Memorable quotes

No reason for posting this except to share a few quotes I have found memorable. Feel free to share your own.

“An educated and literate electorate is far harder to govern”

Tony Benn

“Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all the others”

Churchill

“F**k the G-rides, I want the machines that are making them”

Rage Against The Machine

“Keep people scared and they will consume”

Marilyn Manson

“The strongest man is he who stands alone”

Henrik Ibsen

“I don’t agree with what you say but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”

Voltaitre

“Freedom of speech is an absolute. Either everybody has freedom of speech or nobody has meaningful freedom of speech”
Nick Griffin

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing”
Elbert Hubbard

‘It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.”
Niccolo Machiavelli

“Gone are the days when the royals will farm on the backs of the people”
Pridi Banomyong (Thai politician)

Sean Gabb

On Friday, whilst searching for a different file on my laptop, I discovered a PDF of a book called :”Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives Lost England, and How to Get It Back” by Sean Gabb.

I had no recollection of seeing the download, the book or the author but I’m very glad I discovered it.

Sean Gabb is apparently leader of the UK Libertarian Alliance and a true conservative. The book is short and highly readable and Gabb astutely dissects a very clever form of thought control, cultural conditioning and creeping normalcy used by the UK government. By analysing usage of Orwellian terminology such as “Far right” (Thereby allowing the media to label anyone as “right wing” as being measurably close to the evils of Hitler), “progressive” and “modernisation” , Gabb demonstrates a rule that’s importance had been lost on me ever since I learnt it in A-Level psychology: the vocabulary available to us affects and conditions the thoughts available to us.

Another area where Gabb and I agree – though Gabb is far more articulate – is the attack on one of the most exploited, ambiguous, demonised and overused words in the English language: “racist”. As Gabb points out, a ‘racist’ can be a doctor who conducts a scientific test that shows Hispanics have a higher IQ than Asians, it can mean a difference of values between two groups of people or simply a preference for one’s own people and values.

I detest the word ‘racism’ and so does Gabb, apparently. (Genuine hostility, harm or maltreatment of somebody based purely on their race is racial discrimination).

Gabb has a range of books, articles and media clips available on his web site including the aforementioned book utterly free of charge. If you like it, please send him a donation. I sent a tenner myself, a bargain for the books on offer. There are few academics who take a stand against the nonsense pervading our society in this day and age, but Gabb seems to be one of the brave ones.

Reasons to keep out of Europe’s EU pt2

Jean Marie lays it down! This man deserves to have a beer bought for him in every bar in France!

Reasons to keep out of Europe’s EU

It just occurred to me today that it would be useful to collate some of the evidence and arguments against EU membership. So let’s begin!

This is a new idea which I will update regularly.

1) Corruption is increased exponentially by the EU

MEP’s censor details of expenses claimed to the sum of 140 million

2) Lack of transparency.

EUP elects to clarify “documents” as papers on the official register only. (See ‘Private Eye’ issue 1213)

3) It’s undemocratic.

The “no” vote to the Lisbon treaty has been treated with utter contempt. (See this video too)

Group forming rules are being changed to squeeze our euro-sceptics.

Ask Jean Marie for a great speech on the EU!

BNP policies in use elsewhere?

The BNP manifesto is not revolutionary or an untested collection of ideology. Many of the party policies have been used or are in use elsewhere.

Men who have completed military service should be obliged to keep a gun in the home for use in defence.

This policy has been used in Switzerland. Crime remains low and accidents with guns are equally sparse.

Opting out of the EU.
This has been done by Norway, Switzerland and to some extent now by Ireland. None of these countries have seen any loss of economic fortune. Indeed, Norway remains a model economy in many respects. Yes this is partly due to its abundant resources but good management has also played a key role.

Voluntary Repatriation of immigrants.

As the official site announces, Spain has now begun a system of paying fifty percent of benefits to unemployed immigrants providing they repatriate. The policy has so far been peaceful and successful.

Of course, no two countries are exactly the same and what works for one might not work for another. Likewise, even when policies run successfully there are lessons to be learned. Italy’s recent removal of foreigners did spark some violence which was not well handled and resulted in utterly tragic deaths.

But the point is that BNP policies are not extreme. They are pragmatic, workable and relevant to the UK. It should be clear that our current government is not up to the task, isn’t it time to give the UK the reform it needs?

Now I’m off to try and improve at ‘MASS Effect’ on the Xbox360. I’m an old school console gamer so it often takes me a while to adjust to games with so many control options on a joypad.

Talk about yourself

I’m curious to know what inspires people to a particular viewpoint or party, so I’d like to invite anyone to discuss how they came to the politics they hold.

Did your parents have the same views?

Have you changed your views over time?

Was there a particular event or issue that changed you?

For me, I was not interested in politics much until my twenties (my colleagues often assume I studied Politics for my Bachelor’s, but actually I studied Business Administration before realising I’m not really a businessman!). I voted Labour when Blair first took over because Labour seemed fashionable back then.

My parents were traditional Tory voters but I think my mum was an occasional Lib Dem defector and my I think dad has now lost faith with the Tories and switched to UKIP.

I began to take an interest in the BNP when I saw first hand the change in my home town and the behaviour of some ethnic groups. I don’t mean that in a wholly negative sense either, I noticed that some ethnic groups worked very hard and contributed massively to society. I always had a feeling that the media were not telling us the full story about immigration and its affects. In fact I had that hunch even before I took an interest in politics. Likewise, I always feel unsure about Islam though I had (and still have) Muslim friends. For a long time I resisted joining the BNP because I knew vaguely that there was a stigma attached to them. But over the course of about five years I became a more frequent visitor to the site and a sequence of events: the Mandela statue in London, 9/11, the London Bombings and my study of The Quran bought me to take the plunge.

But I realise what’s right for one person is not for everyone. My travels have shown me that a person’s upbringing can have a huge affect on the way they see the world, even when two people are viewing the same events, they can see things very differently. The political fighting in Thailand is a perfect example of that.

So out of curiosity, I’d like to invite anyone to talk about themselves. I’ll read the replies later, I’m off to play with my son and – after he goes to sleep – my xbox 360 :-)

About National Socialism and “BNP socialism”

In this short piece I’ll be looking to answer a few questions:

1) What is National Socialism? Is it equivalent to being both Nationalist and Socialist?

2) Is National Socialism inherently evil? Is it unworkable?

3) Are there any modern parties that use or hold a National Socialist ideology?

I will use the terms “National Socialism” “Nazism” and “NS” interchangeably.

What is National Socialism? Is it equivalent to being both Nationalist and Socialist?

Wordweb defines National Socialism as:
“a form of Socialism featuring racism and expansionism”. A search on ‘google scholar’ reveals that almost every paper, every book and every encyclopaedia entry on National Socialism references to the Nazis.

The roots of NS almost entirely originate from Germany, mostly with the intellectual doctrines of late nineteenth century figures such as the composer Richard Wagner who encouraged the militant type Socialism of some European states and espoused what would now be considered a vile form of “master race” type psychology.

However the separate ideologies of “Nationalism” and “Socialism” existed a long time before such political evolution occurred. In any case, a cursory search of the internet should be enough to confirm that “National Socialism” is now epitomised by Nazism and vice versa.

So while “Nazism” is a portmanteau of “Nationalist Socialist” (in German), a study of political timelines shows us that NS should be considered an entirely separate and unique ideology in its own right. National Socialism is not simply a loose term for any party or ideology that happens to have elements of both Nationalism and Socialism. The later two ideologies can and do exist entirely as entirely different entities from NS.

So what is NS? National Socialism has several defining characteristics. It is dictatorial and therefore anti democratic. It is expansionist. It is anti-economic liberalism but also anti-Communist. It is militant and, of course, nationalistic.

This is a total contrast to the separate ideologies of Socialism and Nationalism. Socialism – in brief – believes in greater distribution of income and resources in a struggle to lower the class gaps in society. Nationalism – also in brief – seeks to place the role of the state or nation at the forefront of society in order to make people aware of their culture and identity. There are many separate forms of Nationalism including civic Nationalism and ethnic Nationalism.

It should therefore be apparent that NS is not at all equivalent to being “Nationalist” or “Socialist”. Modern Socialist parties in the UK would heavily oppose many of the aforementioned aspects of NS and crucially, they would go through the democratic channels, which is against a core concept of Nazism.

Is National Socialism inherently evil? Is it unworkable?

It should be equally apparent that while Nazism was an evil and unworkable ideology, it is certainly not evil to hold an ideology of Socialism, Nationalism, or an ideology that combines elements of both.

Are there any modern parties that use or hold a National Socialist ideology?

Apparently, yes. I have heard of fringe groups that follow Hitler or employ Nazi ideology. These fringe groups will never be anything more than a small bunch of misguided people. In the mainstream, there are no such parties. Whilst some people have accused the British National Party of being “Nazis” or “Fascists”, these are groundless, almost comical accusations. Certainly the BNP is a Nationalist party which contains elements of Socialism in its political manifesto but – as we have seen – like any other serious party the BNP has core values that are polar opposites of Nazism. The BNP is a party committed to the democratic process. It also supports a policy of non-intervention in foreign conflicts and affairs, which is a total contrast to the expansionist zeal of Nazism. Anyone who accuses the BNP of Nazism clearly has no understanding of history or politics.

Nazism is, essentially, a horrid ideology that is now firmly rooted in history and may it always stay there. It has no relevance to many of the modern, progressive parties in the UK that follow the democratic process and employ elements of both Nationalism and Socialism when needed.

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Sources for definitions of Nazism:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405414/National-Socialism

http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_national.html