Tommy Robinson

Whats your issue with that?

Once British or English nationalism is tied up with a love of "the Empire" its always going to have limited appeal here, their Empire literally tried population replacement back in the day so they will always grate to some level

doesnt make him any less of a grifter.

Stephen still grifting off the terminally stupid?

I wouldn't consider these clowns nationalist, not in the sense of Ireland/Northern Ireland anyway.

While the rioting was happening in Belfast city centre, in nationalist West Belfast they were having their Féile carnival with displays from a wide range of cultures, nationalities and identities.

https://feilebelfast.com/events/feiles-flagship-carnival-parade/?occurrence=2024-08-03

These tubes marching with the Loyalists are no nationalists. Like all fascists, they hide under the guise of national identity to push their disgusting agenda. If they were true nationalists, from Dublin in particular, they would be acutely aware of the Monaghan and Dublin bombings and would do everything they could to distance themselves from the likes of the UDA.

I think reigning in platforms isn't a reasonable or easy to achieve objective, sadly. It would serve us better to have a robust critical thinking and online awareness program in school, from start to finish. We need to provide children the tools and skills to be able to sniff out clear bullshit, question what they're seeing and to understand the dangers of addiction, social media, echo chambers and confirmation bias. The younger generations were born online, so to speak. There is so much garbage out there that is designed to consume young minds that I fear for them, genuinely.

Anecdote. My kids get very little screen time, maybe 2-3 hours a week. They have to really consider what they want to do with this time, be it watch their favourite show, play video games or watch a movie. Not long ago, they were getting excessive amounts of screen time as a result of trying to juggle work/parenting during Covid and the habit formed. Over that time I noticed things like Cocomelon just zombified them. Looking at it further, and lots of kids TV shows I noticed a pattern of short frame times, constantly moving camera and perpetual stimulation. After we began cutting down on screen time there was a noticeable withdrawal. Tantrums, fighting and what I would describe as depression.

Take this on to social media, where platforms are designed to keep you engaged through doom scrolling, short bursts of information and constant stimulation. Chasing that dopamine hit definitely affects your cognitive, critical thinking skills and I know several friends and family members who have, over time, moved continuously into the realm of conspiracy theories as a direct result of lacking the skills to determine what is real and what is false online. These are people who I would consider intelligent, well educated, empathetic and well meaning.

Sorry for the rant. Basically, I think we need to provide people with the skills to determine what is real and what isn't. Tackling social media companies would be a wack a mole and they'd find new ways to circumvent any kind of restriction, there is simply too much money involved.

He has a good number of academic publications for sure.

Virtually none of them are in the various areas that he now comments on.

He became well-known due to his opposition to the gender identity bill, and as a result the same cohort of people that opposed that started asking him for his positions on other stuff they tended to feel strongly about, such as immigration, feminism, climate change, islam.

But he doesn't really have any more insight into those topics than the average person, and it showed when he spoke.

oh come on!!

There’s a smear campaign again that c u nt?