It is my contention that the mess we are in today is in part because not enough of us are prepared to share our misgivings about social/corporate/political policies for fear of losing our job or social situation. What needs to happen is for more of us to speak up and stop the woke mind virus from further entrenchment. For instance, there must have been someone working in Number 11 who was uneasy about the Chancellor’s plan to remove all pictures of men from the State Room. I have a fantasy of a cleaner bravely approaching Rachel Reeves and asking her to reconsider, suggesting it sends a dangerous message to working class white boys who are the most educationally unsuccessful in the U.K. Rachel Reeves would suddenly realise her error and shout: “Yes – boys need role models too!” Yet no-one spoke out and the Chancellor’s misguided iconoclasm continues. (And the worrying thing is, if she’s getting these small decisions wrong what sort of Horlicks is she making of the big ones?)
Whether it’s a new HR wheeze at work that seeks to entrench difference, a dinner party debate or an inappropriate initiative from our children’s schools, we small folk must find our voices and speak out, politely and firmly before more damage is done.
What stops us from speaking out?
- There is a gulf between our instincts and our ability to articulate what we object to and why
- We instinctively dislike conflict
- We worry we will speak clumsily so instead of voicing our legitimate concerns we say nothing at all
- We have hopeless memories and are unable to remember those useful facts when required
- If of a conversative disposition, we fundamentally avoid attempting to change anyone’s mind for the simple fact we are comfortable with allowing people their own thoughts
How to get better at objecting to unedifying ideas
- Ask the person suggesting an obviously daft idea if he or she would mind if you shared your opinion about it, rather than foisting it on him or her uninvited.
- Respect others’ intentions. Most people are good and are trying their best, so avoid a heavy-handed aggressive disapproval.
- Ask questions: “That’s such an interesting idea Chancellor, what are you hoping to achieve by it?” Often, that is sufficient: if the idea is flawed it will unravel itself in no time.
- Remember your Aristotle: to win debates you need ethos, logos and pathos. Ethos is your good character and your authority to speak on the subject – most crudely used by those who say “as a mother…”. Logos is the truth of the matter. Pathos is your ability to persuade your opponent. Emotion alone is insufficient to win the point, it must be backed up by truth, but an ability to connect with and respect the emotion of your opponent is vital.
- Remember you are debating the idea not the person. Don’t make him or her feel threatened, belittled or ill-informed.
- Just try it! You don’t need to present a fully formed Douglas Murray-style-gotcha speech, initially it might just be sufficient to say, “I’m not yet sure why, but this idea is making me feel uncomfortable, may I have a think about it and get back to you?” If social or career disaster doesn’t follow, then you may feel emboldened to make a more spirited and researched objection later.
- Be prepared to flatter. “You will know more about this than me but have you thought about…”
- Listen to your opponent. Don’t stand there rolling your eyes, tutting or guffawing,
- Remain calm and never shout.
- Be prepared to use their own language. “Chancellor, this act of removing artworks of men might be considered by some to sit adjacent to sexism…”
- Be satisfied with having planted a seed of doubt in those who listen to you, rather than furiously fighting for decisive victory.
- Remind yourself why making a stand is important: “If not me, who? If not now, when?”
Joanna Gray is a writer and confidence mentor.
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As a young lad, I had a bad stammer. It was hugely embarrassing and I didnt understand why I had it. It was a very tough time. I still stammer now every now and again, not often, but it does revist. It’s horrible, demeaning and dents your self confidence like nothing else will. So, No, you can never forgive them. It’s abuse and you never forgive an abuser
Muzzles are an outrage, the extremists in all of the establishments were given a free run. As an adult I found it hard enough, can only imagine how hard it was for someone so young. I have a hearing problem and lip read much of the time which presented huge problems. I walked away from many conversations after telling people I couldn’t understand them and they just spoke louder!
Thank you for sharing this, Fraser.
These records are so important for those in the future who will – will! – continue to shelter fragile liberty in their hands…
It motivates me to write my experiences since March 2020.
And thank you, Toby Young and Team, for making and keeping this space available.
Sarai qualcuno se resterai diverso dagli altri.
From Vent’Anni by Måneskin
I wouldn’t forgive them. Those people are not fit to have the care of children.
If others want to forgive then that’s up to them. I will neither forgive nor forget.
Odd isn’t it how your boy got so much hassle for not wearing a mask. I never wore a mask anywhere once, and scarcely got any trouble at all. Then again I’m a six foot bloke who does plenty of exercise and who probably looks as if he’s got plenty of forceful answers ready.
As well as having a load of other unfortunate traits, the people who hassled your boy are bullies.
And how long before some unfortunate parent posts an article: ‘Can I ever forgive them for forcing my teenage child to take the vaccine?’
As I say, I’m neither forgiving nor forgetting.
PS: hopefully your boy has learnt some useful life lessons from this debacle.
I can second that. It seems that mask enforcement here was and is solely an occupation for bullies and their by them easily identified potential victims.
Just a few days ago, I accompanied a friend to a radiology appointment in a huge hospital maskless and was never harassed, to the contrary.
I do think that the British character also plays a positive role here- politeness, reservedness, born to be mild etc- very much in contrast to the other country and people I had and have to deal with in this regard, ze Germans, who fully lived and still live up to their true character and most nasty reputation again.
Ze Germans are still ruled by a political class which tries very hard to be 110% American (left) on everything because anything else is what the Nazis do. These people have forced my 82 year old mother to walk everywhere with a N95 mask in her face which was causing her constant pain and distress and (for a time at least) managed to scare her into believing that this was actually necessary.
That’s certainly not my idea of German character.
The author is right not to hold his breath.
The world has been plunged into a kind of medical sharia. Masks and vaccines are the physical symbols of this new quasi religious law.
Their efficacy are irrelevant, their pushers don’t care about efficacy. They are tools of enforcement of and compliance to a new ideology.
Like with most religions, it is a collectivist ideology, created by people who wish to impose themselves on us and dominate us.
They exploit our fear of death and offer redemption through submission. Wear a mask, take our jabs and you will be saved from death.
They also exploit our need to be part of something bigger and more meaningful through some form of self sacrifice. The irrationality is in fact an essential part of this. There is a strange nobility to irrational faith.
There is no other way to explain the succes of something that is otherwise so completely useless and pointless.
Putting implementation and enforcement of the nonsensical “preventative measures” in the hands of the ignorant, the bigoted, and the very often amateurs in industry, commerce, public service and everyday normal life was, and still is, licenced sadism.
It’s now obvious that politicians don’t care about anyone but themselves. Watch the following video to find out what George Osborne is up to.
Why Do Politicians Retire So Rich?
youtube watch?v=yHJYjc2r2aI
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True forgiveness can only come after repentance. I’ve seen little signs of repentance.
The bastards can repent all they want, I’m never forgetting and certainly not forgiving.
I’ve just finished reading The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Mattias Desmet, and what has been made even clearer to me, despite already knowing that masking was enforced as a psychological tool, is that the population adopted masks as a group-signifyer. The mass formation psychosis which I believe was knowingly put upon the population (how can SPI-B not have known that this would have been the outcome of the governments’ actions, unless they really are more ignorant than they let on) essentially created two tribes: those in the grip of the psychosis, and that smaller group who were not.
And just as we have seen in countless times in history, there is absolutely no tolerance for those who don’t perform with religious zeal, the rituals of the tribe – masking being the most explicit, amongst others. And when I say no tolerance, the totality of the psychosis is such that even an exemption is seen as a gross dissent/offence against the religion. All rationality, nuance or compassion is thrown out of the window seeing as the collective group is all that matters – the individual a pesky notion that’s best done away with. I imagine everyone at ‘Lockdown Sceptics’ has been shouted at or threatened for not masking at some point? This enraged policing of others is not normal, rational behabiour.
As Mattias Desmet sums up in his book, in times of mass formation psychosis it’s incredibly important that folks stand up for the sanctity of the individual, even if they are very small in numbers. Such psychosis and totalitarianism isn’t sustainable, and eventually things fall apart and people regain their senses. But it’s important that there is always pushback throughout the dark times as to hopefully banish the illness sooner rather than later.
Thank you Sir very well put. I too have Mattias Desmet’s book. I haven’t read it yet as I have lots of books on the current madness that I’m wading through but really looking forward to The Psychologically of Totalitarianism.
I’ve been listening to Prof Desmet’s conversation with Chris Martensen on the Peak Prosperity podcast (this after his chat with Bret Weinstein).
I was struck by a point he made in this that I haven’t really grasped before: that the greater one’s expertise and training in a discipline like science, the more humane and humble one becomes. He likened it to the Eastern training in martial arts where you study the techniques and then sort of forget them. Sounds like many of our purveyors of The Science are pretty superficial, unless I misunderstood the point he was trying to make.
He made it sound almost religious -( but we should be careful how we use that term because religiosity has become an unfortunate manifestation in the public’s observation of anti -COVID rituals.
I’ve not heard that interview, although I think perhaps you might be referring to something that Desmet expands on in his book regarding that a real expert trancends the mechanistic way of thinking and working; i.e. learned intuition takes over.
Essentially his argument is that a mechanistic way of thinking/working is an unintended consequence of the enlightenment, which leads to an overly-rationalised mindset which is often at the core of totalitarian states; think technocracy/eugenics etc. I think he’s essentially arguing for a more intuitive and less mechanistic form of scientific and social enquiry, which he argues can only be only achieved from true mastery of ones craft. This particular part of the book rang true with me as i’m a woodworker for a living, and can see how working purely intuitively is the ultimate aim when practicing something like I do.
I admire your stand and applaud your stepson for making his own difficult decision. It is abhorrent to me that schoolchildren should be forced to act and look like, well, slaves. Every time I see a school bus go by with its masked passengers fills me with sadness and anger. If these ‘authorities’ that impose these mandates bothered to do their own research, bothered to do some of their own thinking even, they would find plenty of studies that show the utter ineffectiveness of masks. Let’s not forget for one moment, it is all about control and fear.
And so say all of us! Face knickers? Sick symbols of subjugation!
“If these ‘authorities’ that impose these mandates bothered to do their own research, bothered to do some of their own thinking..”
They don’t care they are bully boys drunk on their newly created power and they are loving every minute of it. Evil pure evil.
I never wore a mask. I was rarely challenged but if I was, I responded with a polite “I’m exempt” and was never turned away. It did cause me occasional anxiety but it was much easier as an adult woman than as a child or young person. Reading Arthur’s story, I’m full of sympathy but also full of admiration that he stood his ground, particularly against his bombastic headmaster, who really should have known and done better. So bloody well done and bless you, Arthur; you’re stronger than you might think.
I have never worn a mask. I was politely challenged once in a clothing store and I did declare myself exempt. All subsequent challenges were in “health care settings” – ain’t that an oxymoronic use of words – and once or twice I declared an exemption. And then I did some thinking. The answer was sod any exemption, I’m not wearing a bloody mask. My logic was that using the exemption get- out was in a way complying.
By God did I have some stand-offs and the worst were hospitals. Anyway I just thought bollox, I’m not backing down. I didn’t and got my way. Actually on a few occasions I challenged staff – “are you refusing treatment because I won’t wear a mask?” And thereafter I refused the mask excuse and just baldly stated ‘I don’t wear masks.’
Firkers!
To the author of this piece:
Many thanks for a heart rending article and a tip o’ the hat to your brave stepson. Good lad.
You are made of the right stuff and like you I never wore a mask on any occasion during the whole of the Covid fiasco. I was only challenged on one occasion, and that was by a woman in the local park cafe, who was both visored and muzzled. I told her to mind her own business and get on with making the coffee, which she duly did.
My younger son (now 31) has a mild stammer. It never held him back …. he too is handsome, sporty, clever and has a very successful career.
The country (the Governing Class and most of the brainwashed population) don’t care about Arthur ….. but you and your family obviously care a great deal. So in the long run, I’m sure he’ll be fine.
We in the Control Group are rooting for him.
I cannot forgive my professional body, which annually has a week of ‘Giving voice’ to highlight communication difficulties faced by a large number of our fellow citizens.
The Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists did absolutely naff all to stand up to the muzzle zealots.
It was predictable to so many without any training that muzzles impaired communication, yet the RCSLT chose to support the narrative.
I’m pretty much a lone voice in my profession.
Bravo Arthur & family.
Poor lad. Still they do say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully your stepson is made of tough stuff and this has made him tougher. These people are just bullies – come the revolution……
My daughter-in-law had to take our grandson to the local A&E with a small injury. They have reimposed the mask mandate and have worn the rag for several hours on a hot day, she felt faint and had to go outside to recover. Do not NHS staff suffer having to wear these useless rags all the time? Or are they so imbued with the protective nonsense that they wear them with the pleasure of doing the right thing?
The stupid ones suffer silently because they believe this helps others. The not stupid ones just suffer, probably fumingly. In any case, it’s abuse. That stupid/ gullible people can be fooled into harming themselves doesn’t make it right.
The short answer is no, you absolutely can not forgive them – the utter swine are beneath our contempt.
Never forget, never forgive.