Freedom of Speech??

[hesi]

With the shooting of Charlie Kirk, the spotlight has been turned on freedom of speech.

One question, if people's rights and freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy, why is America such a cot case

[Chief Stipe]

The UK is worse.  

[the galah]

On 12/09/2025 at 7:31 AM, hesi said:

With the shooting of Charlie Kirk, the spotlight has been turned on freedom of speech.

One question, if people's rights and freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy, why is America such a cot case

its very complicated but major factors as to why its so embedded over there,is the way they have educated recent generations ,especially in recent decades,then of course the political divides where they sell each other ,especially the left which seems to focus on what is bad about the usa,then throw in the mental heath crisis. most say the accurate figure is 1 in every 5 people in the usa of all ages is on anti depressants. some dispute that but it seems to be accurate. Over there everyone used to go to therapy to work out their problems ,now its changed and the focus is more on pushing the pharmaceutical solution,which really treats the symptom and not the cause.

i once had a look at some studies of how divided the usa had become half way through trumps first presidency and while the media will tell you it was trump,the historical and the 2018 studies showed the division in the usa speed up significantly under obama and just carried on at the same rate when trump took over in 2016. 

i get what the chief is saying.. 

the uk is showing all the signs of becoming a very divided country,the division based on the common mans view of the impacts of immigration.Have you seen some of the protests over there. The political parties are all mixed up.The Farage party is on the rise and have drawn so much support away from the tories that it looks like the tories are never going to be the force they once were unless farge took them over. But while those 2 split there vote the popularity of the labour party is really poor as well. This month they said only 22% have a favorable view of starmer ,69% unfavorable. So thats what their people think of their current government.

what strikes me today is just how corrupt out nz media are. the way they portray everything coming out of the usa is so slanted against the trump administration.

tonight they had a thing on trump saying paracetamol can cause autism. the tv 1 rubbishing that and refering to trumps claims about cuba and the amish not having much autism. 

now earlier today i watched that 1 hour usa news conference where rf kennedy jnr and the likes of dr makary ,dr oz and dr bhattacharya spoke,alongside trump.

then i turn on the news on tv1 tonight. What struck me was how decitful the tv one news coverage was ,as well as the so called nz health expert they had on. They  warped what was actually said at the news conference.its like they hate trump and what he stands for so much they will warp anything in a way that discredits them. 

now i would say,trump did what trump can do,waffled on a bit and said a couple of things he may have been best keeping to himself,he actually said he recognised he was saying things that were his own opinions and maybe he shouldn't say them.

but what the news conference had said was simple,the usa health administration believed the past 20 years of research into the cause of autism had focused on genetics,and that research had not dione anything to reduce the increasing rates of autism,that the current administration believed it was a combination of many factors and that their future research would not be driven by the political influence of big pharma.

They said the while some studies had shown no link between paracetamol and autism,they were studies done by groups with skin in the game,i.e. big pharma and that a total review of the totality of studies done showed their was an irrefuttable link between paracetemol and the neurological development of the fetus. But they said the significance was yet to be determined and would require further studies, but their was enough evidence for them to send to all doctors recommendations they only prescribe paracetemol in cases where the pregnant patient was in significant distress.they also said they had linked a folate deficiency to the development of speech in autsisic children and that a cancer drug was being made availble to all doctors to prescribe to autistic childen because they were seeing postive outcomes when used.

they made it clear the paracetamol recommendation was out of an abundance of caution and that further studies were being undertaken to confirm the sugnificance,but intial studies warranted the action they had taken.They made it clear they were not claiming paracetamol caused autism but were saying it  appeared to be a contributing factor..

trump rambled on a bit and did say thuings like why give 6 month old kids a hep b vaccine when the only way they can get hep b is through sexual transmission. i mean ,how can you argue with obvious common sense like that,but then he went off track with the cuba and amish thing.

but what gives tv 1 the right and the nz health authorities the rite to condem what the usa adminsitration is  saying without even knowing the basis of why the usa has acted as they have.

it reminds me of the ivermectin thing. our media made out, that was trump being a wacko,when in fact if you followed it,even to this day, that is the go to treatment for many doctors in the usa who have specialised in treating covid. I saw one of them giving an interview on ivermectin not that long ago and how the banning of ivermectin treatment had cost the lives of thousands of people,all because it appeared trump had said it was a good treatment early on. That doctor had been involved in 48 cases where they had sued to get ivermectin treatment for her patents, only half were granted it by the court,of the 24 ,3 who got the treatment survived whereas the 24 who lost the court cases all died ..

nz media is just propganda. 

Edited September 23 by the galah

[Freda]

Can't argue with the thrust of the post,  dont necessarily agree with all of it but good points made IMO.

[the galah]

On 23/09/2025 at 8:15 PM, the galah said:

nz media is just propganda. 

i wonder sometimes about how accurate a portrayal we get,even with the likes of nz rugby.

for example,the womens rugby world cup just finished.

for the last couple of months i had watched the tv 1 coverage and got the impression that nz making the final was inevitable, like it was a given they would play england in the final.

then about a month before the tournament started,i watched some bbc coverage,in particular one lengthy segment on the bbc about how dominant england had been for some time,with canada expected to be the  team they would meet in the final and that canada was seeded second. Not once did it mention the nz team.

and i thought to myself,whats going on there,how can canada be ranked 2nd and nz not get a mention,given the hype from our nz media about the nz team. 

then i noted as the tournament started ,the mainstream bbc seemed to change their tune,loved putting on the nz team doing a haka,showing the mixed races of the nz team ,mentioned nz's history and noted all the supporters it had. I  thought, hang on,thats a different type of media to the ones from the bbc that interviewed people who did not give the nz team a mention just a month before.

well it turned out another example of how media can put a narrative thats not accurate.

Edited September 27 by the galah