Hint of the day

Suppose social, political, and economic life is almost entirely dictated by billions of tiny hints passed from person to person in numerous ways and vast numbers. Suppose the general form of these micro-hints is - this is how I see it. Body language is some of it, while some is verbal but it’s a long, complex and well-trodden area of social life. It is cultural too, which is why multiculturalism is necessarily divisive.

The point to be made is that micro-hints are not strong assertions. They occupy a more exploratory level, allowing low level responses from a shrug to a nod to a facial expression which says such things as maybe, oh, hmm, snigger, okay, really? Micro-hints may even be ignored without causing too much social friction.

Many or even most real world social exchanges are probably of this type. In which case we must be seeing a significant contrast between discourse through micro-hints and the more or less concrete assertions we constantly receive from mainstream media. That’s why media folk seem to be mad most of the time – it’s the constant shouting. The hints, particularly the important ones go on behind the scenes.

The media want drama, tragedy, horror, outrage, stridency and all the other bombastic crud which kills the hints and stomps on the nuances of genuine discourse. That’s the point – they kill the crucial exploratory role of nuances, hints and suggestions.

We need those exploratory nuances to work out some kind of route to what is really going on. Often more than one route. In other words the mainstream media do not reflect the way constructive discourse actually evolves. They do not reflect the way real discourse feels its way step by step towards something better. The media do not reflect real life interests, concerns, or even political significance because that would be the end of talking down to us.

That’s my hint of the day.

Bill Gates : "You Don't Have A Choice"

 

A call for evidence

UK government announces Automated Lane Keeping System call for evidence

Government launches consultation on an automated system capable of taking vehicle control to make driving safer and easier.

The UK is taking steps forward in automated technology in vehicles with the launch of a call for evidence today (18 August 2020) to help shape how innovative new systems could be used in future on GB roads.

The call for evidence will look at the Automated Lane Keeping System (ALKS) – an automated system that can take over control of the vehicle at low speeds, keeping it in lane on motorways.

Presumably this call for evidence will be more astutely conducted than the calls for coronavirus evidence, climate change evidence, HS2 evidence and a comparable list going back decades. 

Maybe evidence that governments know how to call for evidence would be a good place to begin. Evidence-based evidence calling for example.

Democracy is no defence against totalitarians

The main thrust of modern political trends is to depersonalise ordinary people, which is everyone below the upper middle class. Gender, nationality, ethnic origin, family roots, culture and religion count for nothing in this totalitarian schema. It is not dissimilar to that more familiar totalitarian distinction where one is either a party member or a nobody.

Not dissimilar to party membership? Suppose we push that a little further. To be woke is to adopt the informal membership or affiliate membership of a political movement. The level of membership depends on social status. In the UK the woke movement has begun to absorb what are evolving into branches of the Woke Party – branches such as Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green.

Much of what we see in the modern political world is an interplay of advantages where individuals and groups make moves in the game of maximum advantage. Group those advantages together and there is only one overarching game. Woke political movements are tending to do just that - bring the rackets under one roof or Big Tent as Tony Blair called it.

It seems unduly cynical to say so because there are still many political actors who are generally on the level but our political culture is old and principled robustness has worn away as age, moral weakness and easy options corrupt our democratic processes. A period of political consolidation was inevitable although those old familiar political brands will be retained even if the ingredients have been absorbed and standardised.

Gender, ethnicity, environment, energy, transport, education, perceived inequality, welfare, social justice, taxation and almost all aspects of government have become absorbed into woke political rackets. In some cases such as climate change we see a simple woke racket while in others the takeover is less complete.

Much of it stems from voting for perceived advantage rather than seeking to preserve the value of those political structures our ancestors strived for and bequeathed. This political bequest we are now squandering for illusory advantage we do not even need. Democracies have a terminal problem with political rackets - voters think they can play the game too. But only Woke Party members are eligible to play because they make the rules.

Strewth that's depressing

Almost nine in ten Britons would accept further future local lockdowns in the absence of a vaccine for Covid-19, a new study has found, with the majority willing to embrace aspects of the ‘new normal’ for the foreseeable future.

A new survey from King’s College London has revealed that if no treatment for coronavirus can be found, 87 per cent would accept local lockdowns, as currently seen in Leicester, areas of Yorkshire and the Greater Manchester region.

Tedium of the week

But he gradually perceived that the words she used had no meaning for her save, as it were, a symbolic one: they were like the mysterious price-marks with which dealers label their treasures.

Edith Wharton - Here and Beyond (1926)

Old news now but the most tedious story to emerge while we were on holiday was Dawn Butler’s apparent attempt to become Racism Pointer Pursuivant of the Labour party.

If harmonious race relations really are a core aim of mainstream political parties then major political actors have to take a lead and bring to an end the crude and frequently baseless political use of racism allegations. If mainstream political parties are serious about this, then party members who still use racism as a dishonest club with which to beat their opponents must face some kind of penalty such as having party membership rescinded.

Nothing else will ever work. Stop the race-based finger pointing or give it up and admit that the dishonesty of it is ineradicable even within supposedly woke political parties. Which of course it is as the Labour party continues to demonstrate.

National death shortage looms