Funny events in anti-woke world

[Chimpzy]

Sometimes, I think the best way to destroy the far right is to give them the oxygen of publicity and enough rope to hang themselves. And sometimes enough power to demonstrate that they're as unable to sort shit out as the mainstream.

The danger is when they get a bit too much power, and then rig the political system so it becomes very hard to remove them (e.g. Hungary).

Sometimes I have thought they should just one time drop the cordon sanitaire and let Vlaams Belang have a go. Which would prove their shittiness once and for all, because like all European far right parties they are so much hot air, defined entirely by what they are against, and have no real plans for anything else (like properly governing a country). Of course, this requires them fucking a whole lot of shit up first, which is less than desirable.

Sigh, federal and regional elections next year. Not looking forward to that. Don't particularly like any of the choices we got right now.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Funny events in anti woke world? How about the fascistic Forum for Democracy losing about 90% of their seats in the Dutch Senate and provincial elections. Last election we suffered the humiliation of them becoming the biggest party, but now they're almost wiped out. What's even funnier is that Baudet came on stage and then gave a speech as if they had just won the election instead of being decimated.

I would like to think this was because they were recognized for being Dutch MAGA and that the Dutch were like 'miss me with that shit', but this likely has to do with BBB eating up their entire base.

Also, we over here in the Netherlands don't have a Fox News/Newsmax/OAN equivalent, so there's that. Though we are also so conviced of our own progression (I mean hey, we were the first to legalize gay marraige) that we're blind and even hostile to outcries by marginalized groups. 'Woke' has even unironically entered political discourse over here. People in America actually seem a lot more aware of how that word is being used to discredit marginalized communities than the people over here in the Netherlands are. We've got actual politicians and respectable presentors/journalists refering to it (woke) as a legitimate issue, which... *sigh* yeah.

 

[Chimpzy]

I would like to think this was because they were recognized for being Dutch MAGA and that the Dutch were like 'miss me with that shit', but this likely has to do with BBB eating up their entire base.

What's that BBB about, anyway? Looked them up, center-right agrarian party, but that in itself doesn't tell much of a story. Seems to kind have come out of nowhere.

 

[Dalisclock]

Haven't they ?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/25/why-evangelicals-like-rick-perry-believe-that-trump-is-gods-chosen-one/

Close enough I guess.

Hot Take: Parts of Christianity(notably the Right Wing Evangelical bits) are very much a Cult. In this case they're just switching out Jesus for Trump, because Jesus was too much of a Pinko (and too brown) for them. Why settle for Poor Brown Commie Jesus when you can have "Rich" Orange Prosperity Gospel Trump Jesus?

 

[Casual Shinji]

What's that BBB about, anyway? Looked them up, center-right agrarian party, but that in itself doesn't tell much of a story. Seems to kind have come out of nowhere.

They came about due to the farmers protests, which were a result of the nitrogen debate and trying to buy out a lot of the farmers. From my understanding it appears the Netherlands for far too long let farmers establish these mega farms that wreck havok on the environment and drastically increase nitrogen levels. At which point the government was like 'oh shit, better get rid of some of these super farms', which caused pretty much all farmers to go completely berserk, protest massively, turn the Dutch flag upside down as their symbol. And that's were BBB came in as the new political party for the common folk.

 

[Hades]

I would like to think this was because they were recognized for being Dutch MAGA and that the Dutch were like 'miss me with that shit', but this likely has to do with BBB eating up their entire base.

True but if all those former Forum voters instead vote for the BBB then that's at least an improvement. I don't have much respect for BBB's policy ideas and goals, but at least they're not crazy.

Also, we over here in the Netherlands don't have a Fox News/Newsmax/OAN equivalent, so there's that.

We do have Ongehoord Nederland though which is kinda like our Fox News.

From my understanding it appears the Netherlands for far too long let farmers establish these mega farms that wreck havok on the environment and drastically increase nitrogen levels. At which point the government was like 'oh shit, better get rid of some of these super farms', which caused pretty much all farmers to go completely berserk, protest massively, turn the Dutch flag upside down as their symbol. And that's were BBB came in as the new political party for the common folk.

Oh its so much worse. Its not that the government was caught unaware by all this. All the way back in Rutte's first coalition they knew this was a crisis, but they decided to address it through some creative bookkeeping that allowed them to pretend to be doing something about it, without actually doing anything about it. Naturally the courts struck this down when they realized they were being scammed but it took some years before they noticed. So this wasted years of time that could have been spend solving the crisis, and because we wasted so much time now drastic measures are pretty much the only ones left to us, which of course causes great concern in the farming community.

The farmers essentially the victims of their hyper successful lobbying groups. If they hadn't pressured CDA and VVD into letting the problem run it course for so long then less painful measures could have been taken long ago.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

If they hadn't pressured CDA and VVD into letting the problem run it course for so long then less painful measures could have been taken long ago.

Why put off 'til tomorrow what you can put off 'til you're safely dead and in the ground?

 

[Buyetyen]

Why put off 'til tomorrow what you can put off 'til you're safely dead and in the ground?

The only problem being, you never know how long you're going to live.

 

[Baffle]

The only problem being, you never know how long you're going to live.

My pension nightmare.

 

[Casual Shinji]

True but if all those former Forum voters instead vote for the BBB then that's at least an improvement. I don't have much respect for BBB's policy ideas and goals, but at least they're not crazy.

It remains to be seen how long they actually last. Those new political parties that climb fast in the Netherlands tend to fall in obscurity just as quickly. We're pretty aggressively centrist, and usually revert back on the good old VVD/PvdA.

We do have Ongehoord Nederland though which is kinda like our Fox News.

Yeah, but they wouldn't even be the kids table by comparison. Ongehoord Nederland is, like, one or two hours in the week, and they're being funded by the government. They're not independently wealthy like Fox News.

Oh its so much worse. Its not that the government was caught unaware by all this. All the way back in Rutte's first coalition they knew this was a crisis, but they decided to address it through some creative bookkeeping that allowed them to pretend to be doing something about it, without actually doing anything about it. Naturally the courts struck this down when they realized they were being scammed but it took some years before they noticed. So this wasted years of time that could have been spend solving the crisis, and because we wasted so much time now drastic measures are pretty much the only ones left to us, which of course causes great concern in the farming community.

The farmers essentially the victims of their hyper successful lobbying groups. If they hadn't pressured CDA and VVD into letting the problem run it course for so long then less painful measures could have been taken long ago.

Ah okay thanks.

I am not shocked. Groningen, the Belastingdienst, this; yeah, Rutte likes fucking up.

 

[Absent]

If Switzerland qualifies as anti-woke (it may be more complicated but not by much) :

1) Not funny. Switzerland made a deal with Musk for his obnoxious starlink satellites to provide cell phone coverage.

2) Funny. In an article's title, the swiss state news call Musk a "scientific genius".

 

[Trunkage]

If Switzerland qualifies as anti-woke (it may be more complicated but not by much) :

1) Not funny. Switzerland made a deal with Musk for his obnoxious starlink satellites to provide cell phone coverage.

2) Funny. In an article's title, the swiss state news call Musk a "scientific genius".

Usually, I limit anti-woke to people who call themselves that or calls others woke

Fortunately, Musk has done as such...

Anyway, Starlink.... why do people think Starlink is a good idea?

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Anyway, Starlink.... why do people think Starlink is a good idea?

I've got a friend on it and it's legitimately good satellite internet. You know, if you're in a position where your local infrastructure sucks or is damaged. Like a *lot* of the rural US, where there's not a lot of profit to be had running high capacity cables out to towns of maybe 200 people.

Of course, I suspect that Starlink is taking advantage of the idea that most sane people thought of not throwing hundreds of satellites into orbit and just having all that space junk be future humanity's problem. It's not terribly materially sustainable.

 

[Ag3ma]

Sounds good in theory, but they get lots of supporters untroubled by reality who can excuse repeated failures.

Maybe. I might note for instance Italy, where La Lega (originally Lega Nord) supplanted the old mainstream right. They entered government with M5*, proved to be as shit as anyone else, and both these upstart parties promptly faded at the next election. The right wingers had thrown their weight behind Brothers of Italy, who now run the show. And they too are going to leave Italy no observably better, and so the right wing electorate will again be casting around for the next great hope.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

there's not a lot of profit to be had running high capacity cables out to towns of maybe 200 people.

*grumbles* Even when they live less than 1km away from a backbone cable between 2 major cities.

Oh NBN, you make me laugh.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Maybe. I might note for instance Italy, where La Lega (originally Lega Nord) supplanted the old mainstream right. They entered government with M5*, proved to be as shit as anyone else, and both these upstart parties promptly faded at the next election. The right wingers had thrown their weight behind Brothers of Italy, who now run the show. And they too are going to leave Italy no observably better, and so the right wing electorate will again be casting around for the next great hope.

Remember when the choices in right wing governments was Useless or Corrupt? Now it's Useless and Corrupt or Corrupt and Useless. hooray!

 

[Dalisclock]

Remember when the choices in right wing governments was Useless or Corrupt? Now it's Useless and Corrupt or Corrupt and Useless. hooray!

That's what we call "Efficiency".

 

[Trunkage]

I've got a friend on it and it's legitimately good satellite internet. You know, if you're in a position where your local infrastructure sucks or is damaged. Like a *lot* of the rural US, where there's not a lot of profit to be had running high capacity cables out to towns of maybe 200 people.

Of course, I suspect that Starlink is taking advantage of the idea that most sane people thought of not throwing hundreds of satellites into orbit and just having all that space junk be future humanity's problem. It's not terribly materially sustainable.

Yeah, that's always been my issue with Starlink... and that it's basically 70s tech so it's not actually that inventive... calling someone a genius over this is ridiculous

Yeah, I actually thought of rural areas (eg. Most of my country) as they were talking about using them for Ukraine where the infrastructure is being attacked

 

[Trunkage]

*grumbles* Even when they live less than 1km away from a backbone cable between 2 major cities.

Oh NBN, you make me laugh.

But it's fibre to the node which is apparently a good goal for anyone

 

[Ag3ma]

where there's not a lot of profit to be had running high capacity cables out to towns of maybe 200 people.

I once worked for a telecoms company back around 2000. I was pretty shocked when the ops manager told me how much it cost to lay a meter of cable.