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Author Topic: The Changing Landscape  (Read 72576 times)

Rob C

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #340 on: February 07, 2019, 06:22:17 pm »

Three straw men standing in a field. The rare Scottish air can do that to a person.

Democracy was not served with that UK referendum. Why not? Because the people were not given the chance to study a considered, straightforward set of facts and figures options based on reality; you know as well as I do that the population was fed a pack of lies, false representations and the hysterical, rabble-rousing bile of a newspaper and commercial tv system that saw one mother of a chance to pick up on something that they knew was going to run and run for at least three years or so, and boy, did they leap in with typical screams and Sun-style headlines! What a heavenly chance to throw mud at Johnny Foreigner - that's sure to be popular! Have you forgotten who owned Sky and the Sun at the time? You expect love and care for Britain to shine through after having to close down a newspaper that hacked private telephones?

Was anybody given a breakdown of the possible/probable business losses? The bankers and traders were almost waved a fond good riddance by the envious crowd of have-nots, of no-hopers filled with the class hatred that has always crippled Britain at one critical stage or another. That wonderful car builder guy in Sunderland, who laughed and confidently crowed that Japan needed our British engineering skills and could never leave the little island for other places was back, if not in person at least in tribal body, a day or so ago after the Nissan statement of intent, and what had the guy to say? "Let 'em go." How many thousands work there for Nissan? My granddaughter is a doctor in a hospital in Manchester: she tells me that if all the foreigners go home, the government might just as well close the doors on the National Health Service because it's held together by foreign blood and expertise.

Democracy had nothing to do with it; it was lies, disinformation and ignorance of the harsh realities of the state of the British economic dependency on international, and that includes European partnerships. The irony here is that for once, many of both the lower and the upper classes had people with similar fantasies of rebuilding the Empire and becoming the new, independent powerhouse of this world.

The B of E has just written a further half-percent or so off the prospects for the coming year, with a good chance of joining Italy in recession; they also suggest the current level of the pound is not sustainable: and it is already in the ditch! How low can it go?

There is still hope: maybe Parliament will find the balls to declare that it cannot accept its new rôle of assisting national suicide, and produce some eleventh-hour display of guts and call this slo mo crash off. Poor Mrs May is sleepwalking: you just need to look at her close-ups on tv to see it: she's working on reflex. As with Blair, Obama and Trump, the ravages of political life show in the face, not on that portrait up in the attic.

I remember those years of Wilson, Foot and Callaghan so very, very well. Beer and pies at No.10; maybe this is where and what it's actually all about: the prole revolution.

This was not politics either, just a little musing over the madness of those God appears about to destroy through hubris.

   
« Last Edit: February 07, 2019, 06:25:21 pm by Rob C »
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #341 on: February 07, 2019, 07:17:38 pm »

Rob, I think every word you have written is correct, but in a democracy you have to allow people to have their say whether it is based on lies or not, because democracy is about the individual and what they believe to be true at the time they cast their vote. I mean can you or anyone else name me one election or selection process throughout the entire history of the democratic world, where those who want the electorate to vote for them or their ideas, have not been willing to bend and even totally break the truth? History is littered with such malpractices and as old Winnie himself once said:

‘No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried.…’

Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947

Dave
« Last Edit: February 07, 2019, 07:21:11 pm by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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Chris Kern

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #342 on: February 07, 2019, 08:14:42 pm »

. . . the people were not given the chance to study a considered, straightforward set of facts and figures options based on reality; you know as well as I do that the population was fed a pack of lies. . . .

‘No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried.…’

Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947

Winston Churchill => Boris Johnson => Donald Trump: The Decline and Fall of the English-Speaking World.

I suspect I'm treading on shaky ground here, from a moderatorical perspective, so I had better leave it at that.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2019, 08:19:03 pm by Chris Kern »
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #343 on: February 07, 2019, 09:53:09 pm »

Winston Churchill => Boris Johnson => Donald Trump: The Decline and Fall of the English-Speaking World...

Thankfully, the recent articles on LuLa are restoring our faith in the complexity of the English language ;)
« Last Edit: February 08, 2019, 08:06:59 am by Slobodan Blagojevic »
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josh.reichmann

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #344 on: February 07, 2019, 11:04:33 pm »

The English Language?
 8)
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #345 on: February 07, 2019, 11:55:16 pm »

Rand47

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #346 on: February 08, 2019, 01:25:16 am »

Quote
. . .   but in a democracy you have to allow people to have their say whether it is based on lies or not, because democracy is about the individual and what they believe to be true at the time they cast their vote.  . . .

In the United States of America at least, this is why we originally did not want, nor established a democracy.  We established democratic republic. The founding people were wise enough to know that the unwashed, mostly not very well educated/informed masses were unfit to “rule” via a direct democratic (50% +1) vote.  Hence the electoral college and the concept of electing representatives in whom was vested the authority to legislate wisely on “the peoples’” behalf.

These days, because of the wholesale venality and banality of those “representatives” and the rise of a philosophical consensus that individual liberty is the absolute highest goal of mankind, and the purpose that government should serve, the USA is headed in the direction of rejecting the idea of republic and heading toward direct democracy.  Evidence of this is easily seen in the average schlub’s complete ignorance of, and disdain for, the concept of an electoral college.

We “should” remember, that direct democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

Also, for the record, I don’t consider my comments political.  Merely anthropological commentary.  Given the current state of “politics” in the USA (at least), my position for a long time now has been, “A pox on both their houses.”

Rand
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #347 on: February 08, 2019, 03:19:00 am »

Stop the political discussions, people. The owners here may have changed but my remit has not.

Jeremy
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Rob C

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #348 on: February 08, 2019, 03:36:06 am »

Stop the political discussions, people. The owners here may have changed but my remit has not.

Jeremy


"The English Language? " .... josh.reichmann

If the current owner of the site is clearly unperturbed at the current, civilized tone of the conversation, perhaps it might be time for you, too, to reconsider the old, restrictive, absolutely absurd and unrealistic mores apparently based on pure fear of offending the political values/beliefs of some advertiser, and change tack a degree or two to meet the realities of a new age of freedom?

There are many important issues affecting all of us, and in this case, the ramifications spread far outwith Europe and little England, and this is not an English-owned site. Furthermore, this shows the educational value of LuLa in another direction: I learned something this morning about founding US political intentions from Rand; I really though that "two wolves and a sheep" hit the nail on the head.

Anyway, thanks for my early morning shot of heart-jarring excitement: just what my cardiologists and I believe that I need! I don't require a stethoscope to hear mine pumping right now.

;-)
« Last Edit: February 08, 2019, 03:40:14 am by Rob C »
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TommyWeir

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #349 on: February 08, 2019, 08:51:51 am »

Stop the political discussions, people. The owners here may have changed but my remit has not.

Jeremy


From this Irishman, thanks.

Anyway, good for Kevin and Chris, it'll be interesting to see what they do.

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #350 on: February 08, 2019, 08:55:01 am »

... I learned something this morning about founding US political intentions from Rand...

Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet ;)

Rob C

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #351 on: February 08, 2019, 09:30:57 am »


From this Irishman, thanks.

Anyway, good for Kevin and Chris, it'll be interesting to see what they do.

ROFL

;-)

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #352 on: February 08, 2019, 09:33:36 am »

Political discussions are one thing... hijacking a thread quite another.

gkroeger

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #353 on: February 08, 2019, 10:14:38 am »

In an effort to get this thread back on-track, I would like to echo something Dave said (not about Brexit).

Kevin was not Michael. Josh, in turn, is not Kevin. I enjoyed many of the articles that were published under Kevin's tenure, but the site did trend toward hardware, and honestly, hardware with exposed biases.

At $12 dollars a year, I can't demand very much. I come to the site primarily for the forum, and quite frankly, I subscribed in order to make sure the site endured so the forum would endure. The collected wisdom and talents represented in the forum are an amazing photographic treasure, as well as an interesting and eclectic community. Although I have only met a few fellow forum members in person, I enjoy the wide range of personalities of people I feel that I "know."

So, here are my 1,200 cents worth of advice to Josh and crew: don't forget the noun in the site's name... Landscape. I want to come and be inspired by other photographers like Alain Briot and Art Wolfe, I want to learn from masters like Charles Cramer and Bill Atkinson and I want spectacular technical information like that provided by Mark Segal. As I look at the articles posted since Josh took over, the batting average is OK. Rachael Talibart's images were inspiring. Midnight Rainbow was fascinating. Alain had two articles on printing. I could do with less insight and meditation, and less "light from above." On a positive note, we haven't had an article on cotton harnesses or advertisements for ImagePrint. Final words of advice: more pictures less words, more words from photographers and less from the interviewer, or to paraphrase Admiral Lord Nelson, no site editors can do very wrong if they show more spectacular landscape photographs.

Glenn
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josh.reichmann

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #354 on: February 08, 2019, 10:19:30 am »

Noted. ^
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #355 on: February 08, 2019, 12:53:58 pm »

If the current owner of the site is clearly unperturbed at the current, civilized tone of the conversation, perhaps it might be time for you, too, to reconsider the old, restrictive, absolutely absurd and unrealistic mores apparently based on pure fear of offending the political values/beliefs of some advertiser, and change tack a degree or two to meet the realities of a new age of freedom?

All (well, nearly all) the political discussions we had began in a civilised fashion, Rob; but they degenerated. The reimposed ban owed nothing to the sensitivities of advertisers.

Freedom? Over-rated.

Jeremy
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Rob C

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #356 on: February 08, 2019, 04:16:53 pm »

All (well, nearly all) the political discussions we had began in a civilised fashion, Rob; but they degenerated. The reimposed ban owed nothing to the sensitivities of advertisers.

Freedom? Over-rated.

Jeremy


There was at least one sensible and easy solution: people who crossed from argument (I won't claim there was much debate) into insult could have been switched off for a while with a public reason given. Why not - if one transgresses in public...

Politics is perhaps the most important aspect of public life these days - seems perverse to remove it from the gamut of a "Coffee Corner" slot as if we were all children.

But hey, not my call.

faberryman

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #357 on: February 08, 2019, 04:18:44 pm »


There was at least one sensible and easy solution: people who crossed from argument (I won't claim there was much debate) into insult could have been switched off for a while with a public reason given. Why not - if one transgresses in public...

Politics is perhaps the most important aspect of public life these days - seems perverse to remove it from the gamut of a "Coffee Corner" slot as if we were all children.

But hey, not my call.
Political discussion is everywhere. Can't we have someplace without it? A respite perhaps.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #358 on: February 08, 2019, 04:27:35 pm »

This is a photography website and I come here for photography. If I want politics I'll go elsewhere. I don't want to be bothered even having to delete emails from or wade past posts on this website that get into political opinions regardless of the pretexts or the merits. I expect the moderator to sandbox such posts and ask their authors to desist; otherwise the quality of the Forum in respect of photography is diluted. This is my firmly held view of the matter, it won't change and I won't respond to rejoinders on it.
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Rob C

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Re: The Changing Landscape
« Reply #359 on: February 08, 2019, 04:30:00 pm »

Political discussion is everywhere. Can't we have someplace without it? A respite perhaps.


Like getting drunk: nobody is pouring it down your throat but yourself.

We are talking about containing it in the CC slot, and all the earnest young shutterbuggers have no need to go there unless they choose. Another good reason for respecting the value of genre.

:-)
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