24 Comments

It’s tempting to go there specifically for political discussions. 😂😂 that ‘read a book’ line is a woke classic, only ever shared by people who have never followed the instruction themselves.

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That one is new to me, but it did feel off the peg. Ironically I suspect they do not read any books at all if their screen use is anything to go by.

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It's a variation of 'educate yourself' 🙄

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Totally. (although that's a Gen Z word too!)

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Hungary looking more attractive by the day! I've encountered the same nonsense in certain High St coffee chains, who tend to recruit young and insufferably woke types. So much so, that I now refuse to enter one of their boring cafes. But pubs should be sacrocant: they should be places where you can relax and discuss politics and ideas, without worrying that the Stasi behind the bar are listening to every word.

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Dec 11, 2023Liked by Tom Ed

Well, that was interesting, and as I've said elsewhere, I'm glad you stood your ground.

You reminded me of a minor moment I recently had in a charity shop. I went to pay for a purchase (I'm not particularly hard up - I just love the... diversity... in charity shops!), when I noticed a couple of little rainbow flags on the counter, and started racking my brains for something to say that wouldn't just brand me as a middle-aged conservative person to be ignored.

Now these particular little flags had the whole kid and caboodle on them, ncluding the triangle with the trans pink and blue (which I always think of as the pedo colours, since they are baby blue and baby pink). So in a moment of inspiration, I decided to go all out and said to the shop assistant (a wokish and educated middle-class looking girl), "Did you know that when you put four of these together, they form a swastika?" 🤣🤣🤣

She just looked at me silently, utterly po-faced, as I walked out and I rounded off my comment by saying, "But I guess that's appropriate for the sort of totalitarian regime we seem to be living under".

So she probably thinks I'm a nutter now, but she didn't look stupid, so there's always the chance that she understood the point I was trying to make, in a way that was... memorable 😆

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Sorry for delay in replying . And well done for commenting on it . All the best . And thank you for reading 🙏

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Dec 11, 2023Liked by Tom Ed

Oops. Kit and caboodle. Not kid and caboodle! Best to keep the kids out of it!

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Dec 10, 2023Liked by Tom Ed

What sort of pub landlord listens in to his clientele's conversation? Surely he should be busy polishing the glasses or ordering more nuts. It must be the most joyless of places, further emphasised by the little rainbow flags forever mockingly erect in an atmosphere of stifling impotence.

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It was pretty dead, and run by someone with a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes a good pub.

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I don't live anywhere near that particular pub but at least I know to avoid it should I ever be in the area 😉 just who do these jumped-uo, entitled little soy boys think they are?

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Mar 18Liked by Tom Ed

Well done on your composure! I think I might not have managed so well.

As a parent of children who are 15 and 18, I can say that the propaganda they have been exposed to on this subject is extreme. We have had to work hard to challenge it and help them to keep their own mind amidst the madness. The fact that a lot of people choose to go along with it rather than suffer social rejection/isolation is not surprising. It does indicate a lack of backbone on a lot of Gen Z's part, but we're all more vulnerable as kids and the BS they have been saying at schools and enforcing in quite disgusting ways are hard for children to resist, particularly if they haven't been coached by adults.

If you consider how many adults have fallen for this BS and they haven't had any risk of social consequences, it's not surprising so many Gen Z are a write-off in terms of independent thinking.

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Thank you for commenting Rosie. it was an eye opener to the frankly (0verused I'm aware) fascism of the landlord's thinking. There can be no opposing view. I'm not even clear why T is after LGB if i'm honest, they are not the same thing. The first 3 are sexual orientation, the trans is about identity (often from shame of being gay actually,) but certainly v complicated. it deserves debate and thinking about, but the Gen Zzz seem incapable of that. Challengers re quite literally heretics. Well done for teaching your children the important of flying above this BS..!

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Mar 18Liked by Tom Ed

They are literally telling kids at school like "if your parents don't think this, they are mean people". I mean HOW manipulative?! When I first went through it with my daughter, she was crying and saying "I thought you were better people than this." I had to very carefully explore the ideas with her because my husband and son were just laughing about it and saying it was so stupid - it was about men in women's sports and my son is very sporty and was 10 at the time. My husband is extremely grounded and just thinks it's nonsense.

Imagine you didn't have a good relationship with your kids? Or that it was damaged in some way? Or that you had been sexually abused as a kid and you were trying to avoid talking to your kids about sex or sexuality because you saw it as transgressing a boundary? Or any other number of limiting factors that would mean you couldn't help them unpick this. That's so many families. So, their kids fall for the "how to be good" line from the school where they have been conditioned to be compliant or be labelled "bad". The kids who choose to use the whole "I am actually another gender" line have, in my experience, all been highly manipulative and very damaged people. So, what do you do with that as their peer? Our basic advice was get away from them because they are telling you they want to control how you see them, which utterly disrespectful of your autonomy.

It's a complete maze to navigate, however, the big advantage they have vs. when we were their age is that, in the 90's/noughties everyone seemed to have quite reasonable views. Since 2020, I see clearly and I now realise that most of them didn't even understand free speech, let alone believe in it. Now that the popular views are horrendous, people who value humanity, autonomy and understand that people having different views is healthy and to be expected can easily be identified, so that's a plus!

Personally I write-off the adults who believe this shit, because in general I find they are moral cowards who wish they were still young (pathetic IMO(. The, say, under 30's, though, I try to cut a little more slack because I know that they have been taught they are a horrible person if they don't believe it and talking to them is really like talking to someone in a cult. The are imprisoned by their insecurity and barbaric programming.

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Such excellent points made there. And you're so right. As to the adults caught up in this, I also think life is too short to be around people who's beliefs can be so easily hijacked by genuinely insane ideas. Sadly we witnessed how many adults were among us during lockdowns too. And there's nothing worse than not acting your age actually. It's a terrible way to lead your life, it cuts off so much age appropriate opportunity, and opportunities born of the accused experience of ageing!

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Sorry you had to go through that, thanks for sharing

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Thank you for reading and commenting! 🙏

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Can I just buy you a coffee without subscribing

It takes courage to stick around- I’m such a coward - I’d just leave. Good for you Tom

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Thank you Janet. Don't worry, I only drink tea ;-). Leaving a comment like that is enough. Thank you. I'm unsure it was courage, it seemed instinctive to stand the ground, but I'll take that. Thank you once again.

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Good, because it's BRIEF and spot on.

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Dec 9, 2023Liked by Tom Ed

They’re nothing more than the establishments psychological foot soldiers. Their self-perceived ideological purity will eventually come back to haunt them when they least expect it. By definition there’s so many flaws in their beliefs it’s self-devouring. Their time will come.

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There really is - they contradict themselves constantly. It's ill-thought out , if thought out at all.

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Unbe-flooking-lievable.

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That'd put the cat amongst the pigeons!

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