1x48: Say You Want A Revolution

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#12

@sil I couldn’t agree more which is why I’m calling for a wider political debate, not necessarily here on the Bad Voltage website but in general. If we are not discussing the issues and the alternative options available we are not going to find the right policies and convince enough people to get these policies enacted.

As I said in my previous post I will be voting for Corbyn: He has a passion for doing what he believes is right for everybody not just the few. I stand behind most of what he has to say and I believe he has the policies that will help fix the world.

I’m just recognising that we have a struggle ahead of us that we win one vote at time by discussing them with other people and convincing them our argument is the better one.

I agree that in recent years the Labour have become Tory light and could easily imagine any of the other 3 candidates being members of the Conservative party. Only Jeremy is offering a real alternative and I am prepared to continue the fight.

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#13

That’s pretty hot off the press!

I’ll give it a go.

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#14

When I was in middle school, people at my school, for some reason, almost all used Google+, possibly more than they used Facebook, so I’d say that it did catch on in some smaller communities. However, towards the end of middle school and the beginning of high school, activity started moving over to Facebook, and at this point I use Google+ basically only for tech stuff, and Facebook for everything else, not out of preference but because that’s where people are.

#15

Not sure I know anyone who isn’t a tech person. :slight_smile:

#16

I’m still a user of G+. It’s a rare signal in the noisy sea of social media. As @sil pointed out to me, @bryanlunduke is not on G+ at the moment so I’m pinging him here to say I’ve not got a box o’crap yet :). If you’ve sent a second one, you might want to double check with the other yank^Wfolks from the land of freedom and peace what form of words they used to address it.

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#17

Yo! @bryanlunduke! Your integrity is being challenged. Step up.

#18

Good show. I was a little surprised, in all the discussion of nutcase politicians and public disenchantment, that @sil didn’t draw any comparisons between UKIP and The Trump. Though I guess I just did :smile:

#19

Mainly 'cos I’d have had to explain Ukip to @jeremy and @bryanlunduke, which is more effort purveying their story than I really want to put in :smile:

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#20

Isn’t that redundant?

#21

The comment, made by @jeremy I think, about the low approval rate of congress made me think of a few things.

  1. The incident of the robot in Douglas Adam’s Hitchiker’s series. http://dotlizard.com/posts/2002/10/douglas-adams-on-democracy/

  2. A commentator I listened to remarked how Americans must be a bunch of self-loathers because, while they strongly disapprove of congress, over 90% of incumbents are re-elected. Which points to the Adam’s commentary above.

  3. I strongly suspect that there must be something fundamentally wrong with anyone wanting to get into politics, and yet they get votes.

  4. So, the whole circus makes me think of Einstein’s definition of insanity.

#22

Greg, I don’t think politicians are nut cases, many of them are intelligent, but people make the assumption that they are there to work for us. Given the vested interests and the amount of money in the political system it is generally not in the personal interests of politicians to help the general public. There are lucrative side lines in terms of promised future directorships, inside information or plain and simple cash to make it all too easy for them help themselves and expletive deleted the rest of us. We are often reduced to picking the lesser of two evils and for many the difference between the two is too small to be significant which explains why may of us feel disenfranchised.

Because of this we offered a limited choice at the election and most of the choices we can immediately rule out because even if a party is offering exactly what we want there is little point in voting for a minority party because unless they get a majority, which they won’t, they have no chance of implementing their policies.

This can, and has in both the US and UK, lead to what is in effect a two party system. Any other party being largely politically impotent, they are able to help expand the debate but are unable to wield any political power. In effect they are reduced to shouting from the margins.

We need real change and that change is not in the interests of those who currently hold the power. This explains why Jeremy Corbyn is being attacked by the media and the establishment, including most of the parliamentary party in spite of being loved by many traditional Labour voters.

#23

We are often reduced to picking the lesser of two evils and for many the difference between the two is too small to be significant which explains why may of us feel disenfranchised.

Yes. I approve of this statement. On the other hand, two things play into the discussion we had, both of which may indicate that so-called heroes have feet of clay.

Corbyn: http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/6196/full
Trump: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/donald-trump-just-stopped-being-funny-20150821

#24

On Google+ only being for Open Source techie types that’s because those are the people you’re following.
I searched for some other non-technical Communities and they’re out there.
Knitting - 6,000+ members
Painting - 29,400+ member
Photography - 129,000+ members
Basketball - 8,000+ members
Book Club 16,000+ members

A person could be interested in multiple topics and so be a member of multiple communities which is a great way to filter out the baby pictures and food pictures unless you’re a member of Food Photography with nearly 200,000 members.

I have a simple way of describing the 3 main social networks.
Facebook - where you go to see what your friends and family are doing.
Twitter - where you go to see what’s happening now
Google+ - where you go to connect with people who are into the same things as you even if they are on the other side of the world.

1 Like
#25

I rather like your description!

#26

To go even more away from Open Source on Google+

Skin Care (Community) - 45,000+ members
Brtiney Spears (Person) - over 360 million views
BBC News (Page) - 8.2+ million followers and nearly 600 million views
Bollywood (Community) - there are 2, 1 has 90,000+ members and the other 44,000+ members

G+ works great the way it is setup. You get to be part of the communities you like and can ignore the rest.
It it was called HobbyHub.com then it would make more sense other than being a terrible name held by a squatter.

Finally - these days I just follow people and stick them in a Circle, but I never view G+ using the Circles. It’s just a handy reminder as to why I’m following them rather than because I want to only see their posts when I’m interested in that circle. I enjoy the mixed up posts. All my interests in one place.

#27

I simply don’t click on ‘circles’ anymore.
The only time I setup someone to follow is when I come into that realm.

#28

In the UK the difference may be too small to be significant, Labor and the Tories are after all left of center if measured against the US political spectrum. However, I believe anybody who thinks that the Democratic party is the same as the Republican party here in the US is a either given to hyperbole or a complete nutter. Yes, they are both craven groups which pander to the moneyed class. However, if you think that if we’d had a Republican president for the last 7 years (rather than Obama who I agree is a disappointment) we would have :

  • a form of universal health care (albeit rather shitty) , or
  • that women’s reproductive choice would be less constrained than it is now,
  • that we would have come to an at least half-assed agreement not to find an excuse to bomb Iran, or
  • that gays would be treated as equal under the (federal) law (or almost, not quite yet due to the knuckle draggers in the House),

then you sir or madam have a screw loose.

  • kg
#29

“I want a revolution.”

there, said it.

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#30

Dammit. I blame Jono. (Not sure WHY I blame Jono yet… but I totally do.)

Luckily I just moved. Which means I have boxes of random crap I’m about to throw out. Now I know where to send it!

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#31

Are mismatched socks, orphaned individuals from the laundry, all the rage these days? :smile:

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