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Do you want to resort to schoolyard "my dad is bigger than your dad" non-arguments? https://twitter.com/Unicorn_999/status/1337216470690967552
If a person has the noblest exceptional achievement on their CV, does that grant them a free pass to be a hypocrite (given that the bar for avoiding hypocrisy is set very low for all human beings)?
Your sentence here highlights a huge problem with today's system-friendly liberal left.
Firstly: it's childish, misses the point and goes well with today's petty point-scoring mindset. https://twitter.com/Unicorn_999/status/1337216470690967552
Firstly: it's childish, misses the point and goes well with today's petty point-scoring mindset. https://twitter.com/Unicorn_999/status/1337216470690967552
Secondly, it's friendly to the idea of the dominant forces in society strictly limiting the discursive spectrum.
Not a good look for a leftist.
Not a good look for a leftist.
Thirdly, it's friendly to the idea that public figures with huge platforms can be lauded for noble things they've done, and then virtue-signalling members of the public can wallow in this and turn a blind eye to:
1. other crimes in society which need urgent attention
1. other crimes in society which need urgent attention
2. hypocrisy among such high-profile public figures
3. allowing this hypocrisy to rub off on members of the public
4. allowing the "left" — in it's current 2020 version — to be become infected with this hypocrisy.
3. allowing this hypocrisy to rub off on members of the public
4. allowing the "left" — in it's current 2020 version — to be become infected with this hypocrisy.
Fourthly (and I've had this from other "left" accounts responding to the same thread and defending Mr Ethical) it seems, because I am a nobody with a tiny platform, that I should shut up and know my place. https://twitter.com/cranleycranley2/status/1337354739542056960?s=20
I have had numerous blue ticks say to me "I have achieved XYZ, what have YOU ever done?" because I (a lowly member of the public) had the audacity to criticise them.
And now here you are; obediently reprimanding me on their behalf.
And now here you are; obediently reprimanding me on their behalf.
Do you see how self-reinforcing the system-serving mindset is among the public? That it is so rampant among today's de-lefted left is astonishing.
You seem to have completely (deliberately) missed the point of my original uncontroversial thread, which centred on hypocrisy, and the mass groupthink cult which perpetuates the "thus far and no further" discursive landscape and reinforces the status quo.
I don't know why you and numerous others are getting so worked up and agitated about the thread. Seems I have to clarify this for everyone who's not getting it (although I suspect you do get it and you're pretending you don't).
I made it clear in my thread that the work Nicholas 'Mr Ethical' Wilson became famous for is to be applauded (his fights against HSBC and financial regulators).
I also made it clear in my thread that Mr. Ethical is perfectly entitled to have any values he wants (even unethical ones, I don't care).
But he's not entitled to criticise others for having status quo values (as if he himself is not guilty of having them!) without being criticised himself.
This was the main thrust of my uncontroversial thread. Later in the thread I made an effort to explain why this encourages a harmful mindset which is a big problem in society. https://twitter.com/JosefKalfsGran/status/1337033016149901312?s=20
Is Mr Ethical really so precious to you? Is this high-profile, large-platform public figure so undeserving of the most basic criticism?
i.e. the basic ethical principle: "Don't be a hypocrite"?
i.e. the basic ethical principle: "Don't be a hypocrite"?
I am fine with Nicholas 'Mr Ethical' Wilson or anyone having their "Thus far and no further".
Granted, it's a disappointment, but I guess they're entitled to be that way.
Granted, it's a disappointment, but I guess they're entitled to be that way.
I have no problem with Wilson or anyone doing brave ethical stuff within their niche & then going through life with system-serving, status-quo values. Again, disappointing, but they are perfectly entitled to be this way.
What I have a problem with is people being HYPOCRITES.
The scourge of our times is hypocrisy and phoniness.
2020 is the year we saw hypocrisy, virtue-signalling, and phony culture war identity politics completely dominate human society.
The scourge of our times is hypocrisy and phoniness.
2020 is the year we saw hypocrisy, virtue-signalling, and phony culture war identity politics completely dominate human society.
Nicholas 'Mr Ethical' Wilson shouldn't portray himself as "uncompromising" anti-establishment fighter when he is *compromised* by pandering to system-serving status quo values.
Likewise his target audience shouldn't laud him as uncompromising & "a thorn in the side of the establishment" & participate in this hypocrisy themselves. As many do with George Monbiot, Carole Cadwalladr, Naomi Klein and countless others.
Carole Cadwalladr is brave warrior lauded for her take down of the gods of Silicon Valley. Does she have a licence to say whatever she wants on any topic and never be criticised? Not even for her overt status quo centrism?
Naomi Klein brought us the vital Shock Doctrine which awakened a large portion of the public to how power works. And look at her complicity now! Should she not be criticised?
What about George Monbiot who never stops writing "manufcaturing consent/propaganda model" style analyses of the media — as though he is not himself within it? Funny how he never criticises his own corporate media employer, yet he rabidly smears and attacks people who do.
Monbiot is a walking case study for the "Thus far and no further" gatekeeper of public political discourse.
So. I don't know what your problem is.
We are supposed to criticise everyone who places themselves politically in the public arena, especially high-profile figures with a huge platform of influence.
We are supposed to criticise everyone who places themselves politically in the public arena, especially high-profile figures with a huge platform of influence.
And — I'll repeat it again so it sinks in — Nicholas 'Mr Ethical' Wilson is not entitled to criticise others for having status quo values (as if he himself is not guilty of having them!) without being criticised himself.
An important point I tried to make in the thread was about the system-serving, status quo mindset of these high-profile voices rubbing off on the general public. Just look at what has happened to the left in the UK in 2020.
It now stands for everything the old left stood against. It's abhorrent. https://twitter.com/JosefKalfsGran/status/1337033017299185666?s=20
A golden rule for life, for everyone, is "don't be a hypocrite". This is Ethics 101.
Tongue-in-cheek or not, this guy is called "Mr Ethical".
Tongue-in-cheek or not, this guy is called "Mr Ethical".
When it comes to hypocrisy, the bar is set very low, for all of us. It's extremely easy to not be a hypocrite.
i.e. "Don't make yourself out to be something that you're not"
"Don't heroically criticise another man's crimes when you're guilty of the same".
i.e. "Don't make yourself out to be something that you're not"
"Don't heroically criticise another man's crimes when you're guilty of the same".
Nicholas 'Mr Ethical' Wilson is guilty of criticising status quo types while making himself out to be someone who is not a status quo type himself.
What has happened to the left in 2020?
Why is the left so protective of the dominant narratives and so hypnotised by the "appeal to authority"?
Why do they seem incapabale of thinking for themselves and seem to prefer to let the commentariat do their thinking for them?
Why is the left so protective of the dominant narratives and so hypnotised by the "appeal to authority"?
Why do they seem incapabale of thinking for themselves and seem to prefer to let the commentariat do their thinking for them?
It's really sinister what has happened.
Is it mostly down to people being successfully divided-&-conquered and propagandised by today's culture war lies and deception?
Is it mostly down to people being successfully divided-&-conquered and propagandised by today's culture war lies and deception?
Hypocrisy is rife among the big blue tick high-profile commentators, and today's left is totally besotted by them.
The sooner the left returns to being left and anti-authoritarian, and ditches its love affair with the dominant system-friendly voices of society, the better.
(Or ditching today's ludicrous false left/right paradigm and fighting the 99% vs 1% fight).
(Or ditching today's ludicrous false left/right paradigm and fighting the 99% vs 1% fight).
A good starting point is to re-learn how to spot hypocrites who have undue influence over us.
You are supposed to challenge high-profile public figures. They are in a position of responsibility. You're not supposed to simply bow down to them even if they have fought David & Goliath battles with HSBC.
Nicholas 'Mr Ethical' Wilson is now a vociferous public arena political commentator, he speaks out strongly in many areas outside of the world of banking and financial regulators.
He has a huge following and is now a part of the mainstream commentariat.
In the public arena, he's hardly an outsider outlaw rebel being ridiculed and character-assassinated.
In the public arena, he's hardly an outsider outlaw rebel being ridiculed and character-assassinated.
His public spats with Owen Jones (who called him a conspiracist over HSBC's backing of the Guardian) hardly makes him an oppressed victim in the public eye.
So Mr Ethical is a thorn in the side of the establishment, is he? https://twitter.com/cranleycranley2/status/1337035645534040068?s=20
Is that not a statement full of hyperbole? "Couldn't be further from the status quo if he tried"?
Come off it.
Come off it.
Granted, he was a thorn in the side of the institutions he was fighting in the banking and finance industry. But his political commentary doesn't suggest he is anywhere near an enemy of the establishment. Many would argue he is up the establishment's arse in many areas.
Of course, he's entitled to be this way.
But he is not entitled to criticise others for being up the establishments arse without being criticised himself.
But he is not entitled to criticise others for being up the establishments arse without being criticised himself.
