I Quit
depressed? over worked? lost faith in religion? - join the majority

when we get past the distractions of the tv, xbox and who Paris Hilton has up her chuff this week and take the time to seriously analyse what's going on around us, it becomes apparent that the reality we live in is not one created by us for our benefit

as A F Shumacher brilliantly said in 'Small is beautiful' we are living in a society of "people for chewing gum, rather than chewing gum for people"

the fact is, this reality, has been handed to us (Lenin famously said the masses must believe the system they are living in is one that has evolved - they must never be aware of the thousands of other directions and options open for society to develop in)

There's a reason why a fair percentage of the population in the anglo saxon countries are on anti depressants news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4071633.stm - this becomes apparent if you experience the more humane cultures with their communal living, extended family and inter dependant living and enjoy healthier happpier more fulfilled lives as a result

The fact is this is not a humane system and never has been, it's one of minority controlled money, with minority controlled mecantile system of commerce and trade. it's a system of competition, where advancement is through how good you are at getting one over on your fellow man - with the pressure to conform in direct conflict to our individuality. Our function, we are told, as a healthy citizen, is to be a good consumer/producer with every advert screaming out to us promising instant happiness as we are indoctrinated and trained to be addicts to this deviant system

(EDIT - there was a book banned in russia written by a well respectd psychologist identifying 2 types of human - one being us the other the psychopathic personality; able to imitate human emotions but devoid of empathy and compassion - he suggested it is this type which rises to the top in this psychopathic system (their system) and forces others to adopt psychopathic tendencies too If they want to get ahead and enjoy success - I'll post the links to the book when I find it)

as Prof Quigley historian for the royal instute of foriegn affairs is famous for saying there's always a certain amount of competition allowed with the lower political parties and individuals but the ones at the top and the 'coterie' around them had always been vetted by a much higher organization outside of the democratic rule

and that we have had a secret government in a managed society for 60 years ... and he wrote this in 1960s

Lord Bertrand Russel wrote in 'Road to Freedom' that children would get their morals from the schools system. If the state encourage schooling and nursery, beginning a 2 years the parents standards would be irrelevant and he went on to say a system of credits would replace money, punishment done by with holding same " also read his Education and the Good life" and while you're at it agenda 21 of the UN charter

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7se4gFTCys

Even without the rapid decline into chaos the western nations are heading (which is going to get alot worse if you read the books written about it by the likes of Quigly and Attalli- scroll through my profile for the links) this system was never meant to benefit us. It benefits a small minority and it's becoming more apparent that as we head towards a cashless society the system of punishment and restrictions Russell talks about is the pre-ordaned route we are to travel in - introduced after the chaos they need to convince us to accept it

this system of control has always existed, which is self evident to anyone with a knowledge of history . the dominant Patriarch overseen by the dog priests in their frocks - Jubal Freemasonry with Tubal Cain evolving into Shriner Freemasonry of today. Priesthoods, royalty, nobility and the mercantile classes have always lived in luxury through a system of taxation and standing armies. The Taxation we experince is no different from the freudalism of the middle ages - it's simply a more sophisticated form of slavery (hence the word tax)- we have a syetem built on every money loaned has interest attached - so our currency is in fact an instrument of creating debt (the reason the old european banking families worked so hard through the 18c to impose a central bank in the US which they achieved in 1913)- where those in debt lose real property and labour to those that create the fiat fictional money

as more and more ancient civiization is unearthed we see the same sophisticated trade of clay bills ,credit, debt, interest, receipt for silver etc co-existing with tribes living in the true communal sense and a true humane system as humans were meant to live. Even in the days of ancient Sumer this system with weights and measures was extensive. priesthoods specializing in various areas of law, loans , book keeping and taxes allowed scientific priesthoods to live well while the taxed underclass funded their lifestyle

what has been going on is a long term business paln to systemize the world and standardise everything through law and regulation under the guise of peace, eco religion and security

"a power without a threat cannot not persevere " Albert Pike

EDIT: anyone looking at the CAFRs (comprehensive financial annual reports - google them) in the US will see we are already living in a socialist system with gov ownership of everything from pension funds, insurance companies, liquid investment funds, bond financing accounts and corporate stock portfolios and in the UK council intervention and gov grows exponentially as they justify budget increases year on year

THE GOVERNMENT OWNS IT "ALL" BY INVESTMENT
cafr1.com/

all as we march or should I say 'led' into the new 'watermelon' system of world government - watermelon being green (eco) on the outside , red (socialism with China as the model) on the inside

www.b3ta.com/questions/liars/post104359

I seem to have rambled more than I intended so to come back to my original point it gradually became self evident to me - and luckily my wife too (otherwise I wouldn't have married her) - that the only option is to quit it. I've sold up and hopefully I'll have escaped into a more humane system in a far away country before the engineered colllapse of this one to bring in the new to replace it. And I'm fully aware how hypocritical this makes me, as the only way I've been able to raise the money to do this was by my playing the property game first and knowing when to buy and sell .

I quit? you bet your ass

PM me if you want more info on what I'm talking about and links to the books from the thinktanks which talk about what's ahead in this game -

there's plenty of stuff and links in my profile worth checking out first -

I'm only going to invest my time in the small 2% that are curious rather than arguing and debating with the majority who dismiss this information out of hand from now on - Brewsinski reckoned the number who are truely conscious in any given society was 5%, I'm less optimistic

"let the dead bury their dead" ...

.
(The Goat www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:02, 91 replies)

Even though I think this is a load of bollocks
if you believe it, please at least proof read it before posting.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:05, closed)

...
"There's a reason why a fair percentage of the population in the anglo saxon countries are on anti depressants - this becomes apparent if you experience the more humane cultures closer to a model of communal living"

BOLLIX. Mental illness rates are not related to how developed the country is.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:05, closed)

RFID tags for everyone!
Then if you piss us off we switch off your tag.

Easy.

Does b3ta get a say in the NWO?
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:11, closed)

Oh, here we go...
Ah... so unconnected and decontextualised quotations, half-quotations, malapropisms and misunderstandings, laced with a doctrinaire belief in a larger scheme (for which there is no independent evidence beyond those same unconnected and decontextualised quotations, half-quotations, malapropisms and misunderstandings) serve as evidence by which we can diagnose the ills of the world, eh?


Righty-ho.




On a more serious note: I go to the gym and do 1000 calories there every day. I weigh 72kg. I don't smoke, and never have. I've done nothing but sit at my desk for 2 hours. So why am I out of breath?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:13, closed)

^
1) asthma
2) invisible creatures are stealing your energy
3) we take your breath away (*snort*)
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:14, closed)

And the royal family are lizards
100% of fact!
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:16, closed)

@Enzyme
The government is stealing your breath for a top secret experiment their not telling us about. I suggest you take your name of the polling register and hide in a grit bin for a couple of years.
( girlinthehole, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:17, closed)

Not asthma
I go for the invisible creatures hypothesis.

@BGB - actually, I prefer your version.

I did try to take my name off electoral role, but apparently you have to be registered. I tried to explain that I was willing to pay Council Tax - I just don't consider myself a democrat, I'm not convinced by democracy, and I want nothing to do with the electoral process. They sounded baffled.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:17, closed)

Similar to Enzyme's strange out of breathness
To set the scene, I'm in ok shape, but am getting better. I surf a lot, for several hours at a time. I can cane it on a cross-trainer for half an hour without dying.

What I find weird is that sometimes, usually after I've been sitting down for a while and then get up to do something, I can feel my heart beating so hard (not fast, just hard) that it makes my eyeballs pulsate.

It doesn't concern me too much because I can do the exercise that I need to without worrying things happening. I'm curious about it though, and hopefully some bright b3tard can shed some light....
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:22, closed)

I don't think you're well,
I really don't. What's it like being paranoid about everything?

*passes foil hat*

ALSO - "it's a simple sophisticated form of slavery (hence the word tax)- "

Tax (v.)
c.1290, from O.Fr. taxer "impose a tax" (13c.), from L. taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch" (see tangent). Sense of "burden, put a strain on" first recorded 1672; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1569. Use in Luke ii for Gk. apographein "to enter on a list, enroll" is due to Tyndale. The noun is recorded from 1327. Tax shelter is attested from 1961; taxpayer from 1816

Unless I'm mistaken (and I'm sure I'll be corrected) this has nothing to do with Slavery?
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:24, closed)

@Enzyme
Democracy - it's just not FAIR!
*stamps foot*
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:24, closed)

@Vipros
I get that and have had it for a while and I'm still here so don't worry. I had one of the heart test thingies a while ago and nothing showed up.
( girlinthehole, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:24, closed)

@BGB:
that's good to know

now I can relax and enjoy my throbbing eyeballs :-)
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:27, closed)

@DiT
One of these days, I'll remember to bring in my etymological dictionary so that the next time Goaty comes up with something as demonstrably nonsensical as the slavery/ tax thing I'll be able not just to point and laugh, but to clarify matters.

@CHCB - I ought to clarify: it's representative democracy I don't trust. Gives too much power to the British ignoramii.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:30, closed)

@Vipros
I was going to suggest a blood pressure problem - worth checking anyway.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:31, closed)

@ Enzyme
Is ignoramii a kind of sausage?

Oh.
(happylittletulip helpless and delicious, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:32, closed)

my last blood pressure test was fine
but is best to be sure

my old man has a decent tester, so will have a bash next time I'm round there.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:33, closed)

@Enzyme
shirley you mean ignoranus - both ignorant and an arse?
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:34, closed)

@ Enzyme
Bring back an elitist democracy, that's what I say!

B3tans to rule the country.

Well, obviously only the b3tans who I think are worthy.

Erm...

Okay...a benevolent dictatorship - with me in charge. I know you all want PJM for PM but I know him....

*Thinks*


Actually....yes, make PJM PM.


Mwaahahahahahahha!
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:35, closed)

I'm only a simpleton when it comes to politics....
But one thing I do know is that the bastards of the world always rise to the top. Whatever political system is in place, there will be a bastard there working his way up to take over. On the whole people can't be trusted to behave and to play fair so we need a government and laws and taxes etc. We just have to do our best to make sure we stop the bastards that govern us from taking the piss.


Edit - next week I explain black holes.

I hope that's clarified it all and everyone can carry on being silly.
( girlinthehole, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:37, closed)

Tsk
There's always one, isn't there.

I wonder if he has a tin foil hat and a poster of David Icke?
(scentless_apprentice takes two bottles into the shower!, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:37, closed)

@chickenlady
Actually, that's not a million miles away from it...

Is it really so nuts to suggest that economists should run the economy, historians should have an input on foreign policy, people who know about education should run the education system, that people who know about science should have something to do with science policy so on? And that fat-headed, xenophobic, pusillanimous, flag-waving, money-grubbing, semi-literate, kneejerk reactionaries with no concern beyond their ill-defined "rights" and how the're being taken away by the "liberal elite" - because perish the thought that we should think about things and consult anything so occult as evidence - ought to be kept as far away from politics as humanly possible?


Just a thought.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:41, closed)

In reply to the reply you left on my reply Goatman
I was joking. Chill the hell out. I didn't even read your post. It seemed full of arrogant waffling that doesn't mean anything.

Goatman: "wafflewaffle...it becomes apparent that the reality we live in is not one created by us for our benefit wafflewafflewafflewafflewafflewaffle"

To quote a man of wise words..
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:41, closed)

As for...
"it becomes apparent that the reality we live in is not one created by us for our benefit"

Has someone been reading too much Baudrillard?
(scentless_apprentice takes two bottles into the shower!, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:43, closed)

@Enzyme
what, like some kind of idyllic, utopian meritocracy? Yeah, it'd be wonderful.

Are you going to lead the revolution? And can there be minimal violence as I'm not comfortable with violence?
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:44, closed)

Grammar Badger - ^ Yes!
Adam Savage (in fact, the whole of the Mythbusters crew - Kari Byron... Mmmm) FTW!

@Enzyme - hehehe... Good idea, though I fear you'd wear it out quickly! Are we expect this sort of drivel every week?

EDIT - GAH! You do it every time! May I say that backing up a really weak argument with a BBC HYS thread which is full of ill-educated histrionics makes it, if anything, even less believable. Git.
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:44, closed)

@Scentless
Merely getting as far as B-A-U-D-R... is to have come perilously close to having read too much Baudrillard.


@Goat: just why the hell should things be run for "our" benefit? (And to whom does the "our" refer?)
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:45, closed)

i like the bi twhere he appears to say
that this plan for the new world order has been in play since the days of ancient sumer, bloody long play that is, didnt they think, hang on by the time this comes to fruition i and quite possibly my entire family line will be deceased?

as for does he have a tinfoil hat and a picture of david icke? maybe he is david icke in a tinfoil hat
(pogo_it, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:46, closed)

Breathlessness
CHCB has been kind enough to diagnose the problem.


I am pregnant.

She is a doctor. She knows these things.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:46, closed)

@Enzyme
Congratulations.

Now you can post a story this week about quitting alcohol!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:50, closed)

DiT^ - I like Tori
And the fact he injures himself in amusing ways a lot! New Mythbusters is on tonight yay.

And congratulations Enzyme. If CHCB is in the medical profession you better watch out she doesn't abduct you in the name of science and then make millions out of the pregnant man hype.. actually what am I saying? CHCB I will manage the Manmom tour for 15% of takings and publicity
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:52, closed)

I am a doctor
albeit in the Faculty of Engineering, but my PhD in Computer Science means I can google symptoms very quickly.

"Feeling short of breath can start in the first or second trimester. It is probably due to your respiratory system adapting to the effects of pregnancy hormones. Your respiratory system adapts during pregnancy so your body can process oxygen and carbon dioxide more efficiently."
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:54, closed)

Hang on...
If things were run for OUR benefit...

Wouldn't that be a good thing? Or am I just being a bit vacant?

After all, if someone's running the country for my benefit, then I'm bound to be gaining something from it?
(scentless_apprentice takes two bottles into the shower!, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:55, closed)

Laughs arse off at "ignoranus"
If I'm being invited to debate on the pros and cons of democracy, then I'd be a great benign dictator-esque Prime Minister for about six months until I start having people I dislike secretly shot.

In all seriousness, we live in a society where more people are likely to vote for a Pop Idol finalist than they are a local MP. With an electoral turnout like 35% of the electorate bothering to vote, it's clear that we're in dire need of some radical electoral reform.

Bah, I'm waffling... Enzyme is capable of wielding a far, far more coherent and intelligent arguement than me.

*Edit* In PJM's humble opinion, the current government are a bunch of cunts.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 11:55, closed)

^not anymore, PJM
his brain has turned to mush because of the pregnancy hormones.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:56, closed)

Good for you Goat
I powered my life down years ago because I saw what was coming with energy prices and all the social control mechanisms the Gov have increased because of the 'terrror threat'. I try and be a stainless steel rat, working within it but understanding quite what I'm up against and how easy it is to be told what to think, rather than thinking for myself. I can cook and wash and heat my home without pushing a single button and without using 1watt of electricity. I pity the fools that don't understand the depth of what's happening, as they'll just lay in their own shit wondering why the government isn't wiping their arses for them, and more importantly, wanting their arses wiped.
( Brandy_Bumwinkle, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:57, closed)

.
Ah - offtopic Thursday - what a good time for a political discussion.

”Lenin famously said the masses must believe the system they are living in is one that has evolved - they must never be aware of the thousands of other directions and options open for society to develop in”

So far, most large-scale attempts to engineer a system from scratch (e.g. Communism) have ended in failure. Because the current system has been created by evolution, it's full of many subtleties that we don't fully understand yet somehow work.

@Enzyme re taking name off electoral roll: Back in the early 1990s when people refused to pay the poll-tax, their names were taken off the electoral roll, and they couldn't vote in the 1992 election, which brought in 5 more years of Tory government. Bah!

Re elitist democracy: I think there should be an intelligence test you must pass in order to vote. The trouble is the debate on where to draw the line would go on forever. However, it would in theory still give everyone the opportunity to vote as long as they’re willing to improve themselves. As for what would be in it, the only good question I’ve been able to come up with would be “Describe the difference between foresight and hindsight”. Also, anyone who writes in txt-spk automatically fails.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:57, closed)

On the Pop Idol thing, PJM
It was once suggested that the reason more people voted in reality television programmes than in political elections was because they were voting people out rather than in.

Now, admittedly it's a bit difficult to do that with politics, but there's food for thought there.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 29 May 2008, 11:58, closed)

We need
Poplitical Idol! - Putting the pop in politics
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:03, closed)

NEWSFLASH!
I'm no longer out of breath.


I think I've just had a miscarriage.

*checks boxers for signs of blood and foetus*
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:10, closed)

Hands off Political Idol...
I'm using it as a plotline in a short story!

I'm of the opinion that we should introduce compulsory voting with proportional representation AND a box on the ballot slip that says "None of the above".

When the results are counted, the number of "None of the above" votes should also be published as a percentage.

The problem with politics is that it's deliberately complex... I can't fully grasp the machinations as to why we're denied the promised referendum on the EU for exampe. So how do you expect someone with an IQ of 94 to understand the complexities of the Common Agricultural Policy?

I'm not saying we should dumb politics down into Newspeak, but the endemic political culture of broken promises and "spin" is counter to what the voting public want to see.

Secondly, the voting public have no comeback whatsoever during the four years when we aren't on the run up to an election. Some kind of OFFGOV wielding a big stick is also long overdue in my humble opinion..

Yes, PJM is in favour of introducing another QUANGO!
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 12:12, closed)

@Enzyme
you are quite revolting :)
I was going to offer to pay for the abortion (not that it was my fault).
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:13, closed)

Funnily enough...
I read an article recently that said that tinfoil hats, far from protecting your precious brain thoughts actually enhance the signal and its effective probeness-ness. But then that could just have been an article planted by Them. Let's try...

*Removes tinfoil*
*Gets told not to touch her hair and stop fildding with it by the hairdresser*
*Gives up*

Oh, and things really would be better if the systems were run by people who were on the ground. The NHS is run by managers, which is why it doesn't work. My friend was brought in to consult for them when they had a problem - she was shell shocked for about a week, just kept muttering "Oh my God, I know why it doesn't work!" (the horror, the horror!)
( Hampster Squared has stuff at www.tilla.co.uk, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:15, closed)

^ What CHCB said...

(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 12:16, closed)

@CHCB
You mean you were going to buy the coathanger?

*lowers tone in lieu of albertkaol's presence*
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:16, closed)

@PJM
"... counter to what the voting public want to see"

But when the voting public consists largely of untrustworthy turdscratchers, does that really matter? I'm less bothered by what people do want than by what they ought to want, or would want if they ever thought about things properly.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:16, closed)

@PJM re: radical electoral reform
Dictatorship?

Sometimes, I think that the only way to push through the tough but badly needed reforms is to not worry about what the reality-tv voting public have to say. A dictator who does the right thing can do a lot more than a politician trying to dumb-down and water-down their agenda to win votes. However, there's no universally accepted definition of what "the right thing" is.

@Enzyme re "economists should run the economy..." etc: My sentiments exactly.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:16, closed)

@Enzyme, now that he's finished trying to grow his own embryonic stem cells
Er, so you want to tell people what they ought to want...? Isn't that a little... dictatorial, Mr Turkmenbashi?
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:19, closed)

Speaking of voting...
This weeks QOTW will soon close but if we want a week to discuss how to reform the system, vote for this QOTW suggestion.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:24, closed)

@CHCB
Benevolent dictatorship...

The point is that there are certain things that we can take it as read would be good for everyone - protection from harm, a degree of wellbeing, and so on. Call these "first order" goods. Additionally, there are certain things that people want that are particular and changeable - call these "second order" goods. And the latter strike me as being what people get too attached to.

For example: people want the NHS. But when it's suggested that taxes may have to rise to pay for it and all the treatments they want, they whinge. Solution: ignore the whinging. Or when people complain about MRSA and demand "deep cleaning", point out that cleanliness is only a small part of the problem and that not allowing so many visitors would do more. If people want x but refuse the means necessary to achieve that x, you have to decide which demand to follow. And that means that people's strongest presently-occurring desire may have to be ignored for the sake of what, when it comes to the crunch, is more important to them.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:26, closed)

PJM^
You can have Political Idol, I am going for Poplitical Idol where Gordon Brown will sing such classics as Baby Got Back.
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:26, closed)

@Enzyme
ooooo, I love it when you get all dominant and controlling.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:28, closed)

@Grammar Badger
noooo, Gordon Brown will sing "Golden Brown". Has to, it's a cliché
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:29, closed)

Picks self from floor after reading "untrustworthy turdscratchers"
Dictatorships only work if I'm the dictator... In all seriousness, you only need to look at Lenin to see how much damage even an ostensibly well intentioned dictator can do.

The older and more frustrated I get, the more I see some merit in Enzyme's comment and perhaps a due cause for pre-ballot intelligence tests for voters. The knuckledraggers who vote BNP are a case in point. However that also dilutes the very definition of democracy.

What worries me - and to give away the plotline of my short story - is when we have a politician who's short on substance but can sing "I will always love you" with a degree of competance.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 12:30, closed)

^ Nah, Gordon will sing "Money, that's what I want!"

(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 12:31, closed)

Since everyone and their dog are throwing half-arsed political opinions about....
I will join in.

Am I the only one that LIKES the current system, being as it is an incompetentocracy?

Competent government scares the hell out of me. It's completely untested and would, almost by definition, lead to some right insane bastards at the top (like now) but with the added disadvantage that they know they are both right and better then everyone else. Fucking dangerous that.
(BeardyWierdy, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:32, closed)

...
*worries that b3ta is the point in everyone's lives where they get more and more right-wing*

*invades Poland*
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:33, closed)

Ok I stand corrected.
Any ideas for Cameron then?

How about "Davey from the block"?

Oh and CHCB I have already been called a Nazi (a proper one not just a grammar one) twice this week. Note to self when invading cold places take warm clothes.
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:34, closed)

Gordon brown singing
Did anyone else listen to "The Now Show" on radio 4 last year a few months before Gordon became PM? There was a "Gordon Brown" song sung by one of the show's regulars pretending to be GB.

Oh dear, our serious political discussion as degenerated into talk of singing politicians. This is a microcosm of some of the problems in our society.

Re Enzyme's pregnancy: Who was the 'father'?
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:34, closed)

@PJM
"Domocracy" doesn't have to have anything to do with the will of the majority. "Demos" means the people as a whole - something like Hobbes' Leviathan or, at a stretch, Rousseau's General Will - not as a collection of individuals. Rule of the many would be "polikracy" - which could (and does) work against the demos, irrespective of the intentions of the many.

So, to that extent, I'm all for democracy - because I'm all for the demos over individuals.

EDIT: Right wing? Naaah. I'm more on an "up/down" than "left-right" spectrum...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:35, closed)

re: child of Enzyme
I'm not sure there was a father; I think it was parthenogenesis.

You can't make me take that DNA test.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:36, closed)

BeardyWeirdy may have a point
After all, it gives us all something to complain about. And everyone likes to complain. As W S Gilbert put it:

Oh don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong
And isn't your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at?

Edit - I seem to remember quoting that a while ago. Maybe not on here though.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:36, closed)

Enzyme
What about "Proportional Representation"?

Everyone gets a say, but the majority get to speak longer and louder?
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 12:38, closed)

@CHCB
Doesn't parthenogenesis come from the Greek for "young woman"? That being the case...


Oh, wait. You're older than I.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:38, closed)

Nothing to complain at!?
WS Gilbert was british as well.. we always have something to complain about, the weather, queues, traffic, taxes, QOTW not being changed...
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:39, closed)

"I'm not sure there was a father; I think it was parthenogenesis."
You mean like Anakin Skywalker?

Are we soon to see child of Enzyme bringing fear and tyranny to the galaxy on the end of a lightsabre?
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 12:40, closed)

@CHCB
Ah, now I know why Enzyme was out of breath.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:40, closed)

@PJM
The problem with PR is that it still works on the assumption that the majority is correct simply by virtue of being the majority. I simply can't see why the numbers should be important, though.

Given some question Q in respect of which one person is correct and 400 are wrong but in agreement with each other, oughtn't the correctness of the one trump the mistake of the majority.

Clearly, that's formalistic, since the problem is often what counts as the "correct" solution. But, that being the case, it's recognised experts to whom we should turn - not the half-baked reckonings of the quarter-informed.

I'd love to share a Millian optimism about the benefits of debate in fumbling towards answers - but that's only really reliable when everyone is committed to disinterested argument and accepting the conclusion of the argument, whatever it may be. That simply doesn't happen.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:43, closed)

"Doesn't parthenogenesis come from the Greek for "young woman"? "
I was lead to believe it means "virgin birth".
Stick Insects can do it.
( Cawl, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:54, closed)

Kaol
Colloquially, it's come to mean "virgin birth". But, IIRC, the partheno- bit means "young woman", and so "virgin" only by implication.

Could be wrong, though - I had to teach myself Greek by crossreferencing the Penguin and the Loeb Classical Library editions of Plato and Aristotle (with a bit of Liddell and Scott's Lexicon thrown in).


@GOAT: you're changing your original post again. Now you say that the US and UK are both socialist systems. I'd welcome it - with reservations - if they were. But they aren't. Really. They aren't.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:57, closed)

Ah right, thanks for that!
So... Talk to me about where the Parthenon (spelling may be wrong) comes into this.
Something to do with the young women who attended the temple? I think they had to be virgins.
( Cawl, Thu 29 May 2008, 12:59, closed)

@Kaol
Not quite. It's a temple dedicated to Athene, who was very protective of her virginity.


Well, with a father like Zeus, you would be, wouldn't you?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:02, closed)

Ah, yeah
I dulled out most of my classics lessons with drugs when I was at school.

I did go to it once, but I was concentrating on not tripping over or being roasted too much.
( Cawl, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:04, closed)

@Kaol
Just checked the Tufts University online lexicon: "parthenos" means "a maid, maiden, virgin, girl".
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:07, closed)

Oh...
What do I win?
( Cawl, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:09, closed)

you win
some muddy stilettos and a bra full of loose change
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:11, closed)

Wow!
I'm assuming that you mean the thin, stabby knives, yeah?
( Cawl, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:12, closed)

the shoes I'm afraid
sorry to be the bearer of bad news....
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:15, closed)

Does this QOTW answer have the record for most replies?
This is 78 now :)
(Miggyman, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:17, closed)

Miggyman
not even close :-)
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:18, closed)

The answer to all of this is staring you in the face
It's so obvious...we need to return to a Matriarchy. More to the point a grammar based Poultry Matriarchy.


Problem solved.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:48, closed)

^ No chance.
I should be in charge.
Forever.

I can be caring.
Plus the money and the houses of the people I have brutally executed will be given to the poor.
( Cawl, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:54, closed)

My God! Chickenladies got it.....
A matriachy is the answer.


Plus sanitary products become free.....yay!
( girlinthehole, Thu 29 May 2008, 13:59, closed)

BGB
Mooncups would be handed out to all females as a rite of passage.

Then we'd no longer need to suffer the bloody (ahem) Feminine Hygiene aisle in the supermarket. Feminine Hygiene....I'm not dirty!

but for a small fee I can be....
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:00, closed)

^
a matriarchy is cool with me as long as anyone who's pissed me off in the past, ooo, 5 days is kept imprisoned in my spare room until they repent and repent good*

(*may involve hot sex)
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:02, closed)

Ah
Jam Sponge
( Hampster Squared has stuff at www.tilla.co.uk, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:02, closed)

Free cake for everyone over retirement age.
Free cake for everyone under the retirement age.

Subsidised payments for purchase of tights for jobs that make you dress in skirts and blouses. Jesus! I used to go through loads of them.

Edit, I used to go through loads of tights, not jobs.
( girlinthehole, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:09, closed)

Yep, Free Cake!
I'm all for that.

What about Kittens? There should be a Ministry of Kitten Affairs.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 29 May 2008, 14:17, closed)

I like the b3tocracy idea
Can I be Minister for Cake?

*administers cake*
(happylittletulip helpless and delicious, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:39, closed)

and you, brute?
Is it really so nuts to suggest that economists should run the economy, historians should have an input on foreign policy, people who know about education should run the education system, that people who know about science should have something to do with science policy so on? And that fat-headed, xenophobic, pusillanimous, flag-waving, money-grubbing, semi-literate, kneejerk reactionaries with no concern beyond their ill-defined "rights" and how the're being taken away by the "liberal elite" - because perish the thought that we should think about things and consult anything so occult as evidence - ought to be kept as far away from politics as humanly possible?

Economists DO run the economy, etc - we're called "the public service". People whine about us.

And whilst I agree about the fat-headed, pusillanimous etc, I can't recall *your* efforts to run for your own rotten borough. What do you think the percentage of people who whine about corrupt politicians is, versus people who actually bother to either join a party or, glub bless them, run as an independent? I'm thinking maybe .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%.
I've pretty much stopped taking the whiners seriously. "Why aren't there more women in Parliament?" Well, have you put your hand up? "Parliamentarians are unrepresentative of the general population." Well, have you... screw this, I'm just going to go back to work after I finish this beer.
(Emily Bruce-Dickinson http://jovialfellow.blogspot.com/, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:49, closed)

EBD
So you don't recall my attempts to run for office. Given that we've never met and live on different sides of the fucking globe, I'm not wholly surprised.

I haven't stood for anything, as it happens. It should be fairly clear that I have no faith in the electorate. Nor do I claim to have any idea of how to run my own household, let alone a country. I don't see why that's relevant in the slightest.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 29 May 2008, 14:52, closed)