MandyB
@mandy1b.bsky.social
330 followers 600 following 340 posts
Keen on fair values, reasoned thinking & empowerment. Against all abuse of power. Interested in education, humanistic psychology, politics, art, classical music, gardens, science & humour. Trying to find a balance between self-preservation & engagement.
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The virgin birth. Ridiculous, because it’s ignorant. Alarming because it’s so demeaning of sex and additionally it’s staggeringly insulting to women. The woman who is to be reveared is one who doesn’t have sex but can do the impossible. So many negative power and control messages in that symbol.
Hi Bestie. I'm standing with you as 'not a loyal subject' too. I've been NOBODY'S subject since I was an early teen and figured out the implied dynamic. 🙋‍♀️
Reposted by MandyB
NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S
Reposted by MandyB
"Do you still get paid in Roubles Ted?"
🐢💨
This is a fascinating concept Alan. It's relatively straightforward to imagine this point (now you've shone a light on it) as a logical step in emerging consciousness, yet at the same time, it is awe-inspiring to imagine it as an experience. A tiny but vast leap from 1 state of life into another.
The reasons the Nobel Committee gives for awarding the Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado make clear the fundamental link between democracy and peace. Their citation reads like a manifesto for the resistance to authoritarianism, so hopefully, they've ruled out DJT forever.
Alan, would you equate this in some way with Freud's (in my view, more simplistic and less detailed) concepts of Id, Ego, and Superego?
I'm grateful, Bear, for a well-documented and detailed 'keeping the receipts' piece that makes a point with evidence. In a different vein, I look forward to the time when you are ready to take questions (footnote 3), with interest.
This week, I've been mostly fighting fascism.
Ahh! Brexit the Elephant hasn't appeared in my Bluesky feed for some time, even though I see you posted him a few times, so it's lovely to see him pop up again. I'm keen not to be another person who doesn't see him when really he's there, large as life, all the time. Thanks for your efforts, Andrew.
True, and as you get older it may be harder to hear what people are saying but easier to understand what is being left unsaid.
Chaplin made this speech in an American film 85 years ago and now every word of it needs to be restated. Especially from 1.45 onwards in this clip: “You the people have the power.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY...
Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator
YouTube video by Charlie Chaplin
www.youtube.com
This is important Oliver. Fascists have their playbook so the resistance needs to create its own that can be clearly followed. That should inc. a chapter on the importance of early mockery, satire and ridicule before fear and conformity take over. alancolquhoun.substack.com/p/the-event-...
The Event Horizon of Fear
Why human fallibility makes autocracy self-destructive and democracy the only rational defence...
alancolquhoun.substack.com
Oliver explains the importance of feeling the fear but resisting fascism anyway with mockery, satire and ridicule. There are historical footsteps to follow in from those who tried to deflate the power of the Nazi regime e.g. Charlie Chaplin, Spike Milligan. DJT trying to ban Kimmel makes the point.
Fascism… “builds quietly, passes a threshold where no gentle cure remains, and must be mocked, opposed, and punctured early — while laughter and law still work. Beyond that threshold the physics of fear do the work, and history’s correction comes only in wreckage.” ✔️✔️✔️ @alancolquhoun.bsky.social
Reposted by MandyB
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Except it doesn’t bend on its own—it bends because we pull it in the direction of justice. What keeps me hopeful during times like these is being surrounded by people who are doing just that.
I hope this doesn't sound odd, given the seriousness of what you write, but I found your piece very beautiful in many ways: Beautifully written, transporting your felt experience to the reader (like music), and capturing the depth of your love and ⸫ the pain inherent in loss. Take care of you too.
Thanks for telling me that story, Marcus, it's just what I would have hoped for from him. That's cheered me up!
Fabulous writing from Oliver Kornetzke. @kornetzke.bsky.social
Behold.

The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite…

It is America's shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol…

- Oliver Kornetzke
Oh wow, you had Feynman as a lecturer! From the T.V./ and video I've seen of him, he seems charismatic and inspiring. I wonder if that was true in real life or if it was a case of 'never meet your idols'. I hope it was the former.
Reposted by MandyB
Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey slams the UK media's "easy ride" for Farage:

"As he lies, as he divides, the BBC and others give Farage so much time... They never hold him to account for all the damage he has already done. The damage of Brexit... So much of what is broken today is broken thanks to Farage."