Your arguments would carry more weight if you didn't use words like "muppets" or "cretin". Please don't misunderstand this next bit, it's a genuine question. Personally I can think of nothing more boring than endless political debate, on here, in the pub, wherever. On here, I usually just ignore it, although somehow I've landed here this time! In the pub, whenever politics or religion crops up, I just refuse to join in, pick up my pint (or currently, my Becks Blue or tomato juice) and go and sit somewhere else. It completely does my head in. My question is, do you and the others involved in these endless debates believe you will actually convince others to take you point of view? What is the point of the discussion? In my experience, people will argue for hours about all this stuff, but afterwards nobody has changed their opinions AT ALL. The discussions normally end with "We'll have to agree to disagree then". Why can't people "agree to disagree" before they start, rather than waste hours of the only life they have with endless and pointless point scoring. They could then get on with enjoying life again.
You are 100% right on both counts. I try hard to avoid using derogatory terms but compared to some of the things I have been called, Muppet and cretin is quite mild and I rarely do stoop to that level. You have to admit though, that someone who quite aggressively advocates 'freedom of movement', accuses someone who argues for some restrictions a Brexidiot and then states that UK nationals who retire abroad should have their pension rights removed and is not really thinking very clearly. I do get annoyed when people accuse me of something I am not and add personal insults. I do quite like a good discussion and debate(not the same as trolling), something I have kind of picked upon living here. Italians love a good argument about politics but, unfortunately for the people on the BB, my Italian is not good enough as yet to really get involed when my Italian friends start up a heated debate. The difference is Italians don't take stuff personally but there are a number people on here who seem incapable of debate and discussion without it turning nasty. That is why you are 100% correct (and I should really adopt your approach and ignore it) . Unfortunately there is no 'Debate Anonymous' club that I know of that I could join!!
Try posting about the difference between server-side and client-side scripts, using Ajax calls to speed up data transfer, whether Rod Ree Gaze should have a place on the bench, how long it takes to climb to the top of Whernside, whether or not you should have a landline, why you sh..........you get the idea? There are loads of subjects to discuss, apart from politics. I excluded that from my curriculum long ago. You Reds!
Two very different things in my eyes. National Pride is something I used to have, I now feel somewhat ashamed of my country. Nationalism is just a pseudonym for Fascism.
Client-Server is so 90s. Its all about containerization and whether to use puppet/chef/docket to run the scripts in the cloud.
Like I said. I agree with you 100%. BUT... I have a lot of positive thread responses and replies along with the vitriolic ones and quite a few 'likes' over the past few months so there must be quite a few sad bas**rds on here like myself. If no one is interested then they can ignore the OPs like, I suspect, lots people do with posts on the lines of what you have mentioned. Actually, if you look back you will see I have intitiated far fewer posts on politics than you might think although I admit that I have responded to a lot started by others. I suppose its down to the old saying..." One mans meat is another mans poison!
I know what you mean - Nothing wrong with being proud of your country, home town family etc. everything wrong with using that to treat others as inferior
Interesting and reasonable article. I was searching though for the difference between benign nationalism and what many people see as destructive/malign nationalism. This article implies Nationalism is bad and Patriotism is good..... However, I am a bit unsure of the sentence in the penultimate paragraph... "A nationalist believes that his country is better than any other country whereas a patriot believes that his country is one of the best and that it can advance in many fields with effort and hard work." The highlighted bit surely implies that a 'patriot' may still considers him/herself to come from a country superior to many others and that still implies Nationalistic tendencies with an attitude more patronising than patriotic. Perhaps it would be better to argue malign, destructive Nationalism arises from a group of individuals born and raised in one particular country collectively believing themselves superior to people born and raised in another country or countries leading to bigotry and a sense of entitlement. Good thought provoking post though!
I'm glad they demonised national health specs. Especially the ones with the bendy wire on. My ears still stick out. Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk
Maybe the superiority they believe in comes from a deep seated inferiority complex, so they have to use the superiority of their nation as a way to improve their self-image?
you stated above. P.S. 'name calling' hardly indicates an intellect worth debating with. i think il leave that one with you.
Honestly I think the articles bollacks - but just to add my own pile of ballacks. Just because they don't use the current Guardian reader political correct namby pamby liberal "progressive" authorised terminology for what people think and believe strongly about (or indeed simply feel threatened by) - they get called racists by Ricks with the silent P - who think they are so much cleverer and right on and tolerant than the council estate dross. I can hear some lilly livered social worker now being “disgusted” that someone called themselves a nationalist rather than a “patriot”….. FEKC OFFFF! People call what they feel what they want. I concede that many within the unwashed masses fail to articulate their frustration well and this is then interpreted as racist by those intolerant of intolerance and simply dismissed. It is this arbitrary dismissal by the political class – this pre-disposition of some to see the racist in the woodpile - where the problem lies - not with the nationalists / patriots or whatever the hell people want to label it as. A little less holier than thow pretentious clap trap from the Bourgeoisie pseudo intellectual set would go a long way. Seeking to address the root cause would be a much more productive use of energy than trying to define how exactly it is acceptable to feel about what is basically a tribal response to a threat to one’s sense of belonging.
Cretin - informal, offensive A stupid person (used as a general term of abuse). Muppet informal, - an incompetent or foolish person Seemed a reasonable desciption for someone advocating free movement but stating people who emigrate should have their pension rights removed I'll leave THAT thought with YOU.
You should read this "Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...-trump?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard
I'll bite, although I'm not of the political class. What exactly are you most frustrated about, feel strongest about or are most threatened by?
Oh my god. How can anyone read that....you're right - it's utter nonsense - exactly the pompous BS I was talking about.