lords today.

 

Franck Petitgas - French banker, Sunak's personal investment manager.

 

Stewart Marks - Conservative party treasurer and donor to the party.

 

So we have another foreigner and a moneyman for the Tories. Sickening, isn't it?

More levelling up? Not

[maryportfuncity 10,646]

Best political comedy gold since Lee Anderson's news conference IMHO

 

 

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

I'm looking forward to finally finding out what they are. 

[TQR 14,387]

[TQR 14,387]

“Grifterrrs are doing it for themselves”

 

[maryportfuncity 10,646]

Seriously, tell me when you've had enough but every time I look at the front page of this thing online it's the la la land gift that keeps on giving

 

[YoungWillz 21,037]

This is an ad on my timeline: 

While folk can barely make ends meet, this is symptomatic of the wealthy disconnect that says avoid paying tax. You know, the tax that would pay for better schools, hospitals, slash waiting lists, install decent border controls and defend the nation against foreign warmongers.

[DCI Frank Burnside 3,887]

Yes that'll have been it alright.....

 

 

 

[TQR 14,387]

Lilico at his best again, I see. What an absolute parcel.

[The Old Crem 3,583]

Sounds like they might be replacing Sunak with Mourdant pretty soon. 

[TQR 14,387]

1 minute ago, The Old Crem said:

Sounds like they might be replacing Sunak with Mourdant pretty soon. 

Speculation from some weirdos and nothing more.

[The Old Crem 3,583]

5 minutes ago, TQR said:

Speculation from some weirdos and nothing more.

Two newspapers both have it as exclusives so who knows.
 

The Daily Mail say the right will accept her if she subcontracts control off gender issues to them.

 

If it happens I hope I get to open the thread for her.

[TQR 14,387]

20 minutes ago, The Old Crem said:

Two newspapers both have it as exclusives

Hmm…do you see a problem with that?