Skip to main content

Messages

This section allows you to view all Messages made by this member. Note that you can only see Messages made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - mateinone

1
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
Whilst i don't know if Russia has any involvement, the head of RT was gloating about the wealthy Russians who had moved to Israel and asking "if they feel safe now, are they still dancing now" etc.. Which was pretty loathsome.

It does for sure seem a global battle has begun and the outcome of it is unknown. Russia and China are 2 countries who still absolutely have expansionist/colonialist intentions. Russia's influence has been growing on the African continent for a long time already and shows no signs of slowing. As disgusting and inhumane as it is, it is "smart" when you don't care about civilians and give a lot of weapons and boots on the ground military support to dictators who can give you untold wealth through natural resources. The biggest problem Russia (and China) potentially face is if they end up empowering fanatical Muslim terrorists to such an extreme they become the dominant expansion power base.
2
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Sam Newman at it again!
Leaving aside the lack of clarity around terms like "micro timeline" and "extended period", a very simple google search will make it clear that hate crimes are on the increase in recent times. What is also clear is that where the Trumps and Le Pens of this world go, hate crime invariably follows.

Why do they envoke such reactions? The exact reason is that the far left causes the far right to prosper and the same is true in reverse. They are a direct protest to each other and  neither side believes they are represented enough.

Quote
I think you paint a very heavily distorted and Photoshopped picture around gender identity and toxic masculinity. I don't see those issues the way you describe them at all. Men with broken bodies etc. Sorry, but there's no doubt that men have problems as do all people, but to somehow suggest that they are hard done by compared to other groups is a big stretch.
But where do i say men are hard done by compared to other groups? In fact i argue that whenever the issue of problems for men are raised they are derided because in general they have not had it as hard as other groups.. The problem is that it is whitewashing over the fact their is a problem and denigrating ANY group by and large is an issue. If someone raises the issue of endometriosis, does anyone suggest.. well it is not as big of a problem as brain cancer, so what are you complaining about?
Problems in society don't need to be graded to be real and to require attention, but the way you dismiss it is mirrored through society to be honest.

i am NOT suggesting the Trump or Newman want open honest debates, i am not even stating that what they are saying is credible and unfortunately Trump was in a real position to enforce negative impacts on society. The thing is that whilst they have no interest in debate, there are a lot of people who feel like trump does (not so much newman) and a lot of these may be open to debate and growing together and by allowing the topic to play out in public it allows those debates to happen.

i always find it strange that the left thinks the right is divisive, but regularly fail to understand how divisive and dismissive they are

3
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Sam Newman at it again!
Sam Newman didn't just politely agree to disagree on the Welcome To Country - he stated very clearly that people should boo or slow clap during the ceremony, which is clearly an attempt to ridicule and diminish - that's hate speech.

i absolutely disagree that this is hate speech. i understand that you think it is, but i don't. There are multiple ways to protest and this is exactly that in my opinion. It is a flawed and very childish and distasteful way, but to me it is a means of protest.

I am ecstatic that people can hear Sam's trash and society voted with their actions to ignore his dribble and i believe by calling for such actions he lost support of those who have a general agreement with the sentiment of those who don't like the "Welcome" ceremony.

Let's reverse this, if a group of first nation people decided to boo during the Anthem as a form of protest or "took the knee" on the field, wouldn't we be want society to say "I disagree with their protest, but they have that right?"  What if first nation people slow clapped or booed during a minute silence when our head of state died.. Does that constitute "hate speech"

Newman's idea was idiotic and society made this very clear, but i don't believe these "words" constitute hate speech. i truly believe it is harmful how often we label things hate speech

4
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Sam Newman at it again!
I disagree with the way "free speech" is understood in society, and the direction this concept has taken. Free speech is not an excuse for hate speech, it's not an excuse to say whatever you like. Words don't just fall into a black hole after they've been uttered. Words are important, they have consequences. It's not a coincidence that the rise of far right ideologies has occurred at the same time as "free speech" has been trumpeted as some kind of panacea to cure the worlds ills. One follows the other. It's not a coincidence that hate crimes have increased in recent times.

i don't agree that hate crimes are actually increasing, perhaps if looking at a micro timeline this is true, but certainly not over any extended period. As much as you say Free Speech is misunderstood, i believe it is even more true of "hate speech".

I won't go into great details, but gender identity is an example of an area that is rife with accusations of hate speech, which in fact discourages a much needed (and desired) discourse on the subject. There are many people who understand that gender identity is a real issue, but completely disagree with the way society is handling the subject and the impacts it is having on current society, but by constantly shutting down opinions that differ and being quick to label them as something the are not, it discourages people even engaging in the conversation and society being out of touch and increasingly divisive.

We seen this  phenomenon when Donald Trump was first elected president. The polls had absolutely no idea that this was going to occur, because the right didn't want to engage in conversation because it turned to lectures and condemnation from the left, rather than any meaningful discussion, so people stopped publicly supporting (of course this done a 360 once he was elected).

We seen this with Brittney Higgins. We had a tv presenter come out and basically declare someone guilty who had never been through the legal system and anyone who openly questioned this was a terrible person. The #IBelieveHer movement allows hate speech against an accused, but it doesn't consider it so. We have constant hate speech against males and in particular white middle aged hetero sexual males with claims of toxic masculinity, inherent privilege etc in main stream media, but any attempt to have cohesive discussions on this is met with total derision. This is despite the fact that most men don't have any of this inherent privilege, often their bodies are destroyed by the time they are in their 40s due to years of hard physical work and they have the highest rate of suicide by far in society.... but any attempt to suggest that this "male bashing" is a real problem in society is scoffed at because  "women have had it worse", "ethnic minorities have had it worse" etc etc. Again a meaningful and required discussion cannot be easily had, so people keep their problems inside with no real idea how to deal with them.

Free Speech to so many people has become "Freedom to agree" and this is why people need to be able to hear the likes of idiots like Joe Rogan and Sam Newman and any other idiot with ridiculous opinions (if not of course illegal hate speech), if only to know it is okay to have an unpopular opinion and to voice it...

Free Speech does NOT of course include inciting acts of violence, anything to do with racial superiority etc, there are reasons certain 'free speech' has been made illegal and it should be, but we should not be stopping people from voicing opinions and people need to stop "being offended" and start debating actual views.


5
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Sam Newman at it again!

Firstly I apologise for misquoting you.

Newman, and others of his ilk, wouldn't know a debate if it bit him on the ar$e. He has no interest in debating, he has no interest in understanding anything in any depth, he has no interest in anything other than just gobbing off to anything he doesn't like. He is the first one to shoot down anyone who disagrees with him, with all manner of insults and dismissive cr@p.

Free speech is not equally distributed among the population - they are blatant power asymmetries that give people like him leverage that others don't have. Newman speaks from a position of privilege and status that affords him protection from any real punishment. Imagine if Lidia Thorpe came out and said we should all burn Australian flags and slow clap during the National Anthem ? There's a reason why hate speech is used predominately by protected groups like the one to which Newman belongs.

As i said, i am not going to protect Newman as a quality individual, but i am 100% supportive of his rights to make foolish and ignorant comments. i am and always have been against booing of players or anything really and i feel like the call to boo a ceremony is extremely distasteful, but .... People had the right to be stupid and (to a degree) ignorant.

Joe Rogan is a perfect example, i detest him, but i still want him to be able to have his podcasts, on the condition the talk doesn't cross into illegal areas.

We faced the same issues during the same sex marriage referendum, anyone who was against it was bigoted or homophobic... There was at least one publicised account of a girl (in Canberra i think) who was fired for posting on her own facebook that it was "okay to vote no" and that because of her religious beliefs she would in fact be voting no.. She didn't harass or belittle any group, but was fired and her boss posted that she would not allow anyone with such hateful opinions to work there (or something to that effect). That is the society we are heading towards and it is a major problem. That Sam Newman can be such a wanker, is just an example that we still have the right to voice non conformist opinions, even if (again) he is actually largely irrelevant and almost never has anything to say worth hearing.

In the case of the Welcome ceremony, i personally don't like it... Does this make me racist or is it only the people that boo it racist?? We have to stop pigeon holing people and listen to what they are saying, then disagree with their arguments.

Another example was Daisy Pearce vocally supporting not having a minute of silence after the queen died at AFLW games.. I thought the decision was atrocious (and should have seen government funding potentially pulled) and Daisy was completely wrong... but whilst Daisy has to have the right to be (imo) wrong, the competition had (and has) obligations it should have met.
6
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Sam Newman at it again!
Sam Newman. So brave, so tough, so courageous. A real martyr for free speech. Please.


i find a lot (almost all in fact) of what Sam Newman says distasteful. But i want to live in a country where we debate opinions and even allow those who disagree with us to say their piece. Too many in society decry alternate opinions and people even lose their jobs if they publicly disagree... Sam Newman is a tosser, but i stick by it, he has every right to state his opinion, unless he crosses lines that are illegal.

Also i know people like to misquote, which is one of the reasons i gave up on forums.. but  will point out i never said Newman was Tough, Courageous or Brave, nor did i say he was a "martyr for free speech"... i claimed it is important he has the right to disagree even on divisive issues that swaths of society have arbitrarily already declared off limits.

And i would HATE if anyone booed, but i hate all booing.
7
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Sam Newman at it again!
People are free to feel whatever they want about such ceremonies.
To actively advocate the booing is taking it to the extreme...and a recipe for some ugly scenes on a day that should be a celebration for all of us.

agree!!  Personally i do not actually like the welcome before games and find it ridiculous, but the booing is an atrocious idea.
I do believe though that Sam is well within his rights to express his opinion and in fact it is important for people to fight for his right to that and they should argue against his opinions and not demonize his for his opinions.

The wokeness is completely ruining society and we are already in danger of losing free speech and giving way to "freedom to express the same thoughts as our own".

Don't like what Sam is advocating, but i like he is prepared to speak his mind, knowing he will be vilified.

Society should always fight for right for people to be able to express an opinion we disagree with.
9
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
I think both sides are suffering heavy losses daily, but yes i do believe that morale is lower on the Russian side. The reason isn't that surprising when you mobilize people against their will. They are very patriotic and there are a lot that actively would join themselves, but the number of mobilized is quite high now. As for whether Russians are bumbling fools.. no i don't think this is true, but they are using archaic methods and they have comfortably been outperformed by Ukraine based on the comparative numbers and equipment of the 2 sides.

There is propaganda in the west it is clear, but as i said in an earlier post, it is not comparative to the propaganda within Russia, which always happens when there is only one story told and publicly disagreeing with that narrative can land you a lengthy jail term.
10
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
Is putin still sick and dying?



This is funny, i spoke about that with a friend a long time ago and we discussed how it served Russia's interest for the west to think he was so ill that they could outlast him.. In Russia there is absolutely NOTHING on their televisions ever suggesting he has any health issues and i think personally it was a lot of wishful thinking by the west and disinformation.

I believe the Russian's very much wanted the outside world to believe he was sick and the West bought it hook, line and sinker.. we will see of course, but that has been my thoughts on it
11
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
Just a quick video on the role propaganda plays within the Russian society i will share a video and also a channel.

The first video is from a town near Smolensk and it is inside a Kindergarten. It is specifically the 90 second song i am showing, which really appears to me as though it is from a dystopian world. The song starts at the 35 second mark of the video

https://youtu.be/48DaLYiO-yk?si=gwi9BIWz_WrFYVEC&t=35

I wanted to get a gauge if this is considered "normal" inside Russia, so i asked 3 friends (2 still in Russia and one who left last year) whether this "normal".

The responses from all 3 indicated everything is normal. i should point out though that this is a celebration day (like ANZAC day) which is basically "Defender of the Fatherland Day". I pointed out it is still quite dystopian indoctrination to me, but they disagreed and thought it was just pride in their country.


The next is just one of the media watch sites i look at for some of the recent propaganda.

Russian Media Watch

There are many other options, but you want to ensure you are getting good translations as well. This just gives an idea of what is pushed consistently to the home audience on the most famous and popular channels inside Russia.

All of this is just again to give an insight into the values of Russian people and the environment they are surrounded by. This isn't me disparaging Russian people, in fact many are very kind and warm people, but it is quite fair to say "Russian traditional values" are very different to ours and this is very important in understanding the reasons Russians react to certain news and events.
12
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
i seriously always have to wonder how much knowledge people have of Russia and it's history. if anyone is asking why Russian media and politicians are less trustworthy than western media and politicians, the debate might as well end there, but anyway.... Political assassinations are and always have been a part of the Russian way of doing things, before the death penalty was abolished you only needed to lock someone up, interrogate them and force them to either confess and save their family (which often during the USSR was a lie as the family was usually purged later) or hold out and know you family would suffer the same fate.
Now with no death penalty it is still state sanctioned killings but in a different manner.

Russia has always used lying as an official means of bending the public will, there was a small period from Glasnost where there was more openness, not the same level of openness as you have in the west, where opposition media can openly criticize you and bust open your lies, but a degree... even then it was fraught with danger, especially once Putin come into power. Take a look at this list and tell me of another place on the planet where so many journalists were killed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia

Russia sees it's strength lies in controlling the narrative and not allowing an alternative version. It is why Russians are hesitant (even in personal calls online) to be critical of anything the government says or does. Nobody would suggest the western media is the beacon of truth, nor their governments, but it is incredibly more transparent than Russia.

The sad part is some of this propaganda even works on those who should know better. I had an argument with a Russian (who still lives in Russia) after they told me that there are hardly any Ukrainians left fighting for Ukraine and 90% of the fighters know are foreigners. Now this lie has been pushed over and over again on Russia One, especially by the likes of Vladimir Solovyov, but i never thought a sensible person could believe this... It just shows that pushing a lie over and over and over again works and it is the Russian lesson they learned directly from Goebbels.

A even earlier example about how little the truth matters can be seen below

Quote from: Martin Latsis - Red Terror Newspaper
We are not waging war against individual persons. We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. During the investigation, do not look for evidence that the accused acted in deed or word against Soviet power. The first questions that you ought to put are: To what class does he belong? What is his origin? What is his education or profession? And it is these questions that ought to determine the fate of the accused. In this lies the significance and essence of the Red Terror

Russia doesn't care about truth, it cares about obedience.

As for whether Russia is the "baddie" in the war in Ukraine.. Honestly you don't need to look at all at the media for this. It is obvious to anyone with a clear conscious and any knowledge of history as to what is right and what is wrong, as well as for the reasons that Russia invaded..

If you are sucked in by the claim about NATO expansion being the reason, then why isn't there an attack on Finland going on right now?
if you are sucked in by Russia believing in an areas right to self determination, the same claim it used to invade Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, then where are the right of the Mari El people? The rights of the Dagestani and Chechnyan people to self determination? It doesn't exist because it isn't real. Russia does not care one iota about it's people.

If you wanted to get an idea about real reasons you have to consider the history of Russian leaders and how Putin styles himself as a Tsar, including his own references to Russia's arguably greatest Tsar Peter I. The other thing is understanding that Ukraine is as big of a kleptocracy as Russia is and any threats to break up this kleptocracy was always going to be met by a lot of anger inside the circle of Russia's biggest oligarchs. If Ukraine was to become part of the EU, it has to make sweeping reforms, this is likely to see very powerful Russian (and Ukrainian) men lose a lot of power and wealth which Ukraine generates. This outcome was totally unacceptable to a lot of people.

If all of this is legitimate, then why was it the Russian Army and Wagner that ran the armed insurrections in the east (without wearing Russian uniforms) and why did they do the same in Crimea, originally arriving overnight in their "little green men" uniforms?

People in their desire to want to prove the west is full of lies, try and back up the likes of Russia as being "no worse" and it is just patently untrue. I happen to love the country of Russia, like a lot of Eastern Europe, it has a very fascinating history, it also has a beautiful (though very difficult) language and some of the richest literature in the world, but that doesn't change that the government is incredibly corrupt and that this corruption is absolutely clear at all levels of government and within the judicial system also, and that the western sphere doesn't come remotely close to matching that
13
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
Another Telegram post by a Wagner member warned another coup could be on the horizon.

“There are rumours about the death of the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin,” the post read.

“We directly say that we suspect the Kremlin officials led by Putin of an attempt to kill him.

“If the information about Prigozhin’s death is confirmed, we will organise a second March of Justice on Moscow! He’d better be alive, it’s in your own interests.”
14
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
Utkin reported to be on the plane also.

There are currently a lot of reports in Russia that he faked his death and now Wagner will plan to march on moscow etc.
All of this is incredibly unlikely. He could have for sure staged his death or "avoided a bullet", but i am still banking on the fact i believe he is dead.
15
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Russian Ukraine War
Pro Russian media is tweeting that very thing, that the Ukraine was responsible for shooting the plane down.

Yes the thing about Russian assassinations and Russian media response to them, is that in fact they are not at all trying to cover things up, look at the Skripal poisonings. There were many ways to attempt to kill Skripal, but to use a specifically known russian poison was not at all just an "error", the Russian government uses their assassinations as a type of psychological warfare, all Russians know that billionaires are not committing suicide by jumping out of hotel or hospital windows, the government is saying in not very hidden terms, we will publicly kill you, the media will push our ridiculous line and no one at all will suffer any consequences, and it works.

Of course there is a small chance Prighozhin could have faked his death, he has the funds to do so... but this killing is 100% in line with how the Russians would take someone out... Claim their was a plane crash (or Ukraine shot it down) directly 2 months  (to the day!) after the coup... No one in Russia our outside Russia will believe it, but everyone will say... "of course, what other outcome can their be if you challenge Putin?"

The Russian media response to the Skripal poisonings btw, was to get the perpetrators out in public and interview them on Russia One channel, talking about the beautiful chapels in Salisbury Cathedral, which of course it is laughable that 2 Russian GRU members of an strongly Orthodox country were traveling to the UK because they needed to see  an Anglican Cathedral, but this is the point.... The more absurd the story, the more it is a middle finger to the west and a warning to the people of Russia.