Europe IV: The Final Hour

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/16/greta-thunberg-urges-eu-leaders-wake-up-climate-change-school-strike-movement

On one hand it's nice that she's being given the voice for this at this level but on the other hand it feels a little misleading to keep this going this long and to not start winding this down when she probably feels she's making progress that she's not given the deeply complex economical and political realities she isn't going to be versed in that will ultimately make the end result very disappointing for her.

[Dogg Thang]

Those “realities” are made up by people and can be changed. I think she’s great and if she can inspire more young people to do more, then fantastic. It’s too late for oldies like you.

And also me.

[Neon Ignition]

Don't get me wrong, the idealist in me agrees but the realist see's that she's preaching to a bunch of politicians who can't even guide the UK out an exit door they created themselves and thinks... yep...


On the cash-centric side:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/16/mastercard-court-ruling-paves-way-14bn-class-action

Me likey, gimme gimme gimme

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/17/notre-dame-fire-macron-promises-to-make-cathedral-more-beautiful-than-before

Expectedly Macron attempts to abuse the burning of Notre Dame for his own political gain by promising it will be rebuilt as more beautiful than before (err, no, it's a historical site so it should be restored as it was) within five years.

Actual experts though have dismissed this saying repairing the site could take decades.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/apr/17/france-announces-architecture-competition-rebuild-notre-dames-spire

48 hours in and the mission to destroy the enduring image of Notre Dame begins with a competition being launch to ruin the structure with a new tower rather than restore the one that burnt down hours ago

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, I get that view and it's possible that won't end well but, on the other hand, it and many other classic buildings have been modified and altered over the years usually under similar circumstances so I'm not 100% against preserving what is there and building on it rather than creating a faux historical version of what was destroyed. Ultimately that would just be a copy. Guaranteed to be a nice copy so this is riskier but I could go either way.

I think for me the bottom line is that it happened. Large sections were destroyed. There isn't a way to undo that so maybe buying a new puppy and giving it the same name isn't the way to go, if you know what I mean.

[wakka]

Yeah, I could go either way on this. Rebuilding it exactly as it was isn’t a horrible idea, and many classic buildings have required so much restoration over the years that they end up like Trigger’s broom, but still communicate the beauty of their original designs.

On the other hand, vive le difference. This is a good opportunity to turn a tragic event into the creation of something new and beautiful.

I think I come down more on the side of the latter though.

[Neon Ignition]

In this instance I find myself veering to recreation than adaptation. They'll shove some cheap glass rubbish thing in there, you know it.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-04-17-assassins-creed-unity-is-currently-available-to-download-for-free-on-pc

Tying in, Ubisoft will be donating to Notre Dame's reconstruction and are giving away Assassin's Creed: Unity at the moment too.

[charlesr]

Surely someone has to get locked up soon? https://www.channel4.com/news/reveal...igrant-footage

[CMcK]

Sky News ran that footage introduced by the man that made it. Did they even check it’s authenticity?

[charlesr]

Sky News ran that footage introduced by the man that made it. Did they even check it’s authenticity?

If not, then someone else has to get locked up. Either way, the disinformation has to stop. Currently it's like you can get away with anything

[Asura]

It's strange. Just like with the Trump thing, where Trump's people are presenting the Mueller report by prefacing it with a speech that is different to its contents, in the hope their supporters won't read it...

My dad told me, when I was a teenager, that there would be a threshold where I started to feel out-of-touch with the modern world. That this is something everyone goes through at some point. The joke was that it was the first time you look at something in M&S and think it's genuinely nice, but more than that, it has to do with a cultural shift.

As a kid, like most kids, I went through a very short-lived compulsive liar stage. We're talking about when I was ~6 years old. It probably only lasted a few weeks and I grew out of it, like most people do. I was brought up to value telling the truth; not just because it was morally right, but because I'm not a sociopath, I have a sense of empathy, and it feels bad to deceive other people even when it's to get them to agree with my point of view.

More-over, I was taught as a young child that this was the right way to be. This is what a successful person, a respected person, does. They hold true to their word, they persuade people with reasoned arguments, and ultimately, they don't simply lie.

This makes me think of the bit of South Park where the boys want to own up to something bad they've done, but Cartman doesn't want to. He says they don't need to because there's no way anyone will find out. They protest, and Cartman just can't understand their problem.

"Do you... I mean... Do you think someone might find out? Like somehow?"
"No, Cartman. We feel bad for other people."
"I... But no-one's going to find out!"

Today, I saw a tweet from Farage, where he was criticising the World Health Organisation, saying it was just another body trying to "push us around". The WHO eliminated smallpox. Like, they worked to bring together the end of a global pestilence and have saved the lives of millions, perhaps billions of people. The point is that Farage isn't an idiot; he's many things, but not an idiot. He knows this. He's fully aware of this. With that awareness, the guy picked up his phone, loaded up Twitter, and typed out that tweet, knowing that doing so is dangerous, knowing that doing so is being a liar, but he did so because enough of his followers believe it and enjoy seeing him say that to somehow justify it.

The guy is successful. Trump is successful. Theresa May won an election just by saying "magic money tree" over and over again, when she knew full well that this was a strawman argument; she'd created a lie and was attacking the lie, instead of speaking the truth.

In the Karate Kid II, there's a bit where Miyagi says "a lie only becomes true if the listener wants to believe it", and I think there's truth to that. However, it doesn't change the fact that I was taught that lying, even to a group who somehow benefit from the lie, is bad, should feel bad, and you're a bad person if you engage in it.

Somewhere, somehow, this seems to have been forgotten. And I feel a bit lost.

[fishbowlhead]

If not, then someone else has to get locked up. Either way, the disinformation has to stop. Currently it's like you can get away with anything

Errrrm, they do, can, and do. How is it no one else has noticed for decades? Parliament just makes it up as they go along and politicians literally say whatever they want min by min.

[Neon Ignition]

The people jumping behind Brexit Party are pretty much just displaying how stupid they always were. It's not even a party, I don't think it's even done anything meaningful as of yet towards the Brexit debate. It exists for one reason and one reason only, to centralise voters behind a single candidate (Farage) so aid his efforts of being an MEP again. It literally exists only because the UKIP brand is too poisonous now and as soon as he's through he'll announce he's stepping down as party leader once again. Muppets who buy such an obvious deception.

[charlesr]

Yesterday I saw someone who has always shown sane arguments towards Brexit show his true colours. Because we haven't left the EU yet he said he hopes the Brexit party "takes down the EU from the inside". So he doesn't just want to leave but also wants the EU to fail.

Another brexiteer relative shared a pro remain image message of unity because it talked about Britain still trying to leave the EU in 50 years time (while everyone else is a member of the federation of planets apart from Britain). Lol.