Rob, Rambling

My name is Rob. I live in London, and tend to spend far too much time either online or in places which serve alcohol. Either way I entertain myself. I'm pretty self-critical, very open, and prone to strong opinions. I post just about everything that comes to mind, good or bad.
rob
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gooneruk
dot
com

25.04.08
10:43:17

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Henry Louis Mencken, again via QOTD email, which has been better than average recently.

I’m not a complete believer in this, as it’s a little too conspiracy theorist for my tastes, but I think there’s an element of truth. Bad news is more readily received than good news nowadays, especially as a good chunk of the population is now so cynical about politics/politicians that we refuse to believe that there is no ulterior motive whenever good news is released.

People like the civil servant who said on 9/11 that it was a good day to bury bad news cause me to view all politics as an exercise in saving face and sometimes outright lying to the electorate.

Having said that, I’m sending off my vote in the London Mayor elections today, so at least I still participate.

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