Hey o sung wu,
I find this discussion between you and David F interesting.
I've just been watching this program on YouTube, and basically the topic was about state sponsored censorship of western independent journalists who have a Pro-Russia point of view.

(The person interviewed was Eva Bartlett and others, and it was shown that UK Govt sponsored think tanks were providing advice on Russian disinformation / propaganda, for the purpose of writing op-ed hitpieces against these journalists because they don't want us influenced by their opinions)

I've been thinking about the idea of voting and our 2 party preferential system that sees all our votes in the hands of one of the main parties.
What happens if I think both major parties are engaged in censoring press freedom and both are bipartisan, in their pro-UK and pro-US narrative of the war in Ukraine.
What happens if I decide that I can't in good conscience vote for either party, because they're engaged in a form of state sponsored media censorship and both support vilifying Russia, and they don't think we have the right to hear an alternative point of view?
- Meaning they don't respect freedom of the press and don't support the democratic values they claim to?
Do I have any right to not vote or have my vote forfeited so neither of the main parties get it?
- If on a basis of conscience I can't support either party?

o sung wu,

Is your nickname 'vacuum cleaner' by any chance? You sure know how to suck up. Anyway, it makes a change from your regular antics towards me, that is, squealing like a stuck PIG!

Dear o sung wu,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolence expresses some of the ideas I have tried to put forth.

50 years this week a young photojournalist covering the war in his native Vietnam took a photograph and saved the life of a young girl badly burned by an allied napalm attack on her village. The girl, naked and screaming, ran directly toward Nick Ut's camera — and into history, who of my generation can forget that Pulitzer Prize winning photograph.

Her name is Kim Phuc, she was and is an international symbol of that unpopular war, and of the torment inflicted on innocent people in all wars.

Some choose to forget, but the thoughts of those times are still in the dark recesses of their memory. These "heroes" preferring to march down the streets of our cities, chest out, tin pot medals shining in the sun. The insult as someone throws red paint on their snappy dress uniform.

Four comments on the subject, then the it turns to rubbish. Absolute crap. It's no wonder there are fewer and fewer people willing to start a thread.

Dear Paul1405,

A vivid photograph captures one moment in time. We can use it for our purposes. We can use it to differentiate one group of people from another. The photograph you cited shows a naked, little girl fleeing in terror.

I read that an effective sniper for the Red Army was a woman who managed to kill over 300 of the enemy. That woman was also once a little girl. Maybe when she was a child she fled in terror from some menace.

Soldiers and people who flee in terror are both human. They may be the same people at different periods in their life. I was once a soldier. Now I am a 96 year old man with limited capability of putting up any resistance to attack. Perhaps we can feel compassion for everybody.