MANIFESTO: Complain more, say No, be brave, reject popularity in favour of compassionate Reason

THE OBLIVIOUS OUTNUMBER THOSE WHO DISCERN THE OBVIOUS

For 9,997 people out of 10,000, Covid19 will turn out to be a mild complaint

But out of every 100 citizens, only 7 people will make a serious complaint about Lockdown

Out of every 100 citizens, only 2 will refuse the vaccines available

Bear with me now as I remind you of some archived Slog headlines:

There really are only two questions about Covid19 being asked by anyone who still thinks in the Western World today: first, why are they doing this?; and second, how did we get to here?

The answers could not be more simple. They’re doing it because we don’t complain enough to worry them…and we got to here because we forgot the importance of saying “No”.

I think most people who read The Slog know that’s the reason why the BSDs are winning; most of us are busy losing our vocal chords yelling at the rest of the populace to wake the fuck up. In the end, the community we have here has been self-selecting…and where it wasn’t, I’ve culled all those who couldn’t type anything without being virulently nasty – or were obviously so seriously stupid, I tired of making the same points and getting a stream of bullet-headed isms in return.

The Slog these days is like Twitter without the abuse and Facebook without the smuggies. I’m proud of the crowd here, because the most persistent comment I get in emails from those who are new to the site is about the good manners and quality thinking in the comment threads. That’s down to you lot, not me. Also it is, as they say, for all that “never less than lively”.

The last thing it will ever be is bland or cosy. It’s never been more seditious than it is now, because the stakes are so much higher in 2021 than they were in 2004 when I started Not Born Yesterday. Public life, politics, show business, the media, policing, social violence, belief intolerance and sport are all vile reflections of a culture gone badly wrong, and a civilisation heading for the sewers.

Citizen fulfilment before fascist systemics, new solutions before old ideas, free debate with respect for others, scientific doubt before ideological conformity, awkward discovery before blind acceptance, risk before fear, Truth before spin, decency before power and a sound grasp of civics before exam result targets.

To me, it isn’t rocket science. And even if it is, I shall always remember friend Jon who once met a rocket scientist and asked, “Is it as difficult as they say?” – to which the egghead replied, “Yes…but the bigger problem is, it’s irrelevant to interstellar travel”.

There is no limit to what the opened mind can achieve.

Connected: The Covid19 saga in full