What are the other forms?in some ways, the old-school Italian mafia families have been dismantled in NYC, but there's still organized crime in other forms.
What are the other forms?in some ways, the old-school Italian mafia families have been dismantled in NYC, but there's still organized crime in other forms.
@DannyL I fully ‘get‘ where you’re coming from, but the distinction made was that our foundations are rotten, with key points from a historical (rather than a contemporary) perspective. The emphasis was laid out in my original post.
This isn’t some Oedipal complex or lacking a basic understanding of the world (please), rather what our own nation is built on historically. We only got “rights” by suppressing the rights of others (domestic and foreign) and the end of British colonialism is akin to yesterday in the big scheme of things, time-wise. We can just gloss over that, but I’d rather not.
Look at what slave emancipation insurance money contributed toward British infrastructure. Etc. Aboriginal and indigenous slaughter on numerous continents. Wars, endless wars, over anything worth grandstanding over. The “minor” matter of Ireland, sugar plantations in the Caribbean, funding the confederacy during the US Civil War, South Africa‘s legacy, the partition of India. Aka Industrialised mayhem. When was being gay decriminalised here? Not that long ago. Now we can add GCHQ acting as America’s bitch.
You’re spot on about Russia’s own bs. You could add Stalin, famine, genocide basically, but Britain’s own history is littered with atrocities, war crimes, genocide. Are our rights worth defending? Of course they fucking are, but in terms of historical malevolence Britain has taken the piss at astronomical levels.
This isn’t a leftist Oedipal position of ignorance. It’s called history.
Is there an ignore poster button on Dissensus? Genuine question.
What I mean by this is Britain turning into a mobster state, an oligarchy. We're seeing millions, if not billions, in public money disappearing all the time. There's zero accountability. The same people keep moving in and out of government. Everybody knows it's fucked, that the people in power are corrupt, and yet nothing changes.
I know everyone's written off Fukuyama now that history hasn't ended, but I was looking at a relatively recent paper of his on corruption and I think I agree with his contention that it may be THE issue of the 21st century,
You could counter that with climate change or a few other things, but I'd argue it's precisely because of corruption that climate change has become such a pressing issue. If people weren't bowing to lobbying from fossil fuel companies, taking bribes etc then maybe we'd have gotten on top of it decades ago.
The microwave is a crime.
Can't remember who said it, but there's a quote along the lines of "I hate my own country because I know it best".I can't help but read this general tendency as oedipal. It's not an accusation I'm levelling at you personally but it's something that's very clear - that psychological weirdness that can never find anything good to say about this country but always has to say something negative.