Beachy Head evacuated after ‘unknown chemical haze’ injures up to 50 people.

a reply to: RoScoLaz5

I flew over the coast about 100km west of Beachy Head the night before this happened and i can tell you the The Channel was jam packed with ships.

originally posted by: RoScoLaz5

originally posted by: murphy22 They should've been at home, counting their ammo, or learning how to use it.

that's not the british way. 'keep calm and carry on' as the posters implore us.

That slogan gives me the creeps. It's basically telling everyone to shut up, carry on doing as you're told and don't ask questions.

What creeps me out is how the populous have taking it to heart, thinking it's cool to 'keep calm and carry on....'

a reply to: McGinty

i quite agree.

originally posted by: McGinty
That slogan gives me the creeps. It's basically telling everyone to shut up, carry on doing as you're told and don't ask questions.

I think you're misreading it quite drastically. That poster was intended for distribution during WWII, particularly during the Blitz and the German V1 and V2 campaigns, to encourage fortitude among a frightened population. It's the exact opposite of telling everyone to be meek and mild, it's basically saying "Keep your sh1t together guys, we have the strength to get through this."

It's that casual statement of the 'stiff upper lip' tradition that has helped turn it into a present-day kitsch classic.

originally posted by: audubon

originally posted by: McGinty
That slogan gives me the creeps. It's basically telling everyone to shut up, carry on doing as you're told and don't ask questions.

I think you're misreading it quite drastically. That poster was intended for distribution during WWII, particularly during the Blitz and the German V1 and V2 campaigns, to encourage fortitude among a frightened population. It's the exact opposite of telling everyone to be meek and mild, it's basically saying "Keep your sh1t together guys, we have the strength to get through this."

It's that casual statement of the 'stiff upper lip' tradition that has helped turn it into a present-day kitsch classic.

Indeed, keep the mob working while the elite are in their concrete bunkers.

As for stiff upper lips... Someone with an Eton education tells me to climb out of a trench and charge, i'm saying 'after you, pal'.

originally posted by: McGinty
Indeed, keep the mob working while the elite are in their concrete bunkers.

When you've put the finishing details to your plan of how to keep an advanced economy functional during a global conflict while giving workers an indefinite holiday and making the Government and military hold their meetings in public parks, I'll be first in the queue to buy a copy.

a reply to: McGinty

The reason we think it is "cool" (I would prefer the term "necessary"), is because history has shown us that it is. The Blitz spirit, as it is known, is the habit of Britons under extreme and prolonged harassment, or under any type of threat, to have the capacity to brush off the ash and the dried blood, and get on with their day, regardless.

It is one of the things that kept our cities from eating themselves alive under the threat of continued bombing by the Nazis, its one of the things that kept our capital running during the bombing threat from the IRA, and was best exemplified by the image of a fellow being evacuated from an area under attack by knife wielding psychotics, who despite the drama, had the essentials, to whit, one pint of beer, still at hand and was making good efforts not to spill any, as he was evacuated smartly from the area under the watchful gaze of the security services.

originally posted by: audubon

originally posted by: McGinty
Indeed, keep the mob working while the elite are in their concrete bunkers.

When you've put the finishing details to your plan of how to keep an advanced economy functional during a global conflict while giving workers an indefinite holiday and making the Government and military hold their meetings in public parks, I'll be first in the queue to buy a copy.

How about a plan of how to control the masses in order to maintain and increase the wealth divide? It's been ongoing for hundreds of years, with the occasional war to between factions of the elite, but always using the masses as their pawns.

a reply to: TrueBrit
My parents lived through the Blitz and the stories are nightmarish. I'm sure the stories from the those in positions of power aren't quite so graphic from their concrete bunkers and stately homes (i wonder how many stately homes were bombed in the war?)

As for the IRA, i lived in London throughout the whole of their campaign - a bus i sometimes used was blown to smithereens. I'm well aware of the fear they incited and exactly how life continued under this fear. It was never a case of "We're carrying on because they won't beat us...'.

Don't be fooled by the MSM voxpops the channels repeat to make this reaction appear to be the public consensus. I've been privy on many occasions to the process of selecting these voxpops and there is always a directive from on high as to what the message should be: Be very afraid, but go to work and keep the money wheels turning. Many alternative views would've been recorded, but the one presented is always highly produced and manufactured.

I'm not claiming that revolt has a happy ending - most 'democracies' began with revolt of some kind and look where they've ended up - all equally beset with greed and poverty. What if during the blitz, or the IRA bombings the masses had decided not to 'keep calm'? Chaos; business' unable to function; authority called into question. Criminals would've surely exploited this. Not a good situation - a mess. But the nature of life is messy and an artificial order imposed upon it seems to always lead to a wealth divide... We're frakked either way - It's quite the quandary.

As individuals we can only deal with what's n front us and therefore above all we must prize our common sense and fight to choose our own path. It's a struggle to stay alert to the real and present dangers posed to ourselves when newspapers, whose owners are far away behind gilded gates protected from danger use intoxicating slogans to tell us that we need to 'CARRY ON...'.

You may be sold on the 'keep calm and carry on' pitch, but from first hand blitz anecdotes and personal and shared experience of 'The Troubles' this stiff upper lip nonsense is a cultural phallusy spun by those who spin. The reason real people carry on with their lives is because they have no choice; they have jobs they can't afford to lose because they have mouths to feed. So every day they gamble that it won't be them that falls victim.

They don't leave their homes for work each morning waving their fists at the sky and saying to themselves "I'll show you! I won't let your terror alter my day-to-day routine..."

They leave the house bloody scared and praying it doesn't happen to them - wishing there was a house in the country or a concrete bunker for their family, instead of being forced to risk everything in order to eat and have shelter under an inadequate roof.

Thinking of the mantra of Keeping calm and carrying on as something to be proud of - something 'cool' - suggests to me that person has never truly been in a situation of such fear incited by blitz and terror on one's very doorstep.

As for heroics with a beer in hand, there's a more fitting tagline than 'Keep Calm...', it's called 'Dutch Courage.'

The Beachy Head incident, imo, does not illustrate neither the calmness, nor the courage of 'Brits', but their neurological paralyses. A state of indecision; unable to take sensible immediate action, because their critical thinking has been sent to sleep by a lifetime of social and cultural conditioning (such as sloganism) in which we are trained to take orders, do as we're told and under no condition think, or use our initiative... Despite seeing the danger and being obviously concerned, the Beachy Head sunbathers were waiting to be told what to do about this clear and present danger - awaiting orders.

They were Keeping Calm and Carrying On. They were conditioned. They were victims in waiting.

'Keep calm and carry on' can mean many things, but it's use in popular culture is imo an insidious presence used to control mass consciousness in order to maintain the class/wealth divide.

Austerity cuts = Keep calm and carry on
No school places = Keep calm and carry on
High tuition fees - Keep calm and carry on
NHS cuts = Keep calm and carry on
Fewer police on the streets = Keep calm and carry on
Disability allowance cut while Amazon and Google get tax breaks = Keep calm and carry on
0 hours contracts becoming the norm. = Keep calm and carry on
Energy and transport allowed to profiteer = Keep calm and carry on
Keep calm and carry on Keep calm and carry on Keep calm and carry on Keep calm and carry on...

a reply to: McGinty

I can see where you are coming from, I just think attacking the slogan and the sign is counterproductive, since it has had positive effects on peoples ability to get through situations with some motivation intact, which is quite important.

As for being in threatening situations... I have lived a life. I know a good bit about the dangers of overmuch attentiveness to slogans of that sort. But I also know that their effects need not be negative as long as ones approach to life is correct in the first place.

originally posted by: McGinty
How about a plan of how to control the masses in order to maintain and increase the wealth divide? It's been ongoing for hundreds of years, with the occasional war to between factions of the elite, but always using the masses as their pawns.

Well, since it has never been possible to fight a war without soldiers, what you say is true but not worth saying. Maybe the much-trumpeted "rise of the robots" will change that. One day. Anyway, we appear to be having two different conversations now, so I'll leave you to it.

a reply to: TrueBrit

As a longtime user of ATS i'm not worried about your gullibility. It's the millions out there who've been brainwashed with sloganism and the like into listening to very few news streams and as a result have neglected their capacity for critical thinking.

I imagine that if you'd been on that beech you'd have immediately been telling people to move away from the threat, rather than sitting there paralysed by an event that's not in the normal, artificially maintained realm of experience.

The Keep calm slogan is akin to sitting around while Rome burns. It's the word 'calm' that makes inaction seem ok, but it's just paralysis. The slogan can easily be attributed to these sunbathers, making their paralysis seem cool, where it is actually indecision - they don't know what to do - they await orders.

Sure the slogan can help people get through tough situations. But what if they decide not to keep calm? Or more to my point, what if they decide to negotiate harder for a rebalancing of the wealth divide if those gilded, protected masters want the masses to carry on risking all daily under threat of terrorism in order to keep the wheels of consumerism and finance turning to maintain their gilded lifestyles.

Keep calm and negotiate harder.

Back on topic.... is there any suggestions as to what actually happened?

a reply to: audubon

My point was that perhaps the real war is between the masses of warring countries and their greedy, despotic, or aristocratic leaders telling them to fight in order to protect values (translates as the privileged positions of those very elite).

Perhaps if the masses of told their leaders on all sides to take a hike when told to fight there couldn't be any wars. The sheeple of 40s Germany, the sheeple of the current US, Russia, N. Korea and ISIS etc.

My problem is with sheeple (which is why i come to ATS) and imo slogans such 'keep calm and carry on' promote a lck of critical thinking.

Curious,

what is the likelihood this haze was caused by some sort of marine drug lab?

a reply to: kamatty

There appear to be plenty of suggestions, but little to no actual evidence to suggest which is correct. At least one of the possible explanations has been discounted. This is not a case of French engineering processes or chemical works, belching out fumes which have hit our shores, as the weather for the day in question would have made that a total impossibility. The wind direction would not have permitted it.

There WAS a great deal of shipping in the area on the day, but as to whether any of that was responsible, it is, apparently, too early to say, and much to early to suggest which ship may have been at fault. If it was shipping related, its hard to imagine what can have happened, without a spillage of some sort being involved. If so, the vapour floating across the shore will be the least concerning aspect about this incident. If it does turn out being a spillage situation, far more concerning is what precise chemical was involved, and where precisely was it spilled, because anything which can burn eyes and cause respiratory distress is likely to be very bad indeed for whatever wildlife populates the spill zone, or anywhere that water contaminated with the chemical ends up as a result of tidal forces and currents...

Its all deeply concerning.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Thanks, im finding is what it cant be but no ideas what it was.

With it being next to the busiest shipping lane in the world I find it hard to belive that it could come from a ship without anyone seeing

a reply to: kamatty

Seeing? It depends what there was to see.

For example, imagine that the leak was gaseous, and a colourless gas at that. It would roll invisibly down the side of the boat, assuming its being marginally heavier than air, and off across the waves, perhaps turning to a mist as whatever it was mingled with the salt water and the evaporating sea water, so that by the time it hit shore, it was more visible than it might have been....stranger things have happened, and chemistry is a strange thing unto itself!

Looks like a pea-souper in this:

a reply to: McGinty

Your vid appears not to work...

For me at any rate.