Ops-Normal.org

Once upon a time I tried to get into uni, on the assumption the brightest and the best and the intelligent and the intellectual set went there to hone their powers of enquiry, debate and maybe even innovation.

But I wasn’t clever enough, having fluffed the ‘A’ level subjects which would have gained me admission.

So the uni of life, garnished with 42 years of steering aluminium tubes has left me with a cynical, or realistic, take on life etc.

Now I see that the disease affecting those dusty halls of academe has been endemic for longer than I and others had believed;

https://www.persuasion.community/p/some ... istory?s=r

No wonder the yoof of today are being encouraged to learn a trade, hopefully having mastered the ‘STEM’ subjects before they go to practical further education.

Once upon a time I tried to get into uni, on the assumption the brightest and the best and the intelligent and the intellectual set went there to hone their powers of enquiry, debate and maybe even innovation.

But I wasn’t clever enough, having fluffed the ‘A’ level subjects which would have gained me admission.

So the uni of life, garnished with 42 years of steering aluminium tubes has left me with a cynical, or realistic, take on life etc.

Barkingmad; Way back in the mid 70's I became aquainted with a Lawyer who had started work with the same Legal Firm in a small Country South Ausralian town where my now late Father had worked as a Senior Law Clerk.

This Lawyer once observed to me that, even back in the mid 70's, Universities were generally turning out nothing but "Educated (expletive deleted) wits" in the Arts/Education sections. He even derided the Law Graduates, of which he was one, saying that most of his fellow Law graduates really knew nothing of the real world.

He only really had any respect for those who did 'practical subjects' as he put it, such as Engineering; Civil, Mechanical, Electical etc.

He eventually wound up as a Stipendiary Magistrate, so he was no fool!

The wonderful world of Orwell’s 1984 creeps ever closer over us yet there is little comment neither in these pages nor in MSM.

Take a look at this video but have your earplugs and sickbags ready at 5’ 35” for the performance by the singing psychopath Nancy Jankowicz;

https://www.bitchute.com/video/eNCyIl5zoJi7/

Thankfully the fightback is starting but how far Senator Paul will get against the massed ranks of the great and the good is anyone’s guess, at only 75 seconds it’s worth a look;

What collective insanity is taking over Sleepy Joe’s administration?

Or is this deliberate action by the Deep State who are pulling his strings?

Either way Americans, you’re going to have to snuff out this crap, as are we in Western Europe, before 1984 finally triumphs and we’re all well and truly stuffed!

https://unherd.com/2022/05/the-desperat ... on-board/w

Call me confused, oh great confuser. Was 'Sleepy Joe' on that bus - I couldn't see him?

Boac wrote: ↑

Tue May 10, 2022 8:06 am

Call me confused, oh great confuser. Was 'Sleepy Joe' on that bus - I couldn't see him?

bo, well spotted, just like my dog.

This illustrates the perils of tapping an IPad with motor mechanic’s podgy fingers!

I don’t know how the red bus item invaded but here is the originally intended article by someone who has suffered from far more than just speech restrictions;

https://unherd.com/2022/05/the-desperat ... ion-board/

How sad when science seamlessly morphs into "The Science" and folk like this get shut down;

A new academy to allow “the free exchange of ideas” has been set up by scientists who say they were “silenced, censored, and slandered” for questioning the handling of the pandemic. Lucy Johnston in the UK Daily Express has more.

"The Academy for Science and Freedom, at Washington’s Hillsdale College, is expected to be running within months, with the aim of combatting “the recent and widespread abuses of individual and academic freedom made in the name of science”.

Professors Martin Kulldorff and Jay Bhattacharya who are involved in the academy were two of the three creators of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for a focussed protection approach to Covid rather than blanket restrictions.

Both men faced heavy criticism for the proposal, with trolls branding them ‘alt-right’ and even ‘climate change deniers’. Harvard’s Prof Kullfdorff suggested a ‘cartel system’ had seized control of scientific debate, resulting in scientists being too scared to speak against the then-accepted narrative.

“No scientists have a monopoly on the truth”, added Prof Bhattacharya, of Stanford University.

He said: “The level of suppression of freedom of discussion has been a shock to me during the pandemic. Big tech and the government have worked together to ensure voices were suppressed. Many scientists remain silent for fear of being smeared.”

Sir Jeremy Farrar – director of the Wellcome Trust and a senior Sage member – claimed in a recent book that government adviser Dominic Cummings “wanted to run an aggressive press campaign against those behind the Great Barrington Declaration and others opposed to blanket COVID-19 restrictions”.

Prof Bhattacharya said: “The goal was to create an illusion that the scientific community was united in its favour of lockdown policies and disagreement with this did not exist.”

“We want to create this academy of freedom of discussion in science and make sure that Science keeps its proper place in society.”

“No scientists have a monopoly on the truth and no scientist is omnipresent.”

However, god help any who dissent from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic "truth" about the 'plague' !

I post this here as it refers to a free press, which should encompass free speech.

However, there are 2 problems;

1) It is posted by me. 2) It mentions the word ‘Covid’, so on both counts it will probably get shunted off to the sin bin into which Coronabollocks has morphed. C’est la guerre!

Maybe a re-reading of the first 50 or so posts in the Coronabollocks thread might remind O-N members how the thread started and also the thrust of some of the original comments?

Admin2: Make that 3 problems? This can stay here - congratulations - it is more-or-less 'on topic' - not quite a 'first'! You were doing OK until you posted the link which has now gone where it should go.

BM said:- "I post this here as it refers to a free press, which should encompass free speech."

For anyone here who wondered about the final destination of "this", you may find it in the Coronabollocks thread post #5761...

As those who read my comments on Ebola in 2019 will know, I expected it to go global as soon as it reached an airport, or some other means of crossing international borders into big cities.
I "most strongly disagreed" with WHO advice not to close borders.
Covid met the same definitions I gave for risky infection periods.
On Jan 5th 2020 (as one recently reminded me), I started telling my friends not to go near an airport, and that air travel should be shut down immediately, apart from repatriations to quarantine.
My own Prime Minister, and the Chief Medical Officer, referred to such calls at the time as "Xenophobia", which comes within most definitions of hate speech. And the mass media here 100% supported that.
Then, two and a half months later, apparently when he does it, it's not xenophobia.

In short, the government can, and does, suppress free speech by using conveniently vague definitions of hate speech, and/or labeling activities they disagree with as something which counts as hate speech.

And the same applies to the global economic crisis which is developing right now. What I think the causes are, and the solutions need to include, can easily be labeled hate speech. None of it, however, either then or now, will meet the old limit on Free Speech of directly inciting violence.

I think every government is incompetent and corrupt. And I think they are trying to suppress any discussion of their failings, or proposal of alternatives, by banning free speech using hate speech legislation.

In the very beginning of the COVID problem in the US it was quite plain for anyone with half a brain to see the outbreaks were associated with areas with international airports. Notably the Seattle area was the first area of spread followed by New York. Because of its location and concentration of businesses connected with China the Seattle spread was not surprising.

.

Please all try to stay on topic which is "The Price of Free Speech" - there is a definite wobble towards 'Coronabollocks'.

I am particularly concerned with the misuse of science, particularly where anything that goes against governments' scientific view is not allowed to be questioned. It is a fundamental of real science that it must be open to challenge at any time, and indeed relies on challenge to increase validity. So, anything which may not be challenged is not science.
And the unsciencing of science is far more important than it might at first appear, since anything which is not science is opinion. And therefore anyone in power or with influence, like governments and the mass media, is simply saying "I am right and you are wrong; end of" about everything. And you will be punished by the legal system if you even state your opinion (even though it may be scientifically valid, and their view isn't).
I'm not sure what the price of free speech is, since it no longer exists.
Applying reverse logic, it would appear the price of free speech must be the ability to show politicians are wrong. And the price of real science must be the ability to question the basis for government policies.
From which we may conclude that pretty much all major government policies, from pandemics and climate change to immigration and economics, are both wrong and not based on the science that they claim to be.
Individuals within governments, increasingly those at the top, are just idiots with good hair. However, I think I could build a pretty good case from 'unofficial' government research that isn't publicised by the media that the government as a whole knows about the policies being wrong. Governments aren't idiots, more's the pity, they are liars.
Which then logically raises the question of what are they really aiming at if it isn't (and they know it isn't) what they are claiming they are aiming at.

Do you ever view Russel Brand on Youtube Fox?
Super logical and fully supported opinions on exactly this matter.
.

Nope.
Used to be a drugged up and not very funny comedian last I heard.
Has he got better?
I'll take a look, thanks.
David Starkey has been making some sense on Youtube, and of course Jordan Peterson, but that is to be expected.

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote: ↑

Fri May 20, 2022 8:09 pm

My own Prime Minister, and the Chief Medical Officer, referred to such calls at the time as "Xenophobia", which comes within most definitions of hate speech. And the mass media here 100% supported that.
Then, two and a half months later, apparently when he does it, it's not xenophobia.

Don’t for get this is from a guy who said “the budget will balance itself”, so what do you expect.

Fox,

Your description of his previous life is accurate and he would admit it. It turns out that behind the goofiness as an actor is a very sharp mind capable of presenting complex situations in an understandable manner. He now has 5.6 million subscribers on Utube so he must be doing something right. He dresses weirdly, talks rapidly, gestures wildly, makes jokes but underneath all of this he delivers the goods and he is a champion of individual freedom.

Here is today's relatively placid programme.



.

What did I expect of Trudy?
Well, he's a snowboarder.
Anyone I've ever met who skied in the '80s has the same opinion of snowboarders ;)
I wouldn't trust him to sit the right way on a lavatory.

I'll take a look at Russel's vids in a couple of days. I have beer to bottle, other beer to unbottle, steaks to broil, and a holiday to enjoy.
And Justin Bieber apparently has 12x as many subscribers as Russel Brand, so I'll take the number of subscriptions as a measure of both taste and confidence under serious advisement ;)
Your recommendation is quite sufficient, Boing!
Happy Victoria Day everyone!

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote: ↑

Sun May 22, 2022 12:41 am

Happy Victoria Day everyone!

I'll see your Victoria Day and raise you A Memorial Day Weekend.

PP

No contest - you won't find an RAF pilot arguing against that - Memorial Day it is!

Totally lost track of hols during Covid - sorry!