@thor Interestingly, this also ‘works’ the other way around: Some vegetarians claim that #Hitler wasn’t a #vegetarian. IMHO that’s just silly. It’s not as bad as denying the holocaust or something, but it’s still pretty stupid. 🙄
"That’s the trouble with confession and denial — confession always sounds like the truth, and denial always sounds like a lie.
"If someone lies, and you deny it, your denial makes the lie seem more credible. If you confess, nobody asks if it's true. Which way round that happens doesn't make any difference."
Just got off a video call with a healthcare provider at #Swedish#CherryHill in #Seattle. He told me Swedish system just brought back required masking for everyone, staff and patients, this week. He said “It’s not because of COVID. It’s because of flu, RSV and pneumonia.” He really needed me to know that! So the denial about COVID is still in place along with masks, masks that, fyi, are not for COVID! 🤨
"Quebec’s demographics can best be summed up by “fewer births, more deaths.” Births are at a 15-year low in the province, while the number of deaths increased by 12 per cent in 2022. We bring in temporary workers by the thousands because our agricultural sector can’t survive without them, and then pretend to be shocked that they’re here. It’s deeply hypocritical."
Our state of denial of the role of cars
The normalisation of crashes must stop Pt.2
"These policies have promoted car-based infrastructure and urban sprawl. Public transport and active transport such as walking and cycling have been neglected.
Children are the victims of our obsession with allowing heavy, fast-moving vehicles in our everyday spaces, including around schools.
The freedom of car drivers comes at the expense of the freedom of all others. At the same time, the environment and society bear most of the costs of this car culture.
It’s essentially a form of victim blaming. Instead of reducing the source of violence, we tell everybody to be more careful around it.
We need to recognise that the car threatens children’s safety and their right to independently roam public spaces. This directly threatens their long-term health and wellbeing.
Car drivers’ rights are not more important than children’s rights to be safe on our streets. The interests of those who oppose measures such as reduced car parking or lower speed limits should not be more important than our children’s wellbeing. No benefit of a pro-car policy can be greater than the benefit of children’s active presence in public spaces, where they have a right to be imperfect and distracted."
Pt. 1 https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/111338456771726719
Getting ready for Halloween, recovering from changing the clocks, or dreaming about fall on a spring day down south? We hear you! Today we're listening to some spooky Lofi tunes to get in the work groove and have more treats than tricks. What are your tunes to get energized, find focus, or wind down? 🎧 🎃
Troll/reply guy tried to get me to back down from my unequivocal statement that there's no evidence the 2020 election was stolen, claiming it's better to "meet people halfway" if I want to convince them.
No. As a researcher and educator, I believe in providing clear, accurate information.
The "evidence" that the election was stolen is made up bullshit. To call it anything else is a disservice.
If someone claims that 2+2=5, I'm not going to try to get them to compromise that it's 4.5.
There is nothing halfway between a fact and fantasy. It's a quantum leap; you cannot meet them halfway. All you can do in that direction is capitulate.
There's six lies that corporations have told since time immemorial. #NickHanauer, #JoanWalsh and #DonaldCohen's new book Corporate Bullsht: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* provides an essential taxonomy of this dirty six:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
As far back as the slave trade, corporate apologists and mouthpieces have led by asserting that true things are false, and vice-versa. In 1837, #JohnCalhoun asserted that "Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." #GeorgeFitzhugh called enslaved Africans in America "the freest people in the world."
Biden Accused of Genocide Denial for Doubting Accuracy of Palestinian Death Toll
"Speaking at a Wednesday afternoon White House press conference, Biden — who earlier this month declared his “rock-solid and unwavering” commitment to Israel following a Hamas-led attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis — said that “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.”
“I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” the president continued. “But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”
Responding to Biden’s remarks, Palestinian American poet, author, and activist Remi Kanazi said: “Genocide denial has a long sordid history. Israel and Joe Biden know exactly what they are doing when they play down the death toll in Gaza.”
#WatchThis
'This doc strips back the layers of myth, from #denial to stories of mass #genocide , telling the real story through the hidden remains of the destroyed #Palestinian village of #Lubya. Lying under a purposefully cultivated forest plantation, it holds many of the answers not only to the country's past, but also its future.'
Produced by SA #Jewish woman. Voices of diaspora Jewish, Israeli Jewish, ppl in exile & refugee voices. https://www.journeyman.tv/film/5897
"It will be a dull march back into history, a return to the denialism and silence that has defined white Australia. Honesty will be torn from the trees. Any notion of shared understanding will be shredded."
Another day, another old friend getting back in touch with me, and me discovering that they have a form of long covid but refuse to acknowledge it. They are "burnt out on hearing about covid" and "not getting the new shot because it will make things worse" (their doctor told them this!). And also they have "mysterious" heart disease issues, which have become worse recently. No idea why!
Whatever, I guess they go into the pile with all my other old friends whose eyes glaze over when I say the word "covid" as they tell me how "it's no big deal, after all it's mild now" and firmly tell me basically "you do you" and change the subject or end the conversation.
This friend used to talk about how dystopian things are becoming. I guess once you become a part of the dystopia, it's all suddenly Business As Usual.
What if the reason nothing is being done about climate change is because the people who CAN do something about it prefer to "let it do its thing" as a natural culling of the human population?
"Scientists have described the media tycoon #RupertMurdoch as a “#ClimateVillain” who has used his television and newspaper empire to promote #climate science #denial and delay action.
Murdoch’s outlets, including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and The Australian, have long been known to promote doubts about the cause and consequences of the climate crisis. Scientists said this had caused lasting damage."
Why is this guy even still allowed do to anything but go fishing?
"Former #Australian prime minister #TonyAbbott, a director of the UK’s principal #climate science #denial group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (#GWPF), has been reappointed by the government as an adviser to the prestigious Board of Trade.
The Board of Trade provides advice to the government on its trade deals with foreign countries, which often encompass environmental and climate standards. "
"It can be confirmed the system of the Department of Defence has not been hacked"- SANDF
It appears that SANDF is either extremely incompetent in investigating the attack and exfiltration of so much data or they are just flat-out lying because they are embarrassed.