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Daniel Finn - Keir Starmer’s Election Pitch: Change You Can’t Believe In

Posted by johnhol <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=johnhol' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 1:02 pm

Keir Starmer’s Election Pitch: Change You Can’t Believe In

BY DANIEL FINN

The British Labour Party will probably cruise to victory in July’s election after more than a decade of social vandalism by the Conservatives. But there is little popular enthusiasm for a party determined to promise as little change as possible.

https://jacobin.com/2024/05/keir-starmer-uk-election-2024/

Daniel Finn goes full on transhumanism and anti-proletariat

Posted by Chris Rogers <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Chris+Rogers' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 2:26 pm, in reply to "Daniel Finn - Keir Starmer’s Election Pitch: Change You Can’t Believe In "

Don't engage with Jacobin much anymore and with good reason when one reads tripe like this from Mr Finn, i.e., I'm at a loss why the author claims that the Tory Party has been waging war against Tranhumanists given the fact this Woke agenda crap has emerged under 14 years of Tory Rule and has only been rolled back against in the past 18 months with the release of the provisional Cass Report and very recently, the full Cass Report. Further, the lunacy of harming kids, teenagers and young adults has been rolled back in many European nations, none of which are anti-Trans, they are driven by fact-based evidence, which finally Parliament has had to act upon - so, as soon as Finn expressed his true colours one lost interest as have zero interest in propaganda from Woke cultists.

Perhaps Finn should get out of his 'middle class liberal progressive' bubble and actually engage with the UK's proletariat/working class, who don't have much interest in pushing Woke crap, indeed, most oppose this tripe as any visit to a Wetherspoons Pub, workingmen's club or social club would underscore and its these folks who are the most likely not to use their vote or vote for Reform UK - its these folks the Left actually needs to engage with, alas only Galloway's WPGB seems interested in, Finn certainly ain't, meaning, he ain't no Jacobin!

Re: Daniel Finn goes full on transhumanism and anti-proletariat

Posted by Ken Waldron <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ken+Waldron' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 9:15 pm, in reply to "Daniel Finn goes full on transhumanism and anti-proletariat"

"... I'm at a loss why the author claims that the Tory Party has been waging war against Tranhumanists given the fact this Woke agenda crap has emerged under 14 years of Tory Rule and has only been rolled back against in the past 18 months..."

I'm somewhat perplexed by your use of "Transhumanists".
As Wiki has it:

"..Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cognition, and well-being."

This is surely not the same as "Trangender" of which the Wiki definition illustrates the patent creeping pre-enlightenment subjectivity by claiming it involves rejection of the "...sex they were assigned at birth. "And of course sex at birth is recognised by fairly obvious biological attributes: not merely "asigned"...

-Are you connflating the terms deliberately or for fun?

Not conflating

Posted by Chris Rogers <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Chris+Rogers' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 9:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Daniel Finn goes full on transhumanism and anti-proletariat"

No Ken, I'm not conflating, transgenderism is backdoor transhumanism in my humble opinion - see this: https://gendercriticalwoman.blog/category/transgender-to-transhumanism/

See this: https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-12-23_61c4e86ac7091_FromTransgendertoTranshuman_AManifestoontheFreedomofFormPDFDrive.pdf

An Addendum on this issue

Ken,
I've a large collection of sci-fi books that deal with human enhancement, i.e., works by the likes of John Scalzi.

On the transgender stuff, we have once what was sci-fi becoming in many ways fact, here I'm discussing Ursula K. Le Guin, who, and despite advanced age, is big on Transgenderism.

I do not oppose medical advancements that make human lives better or actually save lives, i.e., if we can cure paralysis that would be fantastic and mechanical intervention certainly not opposed by me if it enables a person to walk or replace a damaged limb.

My opposition to Finn's article was clear, he claim's the Tories in government are anti-trans, despite the growth of transgenderism occurring under its watch. If folks want to fabricate that's fine by me, but I prefer facts and them facts are most folks in the UK do not subscribe to women having a penis or men having a cervix. It's one thing being accommodating, another throwing nature and evolution under a bus, i.e., what the heck has a clown fishes ability to alter its sex under certain environmental conditions got to do with mammals or apes?

Re: An Addendum on this issue

"I'm discussing Ursula K. Le Guin, who, and despite advanced age, is big on Transgenderism..."

I read a lot of science & fantasy fiction and certainly the gender bender element is "inclusive" growth Industry stuff...I suspect a lot of authors get asked by editors to put a gender ambiguous character in to widen the readership.

But of course it's called " fantasy" for a reason. These novels are full of the kind of wishful thinking we indulged in as children with batman costumes (mine was home made...)
The average fantasy novel these days involves a hero: invariably female: some waif girl who through hard times becomes an exceptional swords-woman/martial arts expert beating the men at their own game...who then discovers that she also has hidden magical powers of some kind...and maybe throw in a special relation with a beast or dragon too.

When I look at these unfortunate women signing up in Ukraine for a short life in the trenches or Israeli female Tiktok "soldiers" doing their dance routines it makes me feel quite ill that such cosplay fantasy has brought them to that...

Re: An Addendum on this issue .. some minor quibbles ..

Posted by t <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=TomskiD' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 11:02 pm, in reply to "Re: An Addendum on this issue"

"I'm discussing Ursula K. Le Guin, who, and despite advanced age, is big on Transgenderism..."

Interesting that you consider Ursula 'big' on transgenderism. I hark back to the 60s SF when she wrote 'The left hand of darkness':

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness

From memory, she has always been on the left, which, at the time was unusual, coming from an US author.
Just because she wrote this speculative book, does that qualify her as being big on trans .. unless there is evidence that later she has pushed this issue. Has she?

And from Ken: I read a lot of science & fantasy fiction and certainly the gender bender element is "inclusive" growth Industry stuff. Imo this does not have a connection to Ursula's writing per se imo .. that inclusive industry is more in the 90s or whatever. I challenge you to prove me wrong : )

Re: An Addendum on this issue .. some minor quibbles ..

Posted by Ken Waldron <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ken+Waldron' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 11:17 pm, in reply to "Re: An Addendum on this issue .. some minor quibbles .."

... And from Ken: I read a lot of science & fantasy fiction and certainly the gender bender element is "inclusive" growth Industry stuff. Imo this does not have a connection to Ursula's writing per se imo .. that inclusive industry is more in the 90s or whatever. I challenge you to prove me wrong : )

Lol!... think I read one book:"Wizard of Earthsea"? many years ago therefore I have no intention of rising to any "challenge" to prove or disprove anything: I comment on the present state of literary fantasy/fiction and possible repercussions.

Ursula has pushed transgenderism very, very recently

Posted by Chris Rogers <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Chris+Rogers' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 11:33 pm, in reply to "Re: An Addendum on this issue .. some minor quibbles .."

T,
I'm afraid Ursula has pushed Transgender Ideology and not in the too distant past - plenty of her speeches on You Tube underscoring this as she's considered a person of import to the Trans Activists, the same of course is true of Judith Butler, whilst being right on Palestine, fact remains her work has underscored Transgender Ideology. Indeed, as Finkelstein noted of Butler, her sacrifice for Socialism has been declaring her gender as non-binary.

Mind you, the Trans Rights Activists are a fickle bunch, whilst they are keen on Ursula K. Le Guin, they ain't keen on Joe Haldeman's Forever War, which, in esseance was an anti-Vietnam war novel, one that focuses on sexuality and gender among many other things. Indeed, at the end of the novel most of mankind has become Non-binary and cloned - the male and female protagonists going into the sunset to live on a planet who's inhabitant's remain CIS-heteronormative bores!

Re: Ursula has pushed transgenderism very, very recently

Posted by t <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=TomskiD' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 11:48 pm, in reply to "Ursula has pushed transgenderism very, very recently"

I'll have to look out for any recent statements by Ursula on this.

Although I read 'Forever War' three times because it was so good (I know, I know), I failed to detect the transgender strands, or his focus on sexuality : /. Joe was an astronomer and was drafted into Vietnam war, and I liked his playfulness with relativity based on physics. Anyway, new one on me. I don't intend to read it for the forth time to confirm your findings

Oh, its in there, give it a listen rather than actual read

Posted by Chris Rogers <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Chris+Rogers' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 26, 2024, 12:28 am, in reply to "Re: Ursula has pushed transgenderism very, very recently"

t,
Most of my book collection in Hong Kong, all 1.5Tb of it, is now in audio format. If you listen to Haldeman again keep a close ear/eye on his numerous returns to what is essentially 'Central Command' and the changes mankind undergoes in his timeline, which in Earth's timeline is centuries - he deals with medical advancements to re-grow limbs, issues of sexuality and finally gender.

Again, I also recommend John Scalzi's 'Old Mans War' series, which has an interesting premise, namely, OAPs volunteering to join the Colonial Military post 70's, being given new youthful bodies and going off to fight alien menaces - some good twists in this with regards his wife.

Re: Oh, its in there, give it a listen rather than actual read

Posted by Keith-264 <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Keith-264' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 26, 2024, 12:42 am, in reply to "Oh, its in there, give it a listen rather than actual read"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War
I read a sci-fi a few years back, "The Forever War" (1974) by Joe Haldeman. I liked it until the Vietnam allegory got too obvious. The future of sexuality was rather funny too.

The last working-class hero in England.

Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021

Re: Oh, its in there, give it a listen rather than actual read

Posted by t <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=TomskiD' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 26, 2024, 1:25 am, in reply to "Oh, its in there, give it a listen rather than actual read"

Like I said, it escaped my attention, this sexuality bit, that is with Joe Haldeman's Forever War. Nevertheless .. I need to check out John Scalzi's 'Old Mans War' series, just in case. I am well read in SF, hence it is likely I came across it, if you like, but need to check.

Lots of good space opera stuff out there

Posted by Chris Rogers <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Chris+Rogers' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 26, 2024, 3:18 am, in reply to "Re: Oh, its in there, give it a listen rather than actual read"

Because of a lack of storage space and lack of e-reader I'm stuck on audio, meaning narration is most important - can't abide this new fangled AI generated narration, which lacks all nuance. Author's I currently like a great deal are B.V. Larson, Vaughn Heppner, Ken Lozito, Christopher Nuttall, Four Horsemen Tales (multiple authors) and Craig Alanson - none of this is heavy sci-fi.

Re: Lots of good space opera stuff out there

Posted by Keith-264 <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Keith-264' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 26, 2024, 9:42 am, in reply to "Lots of good space opera stuff out there"

I was never all that bothered about reading it, I prefer it on telly, like the early series of The Expanse. I also have a sneaking regard for "Screamers", a B-movie that gives them a good name. Years ago I watched "Dark City" and was faintly disappointed but I saw it again last week and liked it much more. Nice when that happens.

The last working-class hero in England.

Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021

Orlando

Posted by Keith-264 <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Keith-264' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 11:29 pm, in reply to "Re: An Addendum on this issue"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando:_A_Biography

That is all.

The last working-class hero in England.

Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021

Orlando - Great film

I've not read the novel by Ms Woolf, but recommend the movie, which among others starred Tilda Swinton and Quentin Crisp, whom, that's Quentin, was certainly not Transgender, quite the reverse, he was a proud, effeminate homosexual. God knows what he'd make of all this Transgender stuff today?

Re: Orlando - Great film

Late in life he wrote that he had found out that he wasn't gay, he a woman trapped in a man's body....

I read the book in 1983 and some git spilt a pint on it in the college bar, tosseur.

The last working-class hero in England.

Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021

Re: Not conflating

Well, I don't particularly get why castration or having a bit of your arm or leg sliced off and rolled up to model a fake penis can be argued to be an "enhancement of the human condition" in any way or manner.

If these are the "sophisticated technologies" involved then I'm beginning to see that, far from modern technological solutions, the Medieval ones: like becoming a Monk or a Nun might actually be a "better idea"...this latter is, after all is said rather than done, actually reversable.

LOL

Ken,
I have no issue whatsoever with Trans folk, i.e., if the person in questions brain is fully matured, that's is over 25 years old and they are suffering no mental illness, its none of my business. However, what's been undertaken on kids, teenagers and young adults, many with diagnosed mental illness or family strife should be of concern to us and the full Cass Report has found little genuine evidence to underscore claims made my Trans activists. Indeed, the Dutch clinic that kicked this all off in the late 90's has no serious evidence on hand to underscore any claim, which is why that very clinic got a EU grant within the last 18 months to actually fully research the use of puberty blockers and hormones on youths, this, despite the fact said Clinic set the gold standard in Trans Care!

And still the believers slag off CASS and anyone else who questions their madness.

Thank God I'm not a member of Gen Z and thank God my daughters been raised in China.

Re: LOL

Posted by Ken Waldron <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ken+Waldron' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on May 25, 2024, 11:01 pm, in reply to "LOL"

Well, I did have a friend who announced ( or rather had his wife annnounce) that he was now a she/woman .

I had no problem with this: as far as I am concerned live and let live. If my friend felt more comfortable living & dressing as a woman then I had no issues with that. There was no problem for a couple of years until one arose when he/she expected me to accept the ideology that he /she with a penis and father of children was an actual biological female.

Unfortunately/fortunately for him/her I seriously dislike gaslighting and certainly dont intend to do it to myself to suit the psychopathology of anyone.

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