BNP Youth

World News:

This was brought to my attention last weekend: it's a video by BNP Youth?

I wasn't even aware that there was a BNP Youth.  It had always seemed to me that people grew towards the BNP way of thinking with age (if at all).

I guess it will give some sort of  comfort to Nick Griffin, who was the only Member of the European Parliament representing the BNP, until he lost his seat in this month's elections. From his point of view there is still hope for a BNP future.

Back to the video though: watching it I had a few questions.  Questions like:

Who talks like that? Is it the normal language of young people? Or has someone been coaching them?

I've never heard anyone under the age of 30 use the word "bastardization". A shorter form (without 'ization') maybe.

Saying that, everyone is entitled to their opinion, you may not like it, but that's their right.

Speaking of not liking it, the Conservatives and Labour are not liking the results of the European elections: it's the first time that any other party has come first in a national poll since 1910.

Embarrassing for the Lib Dems, who have been the third party of power for decades but have never won a national poll.

But it's okay, because Nick Clegg has promised he won't leave the party.  The Lib Dem activists will be so pleased

 

Seeing things differently


ScottBradleeLovesYa show that just because you know something one way, doesn't mean it won't work in a completely different way.  I wasn't a huge fan of the original, but I really like this version.  Any thoughts? (And keep watching for the saxophone, it's awesome).

Moral dilemma
Another of those 'is it right to laugh?' videos.  This time tourettes.

In one way it is funny, funny that someone would shout things and say things that everyone else finds inappropriate.

But think about what it's like from their point of view: the feelings of being out of control, the fear of other people's reaction, the loneliness.

That bit really isn't funny.

Election fever

And what a week it's been.

Local news:
Strictly speaking this is national news because we've all been involved with the European Elections.  For us it was especially interesting though, because as well as choosing our MEP (Members of the European Parliament), we've also been voting on whether to have an elected mayor or not.

I spent all of yesterday travelling around South Copeland: Waberthwaite, Corney, Bootle, Silecroft, Kirksanton and Haverigg, checking that the polling stations had everything they need; and last week I spent a few hours opening postal votes.

It's been a real eye opener for me about just how much work goes on behind the scenes to make an election run smoothly.

Also, last week, I did some filming at Parton as part of their action plan.  The phrase to be heard in Parton at the moment is: "We want a sprung floor!" Which improves bounce without the aid of a space hopper apparently

Moral dilemmas:
Is it ever right to hate? Maybe.
But is it ever right to hate people you've never met?

Now this is horrible, I agree.  Every time I hear that little kid cry I want to cry too.  I have a 6 year old and I would never want to make her cry.  But this guy has had so much hate aimed at him.

It's a bit of a model for how many people view anyone who breaks the law, or receives benefits.  They don't think "Okay, this isn't right, we need to do something about this." Instead they think "Kill!"

Really, do we want to beat people up or kill them because they did something wrong?

I was so affected by this guys actions and by the responses on the internet that I commented (which I hardly ever do). Here's what I put:

A loving parent's heart is broken every time they hear their child cry, and they would never ever want to be the cause of the crying. But rather than beat the guy, or take his child off him, why not make him watch the video back, make him to listen to the son talk about his feelings: "Daddy I'm scared of you, and it's hard to trust you now." Maybe then Dad will develop a bit of self awareness, become a better parent, and a better man.

 

I 've had two responses.  One person said they were glad to see an intelligent suggestion.

Why thank you...

The other reply says I'm sick because I want the father to beat on his kid again.  Did I say that?  I don't think so.

Another guy who's been subjected to a lot of criticism over the years is Carl Bordelon.  A police officer who is tricked into thinking an escaped prisoner is actually a jogger, and lets the guy go.

Sure, he made a mistake, but that doesn't make him an idiot. Just someone who made a mistake.  Not a lot of forgiveness on the internet I guess.

Seeing things differently:

Moog synthesizers have been around for a lot of years -- the earliest ones came out in the 1960s.  Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his cello suites almost three hundred years ago and yet when you put the two together, they still sound awesome.

What's the point?  Well, just because stuff is old doesn't mean it isn't good. Sometimes older is better.  And I'm not just saying that because I turned 36 this week.

Fails galore

Short update this week, cos it's a mad busy week:

Local news:
Heavy rains meant that we weren't able to do the filming at Seascale as we'd planned. But we had a visit from Cllr Stephen Haraldsen and one of the Conservative candidates for the European elections.

It was interesting to get their views and Stephen made a really important point that I think you should all consider.

Whether you consider yourself Conservative or Labour, Lib Dem or Green, UKIP or can't be bothered, it's worth remembering that everyone who puts themselves up for election has one thing in common: they all want to improve things in the area they will represent.

They may disagree on how to do that, and that's where the party politics comes in, but every one of them has a desire to serve the community.

I think the take home from that is, whether you agree with people's policies or not, it's not fair to hate on them, because even if you think they're wrong, they're just trying to do right.

{I'm getting that on a t-shirt}

And finally...
Got a  number of videos to consider today: they're all in the fail category, but let's look a little deeper and see what's going on:

Bootleg fireworks fail: For anyone who doesn't know, bootleg means smuggled. It goes back to the days of pirates

When they would wear long boots and could fit items in the top of them, to sneak them out of wherever (probably a tavern)

So these fireworks are in some way illegal, probably home-made to avoid paying tax on them.

We can't see from this video, but there could have been damage caused (that bush will never be the same again for a start), or even injuries.  Someone could be screaming in pain and we wouldn't hear it for the guys swearing and cursing.

The legal fireworks are much less likely to cause damage (at least if used properly -- if someone chooses to wedge it in their pants and set it off, they're asking for a scorching)

Vending machine fail: Again we have hilarity when someone breaks the law.  Even if he'd paid for the 'chips' (Americans, huh?) to kick the machine wasn't the right thing to do.

We've got a vending machine in our office, and I swear it's got a mind of it's own. It just chooses to give chocolate out whenever it feels like.  There's often notes stuck to the glass for the guy who refills the machine

"I paid 55p for a Snickers and I didn't get my chocolate, signed ****"

That's what our Bruce Lee wannabe should have done. Yeah, it makes for a funny video, but ask yourselves:

Who pays the price for a broken machine? The insurers.
And how do the insurers make their money back? Putting insurance premiums up.
And who pays the premiums? The business who looks after the machines.
And how do they make their money back? Raising the price of Snickers bars from 55p to 60p.

So who's paying for Hong Kong Phooey's stunt?

Snickers eaters, 5p at a time.

Parking exit fail: This guy appears to think it'll save time by leaving the car running towards the door.  It would've looked really cool if it had worked.  But it didn't, and now someone's got to fix that door, and probably his car, and maybe his spine seeing as how he used it a buffer. Who's gonna pay out for all that stuff?

You guessed it, the insurers

Revolving door fail:  Really not sure what happened here, although I suspect the wind may have had something to do with it.  But if you watch closely, you see that two of the glass panels actually slam shut on the poor guy who's in the door at the time.

This one's shocking, not funny, and I think it was a mechanical failure rather than human error. But again, there'll be costs incurred.

Hi insurers...

YouTube views

We are being manipulated. Everyone is.

Advertisers, TV producers, YouTube uploaders, they all want as much of our attention as they can get. Because attention leads to money: we buy their products, or we watch their programmes and advertisers pay more to sponsor the programmes so that we see the adverts and buy their products, etc., etc., etc.

And above all else, one thing sells: sex.

How many YouTube videos have a picture of topless women as their main image? Even ones that have nothing to do with women will use these images to get people to view them. Because the more views an uploader gets, the more likely it is that they'll get sponsored.

Because we're exposed to all this sexual imagery on a daily basis, it means that we get used to it, it's normal instead of shocking, and that makes it more likely that we'll tolerate it.  Like people seem to tolerate the Johns and prostitutes in car parks.  And when we tolerate things we don't see them for what they really are.

Take for example a couple of videos:

The first one is about a jogger who keeps pooping behind someone's house, and the second shows a number of people using the back of a store as a public toilet.

Again, just so we're clear, these are criminal acts.  If people get caught doing this sort of thing they can be charged, with indecency offences and criminal damage.

Now I'm all for being tolerant, but let's try an remember what's important.

World News:
Stephen Sutton has been released from hospital.  After raising over £3million for charity thanks to his bucket list, he's been discharged.

I've heard a lot of haters on social media suggesting that Stephen is a fraud, that he pretended to have cancer, either to raise funds or for attention.  But my wife is a nurse and she has a different interpretation.

Sometimes, hospitals will send people home because there's nothing more they can do.  For the hospital it frees up a bed for someone else in need, and for the patient it means that they can spend a little more quality time with the family.  But Stephen is almost certainly not faking and his recent recovery might only be short lived.

And finally...

Strong language advisory. 
Epic takedown of a bully

For anyone who has ever been picked on, take heart, it is possible to dish out a little payback (BTW I'm not advocating swearing here, these guys are Scottish and to them swearing is like a dialect).

Iraq and America

World news:

Iraq has its first parliamentary poll since troops left the country nearly three years ago.

We take elections for granted in this country, because we can vote regularly (some would say too much).  But for anyone who has lived in a dictatorship, where the leader got to that position through violence, intimidation and corruption, a democratic election is extremely precious.


[The ink stain shows that they have voted, and they show it off as a badge of honour].

Here's a video of Christopher Hitchens talking about democracy in Iraq from a few years ago.  (If it sounds a bit boring, remember that this is the guy who drank and smoked himself to death.  He had the brain of political genius and lived like a rock star).  Try giving him a listen.

Also this week we've seen the devastation caused, not by dictators, but by nature as huge storms have hit America.

A couple of lessons here:
1. these are people living in the richest country in the world, but all their wealth won't protect them from nature.
2. nature doesn't listen to votes or campaigns any more than it does money.


The American political system isn't hugely different from ours. You have two main parties that everyone knows (Democrats and Republicans) and a lot of little parties that no-one knows (Libertarians, Tea Party, Green).  And a lot of the work that goes into getting in and staying in government is about being the most popular (or making the opponent look the least popular).

So there's a lot of mud slinging in American politics. Especially from the FOX network.
I know it's not always easy to understand what these guys are going on about so I'll paraphrase it for you: the present-US government are turning American into Nazi Germany, but doing it sneakily so no-one will notice.

Well, you guys will hopefully be around long enough to see if that's true.  If America doesn't turn into Nazi Germany, then either these commentators were wrong, or they stopped it happening.  stay tuned for the next 40 years to find out (Ooh, exciting!)



Crime:
Brian Bates calls himself Video Vigilante.  He makes it his business to follow prostitutes around until someone (the "John") picks them up for sex, then he records his confrontation with them and has evidence that he can give to the police.

His aim is to stop prostitution happening so widely, and his point is that these people are having sex in cars where anyone can walk past, including young children, sometimes in a car park, sometimes behind buildings, sometimes near children's play parks.

The important thing is that Bates is trying to do his bit to improve his local area. The LA Times calls him a video activist. The people who he catches call him much worse names.

Local News:
Filming session at WHYP went well, though we seemed to spend more time outside McDonalds than anywhere else -- and not because of the curfew, just because my 'team' were hungry.

We got some interesting footage, mostly of litter.  well that shouldn't be too hard to sort...

And finally...

Here's a video that I've chosen because it's funny. Go ahead and have a good laugh.

Now that you've had a laugh, I want you to have a good think.
Can this guy help the way he talks? Aren't we just laughing because he has a strange accent?
Isn't that a little bit racist?

[See what I did there, I lured you in to try and make you laugh so I could make you feel bad straight after.  It's a very effective tool for behaviour change].

But seriously though.  One of the things about humour is that there's often a victim. A bit like Vitaly and his pranks, we're laughing at someone else's expense.

I'm not suggesting we don't have a laugh now and then, but maybe I we just think about the victims a little more...