alanjjohnstone
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An interesting interview with a climatologist. But a bit too conspiratorial in bits for my liking but nevertheless with some useful insights.
Any time you are told a problem is your fault because you are not behaving responsibly, there is a good chance that you are being deflected from systemic solutions and policies. Blaming the individual is a tried and trusted playbook that we have seen in the past with other industries… For a UK example look at BP, which gave us the world’s first individual carbon footprint calculator. Why did they do that? Because BP wanted us looking at our carbon footprint not theirs…Of course lifestyle changes are necessary but they alone won’t get us where we need to be. They make us more healthy, save money and set a good example for others. But we can’t allow the forces of inaction to convince us these actions alone are the solution and that we don’t need systemic changes. If they can get us arguing with one another, and finger pointing and carbon shaming about lifestyle choices, that is extremely divisive and the community will no longer be effective in challenging vested interest and polluters.
Doom-mongering has overtaken denial as a threat and as a tactic. Inactivists know that if people believe there is nothing you can do, they are led down a path of disengagement. They unwittingly do the bidding of fossil fuel interests by giving up.
What is so pernicious about this is that it seeks to weaponise environmental progressives who would otherwise be on the frontline demanding change. These are folk of good intentions and good will, but they become disillusioned or depressed and they fall into despair. But “too late” narratives are invariably based on a misunderstanding of science…Good people fall victim to doomism. I do too sometimes. It can be enabling and empowering as long as you don’t get stuck there. It is up to others to help ensure that experience can be cathartic.Gates writes that he doesn’t know the political solution to climate change. But the politics are the problem buddy. If you don’t have a prescription of how to solve that, then you don’t have a solution and perhaps your solution might be taking us down the wrong path.
Another article on MMT
“…the world used to be different, which means it can be different again. For it to be different after this pandemic, rather than exactly the same but somehow even worse, there will need to be a radical political rethinking of the monetary order—not a modern monetary theory, but a monetary theory for the future.”
Yet still not considering the abolition of exchange economy and money as
Also by coincidence this article appeared on the sex industry
https://inthesetimes.com/article/sex-workers-equality-model-new-york
Coincidentally this article was published today
https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-on-trans-rights-journalists-must-stand-with-the-facts/a-56709873
We certainly don’t hold with the right-wing media but in the US there are attempts not to go through the legislative process and pass laws but to pressure unaccountable private companies to de-platform the cable news outlets, the liberal/progressive/leftists disagree with.
they aren’t wanting to be accepted as a third gender, aj. they want to be treated as literal women in every sense.
As always, we should be very careful when we ascribe views to a particular sector of the population as “they” because we just don’t know how representative “they” actually are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender
There is a legal campaign not to be seen as female or male but acknowledged as trans. Not M or F but X
Again, this is worth reading.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/08/transgender-third-gender-no-gender-part-i
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/08/transgender-third-gender-no-gender-part-ii
“Your sex is what’s between your legs; your gender is what’s between your ears.”
Apologies for harping on. It is simply i wish the WSM to be viewed as inclusive and not alienate ourselves from fellow-workers for reasons other than socialist consciousness. We welcome all who agree with our principles, and their status as male, female, trans, straight or gay or bi is irrelevant to us. What we share in common despite many differences is our class position.
men dressing or acting “feminine” are transvestites or cross-dressers. Women at one time were also associated with that but with modern female fashions now featuring male-attire it is no longer frowned upon as a fetish.
Sexual orientation is gay, lesbian or bisexualism, natural inclinations.
i believe being transexual or transgender or non-binary (not sure of the appropriate terminology) are similarly natural but different psychologically.
Your final comments appear to me rather misleading. Do you accept that there exist sexism where females are generally discriminated against because of their gender? If so then TS/TG are not gaining any special privileges as you suggest but share in the general prejudices of society treating them as women. They also suffer in many circumstances added legal obstacles. I don’t find arguments that they have an unfair advantage has any merit.
Sex tests in sports have a long history – 70 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_verification_in_sports
As i said in my earlier post, there is no reason not to accept a percentage of the population as a third gender.
I also note that you do not consider female transitioning to male to be of any significance or importance to your case.
Worth a read for those who wish more info is wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender
I have always followed the maxim “different strokes for different folks” and it has served me well.
The BBC continue with their advocacy that the White Helmets were a genuine humanitarian organisation and not a publicity front for the anti-Assad alliance.
Medical advances have achieved a level that we can indeed physically change gender, male can become female and female can become male. We have taken control of our reproductive abilities and becoming a mother no longer defines a woman. Surrogates and adoption have also made motherhood possible for many who cannot conceive.
I cannot claim to possess the answers but i do say that what unique individuality a person aspires towards can be more easily realized in socialism where the constraints of capitalist culture which commodifies everything – even people – will be broken.
Biden is getting plaudits for returning to the Paris agreement but when it comes to actual policies, he is reneging on his campaign promises.
It is all a matter of old wine in new bottles.
I live in a country where trans-gender has a long history and i regularly come into contact with transgenders. I note the attitude of local women…they recognise TS aren’t male but still not women, despite ultra-femininsation. They are simply treated as a third gender, related to as sisters in spirit and mind who have chosen to switch and adopt the female role in society. Likewise, there are also many women who have adopted the “tom-boy” lifestyle and appearance (without the hormone or surgery.) A 4th gender? They too are not stigmatised by the community.
Importantly, i do see all this as a different to sexual orientation.
Despite a deep conservative culture, tolerance of self-defined sexual identity prevails. The political debate over the issue in America is symptomatic of its polarized positions on religion, not the reality in the rest of the world.
As for the sex industry, like any job, it exists because of poverty and a need to survive. Voluntary participants within it cannot be criticised or ostracised.
The Industrial Workers of the World approach is here.
Khashoggi assassination.
The State Department has identified 76 Saudi Arabian individuals who may be subject to sanctions.
Crown Prince MBS will NOT be sanctioned, per officials.
BREAKING: Treasury will unveil sanctions today on General Ahmed al-Asiri, former deputy head of the Saudi intelligence services, and the Saudi Rapid Intervention Force for their involvement in the Khashoggi assassination. Crown Prince MBS will NOT be sanctioned, per officials.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 26, 2021
“Today’s interim report from the UNFCCC is a red alert for our planet,” said UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
National Climate Goals (NDCs) are “nowhere close” to achieving the 1.5-degree Paris target, says the new report.
https://www.dw.com/en/un-red-alert-for-national-climate-goals/a-56713215
The individual contributions submitted to date would only cut about 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions — a far cry from the 45% cut needed by 2030 to meet the 1.5 degree goal,
Worth a read on Australia’s and Facebook dispute
Big Tech can only be countered with big power.
https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-australias-big-tech-crackdown-is-no-model-to-emulate/a-56681636
Big Tech has undoubtedly become too powerful and action is desperately needed. What many governments have so far failed to grasp, however, is that in dealing with a borderless, decentralized entity, the only workable solution is a multilateral one.
