Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
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Prufrock Lucifer, son of the morning!, Tue 17 May 2022, 22:12,
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Ah, so this is GBeebies. I haven't missed much.
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Tue 17 May 2022, 22:28,
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Haha sorry chaps, British traditions lost out to American ones years ago.
Caricature 'arguments' and faux outrage can be fun though.
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FeralCatMan Long ads need comments sections, Tue 17 May 2022, 23:01,
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Americans
play the national anthem at all (including school and amateur) sporting events and any other time they can;
they pledge allegiance to the flag, every day at school;
routinely fly their flag outside their houses;
often require people to swear to uphold the constitution on job applications.
I always found this odd as we don't really push the patriotism thing.
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An Egg ,D, Wed 18 May 2022, 1:03,
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I think it's because we have a monarchy.
Whenever we feel the need for some symbol of our national identity all we need to do is imagine Madge sitting on her throne. But, at the same time, we're (generally) not so stupid to advocate blind loyalty to a flesh and blood person these days.
For all that it has been twisted out of shape, the USA was founded on an idea more than anything else, but you can't visibly show support for an idea hence their odd flag worship. I think it's all connected to their belief that the USA really is the best country in the world at everything; it doesn't help that they've never really been brought low on their own soil like most other countries have been (including us).
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jonbob loves you, Wed 18 May 2022, 3:05,
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Hard disagree
Just open a tabloid newspaper to find all the flag waving bullshit you could possibly need.
(, Wed 18 May 2022, 7:11, Reply)
We aren't as indoctrinated as they are, obviously.
They are theocratic in some areas too, I couldn't stand that either.
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FeralCatMan Long ads need comments sections, Wed 18 May 2022, 14:03,
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it's just as bad here
This jubilee celebration will bring it all to the surface. The schools are told to go to town on that
Then we've got the funeral and the coronation to look forward to. Pretty sure we're in the build up to that at the moment - endless royal documentaries and fawning newspaper coverage already softening us up for a new, ridiculous head of state
(, Wed 18 May 2022, 15:07, Reply)
Depends where you live, Wales is not as keen on monarchy.
Another good reason to be reclusive too.
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FeralCatMan Long ads need comments sections, Wed 18 May 2022, 19:52,
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Quite right.
It's strange that a country with an explicit separation between church and state written into its founding documents produces more god-bothering nutcases than one where the head of state is also the titular head of the church.
Maybe there's something about the Anglican branch of christianity that makes its adherents more inclined towards a nice sit-down with tea and biscuits than spouting hateful vitriol on street corners.
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jonbob loves you, Thu 19 May 2022, 6:06,
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Churches have lost so much power here due to education.
Education (especially sciences) does tend to make mass delusion more difficult. For proper theocracy, an ignorant/frightened/powerless population who can be persuaded that one version of god will solve their problems (in the next life) is necessary.
Once a critical mass of 'true believers' is obtained, conformity pressures and laws passed make the rest easier.
Anglicanism was very much more coercive than it is now.
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FeralCatMan Long ads need comments sections, Thu 19 May 2022, 15:39,
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Probably doubled their number of views posting that, from what Ive heard abour gbnews
God save the queen isn’t patriotic enough, the BBC should play Rule Britannia every half hour over footage of the Belgrano sinking
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Tue 17 May 2022, 23:34,
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If that’s true, it’ll be quadruple the number of views Talk TV gets.
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Prufrock Lucifer, son of the morning!, Wed 18 May 2022, 1:10,
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ah, I might have been getting those two mixed up
you're right, it's talk tv that's tumbleweeds
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Wed 18 May 2022, 3:40,
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They're both very bad. Talk TV has had a much bigger marketing spend,
yet is faring the worse of the two. Farage on GB is consistently beating Morgan on Talk in terms of ratings. That's very worrying for Talk, because say what you like about that cunt Morgan, but he is a big time TV star, Farage ain't. Personally, I think Talk's problem is, as far as I can work out, is it's just a televised talk radio show 95% of the time, with endless idiots phoning in, and people don't want to watch a radio show.
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Prufrock Lucifer, son of the morning!, Wed 18 May 2022, 13:16,
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I know piers gets a lot of hate, some of it deservered
or deserved if you prefer
but I think his biggest problem is not him being a bit of a nob, it's him not being a big enough one. He initially fawned a bit over trump and was given opportunities in the US because of that relationship, but in the end he's never going to be one of these "drunk the kool aid" ranters like hannity or carlson. So he's left in this no-mans land where all sides hate him. He recently tried to claw back a bit of credibility by asking trump some unexpected curlers, not exactly frost/nixon but at least he was trying, so the trumpistas have turned on him too. And people who watch because they like getting told the world is going to hell in a woke handbasket won't get there fix from him either. He's a decent though not spectacularly good interviewer who unsuccessfully courted the right without really being one of them and now is friendless in the middle on a shitty channel no one watches
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Wed 18 May 2022, 14:21,
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I think you’re being unreasonably reasonable.
Morgan was handed the ball with a prime time news show on CNN. It was very high profile under Larry King, and although the ratings weren’t amazeballs, it was respectable. He alienated his audience with his snotty, superior, know-it-all bollocks, most famously on gun control, but also more generally. After a while it was clear the ratings slide wasn’t just the underdog struggling to fill big shoes, it was his negative charisma.
By some fucking fluke Morgan won Celebrity Apprentice with Trump. Who’d have guessed an egotistical cunt would get on so well with a self obsessed shit? This made them old mates or BFF or whatever when Trump became president. He cynically, venally and ruthlessly exploited this connection to put himself in the spotlight. In order to do so he basically completely turned a blind eye to the insanity of Trump.
Plus there’s the autobiography where he LITERALLY explains how to hack a phone. Of course he breezily says he never did it. If you go and watch the episode of HIGNFY where he basically threatens to continue to have hacks and paps stalk Ian Hislop, but henceforth with more subterfuge, after Hislop calls him out for doing it, that breezy denial is transparently implausible. He wasn’t joking, it was a threat to continue. He was having the tits hacked off of loads of people.
Then there’s Viglen and the fake photos purporting to be British soldiers torturing people.
He’s an utter piece of shit. So it unnerves me when bits of his schtick resonate. But he doesn’t mean any of it. It’s all calculated as to what can get him front and centre. Nothing else matters.
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Prufrock Lucifer, son of the morning!, Wed 18 May 2022, 21:13,
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fair play, but these are mostly good reasons why the left hate him, and with the gun control and deciding to ask trump some non-softball questions the right see him as not a fellow traveller
I just wonder which demographic he appeals to? Perhaps he was going for a larry king style, but king was personable and consistently landed a-list guests from across the spectrum, so he had that "insomniac baby-boomer looking for unchallenging entertainment with guests they actually recognise" demographic. Piers, like you said, can be smarmy and superior, and now only d-listers want to be interviewed by him. I doubt trump will come back, though you never know
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Thu 19 May 2022, 0:16,
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Don’t worry mate, he’s got Sharon Osbourne on speed dial.
He got a free ride on phone hacking and the fake photos from most on the left as he was always seen as a legit cheerleader as editor of The Mirror. I really don’t see him as Left or Right. He’s a shameless chameleon and an astonishing attention seeker. There’s a lot of bluster, but no gravitas. He’s not an intellectual, he’s not a wit, but he is loud, like an empty vessel.
TBH, I’m not all that keen on the guy.
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Prufrock Lucifer, son of the morning!, Thu 19 May 2022, 20:53,
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"staunch brexiteer"
That alone should be enough to get him on a register.
(, Wed 18 May 2022, 6:57, Reply)
