This reminds me of an old story...

Once upon a time there was a city.

In the middle of the city there was a huge and very popular meeting place where everyone gathered and talked and shared ideas.

The meeting place had only one rule: "No shitting on other people".

1/10

The people agreed that it was a good rule and they met and talked and didn't shit on each other and were happy.

2/10
By and by a politician wanted to take advantage of the meeting place to talk to all of the people at once.

The owner thought it was a good idea and said "everyone is welcome but you must obey our one rule".

The politician agreed.

3/10
Day after day, the politician talked and talked and people listened, but there was a bad smell in the air.

People thought that the politician was not obeying the rule and complained to the owner that they were being shat on.

4/10
The owner assured the people that the politician wouldn't do something like that deliberately but agreed that it was only fair to warn people.

So, whenever the smell was bad the owner made the politician wear a blue badge to advise that there may be shit in the air.

5/10
One day the politician lost a democratic election and was in a very bad mood.

He came to the meeting place and shouted at everyone.

Then he shat in his own hands and threw it around the room.

6/10
He encouraged his friends to do the same, saying that he would definitely throw shit at them, if they didn't throw it at others.

7/10
People shouted, but the shit kept coming.

There seemed to be no end.

The owner could see he had no choice but to throw the politician out and ban him from returning.

8/10
Soon after, people started to ask whether the rule should apply to politicians.

They discussed whether there was a culture of cancellation that might be threatening their constitutional right to throw shit.

9/10
But they were a clever people, so they quickly decided that that was bollocks.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

10/10

More from Culture

@bellingcat's attempt in their new book, published by
@BloomsburyBooks, to coverup the @OPCW #Douma controversy, promote US and UK gov. war narratives, and whitewash fraudulent conduct within the OPCW, is an exercise in deception through omission. @BloomsburyPub @Tim_Hayward_


1) 2000 words are devoted to the OPCW controversy regarding the alleged chemical weapon attack in #Douma, Syria in 2018 but critical material is omitted from the book. Reading it, one would never know the following:

2) That the controversy started when the original interim report, drafted and agreed by Douma inspection team members, was secretly modified by an unknown OPCW person who had manipulated the findings to suggest an attack had occurred. https://t.co/QtAAyH9WyX… @RobertF40396660


3) This act of attempted deception was only derailed because an inspector discovered the secret changes. The manipulations were reported by @ClarkeMicah
and can be readily observed in documents now available https://t.co/2BUNlD8ZUv….

4) @bellingcat's book also makes no mention of the @couragefoundation panel, attended by the @opcw's first Director General, Jose Bustani, at which an OPCW official detailed key procedural irregularities and scientific flaws with the Final Douma Report:

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1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?