Why Bother With Trolls?
Trolling isn't something the internet community as a whole should be proud of. There is the odd sophisticated troll that actually make ingenious jokes at the expense of others, but then there's the majority that are just vile and hateful human beings hurling moronic insults at people they've never met. Policing these vermin is a difficult task, but the British Police seem to employ a strategy comparable to that of George Orwell's Thought Police. We're seeing a multitude of controversial faces being banned by social media websites for various reasons, and this is a very worrying trend for the internet community, that although abrasive is certainly not something that needs to be policed in such a way. The latest scheme is a
2 million pound initiative on what is essentially policing language. When you consider the UK police force is already widely known to be heavily underfunded then this has to be a huge waste of money. Of course if you read The Guardian you'll think this is a fantastic initiative, as is anything that resembles the dystopian worlds of George Orwell.
Actual cybercrime is a huge issue,
costing the UK economy billions of pounds every year. What Dave in Rotherham said to offend some other internet user isn't a huge issue. If someone gives you shit on the internet simply turn off the fucking computer. Internet anonymity is a great thing, so let's not sacrifice this privilege because some special flowers take exception to unidentified people being assholes. I'll admit that the actions of some extreme trolls should be treated criminally, but there is still no excuse for a system that's likely to infringe on the beauty of free speech. Remember, there is a very narrow margin between clamping down on trolls and actively policing free speech, and we're already seeing this censorship based attitude rearing its ugly head. As a fan of dark satire I repetitively find posts that have been taken out of context having their owners stripped of all titles and ultimately banned from various websites, and I only fear this new police scheme will ramp up this exodus of any material deemed slightly offensive. We're a country that's happy to criticise countries such as China and North Korea that censor huge parts of the web, whilst simultaneously censoring individuals for the most pathetic of reasons.
The Decline of the Great British Pub
What the fuck has happened to the good old British tradition of having a beer in a traditional pub? Everywhere you look traditional establishments are shutting their doors to make way for a horde of shitty restaurants and gastropubs. I know being a fat ageing man with a beer belly and a love for flies and dirt in your proper pint isn't the in thing right now, but tell someone you want a good ale in a good old British pub and they look at you like you're on day release. Nowadays the traditional pubs have been replaced by restaurants with a built in bar. That's a problem because now the clientele has shifted from the stereotypical old guy in a pub to gossiping middle aged women. I have no problem with these places existing, but not as a replacement for my beautiful local pub, which all too often has been forced to close thanks to the demands for these poncey and overpriced gastropubs. There's one crucial thing that none of these gastropubs can artificially produce, and that's the atmosphere. There's not an experience like the Great British pub, and I've yet to experience any feeling even remotely similar in any corner of the globe. A proper pub on a Friday night is just the best thing ever. A fucking great atmosphere that's a laugh to be at, not worrying you're ruining some middle aged couples appetisers in the restaurant that dominates the whole building. Anyone is welcome in a pub, no matter how insane you are, and you get such a wide variety of interesting people, and not the middle aged foodies taking their grandma out to dinner and ruining everyone's experience. Fuck off gastropubs, I want my old pub back.
Criticising Religion
Any religion and belief must be open to criticism in a civilised society, end of story. I'm constantly getting frustrated with this shield that the average left wing person is putting over the teachings of Islam, that at this current state of affairs need to be discussed. It's not wrong or stupid to suggest there are common beliefs and practices in Islam that are just incompatible with traditional Western values. Sharia Law for example is a widespread belief in the Muslim faith that happily sees the banning on alcohol and suppression of women and homosexuals as a normality. Surely the majority of the Western World disagree with this notion, yet when I want to criticise this belief for being fundamentally wrong I'm labelled a racist. We live in a society that has no problem with bashing Christians for believing in creation, touching kids inappropriately, and thinking homosexuality and abortion is wrong. We also happily mock Jews for being selfish money grabbers that like to fire rockets into neighbouring countries, yet make a strong statement about Islam and you get masked men shooting up your hometown and waves of hate from the left.
Criticising a religion does not automatically make you a racist. Criticising a religion does not automatically make you a bigot. You are subjectively viewing a set of beliefs in the context of a mature debate, which should be actively encouraged in an increasingly diverse landscape. The response to recent tragedies is proof of this blatant denial from the left. There's still radical clerics and Islamic extremists out their spewing this hatred, yet the left just turns a blind eye to these actions or blames the next most likely cause. Hell if you try and state that Islam as a religious teaching may play even the slightest of roles in these tragedies and you're instantly silenced for being Islamophobic, and then criticised for not referencing the majority of Muslims are peaceful individuals. What I'm certainly not saying is that all Muslims are bad people, that I need to clarify, and I have a great respect for the vast majority of harmless individuals, but that still doesn't exclude this religion from criticisms that any modernised society should be making. The act of preventing this type of important debate from happening in the fear that those actions might offend somebody is even more harmful. It's this blind eye to a potentially very serious form of extremism that is partly responsible for the increasing frequency of these terrorist attacks, but still the Western World doesn't seem to want to take these issues at all seriously.
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