Well, They Could Start By Listening?

In June, the London Review of Books published a superb article by the academic and writer William Davies, referring to this phenomenon as “Faragist TikTok”. He described opening an account and sampling what then poured into his “for you” feed: “Clips of masked men cutting down ultra-low emission zone cameras with angle-grinders. Clips of supermarket shelves displaying inflated new prices. Clips of fights breaking out in the street.” More than anything else, he said, he was presented with footage that constantly conveyed the same flailing fury: “Clips of men and women addressing their phones while sitting in cars or out walking, lamenting the state of ‘Starmer’s Britain’, their words appearing in TikTok’s distinctive pink-highlighted font.”

Ah, yes. Of course. It's all the fault of social media. Not government or organisations that have failed the people, and not the people's wishes for a change to their lives and the way they are governed themselves. 

That's not a reality people like this ever want to face.

When I read this, I instantly recognised what he was talking about. On the occasions I had tried to digest what Musk had done to X, scenes of that kind were exactly what I had found. Scrolling through Instagram was sometimes similar. I then did the same thing as Davies and got half-immersed in TikTok (at 55, I had previously assumed it was not for me). Soon enough, what I was expecting materialised: a disused warehouse in Manchester that had been set on fire, a group of hooded youths being arrested by a gaggle of cops, and a crowd of neo-Nazis, marching in front of a union jack and joylessly reciting the chant that echoed around the capital at the weekend: “Keir Starmer is a wanker.”

Do you think he isn't, then, John? You didn't seem too keen when he was threatening to get your hand out of the taxpayer's pocket.

What does this do to people? Where you live might seem stable, uneventful and full of people who are law-abiding. Most places, after all, are like that. But if you are one of the social media users in Britain who spends mind-boggling amounts of time on TikTok (on Android devices, the average was recently put at 49.5 hours a month), the spectacle that erupts on your screens might suggest that venturing outside will soon plunge you into disorder, crime and chaos – and that those things really do define life elsewhere. This, I think, at least partly explains the place of the archetypal city in some people’s modern paranoia: the idea that multiculturalism has turned London into a crime-infested no-go area, or that Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles are in such a state of social disrepair that Trump has no option but to send in the national guard.

All social media accounts do is give people a voice, John. Why is the Left always so agin that? Is it because they know what they'd say? 

In 2008, Gordon Brown attempted a rebuttal in the speech he made at the Labour party conference. “The Conservatives say our country is broken – but this country has never been broken by anyone or anything,” he said. “This country wasn’t broken by fascism, by the cold war, by terrorists. Of course there are problems, but this is a country being lifted up every day by the people who love it.” When I read those words and thought about that great ocean of online video, a thought came to mind: these days, could anyone imagine a Labour politician saying anything similar? And, if they did, would they not look like the epitome of complacency and denial? And then I once again realised how absurd all of this is, and how much the supposed reality that politicians have to deal with is now confected, overblown and often completely illusory. Such is life in the modern society of the spectacle, and such is the huge change in how people understand the world and their place in it that it starts to look like a sinister kind of magic.

Yes! It must be the technology that's wobven its sinister spell over the populace! It can't possibly be that eventually, they realise what the Left's gameplan is and reject it, can it?? 

Maybe We Should Find Out Who Has Been Teaching Them They Are In The First Place?

 

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Children will be taught that 'worrying and feeling down' are not mental-health conditions in an attempt to curb Britain's spiralling worklessness crisis.

Surely we should find out where this message is coming from, first? 

Teachers have been told they must avoid encouraging pupils to self-diagnose 'normal feelings' as more serious problems such as anxiety and depression.

The radical change in policy will be issued in new guidance to schools amid escalating concern over the number of young people being signed off sick.

Sounds like it'd be a good idea to start with the GPs then to me... 

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told The Telegraph: 'For too many children today, their understanding of how to manage their mood and regulate their emotions is coming from social media, rather than their parents, teachers or trained professionals.

Ah, no, of course it's got to be blamed on the new Big Bad (and the thing the Labour Party are desperate to control). How fortuitous, eh? 

The changes come in new instructions on how to teach RHSE, which were issued last week. Some of the instructions surrounding mental health had been contained in a previous draft of the guidance, which was drawn up by the last Tory government.

More modern Tory nonsense coming to light? Quelle surprise, eh? 

Ms Phillipson's changes to the schools guidance are the latest evidence of concern within Downing Street over the growing scale of mental-health claims. This is despite Labour attacking the Tories when it was still in opposition for suggesting that too many people were being signed off with milder conditions.

Yes, well, that was then, this is now, when they are finding out that being in power is nothing like being in opposition. 

If It’s Not Illegal, What Basis Can There Be For Fines?

They've not given up trying to stop the population from freely discussing things:

Social media business models endangered the public by incentivising the spread of dangerous misinformation after the 2024 Southport murders, MPs have concluded, adding that current online safety laws have “major holes”.“It’s clear that the Online Safety Act [OSA] just isn’t up to scratch,” said Chi Onwurah, the committee chair, after a seven-month inquiry. “The government needs to go further to tackle the pervasive spread of misinformation that causes harm but doesn’t cross the line into illegality. Social media companies are not just neutral platforms but actively curate what you see online, and they must be held accountable.”

Accountability is a good thing, but MPs seem to only regard it as such in other people. 

The committee called for fines of at least £18m if platforms do not set out how they will tackle significant harms that derive from content promoted by their recommendation systems even if it is not illegal.

I sincerely hope the big social media platforms treat this ridiculous overreach by these arrogant little pipsqueaks with the contempt it deserves. 

A Snowflake Opines...

I remember the first violent message I received on Instagram. It was a veritable bingo of hate: he mocked me, told me no one would want to look at my “dirty” crotch – though his language was worse, of course. He asked if “sluts” like me, moaning until they “get what they want”, was “what our country was coming to”, before reminding me that nothing was going to change. He finished by saying he hoped I was gang-raped “senseless” by 20 men. But, he didn’t use the word “men”. He used a racist slur instead, finishing the message with five middle-finger emojis.

So you blocked and deleted and got on with life. right? 

I remember how my chest tightened and I grew hot with fear.

Oh... 

I hadn’t been surprised to become the target of online hate.

Wait, you expected it? 

When abuse fills up your DMs and your inbox, there’s no way to escape it.

Yes there is. Block, report, delete.

Those in charge of tackling of this abuse (sic) are usually men. They don’t really understand the impact it has on victims and survivors. They haven’t been in our shoes.

Some have, sweetie!  

No single bill from parliament will solve this, and no single software update will either. A holistic and collaborative effort from the platforms, lawmakers and independent initiatives who know the reality of the issue, not just the theory, would be a positive start. Until then, we’ll share our locations with friends, add another dick pic to our screenshots folder and delete messages with trembling hands, hoping that one day our safety will finally become a priority.

Why should it? Everyone's safety should be a priority. What set of genitalia you possess shouldn't give you a head start, given young men are assaulted and killed at a rate of at least two to one... 

This Isn't The Cause Célèbre You Think It Is...

Cell phone video captured the harrowing moment a teenage mother from California was shot in the back of the head by a school safety officer, leaving her brain dead.

And the non-left on Twitter are making much of the fact that she's not receiving the Saint George Floyd treatment from activists and the press, because the official who fired the shots is black, and she's Hispanic. 

But let's look more closely at the actual details, shall we?  

Rodriguez, who has a five-month-old son, was shot as she drove away from the scene near Millikan High School in Long Beach on Monday.

The scene of what? Well, not just the shooting: 

That afternoon, Rodriguez had gotten into a fight with a 15-year-old girl. She was struck by a bullet while leaving the school in a car with the father of her child, Rafeul Chowdhury, 20, and his 16-year-old brother. None of the people in the car were students at the school.

Translation: She went to finish her beef with the girl, aided by her baby-daddy. But surely, you cry, that shouldn't warrant shooting her?  

Video shows the officer fire two shots at the car, which nearly hits him as it speeds out of the parking lot. Chowdhury was driving the vehicle.

Gosh, that puts a different complexion on it, doesn't it? 

Alex Cervantes, Mona's cousin, told reported she did not deserve to get shot. 'She might have been doing something she wasn't supposed to, but she was unarmed,' he said.

She was in a deadly weapon being aimed at an official trying to stop her fleeing the scene of a crime, though...  

The family have launched up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral and legal expenses, and to help support Rodriguez's son.

I hope she gets what she's worth. 

You Wouldn't Know 'Justice' If It Slapped You Around The Face With A Wet Haddock!

Social media users should not be allowed to post from anonymous accounts, the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales has said.

What?! Who on earth would say such a stu... 

Dame Vera Baird QC...

Oh. Right.  

...said tech giants such as Twitter and Facebook should not allow people to sign up without providing accurate identifiable information. It comes amid concern the practice is allowing people to abuse others online with little prospect of being identified and prosecuted.

I can post a poison pen letter that's untraceable. I can use a 'burner' phone to make threatening calls. When do you start demanding these avenues be closed down too?

And why, on any subject, should someone too dim and arrogant to scoop her dog's crap be able to shoot her mouth off and be listened to?

Dame Vera said: “I think that getting rid of anonymity is fundamental to being able to enforce the law quite obviously.”

Well, there goes all that whistleblower legislation, eh? 

“People sit at home with a funny name and say the most horrible thing, having quite a lot of pleasure because they can’t be found - that must be the point of it, mustn’t it, to do it without any comeback.”

Like politicians can, in the House? 

“It’s very unpleasant indeed and it’s imperative they be brought to justice.”

Like speeders should?