to think we're all being manipulated

[newbluesofa]

I'm going to get flamed by reform voters here, and I think it'll come off as thinking I'm smarter than everyone but I genuinely don't, which is why I'm so confused by this.

To me, it is incredibly obvious that we are being completely manipulated by politicians and the media. They want us to blame immigrants and people who claim benefits for their failing to run the country properly. And it's worked.

I don't think we should have unregulated immigration, there are issues that need to be addressed. But there's a difference between sensibly discussing immigration from an economic point, and the nasty hate and vitriol that's everywhere now. It is what they WANT. As long as we're fighting amongst ourselves, no one is looking up at the people with the real power and money.

One example, newspapers describing immigrants as 'fighting age men'. 'Fighting' is not an age. Young men could also be fit, healthy, and able to work and contribute. They say 'fighting age' to scaremonger and promote anti immigrant rhetoric, and it works as people parrot the line.

It's always been the way that the ruling class look for ways to keep the masses infighting. Honestly I lose respect at anyone that falls for it. I don't get how it isn't so obvious to others, how can you not see you're being played?

Of course we are, if we are turning on ourselves we are turning away from them.

So how do we know you are not being played yourself by thinking you and everyone else is being played about being played?

Yanbu

2 Words - Gary's Economics

He just did an excellent video in exactly this
Everyone needs to "unionise" and not fall for the misdirection.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO20xmkEgD8/?igsh=MTEwNXo3cDVtdHM5Yg==

Its not boomer vs millenial
Or Brit vs immigrant

The real fight is everyone vs billionaires and corporations... they want people to busy squabbling to stop them stealing our futures.

I think if you're towing the party line being fed to you by the elite-owned media...you're being played

Your argument can easily be reversed to say you are being manipulated into thinking there is no problem with mass immigration

I don’t think many people who are anti immigration consume their news on mainstream legacy media like the BBC

100% Gary is excellent. Economics has been warped into this thing that's inaccessible and so complex that we just have to trust the economists, but he makes it accessible and grounds it all in reality. He's really smart and down to earth

The daily mail and the sun are examples of wealthy-owned mainstream media that are anti-immigrant

OP said, "I don't think we should have unregulated immigration, there are issues that need to be addressed"

You’re perfectly right OP. I lose respect for those who fall for it too especially when they disregard statistics. You see it on social media all the time, they won’t listen to facts and reason. It’s just “they’re trying to impose shakira law everywhere” blah blah

I feel it’s deliberate ignorance, a way to distract from their own shortcomings and feel better than others.

Isn’t it interesting how a high level of the August 2024 rioters had DV convictions but they’re all out in force to “save are women and children” it’s like erm how about you stop abusing your wives, gfs, daughters and female relatives? Not to mention the abuse of young boys.

Isn’t it “funny” how few people are calling out the abuse in their own families, places of worship, communities etc when we know most child abuse is from known adults or older siblings.

My childhood friend who was abused by her older sibling and treated badly by her family, social services and the courts was furious when she hears all this. She knows they don’t actually care about adults/kids like her when the silence is deafening when she talks about her own experiences at the hands of her (white) brother .

This far right lot (and yes that’s what they are) feel inferior to the powerful and elite so don’t see them as an easy target. They’re going for low hanging fruit so to speak .

@Fileaafogg I agree with so much of this. The ones who fear immigrants are violent and they're here to hurt women.

Studies have shown that domestic violence surges after big football matches, is anyone campaigning to fight this? Is anyone actually doing anything to protect women if they care so much, or just latching on to any excuse to act like a yob and be vocally xenophobic under the guise of protecting women?

YANBU. I do think it's an issue - but I think the issue was intentionally created. Immigration exploded under the tories as they dismantled the previous processing systems. That conveniently gave them something to use to call labour's bluff - as, if there weren't a real problem, people wouldn't be swayed by it.

It's like me setting a fire in a theatre to distract from a burglary - the fire is a problem, but I intentionally set it to distract from something else.

Yes let’s campaign against that and see how many reform voters sign up to support initiatives targeting football related DV and general violence and anti-social behaviour 👀 they would HATE to be singled out the way they have done to certain communities.

It’s an age old strategy, keep the common people fighting amongst themselves so that power and corruption at the top carries on unexamined, it’s a tactic used since time immemorial, just wish everyone realised how we live in this manipulation

I agree to some extent, but it doesn’t mean that the huge numbers coming into the country aren’t a problem. Not only do we not have the infrastructure in place for a population increasing annually by several hundred thousand, but we were never asked if we were happy to have our own culture diluted to such an extent by so many other cultures.

And before I get the usual responses of ‘what is British culture’ or ‘how is it changing by the importation of other cultures’, it is inevitable that the way society operates will change far quicker as a result of mass immigration than had it been limited to more manageable numbers.

if those on the left would stop labelling anyone who doesn’t want such huge numbers annually a far right bigot, and would join forces with them to insist on manageable and reasonable numbers of those who offer useful skills (excluding genuine refugees here), then we could stand together against those who are actually creating this division.

“they’re trying to impose shakira law everywhere” blah blah

Bring it on - Whenever, Wherever!

Its a sad state of affairs if the very people we trust to run the country cant open their mouth without lies falling out.
(350 million on the side of a bus anyone)
I genuinely dont understand how its legal politicians can lie to us

Yep. This is it exactly. Nothing to see here. You all fight amongst yourselves while we line our pockets. Most of us have far more in common with immigrants (I’m not talking about those that are here illegally) than we do with billionaires

I didn't say it's not a problem, I specifically said there are issues that need addressing. If there wasn't so much hate coming from the far right it would be easier to have a rational discussion about those issues.

I disagree with your second point however. An aversion to Britain being changed by other cultures is just rooted in xenophobia.

😂😂

I suspect that a great deal of the obvious hate from the far right is actually fake and manufactured by those wanting to sow division. That’s not to say that there are not many racists in this country, but I don’t believe that the majority of them actively demonstrate their hate in the way that the media likes to portray.

I said exactly this to my dh. I was sa by my stepfather and he was imprisoned 30 years later for 6 years and fortunately died just as he was about to be released.
I think people should be protesting about ridiculous sentences for sexual offences but no one wants to froth about that.
All this is designed to stop us worrying about what else is going wrong.

I think this used to be the case but I think it's really filtered into real people's opinions. My closest friend is struggling as her family have all become so anti-immigrant and parrot the nasty stuff they read in the media. I also see a lot of it here on MN. People are really being taken in by the nasty stuff.

I think this country has been driven into the ground and living standards have crashed, people are really struggling and that makes people angry. So they've been given someone to blame and a place to direct that anger and the worse conditions get in our country, the more hateful people are becoming

Well when resources become scarce, this is what happens. In my opinion the hard left is just as hateful as the far right, and those of us more in the centre are just flailing around watching the country crumble.

Yep,

The whole division rhetoric is everywhere. Extremist bots run around sowing and amplifying discord.

Child free vs parents. Men Vs Women. The whole "stupid Americans" vs "Euro-poor" crap, TRA vs GC.

Basically, divide the masses so that they are distracted and infighting. Keep them so occupied they don't notice that war is about to be sprung upon Europe and the economies of the West are failing.