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offsite link Ukraine Buys Huge Amounts of Russian Fue... Fri Jan 20, 2023 08:34 | Antonia Kotseva

offsite link Turkey Has Sent Ukraine Cluster Munition... Thu Jan 12, 2023 00:26 | Jack Detsch

offsite link New Israeli Government Promises to Talk ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 21:13 | Al Majadeen

offsite link Russia Training Iranian Pilots Ahead of ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:19 | The Times of Israel

offsite link Lukashenko Abolishes Copyright Protectio... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:05 | Nikki Main

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Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link The Rise of the Groupthink Podcast Thu Sep 28, 2023 19:00 | Will Jones
Rod Liddle draws attention to the growing and depressing phenomenon of the 'groupthink podcast' ? the opportunity to listen to people who basically agree on everything pretending they don't.
The post The Rise of the Groupthink Podcast appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I Was Cancelled by Laurence Fox Just Minutes Before he Got Cancelled Thu Sep 28, 2023 17:00 | Ian Rons
Laurence Fox cancelled me just minutes before he got cancelled, says Ian Rons. Ian was due to debate him about the war in Ukraine and came up to London specially ? but Fox pulled out at the last minute.
The post I Was Cancelled by Laurence Fox Just Minutes Before he Got Cancelled appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link MHRA Finally Admits it Failed to Test the Safety of Mass Manufactured Covid Vaccine Batches Thu Sep 28, 2023 15:13 | Nick Hunt
In a new FOI release the MHRA has finally come clean that it failed to test the safety of mass manufactured Covid vaccine batches, in contravention of its own regulations and public statements.
The post MHRA Finally Admits it Failed to Test the Safety of Mass Manufactured Covid Vaccine Batches appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Jonathan Sumption: ?The ECHR has Devalued the Whole Concept of Human Rights? Thu Sep 28, 2023 13:04 | Will Jones
Former Supreme Court Justice and anti-lockdown legend Jonathan Sumption has made the case for leaving the European Convention on Human Rights ? all the more remarkable as a Remainer on Brexit.
The post Jonathan Sumption: “The ECHR has Devalued the Whole Concept of Human Rights” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Diaspora Politics Blow Up Canada-India Relations Thu Sep 28, 2023 11:01 | Ramesh Thakur
Relations between Canada and India are in a tailspin after Trudeau alleged India was behind the June 18th killing of an alleged Sikh terrorist. But what's the truth of the matter, asks Ramesh Thakur.
The post Diaspora Politics Blow Up Canada-India Relations appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Poland announces intention to have Yaroslav Hunk extradited Thu Sep 28, 2023 11:14 | en

offsite link The Zelensky lie is coming to an end, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Sep 26, 2023 07:02 | en

offsite link Canadian Parliament honors SS veteran Mon Sep 25, 2023 15:13 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°53 Fri Sep 22, 2023 15:00 | en

offsite link Commander-in-chief of Ukrainian armed forces accused of high treason, says BBC Fri Sep 22, 2023 05:48 | en

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The Danish Girl

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis author Tuesday January 05, 2016 14:20author by Sean Crudden - impero Report this post to the editors

γνῶθι σεαυτόν

There is no doubt that the images in the film The Danish Girl are lovely and a joy to watch as are the leading actors Eddie Redmayne as Einar Wegener and Alicia Vikander as Gerda Gottlieb. Screenplay is by Lucinda Coxon an excellent minimalist job as regards dialogue but eloquent as regards narrative. The director is Tom Hooper. This is a classy really well shot and well worked out film. I am not going into the plot. The best way to get that is to attend the film. One thing that struck me apart from the drama is that the film presents a marvellous portrait of what marriage should really mean. But despite the beauty of the images this is an unsettling film. Please excuse me if I share below some of the thoughts the film provoked for me.

“Be Yourself!” Don’t put on airs and graces. Don’t develop a false accent. That was the general idea in our house when I was young.

As a teacher the objective was not to change the pupil into a different person but to draw out the native talents of that person, provide support, develop self-confidence, integrity, a general realisation of self-worth.

That, to me, is the weakness in the film, “The Danish Girl.” The idea is that it is possible to rebuild a human being into something different from what they are; to go from an unsatisfactory state to a satisfactory state.

That, too, is the basis of the psychiatry’s paradigm. To change someone who is disordered into a different “ordered” person. And not worrying about the price that person has to pay.

There is definitely an air of futility about Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener’s attempt to transform himself into Lili Elbe. And increasingly there is an air of futility about psychiatry.

I pointed out at an empowerment seminar in Brussels recently organised by Mental Health Europe that mental patients require change. However we are not in a position to author that change. Really I think the system we have is the creature of psychiatry and for change to come psychiatry must pull its weight.

It is difficult to understand the operation of psychiatry even if one is a mental patient. It is organised along lines like the guilds and trades of old. There is secrecy surrounding it, no real sharing of knowledge or methodology, no dialogue.

My own opinion is that more reflection, more introspection on its part, is required before psychiatry can extricate itself from the mess it is in.

Even then there is a long way to go before the emancipation of mental patients can begin.

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