Bad Mothers?

There is an unlimited amount of ignorance on the internet. But have you ever come across something so stupid that you felt it will give you a heart attack or an aneurism if you don’t confront it.

The particular thing that ground my gears today was a YouTube video broadcast by Stefan Molyneux titled The Hidden Rape of Europe. I have seen many of Stefan’s broadcasts over the past year, and have appreciated his points of view, even if far removed from my own. Stefan has advertised his broadcasts as a daily dose of empiricism.

This broadcast was riddled with conjecture and had no sign of empirical evidence backing up any of the assertions being made by the guest speaker, Toni Bugle who was representing Mothers Against Radical Islam And Sharia.

At one point very early on, she states that a million girls have been raped by Muslims in the UK. There is no reference of where she obtained these statistics, or over how long of a period these rapes took place.

They make a bold assumption that the mainstream media is not broadcasting the full scale of the problem. I don’t know how a million rapes could be hidden from public knowledge. The most notorious case that has been well documented in the mainstream media is that of Rotherham. But to amount to the figure that this woman was claiming, we would need to have incidents like Rotherham in every city in England, Scotland and Wales.

It’s dangerous misinformation like this which propels racial stereotypes and obscene social bigotry. At one point she stated that there are parts of the UK which are unofficial no-go areas, simply because they are not “safe”. Which echoes shades of the story broadcast on Fox news about Birmingham being radicalized. She states that someone with her beliefs wouldn’t be safe in certain areas. I felt she was just projecting her own social insecurities on to others. People cannot tell your beliefs just by looking at you, so long as you’re not ranting and bothering people, I think you are pretty safe walking down any street in the UK.

I really took issue with Stefan saying Islam shouldn’t be referred to as a religion, just as communism shouldn’t be referred to as an economic platform because it’s really about “world domination”. Couldn’t the same argument be made against capitalism? Life, much like philosophy is all about perspective. It’s such a shame to see a talented philosopher with such a closed mind.

This video actually made me feel ashamed for being a subscriber to his channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjsaHF2HtFU

https://twitter.com/Marias0015

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28934963

Post Office Closure? Big Deal Or Who Gives A Fig?

Whilst it is always great to see political rivals put aside their party bias for the common good, I can’t help but feel like they only agree on the soft issues that everyone can easily agree on. Such is the case with the possible closure of the Post Office on the High Street in Aberystwyth.

In total 42 Post Offices have been identified as branches bleeding money and becoming dead weight for the company. Seeing as the Post Office was privatized not so long ago, it cannot afford to operate at a loss.

The premises in Aberystwyth has been in use as a Post Office since 1901. There is no denying the historical and social significance of the building, but what viable options are there to keep it as is, without propping up a private company with public finances?

The local authority could offer a huge rate relief which would make it finically viable for the business interests of the Post Office. But that rate relief would set a bad precedence, whereby any business with superficial historic significance could hold the public to ransom in the same way.

If it is such an important issue to local people, then they could take out home phone and broadband contracts with the Post Office, spend more money in there so it becomes less of a drain on their corporate interests.

I personally find it frustrating that people are rallying behind this banner of saving the post office, when nobody did a thing when it was privatized in the first place. If it was still owned by the state, then it could justifiably run at a loss because it’s a public service. But it’s not and we cannot change that without further cost to the tax-payer.

No one drew battle lines when the sorting office was closed. The location has been turned into Cross Fit and everyone seems happy with the situation. The Post Office, isn’t even talking about removing services, just franchising out, which makes perfect economic sense.

It works well in CK’s at the top of Penglais Hill, and on a national level. If it is franchised out to WHSmiths or the new Tesco, would people really care? Post Office services are becoming obsolete with each passing day. More and more of their services are accessible online, with private delivery firms operating far more efficiently and at a lower operating cost. At what point is it just blind sentiment preventing progress?

I wonder what the townsfolk of today would do if they were informed that a church was closing and being turned into a pub. They would probably be dead set against it, and we would not have the Academy.

Sometimes change is for the better, even though it can be hard letting go of the past, I feel it’s better to embrace the future. The building will always have historical significance, that doesn’t mean it has to remain a Post Office. It could end up being a nice new café, or a boutique clothing store. The possibilities are endless.

Although in this town, it will most likely end up being another Polly’s, a charity shop or a mobile phone shop.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/42-post-offices-could-closed-7205858

https://www.facebook.com/mark4ceredigion/photos/pcb.590103364479859/590103274479868/?type=3&theater