editor
hiraethified
Free beer? Free meal?Kid_Eternity said:Aren't the I of I a bunch of wackos too?
I'm there!
Plus I get to meet top dogs from The Times and Reuters and other interesting folks.
http://www.battleofideas.co.uk/
Noam Chomsky: 9-11: Institutional Analysis vs. Conspiracy Theory
- Thread starter Kid_Eternity
- Start date
I'm there!
Plus I get to meet top dogs from The Times and Reuters and other interesting folks.
http://www.battleofideas.co.uk/
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
editor said:
Oh yeah they used to be Living Marxism. Met one of em at an election thing a few years back, she was as wide eyed and bonkers as any religious fundy!
http://www.instituteofideas.com/about/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Marxism
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
editor said:
Really? I'd give 'em hell, if I were you! The funny thing about the IoI is that they claim they want "open debate" but the truth is that they would rather engineer the debate so that their agenda is promoted.
I used to have many arguments with the RCP in the 80's and like many others, I suspected that they were actually a Tory front group...or financed by MI5/6.
I hate them.
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
Kid_Eternity said:
Aren't they just?
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
nino_savatte said:Aren't they just?
Yep, she wouldn't let it go, so I palmed her off onto a mate and fucked off to the bar pronto.
editor
hiraethified
Well, I'll be saying my piece no matter who tries to 'engineer' things and I certainly won't be promoting their agenda is any shape or form.nino_savatte said:
Hopefully, I'll just get to meet some interesting people from all walks of life, talk some shit and get pissed (hopefully in that order).
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
editor said:
Well, good luck. The IoI are notorious cultists.
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
editor said:
Have you ever listened to The Moral Maze on Radio 4? They are often invited as guests on that programme and, in keeping with the programme's reputation, they can come out with some quite reactionary rubbish. For people who like to call themselves Marxists, they come across as being more right wing than most Tories.
I understand that they get some good speakers, but they tend to steer things in their chosen direction. This sometimes means that the speakers become unwitting dupes/pawns in their plans.
Here's what Sourcewatch say about them
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_of_Ideas
They are also part-funded by the Adam Smith Institute, an organisation not known for its sympathy towards those at the bottom of the economic pile.
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
editor said:
So what is the IoI's motivation for holding such events? No, I've never been to any and all I have to go on is what I have read about them and my own personal experience of dealing with their predecessors in the RCP and Living Marxism. Do I think experienced news editors are fooled by them? I think that news editors may think that they're getting something out of the event but I happen to think that the IoI are getting more out of it.
It is also interesting to note that The Times has recently adopted the slogan "Join the Debate"; I see that they are one of their partners, along with the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. I don't think I've ever known a News Corp company to ask for a "debate", they are more likely to set the tone of the discourse by putting forward a narrative for discussion.
I'm not suggesting that you're a dupe or a pawn, ed; but you should be aware of what the IoI/Spiked are about and how they 'inject' debates into public discourse.
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
Just to add: the RCP/LM/IoI/Spiked/CultureWars thing has made a incredible journey from being a Trotskyite organisation/grouping to being out and out right wing libertarians.
What was their Irish Freedom thing called in the 80's? Pile of friggin' shite, it was. I also remember them being vaguely right-leaning on the apatheid issue in South Africa too.
Where is Furedi these days, btw?
What was their Irish Freedom thing called in the 80's? Pile of friggin' shite, it was. I also remember them being vaguely right-leaning on the apatheid issue in South Africa too.
Where is Furedi these days, btw?
Random
Ethnic nalgocrat
LM/RCP lot are vehemently pro-corporate and anti-environment. Here's a potted history of them from GMWatch people http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=78
editor
hiraethified
I'm getting a free meal and some free booze out of it. I'm cheap, me.nino_savatte said:
On a remotely serious note, the real beauty of doing these things for me is that I'm under no obligation to speak on anyone else's behalf.
I don't have any organisations to represent, no lines that can't be stepped over or any ideologies to defend, all of which leaves very little room to manoeuvre for anyone trying to force an agenda on me. So I rather enjoy these things (I've done quite a few now).
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
editor said:
Fair enough. But always remember to keep on ace up your sleeve.
It seems they've gone from breaking up meetings (as they did in the 80's), to holding events such as these. What a crazy, crazy journey!
Badger Kitten
oof
When are you speaking Editor? I'd like to pop down...
editor said:
Yes
For three years I've been trying to explain IoI / Spiked / "Scientific Alliance" to the editorial team of a certain publication - almost all of whose editors have PdDs - and they're not getting it.
They are very good at the memetic engineering game.
Why they are good is precisely that they recruit useful fools to their advisory boards and editors look only at the credentials of these figureheads. Editors don't do analysis, they do (at best) biographies.
editor said:
None under that brand - several under their other cover names.
It was the point at the last where the insiders had all had several drinks and started trading old Revolutionary Communist Party jokes about armed workers' militias - and the guy from the far-right Institute of Economic Affairs was joining in - that I was sure they were a cult.
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