kaosmark2

Thread is now locked. Wider discussion of the Israel/Palestine situation is welcome in the International Politics thread, however please take care with your comments. Virtually all posts in this thread have been considered and respectful, which is appreciated. If anything new comes to light about Paul Currie's booking/cancellation at Glasto comes to light, please DM a mod and we'll re-open the thread for such news.

I particularly support the one about shops who play Christmas music.

You're dismissing the impact of micro-aggressions and their dehumanising elements. That is how racism perpetuates and festers. To give a comparative possible conversation: Someone brings up a stabbing. Another person starts talking about gang violence and knife crime. Someone then responds, using the word "thug". Someone explains why "thug" is racially coded, why people should be careful about using the term, and how it ties into institutional racism, hatred, and is problematic. There's further discussion of anti-black racism, including discussion around different micro-aggressions. Someone then quotes that final phrase, and says "tell that to the family of this stabbed white boy". When asked to explain how they're associating, that person then says "I was making fun of your 'please be polite about stabbings' approach". You are banned for 1 month. Racism and minimising racism is not welcome on eFestivals. Educate yourself so you can behave after this ban.

Then why on earth did you tie micro-aggressions into Israeli warcrimes?

Commercial landlords have been upping costs on small businesses in retail/hospitality by between 12-45% in Bristol across 24m in Bristol Energy bills have gone up to businesses by ~ 60% on average across 24m. Minimum wage is 10% in that time. Yes, cutting staff is the only one businesses can get away with doing, but minimum wage going up is NOT the reason for price increases or businesses struggling.

Do you understand that Jewish people do not have to answer for Israel's crimes?

I'd say it's hard to be sure. When Labour have announced detail of any policy, they've either been chastised (rightly) for changing their commitment, or the Tories have attempted to steal their ideas and do a watered-down pointless variant that creates a load of exceptions for themselves and their mates. With this history, I don't think it's actually ridiculous for Labour to say "we'll keep the commitments then review the scheme and potentially make changes after". However, the problem, is that it's Labour saying "trust us, you can trust us! Trust that you can trust us!" and... well... given how many commitments they've already rolled back on, and how they've continued to demonstrate a lack of regard to people's lives, and a cynical view of voters, I find it incredibly hard to trust them.

While Gove was Justice Secretary, despite direction from the rest of the cabinet, he largely ignored the Tory campaign to exit ECHR and produce a "British Bill of Rights", treating it as an unnecessary distraction from doing actual work. I don't like praising Gove, but while he hates the EU, he's very aware that the ECHR is entirely separate from the EU, and he's the only Justice Secretary we've had who would have been able to get a replacement proposal through the House of Lords. I don't believe there's any chance Alex Chalk is capable enough of doing the background leg work for the political machine to get it pushed through before an election - even if that election isn't until January.

The book isn't antisemitic (to my knowledge), but the concepts within it have been picked up by antisemitic conspiracy theorists and used to perpetuate a lot of obnoxious bullshit. It's one of those things, that if it had been said to do with US drones, is completely normal and makes sense, but wrt to Israeli drones/AI/targeting, it becomes slightly sketchy. It really f**king sucks for everyone in society that anti-semitism over the last 2500 years has been so prominent and developed so many tropes. It's kind of like the things with Nazi symbols, they adopt so many different ones - and adopt them from other cultures and parts of mythology and history - that if you see one symbol it doesn't necessarily actually mean that person is a Nazi, but if you see 5 it almost certainly does. I'm not Jewish, but I do frequently have to deal with racism and micro-aggressions myself, and I've listened to Jewish people about what they know to be tropes and micro-aggressions. It's just another of those things, that on its own looks like nothing, but if it ties into a further pattern, it's problematic.

We've received moderation reports about some of the terms in this conversation. I'm going to particularly highlight "Brave New World". Given the long history of conspiracy theories equating Jews with globalism, secret world orders, and the type of dystopian control described in that novel, I agree that this is problematic. However, it is also unfair to immediately ascribe ill intent here. Anti-Semitic tropes get passed over in a lot of society because they're tropes, and it is hard to know the user's intent. One trope can very easily be spoken out of ignorance, it's only upon seeing multiple that you can usually assume a direct attempt to foster and incite hatred. This conversation is also directly referencing the supposed use of AI targeting systems, which is a very different dystopian issue, and criticism of that should not lead to accusations of anti-Semitism. We have no wish to shut down conversation about the conflict in Gaza, nor to remove criticism or even speculation about the Israeli government. This is obviously an important and relevant topic. No-one in the world manages to tread this line perfectly, certainly not the users of a music forum, or its small moderation team. That said, because of the sensitive history, please try and apply a sense check when making comments. If we do spot a pattern of anti-Semitic tropes from any user, that will result in an immediate ban. Racism is not tolerated on eFestivals, and us giving the benefit of the doubt in this incidence should not be taken as an invitation to persist with potential tropes and incitement. Also as an FYI. Going forward I'm going to use coloured bold text to indicate a "mod voice" on the rare occasion I'm speaking as a mod. If anyone has a request for a colour I'm happy to listen, particularly on accessibility grounds.

This is the way capitalism, advertising, and corporate contracts with ordinary people often work.

I'd have thought Burn will play centrally and Ritchie/Murphy will rotate into fullback positions? It's tough though. Our defence hasn't been settled all season and it shows. Wasn't Manquillo sold? To be honest I don't think he was ever any good, just not quite bad enough to ship out with a thin squad. How long is Trippier out for?

The modelling for MRP polls basically extrapolates national data with census data - ie translates how national votes go back into is it urban/rural, what groups do people identify as in an area (religion, ethnicity, etc), and tracks those. They tend to be a little better on seat count, but sketchy for any specific seat. Although I certainly hope they're right about Rees-Mogg's seat!

Barnes coming back showing a bit of quality is important with Gordon out of the next game and us clearly needing another rotation option out wide. Hopefully after a stop start season he can play a few games and show some of what he did at Leicester.

Well when I stop getting the c-slur shouted at me virtually every month I'll wonder if some reclaiming of the flags can be done. As it is, I'll continue to cross to the other side of the road when I see a load of white men waving flags. I want to emphasise, that the link between flag-waving and racism has grown massively in the last 10 years. Post-Brexit post-covid the racists have felt empowered, and have done flag-waving with it. In 2015 Miliband often stood in front of union jacks and I and others were happy campaigning with it. It's just the country's flag, it's going to be on some material saying you want to serve the country. That's fine. I completely agree that Labour need to shown to voters they've changed since Corbyn. But I also think Labour has gone way too far the other way, and I don't trust the former human rights lawyer to stand up for human rights. It's not just the anti-migrant stuff and backing Coyle. It's that I also think Starmer has an incredibly low opinion of what traditional Labour voters in "the red wall" are like. I know people who live up there, they aren't anywhere near as racist as the portrayal of "Wokingham man". Starmer has sold the Labour party out to chase voters who aren't as racist as he believes they are.