Infowars and the rise of the british far right?

[Top Cats Hat]

 

(CF .. the left are as guilty of this as the right, by the way)

 

I have always found that the left are almost too rigorous in their intellectualism, and the shunning and in some cases demonising of intellectualism, is very much the province of the populist right.

 

Maybe some examples are in order?

[bendix]

I have always found that the left are almost too rigorous in their intellectualism, and the shunning and in some cases demonising of intellectualism, is very much the province of the populist right.

 

Maybe some examples are in order?

 

The whole premise of the philosophical backdrop of the left, marxism, is anti-illectualism at its best. Read Karl Popper's The Open Society and its enemies for a detailed explanation of why, but briefly marxism has a failsafe and oh so casually easy explanation for every reason it has ever failed. Working class people who fail to see the inevitability of socialist paradise? Why, that's easy sir - false consciousness. Every criticism can be explained away with an inbuilt reason. Its very existence shuns and repels any attempt to critique or, or dismisses criticism as proof that the revolution is happening, even when it clearly isn't.

 

No philosophy that can't be critiqued can be truly intellectual. A system of thought has to be tested and poked at, to be attacked and criticised, to have arguments against it if it is to be resilient.

 

THAT is the essence of Socratic thought, and the essence of intellectual debate.

[Top Cats Hat]

The whole premise of the philosophical backdrop of the left, marxism, is anti-illectualism at its best. Read Karl Popper's The Open Society and its enemies for a detailed explanation of why, but briefly marxism has a failsafe and oh so casually easy explanation for every reason it has ever failed. Working class people who fail to see the inevitability of socialist paradise? Why, that's easy sir - false consciousness.

 

I'm pretty sure that the last time I looked, 'the left' was more than just a particular strand of Marxism.

 

Back on topic, it looks like the bookshop was attacked by a crowd calling themselves Make Britain Great Again who seem to be an offshoot of UKIP. They were holding a protest at the BBC earlier, had a few bevvies and posted up a celebratory video which was then hastily taken down when almost every individual in it had been identified* on the internet.

 

Plod are investigating.

 

(*a tip for people engaged in such activity. There is not much point wearing a mask when half an hour earlier you are filmed at a protest wearing exactly the same clothes, sporting exactly the same badges and holding exactly the same placard and speaking in exactly the same voice, then boasting about it on the internet.)

[melthebell]

I'm pretty sure that the last time I looked, 'the left' was more than just a particular strand of Marxism.

 

Back on topic, it looks like the bookshop was attacked by a crowd calling themselves Make Britain Great Again who seem to be an offshoot of UKIP. They were holding a protest at the BBC earlier, had a few bevvies and posted up a celebratory video which was then hastily taken down when almost every individual in it had been identified* on the internet.

 

Plod are investigating.

 

(*a tip for people engaged in such activity. There is not much point wearing a mask when half an hour earlier you are filmed at a protest wearing exactly the same clothes, sporting exactly the same badges and holding exactly the same placard and speaking in exactly the same voice, then boasting about it on the internet.)

reminds me of this

 

[tinfoilhat]

I'm pretty sure that the last time I looked, 'the left' was more than just a particular strand of Marxism.

 

Back on topic, it looks like the bookshop was attacked by a crowd calling themselves Make Britain Great Again who seem to be an offshoot of UKIP. They were holding a protest at the BBC earlier, had a few bevvies and posted up a celebratory video which was then hastily taken down when almost every individual in it had been identified* on the internet.

 

Plod are investigating.

 

(*a tip for people engaged in such activity. There is not much point wearing a mask when half an hour earlier you are filmed at a protest wearing exactly the same clothes, sporting exactly the same badges and holding exactly the same placard and speaking in exactly the same voice, then boasting about it on the internet.)

 

The "right" is a lot more than Britain first, the EDL and infowars.

[I1L2T3]

A reminder from history

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings

[muddycoffee]

I used to listen to Alex jones and his channel a few years ago when George W Bush was the US president. At the time it was an interesting insight into a certain type of American thinking and he did have some interesting guests with alternative views of politics.

However, since Trump came along as a Candidate and clearly paid him off, many of his long time team have left him and his wife dragged him through a very public and damaging divorce. He has become extreme to a comical level.

 

Infowars is now almost un listenable. His current "number 2", Sheffield's own Paul Joseph Watson has turned as rabid as jones himself.

 

According to his former staff, his current team are paid an absolute fortune and forced to sign extremely restrictive non disclosure agreements so they can't talk about him or what goes on behind the scenes.

 

It is almost as if Jones is turning Infowars into a bizarre personality cult like some of the organisations he once reported on himself.

[Top Cats Hat]

 

It is almost as if Jones is turning Infowars into a bizarre personality cult like some of the organisations he once reported on himself.

 

Salvini in Italy, Wilders in Holland and Wee Tommy Robinson in the UK, are all travelling a similar 'personality cult' road and all gradually amassing small personal fortunes as they go.

 

My understanding of the losing of Jones' various social media accounts is that it is not so much politically motivated as the alt-right are bleating about, but more from legal concerns that a certifiably crazy content provider, with millions of followers is leaving them wide open to successful libel suits from all and sundry.

[ez8004]

So this happened

 

http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-shuts-down-most-of-alex-jones-infowars-podcasts-2018-8

 

Not sure if there is sufficient conflict in free speech for this not to happen. This is a different topic altogether.

[Top Cats Hat]

Looks like it was a bunch of kippers after all!

 

UKIP members suspended after socialist bookshop protest

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45093339

 

Three UKIP members including NEC member Elizabeth Jones, suspended after the attack on Bookmarks at the weekend.