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March 29, 2021 - The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters

01:31:04

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters #98

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	Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen Welcome to the podcast of the Lotus Eaters for Monday, the 29th of March, 2021.
	John McCallum, before we begin, let you know we have the Ethical Knowledge Premium Podcast as well as a lot of other premium content up on the website.
	So if you'd like to become a member, you can go check that out.
	And that's important because that and the Thick Concepts Podcast are the lead-ups to the Brave New World Book Club that we'll be recording this week.
	So hopefully by the end of the week or early next week, that will be up on the website.
	And I promise you, you are not going to find a better breakdown of Brave New World than what we're going to do for you.
	Anyway, let's begin because we've got a lot to talk about and I don't think very much of it is very good.
	So you might remember that last week, on Friday, we covered a segment on the podcast about the Batley Grammar School, this 17th century grammar school that had found itself falling afoul of a teacher showing pupils what has been termed inappropriate cartoon of Mohammed, this 17th century grammar school that had found itself falling afoul of a teacher showing pupils It was done by a Danish cartoonist who was murdered, wasn't he?
	I don't know if he was murdered or not, actually.
	So it was published in a Danish newspaper and there were global riots that led to the deaths of over 300 people.
	I think he also went to hiding or something.
	But the point is, the teacher was suspended.
	We're not going to name the teacher, which is good, because of the sort of thing that happened with Samuel Pate, who wants to take risks.
	But yeah, so this was very much a sort of storm in the teacup, except it's kind of expanded, and it's become something of a national conversation that we want to talk about.
	So the headteacher of the school, Gary Kibble, apologised unequivocally, adding that the member of staff had given their most sincere apologies and has been suspended pending an invasion as if he did something wrong.
	We have immediately withdrawn teaching on his part, blah blah blah.
	Department for Education spokesperson said it's never acceptable to threaten or intimidate teachers because, of course, this teacher received numerous death threats.
	As you do.
	And one of the protesters, a local resident who gave his name as Abdullah, said the cartoon had offended the whole Muslim community.
	Hmm.
	Interesting.
	Dr.
	Abdul Sheikh, a local academic in Batley and Muslim activist, told the PA news agency, I was shocked, like many Muslims in the town, that the Muslim school children's religious sensitivities were completely ignored by the school teacher who decided to show an offensive image that lampooned the noble prophet Muhammad.
	This isn't really true, actually, but anyway, we'll get to that.
	The argument that they're making is that parts of the Quran are taken to mean that neither Allah nor Muhammad can be captured in an image by a human hand, and any attempt to do so is seen by an insult.
	So the main complaint here is that it has violated some kind of Islamic prescription.
	Now, I'm not a Muslim, and so I don't really care about Islamic prescriptions.
	And I don't think anyone else should have to if they're not Muslim either.
	I don't think there should be death threats as a result of that.
	I'm sure the school has a cafeteria or something.
	If they serve pork products, is that also something we need to complain about?
	Well, that's a good point.
	Do the teachers drink in their spare time?
	Is that acceptable?
	How far does this go?
	Some of the girls probably aren't even wearing a hijab.
	Disgraceful.
	Anyway, so the Daily Mail did some coverage on the protesters.
	Apparently 50 Muslim protesters turned up on the Friday.
	I imagine more will turn up today.
	None of the demonstrators the Mail and I spoke to were parents of children at the school.
	They had travelled to Bathby from Dewsbury, Bradford and Leeds to join a smaller group of locals via WhatsApp groups and social media.
	The teacher himself is just an Englishman in his late 20s, amateur rugby player, has been spoken of glowingly by his local community.
	I saw him described as a burly Yorkshireman.
	Yeah.
	Pretty much...
	Some guy.
	Yeah, just some dude.
	But he was spoken in glowing terms by the local Muslims in the community and...
	Just other people saying, look, he's a great teacher.
	Everyone likes him.
	He seems to be nice.
	Like, please don't do anything to him because he's obviously not a bad guy.
	But he has been evacuated from his home, however.
	MailOnline found out that he was rushed from his...
	Him and his wife were rushed from their West Yorkshire home in a mystery black car just before the school gave their apology.
	His neighbour, who was concerned for his safety after protesters published the neighbour's name on I found the police myself because I'm worried in case there's any trouble and I've got a baby.
	I can't go and stay with my parents because of COVID. So that's pretty bad stuff.
	And this, again, over a religious education class that was demonstrating examples of blasphemy.
	This has been on the curriculum for two years, turns out.
	This isn't even new.
	This wasn't this teacher's innovation.
	If we can go to the next link.
	During the lesson, the pupils were warned beforehand that the content would include caricatures of the Prophet.
	I don't think his non-Muslims were actually obliged to call him the Prophet, because that implies that we agree that he was the last messenger of God and the seal of the Prophets, which I don't.
	Yeah, it's a really weird thing in Western media to see news commentators being like, the Prophet Muhammad.
	It's like, no, did you just say Muhammad?
	Yeah, thanks, dimmies.
	But they were given the opportunity to leave the classroom if they thought they would be offended.
	So there was no, like, we're going to make sure that the Muslim children must...
	Look at this, Muhammad!
	Look at it!
	That didn't happen.
	So, hysteria.
	But no one complained and students who might have been offended were given the chance to leave the room.
	So there we go.
	This has been going on for years.
	It's just that now, for some reason, this has become a hot-button issue.
	Possibly because of the events that happened in France with the lie that led to the murder of Samuel Paty.
	Anyway, thankfully the based British public have come out in favour of the teacher.
	They have 60,000 people, going up apparently, have signed this petition on change.org to restate or keep the religious education teacher at Barclay Grammar School.
	Join with us and make a statement before this turns into a repeat of what happened to the teacher in France when he showed the same pictures.
	Not only that one teacher has been affected, but those around him now are the teachers who will be next.
	Rather than finding out who's next, take action now and sign this petition.
	There we go.
	Very, very good.
	So the question is, what are the Muslim activists concerned about?
	What are they asking for?
	Well, we're told by one of them, through the medium of The Guardian, that it's about raising awareness.
	So Hassan Mahmoud...
	The eternal cry of the wasteless activist, you know?
	It's like, what are you doing?
	I'm raising awareness.
	You and everyone else.
	Yeah.
	Thank you.
	I appreciate that.
	I'm very aware now.
	You could say that I'm woke.
	What is he raising awareness of in this case?
	I mean, of Islamist terror?
	What?
	Muslims commit terrorism?
	We didn't know, Mr.
	Mahmood.
	This is about generating positive awareness so there's no sort of untoward reaction.
	So when we cut his head off.
	So there's no untoward reaction and there's no disruption or disharmony in the community.
	So basically, if everyone follows the tenets of Islam, there'll be no disharmony in the community.
	However, if you don't follow the tenets of Islam, well, who knows?
	Yeah.
	It is a true statement.
	Yes, it is a true statement.
	He said, the kind of message that's going out from this school is quite dangerous for all children.
	That's bloody ominous, isn't it?
	This is dangerous for all children.
	What danger could it possibly be to the non-Muslim children?
	Well, you see...
	I probably can't make any jokes about this.
	You're giving out the wrong information.
	You're setting a wrong mindset, which doesn't help community cohesion.
	Disagree, but that's because I'm not a Muslim.
	Wrong information?
	The wrong information is that the Prophet Muhammad isn't the last prophet and the prophet of Islam.
	But the point being made by the teacher was, this is an example of blasphemy.
	Here's a drawing of Muhammad with a bond for a turban.
	And he's saying that's wrong information?
	Like, is that not blasphemy then?
	Is this guy siding with the teacher all of a sudden?
	Based Muslim protesters, like more pictures of Mohammed.
	Sharam Farouk, a fellow protester, said the demonstration had been about opening up a conversation, which is nice.
	So the thing is, the problem with opening up a conversation on this, though, is that one side gets to say, we want you to essentially convert to Islam and follow Islamic rules, and the other side says no and then gets condemned as being Islamophobes.
	It's a good conversation.
	Good conversation.
	So the thing is, if something happens anywhere in the part of the world about the Prophet Muhammad, we Muslims are very sensitive.
	We are not maligning anyone else.
	We just want to say, don't make fun of our Prophet.
	That's all we want.
	Yeah, but what if we want to make fun of the Prophet?
	Like, what happens then?
	Well, we know what happens then, incidentally, to people who didn't even make fun of the Prophet.
	I love how he's denouncing himself and all Muslims as sensitive as well.
	Like, we are basically children.
	Please take care of our fields.
	We Muslims are snowflakes.
	Yeah, literally.
	Jesus Christ.
	But don't make fun of our prophet, that's all we want.
	I don't think that is all they want, to be honest.
	But anyway, Rooksana Kalik and her daughter Marina agreed the protest was warranted.
	Marina went to the school but is now sixth form elsewhere.
	She said, there's nothing bad about the school, it's just that what he did was offensive and he didn't know that.
	I feel like this has happened, now that this has happened, he understands.
	There's no way of accommodating that, added her mother.
	Kari Asim, who has an order of the British Empire, who is an imam at the Leeds Maka Mosque, said he sympathized with parents and pupils and the teachers have responsibilities to exercise best judgment for sensitive classroom content, but added that the protests should stop and be replaced with constructive dialogues.
	We do not want to fan the flames of Islamophobia or provoke hatred or division, he said.
	That's interesting because it kind of implies that people saying, well, look, we actually don't have to follow your rules is a form of Islamophobia.
	And if...
	You know, you provoke this, then people will say, well, actually, we don't have to do this.
	And that's not good.
	That's hatred and division.
	One heck of an argument, isn't it?
	I mean, by that standard of being a homosexual is Islamophobia.
	Like, just by definition, you are an Islamophobe in all times, in all places.
	Well, I mean, what did the Prophet Muhammad say about the people of Lut?
	The direct quote, this is on my YouTube, kill the ones who are doing it and kill the one that is being done to.
	That's their opinion.
	I also don't want to gloss over something one of the protesters said there.
	The idea that he didn't know it was offensive to show blasphemy.
	It's a course on blasphemy and he's pointing out that it is blasphemy.
	So obviously he did know.
	So this whole argument we're hearing here in The Guardian is promoting, The Guardian knows.
	It's false.
	I mean, this is BS. They know it's BS when they're saying it, and the Guardian knows they're BS when they're typing it up and reporting it.
	Yeah.
	So, apparently, the warning that is coming out of certain Muslim activists, such as Adil Shahzad, the Imam of the Al-Hakim Institute in Bradford, is that if you don't do what the Muslims are asking, then it may well become like France, quote-unquote.
	Apparently the Prime Minister must insist on respect for Islam, according to these Muslim leaders, or Britain risks becoming like France if the government does not insist on respect for Islam.
	Now what does that mean?
	Well that sounds like a threat to me, to be honest.
	The UK will become like France.
	I mean that sounds awful.
	I mean, what is France known for for the last 10 years?
	We'll turn our country into France?
	What an insult!
	But they know damn well.
	I know, I know.
	We know damn well what they're saying.
	They're saying that Samuel Pate would not end up being an isolated incident.
	He said, a letter would be sent to the Prime Minister and local MPs to show the strength of feeling after a teacher shared a cartoon.
	Many Muslim parents want the teacher sacked.
	All we ask for is a bit of respect, Shahzad said, adding, if one teacher can do it, another teacher can do it five years down the line.
	We do not want this to be the case.
	Otherwise, we are not responsible for the actions of some individuals.
	I mean, it literally sounds like he's threatening terrorism.
	Yeah, I mean, you will become a Sharia state, or you will become a state besieged by Sharia.
	Or, you know, just end up like France.
	Well, that's a state besieged by Sharia.
	Yes, it is.
	Islamists attacking them from the inside endlessly whenever anyone goes against Islamic law.
	Yeah.
	I mean, I don't see...
	Otherwise, we are not responsible for the actions of some individuals.
	Sounds like a threat of future terrorism.
	Unless we do what he wants.
	I mean...
	How else are we supposed to interpret this?
	Sigh.
	I don't want to be that guy, but, you know, shoe on the other foot.
	Just imagine if someone was saying this, like, if you don't become a white nationalist state, things are going to happen.
	I mean, you'd say, okay, lock that guy up for terrorism.
	He's inciting terrorism.
	Sure.
	In which case, why have the state not acted on this?
	Like, I would say section 127 conservatives, or else something might happen and we're not responsible for that.
	I mean, it sounds bad.
	I'm not trying to say that the laws we have in the UK for the restrictions on speech around these sort of things is always good or doesn't have any civil rights problems, but we're happy to use them in regards to organizations on the far right all the time.
	I mean, that would be enough, would you not think, for MI5 and whatnot to get involved?
	Yeah, I mean, I'd like to see what the content of his WhatsApp conversations are.
	Yeah.
	At the very least.
	But he says, we're hoping the school will do the right thing.
	That's a good question, because I actually disagree on what the right thing is to do here.
	I actually think the school has now got a moral obligation to continue teaching a course that is totally legal and legitimate under British law.
	But, I mean, I guess I don't follow the Sharia.
	Yeah.
	We hope they'll do the right thing and set the right precedent, because if this is the first case, which it is in this country, then it's very likely we will follow the route that France has taken, for example, or other European countries, where firstly it's let's insult the prophet, then we'll start banning the burqa.
	Oh no.
	Anything but banning the burqa?
	That'd be terrible.
	Can't threaten me with a good time.
	Like those multiple Muslim countries who have done exactly that.
	I suppose they need to come down.
	I suppose they do according to ISIS and proto-ISIS here.
	But the point that Mr.
	Shehzad has to understand is that actually we are supposed to be free to insult the Prophet.
	If we don't like Muhammad, we are free to insult him.
	That's how things should work in this country.
	That's the non-believers view.
	That's the non-believers view.
	So why does he have to value that?
	Exactly.
	Why does it have to be that the Muslim view of Muhammad has to be imposed on every non-Muslim?
	That's the question.
	A neighbour said she had seen three Asian teenagers trying the door of the house on Friday and peering through the windows.
	They knocked quite a few times of the teacher's house and tried the handle.
	One had been on a bicycle, the other two on foot.
	Imagine what they were there for.
	Why were they at this teacher's house?
	Just asking for a cup of sugar, I imagine.
	Just questions.
	Just want to know if you've heard the good word about the Prophet Muhammad and how, if you don't, it'll end up like France.
	I presume there were no sharp objects on them.
	We don't know because the police didn't catch them.
	But the protesters who gathered throughout Thursday included parents of the school but also people who travelled.
	Local imams have tried to cool the temperature with their sermons at Friday prayers, which is surprising.
	Making sure nobody does anything irresponsible, that we don't spread hatred, we don't spread violence, we don't in a peaceful way within our democratic rights.
	Yes, and when you're talking about democratic rights, you have to understand that other people have a democratic right to mock the Prophet Muhammad.
	It's just part of the way things are.
	If they don't do anything about it, I'll have to move my child out of here, says Farouk Hussein.
	He has a six-year-old at the school and another child due to start in September.
	A lot of parents will probably do that.
	We've got our own schools that teach everything they teach as well.
	Islamic schools.
	There are entire countries where they have nothing but Islamic schools, Farouk.
	Have you considered it?
	Just saying, it's an option.
	But anyway, yeah, so going back to the it'll become like France, you posted this on Twitter, Callum, because France has, of course, been the country that's most impacted by Islamic terrorism in the West.
	And, I mean, just looking at the graph, you can see it's to an absurd degree, where it's more than five times the number of deaths in France from Islamic terrorism than in Britain, for example.
	Staggering.
	Absolutely staggering numbers.
	So saying it'll become like France, again...
	The context really makes it look like a threat.
	Can't justify it, in my opinion.
	The BBC and various other responses have essentially said that this conversation has been hijacked by extremists, which is a very interesting way of describing the credentialed people with members of the order of the British Empire after their name as extremists, saying you'll become like France.
	But a protestor who called himself Mr.
	Hussein said that he was a parent at the school and would not like any form of extremism or any extremist viewpoints to be taught to children.
	So, saying that showing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad is blasphemy in Islam, with an example, is a form of extremism, it seems, according to Mr.
	Hussein, which I disagree.
	And Baroness Worsi, former Conservative Party chairwoman, who herself is, of course, a Muslim, has said the debate has been hijacked by extremists on both sides to fuel a culture war at the expense of kids and their learning.
	So, okay, let's assume that it has, Mrs.
	Worsi, Baroness, if you will.
	Which values should win?
	Should it be the Islamic values of the Sharia, or should it be British values of free speech?
	If there is a culture war, which one do you side with?
	Yes.
	Anyway, we'll leave my section there because we'll go on to your section next, talking about the general response to this.
	So if you want to get into the next section, John.
	Because, I mean, so far I hate everything about this.
	I genuinely despise that this is even a question that we have to ask.
	Muslim immigrants who have come to Britain should understand that British people don't follow the Sharia.
	They do believe in free speech, or at least they should believe in free speech, and it's not a requirement for them to respect Islam because that's not a requirement for any ideology.
	At all.
	Or religion.
	You're not required to respect anyone's religion or ideology in Britain.
	You can make fun of Judaism or Christianity or Catholicism.
	I'll put a distinction between Christianity and Catholicism.
	See you in the comments.
	No matter what religion.
	Hinduism.
	Buddhism.
	It's ours and whatever it is.
	You are not obliged by any rules in Britain to respect them.
	In fact, the very concept of religious toleration, which meant being able to talk about one another's religion in a manner that we see fit, was invented in Britain in the 18th century because of the unbelievable religious wars that dominated the European continent.
	Britain was the country that actually came to, I think, the most sensible conclusion on that, which was your religion is your own personal business and no one else has to care what you think of it.
	But that's why we're not an extremist state.
	We don't have extremist viewpoints.
	I mean, liberal democracy, for example, isn't like that.
	But none of these people are.
	The Islamists here are arguing for a totalitarian Islamist state in which you will agree to our terms or you will die, my friend.
	Well, that's certainly the implication.
	And the thing, be like France.
	Okay, well, how are things going in France?
	You know, you seem to have the Jupiterian presidency rising with Macron denouncing Islamo-leftism.
	Do you want Boris denouncing Islamo-leftism?
	Because I do!
	But the cost is basically a civil war.
	The cost is really quite high.
	I mean, with hundreds upon hundreds dead, I mean, it's not nothing, is it?
	No.
	That's the cost.
	But they're not the only totalitarians either.
	The socialists will say, you want to live in a socialist state, you must not blaspheme against socialism.
	You cannot criticise the leader, you can't criticise the party, so on and so forth.
	I mean, on the plus side, at least they're not killing people over it.
	What, socialists?
	Well, not over depictions of Jeremy Corbyn.
	Not yet.
	So anyway, but dovetailing into these kind of people.
	So dimmies.
	So the response from this in the UK has been a long time coming in my view.
	So you mentioned that we've, you know, you hate seeing this.
	But the unfortunate story is that we never tackled this problem properly.
	Yeah, it needs to be hashed out.
	And this appears to be one of those times when it is.
	I think it's going to get worse before we come to a resolution on this.
	I mean, the only time we ever spoke about this before in a national theatre in Britain would probably be Salman Rushdie, in the defence of him being able to write a book and giving him refuge, and then I think giving him a knighthood as well for his literary works.
	And even then, there were criticisms from the Liberal Democrats were denouncing the timing of giving him it.
	Yeah, but this was back in the 80s and 90s.
	Even then, there were massive protests from Muslims who lived here.
	And since then, we've had the Danish cartoons, we've had Charlie Hebdo, so on and so forth.
	And every single time, even though there's been unity about the idea that this probably should be okay, the national press never picked up on it.
	There was never a big debate in Parliament about, well, should we actually have these rights or not?
	Because we actually have not much of a leg to stand on, on the idea of should offending people be a crime.
	No, because that's the point, isn't it?
	We should be making the Christopher Hitchens-style moral case for offense.
	Yeah.
	And unfortunately, we're like, actually, we've criminalized that, so, you know, don't you post those pictures of Mohammed on the internet, because that actually would get you caught under Section 127.
	Which is why we look so pathetic when compared to France.
	So if we can get the first one up here.
	This is the interior minister in France who is being asked about this exact issue because France has gone over this problem multiple times.
	And they've come to the conclusion here, his conclusion, which is that it will be a criminal offence if you are objecting to the showing of cartoons.
	France's interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, says foreign parents who complain about their children being shown in sensitive cartoons will get deported.
	Yes.
	God!
	They're so far ahead of us.
	If you are a foreigner who comes to France and then demands that France become just like where you fled, we'll go back.
	If you miss it so much, that is the response.
	Forcibly deported.
	Yeah, which I'm in complete agreement with.
	I don't know why you would oppose that.
	If a foreigner comes to your country and demands that you become like the place they fled, well then bye-bye.
	It's that simple.
	I mean, this is a fundamental part of our country.
	You're demanding to be changed.
	That's not happening.
	But I just love the threat you all have become like France, if you insist.
	Yeah.
	The unfortunate part here is, of course, that's only for people who are foreigners, who have come here.
	The complexity is with the UK, most of the area we spoke about were born there.
	I mean, the people complaining were almost certainly born in the UK, grew up in the UK, all have British citizenship.
	Maybe.
	So you can't deport them.
	But what you could do is voluntary deportation if they've got dual citizenship.
	So many of them will probably have dual citizenship, because the UK allows that, and will probably have Pakistani by the looks of it.
	Sure.
	In which case, you could just say, well, here's a bunch of money, go to Pakistan, and we'll take away your British citizenship.
	That would be a legal thing to do.
	So Boris just saying, if you want to take after the French, there's the more humanitarian approach, I guess, if you want to keep it all legal, which is voluntary deportation.
	That's a thing you can do.
	We assume you do want to keep it all legal.
	Just that we disavow illegality.
	So this is where the French are, with their perspective.
	And then there's where we are.
	So we're having a debate about whether or not this is actually a great thing.
	This is a positive thing without having this debate, the Guardian says.
	Because of course they do.
	To live in a diverse society means to live with debate.
	Bring it on.
	It's like, this is not a positive sign, my friend.
	Oh, I'm happy to have debates about all of this.
	The thing is, the Muslims are going to lose the debate.
	And then what happens when they lose the debate?
	They're going to be like, well, you know what, guys, they're right.
	No, no, they're absolutely going to.
	That's the reason that the individual Muslim activists have to resort to violence.
	Because they do lose these debates.
	If they could persuade people, I'm sure they wouldn't need to.
	What do you define by losing the debate?
	Well, not persuading the other side.
	Well, who cares if the demands are met?
	Exactly.
	So that's where the real issue is, I think.
	But I mean, his argument here of like, oh, well, it's good that we're having debates.
	I mean, I agree.
	I agree that diversity of opinion and having debates is good, but it is not a good sign when you are having the debate about whether or not that thing should exist.
	I mean, whether or not foreign opinions should exist to your own.
	The idea that someone could disagree and say drawing Mohammed should be legal.
	That's the debate we're having.
	Should free speech exist?
	That's not a positive sign.
	Not that it does in Britain, but anyway.
	But the guy writing this makes some inadvertently, I think, good points.
	I've tried to take them out.
	So he mentions here, many groups struggling for justice and equality, women, gays, non-believers, within religious communities, cannot but be blasphemous.
	Women, gays, non-believers, their existence is blasphemous in and of itself.
	I don't think women's existence is blasphemous in and of itself.
	Mr.
	Nasrik is this guy.
	He's taking a very extreme viewpoint, I presume.
	Yeah, I actually think that women are accepted in Islam.
	But he doesn't say it.
	But I mean, that's actually a good point, though, which is that if we accept that those things are blasphemous, then if you accept that these cartoons are blasphemous, well, then not only are we then going to have to give up the drawing of cartoons, we are going to have to give up women, gays, and non-believers in existence.
	So, I mean, if you accept that they are blasphemous in their existence...
	I mean, this is like the alt-right, when they say, oh, we'll just get rid of all the minorities, and what if they won't leave?
	Well, then you know what they're arguing for.
	The alt-right are arguing for genocide.
	Same thing here, where they're like, well, what happens to the gays and the non-believers who are blasphemous in their existence?
	Well, you know what they're going to do with them.
	They're going to kill them.
	That's going to be their solution.
	Well, if, I mean, judging by the example set by other Muslims in other countries...
	I mean, their literal law states death.
	We could reasonably infer that, yeah.
	There's like 12 countries with the death penalty for being gay, all of them Muslim.
	Yeah.
	Like, big surprise.
	Yeah.
	Anyway, so then there's also non-believers.
	I think Malaysia still has on the law that if you're a non-believer, death.
	Really?
	It's just like, okay.
	I think Saudi has it as well.
	So, no trips to Malaysia for you.
	Not many Christians in the Arabian Peninsula.
	But atheists, I mean.
	Or atheists, yeah.
	So, no, but the law is if you're an atheist, the punishment is death.
	Oh, is it?
	Right, okay.
	Anyway, but he also makes a good point here, which I think has been sort of glossed over, which is that he says, one of the ironies of such controversies is that they serve to silence many Muslim voices and traditions.
	This is actually true.
	So the argument here that while we're arguing that the cartoon should always be blasphemous within Islam, well, that's not true.
	The Shias don't believe that, do they?
	So it's a long-standing thing that is going on within the Islamic world back in the day.
	Mm-hmm.
	And the Shias definitely have a different viewpoint on this.
	So just to get the next link up, just a Google search.
	You can just do this yourself.
	Mohammed paintings.
	And you'll find painting after painting from the medieval times of people drawing Mohammed with his face, without his face.
	You know, whatever.
	So the idea that this is some universal thing within the Islamic world as well is just bunk.
	Like, not true.
	I'm sorry.
	So these guys claiming that they represent all of Islam or something, that's...
	It's obviously false.
	I don't know what to make of it.
	What I find interesting is if we have to accept this prescription about Muhammad as well, do we also have to accept the other assertions about him, like he flew to heaven on a winged horse, like Mehdi Hassan believes?
	Do we have to believe that as well?
	Yes, presumably.
	What's the logic for not?
	What is the state going to do?
	If you accept the first premise, what's stopping you from getting all the way to Sharia State?
	Look, I just don't think there was a winged horse.
	But you've already accepted that we can't blaspheme against Mohammed.
	That's the state of this.
	I also saw there were some interesting responses.
	So Douglas Murray did a response in which he was pointing out the analyst question, which is, well, why are some groups able to get away with breaking lockdown regulations?
	So they're allowed to protest here.
	He doesn't even have his mask over his face.
	Blasphemed against the COVID sharia.
	Right next to the cops as well, who don't seem to care about this.
	Although I did like Voltaire's ghost response, which is, well, at least they didn't just turn around and start saying the shahada, the cops.
	It's kind of what I expect from the British cops, not to just turn around.
	Their minimum, I suppose.
	At least they didn't convert to Islam at their right then.
	They didn't take the knee, I suppose.
	So then there's the Labour Party response to this.
	So there's the official DIMI party.
	So this is the first thing I'm going to show you here.
	This is the local Labour MP who had said nothing at the time of our last episode.
	She has now released a statement.
	So this is her statement here she put on Twitter.
	So, no teacher should be facing intimidation or threats.
	There is no excuse for that.
	The focus must be on welfare and education.
	Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
	Going off topic there, just because she wants to campaign about something else.
	So basically, no teacher should be facing threats.
	But wouldn't you rather talk about something else if you were a Labour mayor?
	Yeah.
	I welcome the school's apology in recognition of the offence that has been caused by...
	But conversations between the school and parents and local community must proceed in a diggified and respectful manner.
	And then, those who seek to fan the flames of this incident will only provoke hate and division.
	It's like, sounds like a threat again.
	Not gonna lie.
	But there's the point there, she's like, okay, well the teacher shouldn't face anything.
	I welcome the apology, which is like, yeah, but I do agree with the Islamists.
	And also, anyone who fans the flames of the incident will have hate and division put upon them.
	So anyone who doesn't agree with the Muslim protesters will be causing hate and division.
	So I would say that this is not a great response, but it turns out it's not even her first one.
	She responded earlier, and this was like her revisit to try and make it sound less like a dimmy.
	So her original statement was even worse.
	So if we get to the next one, this is someone pointing it out here, that she says, The upset and offense this has caused is understandable, but it was also predictable.
	I am pleased that the school has recognized that it was inappropriate and apologized for causing the offense.
	It's like...
	Wow.
	I can't think of a better dimmy thing to say, which is just, I agree with the Islamists.
	Tracy Braben, don't offend Islam.
	That's the Labour Party's position.
	So I assume we can just assume that the Labour Party in general is now officially saying we are the party of Islam, and blaspheming against the Holy Prophet is not allowed.
	Can you imagine if Keir Starmer comes out with Macron's position?
	He won't.
	I know, but it'd be bloody hilarious, wouldn't it?
	You should double down on Boris and see what he does.
	That would be good, but it's not going to.
	And it's not even very good in the Conservative Party either.
	I mean, as you previously mentioned, the Baroness Worsi response to this was that extremists are hijacking this issue.
	So if we can get the next one up.
	Just to remind yourself, she's the former Conservative chairman as well.
	Like, chairman for the whole party.
	And this is her opinion.
	Unfortunately, this matter has been hijacked by extremists on both sides to create some kind of culture war.
	What we are forgetting in all of this is the most important party in all of this, which is the kids and their learning.
	Jesus Christ.
	So where were you when the COVID shutdowns were preventing kids from going to school?
	But it's such a distraction as well.
	Just like she knows there's a culture war going on there, which is between the forces of we should be a Sharia state and the forces of liberalism.
	And her response is, everyone arguing about this is an extremist.
	Let's just move on.
	Let's pretend this isn't happening.
	Not helpful.
	I mean, this is what we've done every time there's been a cartoon crisis in foreign lands.
	But now that it's happened in ours, we're trying to pull the same thing.
	That's not going to work.
	And the thing is, just pathologizing everyone on each side as an extremist for having an opinion on this is not really very helpful.
	On one side, Islamists.
	On the other side, liberals.
	Both extremists.
	So what on earth are you then?
	I'm a conservative.
	Oh, man.
	Like, I believe it was like democratic, sorry, Islamism or something.
	I don't know what to say.
	It's just so depressing that this is the state of the Conservative Party.
	I mean, I'm glad that she's the former chairman, but some of the Conservative MPs haven't been much better.
	I have seen some good responses of them saying this shouldn't be the case.
	If Boris doesn't come out and be like, what are the letterboxes angry about now?
	I'm going to be disappointed.
	If there is no speech from Boris Johnson addressing this issue, it will be embarrassing.
	Yes.
	Because it will be another issue where we just stepped aside and ignored, and this will get kicked five years down the road.
	Yeah.
	It'll just get worse.
	Yeah.
	So there's Savage Javid at least made a response to this.
	So he's out of the cabinet now, so this isn't a cabinet position because he's a conservative MP. In which he said that in this country we are free to peacefully follow, preach and query any religion or none.
	No.
	Good man.
	That's a lie though.
	Yeah, it's not true, but that's how it should be.
	I really wish that that is the case.
	I'm glad that your opinion is that that should be the case, but I'm sorry to inform you that.
	I really like Sajid.
	It's not the case.
	He'd always been so solid on these issues.
	Like when he was talking about the grooming gangs.
	He's like, look, political correctness is not going to leave any stone unturned.
	Okay, great.
	He's completely correct on the liberal perspective on all of these things.
	He always does a great job.
	He gets yeeted out of the cabinet.
	I mean, I don't know what's going on with the office politics in that section, but his rhetoric has always been solid.
	But then again, I mean, so was Boris until he got into the seat of Prime Minister, so that's one thing.
	But him saying that we are free to query any religion, no, that's just not the case, I'm afraid, in the UK. So the best example for this kind of case would be the Northern Irish pastor who was criminalised for saying that Islam was satanic.
	So this was a Northern Irish pastor giving a sermon, and he said that the religion of Islam is satanic, which, I mean, you would if you're a Christian.
	Why wouldn't a Christian say that?
	I mean, this is the force of Satan here, the guys coming out of the Arabian desert and murdering every Christian they can find and taking over Christian lands.
	And Jews.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, I mean, that would look pretty satanic to the Christian faith.
	I mean, I remember at the time, the Pope, when they first started invading, I think it was Jerusalem or whatever, the Pope issued a statement saying that it was the forces of Satan that had risen up against them.
	I mean, like, you know, anything can, from the Christian perspective, be viewed as satanic if it's against Christianity.
	Like, you could always view anything as satanic.
	So, like, for him to...
	Atheism is satanic.
	You know, Islam is satanic.
	You probably frame Judaism as being satanic.
	Buddhism, whatever it is, anything could be satanic if it's not pro-Christian.
	So for saying that, which is a fact if you're a Christian, that is your opinion by definition, I'm sorry, if you don't agree, you're not a Christian.
	If you're a bit of a zealot, that is.
	Well, I don't know.
	Anyway, so the point here is that he was charged with being prosecuted under the 2003 Communication Act, section 127, for his anti-Islam remarks.
	Thanks, Labour.
	Boy, I'm glad that we're free to query religions, Savid, Javid.
	Sorry.
	In Scotland, there's someone who's written Islam is questionable on a wall and got arrested by the Scottish police.
	Yeah.
	Apparently it's not questionable.
	I just find it amazing.
	You can't even insult it.
	You can't even question it.
	So this article has a Muslim scholar trying to back him in the case.
	The case eventually was dismissed, which is good, but that's not an argument for keeping the law.
	I mean, if you criminalize people for doing this, the law is bad.
	And I love the Muslim scholar's defense here.
	So he opens with, this is his defense of free speech.
	Against the flaming backdrop of torched Christian churches, bloody executions and massacres of faith minorities in the Middle East and elsewhere.
	Blah, blah, blah.
	We must defend freedom of speech.
	And it's like, man, that does sound pretty satanic.
	I mean, like, burning Christians, burning churches, and, like, crucifying them in the Middle East.
	I don't know what else I'd call satanic apart from that.
	So, it's just such a weird defence.
	It's like, yes, the Middle East is full of barbarians who are murdering Christians outright.
	I mean, this is in the time of ISIS, especially.
	Well, I mean, there is a genocide of Christians going on.
	I mean, you look at places like Egypt where Coptic churches are being bombed.
	I mean, Coptic Christianity was, like, the second century or something.
	It's one of the most ancient branches of it, and they're currently being genocided.
	So, I mean, sounds satanic to me, but no, that's a crime to say, and he was taken to court over this, not just arrested.
	So then there's the other part of the Labour Party.
	So the Labour Party frontbench, so this is someone who is from Keir Starmer's cabinet, if we can get the next link up, give an interview with Sky News, and his position, I presume, will have been cleared with the Labour Party cabinet, because it's how that's meant to work, and his position was one of, move on, nothing's going on here, nothing to see.
	Oh, oh.
	Let's punt this further down the road so it's someone else's problem.
	So the interviewer asks, you think suspending the teacher was the right thing to do?
	I was like, do you think that?
	And his response was, what we have to do now is move on.
	We're in the middle of the conversation, mate.
	Why are we moving on?
	But that's what I mean by the debate here is just the outcomes, fundamentally, what happens.
	And the Islamists have won.
	The teacher has been suspended.
	He will never be allowed to teach that school again for security concerns, if nothing else.
	And the response from the major institutions is just, let's just move on.
	Everything's fixed now.
	I mean, they've got the result they want in Labour.
	I suppose they do.
	What do they care?
	I also love this argument.
	I see endlessly that freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences.
	I mean, this issue just, I think, crystallizes that argument into what that argument really is.
	It's a threat.
	In the same way the arguments from the Muslim people arguing outside.
	Become like France.
	Become like France.
	Well, the freedom of speech of this teacher is not freedom from consequences.
	What are the consequences?
	Get the next image up.
	I mean, this is the original cartoons that he used from Denmark.
	And then there were riots, and this is a Danish embassy that was set on fire.
	And over 300 people died.
	So, I mean, that's what we're going for.
	Luckily, there is one good person in all of this who has said something good.
	It's not a politician.
	It's not even a conservative.
	It's Ricky Gervais.
	The only Englishman left on the planet by the sounds of it.
	He doesn't even live here.
	Based Ricky Gervais channeling those French genes.
	So him tweeting out, blasphemy, effing blasphemy.
	It's 2021 for F's sake.
	What next?
	People being punished for insulting unicorns.
	It's only a matter of time, Ricky, to be honest.
	But I hate how we're having to look to Ricky Gervais for moral guidance because all of our leaders in the UK have just given it up.
	Run for parliament, Ricky.
	Honestly, you'd win.
	You've got more backbone than anyone in the country at this point.
	67,000 likes, man.
	You're going to do a great job, Ricky.
	Come on.
	I love how the criticism as well.
	You can see the upvoted comment here.
	It's 2021 and you still have no black and Asian people in your crew.
	Thanks for that, Arif Mahmood.
	Very useful.
	What a useful contribution, Arif.
	Thank you for that.
	But there's the point, which is just that...
	Okay.
	Look at that.
	The apex of Islamo-leftism right there.
	It's like, just, oh, Macron was right.
	But it pains me that this situation is happening.
	The fact that we are having this debate at all instead of just telling them to get stuffed, get deported.
	It pains me that the French are making us look bad.
	Yeah, I mean, that's horrible.
	But I was really hoping that at least the Conservative Central Party would come out and say something.
	I mean, this is such an easy win for them.
	And yeah, okay, one Secretary has said that this shouldn't be the case, and another one has said that we should have freedom of speech.
	We don't agree with threats.
	It's like, oh, fuck, radical position, lads.
	I mean, you've really blown it out of the park with that one.
	Really contributing to the dialogue there.
	And instead, we just have the agreement from both, you know, university parties here that this isn't really an issue.
	It's a pleb problem again.
	This is something we can just get over if we just move on.
	And then, okay, the plebs will be arguing about it in another five years, but who really cares?
	Some pleb teachers might get murdered.
	Not a problem.
	Yeah, I hate it.
	No, you guys, honestly, there needs to be a speech from central government, in the same way that's going on in France, to, I don't know, at least moderate the culture in this country.
	To say, no, no, no, we have values, and these values aren't going anywhere.
	Fundamentally, we should have the right to say things which are offensive.
	But, I mean, they don't have that value.
	Yeah, but we don't have that right either.
	That's the thing.
	We've literally criminalised it.
	It absolutely sucks, because that was one of my major reasons for voting Conservative in the last election.
	I imagine a lot of people had the expectation that yes, something would be done on this front.
	Nothing has happened instead.
	It just kills me.
	I don't know what we're going to do.
	Well, there's only one option.
	Look to Ricky Gervais.
	Yeah, exactly.
	The Ricky Gervais party coming here soon.
	I would support it.
	But, like, the problem is that there is very little from which the Conservatives appear to be able to argue from, considering how Labour has criminalised all of those traditionally Conservative things.
	The sort of classical liberalism the Conservatives should be arguing from has essentially become illegal in many ways.
	Like, the typical one being free speech and offence.
	Well, sorry...
	Like, if the teacher had done this via Zoom call, you know, if we all saw lockdown, that would have been a crime.
	Yeah.
	I mean, not just a breach of some kind of guidance or inappropriate or so on and so forth, a crime.
	Which it wasn't, and they've been doing it for years, but it doesn't matter.
	But that's the point.
	It's like, look...
	You guys have got to do something.
	You can't just keep kicking this down the road and think it's going to go away.
	It is never going to go away.
	It is just going to get worse.
	Because I'm a Conservative.
	Anyway, the Conservatives did do something cultural last week that we didn't have time to cover last week, so I figured we'll cover today.
	Because, I mean, this is something.
	It's a very small something.
	But the Conservatives have issued a directive in which they have signed the requirement that each government building should fly the Union flag.
	Radical.
	Absolutely radical.
	Government buildings should have the flag of the country on them.
	Controversial, brave, stunning.
	Also came with a lot of complaints that we'll go through in a minute.
	But anyway, the BBC say all government buildings in England, Wales and Scotland will fly the Union flag every day following new government guidance from the Culture Department.
	Currently flags are only flown on certain days such as the Queen's birthday.
	Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the flag was a proud reminder of our history and the ties that bind us.
	There seem to be way too many leftists around who are like, yeah, that's the problem.
	Britain.
	Sorry, I just can't get over it.
	I bet they were, like, releasing this guidance.
	They're all patting each other on the back, being like, yeah, good job, lads.
	We've really done something cultural.
	Bare minimum.
	We've addressed the Islamo-leftism in the country.
	Everything will be fine now.
	The guidance was released that says the Union flag should be flown every day, except on those occasions where another flag is being flown.
	What other flag?
	Black Lives Matter flag.
	I guess, yeah, the LGBT flag.
	What other flag would you fly instead of the Union flag?
	Just out of interest.
	But I guess, you know, never mind.
	Anyway, Conservative MPs, roundy, yeah, patting themselves on the back.
	Well done, well done.
	The Union flag unites us as a nation and a people and we're currently expected to be flown over the UK government buildings.
	This guideline will ensure that this happens every day.
	Yeah, but the leader of the opposition until very recently was someone who supported the IRA, Palestinian terrorists, and the regime in Venezuela.
	So it's like, he was, you know, a third of the population was backing him roughly.
	So you sit there and go, well, you're nice as a nation.
	It's like, no, we seem to have a few deeper problems than that.
	And the response from, of course, the degenerate separatists in Scotland and Wales...
	I probably shouldn't describe them so badly because I'm turning into a separatist myself, to be honest.
	Yes, they should separate themselves.
	But no, the Conservative MP John Hayes said, yeah, I think we just don't fly a flag enough.
	If you go to other capitals of other countries around the heart of those capitals, particularly government buildings, you routinely see the flag of that country flying, because that's normal.
	However, the SNP's Mahiri Black said, if the Tories think an overload of Union jacks on buildings is the answer to promote the strength of the Union...
	Then it shows how thin the case for the union is.
	Well, yes, that's what I'd expect from someone from the SNP. And flags won't undo the poverty and hardship the Tories have created over the last decade.
	In Scotland.
	The Tories created the hardship and poverty.
	Not the SNP. Not the party with the supermajority in Scotland.
	No, no, no.
	It was the Conservatives.
	Also with the devolved powers here.
	Like, they're in charge of healthcare, they're in charge of education.
	And the Conservatives caused all this poverty and hardship in Scotland.
	Weird.
	Anyway, Plaid Cymru's MP Liz Savile Roberts says, The Tories know that independence for Scotland is inevitable and that Wales will be hot on their heels.
	Sticking flags on every street corner will not change that fact and rather only reveals their desperate insecurity about the future of the UK. God, there really is a part of me that hopes they get what they wish for.
	There really is.
	Because I really want to see the result.
	And if they're thriving Celtic republics that are presumably under the heel of the European Union, but doing well regardless, then we'll be BTFO'd.
	We'll be shown wrong.
	Anyway, I thought we'd go through some of the public response from this because it's just hilarious.
	So what I did is I went to the various social media platforms where each different outlet had covered this story and just went through some of the comments.
	Now, for privacy reasons, because on certain platforms, apparently you can file a privacy complaint about publicly made comments.
	I've had this happen to me before, so I'll just be reading out quotes rather than showing screenshots because...
	Whatever.
	Stephen, in response to the BBC, Stephen says, Another step taken along the road to fascism.
	Good input, Stephen.
	Both utterly pathetically puerile and grimly frightening.
	This is entirely indicative of the direction we're travelling.
	Up a dead end of English nationalism.
	So we've had the Scottish Nationalists and the Welsh Nationalists complaining that it's not Scottish and Welsh enough.
	But the British flag is English Nationalism.
	Okay.
	Someone called Republican Alba, hashtag Land of Our Fathers, with a flag of Scotland in it, says, The Nazi regime done the same trying to show a show of strength.
	Present day imperialism, nothing more.
	Scotland will spread her wings and leave this dictatorship.
	Says the actual National Socialist.
	I so love the whole thing is like, you know what was wrong with the Nazis?
	They had flags.
	Yeah, that's the thing everyone was opposed to.
	You know what we need to get out of is this dictatorship.
	How are you going to do it?
	By voting.
	Oh, man.
	But it's like, unironically, like, Republican Alba, hashtag Land of Our Fathers, with the flag of Scotland being like, yeah, this nationalist government.
	Oh, yeah, you're not in any way nationalist, are you?
	Someone called Bibbleco, who has the flag of the European Union and the flag of the United Kingdom in their bio, says, I can't overstate how angry this makes me.
	You have the flag of the UK in your bio, mate.
	You also have he, him pronouns in your bio, which is interesting.
	And he also replies, saying, to expand a bit, I'm angry because this is a deliberate tactic to incite even more social division and tribal in-group, out-group zealotry on all sides to the general detriment of us all, which obviously is bad for the UK as an entity as well as us living here.
	Right, so you're not British.
	And you're complaining that the British government wants British flags on British government buildings, and that is somehow divisive.
	Have you considered the problem as you, Mr Bibbleco?
	He also says it's also a transparent attempt to stir up culture wars!
	What, do you assume you've won?
	I mean, are you not allowed to have a British flag and that's a culture war?
	What's this complaint?
	People are stirring up culture wars and that's bad.
	Well, you see, the left has been stirring up culture wars for the past couple of decades, and now the Conservatives are like, wait, we're in the middle of a culture war.
	Maybe we should have an opinion on this.
	They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, enough.
	Owen Jones does this all the time.
	Oh, you're trying to stir up a culture war.
	Owen, that's your entire platform.
	That's all you talk about is culture war, culture war, culture war.
	And as soon as someone else goes, yeah, maybe we should have a positive opinion on our side of that argument, you're like, no, no, these culture war arguments are...
	Terrible!
	How dare you, sir?
	But just the idea of a culture war on X issue is just bad in and of itself.
	I think it's just because they know they're going to lose it.
	They know they're going to lose it.
	And we'll get to how badly they'd lose this.
	This is very, very much a losing position.
	But anyway, he says, because jingoism and flag shaggers make me ill, note that he had the European Union flag and the UK flag in his bio.
	So go on, go complain about jingoism and flag shaggers, Mr Bibblecoe.
	I don't need a reminder of where I am, and it's importing American cultural values, and next it will be schools.
	I mean, thank God we can denounce importing American cultural values from a left-wing perspective, but the thing is, he's importing EU cultural values because he's not British.
	Anyway, going on to the replies from the LBC post on Facebook, Maddy says, When do we start signing loyalty oaths?
	When you join the military, Maddy.
	You literally have to swear an oath of allegiance to queen and country.
	Because that's what a normal country does, Maddy.
	It's not unnerving, as you say.
	She's like, it's getting quite unnerving.
	I'm not a traitor to the country I live in.
	That's a nerving god.
	You know, what the hell's wrong with you, Maddy?
	No one has to do this in everyday life, but I mean, I don't know why you're threatened by it.
	Like, I might have to say that I'm not a traitor to the country, and then I might be bound to do something nice instead of just trying to destroy it.
	That kind of implies you're like, but I am a traitor.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Ruth says it's divisive because it doesn't represent a united country, but the policies of this government.
	We are not a united country.
	This is jingoistic nationalism.
	Our flag is being hijacked.
	We aren't a united country, but the government of the country is hijacking our flag.
	How does that work, Ruth?
	Just out of interest.
	And Barry says, Thank you for that big-brained intervention, Barry.
	I'll let you know when the jackboot...
	Thugs are marching down the streets demanding that we can't say certain things.
	Oh wait, we have that already.
	Good point.
	Anyway, from The Independent, Steve says, Remember, the newly found obsession with the union flag by the Conservatives is to help you recall the nostalgia of what our great country used to feel like before they screwed it up.
	You mean before Labour screwed it up.
	Because the Conservatives have really done nothing particularly different.
	They weren't the innovators of any of these things.
	They were just the continuance.
	Because thanks, Tony Blair.
	Rowan says, Just saying.
	That's a fair point.
	I didn't take out too many patriots.
	There were quite a few patriotic comments on The Independent, actually, for some reason.
	Must have got shared to some patriot group or something.
	It's like, ah, screw you.
	Let's raid it.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Let's raid, yeah.
	Sandy says, rightly so.
	So it's our flag.
	We fly it with pride.
	Don't understand those who are against it.
	But if you don't like the flag, get out of the country.
	Based.
	The comments on The Independent were great, actually.
	And then we came to Jane.
	We're becoming more like a fascist state every day.
	Surely there are more important things to be thinking about than flag-waving.
	Well, I mean, everyone else is talking about the culture war, so why shouldn't the government?
	You know, the government does have more than two ministers.
	What are the rest of them meant to do with their time?
	Boris is just sat there like, well, I can't do it all.
	But just like, I don't know, like the transport secretary comes up with some new ideas for motorways.
	It's like, this is not the time.
	We have other issues.
	It's like, well, I only work on transport.
	Like, what do you want him to do?
	I mean, the culture secretary comes up with this and he's like, I've got a good idea.
	Yeah.
	George says don't tell me it's a Tory donor who's been awarded the lucrative contract to source and supply all the flags.
	George, they already have flags.
	Like the flags are already in existence.
	They fly them on the Queen's birthday and on certain other occasions.
	And the government's just like, you know, we could just have these flags up every day.
	This is one of those few things in which the Tories are actually not selling us out to their donors.
	It's weird that you've used this as a platform to complain about.
	Martin says, and just like that, welcome to North Korea.
	I mean, as the resident North Korean expert.
	There's a few more steps, lad.
	I don't think just having the flag is enough.
	The best thing about this is that he's got the European flag in his profile pic.
	Was he ever complaining about us flying the European Union flag in every government building?
	I haven't seen him complaining about that.
	Because we did used to.
	We did.
	I suppose that was North Korea too.
	But he's got still European written on his profile pic.
	Katarina says no amount of flag worshipping will make up for suicide by Brexit.
	People will take little comfort in it as they lose their jobs in ever larger numbers.
	Yes, it's Brexit that's killed people's jobs and not the lockdowns.
	She's also an arch Ramona.
	I had a look at her history and it's just Ramona.
	Ian Smith says they're so detached I won't even buy cheese if it has a flag on it.
	EU stars on his profile picture.
	Little stars around the profile picture.
	It's like...
	These flag shaggers are just like, oh, that's got a British flag!
	Like garlic to a vampire, but they're covered in EU flags.
	It's just that you're embarrassing.
	I like some of the comments in the chat.
	It's just like, that guy who's complaining that the flag is North Korea.
	It's like, yeah, it's just North Korea with extra steps.
	A few extra million steps, perhaps.
	But...
	This is fascism.
	It's like, really?
	Didn't the Soviet Union have the Soviet flag on all their buildings?
	I mean, any time they could find somewhere to put it, I guess.
	What else is there to put up?
	This is fascism.
	Simon says, it's not about being British.
	It's about trying to create a culture war by droning on about flags or immigrants that divert attention away from the massive death toll and the economic devastation caused by this government's incompetence.
	Yes, he does have vote labour for the many, not the few on his profile picture.
	Do you know what flag they were flying at Labour Party Conference?
	No, probably the Maoist one.
	Palestine.
	Just look up...
	Flag shaggers, all of them.
	Labour Party Conference, and then type in the word flag, and you'll get them flying Palestinian flags en masse.
	But I just find it really ironic how someone who supported Jeremy Corbyn is like, well, let me talk about the Conservatives' economic incompetence.
	Should have burnt more money.
	Yeah, just don't.
	From the Guardian response, Tom, the last time we were persuaded to fly a flag and declare our patriotism was when the Empire was still in existence.
	A fortune was being made by colonialists and Tories had taken us to war and people living in the worst slums in Europe.
	I'm always suspicious of flag wavers.
	What?
	Sounds like progress.
	Well, I mean, just...
	We have waved the flag since the end of the Empire.
	Not him.
	Well, not him personally.
	I guess he's like, hey, we're conquering Rhodesia or something.
	But he was like, hang on.
	Yeah, maybe he's like, yeah, I'm suspicious of flag wavers because we let the Empire go.
	Bob says a National Front flag is more appropriate for Boris and Co.
	if they want to fly their true colours.
	I think that might actually be a British flag, Bob.
	Unbelievably, the National Front used the British flag as their flag.
	Not a shock.
	I also saw some people trying to compare over the weekend the National Front to the Tories.
	They take some campaign promises from the National Front and compare it to the Tories.
	It's like, did you know the National Front were in favour of getting rid of immigrants and the death penalty coming back?
	It's like, yeah, that wasn't the problem.
	People weren't like, this National Front, we've got to do something about it.
	They want the death penalty back.
	That's the big thing.
	In the same way, the big thing about the Nazis is they waved flags.
	It's just such a low IQ argument.
	I don't know what's going on.
	It's not the incessant hatred of Jews or anything like that that springs from these Nazi movements.
	It's because they wore shoes.
	Yeah, exactly.
	It's because they ate salads.
	Hitler was a vegan on them four.
	Well, I suppose if you're in the Labour Party, you don't really have a problem with the Jew hatred.
	Well, yeah, I suppose so.
	Your problem is with the flags.
	Good point, actually.
	Mark says, all the pieces of the fascism jigsaw are slowly coming together.
	Mark my words.
	In his profile, he's like, I've had the COVID vaccine.
	Thank you, NHS. I imagine he supports the fact that we should be fined for trying to go on holiday.
	In favour of the Covid sharia, it seems.
	But he's right.
	All the fascism jigsaw pieces are coming together.
	Paul says, I loathe all this flag-waving jingoism.
	We're turning into the USA. Oh, God.
	That'd be nice, wouldn't it?
	A constitutional democracy that actually has a constitution worth more than the paper it's written on.
	Can you imagine?
	Can you even imagine?
	Gun ownership rights.
	When someone breaks into a house, the court won't punish you for defending your property.
	That would be incredible.
	I could tweet things all day.
	Yeah, exactly.
	I'd be able to tweet what I wanted without fear of a fake gun.
	I wish we were turning to the USA. The only threat against me would be being banned off Twitter, not being put in jail.
	Lorraine Bragg says, A proud reminder of our history.
	So, Wales.
	What part of the flag represents Wales?
	Oh, the English part.
	What's the English part?
	I suppose it's the St.
	George's Cross.
	But the Union flag is nothing but a reminder of oppression at home and abroad.
	Oppression in Wales?
	In Wales?
	Do you not remember the Welsh slave plantations?
	Where we put all the Welsh in slave plantations?
	But it's Mark Drakeford that's oppressing you in Wales.
	He's the one who banned alcohol in Wales.
	It wasn't Boris.
	He went further than that.
	Do you not remember?
	They banned all non-essential items.
	Yes.
	So coming into winter, they had to block off babies' clothing and towels and anything warm.
	Yeah, literally in the supermarkets.
	You're not allowed to buy these things by order of Mark Drakeford.
	But just the most basic stuff.
	You're not allowed to keep yourself warm in the winter.
	Yeah.
	Okay, I guess I'll freeze.
	The English are oppressing us.
	What?
	How is this?
	Anyway, yes, one day the English will stop oppressing the Welsh.
	But anyway, let's go on to the reporting that Rory did on this, because there was a YouGov poll where they asked people, hey, do you think that maybe the British government should fly the British flag on government buildings?
	And of the 5,233 adults surveyed, 58% said they approved the decision, with 19% saying the opposite, and 22% saying, we don't care.
	Amazing.
	Amazing how the left and the pro-European lobby are so totally opposed to the British public by nearly 3-1 on this.
	For every one SJW Ramona lefty type going, eh, I hate the British flag, there are three people saying, hey, this is a good idea.
	Like you were saying with the Boris school thing, Boris should come out and be very pro this.
	Come out and just make a waffling argument in favour of it, and two-thirds of the country will be like, yeah, great.
	I mean, they should know this by now.
	I mean, this is UKIP's country.
	The leftists just live in it.
	In which case, just appeal to the people of Britain who actually think that Britain is good.
	Yeah.
	Because they outnumber the SJWs three to one.
	At least.
	So...
	And that's not including the 22% who just don't care.
	So, I mean, you know...
	Like, it's going to be dozens to one when you actually get the final tally.
	And any of these people are ever going to vote Conservative?
	I mean, the people with I've never kissed a Tory in their profile picture and stuff...
	I mean, really?
	Why are you appealing to them?
	Still European?
	Yeah.
	For the many, not the few?
	There's no point appealing to such people.
	No.
	Anyway, let's go to the video comments.
	Hey guys, another outstanding day for Australian men.
	Moving rapidly past the government minister blaming Grand Theft Auto for men's attitudes towards women, Wernambul School sorry for making boys stand an apology for behaviours of their gender.
	Outstanding.
	This is what's coming from the people that are educating the youth of our countries.
	So, serious question for you, Carl.
	Given that you've got at least one young fella who's going to be going into the schooling system sooner or later, what plans do you have to protect your boys from blatant discrimination based on their gender?
	Cheers!
	Well, I sent the school an email saying that you don't want to become like France, do you?
	And...
	What I'm saying is, don't make my sons apologise for being male.
	That's all I'm saying.
	Honestly, you've hit on a good point there, though, which is that if the Muslim guys outside of that school get all the consequences they want, well, then that sort of sets a standard as well.
	Yeah, that threats work.
	Well, no.
	Because all of this lobbying and all of this making reasonable arguments and all the rest of it doesn't seem to work.
	So, I mean, the state is sending you a message here that the right thing to do is to turn up and protest outside of school.
	Now, of course, I'm not saying that's the way the world should work, but if they keep kowtowing to such people...
	I like the idea of the Wiltshire parents turning up, though.
	Yeah.
	My boy is a boy.
	Leave him alone.
	Stop trying to cut his dick off.
	You know, extremist positions like that.
	Maybe you shouldn't mutilate children with experimental drugs and surgeries.
	Yeah.
	Crazy.
	Or you shouldn't make him stand up and apologise for being male.
	Yeah.
	I assume you saw the story he's referencing.
	I did, yeah.
	I did see the story.
	Literally an entire class of boys was forced to stand up and just say, we're sorry for being male.
	It's like...
	Not even like they individually did something wrong or something.
	Like, just apologize for the male gender, children.
	Now do it with the black kids.
	Make all the black kids stand up and apologise for being black.
	Now do it with the Muslim kids.
	Make them apologise for all the terrorism in France.
	I mean, it's just so mind-numbingly basic.
	That's what I don't get.
	Yeah, I can't believe this is where we are.
	I bet all the kids realised that this was stupid.
	God, I bet they hated it.
	I bet the girls were like, what the hell's going on?
	But anyway, is this going to happen to us in the future?
	Anyway, let's go to the next one.
	Members of the Scottish Nationalist Party, I will now announce more things that are proof of Scotland's white supremacy.
	Snow, white.
	Bones, white.
	80% of the eyeball, white.
	Teeth, white.
	Cauliflower, white.
	Arctic mammals, white.
	Semen, white.
	Moby Dick, white.
	Cocaine, white.
	Owen Jones, white.
	Antifa, white.
	Milk, white.
	The Moon, white.
	Nickel Surgeon, white.
	92% of Scotland, white, white, white.
	All proof of white supremacy.
	More importantly, Muhammad, white.
	That is a true statement.
	That is a true statement, because according to the Quran, he had a face that shone.
	Yeah, and all the paintings of him, they paint him whiter than everyone else in the room.
	He was the whitest man in Arabia, apparently.
	And this was a point of pride.
	And you don't want to hear his opinion on what the sub-Saharan blacks look like.
	Yeah, so...
	I believe the exact word was raisins.
	So I'd love to hear Hamza Yusuf, you on Muhammad.
	White supremacist.
	Was he white enough?
	He was definitely a Nazi.
	Behold, it is Captain Doombeard.
	Back again to ask about the goodness of humankind.
	I recently got into an argument with friends over this.
	Is humankind basically good?
	Well, we know that humans are not tabulae race.
	We are born with certain moral programming that expresses itself over time.
	A properly socialized human gains morals naturally.
	How fascinating.
	But is humankind good?
	And are we worth saving as a species?
	Quick answer, no.
	Long answer, no.
	I actually agree with Heinlein on this.
	I don't think that humans are naturally moral.
	I think it's something we have to learn.
	We have to be habituated into certain standards of morality because people just adopt the moral standards of the civilization they live in.
	And if you look at one and say, well, I don't agree with those morals.
	In fact, I can give you good reasons why I shouldn't agree with those morals.
	Then...
	It would imply that humans don't have any one particular set of morals.
	I was more thinking along the lines of, you see the Greenpeace and the climate fanatics who always try and say, is humanity good from this universal perspective?
	Not looking at it from, what does this human think of that human?
	But instead, are humans good?
	I was just thinking in my head, like...
	I don't know why I never realised this, but just how stupid of a statement that is.
	Yeah, it's a really dumb question.
	Like, should we exterminate humanity and then the world will be better?
	Who cares?
	I mean, what?
	Like, the rocks are going to judge us.
	Like, the plasma in the sun is judging us for not liking the Earth.
	Go back to the Ethical Knowledge podcast that we recently did.
	Right?
	What does good mean?
	Good means in your interests.
	Are humans good from the perspective of the universe?
	Well, maybe not.
	I mean, maybe if the universe has a plan to arrange all the asteroids and planets as it is, and the humans are coming on, digging it all up, they might be bad.
	But who cares what a bunch of dust thinks?
	It's not unreasonable for humans to have a human perspective, as Bernard Williams points out.
	So if that's the case, then I will adopt this human perspective.
	In fact, I'm going to go even further and adopt my English perspective because it's not unreasonable for an Englishman to have an English perspective.
	And therefore, I can make moral judgments against other groups of human beings and other moral systems.
	So from my point of view, yes, I think humans are a good thing to exist, but that doesn't mean all humans are good.
	Yep.
	Sort of spoiling the podcast.
	We are spoiling the podcast.
	That's just one section of it.
	There are lots of different sections.
	It's a little teaser.
	Go watch it.
	But this is important stuff that needs to be answered, apparently.
	And so we have got an answer from a human point of view.
	Yes, humans are good.
	And it's okay for humans to have a human point of view.
	So universe BTFO'd.
	It's what's called the absolute conception, is the view of the universe.
	And we don't need to pay any attention to it because screw the universe.
	The universe wants you dead.
	And it actually does.
	I mean, think what will happen if...
	The universe morally bad.
	Yeah, the universe morally bad.
	We need to fix it.
	We need to conquer it.
	It's a much more positive worldview.
	Yeah, Francis Bacon was right.
	We need to destroy the universe using science.
	Okay, Josh, I've converted back.
	Next one.
	Hey, Carl.
	High five from Portland State.
	Oh, God.
	Ideological consumption.
	How do we fix it?
	I don't think there is fixing it.
	What does he mean by that?
	Ideological consumption?
	Well, if he means consuming information about ideologies and the worldview of ideologies, I don't think there is any fixing it.
	I mean, how are you going to get rid of it?
	But surely that's just a statement of life, like in society.
	Is there something that happens?
	Sure.
	I mean, one option, again, going back to the Ethical Knowledge podcast.
	See, we answer a lot of these questions in that podcast.
	Bernard Williams floats the idea of a hyper-traditional society that's not given to reflection, and so they don't spend any time reflecting on the good or the evil.
	They just spend their time following their thick concepts, so making judgments on a more personal, moral level rather than abstract reflection.
	I don't think we can get to that position.
	I'm not even sure it's wise to get to that position.
	Because we're talking about the Aztecs.
	We're talking about, you know, societies that do terrible things because the gods command it and things like this.
	So I'm not even sure if it's wise to go back to that.
	And that it's desirable, or even possible.
	So I think that whatever comes next is going to involve a fair amount of reflection.
	Literal and prim society.
	Literal and prims.
	But did they do anything wrong?
	Not from the perspective of the volcano god.
	The volcano god told them so.
	What are you going to argue with them?
	Exactly.
	The volcano god says, these are my guys, they're doing exactly what I said.
	See, suddenly the human-focused perspective seems eminently more reasonable, doesn't it?
	Reporting in from the greater Brisbane area, we're to celebrate the one-year anniversary of two weeks to flatten the curve.
	We're entering into another three days of lockdowns after four cases were identified overnight, bringing the local cluster to seven.
	What the hell happened to you when I'm aiming for elimination?
	At what point do people start saying enough is enough, we can't keep entering into lockdowns just because one or two people will catch a case of the sniffles?
	Also, has Florida started accepting COVID refugees yet?
	Cheers, guys.
	That's a good question and I probably will be putting in an application at some point.
	I love how creative everyone's getting with their video comments though.
	I knew this would be a good idea, but I didn't realize how good an idea it would be to have these video comments.
	Like a bit of one-upmanship as well.
	Yeah, there's genuine competition and it's really enjoyable.
	Is that the final video comment?
	Right.
	So Ryan Redacted says, they probably call him the Prophet Mohammed because there's thousands of Mohammeds.
	Maybe they should go by OG Mohammed or Mohammed Prime.
	Mohammed Prime sounds pretty cool.
	Not a lie.
	Primaris, yeah.
	But that's a good point.
	There are lots of Mohammeds.
	Primaris jihadis.
	That old guy says, if you stop writing his name on the cartoons, how will they tell it from a picture of a regular pedo?
	I wish I'd read that sentence first before I spoke it.
	Well, you know, he married a six-year-old and had sex with her when she was nine, so I mean, what else do you call that?
	Also, I found out the other day, so the age of consent in the Islamic world is always tied to the age of marriage.
	The age of marriage in Iran is 13, so it's literally a map rights state.
	I mean, it's a state for pedos run by pedos.
	I don't know what else to call it.
	Foucault must be thinking, hmm, should have gone there.
	That's Iran for you.
	Islam and leftism unites again.
	Should we cover the Foucault allegations in tomorrow's podcast?
	Yeah, that'd be fun.
	Yeah, okay.
	It turns out the French leftists are all pedos.
	Shock horror.
	Contain your surprise, but it'll be an exclusive podcast tomorrow.
	Edward of Woodstock, which I assume is a reference to the Black Prince, which is based.
	Greetings from, and he didn't come from Africa, by the way.
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	They should be subject to common law.
	We should be not subject to Sharia.
	If they don't like this, then the West isn't for them.
	They should consider going to an Islamic Republic.
	Christianity has to modernize and accept criticism, so does every other religion.
	Rule Britannia and God save the Queen.
	Well, I mean, there's absolutely nothing to object to there, in my opinion.
	Brave Instant says, Yes, and I completely endorse that.
	At the bare minimum, it should be banned everywhere the balaclavas are banned.
	Yeah, but I mean, I just think we should say no.
	Look, this is a colonial import from countries that have disgraceful records on women's rights.
	Balacar was banned in public.
	That's fine.
	But that's the point.
	It's just like, I don't care if your moon god told you you need to put this on your face.
	Like, get it off.
	Like, this is not allowed here.
	We're actually just going to copy the French.
	Orson Welles says, the Batleaf...
	Is that Batleaf?
	Yeah, it is.
	Fiasco is ample evidence of how remarkably tolerant we are as a nation, yet this can be also construed as systemic weakness on part of the indigenous population.
	A hundred years ago, none of these people would have been allowed to protest at school without going home with their broken bones.
	If teacher concern is in fact got at, how long is it before a genuine hate crime is perpetrated against the Islamic community which costs lives?
	I dread to think, and I just...
	Oh, God, I hate...
	I hate that we have to have these conversations.
	I just can't stand it.
	Kelly says, first my vagina makes me disabled and now I'm Islamophobic.
	Can you guys give me some good news?
	No.
	No, we can't.
	Also, your existence is blasphemy.
	Punishment for existing is death.
	Sorry, Kelly.
	We didn't set the rules, you see.
	We didn't set the rules.
	George Happ says, funny how the most talented comedians like Ricky Gervais, Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese are in favour of free speech while the BBC drones go on with the narrative.
	In the culture war, comedy and mockery are valuable weapons, which gives me some hope that we might reach some normies given the humourlessness of the morally challenged.
	I mean, yes, but where's the big upswing of the sort of righteous indignation that needs to come from British liberal culture that says, no, we will not be pushed around, we will not be bullied, we will not have you saying, it'll become like France if you don't like it.
	It's like, really?
	Would Trump's Republican Party take this?
	No!
	That should have been, like, all over the place.
	Like, Muslim community threatens to degenerate into conditions of France if they don't get their way.
	Sorry, no, you don't know.
	And every Muslim would be like, no, we didn't say that.
	We didn't say that.
	That guy said that.
	We don't stand with that guy.
	But do they know?
	Do we hear nothing?
	That's the thing.
	We're doing our stuff here.
	There are many content creators in Britain who agree with us.
	There are many people like Lawrence Fox or David Curtin or so on and so forth.
	But then the mainstream right-wing party is just full of people who just want a quiet life and are happy to accept anything the left or the Islamist demand.
	Boris is like, I just want a grill.
	It's like, that's not an option, Boris.
	Sorry.
	You're the Prime Minister.
	When the hell did you run for office then?
	Sorry.
	I just hate it.
	It's so depressing to look over at France and see them doing that thing.
	Or to think of, you know, would Donald Trump take this?
	I'm going to get that glowing picture of Macron, man.
	Yeah, and then just think how pathetic opposition is.
	I hate Macron.
	Kyle says Malaysia also doesn't allow non-believers to say anything related to Islam.
	Even saying Quran and Allah is illegal.
	That's good news.
	Quran and Allah are full of shit.
	Long Talks on the Nietzsche says, Yeah, they both view themselves as victims, despite the fact they hold the cultural power in almost all of these circumstances.
	Islam being a massive world religion, not a victim.
	Literally pandered to by both parties whenever there's an awkward silence.
	The leftists had complete cultural dominance of the entire eastern sphere of the world for the 20th century.
	The Soviet Union and China were just two massive leftist states, but they're the victims.
	We're the victims.
	You're not the victims.
	You're the tyrants.
	Plus, they also both agree on the age of consent that should be lowered.
	That's weird.
	A weird synergy there.
	Where the Iranian mullahs and the French intellectuals are like, you've got a point, my friend.
	It's like the liberals and the conservatives looking at them and being like, degenerates, get them.
	Imar says, how does Arif not know that Gervais' crew doesn't identify as Asian or black?
	Well, that's a good question.
	How does he know that none of them are Muslims?
	That's a good question.
	It's not like Middle Easterners are dark-skinned.
	Well, let's ask the Hebrew Israelites how they feel about this.
	Yeah, but that's racist.
	Yes, that's the primary weapon, and for some reason we can't resist it.
	For the LGBT, they push the notion that discriminated hatred.
	They push that for everything, don't they?
	For racial issues, they change the definition of not only racism, but also of white supremacy, so they can argue that if you don't fully agree with them on policy, you are therefore a white supremacist.
	More and more, I see normal and kind people falling for that kind of rhetoric.
	How do we fight back against this without getting immediately shut down because the well has been poisoned?
	I don't know.
	It seems that you just get immediately shut down because of the poisoning of the well.
	This is the weird thing.
	Any reasonable response is fine, and any normal person looking at that will get it.
	Pointing out, no, you guys are just morons.
	You're just making stuff up.
	In any normal world, that would just be, yeah, these guys are just radical idiots who are making stuff up.
	But for some reason, in the public sphere, everyone goes, and then runs away.
	Are the Twitter leftists offended, is the question they're asking.
	Yeah, but I'm just like, what are you scared of?
	This isn't a scorpion, this is just a child.
	Twitter leftists.
	They're afraid of the cancel culture on Twitter.
	That's what they're afraid of.
	Will there be a viral tweet denouncing you?
	So what if there was?
	I mean, sorry, is that going to kill your mother?
	Yeah, no, nothing.
	Nothing should happen from Twitter.
	Anyway, Theo says, I love the Union flag.
	Theo Rizveglia, which I assume is not a British name.
	I love the Union flag.
	It might be Welsh, I suppose.
	Not just because of what it represents, because it's a damn good-looking flag, too.
	I have one in my room proudly displayed.
	The government should encourage this for the national flags as well.
	They should.
	The commies...
	See, I like the Welsh flag, man.
	It's got a dragon on it.
	It's the one country with a dragon on their flag.
	You know, it's cool.
	I like that.
	The commies can accuse the government of wasting time with this all they want or pretend to be offended at the flag, but our national identity is important.
	If they don't like this union, there is another union close by they can move to.
	They seem to prefer that one anyway.
	Yeah, I watched Navarra Media doing their coverage of the flag thing and Owen Jones and the host.
	Watching them try to say we hate Britain without saying we hate Britain was really funny.
	Maybe we'll do a thing on...
	Was Michael the host on that?
	He was the host, yes.
	Because it's weird.
	I actually kind of like him.
	I feel like he sort of understands that sometimes the people he's talking to, he's just sort of like burying his head.
	Yes.
	For God's sakes.
	It's like, well, you chose to get in bed with them, Michael.
	So why?
	But not our problem.
	Anyway, Matthew Hammond says, can the UK pull together around the Union flag or should England embrace England's flag?
	I think that the constituent nation should be able to fly their flag without any shame and also be able to fly the British flag as a symbol of the political union.
	but that's because I'm a weird traditionalist like that.
	Britons who hate Britain are like Will Wheaton hating on white people.
	Don't you know you're fighting against you?
	Oh, they know.
	They are well aware.
	But they are also revolutionaries in some form or another and have a goal.
	It's like the Arab white supremacist.
	It's just what you're doing.
	Henry Ashman says, if you want peak fascism, surely you'll need the white and red flag of England, right?
	The Union flag is widely accepted from the furlough on the Merlot types.
	But if you ask anyone about an England flag, and it's basically North FC and Voldemort supporters only.
	And Boris, incidentally.
	In 2013, he had a campaign where he was trying to rehabilitate the English flag, which I totally support.
	But everyone was like, no, that's a Nazi flag.
	Like, so what?
	It's just the idea it needs rehabilitation.
	Yeah, I know.
	It's just rejected outright.
	Oh, I can't stand it.
	He should start painting it on his face when he was mayor.
	This is why I bought- I don't know if people know, but there's a seat for the mayor, and they're surrounded by different assembly members, and half of them were Labour.
	He should have just started the debate.
	They're talking, he just starts face-painting himself.
	I mean, that would have been very based.
	I would have enjoyed that.
	But yeah, there's nothing wrong with the English flag.
	Supporters of the BMP like this flag.
	Yep, am I? But his point, though, was that, look, England is the source of the liberal values that we projected around the world and we are so proud of, then why should we not be able to rehabilitate the English flag away from the racists, which is a really great point.
	And incidentally, it's one of the reasons I actually went out and bought an English flag.
	I'd never owned an English flag before.
	My god, after all this, oh, the English flag's racist.
	Like, fuck you.
	I didn't even swear, sorry, but just to hell with you.
	I'm buying one, and I'll put it up if you don't shut up about it.
	Um...
	It's almost like the meme, I'm going to say the word in three days, I'll put up the flag.
	If they keep going on about how evil the flags are, I'm just going to get them.
	I mean, we have the British flag already, and we'll get an English one commissioned if it comes to it.
	If you keep moaning, we'll get an English one.
	Also, these anti-flag-waving Karens are probably first in line for Last Night of the Proms, where the entire Albert Hall is decked out in Union flags, or they sing along to Royal Britannia.
	No, they're all decked out in EU flags, actually.
	MEP Flyboy says, Normies don't react unless it affects them directly.
	It's like the mouse utopia experiment they want for nothing.
	That's a good point.
	Mike Cox Long says, Hello gents, question.
	What are your thoughts on what will happen leading up to lifting of the lockdown?
	Will it actually happen on date, as the government has said, or will there be some new reason that emerges to keep us beneath the boot?
	Don't let this swear your answer, but I'm crying out for white pills right now.
	This is crushing.
	How do you feel about it?
	So while we're 50% vaccinated?
	We must be about that now, yeah.
	Nothing's changed?
	Nope.
	Well, actually, no.
	Today, something has changed.
	You're allowed to go outside.
	You can meet a couple of other people outside.
	Thanks, Boris.
	This is your England, mate.
	It's one thing if the Celts are like, look, we're going to have to crush our own populations under our heel, but it probably shouldn't be happening in fascist England, right?
	Constitutionalism, liberty, freedom.
	Any of this ringing a bell?
	Well, I don't know.
	I mean, maybe 80% vaccination things might start to change, but I mean, that's going to be another month.
	Just waiting for the COVID Gestapo to kick down our door and forcibly vaccinate us.
	I mean, when's the election coming up?
	I mean, I've had COVID. Why do I... It's like two months we have the local elections.
	It would be good to see the comeuppance come to the people who have done this.
	You know, you start to see them losing their support because you did this.
	That would be nice, but it's not going to happen.
	No, they are falling in the polls.
	Who, the Conservatives?
	Yeah.
	I saw the opposite the other day.
	Okay.
	It's actually the Labour Party that's falling in the polls.
	And Keir Starmer as well.
	His favourability has gone down a lot.
	Like, does he look like a Prime Minister in waiting?
	And apparently that's gone down significantly.
	Weird.
	Like, I wouldn't vote for them for Parliament, but...
	No, God.
	Unless Keir Starmer came out with Macron's position.
	You know, I've had enough of the Jeremy Corbyn supporters and these anti-British Islamists.
	I subscribe to Macron's Islamo-leftism denunciation.
	But I mean, if you want some white pills, I guess a couple of months when literally 90-80% of the population are vaccinated.
	I mean, what is the argument?
	The strain of COVID? Yeah.
	God, I can't stand this.
	Capstasher says, We need a renaissance of the internet.
	I'd love to hear what you guys think of this.
	I'd also like more discussion on it in the Lotus Eaters community.
	Also, loving the new features in the comments section.
	Good stuff.
	Keep up the work, guys.
	Great work.
	Yeah, thanks.
	And, yeah, Kentley and Vicky have been doing a great job with the website.
	In fact, you'll see today that we have what?
	What were they called?
	Accordion segments for the sources that we use on the podcast.
	So now you should be able to get to the comment section a bit easier than before, which I'm honestly thrilled about.
	I'm really pleased with it.
	But right, so abolition of social media, yes or no?
	No.
	I get what he's getting at, but I mean...
	The based and red-pilled position is abolish social media.
	The leftists are always going to have theirs, in which case you're either in the game or you're out of the game.
	That's fair.
	And to be honest with you, there are aspects of social media that I like.
	I like the idea that I can contact any of my friends or family with little to no difficulty by just simply messaging them on Facebook.
	I like that.
	I like the fact that they've all got a Facebook account so I can just be like, hey...
	You don't have to know all their emails or send them letters.
	Exactly.
	It's just much more convenient.
	And so if, God willing, one day I can have a barbecue and invite my friends and family to it, I mean, I'm just excited about the idea of having friends.
	Oh, hey, do you want to come for a beer and a barbie?
	That sounds amazing, doesn't it?
	And it's just easier to organize these things via social media.
	However, you've got the argument on the side of things like Twitter, where it actually is a weird kind of dopamine addiction machine that allows people to cancel everything all the time for some obscure and insane reason.
	And so, yeah, it's got its problems.
	It's not to say it doesn't.
	But I think that places like Gab and Parler existing are important.
	Like you say, you've got to be in the game.
	If it's going to be the way the game is played, then you've got to be able to play it as well.
	And Gab is my social media platform of choice at the moment.
	I think it's doing really well.
	The parlor just seems to have died, which is sad, but Gab is still there and it's still going very well, in fact, when it comes to like...
	Sorry?
	Ranveer would say no to abolishing social media because that's his job.
	Ranveer's our social media manager and he clearly likes working here.
	Ben says, Hello gents, every morning I spend 5-10 minutes doing the Lord's work.
	I log into YouGov and reply to all the leftist cucked opinions as based as possible.
	Thank you for your service, my friend.
	It's a wretched hive of socialists and communism.
	The government is using their shrill voices to shape policy.
	Exactly.
	This morning, I asked the question, was Gamergate about ethics and games journalism?
	And it got nothing but extreme disagreement.
	Fellow Lotsitas, I urge you to join me and fight this cancer one answer at a time.
	Yeah, I do as well.
	We should.
	Fully endorses.
	I actually have an account on you, Gov.
	I have been answering some stuff.
	Yeah, my wife does too.
	She's giving the BMP view of the world.
	What?
	No, I'm joking.
	But anyway, that is actually true.
	Ben is absolutely correct.
	I mean, the government do decide their policy on stupid things like YouGov polls.
	So, I mean, you're either in it or you've lost.
	So we have to get in it.
	Yeah.
	So, yeah, definitely sign up to YouGov and give your opinion on things that they ask you.
	BraveInstant says, what are the chances that some of the areas of the census aren't released because they're not in the public interest?
	Well, I mean, that's possible, but surely, I mean, just the demographic breakdown of the UK can't be something to hide.
	You know, they're not going to be able to hide that.
	You know, like, how many people of various different identity categories do they have?
	They have to release that.
	They can't keep that hidden.
	There's no way.
	I mean, I wouldn't rule it out at all.
	Yeah, I'm in agreement with you.
	I think it's very, very unlikely.
	Yeah, I just don't see how they could.
	Oh, there's 75 million people in Britain, and that's all the information we have for you.
	It's not just us to see what the change is.
	I mean, plenty of leftists are also interested, because if the percentage of non-white goes up, then they get to push for more representation, as if that means anything at all.
	So they're also interested.
	Yep.
	Ian says, how do we adequately resist being forced to get the COOF vaccine?
	I mean, I thought My Body, My Choice was a pretty persuasive slogan, but I don't know.
	I don't know what our options are going to be, frankly.
	I wish I had something that was positive.
	Maybe say that I've already got the COOF and start coughing at them.
	Maybe that'll stop them.
	I've got it right now, in fact.
	You know, a vaccine won't save me.
	I don't know.
	Sam Coleman says, what's your theory to the real reason why the Scottish census is being delayed until next year?
	Of course, COVID is being blamed, but you'll know that's not the real reason.
	Demographics, perhaps, but I pray for the haggie-seaters.
	I don't know just how demographically changed Scotland has become.
	I think it's probably still quite Scottish.
	So, I don't know.
	No, I think it's entirely possible that the SNP are saying, well, COVID, because genuinely it might be COVID.
	To be honest, it might also just be incompetence.
	Well, yeah, never rule that out when it comes to the SNP or any other segment of the British government ever.
	Stuart Holland says, I really enjoy the Ethical Knowledge podcast.
	Though I don't subscribe to the notion there is no truth, only power, it seems there might be some merit to the idea that there is no morality, only power.
	It is what we agree it is, your thoughts.
	Well, using the term power isn't very helpful, and I think it's a very reductive way of looking at it, because what we're describing with the Ethical Knowledge Podcast is the ethical standards of a community.
	Ethics is a social concept, and so you are talking specifically about a kind of community.
	And within any kind of community comes power, the ability to enact change.
	And so, if you want to reduce everything to the ability to enact change, then it all gets kind of Machiavellian.
	Whereas there are actual ethical discussions to be had from these ethical communities that aren't just about raw strength, that are about genuine moral questions of right and wrong.
	And so, I don't think we should just compress it down to that.
	And the thing is, like...
	It kind of seems evil to do that.
	It kind of seems like you're not concerned about right and wrong anymore.
	Now you're concerned about force, and that seems evil.
	So I would rather avoid compressing truth down to power alone.
	And this is frankly why I think the left has turned evil.
	I think that's the root cause of the left being evil.
	It's like, look, it's all just power games from here on out.
	It's like, well, yeah, to you, you know, it might well be.
	But then it was all just power games to Hitler as well.
	So...
	That old guy says, these reishi books are burning a hole in my pocket.
	If you don't get organised, I'm just going to start a merch store without you.
	I'm going to call it Bake the Shirt, bigot.
	Yeah, we do need to get that sorted, don't we?
	We will get something sorted.
	Sorry, that little guy.
	Tearful Spark.
	Some of the worst things about progressives and their morally challenged ways is how they make the slightest hint of patriotism and love for ones and culture look like fascism and Nazism, especially grieving because of the socialism, their favorite ideology, I prefer to call it theology, that created those ideologies in the first place.
	That's a good point.
	If I were to write a piece, could I send it into you folks for review and criticism?
	I imagine you could.
	I don't know whether we'll publish it because I don't know what our view on that's going to be, but I'm sure that the writing team would be interested in hearing it.
	Elvis Pearce says, Social media is a tool to be used not to control you.
	I think people need to learn how to control themselves.
	I spent a lot of time mentoring my children with respect to social media and self-control.
	Well, I think you're right, and I'm personally just not going to let my kids have social media because I think it's bad for them.
	And Chris Simone says, Well, I mean, it depends what your objection to it is, really.
	You can make many objections.
	Well, that's a vaccine that can be used for someone else who needs it more because I'm healthy and fit and I don't need it.
	Or you could say, well, look, I just don't trust a vaccine that's been developed within a year when most vaccines take 10 years.
	I think that's a fair objection.
	Unbelievably, there actually seems to be very little evidence that there's any problem with the vaccine.
	Amazing.
	I don't know why F off it's my choice is not a good argument.
	Yeah, and that's the point though, isn't it?
	In the same way you can't rape me?
	I mean, it's that simple?
	I'm not going to have sex with the man who's wearing a dress.
	I don't care if you call me a transphobe.
	My body, my choice.
	I happen to be super straight.
	Just call them pro-rapists if they try, I guess.
	I mean, we should be able to put anything we like into your body.
	I think no.
	Yeah.
	I think that many decades of women's rights activism says no to that.
	Yeah.
	But yes, we are trying not to swear.
	I don't know, it just seems better and more adult.
	So, the right thing to do.
	Dadism.
	Don't swear unless you really have to.
	But when you have to, it must mean something serious.
	Anyway, thank you for joining us, folks.
	We'll be back tomorrow at the same time, same place.
	In the meantime, if you want more from us, you can, of course, go to Logistics.com, check out all of our great premium content or free content, which is also really good.
	Rory's been doing some amazing dispatches and so have the other gents.

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