uziq
Member
+492|3423
a big problem in the UK is that a few stores have been allowed to stay open as 'essential', but they tend to be giant corporate franchises and chains. the small independent stores are dying a death, with only modest furlough/government largesse.

it's really kind of odious to see starbucks and pret-a-manger open in major city centres whilst all the mom-n-pop sandwich shops and espresso bars are boarded up. a huge amount of market consolidation is going on as a result of the pandemic. the UK in general already had a problem, pre-covid, with high streets/main street being a series of identikit franchises.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

I imagine it's easier for a city or state to bully small companies than to bully a national (or international) chain.

Fifty people standing in a (social distanced) line at a supermarket is probably not safer than a corner store with maybe a couple customers (following the same rules) in an hour. The backlash doesn't seem like a complete mystery to me. And yeah, a solid blow in years of blows against the little guy.
uziq
Member
+492|3423
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

I just read a short article talking about misinformation sowed to discredit western vaccines.

Four online publications linked to Russian intelligence agencies have been spreading false or misleading information about coronavirus vaccines, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an official at the US Department of State’s Global Engagement Center.

The sites, identified as New Eastern Outlook, Oriental Review, News Front, and Rebel Inside, have emphasized the side effects of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as well as other western pharma companies’ vaccines, stoking concerns about whether the vaccines are effective or had been rushed through the US approval process, the WSJ said.

The sites don’t have large audiences, but officials said their false stories are often picked up and circulated by international media. They typically focus on true news reports about rare side effects of the vaccines, but fail to provide accurate context that shows the vaccines are safe for most people. “Russian intelligence services bear direct responsibility for using these four platforms to spread propaganda and lies,” a State Department spokesman told the WSJ.

In addition to the campaign to discredit Western vaccines, Russia’s state media and Twitter accounts connected to the Russian government are also trying to boost the profile of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

A spokesperson for the Kremlin denied the allegations to the WSJ.

Russia announced in November that its Sputnik V vaccine had efficacy of 90 percent, but critics said the clinical trials of the vaccine on patients were too small. However, British medical journal The Lancet reported last month that larger-scale testing had found Sputnik V was safe, and had a 91 percent efficacy rate. According to the Associated Press, as of late February only 4 million people in Russia— about 3 percent of the population— had been vaccinated.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo … r-BB1ekPV3
I don't know if we need much help from Russia on this. We're perfectly capable of having things spiral out of control on our own, thank you very much.

On a personal level, struggling to quell the culmination of fears in older relatives. Even one who is normally for vaccines has been terrified thanks to sensationalized reports of adverse reactions.

AARP has been a decent resource for this.

When Your Second Vaccine Dose Packs a Punch
https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions- … fects.html

7 Myths About Coronavirus Vaccines
https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-suppl … myths.html
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX

uziq wrote:

a big problem in the UK is that a few stores have been allowed to stay open as 'essential', but they tend to be giant corporate franchises and chains. the small independent stores are dying a death, with only modest furlough/government largesse.

it's really kind of odious to see starbucks and pret-a-manger open in major city centres whilst all the mom-n-pop sandwich shops and espresso bars are boarded up. a huge amount of market consolidation is going on as a result of the pandemic. the UK in general already had a problem, pre-covid, with high streets/main street being a series of identikit franchises.
You could say there's a global conspiracy to gigifiy the economy and push poor people down. Annihilating small business in favour of conglomerates and their zero hour contracts would fit with that. But of course there aren't any Bilderberger conspiracies so it can't be happening.

Just as its strange that every major economy has joyfully legitimised blatantly bogus 'ride-sharing' schemes and seen their carefully regulated taxi and delivery industries and the associated livelihoods obliterated almost overnight, with many people losing their shirts on now worthless taxi licences.

But of course there can't be a global ideological conspiracy to tear up society and make the rich richer and the poor poorer because that would be ridiculous.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Seeing you speak out in defense of oppressed gig workers is actually kind of funny. I'm sure your uber driver would give you a thumbs up.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
I've never used an uber
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
uziq
Member
+492|3423
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ … u-concedes

love to see how often the EU seniors are shooting themselves in the foot over covid.

accusing britain of vaccine nationalism and banning vaccine exports. we've literally given half a billion to covax. lmao.

cocksuckers.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
Europe has always hated Britain, many years of enmity before WW2, then they had the embarrassment of being rescued from the Germans when a lot of them probably didn't want to be, now the fourth Reich is unravelling and they're butthurt again.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
https://i.imgur.com/3AScuA6.jpg
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Larssen
Member
+99|1858

Dilbert_X wrote:

Europe has always hated Britain, many years of enmity before WW2, then they had the embarrassment of being rescued from the Germans when a lot of them probably didn't want to be, now the fourth Reich is unravelling and they're butthurt again.
Britain is about as important to me as Bulgaria. I spend little of my time thinking anything about the place really.
uziq
Member
+492|3423
i'm sure a person who works in the EU and is proud about it hasn't thought at all about the UK in the last 4 years.

Larssen
Member
+99|1858
Brexit, May, Johnson, the ERG - all of it has been annoying. Though the place that is the UK I don't care much for at all really. I don't 'hate' Brits nor have any particular dislike for them. I think about my feelings towards the UK about as much as I think about my feelings towards the inhabitants of Sofia.

Now that you're out of the EU your political relevance has also diminished significantly. I adjust my attention accordingly
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Larssen wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Europe has always hated Britain, many years of enmity before WW2, then they had the embarrassment of being rescued from the Germans when a lot of them probably didn't want to be, now the fourth Reich is unravelling and they're butthurt again.
Britain is about as important to me as Bulgaria. I spend little of my time thinking anything about the place really.
What concerns me more is Dilbert dismissing the large number of people who were dissatisfied with Nazi rule and occupation in what I can only assume to be a mostly troll take.

Let's also not forget the historical enmity between continental European states, dilbs.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
Well its funny, we drove the Germans back and bombed them to rubble at great effort, the French and Belgians couldn't get back in bed with them fast enough.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Going on about French surrender-monkeys sounds very obnoxiously American-educated. It does a discredit to the people who fought back anyway. And this form of western self-congratulations always seems to forget the scale of German commitment to the eastern front.

This is one of the reasons why history is important. It influences ideas and attitudes in modern times. It's no wonder groups like the Trump camp want to change it.

Funnily enough, a search for "fourth reich" brings up breitbart and disgruntled euro politicians and forums. It is at once a term of endearment among neo-nazis who envision another stab at aryan supremacy, and virtually spat at the EU by internet/political gadflies who think the EU is handing the continent over to "brown people." Quite the versatile term.
uziq
Member
+492|3423
there were a huge number of vichy collaborationists in france, not only ardent nazi supporters from france's denuded aristocracy and catholic far-right but regular, everyday french citizens too. a large number of the post-war french government were either complicit with vichy or had serious dirt on them as collaborators and sympathisers. it was a great and orchestrated act of national forgetting, creating a pent up sense of inter-generational shame. it was the background to the inter-generational conflicts of may '68. the same economic and political bloc expressed itself in poujadism and in le pen (a similar act of forgetting took place over algeria, le pen's own stomping grounds, where french troops razed ethnic villages and disappeared thousands in the name of empire and expansionism - sound familiar? it was one thing to be an imperialist in the 19th century, but to do it after being liberated from nazism really took the cake).

of course, the same political sympathisers and 'insider' people remained in political institutions in germany and spain, too. hence the febrile 1970s in germany and similar inter-generational ructions there. hence spain today still largely having a political party of the centre-right bourgeoisie who are essentially still francoist in ideology (if not now, in 2020, in still-living personages).

the idea of the french resistance and legendary patriots dying is every bit as mythopoeic and constructed as dilbert's own (admittedly exaggerated and sensationlist) type of history. the picture was very complicated. the image of la résistance is on the same plane of imagination as joan of arc.

Last edited by uziq (2021-03-11 19:25:34)

unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

I never denied that there were willing collaborationists. For example, there was support from conservative French Catholics for throwing out liberal reforms, and a change in government was a good opportunity to see it through. Anti-semitic, etc., values were also certainly not confined to Nazi Germany. Obviously I'm not going to cover the whole of the German occupation of France in two paragraphs (it's not even something I would feel comfortable teaching without a lot more reading), but I felt this had to be brought up in context of a person, who thinks that history is a worthless subject, making a sweeping claim about a history. From my perspective as someone who lived through the era of Freedom Fries.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2021-03-11 19:36:00)

Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
The point is the fine detail of the history doesn't matter - it never does.

Europe has been royally raped by the Germans multiple times, even so the French, Belgians and various others - is Luxembourg even a country? - fall over each other to put the Krauts in power over themselves and present their bottoms to be raped again.

As far as I remember thats pretty much exactly how AJP Taylor put it.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

You always bring up some weird historical take or use language like "the fourth reich" and then follow up with "but the history never matters."
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
Its an anodyne mission statement.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Larssen
Member
+99|1858
"The fine detail of the engineering doesn't matter - it never does"

I don't know how it is humanly possible to be so stubbornly stupid as you demonstrate to be. Ah well, your choice
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Now's as good of time as any to recall former NH Governor John H. Sunumu, Bush Sr.'s Chief of Staff: brilliant MIT engineer who contributed confusion and denialism to global warming public discourse and who later endorsed Donald Trump for president after listening to a debate.

If only we had more engineers in positions of power, imagine what could be solved.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX

Larssen wrote:

"The fine detail of the engineering doesn't matter - it never does"

I don't know how it is humanly possible to be so stubbornly stupid as you demonstrate to be. Ah well, your choice
Yeah sorry, I don't need to go back and refer to what Aristotle said and to whom at 3:23pm on the 5th of April 329BC to be able to say the French are craven and cowardly grovellers when it comes to Germany's behaviour in modern Europe over the last 50 years or so.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Larssen
Member
+99|1858
You must've missed the entire Gaullist movement? Your completely lacking knowledge about history isn't just in the details Dilbert. It's in everything.

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