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"Haven't they got anything better to do" - a spinoff from the fascism thread

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    "Haven't they got anything better to do" - a spinoff from the fascism thread

    During lockdown I find I'm reading local news websites more often. And making the error of reading the comments sections under the articles. It really offers up a window onto the searing, seething mass of stupid that makes up British society.

    My favourite one to spot, and it pops up with increasing frequency, is the thread title. Almost always directed at the police, or the courts, or the civil service, and invariably in the context of :

    'MAN ARRESTED FOR DRIVING AT 105 MPH WITHOUT MOT OR INSURANCE"

    or

    "POLICE ISSUE FINE TO HOUSEOWNER WHO HAD MIDNIGHT RAVE PARTY FOR 150 PEOPLE" .

    I can guarantee that within 5 comments, one of my fellow citizens will have offered the opinion that "they should have better things to do". And not in the context of some libertarian social utopia where obviously criminal offences should be ignored or self-policed. Oh no. The "better things they should be doing" are invariably "stopping people in dinghies", or "sorting out islam paedos" or "not giving 5-bedroom houses to immigrants".

    It really does seem that we're now in a place where the comments like that are not only uncensored or unchallenged, but are the ones that get 51 "likes". Which does make me then question : are real people actually that hate-fuelled, or is there something happening here? Bots or whatever, bombarding even local newspaper sites with "mainstream" opinions?
    Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 31-01-2021, 13:03.

    #2
    No those are real people, mostly. Hate filled empty souled swine, but real.

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      #3
      Shame they don't have anything to do than write "haven't they got anything better to do?" about police enforcing the law for infringements they might have committed.

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        #4
        The same people who set up and run local Facebook groups. There is also that hyper-local site - Nextdoor? - which if it actually takes off will contain hate that will make Twitter looks like an oasis of calm and reason.
        Last edited by Snake Plissken; 31-01-2021, 13:27.

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          #5
          I used to be in a couple of local history groups for my hometown and where I now live. The pattern was always:

          1) Someone posts old picture, asking for info on the people or place
          2) Someone adds a general nostalgic comment of how innocent everyone/everything looks
          3) Someone says 'these were the good old days'
          4) Someone says 'before immigrunts were here'
          5) Someone adds 'the gays too'
          6) fascism ensues

          That half of these people are immigrunts in the costa del old english cunts is lost on them. I checked out.

          My auntie in NZ has started posting memes from a group that seems to be all about growing up in the late 60s and early 70s. It's mostly about 'who can remember condensed milk' twee bollocks, but I'm waiting for it to take a darker turn. Hopefully not, but it does seem to be the way. I almost wonder if its a deliberate strategy for Kippers and other nascent Uk fascists, or just that those political identities that fixate on nostalgia are just very very happy hunting grounds for radicalisation.

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            #6
            All true (although calling it radicalisation suggests that those were abnormal views in the lates 60's and early 70's)

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              #7
              Nostalgia is a weapon.

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                #8
                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                Nostalgia is a weapon.
                To tie in with another thread, it's what helps make a nation.

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                  #9
                  Yeah, OK, activation rather than radicalisation. But lots of these people do seem to fall into it in a cult-like way. They could also go another way, but groups promoting nostalgic reminiscence in the context of generally improve treatment of minorities, mental health conditions don't seem to be a thing. It's possible to both think Pacers were the best sweet ever and that the 70s were a swamp of racist bullshit amidst also being the greatest decade in human history.

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                    #10
                    yes why aren't they sentimentally nostalgic about council housing, trade union rights, cheap sports centres and free education?

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                      #11
                      Not to mention the most equal in human history. Fucking Nixon (thought he causes of the collapse of this era are of course multifaceted, and could merit a thread on their own)

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                        #12
                        Predatory capitalism and its realisation that they could take and hold power by weaponising fear of the other, a perverse form of libertarianism and a lottery-like approach to wealth accumulation

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                          #13
                          I belong to a local nostalgia group that I joined just to look at the historical photos of the area. Almost everyone in the group seems to be 60 to 75 years of age, and most grew up or went to school together. Someone will post a photo of an old landmark or local business, and everyone else will reply with 'I remember that' and 'me too', instead of contributing something interesting to the reminiscence.

                          Every now and then, someone will post a meme of kids riding bikes or playing hopscotch will a caption about kids nowadays not knowing what these things are. They love the idea that they grew up at exactly the perfect time in history, and it all went downhill from there.

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                            #14
                            Those people pale in comparison to the nutters on Abandoned Houses of Ontario. Someone posts photos of a derelict old farmhouse, and someone will immediately ask 'where is that?' One of the few rules of the group is don't ask/don't tell locations. Then someone will post 'such a shame...that would make a nice home for someone'. Yes, Gladys, we all know that...it's a group about abandoned old houses. Someone else will post 'Sad' with the tear emoji. And then 7 people will 'Like' that post. There's one woman who then goes on the same rant about the land probably being bought up by GREEDY DEVELOPERS, regardless of whether the house is in the middle of fucking nowhere or clearly a hovel on the outskirts of Toronto.

                            My favorite is a batshit woman from somewhere in the US (Minnesota, I think) who comments on literally every photo: "I love the hardwood and the cupboards and the wallpaper and the tiles." [Next page] "I love the bricks and the fireplace and the windows and the stairs". She'll do this on dozens of photos each day. I keep waiting for "The lavender was a shit choice for a kitchen", but it hasn't happened yet.

                            Oh, and every so often, someone will chime in with "Oh, I know this house. An old man lived there." Or "I heard the story behind that house" and then won't trouble themselves to share it.

                            I should probably just look at the pictures, but i can't seem to help myself.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by WOM View Post
                              I should probably just look at the pictures, but i can't seem to help myself.
                              Said the bishop to the actress...

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                I belong to a local nostalgia group that I joined just to look at the historical photos of the area. Almost everyone in the group seems to be 60 to 75 years of age, and most grew up or went to school together. Someone will post a photo of an old landmark or local business, and everyone else will reply with 'I remember that' and 'me too', instead of contributing something interesting to the reminiscence.

                                Every now and then, someone will post a meme of kids riding bikes or playing hopscotch will a caption about kids nowadays not knowing what these things are. They love the idea that they grew up at exactly the perfect time in history, and it all went downhill from there.
                                I'm on the Huddersfield nostalgia group on FB, just out of interest as to how things were, I didn't grow up here so don't remember it. It is thankfully free of racism, either overt or implied, but it seems to have a lot of admins so perhaps they are kept busy.

                                But I agree there is a lot of "I remember that" and "me too", with no other insights, and also because a lot of photos are of old mills or engineering works, there is a lot of "I was an apprentice there in 19xx", followed by a pile on by former colleagues and children of colleagues.
                                I was briefly on a similar Scunthorpe one, but that one was racist.

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                                  #17
                                  One last rant* on those groups is that posters of a certain age have simply chucked the rules of sentence structure out the window. Many of their posts will be "i remember that worked there '71-'74 dave johnson was my boss i think he died good memories lol"

                                  I suspect they use talk-to-text on the phone their son/daughter bought them because the casinos are closed, and every post looks like steam of consciousness.

                                  Also, lol'ing your own post / every post is a really good clue as to how old you are.

                                  *until something occurs to me.

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                                    #18
                                    Yeah old people on the Internet. Back in my day...

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                      and every post looks like steam of consciousness.
                                      i bet it do

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                                        #20
                                        Bah.

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                                          #21
                                          The local old photos group round here seems to have calmed down on the racism lately, so maybe people have been warned or kicked off it. Their other main obsession - that they should never have pedestrianised the middle of town, and moved the bus stops a couple of hundred yards - is still going strong though.

                                          Recently someone posted this tale, with its stunning plot twist:

                                          Can anyone remember a shop on the corner of Tait Street and Cecil Street (where it goes into the car park now) in Carlisle. Can’t remember the name of the shop but the lady that owned it was called Dolly Ducket. My Nanna always treat me to 2ozs of sweets in a paper cone from her shop when we went to the Co-op in Botchergate. She was very old and frail but served me with a smile and gave me a very generous 2ozs, even though some of my friends thought she was a witch! I seem to remember she was murdered by a burglar possibly in the 1950’s. I would love to see a photo of the shop if anyone can find one. Thanks.

                                          Today's hot topics have been the former Wimpy Bar (this comes up about once a month) including how "they would never get away with that menu now cos of political correctness", and the long gone raft races on the River Eden, the demise of which has been blamed on health and safety, with one poster putting things in context "I used to love going down the Eden Bridges on an old inner tube and few people ever drowned or seriously injured. Nice memory tho."

                                          If someone set up a parody group it would be hard to tell the difference.

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                                            #22
                                            This could be read in so many ways, I initially took it as refuse lorries having none of those fancy bin-lifting/tipping hydraulics, whereas a friend wondered whether it was because they're white. Whatever it may be, it's batshit.
                                            Seems as good a place as any to mention that I've had a 'buy British' group recommended to me by Facebook these past few days.
                                            If one of the reoccurring questions is anything to go by, olive oil sales are gonna be going DOWN and cold pressed rapeseed oil sales are going to RISE. I only saw one person ask if they could get British olive oil as well.
                                            Somebody was legit angry about why Cadbury didn't use British cocoa beans.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                                              T
                                              Today's hot topics have been the former Wimpy Bar (this comes up about once a month) including how "they would never get away with that menu now cos of political correctness",
                                              That has got to be the Big bender in a Bun hasn't it? We laughed at that 30 years ago never mind today. We have four Wimpy's in my town and the Big Bender in a Bun isn't the reason I haven't been in for decades.

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                                                #24
                                                Sorry I nodded off. Is this the let's sneer at old people thread?

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                                                  #25
                                                  No. Let's sneer at sub-fascist old people thread.

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