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Ministry fans need gassing.

Well, if you're Irish, come into the pub. There's a welcome here for you. And if your name is Timothy or Pat, so long as you come from Ireland, there's a welcome on the mat.

I'm so out of the loop (blissful ignorance?) that I had to look up what you were talking about. February in UK and October in US?


Agreed, it's all reprobate grade stuff. But aside from ensuring a seat at the table or decidedly flipping the whole table, what does one do? The problem with flipping a table is that it creates a power-vacuum and creates an advantage for outside interests to take that position that the table once did. The problem with taking a seat at the table is that it is a constant battle and struggle to effectively advocate for positive change and betterment.

It takes a lot of energy in order to encourage the stakeholders of a table not to defend the table from being flipped. But it is easy to imagine scenarios like the US government declaring that they are selling off all of the US to China to become slaves under the CCP, that the US citizenry would respond by flipping the table, negating the deal, and then starting from scratch. But, like the boiling frog metaphor, a successful invader is better off using games of attrition, and the only way to counter those covert strategies is to bring attention to them so that the frog realizes the temperature is rising. This requires having a seat at the table to oppose the bad actors that would currently have a seat at the table. A successful bad actor in that case would then be most successful if they are able to convince their potential opposition to be apathetic enough not to even defend themselves at the table. This is part of the reason we all need to do our part, even on small scale things like municipal politics to make sure your voice is heard at the table in a manner that encourages positive change and defends against bad actors. The next best thing that a bad actor can do to further their ends, if inducing apathy doesn't work, is to render an opponent's communications ineffective. To counter the bad actor, it's important to learn how to talk effectively if you get a seat at the table, otherwise even your best intentions will fall on deaf ears and amount to nothing. This art of effective communication is a skill that needs to be built up. No one is perfect, and skills can grow, so as much as some crowds believe in the concept of "someone else will take care of it", we should all be trying to put our mind to these issues. Even the small tables are worth the time. We should all be pushing to make a difference in the circles of influence that we belong. It's basically an ongoing war of the mind, and the common person is lulled into thinking these are peace-times and that their stewardship is not needed.