Tom

Also the royal family doesn’t really divide most british people. They are generally supported throughout the political spectrum and no political party (except some in a few regional parties) quesiton the monarchy, so I don’t see how that would “unite” different parties. Nor do parties in a multi-party democracy need to unite. They have different…[Read more]

No that’s not necesarily true encoginationer. Constitutional monarchies would have to replace the head of state somehow and it is not straight forward obvious how to do that. Canadians/British/Spaniards etc. don’t want to have a President in the style of the US. The amount of political problems that come from having an elected president are…[Read more]

I’ve lived in four countries with monarchies (well three and a half because Canada’s monarch is never in residence). In all of those countries the monarch is popular. They serve a political function (they act as the only executive/legislative check and balance). In those countries there is only one effective legislature (there is no president and…[Read more]

I was 16 when I first had real access to the internet (a regular connection and not just the text based internet). I used AOL which was a truly fantastic place to discover the online world. There was a large selection of chat rooms and back then chatting was really fun. There were very few trolls (they were quickly kicked out of the rooms).…[Read more]

Indeed compared with some Western European countries (certainly not all) the U.S. seems to have a whole bunch of religion fused with politics. The near complete non-representation of non-religious politicians at the National level, the number of prayers and prayer groups and the use of God in phrases, motto, the constitution, oaths, your money,…[Read more]

They may or may not be outliers.  I can understand people making a fuss about things.  But it depends how they do it.  These outliers love trouble.  Sometimes it just turns off the people they’re presumably hoping to convert.

Simon it seems to me that you are being as ridiculously over-outraged over the very over-outrage you are criticising.

If somebody is screaming into somebody’s face, metaphorically or otherwise, purely because they disagree – nobody is going to take seriously what they have to say

No Simon. I would say that decades of inaction (nobody caring to change harmful oppressive cultural norms) and then people getting loud bringing about actually change would show that you…[Read more]

And yet, it seems to indicate a wider culture of self-righteous rudeness and incivility as a response to disagreement.

It’s a pity you continue to feel this way.

Simon…the media and social media (and especially conservative forums) like to point out the truly tiny number of moments of cancel culture that are extreme or even outrageous and then paint social justice activism with that brush. That is ridiculously unfair, hyper generalising and a reaction by those who don’t want to deal with the broader…[Read more]

Either I incorporate the criticism and expand my world view, or I stick to my guns knowing I’ve been vetting my positions and I’m willing to take negative response for it.

Which is how it should be. I wrestled with the Toronto disruption to the pride event. I highly disagreed with a couple of their points but not for a second did I think that the…[Read more]

What they didn’t do is act like silly, authoritarian brats, whom nobody can listen to o’r respect.

Uhhhh…that is EXACTLY how they were characterised by people who resisted their activism. But don’t let me stop you projecting your idealised version of history onto them nor your hypergeneralising.

one of those being the toxic bitch-fest currently known as the Left

Simon…despite everything Kristina said you are still hyper and grossly overgeneralising about the “left” and cancel culture. Kristina didn’t talk about cancel culture per se nor generalised about any group of people but talked about her own frustrations in communicating the same…[Read more]

Simon, if you generalise about an ideology by the craziest people then you learn nothing. Imagine if we thought of conservationism entirely through the actions of far-right idiots or for those who supported “leave” only through the actions of Nigel Firages stupidity. That would be completely unfair to most moderates who had non-crazy reasons for…[Read more]

Yes Simon then be careful with your words. Say “woke activists who go to far are modern witch hunters” and try not to over generalise. This whole “fear of cancel culture” as though its some rampant out of control problem is a product of conservative reactionaries. They’ve been doing it forever and will keep on doing it. It takes our attention away…[Read more]

Woke people are the new witch-burners – unfortunately.

This is a ridiculous over exaggeration. Sometimes what they are opposing is entirely reasonable. It’s easy as a straight white male to see racism, homophobia and sexism as a problem that is mostly resolved requiring soft activism but that is blatantly untrue. They are still rampant and a…[Read more]

I think it shows the paucity of religious morality.

Indeed. There is no Christian society out there that doesn’t pick and choose from their “source of moral authority” book they call the bible. As they slowly reject one old rule after another to keep their rules compatible and palatable with modern secular society…their Christian morality…[Read more]