woke.

[Keith Houchen]

14 minutes ago, Tamura said:

I assume that's a law and order thing, and not a resurrection of the 90s/00s street parties?

 

Haha!! If it was they’d have my vote!!

[The Gaffer]

1 minute ago, Loki said:

We should probably just delete the internet, it's not been a force for good.

I'd be fine with just Wikipedia and UKFF content creators to be honest!

The whole internet/social media thing is another reason the psychological need to get into QAnon and stuff is senseless and just obfuscates actual issues. The truth is more out of control and out to get you than the fiction. 

[organizedkaos]

To be fair the internet allows for greater understanding of others viewpoints too.  I'd argue a decent chunk of the fervour around all this is because people are suddenly hearing what it's like to be <insert minority> and understanding better how the system still lets people down along with how even with the best of intentions our language and actions can contribute to a problem.  Whilst I do know trans adults (who transitioned as adults) my understanding of what it's like to be a trans child and the parent of a child has in part come from this thread (and in whole come from reading people's experiences either online or in other media)

It's arguable that the internet allowing people to understand the difficulties others face has led to more urgent attempts to rectify things that can seem outlandish to those for whom <insert minority> is still a confusing thing (along with the general "these people are coming to attack/rape/murder you/your wife/your children" rhetoric that people love to use to drum up hate)

It's the companies vying to be your only mechanism of experiencing the internet that becomes the problem. They control what you see along with controlling the form through which you express yourself (thou shalt not use more than 260 characters to have a converation). They're the ones who using outrage to gain your time and money. 

Sure without these giant machines of money making you'd still potentially be exposed to hate and horror but the original idea (or one of the original ideas) was stuff like this. People setup a space where people can communicate. Sure they can instill rules and regulations and decide what is said but it's arguably run by people for the love of doing it.. Instead we gave so much of that up because massive tech companies offered us an easier solution - the cost simply being that they would encourage outrage and arguments rather than genuine conversation

 

(Obv this is all a little idealistic but it makes me sad reading tech stuff from people involved in the 60s/70s... they had such high hopes for what could be)

[lanky316]

5 hours ago, BomberPat said:

She also highlighted something I think is key to their success, which is that Rowling married all the borrowed fantasy tropes to the format of an English public school novel - when you see foreign tourists lining up for Harry Potter tours, or at the made-up platform at Kings Cross, or the merch shops that have blighted the Shambles in York and half of central London, and Harry Potter stuff in British tourist tat shops, you realise that a lot of what made the books attractive internationally was that the weirdness of an English boarding school setting was just as alien to other people as all the magic.

I know we've slightly moved on in the conversation but going back to this. I think this is also a part of the factor in why a 12 year old Lanky also didn't really gel with it. Not only had I already caught elements of the fantasy that had been "borrowed" in various forms. I'd also already seen something similar to this that I already enjoyed, even if I'm not sure that it's aged well but I'd already read "The Worst Witch" series as well as seen the TV show. Not to say they were "basically the same" but as well as all the other fantasy material that was "borrowed" and put into the Harry Potter melting pot and having already read and moved on to other things in there the idea of "boarding school for magic users" had already been and gone as far as I was concerned. I did try Harry Potter but didn't feel the need to read any more after Philosophers Stone between my interests moving on and the feeling I was perfectly happy with Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom and felt I didn't need the far inferior Dumbldore and Snape for my magical teaching faculty thank you very much. Naturally, it didn't get the international attention and fame that Harry Potter would do, in part due to the films, so to an international audience that extra setting is a factor that us stuffy old Brits would overlook and is an aspect that I hadn't really thought of in terms of how massive a franchise it all is.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

My ex was quite into Harry Potter, and about the only thing I took out of the relationship was a box of HP books. Unintended, I forgot I bought them.and never actually gave them over. 

1st Edition adult cover paperbacks of the first 4 or 5 books. Mint condition. Probably worth about a tenner. 

[deathrey]

@lanky316 I also loved The Worst Witch which did have a similar premise. It starred a young Felicity Jones of Star Wars: Rogue One fame.

@ReturnOfTheMack those books would probably have been worth quite a lot before JKR TERF'd herself.

[Mr_Danger]

40 minutes ago, deathrey said:

@lanky316 I also loved The Worst Witch which did have a similar premise. It starred a young Felicity Jones of Star Wars: Rogue One fame.

@ReturnOfTheMack those books would probably have been worth quite a lot before JKR TERF'd herself.

One of the kids had a newer version of The Worst Witch on the other day and it had Bella Ramsey off of Game of Thrones and The Last Of Us in it.  Clearly the real witchy boarding school breeding ground for Britain’s top young actors.

[Surf Digby]

I'm so glad someone else has pointed out the Earthsea comparison, because it was one of the first things that sprung to mind when I watched the first film (I've not read any of the books, and apart from the first, I've only seen a bit of the one where he turns into a fish).

When I watched the first film, I got an almost feeling of deja vu, because it was just a shopping list of ideas from other fantasy books/films. I'd already read The Hobbit, The Worst Witch, and the Earthsea trilogy (as it was at the time), some Discworld, etc. and so it offered nothing. My younger sister - who only likes things before they become popular - insisted that it wasn't derivative, but that Rowling was "re-interpreting classic fantasy themes for a new audience".  

Considering she regards Rowling as some sort of Goddess, but she also puts herself out as being the most inclusive person ever, I'd be curious as to what her thoughts on this are, but that means I'd have to endure a conversation with her.

[garynysmon]

On 4/17/2024 at 5:37 PM, Loki said:

In that respect the older generation not understanding the younger generation is a constant throughout history, but we're definitely seeing a worldwide rise in backlash against the prevailing direction of travel.

We should probably just delete the internet, it's not been a force for good.

On balance I think that social media has not been a force for good and has forced a wedge in society that seems to be widening.

There was definitely a ‘sweet spot’ for the internet. When it broadened horizons, provided us with wikipedia and search engines but your mum and Sandra next door hadn’t discovered Facebook yet.

Broadcast media and the printed press was far from perfect and there have always been red and blue newspapers. But when you consider how much of a platform social media has given to utter cranks, it makes you pine for a time that they didn’t have a platform at all.

In 1994 Laurence Fox, rather than having half a million Twitter followers, would have been a guest on an obscure late night James Whale cable show or stood on a soapbox in an inner London park with people looking on in bemusement.

The 1960’s Heath government decriminalised and legalised a lot of things, including gay sex. The direction of travel was clear and people generally followed.

Its hard to see such liberal and seismic (for the time) legislation enjoying a free ride in this climate.

There was a time when people at least tried to pretend they were ‘hip’ and forward thinking, despite what they may say behind closed doors.
 

But now you can find someone that will share your opinions on anything, which usually has an emboldening effect. You think the earth is flat? Well here’s the Fb group for you buddy…

Edited April 18 by garynysmon

[Mr_Danger]

We’re not getting rid of the internet. I refuse to consult an encyclopaedia every time I need to prove my girlfriend wrong.

[SuperBacon]

43 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

We’re not getting rid of the internet. I refuse to consult an encyclopaedia every time I need to prove my girlfriend wrong.

I reckon you mention your girlfriend every other post. She definitely doesn't exist.

[Jesse]

9 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I reckon you mention your girlfriend every other post. She definitely doesn't exist.

The evidence is damning

 

[Mr_Danger]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

I reckon you mention your girlfriend every other post. She definitely doesn't exist.

By that logic I also have no kids, I’m not a postman and I never take big stinking shits.

[Daaaaaad!]

On 4/17/2024 at 4:59 PM, Keith Houchen said:

The two biggest arseholes in the Manchester Mayoral Election (Reform and the independent, utter bellsniff Nick Buckley) both have Reclaim The Streets as part of their pledges. 

Has it come to this?

[SuperBacon]

9 minutes ago, Daaaaaad! said:

Has it come to this?

Lock down your (5G) aerial.