New Neighbours
Brendan O’Neill on life in an age of euphemism:
The footage from Ceuta is extraordinary – throngs of foreigners, mostly men from Morocco, gatecrashed an enclave of the Spanish kingdom. They scaled fences, kicked down gates, colonised the beach. Some punched the air with glee, clearly delighted with their successful storming of Spanish territory.
An assault. All cheered on by ladies of a certain kind.
Says Mr O’Neill,
At which point, the reliably ludicrous LBC presenter James O’Brien comes to mind.
With all of the earnestness he could conjure, Mr O’Brien described the intruders as akin to “climate refugees… moving from inhabitable to habitable,” before referring to Ceuta as “nowhere near as inhospitable” as Morocco. Despite Ceuta’s climate being indistinguishable from, say, Tangier or Tétouan.
“There was something about the footage that shook me to my core,” said he. Though the scenes of mass invasion and subsequent looting and disorder – described as a “wave of humanity” – were much less of a concern to Mr O’Brien than the prospect of some onlookers, and perhaps quite a few local residents, regarding the violation as less than ideal.
And clearly, these immensely vibrant young men, overwhelmingly of fighting age and remarkably unencumbered by women or identifying documents, are merely using other people’s cars to start fires of neighbourliness. Arson being the universal language of warm feelings.
It’s all one big expression of gratitude. Of common humanity. The ennobling effects of which can be found with little effort.
Because sharing and caring, right?
And when the uninvited newcomers swarming through your streets start desecrating your ancestors’ graves while hurling rocks at you, it’s just a sign that they want to get to know you better.
I’m reminded of the scene in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which Zaphod Beeblebrox visits the headquarters of the eponymous publication, which is under attack, being bombarded from orbit. Despite the thunderous explosions, he encounters obliviousness. In disbelief, and trying to be heard over the explosions, he shouts, “Do you know your building’s being bombed?!”
As a summary of our times, and in more ways than one, it does have a certain resonance.
Update, via the comments:
Chow Bag quotes this,
And replies,
Well, setting aside Mr O’Brien’s limited grasp of the Mediterranean climate, he did bring into relief one of the key ideological differences of our time, one that blurs into fantasy and psychodrama.
I mean, if you can watch the footage of the invasion and the almost immediate looting, arson, assaults, etc., and feel – or pretend to feel – an urge to indulge the invaders, to side with them over the people whose neighbourhoods, homes and businesses are being trashed and plundered, that’s… quite something.
It’s a line that divides, and in a significant way. It does suggest a rather fundamental incompatibility.
Well, setting aside Mr O’Brien’s limited grasp of the Mediterranean climate, he did bring into relief one of the key ideological differences of our time, one that blurs into fantasy and psychodrama.
I mean, if you can watch the footage of the invasion and the almost immediate looting, arson, assaults, etc., and feel – or pretend to feel – an urge to indulge the invaders, to side with them over the people whose neighbourhoods, homes and businesses are being trashed and plundered, that’s… quite something.
It’s a line that divides, and in a significant way. It does suggest a rather fundamental incompatibility.
The word “refugee” doing heavy lifting again, why does he not imagine that these are fighting age men who should be defending against whatever the real refugees (women, children, elderly, etc) are escaping from?
[ Post updated. ]
More from Eva, with replies.
Very much related, a couple makes a poor choice.
If these stalwarts can up and hie themselves off to Spain either they are independently wealthy (I doubt it) or have jobs that can be done anywhere.
Given that, if they have a very rational fear of living in St. Louis they could just move to any of the other perfectly safe and cromulent cities or towns in Missouri (or Iowa, or any other state) that are neither St. Louis or Kansas City. Of course stopping to consider why STL and KC are more dysfunctional than, say, Sedalia or Joplin is right out.
“You’re facilitating illegal immigration”
EU “tethered caps” mandate: caps must remain attached to bottles after opening, in order to Save the Planet. Grok says that the man pictured is not a real person, in line with the EU policy that all banknotes must be as soulless as possible.
They blame “the guns” rather than the criminals. [ Rolls eyes. ]
Things to come.
Best I can come up with:
Is that a direct quote?
‘Cause it sounds a lot like moving from inflammable to flammable.
So is every official handing out tax-payer funded goodies to these invaders and their handmaidens.
Yes.
Also yes.
One more time. “Do you know your building’s being bombed?!”
My new earbuds have arrived.
Stand down red alert.
I am still trying to figure out how this git figures the entirety of Morocco (or Africa, for that matter) is uninhabitable but a seven square mile chunk on the northwest corner of Morocco separated by a fence is, but then I am not a BBC “journalist”.
As far as the “climate refugee” malarkey goes, why is it always one way? Why aren’t Siberians or Inuit fleeing south and why are they able to live in “uninhabitable” places?
James O’Brien cheers because he doesn’t see the invaders as enemies, but he does see the invaded as his foes.
The media should just lean into it and greet the inavders as liberators. Why do you think they keep calling their enemies nazis? Because then they can cheer those who are coming to fight the nazis.
North central-ish. Meanwhile a couple hundred miles southwest is this miserable, uninhabitable place. A more traditional destination for real refugees. Everyone goes to Rick’s.
But he didn’t – he said they were moving from inhabitable to habitable.
He’s not just a git, he’s an ignorant git.
Which has reminded me that uninflammable is actually a word.
Not a good one, but hey.
Where I am just now, it’s ininflammable…see it on the fuel trailers.
WTP, I like to think you killed a man. It’s the romantic in me.
unnonplussed should be a word. It just should.
I’m so old, I remember when caution signs were changed from “inflammable” to “flammable”, ostensibly to save the illiterate from confusion.
Just my little contribution to inflaming this thread.
I know, I was going off what he thought he said.
Everybody comes to David’s.
I wonder how many times she’s done that before.
I would like to say I did it just to watch him die, but…I’m a bit unnonplussed about the whole thing.
There is no good reason to extend to him a courtesy he would of a certainty not extend to those he disagrees with.
Reflecting on the benefits of immigration.
My bad, I thought you were referring to the original OP
Not so much as a courtesy as using a Ouija board, Tarot cards, and a Magic 8 Ball to translate “journalist” to English.
Meanwhile speaking of killings, I am sure this sport will be as successful as the WNBA if this rendition is any portent.
Thought I’d stepped on the cat.
Embarrassingly bad. Don’t they have any adults in charge?
Seems the situation in Ceuta is still lively.
The Muhammadan chanting adds a certain… something.
No, not reassurance. The other thing.
Just spent the last half hour down the rabbit hole with grok concerning the information that conflicts with the “things are back to normal” vibe it had been pushing. Basically, nothing the government is saying is a lie so long as they truly believe it. Which doesn’t really surprise me. It is rather tiresome, however. I did find some video of the invaders being escorted back by police, which I didn’t see yesterday.
From this morning’s New York Times:
So, being transgender is just a whimsical choice? That it is completely natural that one feels so disassociated with their sex that the military should allow them – and pay for them – to receive medical intervention. I would ask Ms. Rashid, an attorney, that your client sought out treatment – for what? And that they only said they had dysphoria to receive it . . . so, they lied?
Not impossible that Sgt Davis joined the military to get free “treatment”.
[ Prepares Arrabbiata sauce, fondles meatballs. ]
On this day, 534 years ago, Christopher Columbus embarked on his first voyage to the New World.
“He knew the world was round-o, his balls hung to the ground-o. . . .”
“Only a racist wouldn’t want to live around these people.”
This is why there’s now a police officer every 50 feet at the State Fair.
You know existing neighbours may not be much better.
An audacious deception. By a man whose identity is itself a deception.
Well, you could have knocked me down with a tea towel.
Necessary question: What percentage of the immigrant economy is fraud?
Not just no. Fuck no. With extra fuck off back to shitholistan.
What could possibly go wrong?
When the pathology is right there, you have to wonder how some people can pretend not to see it.
Migrants driving in Europe for the first time
Yet they do. Apparently from the comments this is not AI, and love her or hate her, JK ain’t wrong here.