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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   790 thread views

Transnational Thursday for June 4, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Well put.

I think appeals not to set buses on fire would get a better reaction if they were accompanied by an acknowledgement somewhere, anywhere, that at least some of the protesters have grievances which are entirely legitimate. If Keir Starmer gave a public speech in which he sincerely stated "the Henry Nowak case has exposed serious, undeniable deficiencies in British policing which I'm committed to rectifying – but please don't assault police officers", I imagine quite a few protesters in Southampton would take that to heart. Likewise here.

But when the pleas for calm, collected responses are accompanied with no admissions of wrongdoing and barely concealed insinuations that the activists are far-right nutcases who've been manipulated by Elon Musk – I think it really amounts to pouring petrol on the fire. Adults do not like to be treated like naughty children.

"In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.” - Theodore Dalrymple

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