Friday, March 26th, 2010
The Digital Economy Bill had so much potential to do good, such as improving the digital economy in Britain, but instead it has drawn much criticism (most of which has been blatantly and insultingly ignored).
The primary function of the bill is to restrict and hand over shockingly large amounts of power into the hands of the ISP’s and the government. You are guilty until proven otherwise and if you aresuspected of file-sharing enough times, you can be disconnected from the internet.
This is good for the music and film industry, who’s balls are being massaged by the government. However, it is very bad for the citizens of Britain, for anyone who cares about the internet or even freedom of information.
I thought the concept of a democracy was to ensure that citizens were innocent and maintained their rights until it was proven (in a court of law, for example) that they are guilty. I thought a democracy was supposed to protect and follow the masses. I’m either very wrong on what I think a democracy is, or Britain is moving away from it.
I’m not saying we have a Totalitarian State just yet, but we are certainly being nannied. The Digital Economy Bill has been rushed through the government without much consideration, probably while Mandelson has the dick of the music industry swirling around in his mouth. They want it into affect fast, especially since Labour may not be around after the elections (on an unrelated note, I wonder why that is).
Despite the criticisms, the protests and the laws which should prohibit this barbaric face fuck to the citizens from the government, the bill seems to be becoming law regardless. We are just citizens, a number in the system, the sheep who must be regulated and kept in line. We must bend over and take what the government gives us and it is for our own good.
When even MP’s have been seen protesting over this injustice, you have to ask yourself, when are we going to make the leap from Nanny State to Police State?
Every now and again, FN Hate steps out of the satirical wit bin and deals with important issues (even if to little affect). This post is one of them situations.
Originally posted on my blog.
Tags: Freedom, Gordon Brown, internet, Labour, News & Politics, Peter Mandelson
Posted in Life, Culture & Activism, News & Politics |
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
My accurate depiction of a conservative man (or woman).
Right-winged politics get right up my nose, but conservatism as a social ideology is far worse and it propels me into a frothing fit of anger.
Conservatives are supporters of traditional values, where video games are new and evil, art is a load of pretentious dribble, sex is a sin and religion trumps science because it teaches us morality.
Of course we know that video games are just another form of entertainment, art takes on many glorious forms, sex is enjoyable and religion is a fairytale.
Firstly, let me tackle religion; it teaches us morals, it tells us what is right and wrong and a dirty liberal atheist could never be a good person. After all, those homosexual-hating christians from the deep south are lovely people and we can never be as good as them because we all need to be told by a superior being how to be good, instead of simply being good without cause.
There is a big difference between an atheist and a christian, one of them has to be moral through fear of damnation, one decides to be moral because they want to be a good person.
Video games, films, television and the internet doesn’t promote crime, or condition people to be evil. The people who are evil and happen to make use of said media were probably mentally unstable from the start. Crime didn’t just appear when the television was invented, it has always been around. Attributing crime to a particular new invention, just because you are scared of new things, is moronic.
Why should a video game be age rated when you can freely walk into an art gallery and see depictions of violence or sexually suggestive imagery? Why does music have to be rated and censored when you can easily pick up a book and read naughty swear words and violence?
If I play a video game that involves a gun, I don’t want to massacre a local school, and if I did want to do that, it’d make me mentally ill or sadistic by nature, not simply someone who has played a video game. Out of all the people who play video games and watch “questionable” material, how many of them are criminals or a danger to society? There is actually evidence to suggest that video games help vent frustration and create a more balanced person.
Did you see a nipple slip on a television advertisement? You better ring someone up and complain, otherwise innocent children may discover that we have nipples… Those things we are born with, those natural things that conservatism has taught us to be ashamed of. But isn’t it just skin?
Sex is evil isn’t it? It makes innocent 15 year old girls pregnant and spreads infections… Or does it? Most decent human beings will wear protection and treat sex with respect.
The problem is the minority spoils it for everyone. Because a man tried to blow himself up on an Aeroplane, we have to appear naked in front of security staff at airports. Because a small percentage of the population are sick sexual predators, we can’t film our children’s school plays or take snaps at the beach without drawing speculation.
There will always be a minority of people who are completely bat-shit insane. But the government shouldn’t pander to them. They are not representative of the people. We are the most watched nation on Earth because we peasants cannot be trusted on our own.
Tags: News & Politics, Politic
Posted in Life, Culture & Activism |
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Ok, so this probably seems like a fairly obvious thing to get pissed off about. Even so, allow me to explain why…
So, picture the scene: it’s the 1st September, you move into your nice new home and… you’re told that the last people to stay there were being bitten to buggery and back by some unknown bug. Not a good start. Then you discover that lots of the rooms don’t actually have light bulbs. Then you discover that there is a slug infestation in the kitchen and living room, and that the slimy little chappies like nothing better than sliming their way over your sofa at night, leaving a trail of glistening grossness in their wake. You’re told there are at least another five keys to your house that various people have, there’s no back gate either, leaving random psychos free to sneak right up to your backdoor, wander into your house and drown you in your own breakfast cereal, and a blind falls down almost killing your housemate.
Ok, fine. Problems are to be expected. Chris has lived a long life; he’s twenty-two after all. Shit happens. And that is exactly what happens when the letting agents finally decide to do something about the bug problem. You discover you have bed bugs. The nice man from Rentokill tells you that the little blighters can and do live everywhere, from light-fittings to electrical sockets, that the whole house needs to be sprayed, and your mattress needs to be burnt and thus cleansed by fire. The letting agents know how itchy you are, they’ve seen the bites. They surely realise that having an infested bed does not do wonders for your sex life. So what do said letting agents do? They decide that Rentokil is too expensive, tell you that bed bugs don’t actually live in your bed, and get the contact details of the subcontractor used by the council, to come in and do the job half-arsed on the cheap. You do not get a new mattress.
All this happened to me on a Friday morning. This fact in itself is bad enough, for I am a student and therefore lazy as hell by definition. What made it even worse was the fact that I have to be out of the house before 8am every Friday. I had two guinea pigs to relocate, beds to strip…you get the general idea. And all this while half asleep. So, off I go on my sleepy way to uni, to return at 7pm and I find…my bed, standing on end in the middle of the room. I’m short, and a girl. How am I supposed to move a heavy bed from that position? And to add itchy-making insult to injury, there’s a nice little bed bug scurrying his merry way across my carpet, very much alive, until he meets with an unfortunate shoe-related death. Much swearing insues, I phone my other half in a fury and rant at him about how much I hate the subcontractor bastard until he takes pity on me and comes to my house to move my bed back to its preferred position.
So yes, the bed bugs are not all that dead, I’m still itchy and to top it all, we each received a nice email from the letting agents, informing us that they were disappointed we didn’t do everything they asked us to, implying that we’re all dirty and don’t know how to use a hoover, and saying that the bugs are probably in the house because my housemate’s boyfriend who stays with us, isn’t strictly speaking a tenant. This in itself is strange, considering that A) the last people to stay here had been bitten and that B) the last time the letting agent was here, she kept saying how the Polish people that stayed here at one point probably brought the bugs with them from home…because that, of course, doesn’t at all smack of racism. Cue the arsy email from me in response. They have yet to reply…
Guess I’ll just keep itching then.
Posted in Life, Culture & Activism |
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
Should I really have to explain why I loathe a newspaper that so often and consciously spews bile from within it’s sordid little right-wing pages?
Whilst I could possibly write an epic book on the matter, I’ll just point to one incident from this week to prevent you all from expiring due to my negativity.
The Daily Fail was again trying to tackle those pesky violent video games by vomiting words without thinking.
Here is a quote from their article (more a jumbled mess of right-wing garbage than an article):
This Christmas’ top selling computer game could be one in which players kill hundreds of civillians in an airport. The sick game, called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, features a level in which players score points by shooting unarmed passengers at an airport terminal, according to a trailer released on the internet.
The footage shows the player entering airport security with a machine gun in hand, before killing every innocent bystander in sight, often while they are crawling away injured or screaming for help. Eventually, the player must shoot the police that come to the public’s aid to progress.
Gamer Alan Burke, 14, said “The game looks like a lot of fun. All my friends at school are getting it for Christmas”. But mum Cathy was outraged; “I can’t believe they thought this was suitable material for such impressionable minds ” she told us, “it’s absolutely sickening”.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sold over 7 million copies, and this new version is predicted to break that record. Market research shows that most of the players are aged between 12 and 18.
PM Gordon Brown condemned the game in a conference call this evening, saying “It’s atrocious that the entertainment industry feels the need to make light of such a serious and grave issue”, and Conservative MP Justin Davis called for the game to be banned from sale. Activation, the company who make the dispicable title, refused to comment.
Damn those video games, coming over here with their violence, poisoning our kids minds, making them go on school shooting rampages. It gets me really angry, it makes me want to actually parent my children, make sure they don’t access 18+ games instead of complaining and whining like an extremist conservative cunt who is taken in by the media diarrhoea that pours out from within the Daily Mail pages.
Sidenote: If you’re letting your kid play an 18+ game, it isn’t the game at fault, it is you, the parent. End of. The fact that some ’sheep’ will follow the Daily Mail’s article is laughable, but another needless blow to gaming. Shooting (FPS) games have been around for a while now, maybe it is time people grew up and accepted the fact that a game is just a game.
My friend, Phil Whittle, a fellow gamer also said in an online discussion:
I really hate how the Daily Mail reports things, and I wouldn’t be suprised if this leaked footage was done by Activision to drum up a bit of free publicity about the game before release. We don’t know the full context of the scene yet, I read that there are two warnings before the scene starts and you can skip it at any time, and it’s actually there to demonstrate how bad the terrorists are, not to reward the player for commiting terrible acts as the article implies.
Since they brought up kids playing the game, it’s rated 18+ by both the BBFC and PEGI so they shouldn’t really be playing it (although that’s a debate for another day).
Sidenote 2: Doesn’t Gordon Brown have a country to run, rather than commenting on video games? Of course he doesn’t agree, his household still lives in the 17th century. I’m almost certain that gruel is their highlight meal of the week and everyone gets a lovely apple for christmas in his house.
Tags: Daily Mail, Gordon Brown, hate, News & Politics
Posted in Life, Culture & Activism, Media |
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Firstly, I should make it be known that one thing that I am not is a stingy bastard. I am forever spending my money, usually wasting it on food or beer or my monthly subscription to Parsnip Monthly. But there is one rare instance where I get annoyed when forking out for something, and that is the controversial world of tipping.
Being pressured into giving someone money for doing their job. What’s that about? Alright, in the UK it’s nowhere near as bad as in America, where tipping is pretty much compulsory and they get all arsey if you don’t tip X amount. Seems pretty arrogant to me, which is uncharacteristic for Americans as we all know. Thankfully back here on our modest isle, it isn’t quite as widespread, but still, I simply don’t get the entire notion of tipping. I am going to include a few examples of arguments that are pro-tipping, and then explain why they are wrong.
1) “They get paid peanuts by their employers, they need the extra money tips provide just to get by!”
Right, I do feel sorry for someone who works long hours and works hard, for very little money. And I hear that restaurants are pretty notorious for paying shitty salaries. They probably spend more on one pizza than they do on the pizza-faced teenager who brings it to your table. Which is another thing, why do most of the men that work in pizza establishments look just like the pizzas they serve? Is it company policy? Do they also have to smell like the garlic bread? Anyway, I sympathise with people who are working for next to nowt, but as a customer, that isn’t my responsibility. It’s bad enough paying 12 quid for an admittedly delicious pizza in some establishments without then having to fork out even more just to make sure Dave the waiter can afford his car insurance this month. The employer is the villain here folks, not me!
2) “If someone provides excellent, helpful service with a smile, then surely they deserve it?”
Good service is the bare minimum that is to be expected in a customer-driven environment. Someone who is polite, friendly and smiley, while being a decent person with a moral compass and a brain in their heads, shouldn’t really be considered to be going above and beyond the call of duty just for showing basic manners. I know there are plenty of arseholes out there who are rude and ignorant to customers but they shouldn’t be set to ‘par’ on the great Customer Service Barometer™, and everyone who isn’t an unpleasant cock considered to be excellent. Rude and ignorant staff should be smited and hounded out of the restaurant, preferably by flinging ice cream at them until they run away in tears.
3) “Employees in that industry have to put up with some right arsey customers, they have the patience of a saint and should be rewarded for it!”
If you work in a customer-driven environment, then one of the unfortunate facts about working with customers is that 90% of them are either braindead or complete arseholes. So while I have every sympathy in the world for having to put up with people moaning and thinking they know better all the time, it comes with the territory I’m afraid. My advice whenever a customer is being particularly arsey is to just smile, grin and bear it and remain polite and helpful, while simultaneously imaging battering them in the head with a frozen baguette in your mind. Makes it much easier.
Also, why is it only limited to the restaurant industry? Supermarket/other shop workers get paid minimum wage too, but you don’t slip them a few quid for helping you find the biscuit isle or making sure your corned beef pasty is at least lukewarm do you? Double standards, people. You know I hate them, and will continue to fight the good fight against them while simultaneously ranting about things that get my goat. That way, everyone’s a winner. Especially me.
Tags: food, hate, tip, tipping
Posted in Life, Culture & Activism |
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Written by Craig Dennis
Public transport is the bane of everyone’s life. Nearly never on time, extortionate prices and over cramped conditions are all the beautiful reasons for waking up in the morning.
It is a place that violates your privacy more than having the police conduct an anal cavity search. If you want to share your inner most private thoughts or pass about any of your illnesses then the bus is the perfect place for you. It is practically a breeding ground for germs, which the people on the bus would be more then welcome to share with you. Share and share like they say, you might as well be having a group orgy with a crowd of homeless people.
Now, I’m aware that everyone is so very conscious about their image, but sitting on a bus strips you down and puts you on show to a whole range of lunatics, like some sort of carnival; it pretty much rapes you of your dignity.
Hiding behind other people, trying to use an air fresher in your bag, to seemingly freshen up your armpits isn’t going to work. Do you ever wonder why you get such disgusted faces from people? It’s because you smell.
Which brings me to the main purpose of writing this article. Why is it that when you’re travelling via a bus there’s always such a range of funky smells. It starts to make you wonder, and paranoid ideas start running through your head. Is that smell of piss coming from yourself or is it that old decrepit woman sitting in front of you? Is that smell a combination of dog and shit, seeping through your clothing, or is it the dribbling crazy guy next to you that wants to do nothing but start up a conversion about the most mundane of things (but to which your too polite to tell him to shut the fuck up)!?
Don’t you bus people know what a bath is? The best thing you can do is smell yourself all over, before getting on the bus, just to save yourself face. Even better get someone else to give you a give you a sniff. Make sure they get every nook and cranny, being naked for this will maximise the effect, just to be on the safe side.
If we lived in the medieval ages I’d suggest the smells on the bus are actually the airborne diseases, which you’re exposing yourself to as soon as you get onboard.
Has this situation ever happened to you? Have you gotten on the bus in the morning feeling great, but by the time it gets to your return journey home, you feel the first symptoms of the swine flu (or some other currently popular ailment). Now you make the connection; you remember that old woman who was coughing rudely in your general direction, when you were talking much too loudly. Next time remember to bring your gas mask, or if you are ever lucky enough to get on a bus, which doesn’t emit a heart-stopping pong, think yourself lucky and take a deep breath of air.
And if you find out that its you producing those smells, do yourself a favour and vacate the bus at the next stop, throw yourself in the nearest river and rid the world of your dirty habits.
Posted in Life, Culture & Activism |