Would you fellas not be better just to provide food for the people in whatever enviromentally friendly manner you see fit? Do something useful like?
And what is it about monocrop agriculture that you particularly like? Is it the reliance on pesticides?
The moral stain on the west that we did not act to stop the Russians and destroy them will last for a hell of a long time.
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theres a big issue coming up in a month or 2 with a lot of Ukrainians. Some of them have been housed in 3 month lease accommodation and many are very unsure as to what happens next. Add in the likes of temporary college accommodation also.
The constant comments online from people when any sort of article is posted is crazy. What about the homeless, sort out our own etc. All the while pitting one against the other, when it doesnt have to be such. People saying they cant get a “forever home” but yet Ukrainians are getting everything handed to them. Ukrainians are being shunted into houses in the back arse of no where, hotels or some random room share in a house. They are taking absolutely nothing from our homeless, and the worst thing is the people who shout most about our homeless do the sum total of fuck all to contribute or help or have any actual interest in it.
There was an article I saw posted online of “Kievites flocking to the beach” as if they should all be going back now that the “war is over”. I know of a couple of people who travelled back recently and back here to Ireland, might go into more detail of them later but its a horrific story, but they had to fly to Slovakia and try manage buses and trains back to Kiev. It took them the guts of 24 hours to get from Dublin to Kiev due to train stations being bombed, services not running or not being able to run now. Kiev is still being shelled, not at the same frequency, but its still a threat. Added to the fact that not all the refugees have come from Kiev and at times I really wonder why people are so fucked off with Ukrainians being accommodated here and all the 200,000 scaremongering which hasnt remotely come to pass is still being used as some sort of stick to give out about it.
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This is why the worldwide pro-fascist front has used armies of bots and trolls and conspiracy theories for so many years - to create an artificial information environment which pits all against all - which is a necessary condition for the advancement of kleptocracy, criminality and fascism.
Public debate in every corner of the internet - real views of real people which influence real life - becomes heavily influenced by the saturation of our information environment with bullshit. Real people fall for divide and conquer tactics and become blithering idiots and cultists who spend their lives shouting idiotic slogans and soundbytes. “Hypocrisy” this, “hypocrisy” that, “globalists” this, “globalists” that, “asylum seekers”, yeah the powerless asylum seekers are the problem or something, let’s banish them to Rwanda and all our problems will be solved. Soros, Gates, conspiracies everywhere. “Covid is a conspiracy”, the war in Ukraine “is a conspiracy”, migration “is a conspiracy”, the climate crisis “is a conspiracy”, “there’s a conspiracy to cook up a conspiracy against the heroic Trump”, everything’s a fucking conspiracy.
“Why don’t we look after our own”, “but what about the homeless”. None of these people give a fuck about any homeless. They want no tax and yet they want world class public services and welfare but also think welfare should be abolished. “Abolish the media”. The same media which bends over backwards to amplify the views of these idiots because they’re shit scared of them.
Any sort of even mildly progressive social democratic progress then becomes almost impossible against this backdrop.
There is not a single issue anywhere which is not influenced by this stuff. Fascist propaganda techniques on the internet have turned an increasingly large subset of societies everywhere into total morons, including Ireland.
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I’ve often wondered were stupid people always around and it now is that the internet makes it accessible to view their stupidity and an outlet for it to be heard far more, or has the internet created stupid people.
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Is there an innocent explanation for this? Maybe there is.
You’d have your doubts.
I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this here before. I think it has empowered a lot of stupid and bigoted people to say stupid and bigoted things. Years ago they’d have been rightly laughed at and told to shut up but now the awkward squad and friends can reach further afield and point to legions of other stupid and bigoted people saying the same shite.
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I think it’s both.
Stupid people were always around. But they had little avenue to amplify their stupidity. Now they have every avenue. And that sucks others into the vortex. The more that get sucked into the vortex, the more the stupidity becomes part of public debate.
It also suits a hell of a lot of powerful people that this is the case, because there are a hell of a lot of powerful people with bad motives.
And those with good motives become cowed or corrupted by the endless cacophony of bullshit.
I have increasingly come to the view that a majority of society is no longer particularly interested in good government, in competent government, in moral government, because they have become so confused by the endless cacophony of bullshit. I believe an overwhelming majority of society are good people, but so many have become so confused that they now just want a bunch of ultra-confident bullshitters to peddle a bunch of easy, wrong and often hateful answers to them.
Thread on the “long-war” in #Ukraine.
We’re entering a dangerous phase, as public interest is dipping, while the economic cost of the war is increasing.
There is a clear decrease in media and public interest for the war - something that was entirely predictable yet still unfortunate.
News outlets are starting to pull their reporters out #Ukraine (staying in Ukraine is costly). Ukrainian fixers were high in demands a few weeks back, it’s not the case anymore
There are multiple other signs of decreased public interest. Here is a google trends graph that shows decrease “Ukraine” searches.
We’re entering the summer, which is also a time of lower interest for news, especially foreign news. This also comes after years of pandemic, delayed vacations etc - though costs are rising.
Meanwhile, the cost of the war outside of #Ukraine is rising. Russia’s bet is that, whereas Russians can weather it, the West is far more sensitive to it.
This also comes at a critical time for Ukraine, as it is forced to transition from Russian-made artillery, to Western systems. Other countries have done so successfully (Poland for instance) but this is the first time such a transition is made during a war.
As I have mentioned in previous threads (as many others have), a long/attrition war is also one that relies increasingly on artillery.
So the decrease in Western attention is coming at the exact time #Ukraine needs it the most. The West could have prepared for it, and seen this difficulty ahead of time - many have pointed it out. It didn’t.
Of course those trends are more complex. A decrease in media coverage ≠ decrease in public interest ≠ decrease in arms supply. But one factor does impact the other. I also do think it is Russia’s bet, so this summer will be particularly critical to gauge how the war evolves.
Russia will also try to gauge how much pressure the West will place on Zelensky (if any) to negotiate, including on a ceasefire. I personally think it would be a mistake to negotiate such a deal, we’ve seen how those went in Syria.
When Macron, Scholz and Dragi go to Kyiv later this month they’ll probably tell Zelensky to fall in and cut a deal.
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Anyone that holds a different opinion to my world view is stupid and being conned by bots 
The internet in 2022.
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It’s surely getting to that stage now? Will they dangle EU membership as part of it?
Probably
not really. Many people have different opinions or ideas and can give them coherently. Its the absolute nutjobs that scream ridiculous shit, on both sides of any debate that is the discussion here. People will believe any aul rubbish they see online as if it were fact because it was put on a pretty picture.
I’m not disputing any of that. It’s largely why I’m not on social media bar a dud Twitter account to search for stuff. But you can’t put everything in life down to right wing conspiracies either.
People shouldn’t be allowed comment on anything unless they’ve listened to a Joe Rogan four hour podcast on it.
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It won’t work on any level.
Part of the disenchantment with liberal democracy is because those who are entrusted with protecting it are not serious about doing so. Macron. Scholz and Draghi are not serious about protecting liberal democracy.
You can only protect it by being aggressive in its defence. You don’t protect it by bending over and getting fucked by Putin.
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Dont worry pal, I dont.