Christopher Snowdon on nicotine and the prohibitionist’s dilemma:
In scenario number two, you are a journeyman public health advocate picking up a nice, steady wage from the government every month. You hold lots of meetings and you go to lots of conferences. You and your colleagues developed a plan of incremental prohibition in the early 1980s and you have it all mapped out… And then something comes along that you didn’t expect. A new product that gives smokers a way to enjoy nicotine without the health risks of smoking cigarettes. You didn’t come up with the idea. The government didn’t come up with the idea. It came from the private sector, and private businesses are making money out of it. Worse still, after a few years of monitoring the market, the tobacco industry buys up a few companies and now they’re making money out of it. Sure, lots of people are giving up smoking as a result, but not in a way that was part of The Plan. Where does this leave you?
Brendan O’Neill on a popular conceit:
The idea that there is a… culture of hot-headed, violent-minded hatred for Muslims that could be awoken and unleashed by the next terror attack is an invention… The thing that keeps the Islamophobia panic alive is not actual violence against Muslims but the right-on politicos’ ill-founded yet deeply held view of ordinary Europeans, especially those of a working-class variety, as racist and stupid. This is the terrible irony of the Islamophobia panic: The fearers of anti-Muslim violence claim to be challenging prejudice but actually they reveal their own prejudices, their distrust of and disdain for those who come from the other side of the tracks, read different newspapers, hold different beliefs, live different lives.
Thomas Sowell on milking pretentious guilt:
Our schools and colleges are laying a guilt trip on those young people whose parents are productive, and who are raising them to become productive. What is amazing is how easily this has been done, largely just by replacing the word “achievement” with the word “privilege.”
And again, on the equality racket.
And Daniel Hannan chats with some unhappy, scowling socialists:
Don’t make the mistake of judging socialism as a textbook theory but judging capitalism by its necessarily imperfect outcomes. Judge like with like. In the real world, you find me a functioning socialist country that has delivered more than a free-market alternative.
As always, feel free to share your own links and snippets in the comments. It’s what these posts are for.
Christopher Snowdon on nicotine and the prohibitionist’s dilemma:
Errr, Bullshit call—the hipster pacifier does indeed involve smoke, I’ve seen plenty of it going by, enough so that an event I’ve helped run matter of factly notes that the pacifiers are smoking and thus are not allowed onsite . . . .
Sure, lots of people are giving up smoking as a result, but not in a way that was part of The Plan. Where does this leave you?
Nail, head, etc.
Nail, head, etc.
Well, it pokes at the conceit that such organisations somehow exist in a state of moral purity, as if they didn’t have any unedifying internal motivations or institutional self-interest.
the prohibitionist’s dilemma
Cheap cider must be BANNED!
http://www.timworstall.com/2015/01/12/theres-nothing-too-trivial-for-these-twats-is-there/
Meanwhile, in education news:
Curiously, one set of parents admitted they knew of the girls’ plot to kill their teacher and yet they said nothing.
some unhappy, scowling socialists
Tee hee!
…internal motivations or institutional self-interest.
Take this report on e-cigs from NHS Scotland, for example.
http://www.healthscotland.com/uploads/documents/24383-HS%20ENDS%20postn%20statmt%20311014.pdf
There’s pages of mealy-mouthed public sector speak in there, but the whole thing can be summed up in one sentence.
They help people quit real cigarettes and they are safe, but we disapprove of them because they weren’t our idea.
‘Errr, Bullshit call—the hipster pacifier does indeed involve smoke, I’ve seen plenty of it going by, enough so that an event I’ve helped run matter of factly notes that the pacifiers are smoking and thus are not allowed onsite . . . .’
Unable to tell smoke from steam. Oh look a smoking kettle!
Regarding the Anti-Tobacco Crusades, one need look no further than the massive tobacco settlement in the United States to see what it’s really about: taxes. Cigarette taxes, like all “sin taxes” have to be designed to discourage some people from sinning, but not all. The reason for this is that government grows used to the tax revenue and therefore really doesn’t want everyone to suddenly stop smoking.
With the tobacco settlement in the states, the tobacco companies must pay billions. To do that, they have to sell cigarettes. Thus do states not only get tax revenue, but they get a cut of the tobacco profits, as well. It’s also worthy to note such taxes are extremely regressive, burdening the poor more than the rich liberals who enact them.
E-Cigs are the great evil because they eliminate both the tobacco tax revenue and the profits which the states get. That’s why they hate them.
“The fearers of anti-Muslim violence claim to be challenging prejudice but actually they reveal their own prejudices”
True, methinks. Also true is that so far no matter how big the atrocity, no matter how callous the level of violence by our tribal friends, there is nothing more on show than the media being filled with attempts to be ‘reasonable’ and ‘understanding’ and apart from a huge boost in sales of flowers to be left against railings, etc, not much else happens. The big march in Paris was not, as far as anyone could tell, against any one religion but more just an outing. I suppose that is what we do: we agonise, we buy flowers, we link arms in marches but we don’t ever hit back.
Question is: how big does the next attack have to be to make all that change?
+1 for Eddy’s witty reply to Hal. Love it.
The Thomas Sowell article was a rambling and disconnected mess. Each paragraph introduced an idea that was then left dangling. It starts with complaints about abuse of presidential decrees, then jumps to GOP’s electoral choices, and meanders on. The quote here is pretty much all it had to say about schools and education.
Anon,
It’s an intended format that Sowell uses occasionally – a collection of brief remarks, oddments and provocations. As opposed to his longer, single-issue articles. Hence the subheading “Random thoughts on the passing scene.”
Yes, quite a difference between odourless steam and smoke. If you are the sort of person who flees from steam your life quality will be sadly reduced.
Immediately after the Hebdo murders, there were several tweets about the “likely” Islamophobic backlash. Has anyone ever seen such a backlash? Me neither. What I do see, and no one ever mentions this, is a copycat murder spree now that the Islamists are encouraged.
‘morning all . . my time zone, at least . . .
. . . steam?!?!?!!
I’m not going to bother digging into the mechanics of the pacifier that I have no need of, but steam?!?!??
Hullo, hipsters, here’s a tube you can suck on to have superheated vapor injected into your mouth!!!! It’ll be just like putting your lips on the nozzle of a tea kettle!!! With this you can fantasize even more that someday you might get envied!!!!
. . . So if those pacifiers aren’t putting out smoke, just what is it?
The Thomas Sowell article was a rambling and disconnected mess
I’m remembering that some while back he tried first claiming that a collection of disorganized and incoherent twits were a collection of disorganized and incoherent twits—which was perfectly fine and a rather apt description—and then he tried claiming that they should be labelled elite while clearly not being elite . . .
Rather reminds me of trying to claim that the entire populace of Birmingham is entirely Muslim, with no other variations . . .
I’m worried – i’m starting to agree with Brendan O’Neil more and more…..
Hipster pacifiers involve smoke?
I’m tres confused.
Hipster pacifiers involve smoke?
This would be the electronic version of the hipster pacifiers, Di.
In scenario number two, you are a journeyman public health advocate picking up a nice, steady wage from the government every month. You hold lots of meetings and you go to lots of conferences
Snowden’s right about the meetings – they also have “pre-meetings”, meetings where people talk about what they’re going to talk about in the ..er.. actual meeting.
All these thousands of taxpayer-funded meetings are absolutely full of egos and point-scoring. I know – I spent too much of my life in them. Sorry, taxpayers!
Oh, and to organise all these meetings, in one job we used networked diaries (MS Outlook, I seem to remember). It was important to fill up your diary, so that when people were arranging timings for a meeting (a process that could last weeks), you could frown pompously and say “No! I’ve got meetings all that day”.
(the same expression was for when you were competitively dropping into the conversation how many emails you got a day)
Almost broke my soul, working with these morons.
Basically, all your suspicions about them are probably true
And Paddy Ashdown points out that random attacks have been seen before.
And Also As Well Sajid Javid says It is lazy to say Paris terror attacks have nothing to do with Islam . . . . where with the anarchists noted just above, they weren’t claiming to be a long established religion . . . .
. . . So the balance point is going to be a bit in the middle of conflicting claims of what must be done . . .
Sort of very much like being Conservative and balancing between the left wing extremist gits and the right wing extremist gits and always being aware that there really is no political position of “moderate” regardless of claims to the contrary . . .
Via the Guardian:
Saudi cleric issues fatwa on snowmen.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/saudi-arabia-snowmen-winter-fatwa
I confronted this idea of Islamophobia in the Graun comments recently. I was hardly ranting and raving – just calmly saying that:
a) Islam isn’t a race, so could we cut the accusations of racism?
b) it hardly seems irrational to be afraid of the religion Islam – given the weekly bombings, beheadings, stonings of women for adultery, shootings etcetc that reach our attention – all associated with the religion
But to them this is the plausible but evil voice of the persuasive closet racist, so they deleted my comment within minutes.
If it is hostility towards a Muslim just for being a Muslim, or if we forget that they are humans, then that is where it would get nasty. But fear of being bombed is different from this supposed “little-Englander” fear of the unknown.
What really concerns me is this BBC/Guardian journalistic attitude that “we can’t tell the news honestly because other people are so stupid that they can’t see things correctly as I do, obviously – and would descend into mass racist hatred”.
They’re not 100% wrong on the last point, but they are 100% arrogant, and about 70% mendacious
Christopher Snowdon on nicotine and the prohibitionist’s dilemma:
. . and aside from the issues of how a hipster’s pacifier works, that column of Snowden’s claims that we have option A)
Hey, everyone, there’s this really useful tool!!!
. . . which does strike me as being a bit naive, but that’s me . . .
And he goes on to have a claim of option B) as something to consider . . .
OhMiGhod the paycheck is threatened, we must demand a ban and make horrified noises!!!!
—Yes, we do have B1 and Henry’s rather valid observations about organizational arteriosclerosis . . .
Howsoever . . . . Consider option C), with a side trip to have a look at those nasty little details of what’s going on . . . the ones that relate to actual human metabolisms and such rather than merely speculating on a flavor of political grandstanding . . .
I’m an admin, I do project management, I have seen organizational arteriosclerosis and cheerfully call for the flamethrower on such occasions ’cause I’m lazy and really busy and just don’t feel like wading through the BS . . . and until someone comes up with something better than merely Consider the following scenario., I’m going with option C as being what is actually going on in that discussion . . . .
And Daniel Hannan chats with some unhappy, scowling socialists:
A number of years back Bishop Joey and I attended a march and rally which was being held to absolutely, vehemently, shriekingly protest the election of . . . err . . whichever one of the Bushes it was . . .
—Yes, of course, as clergy in the world’s oldest and largest religion, we were only there to observe any entertainment value, because if it wasn’t going to be funny, we were going to be bored.
And, part way through the march I finally noticed the absolute preponderance of the exact, same, absolutely identical scowl being seen on many, many faces, and asked the Bishop about it.
The Bishop’s immediate reply; They get ’em wholesale.
—and by the way, a bit later on, the march went up a particular street, and then curved over off the street and into the destination park, where speeches and such would occur . . . or rather in some instances instead, boring hysterical screaming would occur . . . but the very first part of getting to that finale was to instruct people to change direction to arrive at the vehemently anti right wing and anti Bush rally instead of randomly continuing up the street:
You must move to the right to enter the park!!!
You must move to the right to enter the park!!!
You must move to the right to enter the park!!!
You must move to the right to enter the park!!!
You must move to the right to enter the park!!!
The Bishop and I were very amused.
@RY
From your link:
Munajjid had some supporters however. “It (building snowmen) is imitating the infidels, it promotes lustiness and eroticism,” one wrote.
Lustiness and eroticism in a snowman? Time then for this.
Saudi cleric issues fatwa on snowmen.
I can honestly say I’d never considered the erotic potential of snowmen. Evidently, I’m not as sexually imaginative as Mr al-Munajjid.
Victor Davis Hanson on the evasions and unrealism encouraged by multiculturalism:
A fairly typical example of said dysfunction, and its fundamental dishonesty, can be found in the blatherings of “postcolonial theorist” and Guardian contributor Ms Emer O’Toole.
Wonder if Daniel Hannan ever read Sydney Hook’s mea culpa:
I was guilty of judging capitalism by its operations and socialism by its hopes and aspirations; capitalism by its works and socialism by its literature.
I can honestly say I’d never considered the erotic potential of snowmen. Evidently, I’m not as sexually imaginative as Mr al-Munajjid.
He brings whole new meanings to the concept of being frigid.
Rather recommended, currently reading through it, granted not certain how much would transfer for the UK, but just the same . .
400 Things Cops Know
‘[They] reveal their own prejudices, their distrust of and disdain for those who come from the other side of the tracks, read different newspapers, hold different beliefs, live different lives’.
The likes of Will Self, Joseph Harker et al have also shown that they consider that Islamist extremism is the authentic version of a global religion, and that the default setting for an ‘offended Muslim’ is to kill and maim.
So ironically enough, their fundamental attitude to Muslims is exactly the same as that of the EDL.