Things Noticeable this week

[palo5]

Originally Posted by DTravel

All of those arrested were actually homosexuals advocating their life style where children could see.

Yes, that does break the law, and they knew they would be arrested, that's why they did it -- to get headlines

Not expecting sympathy, but I'll try to explain this. There is no law in Russia that forbids homosexuality, and you can be as gay as you like with no legal problems. There isn't even a law that mentions homosexuality, so far as I know

What's not allowed is advertizing what we call "non-traditional sex" to underage people. "Traditional sex" is what hetero men & women do in the sense of procreation. "Non-traditional" is everything else, including all the fetishes, tendencies & whatever

If you have problems with that in the West, ask yourselves why you don't allow anyone under 18 into a porno shop, and drop the hypocrisy, please

[Wendigo]

You missed this palo, DT was merely taking the piss but should really have added an emoji or two like that

Originally Posted by DTravel

Sorry for the confusion. I'm not aware of any references either, it was supposed to be a snarky comment predicting what Palo would say as proof of the legitimacy of the election and how moral Russia is.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

You missed this palo, DT was merely taking the piss but should really have added an emoji or two like that

Probably, I miss 99+% of the posts in this thread

If they're worried about protesters being arrested, it happens everywhere, even where you live. "Anti-fracking" for example. "Black lives matter" elsewhere, etc etc. The list is endless

What makes this case interesting for UK media is that it's a chance to be russophobic again and show how bad and undemocratic Putin is. The problem is, he just won his election with 76% of the democratic vote

And your government won with what majority? Oh, it only had 40%, or so, and didn't exactly win

If I was British, I'd quit watching that crap media and try someone else's, seriously

[rupertramjet]

Over the next month the English football team will be in Russia to do their traditional bugger all in yet another World Cup, they will without doubt fail to get out of the qualifying stages, but palo you will hear a chant, it is simple it goes 'here we go, here we go here we go'

Just like this thread! Is becoming, political demonstrators are allowed in the west it is called democracy, and yes people do get arrested, but this one had a few, read the details and see what the arrests were for, bit different to over a thousand for being there! https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...on-mask-march/

[palo5]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

political demonstrators are allowed in the west it is called democracy

Oh! Clearly I'm confusing something. I thought democracy was when everyone gets a vote, every vote counts, and it leads to representative government. And I thought demonstrations had to do with freedom of expression, and needed permission from local authorities

Did I get that wrong?

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by palo5

Oh! Clearly I'm confusing something. I thought democracy was when everyone gets a vote, every vote counts, and it leads to representative government. And I thought demonstrations had to do with freedom of expression, and needed permission from local authorities

Did I get that wrong?

Yes in the West we are free to define democracy as we see it, not by a text book definition although ....
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...lish/democracy

POLITICS - the belief that everyone in a country has the right to express their opinions, and that power should be held by people who are elected, or a system of government based on this belief:

[rupertramjet]

Democracy also includes the right to debate and an opposition with the ability to force the Government into open debate. In most democratic countries, a President is a figure head, with executive powers and for major issues has to get the agreement of the elected representatives of the people.

Our electoral system at least gives us a stable government, and many of us prefer a small majority, it prevents things like the Blair wars.

Protest, yes you have to get permission, of course you do, unlike some countries we need to have Police to protect all sides, unlike Russia we do not have a few thousand hard line riot Police lying about. Occasionally protest marches are stopped but usually because they are likely to cause serious counter protest and riot, ie racist and anti religious marches, if you read the arrests, you will find the fifty odd were for possession of weapons, drugs, refusing to remove masks, and assault, hardly peaceful.

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

You missed this palo, DT was merely taking the piss but should really have added an emoji or two like that

I meant to add an emoji! I really did, I swear!!

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by palo5

Oh! Clearly I'm confusing something. I thought democracy was when everyone gets a vote, every vote counts, and it leads to representative government. And I thought demonstrations had to do with freedom of expression, and needed permission from local authorities

Did I get that wrong?

It was a question during the last French election (and even in the past in the Swiss votations too). What if the blank votes are majority?

The opinion of the left candidate Mélanchon was the following: if the blank votes are majority, the election must be considered as nul and new candidates must be proposed to the population.

I think that Mélanchon was correct on this point. Even if I dislike to see a man or a woman often illegitimately representing million of people.

Today in France, Macron who only got on the first tour 18% of the votes (and 18% in 2nd tour of the legislatives), runs the country like if he had 90%.
He's a liberal. He's a disguised Blairist.
But he doesn't represent 82% of the population.
His presidency is an hold-up.
He today "legitimately" destroys all the French structures thanks 18% of the votes.

This kind of democracy is a terrible problem. It's a masquerade.
Maybe the solution could be to "force" people to vote or to desintegrate the nation, letting the people organising themselves in small regions or communities.

That would be nice at least to debate instead to legitimate a notion that doesn't correspond to the majority of the citizens.

[cicciobuki]

Originally Posted by palo5

What makes this case interesting for UK media is that it's a chance to be russophobic again and show how bad and undemocratic Putin is. The problem is, he just won his election with 76% of the democratic vote

I heard that Putin didn't have any opponents people could vote for, that way even i could get 76%