UPDATE
Minutes after I posted this article, the ludicrous Jess Phillips published an article in the Guardian which could not have been better designed to prove my thesis. A number of people have posted comments on the Guardian article pointing this out, and they have all been immediately deleted by the Guardian. I just tried it myself and was also deleted. I should be grateful if readers could now also try posting comments there, in order to make a point about censorship on the Guardian.
Catching up on a fortnight’s news, I have spent five hours searching in vain for criticism of Simon Danczuk from prominent or even just declared feminists. The Guardian was the obvious place to start, but while they had two articles by feminist writers condemning Chris Gayle’s clumsy attempt to chat up a presenter, their legion of feminist columnists were entirely silent on Danczuk. The only opinion piece was strongly defending him.
This is very peculiar. The allegation against Danczuk which is under police investigation – of initiating sex with a sleeping woman – is identical to the worst interpretation of the worst accusation against Julian Assange. The Assange allegation brought literally hundreds, probably thousands of condemnatory articles from feminist writers across the entire range of the mainstream media. I have dug up 57 in the Guardian alone with a simple and far from exhaustive search. In the case of Danczuk I can find nothing, zilch, nada. Not a single feminist peep.
The Assange case is not isolated. Tommy Sheridan has been pursuing a lone legal battle against the Murdoch empire for a decade, some of it in prison when the judicial system decided his “perjury” was imprisonable but Andy Coulson’s admitted perjury on the Murdoch side in the same case was not. I personally witnessed in court in Edinburgh last month Tommy Sheridan, with no lawyer (he has no money) arguing against a seven man Murdoch legal team including three QCs, that a letter from the husband of Jackie Bird of BBC Scotland should be admitted in evidence. Bird was working for Murdoch and suggested in his letter that a witness should be “got out of the country” to avoid giving evidence. The bias exhibited by the leading judge I found astonishing beyond belief. I was the only media in the court.
Yet even though the Murdoch allegations against Sheridan were of consensual sexual conduct, Sheridan’s fight against Murdoch has been undermined from the start by the massive and concerted attack he has faced from the forces of feminism. Just as the vital messages WikiLeaks and Assange have put out about war crimes, corruption and the relentless state attack on civil liberties have been undermined by the concerted feminist campaign promoting the self-evidently ludicrous claims of sexual offence against Assange.
As soon as the radical left pose the slightest threat to the neo-con establishment, an army of feminists can be relied upon to run a concerted campaign to undermine any progress the left wing might make. The attack on Jeremy Corbyn over the makeup of his shadow cabinet was a classic example. It is the first ever gender equal shadow cabinet, but the entire media for a 96 hour period last September ran headline news that the lack of women in the “top” posts was anti-feminist. Every feminist commentator in the UK piled in.
Among the obvious dishonesties of this campaign was the fact that Defence, Chancellor, Foreign Affairs and Home Secretary have always been considered the “great offices of State” and the argument only could be made by simply ignoring Defence. The other great irony was the “feminist” attack was led by Blairites like Harman and Cooper, and failed to address the fact that Blair had NO women in any of these posts for a full ten years as Prime Minister.
But facts did not matter in deploying the organised feminist lobby against Corbyn.
Which is why it is an important test to see what the feminists, both inside and outside the Labour Party, would do when the leading anti-Corbyn rent-a-gob, Simon Danczuk, was alleged to have some attitudes to women that seem very dubious indeed, including forcing an ex-wife into non-consensual s&m and that rape allegation.
And the answer is …nothing. Feminists who criticised Assange, Sheridan and Corbyn in droves were utterly silent on the subject of Danczuk. Because the purpose of established and paid feminism is to undermine the left in the service of the neo-cons, not to attack neo-cons like Danczuk.
Identity politics has been used to shatter any attempt to campaign for broader social justice for everybody. Instead it becomes about the rights of particular groups, and that is soon morphed into the neo-con language of opportunity. What is needed, modern feminism argues, is not a reduction of the vast gap between rich and poor, but a chance for some women to become Michelle Mone or Ann Gloag. It is not about good conditions for all, but the removal of glass ceilings for high paid feminist journalists or political hacks.
Feminism has become the main attack tool in the neo-con ideological arsenal. I am sceptical the concept can be redeemed from this.
Clark
17/01/2016 11:48am
And I am not at all sure that the question is a meaningless one. I think it may have a definite answer, and that enquiry will eventually find it.
J
Clark, just one tiny further thought. I think the idea that “empty space” is as close to “nothing” as we can find is a rather parochial one. Empty space is a lot more than nothing, because empty space is not empty space. It has time in it, or rather it is an expression of space-time which does not happen to have distorting bubbles of matter in it.
I think the gap between that and the “nothing” that was “there” when space-time was “not” is qualitatively enormous, much more than the gap between, say, the space between galaxies and a galaxy.
J
John Spencer-Davis, I don’t rule out the possibility that some sort of “person” started off the development of our universe. Maybe the physics we have discovered is just a subset of a greater, more inclusive physics, and maybe “someone” in that realm initiated our universe as an experiment, or maybe was just letting off firework rockets, unaware that such complexity can evolve in the expanding shell of coloured incendiary.
Science, as much as religion, hits the “turtles all the way down” problem. It just hits it after more work and more discovery in our physical realm.
Clark
17/01/2016 12:09pm
“Science, as much as religion, hits the “turtles all the way down” problem.”
Not necessarily. It does at the moment, for sure, but that may not last forever. It is quite possible that science could hit the end eventually. It is quite conceivable that scientific enquiry could eventually put us into a position to say: “This is how the universe arose. It was a “quantum fluctuation” in no-space no-time, and here is the proof.” End of story. I regard that as a distinct possibility.
Kind regards,
John
As ever the “only democracy” in the mideast, world the universe and beyond
has been busy outdoing the Nazi in torturing the untermensch Palestinian children, while the sponsors of this vile regime kick back and cover up the crimes against humanity unfolding in that shitty strip of land;
This is of course noted that ;
However as ever the oligarch owned media that are haemorrhaging money as in the case of Guardian as highlighted by the Node prove that he who pays the piper gets to choose the tune!!
Did the Nazi torture children? We know that Yanks did torture and sodomise children in Iraq, and we are getting reports that zionistan regularly tortures the Palestinian children, where is wanki moon to pontificate on these issues? (he knows which side his bread is buttered and hence nowhere to be found).
If there are millions of Universes, Multiverse, as suggested by string theory, you might be asking the wrong questions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-two-most-dangerous-numbers-in-the-universe-are-threatening-the-end-of-physics-a6814826.html
The Universe may well explode into existence, expand and contract and explode again. Compatible with the Multiverse having no beginning and no end, i.e. no cause.
J. Krishnamurti & D. Bohm – The Ending of Time (Dialogue One)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dAyQ6mO6Os
If there is a Multiverse, physicists may never be able to prove that. Psychologically speaking, it is almost more important to recognise what we don’t know (and maybe what we cannot know) than to know what we know. All knowledge is limited.
I can concur with Defo in what he is saying. The Universe/Multiverse is what it is and it is Supremely intelligent and that Universal Intelligence is encoded in everything, pointing to Nature’s Universal Mind.
John Spencer-Davis, 12:17 pm; that looks pretty tricky to me. How would we get some samples of “no-space” and “no-time” to experiment with? And could we be sure that our samples, of necessity within space-time so we could experiment with them, had precisely the same character as the “original no-space and no-time”?
Even if these questions do become answerable, they do not address why the universe we see is so creative. We have only ad-hoc explanations for that – “and then this happened, causing this to happen, causing this to happen” and so on. OK, we might come up with an integrated mathematical-physical model that predicts this sequence, but then that begs the question “why such a creative set of physical laws rather than some other set leading to less interesting results?”, which on the face of things seems far more likely.
I think that reality, whether just this universe or hypothetically an entire multiverse, will retain its miraculous character. And for that I give praise, though I’m incapable of knowing what it is that I give praise to!
Clark
17/01/2016 12:41pm
Oh, sure, looks tricky to me too. I do not have any kind of faith that it will happen. I am saying it is conceivable – and ultimately it does not matter whether it looks tricky to you or to me but whether it looks tricky to physics. It is, after all, the ultimate point of physics/astrophysics to either answer these questions or to conclude that an answer cannot be found.
Most physicists believe in the Big Bang. We can’t capture a piece of space-time and say “Here – this is evidence of the Big Bang, it’s a bit left over from the Big Bang.” Physicists look at how well current processes, here, now, fit with theory. That’s all I am really suggesting.
Cheers,
John
“The Universe may well explode into existence, expand and contract and explode again. ”
That is one theory but the rate at which the universe is expanding is increasing not decreasing.
Well we’ve ventured to the furthest reaches of what can be known; I’d now like to try and work our way back to matters at hand.
I think we all come here, to Craig’s blog, to try to make our world a better place, where things like the Iraq war, torture, and what happened (or was faked) in Paris no longer happen (or are no longer faked).
I included the question of fakery because the search for truth seems inextricable from our self-appointed task of improving our world. When our model of the world diverges from our observation, we need another concept that was important in religion before it became essential also to science, and that is humility, or voluntary subjugation of ourselves to some “higher authority”, in this case the truth, or reality.
Clark
17/01/2016 1:00pm
“When our model of the world diverges from our observation, we need another concept that was important in religion before it became essential also to science, and that is humility, or voluntary subjugation of ourselves to some “higher authority”, in this case the truth, or reality.”
Amen to that. And it is very, very hard to accept something as true if it is ideologically inconvenient, does not fit one’s prejudices. That’s what I want. I want truths that punch me in the face and loosen my preconceptions, and I want the guts to face them, and if that’s how things are then – they are.
Lunchtime. I believe in roast chicken.
Kind regards,
John
It’s the falsification of history (what Karl Rove calls “creating realities”) – and has been for decades possibly even centuries.
The deceivers and the deceived.
The (neo-con) tools and fools.
So the Tories are planning to create cadet units in Scottish schools, in order to keep the cannon fodder conveyer belt moving. They intent to target schools in poor areas of Scotland to entice the young and the gullible into fighting illegal wars for their corporate masters.
These fodder acadamies currently exist in England, where young folk are promised excitment and the possibility to see the world. Little do they know that some of them will be used to fight and die for the profits of the upper echelons of our society.
Thankfully North of the border, the SNP intend to put a stop to the Tories, acquirement of cannon fodder. It was General Wolfe who said.
“We shall use Highlanders in America, as they are hardy and intrepid, accustomed to a rough country and no great mischief if they fall.”
John Spencer-Davis, 12:51 pm:
Well the cosmic microwave background radiation is a left-over from the Big Bang; it accords very well with the theory that predicts it. Likewise the relative abundances of hydrogen, helium and lithium in the universe.
Republicofscotland, 1:11 pm; I was in Castle Douglas on Remembrance Day last year. There were children, boys, all dressed up in little uniforms, collecting money and giving out poppies, in the entrance to Tesco. I spoke to them for a while, trying to impart the horrible reality of war and killing. I complained to a manager that children are encourage to glorify war; would we have children dress up in sexual attire and encourage them to collect for retired workers in the sex industry? To engage in sex and to kill are both choices suitable only to adults.
“That’s what I want. I want truths that punch me in the face and loosen my preconceptions, and I want the guts to face them, and if that’s how things are then – they are.”
____________
It’s the other way round. One needs to set aside all one’s preconceptions, prejudices, beliefs, the whole conditioning before you can investigate into the truth.
Elementary.
Meanwhile Taiwan’s independent opposition leader Tsai Ing-Wen, has won a convincing victory in a presidential election yesterday.
She pledged to maintain peace with China, but firmly defend Taiwan’s sovereignty. China currently has hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan, and Tsai risks antagonising China if she continues to push Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Many Taiwanese want Tsai, leader of the (DPP) the Democratic Progressive party, to push for full independence from China, and if need be ask the West for help in doing so.
China’s Taiwan Affais office said ” China will continue to oppose any of Taiwan’s independence activities. China is determined to defend its sovereign territories”.
However China fearful of discussion on Taiwanese independence have blocked searches and censored any talk about the subject on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter.
Yes Clark I quite agree with you, you would never see the rich and influencial including politicians and lords sent their children to die in corporate pushed wars.
I recall Michael Moore standing outside the US Congress asking senator’s if they sign up their children to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. They looked at him as though he had two heads.
Dying in battle for global corporations is the privilege of the poor. You just have to remember the poor black men who died, fighting for the US in Vietnam, at a time when they didn’t even have equal rights at home.
Caught in a poverty trap at home most couldn’t see any other way out of the gutter. Of course the US military bigwigs knew that and used it to recruit men in impoverished areas of the USA.
Little did those men know, that many of them wouldn’t return home alive. Johnson, Kissinger and Nixon made sure of that.
“I complained to a manager that children are encourage to glorify war;”
Not to glorify war, Clark, but to remember the dead.
“would we have children dress up in sexual attire and encourage them to collect for retired workers in the sex industry?”
No. We used to have soap boxes for this kind of addled nonsense.
Alcyone, 1:30 pm, I think it’s a two-way process. Unexpected facts can challenge our preconceptions, and of course our preconceptions colour our appreciation and interpretation of facts.
I think the number of people who actually do this is tiny; I doubt that you or I have ever met such a person. Think what it would actually mean – they’d presumably be naked, relieve themselves where they stood, and probably die of either starvation or poisoning before long!
Of course it’s healthy to do so piecemeal, but one has to be careful.
“That is one theory but the rate at which the universe is expanding is increasing not decreasing.”
________________
Yes Fred a theory is that “Dark Energy” is the cause for the accelerate expansion. And with the universe supposedly just 13.7 billion years old, there is in theory anyway a lot more expansion in the pipeline.
In the future if the global coroprations haven’t killed the common man and woman off, the only thing clearly visible in the night sky apart from our own galaxy, will be the galaxy of Andromeda, which will coalesce with our Milkyway galaxy, around about 4 billion years from now.
What a wonderous sight that will be able to look up at the night sky and see a night sky shinning with celestial jewels.
Anon1, they don’t need to be dressed up in little uniforms to remember the dead. I spoke to these children. They most certainly DID have a glorified, idealised idea of war and fighting. They thought they might become “heroes”. You’ll object to youngsters in Palestine encouraged to parade in suicide bomb vests, I’m sure. Please be consistent.
Exexpat
“13/11 and other so called “terror events” have been extensively researched and proved as media fakery over at cluesforum.info”
Right. Okay.
“Reading back through some of the recent comments, it’s a close call between RobG and Giyane for blog loon.
Sort it out, Mods. The comments are reading like the ramblings of the insane from a mental institute.”
____________
Two comments Anon1 and you’re back to attacking the man or in this instance men. You’d do well to remember your pal Habbs warning not to play the man.
The SNP have launched an attack, against the Governor General or spy to Scotland David Mundell.
The reason for the attack is down to the refusal of the Tory government to stop forcing refugees to travel to Croydon to be assessed.
Refugees entering Scotland haven’t the funds to travel to Croydon, often entering Scotland with very little assets.
The asylum seekers have often travelled thousands of miles with children in tow to reach Scotland and sanctuary. They are then forced to travel hundreds of miles to London for an assessment when it could be carried out in Scotland.
The Home Office claim a single point of assessment works best.
Best for whom, I wonder.
“I think the number of people who actually do this is tiny; I doubt that you or I have ever met such a person. ”
It’s not rocket science, Clark; I have previously given you clues as to where to get guidance but it is you that have to do the work. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
“Think what it would actually mean – they’d presumably be naked, relieve themselves where they stood, and probably die of either starvation or poisoning before long!”
Is that a fact or is it a theory? There is knowledge that is stored in the way of technical info or fact. Your name, your address, the time for your appointment and how to get there, your driving capability. This can be easily separated from all your beliefs, systemic or otherwise which are non-facts.
Alcyone, 2:32 pm; already done it, thanks – I was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witless – and I endeavour to keep doing it.
That we don’t piss our pants is down to conditioning. Try to deliberately piss your pants and you’ll discover just how powerful conditioning really is.
“Alcyone, 2:32 pm; already done it, thanks – I was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witless – and I endeavour to keep doing it.”
Happy to hear that.
“That we don’t piss our pants is down to conditioning. Try to deliberately piss your pants and you’ll discover just how powerful conditioning really is.”
No need to be so gross to meet one’s conditioning. Also, its the more subtle aspects of our conditioning that are difficult to root out. Then there is the conditioning of the brain that has evolved from the apes etc over millennia etc and the most difficult to meet is the Ego with all its attendant images of one’s self.
Clark
“You’ll object to youngsters in Palestine encouraged to parade in suicide bomb vests”
Another absurd comparison, but yes, I do object to children being dressed in suicide vests and no, I do not object to cadets wearing uniform to remember the sacrifices of our Armed forces.
If I’d seen some hippy hanging around trying to poison young minds against respecting the war dead of this country I would have asked him to move along and make his protest elsewhere.
Facts are not so easily separated from belief. You discover this when you can’t find your wallet after a visitor has left, and start wondering if your best friend has nicked it.