Election 2019 - Hide in a fridge to win - The Bear and Badger

RamSteelwood

my kids are both in primary school, yet they think brexit is bad, and corbyn is quite good and Boris/Trump is bad. i assume that's coming from the teachers. whether that's indicative of teaching across the country i dunno. of course, it's also at least another 10 years before they could vote so prob too late by then anyway.

Funkstain

poprock wrote:

Or, and this is possibly a scarier thought, has this always been the way? Have the majority of people always been this disconnected form reality and it’s just that modern communications and media are letting us see it clearly?

It's certainly this. People / humans haven't changed in the last few thousand years, our evolutionary traits remain intact. When you look at popular movements resulting in real lasting change (not always for the better!), one thing many have in common is the absolute state of abject fucking misery of the many, versus the uncountable riches of the few. We're just not quite at that stage here. The uncountable riches are, but most of us are still alright Jack, just about.

Gremill

Looks like I picked the wrong month to give up anti-depressants.
**Lloyd bridges gif**

poprock

@Funk: Yeah, exactly. It’s like what I was saying yesterday about realising over recent years that a lot of my Twitter friends are rampant Tories. They’re not stupid people, or even callous and nasty people. They’re just not actually engaged with the societal problems those bastards are causing. They’re alright, Jack. Why risk their ‘alright-ness’ by changing to a different way of running things?

GooberTheHat

Sadly I think it's always been this way. The vast majority don't have the energy to properly research what's going on, so are happy to accept whatever pre macerated bullshit they are offered, as long as its sugar coated and easy to swallow.

Tempy

I think a big thing in schooling in England was the constant downplaying of Media Studies as a “Mickey Mouse” subject. I remember being the last year in my school to have access to media studies, we didn’t do it after year 9, so no GCSE on it.

We spent our whole year reading papers, talking about writing headlines and articles to convey points of view, the framing of things such as photographs and articles fit agendas.

Far from being Mickey Mouse, it was trying to teach us to engage with Media critically. Getting rid of it was a huge con, I don’t know who was in charge of curriculum reforms, or if it was just our school. But I do know that for a good decade or so the very idea of Media Studies was laughed at, at the same time as the whole world became more and more saturated with varying forms of media.

People haven't got a hope in hell of decoding modern media if they aren’t taught how to understand papers or broadcast news. People are simply unequipped for the modern landscape.

Gremill

The same person who said they will vote Tory for the first time to GBD had also just said that they hate Sturgeon and can't understand why Scotland want to be independent. I mean, fucking hell.

Gremill

I'm going to end up getting a disciplinary if this keeps up.

Kazuo

As G. said a while back: It's their world, we're just along for the ride.

Diluted Dante

I don't know how you didn't say "to get away from people like you".

hunk

poprock wrote:

I honestly feel like crying.

I just keep trying to understand how we got to this point, because that’s the only way to figure out how to change it in future. I keep coming back to education. What was being taught in British schools (30 years ago? 20 years ago?) to lead to this generation of head-in-sand, politically vacant, easily manipulated people? I’m 100% sure the media (and latterly social media) have played a major part, but this is a country of people who were receptive to that media conditioning when they should have been equipped with a healthy cynicism and critical tools. Or, and this is possibly a scarier thought, has this always been the way? Have the majority of people always been this disconnected from reality and it’s just that modern communications and media are letting us see it clearly?

Education definitely plays a role in all of this.
It's all about society's division into social classes and aiming to maintain it; the 1% (upper class), the 9% (middle class) and the 90% (lower class). Keep the 90% stupid (austerity and education) and they'll be more malleable to disinformation and propaganda. Not only that but by maintaining the 90% you (Big Business) also have access to cheaper labour. When shit gets out of hand point at the others (foreigners, jews, muslims etc) to shift blame. Let the population vent their anger and you stay at the helm. Give the people just enough crumbs so they can dream of climbing the ses (social economic status) ladder. But not too much, you don't want the 9% booming out of proportion. That would endanger the structure and integrity of the conservative class pyramid.

And yes, it has always been like this. When looking at human history it's an age old formula that just works. Money (the 1%) makes the world go round. Especially with the right policy and regulation.

poprock

Tempy wrote:

I think a big thing in schooling in England was the constant downplaying of Media Studies as a “Mickey Mouse” subject. … People haven't got a hope in hell of decoding modern media if they aren’t taught how to understand papers or broadcast news.

And in past generations it was the whole concept of a ‘liberal arts’ (American term) or just ‘arts’ education that was derided as somehow lesser. Hell, even up to my generation it was hard to persuade parents that going to art school had any real value.

As it turns out, a rounded arts education is the best possible toolkit for navigating the modern word. So we really showed them.

And fuck … it’s not much of a leap to cast some side-eye at the Government trend for defunding and deprioritising the very forms of education that might equip future generations with the critical faculties to understand how/why they’re being fucked over.

poprock

Aye. <agree="Hunk">

Tempy

poprock wrote:

Tempy wrote:

I think a big thing in schooling in England was the constant downplaying of Media Studies as a “Mickey Mouse” subject. … People haven't got a hope in hell of decoding modern media if they aren’t taught how to understand papers or broadcast news.

And in past generations it was the whole concept of a ‘liberal arts’ (American term) or just ‘arts’ education that was derided as somehow lesser. Hell, even up to my generation it was hard to persuade parents that going to art school had any real value.

As it turns out, a rounded arts education is the best possible toolkit for navigating the modern word. So we really showed them.

And fuck … it’s not much of a leap to cast some side-eye at the Government trend for defunding and deprioritising the very forms of education that might equip future generations with the critical faculties to understand how/why they’re being fucked over.

It’s what I based my interview responses and personal statement for getting into teaching around. Was sadly too week to follow through, but I still believe it.

Diluted Dante

Just voted. Tory obviously, because people poorer than me seem to be enjoying life too much.

poprock

You jest, but where you live that’s probably been a fucking campaign slogan.

Wookienopants

Done my vote. Just got to hope there’s enough people out there fighting for change

afgavinstan

I feel you, Grem. I have colleagues in my hospital that are the same. The levels of ignorance are staggering.

But they've been conditioned that way. I fear it'll take something catastrophic to shake this island into gear, but I'm still remaining hopeful today.

dynamiteReady

When do the first of exit polls usually return?

dynamiteReady

Nvm (10pm).

LarryDavid

Diluted Dante wrote:

Just voted. Tory obviously, because people poorer than me seem to be enjoying life too much.

Same. There was a Bangladeshi bloke down the road who appeared to have a bigger TV than me. When he's pawning it to pay for his private medical bills, we'll see who's laughing.

MattyJ

Voted. Labour. Now just fingers crossed for the best.

LivDiv

Voting done.
Noticed on the paper that the Brexit Party candidate doesnt even live in my constituency.

Seems like we need to set up some borders to keep these people from stealing our jobs.

Armitage_Shankburn

Griff is reading this, glass of cognac in hand, licking the screen to taste our salty tears

LarryDavid

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/tories-target-northern-voters-nhs-message-all-about-blaming-migrants/

Yet more positive campaigning. Honestly, fuck these people.

MattyJ

LivDiv wrote:

Voting done.
Noticed on the paper that the Brexit Party candidate doesnt even live in my constituency.

Seems like we need to set up some borders to keep these people from stealing our jobs.

Yeah the conservative one didn't live in mine either.

SpaceGazelle

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

Griff is reading this, glass of cognac in hand, licking the screen to taste our salty tears

Yeah it's fucked. Still, under new post-Brexit billionaire rules Griff will be considered prole scum like the rest of us.

SpaceGazelle

Richard Branson seems to be worried his NHS contracts are heading instead to America, the arse.

b0r1s

Just voted.

Gremill

afgavinstan wrote:

I feel you, Grem. I have colleagues in my hospital that are the same. The levels of ignorance are staggering.

But they've been conditioned that way. I fear it'll take something catastrophic to shake this island into gear, but I'm still remaining hopeful today.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was discussing the election with my kids at the weekend and when the eldest asked "Are people just stupid?" when we were discussing why more and more working class people were looking like voting against their own interests, the temptation was to say yes.

But instead I answered that people have just been beaten down over and over again, across the generations, to accept the status quo. The British psyche is pre disposed to fawn at what they see as their betters, whether it's the Royals or Etonian Tories, rather than try anything truly different.

Still, let's all look forward to Sunderland being proud to prove before anyone else how fucking stupid they actually are. Again.

Howdy, Stranger!

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