The Blood is The Life 20-03-2012

[miss_s_b]

• Change to Sunday trading laws would force us into shops against our will, warn Christians
  (tags: funny )
  
• The 1930s advert that Mercedes Benz would rather forget
  Proud suppliers of the Nazis!
  (tags: history )
  
  
• Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch
  (tags: funny )
  
• BBC News - Richard Bacon: My battle with the trolls
  I worry about the maxim "don't feed the troll". While it's certainly good advice for the victim, I worry that it's the fact that bystanders don't speak out that lets them think their behaviour is acceptable.
  (tags: internet )
  
  
• Wile E Coyote, Tragic Hero of Science
  "Wile E’s faithful adherence to scientific principles in a universe that has no respect for them is admirable. When the wrong half of the cliff falls away or the heavier end of the catapult flips upside down to smash him, Wile E goes back to his drawing board faithfully and tries again and again and again and again. He knows how the laws of his universe should work, but does not know that the gods lording over his existence are sadistic jerks who take glee in his suffering."
  (tags: heroes )
  
  
• BBC News - Doctors to challenge coalition MPs
  I hope they pay attention to the actual voting records of the actual MPs, and don't just stand agin ANY Tory/Lib Dem...
  (tags: )
  
  

Comments

[gwenhwyfaer]

Because you think voters won't be too careful about differentiating by 2015, or because you think it'll weaken the GPs' chances as a whole if they aren't careful about differentiating?

Personally I think this is a masterstroke; granted, not every GP is any good, but I can't think of any better rejuvenation of democracy than having half the professional politicians in the house chucked out on their ear by people who have a very tangible record of actually achieving something really good in the world before going off to serve - well, rescue - their country. Not to mention the commensurate effect on corruption levels. My only sadness is that as someone in a (marginally) Labour constituency I won't get the chance to vote for a GP myself. Because I really would jump at it.

[miss_s_b]

Because I think it would be a shame if an MP like Julian Huppert, who is a doctor himself and who has voted the right way on all the issues I care about, including the NHS, is unseated by a well-meaning GP. Or any number of other MPs who have actually achieved something before serving - they're not ALL professional politicans.

It'll be interesting to see how they do. Generally the people who stand in this way are not in a group - I'm thinking like Martin Bell - so they can't co-ordinate action. But also, I've never known one who hasn't stood down at the end of their first term saying I never realised how hard it was...

The other thing that will be interesting to see is how they vote on non-NHS isuues if/when they get in. Most (although not all) doctors tend to lean right on social and economic issues that don't pertain to the NHS that gives them the money to be able to be selfish right wingers.

[gwenhwyfaer]

I was under the impression Huppert had supported the WRA?

Richard Taylor stood in 2001, on a platform of saving Kidderminster's hospital. He won. And won again in 2005 - and lost to a Tory in 2010 (but I bet Kidderminster wish they'd re-elected him now). So it's quite possible that doctors are pretty much the best placed group to be able to cope with the pressure and hard work.

And as for rightward leanings - I'm waiting to be told whether or not I need to rehome the cats and put my affairs in order. It simply cannot be any worse for me than it is right now. And doctors would, at least, recognise that a person's GP is perfectly capable, as they always have been, of accurately assessing whether or not that person is able to work - far more capable than a bunch of mercenaries working for an incompetent IT firm with an evident remit to kick as many people off ESA as possible.

[davegodfrey]

My last (Labour) MP was, IIRC, a blairite clone, but was also a GP. There's quite a few of them out there.

It'd be interesting to see what kind of MP these GP's make. One might think that having a background as a GP might make them better at representing their constituents.

[miss_s_b]

See, I would hope that your last paragraph is right, but I wouldn't like to make that assumption. There are a bunch of doctors who, when they think patients aren't listening, can be staggeringly dismissive of civilians and their ailments. And, through the course of my life, I have learned that every time I have thought that things couldn't possibly get worse, they do.

But, like I say, I hope you're right.

[gwenhwyfaer]

Here's something which gives me a little more hope:

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/scottish-gps-call-for-immediate-end-to.html

[matgb]

Taylor was the counterexample I was going to mention, and yeah, he stayed in, both worth noting he did so as both the LibDems and the Liberal party stood aside and campaigned for him instead-there was apparently some bad blood locally and the rump Liberals still existed as a result. When that was resolved and the LDs decided to put up a candidate, he lost-I suspect the Tories put up more of a fight as well.

My parents MP is a former GP who won one of their Open Primaries (Wollaston), I've not been following her views on this bu thse has been quite trenchant overall.

And yeah, that the ATOS situation still hasn't been resolved after the mess Labour set up is frustrating.

[daweaver]

Ah, Dr. Taylor, the MP for a neighbouring constituency to mine. Broadly against foundation hospitals and Europe, in favour of free universities and striking, and generally in favour of small-l liberal principles. It's not unfair to say that he turned out sympathetic to the Lib Dem party line in the '01 and '05 parliaments. This observation doesn't generalise beyond the one member.

Kidderminster was one of the few places where the Liberal Party did well after 1988. Fran and Mike Oborski were the leading lights of the party in that area, building significant personal votes. Mike passed away in 2007, and I expect - with some regret - that the local Liberal Party will wither when Fran leaves the stage.

For the record, both the Lib Dems and Liberal Party stood down in 2001, backing Dr. Taylor. The Liberal Party did stand a candidate in 2005, and the LD rejoined in 2010 when the Liberals stood down. By then, I got the impression that Dr. Taylor was seen as a generic none-of-the-above candidate. There will be a market for that sort of sentiment in 2015, but I can't see such candidates winning under the largest minority system.

[matgb]

I can't see such candidates winning under the largest minority system.

Would depend on the seat. I could see it doing well locally-it's effectively a 3-way split seat with a lot of history of voting Independent in some of the wards.

There are local voters that don't like the coalition, don't want Labour back, but can't stomach the obvious protest types-I could see the Greens making headway if they were able. but if a prominent known person stood as an independent of some sort, but started planning way in advance...

(and yeah, I know people that knew Fran and Mike, and while I don't know the details it did sound similar to the Exeter situation when the SDP merged in)

But broadly, yes, there was that effort to put Independents forward all over the place last time, but that didn't get anywhere either, the problems Independents have is they mostly come from outside party structures and have no clue how to campaign or build momentum, add that to the squeeze effect and most are doomed. Those that do well tend to do so with party support or from party background (Tatton, Wyre Forest, Blaenau Gwent are the only three I can think of recently).

[rmc28]

Julian's a doctor, but not a medical one :-)

[karohemd]

I love that piece on Wile E Coyote!
Not enough sleep, can't even close tags...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

It's a pity for those doctors that we didn't get AV, really. As it is, most people won't feel able to take the risk of voting for them, while those who do will just split the opposition vote. But given that 2/3 of them probably voted against AV last year (assuming that they are roughly representative of the population as a whole), I don't feel terribly sorry for them.

[strangecharm]

I worry that it's the fact that bystanders don't speak out that lets them think their behaviour is acceptable.

Me too. Interestingly, every time lately that I've spoken out on other people's LJs about this, I've been immediately labeled a troll, and a hater, and all kinds of other delightful things.

[miss_s_b]

People are weird things.

[ginasketch]

Yeah I don't understand "don't feed the troll" either- I'm not feeding the troll, I'm trolling it.

[matgb]

I think part of the problem is that people have stopped using the word "troll" to mean "deliberately provocative arsehole looking for an argument and prepared to say stuff they don't necessarily mean" and instead started using it to mean "anyone I disagree with that won't back down", makes it a harder discussion to have.

I've always found engagement without hyperbole normally works better than getting angry as it's getting a rise that they want.

[gwenhwyfaer]

I think in some cases, it gets used for "someone saying stuff I'm scared of admitting to myself I agree with because it'll raise all kinds of questions about my worldview that I'm desperately trying to avoid having to deal with". Then it gets even more difficult to have a conversation. The accusation also comes up a lot when someone challenges, even mildly, the prevailing groupthink of a place. Especially when they're a bit odd, or awkward, or spiky to start with. But then, I've noticed that there's a very English attitude of "we'll accept you so long as you keep your head down, but the second you step out of line any distinguishing characteristic is fair game".

My own personal maxim is that if anyone calls me a troll, I'm gone. I try never to be anything other than genuine, but if I've been that bad at communicating (which is always possible!), it seems unlikely I'm going to find the magic words to heal the rift... and if, on the other hand, I haven't actually said anything to warrant the accusation, whatever issues the accuser is dealing with are both not my problem and beyond my reach. Either way, there's simply no possibility of a useful continuation of the debate.

(I suppose another way to put that is that I'm ridiculously easy to bully into silence...)

[strangecharm]

Absolutely; I was talking about this with Andrew just yesterday. It's like how people who want to be clever are using "problematic" these days; just to mean "something I don't like/agree with" and is intended to shut down further discussion.

[gwenhwyfaer]

Every time I hear the word "problematic", all I can think of is Summer Glau trying to eat a white cake thing on a chain...

[chess]

It's also a shame they're not standing against Labour MPs, given the masses of NHS privatisation that happened under Labour...

[po8crg]

I worry about the maxim "don't feed the troll". While it's certainly good advice for the victim

Y'see the problem with this is that "troll" has changed it's meaning since the maxim was coined.

.... wavy lines ....

Once upon a time, there was USEnet. USEnet was an unmoderated discussion forum. Completely unmoderated until 1995, and then only for spam.

People on USEnet would come into a forum and say things that were off-topic, highly controversial, and which resulted in people having big arguments. A common example was gun control.

These were the original trolls, and the right thing to do was ignore them - if you didn't feed the troll, then they went to a different group where people got wound up more easily.

.... wavy lines ....

By the c.1995 definition of "troll", ignoring them worked. It's like the way to treat your local wind-up artist; once you stop getting wound up, they go on to easier prey.

Modern usage, which I haven't really got caught up with, is that troll = personal abuser. To my 1995 mind, that's a flamer, not a troll.

Flamers are a much nastier species than trolls. Not feeding them doesn't really work; they need to be dealt with much more forcefully.

[gwenhwyfaer]

I can't help thinking that far from being a tool to get lots of people from all kinds of diverse backgrounds talking, the internet has ended up as a means of consolidating cliquery and groupthink as never before. You can always find someone who agrees with you to hang out with online; but if you're someone who has a habit of going "hang on a minute" in just about any situation, it's very easy to end up out in the cold, and very hard to find your way back from that.

[miss_s_b]

I think it's just that "troll" has become a generic term for anyone doing anything that people disagree with on a particular site/forum, which encompasses flamers as well as just arseholes.

Thanks for mansplaining usenet (although, to be fair, I could have worded my tossed-off-in-five-seconds comment more carefully *blows kisses*).

[po8crg]

Sorry about the mansplaining. Sometimes I just can't help it.

[miss_s_b]

That's all right. I know it's not meant maliciously when it's you, and there's something kind of cute about it.