The Government Wants To Control What You See… | Trending Ep316

 Join Gareth this morning to delve into the UK government's plans to create a central YouTube content channel featuring influencers and everyday people in a bid to better communicate its policies to the public, as well as combat inflammatory 'far-right' content spreading online. After days of protests the Irish government announces measures to ease fuel crisis. Apple Maps is under fire for removing village names in southern Lebanon.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Tuesday's episode of Trending. Tuesday, the 14th of April. I've got absolutely no idea where this year's going, it's just disappearing. Okay, UK government to fight back against conspiracy theorists. Must be losing the narrative then. Irish protests force government fuel assistance goes to show protests do work, and Apple removes Lebanese villages from their maps amid Israeli invasion. Right, let's start. Conspiracy theorists. They're dodgy. Do they even still exist? Do you know what I mean? Are they not just people that see what's going on nowadays? Like I'm old enough and ugly enough to remember when conspiracy theorists was a slur. He's a conspiracy theorist, that lad. It's not anymore, is it? That's why it makes me laugh when I see someone use it as a slur and they think that it's got some zing in it. And you're like, that's not what you think it is anymore, mate. Okay, government YouTube drive to fight conspiracy theorists and keyboard warriors. Haya. Translation, of course, we're losing the narrative, kids. It is part of efforts to reach voters not served by traditional news outlets. So people that have grown sick and tired of the propaganda coming out of the telebox. Amid concern from Labour MPs that the government is failing to tell a convincing story. Here's an idea. How about in try instead of trying to tell a convincing story, tell the truth? Like at least from time to time, just once in a while, just throw a truth bomb in there, just every now and then. In fact, why not try just not flat out lying constantly? And if you are gonna lie constantly, be better at it. And then maybe you might get some trust coming back at you. Preferably start telling the truth. But if you're gonna lie, lie better. Because, you know, it's all well and good blaming conspiracy theorists and you know keyboard warriors and the far right and all whatever, you know, and all the isms they like to blame. But the the fact that the people of the United Kingdom, and actually this applies for you know governments across the world because they're all the same, the reason the people don't trust their government is not because of conspiracy theorists or keyboard warriors or the far right. It's because of the government, it's because of the actions of the government, it's because of the consistent lies of the government, it's because of the fact that people have actually got eyes and ears and lived in experience and look around themselves every single day and go, this is a bit crap, isn't it? Yes, it is. The UK government will build a central YouTube content channel, I'll be subscribing, featuring influencers and everyday people. We don't want like every other Tuesday people, we want everyday people in a bid to better communicate its policies to the public. Maybe just line everyone up and just get, do you know what I mean, the party to do their broadcast and then maybe have like, I don't know, 30 seconds hate or whatever it is, screaming. It's just an idea. It's part of wider efforts to modernise how the government is reaching voters and combat inflammatory, wait for it, far right content spreading online. Far right bingo, mate. Every single time, it won't be long. They could be talking about potholes, but in the end, it's the far right, as we actually drive on the left, actually. Um said this multiple times, everything's far right, everything's anti-Semitic, everything's racist, everything's transphobic, Islamophobic. It's really boring for one, but also it's completely counterproductive. Like if you genuinely believe that there was an issue with the far right, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, whatever, whatever ism is your flavor of the day, if your genuine goal was to combat it, to eradicate it, then this is not the way to do it. Because if everything is phobic and everything is an ism, everything's racist and anti-Semitic and far right, then nothing is. Because that's how it works. If suddenly everything is is thrown in the same, it loses all its it loses all the its oomph. And I've seen it a million times, where a million times I've said not to exaggerate, where you had a situation where people would say take anti-Semitism, for instance, go back 10-15 years, if someone was called an anti-Semite or a Holocaust denier or a Jew hater, then you'd go, Whoa, what have they said? What have they done? Because they must have done and said something, right? Whereas now, when someone says that, you go, is he, is he? What do you do? Call out Netanyahu then. Yeah? That's all it is. And it's the same with with the trans, he's transphobic, he hates trans people. Really, that's bad. What do you why why would you hate one particular demographic of society? That's outrageous. What did he say? He said women can't have penises, but it lose all meaning, pointless. Also, attacking people and calling them names for having an opinion or a view doesn't stop them having that opinion or or from formulating that view, doesn't stop it. It's just someone who's got an opinion and a view about something who's now cheesed off because you're calling them names. It doesn't change anything. Ministers have seen research, they've seen research, careful. Ministers have seen research which shows communications from government departments social media channels are only reaching 2% of the public. Well, okay. You've got the television, you've got every single news outlet, that's yours, UK government and every other government in respective countries. You've got the TV, that's yours. You own that, you own what comes out of that. You've got the newspapers, you own all that, what comes out of that? The radio, you own all that, what comes out of that? Obviously, your online papers, because no one really buys newspapers anymore. You own all of that stuff. And if they don't do as you taught uh as you tell them, you stick them on a D notice, just like they did with The Guardian. So, you know, British intelligence has to vet what they're reporting. So you own all of that stuff. You own the schools through the national curriculum, you own what the kids see and hear at school and in their own work, because apparently they're not allowed any freedom, they have to go to school again when they get home. But that's not enough. No, no, no, no. We need your social media eyes and ears as well. If you're not getting your point across when you own all the television and radio, media in general, and the schooling, maybe your point isn't good enough. Maybe your point is rubbish. Maybe people don't like your point. And actually, just because they'll hear it now on YouTube, because some influencer with pink air won't make it any more palatable, mate. At the same time, far right, oh for God's sake, at the same time, far right political content regularly ends up in the list of top five news stories that reach users each week on the big five platforms YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X. Every time I hear far right now, I'm like, yada yada yada. Like, I understand there, that there is, you know, far right, whatever, I get it. But as I said earlier, when everything's far right, when a grandma that wants to leave the EU is far right. Like I say, when someone that thinks that a woman, a woman can't have a seven and a half inch pecker is far right, maybe it just maybe it's not far right, mate. Maybe you've actually not you've not even moved the Overton window, you've just stuck a brick through it and nothing makes sense anymore. Also, there's an element of obviously it's the it's the Orwellian quote of the party told you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears, it was their last most essential command. Well, that's exactly what they're trying to do. Because they're telling the people that the reason they're formulating the opinions that they're formulating is because of the rise of the far right and because of conspiracy theorists and keyboard warriors and misinformation, fake news, and all that stuff. That's what they're basing this on. Then actually, if you didn't have that content, if we censored the hell out of that content, which they do anyway, through algorithms, and we replaced it with a government YouTube channel, the Ministry of Truth, then actually you would think the way we want you to think. You would go into the into the ballpark of right think rather than wrong think. But what that's saying with that whole premise is that, quote, of the party told you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. Because as I say, they're not formulating their opinions on reality on the United Kingdom and every other nation as well, based on stuff they see online. They're not. They're not basing it on social media posts. They might retweet stuff or repost stuff, stick stuff on their story, whatever the terminology is, that they agree with or they align with, or maybe they're just curious about and they're thinking, I'll share that, some of my mates might have a look and see what they say. But their opinions aren't formulated like that. Their opinions are formulated by looking around themselves every single day, looking around the cities, towns, and villages of the United Kingdom and respective countries across the world. They're watching the demographics change in real time. They're not of the opinion that mass immigration is changing Great Britain because they saw someone say it on TikTok. They're seeing it with their own eyes. That's what's formulating their opinion. They're watching community centres, libraries, youth clubs, all these things close down because there's not enough money, can't fund public services properly, potholes left, right, and centre. You know, and they go and have to get your car fixed because they crack the wheel, happened to me a couple of weeks ago. They're seeing that. They're feeling that, they're experiencing that. They're watching their streets becoming more and more violent and intimidating. They're watching CCTV and facial recognition, surveillance cameras going up everywhere. Then they they're they're driving into cities, not just London, they're driving into cities and being charged an arm and a leg just for driving in. They're not getting charged money by ULES cameras because it was on Facebook. They're being rinsed because they're being rinsed. They're watching fuel prices going through the roof. Where people are looking at it going, oh mate, if it goes up any higher, I'm in trouble. So I'm gonna have to go and put it on the credit card, I'm gonna have to go and fill up the car just in case it goes up a little bit more tomorrow. That's not happening because someone posted some on Instagram. That's reality. They're watching the fuel prices go up, they're watching the food prices go up, which are of course attached to the fuel prices, their taxes are going up, despite the fact the government said that they wouldn't. The country's going to the dogs and they're seeing it, they're feeling it. In their arts and their wallets. And if you're a young person in this country who's just been promised, oh, if you vote for us, mate, it's your first time voting. If you come out and vote for us, we'll scrap tuition fees. Oh no, actually, sorry. That's awkward. We're in now, we're double them. And they're looking around going, well, my parents could afford a house, my grandparents could afford. I'll never afford a house, mate. The only way I'll ever afford a house is if I get left some money. And maybe, you know, when my parents go, my grandparents go, I might have a little bit. Oh no, they're being screwed out of out of all their money, so there's not gonna be any left. They can't never afford a house because of what someone posted on X. Or what someone put on a YouTube short. The reason they can't afford a house is because of the actions of consecutive governments. So their anger, a righteous anger, is not based on the far right on social media. It's it's based on reality and lived-in experience. So as much as you want to, you know, have your brand new government Ministry of Truth YouTube channel with your bought and paid for influencers, as much as you want that, and as much as you want to censor people online and ban under 16s from accessing social media to protect them, nothing to do with stopping them seeing certain things that you don't want them to see. You can do all that as much as you want, but it doesn't, it doesn't make two and two equal five. It doesn't. So as much as you want to shut people up and try and and manipulate people's perceptions, it doesn't stop the reality around them being true. It doesn't. You can put a virtual reality headset on them and tell them that they're on Malibu Beach. But if then if they're in Beirut, they're in Beirut. That doesn't change anything. So as much as you want to fiddle with their perceptions and you want to censor people that are pointing out a different point of view, it doesn't stop it being true. And actually, do you know what? This is the arrogance of government. You know, most people know when they're being lied to. They do. It might take a little while to get there, but in the end, the truth resonates differently with people. We've all been there, folks, where you've gone to a pub, I've done it many times. Gone to a pub, met up with a few mates for a few beers back in the old days when anyone could afford it, and one of your mates might turn up with a school mate or a work colleague, someone you've not met before. Oh, you know, Chris is going to be joining us. Oh Sam, nice to meet you, Chris. I'm Gareth. This is Dave, whatever. You all have a few beers for a couple of hours. Chris has got to go and meet his wife. See you later, Chris. Nice to meet you. See you, mate. He's full of crap, isn't he? You just know it. I don't know, Chris. I don't know if any of the anecdotes and any of the stories he's told us over a pint are true. But I know they ain't. I know they ain't. Everyone knows a guy like that, right? He he's he must have lived 100 years to have done half the things he's done. But it could be true. He could have had an amazing life, could have just got back from Everest, all frostbitten and stuff. But you know he hasn't. You know he hasn't. He's just been working nights at the warehouse and not wearing gloves. Now, that's because the truth resonates differently. It just does. Just you can feel it. Just I don't I feel like that guy's full of rubbish. And nine times out of ten, Chris is full of crap. The government's full of crap. So as much as they want to throw all this stuff at us, it doesn't stop, it doesn't stop people knowing. It doesn't it won't it won't make it go away as much as they want it to go away. So you ask the question, what's the point? What's the point? We we can see what's going on, we can feel what's going on. So you tell this is the creakiest seat in the world. So you telling me that two and two equals five, when you know that I know, and you know that I know, you know I know, why bother? Well, then for me it comes back to what I've said many, many times, which is this censorship and this attempt to manipulate people's perceptions and therefore their reactions, is nothing to do with what's gone before. That horse is bolted. That's done. You've already doubled the tuition fees, mate. You've already put taxes up when you said you wouldn't. You've already frozen granny. You've already put energy bills up when you said they'd come down. You've already done all that stuff. You've already said the UK's not getting involved in the attacks on Iran when they blatantly are. So horses bolted, mate. So what's the point? Well, what if it's not about now, but it's about tomorrow? They're getting all their ducks in a row. They saw what happened throughout COVID. They had the media in COVID bought and paid for, done. They had the schools bought and paid for through the national curriculum, done. Abusing kids by sticking masks on their poor little faces, done. You had all that stuff. You had the National Health Service, National Horror Show, through the World Health Organization, that stuff. You own all that stuff. What you didn't have, I mean, you had the mass censorship and all that kind of stuff and people booting off social media, but you didn't have a real lock on it. So a lot of information got out that actually pulled the narrative down. Social media changed everything. Yes, the protests on the streets made a huge, huge, huge impact, as much as people would like to claim they didn't, they did. But all that stuff was connected into social media is how these people formulated these groups. They will have looked at that and gone, that's annoying. What have we learned? Well, we had that, we had that, we had that. That's all stitched up, don't need to worry about that. Sorted. That's a problem. The alternative media is a problem. So what we'll do, we'll try and take it over, which they have done. But social media is a problem. So what we're gonna do is exactly what they're doing, and this is you know what the the social media ban for under-16s and stuff is about. This is what basically criminalizing, uh speaking out against Israel is about now in France, you know, talking out on Israel and criticism of Israel is punishable by prison time. Still criticize the French government in France, just can't criticize the Israeli one. And you've got it in America where they can revoke your visa if you criticize a foreign government, Israel. So they're doing all this stuff, I think, for tomorrow. I mean, Israel's a perfect example of this, and we've mentioned this before on the show, where this mass censorship came in in terms of Israel, they're taking over a TikTok, Larry Ellison, you know, of course, uh the largest single um funder of the IDF, buying CBS and CNN and everything else, shirt off my back, whatever, he'll buy it, to control the narrative and to shift away from criticism of Israel. Well, that wasn't for the genocide in Gaza. That horse is bolted, mate. It's done. We've already seen it. You can remove all those videos, not from there, you can't. I mean, you might be able to once you've got a chip in your head, but at the moment you can't, mate. So again, I ask the same question, ask about what the government's doing with the YouTube channel. What's the point? Well, because it's not about that, it's about the next one. And we're watching that in real time in Lebanon at the moment. Okay, that's the end of the free social media section. I'm gonna have a sip of this. It's might I don't know what this is. That's fine. Do you know what, right? I do this with my kids. If I've got a coffee, I did it once, and once you've done something once, then the kids are on it. So I sip my coffee and it was fine temperature, right? So I said to um my eldest, oh, that's art that is. You wouldn't be able to blow that, cool that down for me, would you? So she went, and I went, oh, that's perfect temperature. Cheers, darling. She was like, result. Well, now she thinks she's got magic breath, right? So sometimes I'll get a coffee and I'll go, oh Christ, that's hot. But genuinely, and then she'll go, Oh, I'll cool it down. I'm like, I haven't got the heart to tell her. So I go, Oh, yeah, go on then. So she does it. I've got to drink it then. All blisters in my mouth. It's parenting, innit? Anyway, I'll put the URL for the rest of the show in the description below, and hopefully, I shall see you over there on iconic.com.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Don't mention the reptiles, Dave. Even less said about the Grey Pope, which some believe to be the true ruling power in the Vatican. Humans are missing a macadress. All of them had total sickness. I've never seen it before. This is the ultimate suicide cult. What if the symbols around us every day aren't just ornamental? We lost a thousand years of east.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

What if their instructions that stage of awareness is not manipulatable?