How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

Something that made me smile in these difficult times!

Made me feel dizzy! Well, the couple of seconds I stupidly clicked on it did, and I knew I should not have done as I am extremely acrophobic and things like roller-coasters and big wheels are definitely not for me.

I once, just once, went on a big wheel with some friends from university, and apparently passed out when we were barely a few metres from the ground

I have no recollection of getting down - the first thing I knew after getting on the thing was being stretched out on the ground, surrounded by my so-called friends who were in hysterics - except for the one I apparently threw up on!

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I think the world has gone mad. Do some people think that by pulling down statues it will change the history of the last few hundred years?

Things happened and no-one can change the facts by pulling down statues of people who did things so many generations ago.

Pull the statues down. Change the name of pubs, of streets, of towns, of bluddy countries if you want, but it will not change history.

Keep crowding together. Keep protesting. Keep rioting. Keep looting. Keep pulling statues down.

And while doing it, keep passing a deadly virus round. Because while trying to re-write history the virus is still here.

Banning films. Banning television programmes. Making actors and presenters feel guilty and have to apologise to the world on video for having dared say a wrong word on a television programme once.

What next?

Burning books?

I wonder what will happen when the campaigners turn their attention to the art galleries. The tracks of the past are all around us.
We should be proud that it was the UK that led the world in the abolition of slavery. The compensation paid to slave owners was 40% of the National economy - more than 13 billion at current equivalent rates. The money was lent to the UK by the Rothschild Bank, and we have all, through our taxes, repaid this debt. The final payment was only made in 2015.
African children are still being sold into the fishing and cocoa industries by their impoverished parents. Young women are finding themselves lured into sexual slavery. IMO, we should be prioritising the sins of the present day.

Art galleries, museums - I guess they will all have to be boarded up like the Cenotaph and the statues. But as Boris Johnson said "We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history".

But why should anyone have to deny history? History happened, whether we like it or not, and you cannot change facts after the event because the present is now, not in the past, and we cannot go back in time.

The way things are going, we won't be able to sing 'Im dreaming of a white Christmas!' anymore?

It seems that Guy's and St. Thomas', the London hospitals were endowed by major slave traders too!

Disturbing and distressing riots again in London - I think this article sums it up perfectly.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/...IL-COMMENT-nation-forgets-past-no-future.html

As does the comment Churchill once made: "A nation that forgets its past has no future."

Fascinating watching the double standards by the press and police.

One thing for sure, it won't end well

Nobody is prepared to listen to rational discussion. Everyone seems so excitable these days - it must be all the fat and sugar that they eat.

I reckon that a lot of the rioters have not the slightest idea what they are protesting/rioting about. It is almost as if any excuse for a punch-up will do. No football matches so no opposing team supporters to fight - OK lads, let's find the nearest protest march, we are sure to find people to have a go at - and, of course, any excuse to attack the police.

I am only surprised there have not been more cracked heads but if they carry on like this I can see it turning into a real disaster. And if any of the thousands protesting, be they peaceful or violent, is carrying the virus, in all honesty I cannot believe that the disaster will not include a massive new outbreak.

I hope I am wrong. I really hope that I will be proven wrong.

https://mobile.twitter.com/flywithk...nt/news/cycling-live-blog-10-june-2020-274351

As if the protests and the riots are not bad enough, 6.000 covidiots decided to defy lockdown by having "quarantine raves" in the Greater Manchester area, in which a teenager was raped, three people stabbed, and a 20-year-old man died of a suspected drug overdose.

What on earth do they think they are doing?

It seems like the world is intent on destroying itself.

I stand firmly against everyone here on these issues. Unsurprising. I'm a black person in America. I see the depths of these issues - not just the surface and what they put on TV.

Every single confederate statue and other statue erected that support a racist history needs to be pulled down. Every single racist historic figure should have their name SHAMED like Hitler, not given PRAISE by having streets named after them.

There are more important things than the coronavirus. Trust me, the lack of RACIST reminders in our faces won't make us forget history. Being often treated differently because of our race on a regular basis ensures we don't forget. Statues and flags and whatnot don't need to be there for us to be ACUTELY aware of it every single DAY AND NIGHT.

I won't personally join violent protests but I won't tell people to be peaceful when the issues they are protesting were anything BUT peaceful. If what happened to start the protests was legal, then looting stores is legal. BOTH were 100% illegal. This is why they chant "No justice, no peace".

History cannot be rewritten - we are trying to keep it from being re-PEATED. We do not need the support of people who don't understand us or the issues at hand. They are the reasons behind this fight to begin with.

If all you see throughout all of this is riots and coronavirus, then you really are only seeing what you want to see. You act like there are no reasons for people's actions.

We will NOT be silenced or scared into submission this time - it is as you said, that is history. We are misrepresented in the voting polls and census etc.

All these huge companies such as Amazon and McDonald's are backing the movement because they've begun to realize that we are no longer as weak as we used to be. We make up a LOT more of these companies than they lead you to believe.

Also we have the support of a lot of well meaning and understanding people. While it is sad that all of this broke out during the coronavirus - it is more sad that it came back to this at all. Violence and loss of life are awful ALL THE WAY AROUND.

@mjfromga, I think you missed my posts.... and after some of the responses I just stopped.

As a white male in America I have many advantages just because of how I look.

I have experienced racism as a Jew (non practicing, as I’m a non-believer...). I had very long hair until I was almost 30, and when I cut it off I was instantly treated differently, which disgusted me that I was treated so drastically different just because my hair was shorter. It is sad how a shallow many people are.

At my job I am daily, multiple times a day having to ask customers to put their masks over their nose, as they don’t wear them properly. One woman who I was checking out at the register just refused to put her mask on the whole way, glared at me as I repeatedly asked her. One of my coworkers saw her get into her car as she left, and the bumper stickers on it. One was “all jobs are essential” and another was “flatten the freedom curve”. I was very surprised she didn’t have an “all lives matter” bumper sticker as well.... and I’ve seen that phrase in a few posts here recently. I don’t know if this was purposeful or not. I tend to think it was just a real lack of understanding, but I don’t really know. However lack of understanding is no excuse for the callousness it actually expresses.

I don’t think there are any monuments to hitler in Germany, however there are still the remnants of some of the concentration camps for people to visit, I guess as a reminder to not let that happen again.

That there are still huge monuments to confederate generals and schools and army bases and streets still named after them is a disgrace, and I am glad a few have been taken down by protesters, and disgusted that some of the plans to remove others have been held up in courts.

I find it very sad how little progress seems to have been made over the last 60 years. I mean a lot of progress has been made, but it’s not nearly enough. I wouldn’t like to be pulled over by a cop, but I wouldn’t be scared, but not everyone feels that way, simply because of the color of their skin. Just last week in your state, Georgia, the blatant voter suppression, is something that absolutely shouldn’t be happening, yet it continues.

I support the protests, and hope that they can bring about changes. That people are protesting, despite the risks of coronavirus, should show how angry people are over the continued systemic miss-treatment of black people, and other people of color, in America, and around the world. Unfortunately the rioting, violence, burning of cars and buildings, and looting doesn’t have a good look, although it does express the rage people are feeling.

What truly scares me is how many still support the most blatantly racist president in my lifetime. It scares the hell out of me.

I speak from a different perspective. Here in the UK our police are more conciliatory than confrontational. We led the way in abolishing slavery under Queen Victoria and yet her statue has also been vandalised. Churchill led the country to victory in ww2. Had we lost that war we wouldn't have the freedoms we have today to hold protests and yet his statue has been repeatedly vandalised to the point it has now been boarded up.

Why then are the protests, violence and vandalism carrying on in a country widely admired for its acceptance, understanding and tolerance? It makes no sense