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Ray Mears on GB News having a cosy chat with Farage. :-/
Why would you feel the need to draw attention to this, let alone link to the bloody stuff and drive up views?
😢 not going to watch that 😢 Looks at Rays autobiography and the pile of brashings ready to burn in the garden...
I can only hope he has some plan to get into their inner circle...and then do something subversive to it.
Otherwise, I'm hugely disappointed.
As for the whole "look, i'm a normal bloke with a pint" thing...couldn't be more cringe.
At least Ray is just drinking water and making it look even more ridiculous.
As a youth Ray was a childhood hero, so I'm just going to pretend this never happened.
I can only hope he has some plan to get into their inner circle…and then do something subversive to it
He has spent months tracking them by their spoor. He'll now eat them..
I'm disappointed.
Keen interest in military history, likes field sports, of a certain age - it's hardly a massive surprise is it?
I couldn't watch it all but it all seemed along the lines of 'everything used to be better back in the olden days'. I don't necessarily disagree about the value of things like scouts but Farage just likes it because it's conservative and christian and white (in his head at least).
Why would you feel the need to draw attention to this, let alone link to the bloody stuff and drive up views?
Why would you feel the need to reply, also driving up views?
Oh no, I really wanted to do one/some of his courses
In fairness Ray's apparent Gammon alignment is only one facet, and it's entirely possible to separate 'Ice fishing, starting a fire with twigs, making shelters with a fallen tree' Ray from (presumably*) 'Brexity, right-wing' Ray (*I'm not watching a GB news video).
As a non-GB News Viewer/FB frother, I wasn't really aware of Ray's political leanings until you posted this thread, and TBH I still don't really care.
If Ray wants to participate in the RW broadcast echo-chamber that is GB news, so be it. He's leant no more relevance/legitimacy to it...
I think this thread is an interesting example of the zero-sum approach to politics and opinions that has become predominant.
I think Ray Mears survivally, bushcrafty stuff is really interesting, he's clearly an expert and has a passion for both it and his belief that we should be closer to nature that he wants to pass on to others, and I agree with him on that. He may have voted for Brexit, I dunno, but if he did then I disagree with him on that. It's entirely possible to differentiate between the two though.
These days we seem to find it harder and harder to 'agree to disagree' on stuff, and instead are only willing to respect anything people if we agree with them about everything. It's crazy.
With all the Brexit shortages, we'll be forced to forage for food!
It’s a Shame about Ray
Bugger, too slow - I was going to do that!
I thought it was well known he was a strong right winger.
People are complex, who'd have thought it? What a surprise.
Okay, I don't quite have the attention span for 13 mins of Farage time, but did Ray start shouting about rivers of bloody, or sending anyone "back"?
From what I managed, he talked about outdoor life, about helping young people learn to think about the community and not only of themselves, about re-wilding and the benefit of being outdoors.
If anyone managed to watch it all and there was some kind of nasty smoking gun revealing Ray to be a deep seated and bitter far-right bigot, then, go burn his book in your garden (book burning being a shady thing to do given history).
If, he just talked about the stuff he usually talks about in his usual measured, open-minded way, then do we really make him a monster because he appeared on GBNews?
He's taking over from Neil Oliver while he's on holiday, so it's more than just an interview
Why would you feel the need to reply, also driving up views?
My point, clearly missed, is that you're actually paying for the things you dislike so much.
You're creating a thread, to moan about farage and mears which, whilst I can't say I see the point or value in doing so, is absolutely your prerogative, and then you're cheerleading and paying them by posting the video. It's almost as blindly hypocritical as farage.
You could pass comment without posting the video, or a link, anyone so inclined as to watch it could Google it perfectly easily.
Thought this was quoting Kevin and Perry
I thought it was well known he was a strong right winger.
I've no idea of his politics TBH. I don't think I've ever heard him express any views, and never seen it mentioned in any interview about him.
I'm not saying he should be cancelled or whatever, I still like his shows but it's sad to me that someone who seems so gentle and open to learning from different cultures is involved with a nasty bigot who promotes division and racist conspiracy theories.
You could pass comment without posting the video, or a link, anyone so inclined as to watch it could Google it perfectly easily.
No one has to click the link or watch the video and if you think a few clicks from a mtb forum is going to earn GB News any significant amount of money then I think you need to learn a bit more about how YouTube works.
He’s taking over from Neil Oliver while he’s on holiday, so it’s more than just an interview
Oh jeez!
I’ve no idea of his politics TBH. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him express any views, and never seen it mentioned in any interview about him.
Never struck me as a political type, I'm disappointed but not totally surprised if he has those views. Which he's entitled to hold, even if I disagree with them.
As others have said, people are complicated, and it's possible to admire one side but oppose another.
sigh.
I agree that you can admire/like Ray for his bushcraft etc, but be disappointed at him for appearing on GB news and interviewing Farage.
To me, supporting Brexit/farrage demonstrates one of two things: Either a fundemental ignorance of how modern trade, international relations etc works, or a kind of malicious desire to flip over the table and return us to some rose-tinted, Enid Blighton version of the 1950s.
I'm sad to learn that Ray fits into one of these categories. Or maybe he's just hard-up and needed the cash?
If, he just talked about the stuff he usually talks about in his usual measured, open-minded way, then do we really make him a monster because he appeared on GBNews?
yes - because he is lending support to a foul racist who has caused this country huge damage and his "celebrity" will help drive support for a far right propaganda programme
I’ve no idea of his politics TBH. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him express any views
Ray Mears went to the same school and at the same time as Keir Starmer, he's 2 years younger. Maybe it's just a coincidence or maybe at the time Reigate Grammar School employed a teacher who was able to turn pupils into experts at delivering substance-free meaningless platitudes........ which everyone can agree on
https://www.gbnews.uk/a/139051
I too am a bit disappointed. Never been a RM fanboi until oddly last week buying one of his books for work which is a rather lovely read.
Yes, bushcraft and your political leanings can be separated but......this is GB News. Any sane celeb must surely look at GB News generally and Farage specifically and think 'do I want to associate myself with that?'. Even a pretty blue blooded tory boy would need to think very hard before plunging down that rabbit hole. To go ahead anyway and nail your 'celeb' name to their credibility either makes you massively naïve or well and truly bought into it. Either is diminishing imo.
That unbearable dick Gryls has already made a fool of himself with super-staged and scripted guff. Now Mears.
Odd that he should be worshiped by the same people who laugh at Trump-voting armed-to-the-teeth redneck survialist Americans with a bunker. Fact is his "skills" are worthless in this modern world but those laughable Americans might be proved right one day.
If you're really worried, don't take flights that fly over wilderness zones. I can't see how else you'd end up in a wilderness with no more than the clothes you're standing up in. The intelligent forward thinking types we are would gather adequate equipment and supplies before even setting out up Clee Hill, as many threads here prove.
Weird man gets weirder.
^ whut?
^ whut
Indeed.
These days we seem to find it harder and harder to ‘agree to disagree’ on stuff, and instead are only willing to respect anything people if we agree with them about everything. It’s crazy.
Not really. I don't have to agree with Ray on everything but if I agree with him on absolutely nothing and am polar opposite on every one of his political views then that is a different thing isn't it?
I don't care about "Agree to disagree", I will always hate someone like Farage for what he is and the views he holds.
At least it creates a space on our bookshelf now. For STW completeness I recommend
https://books.google.com/books/about/Norwegian_Wood.html?id=h7exCAAAQBAJ
He's written an article for them...
It's not contentious, and takes a swing at both parties. I think you'd struggle to parse out his politics from it.
Weird man gets weirder.
Indeed. Anyway about Mears.
Fact is his “skills” are worthless in this modern world
I think you've completely misunderstood the point of the shows. They are done out of interest, they aren't presented as instructional. The ones telling the stories of real life survival incidents demonstrate that, as well as the ones where he tried to recreate ancient European hunter gatherer techniques with an archaeologist. You're not supposed to ever need to do this stuff.
Your masculinity seems very fragile Educator. I predict a robust response to this slight 😉
I get what Ed is driving at, there's a continuum that has Ray Mears at one end, and apocalypse-ready survivalists at the other. They're miles apart but the same DNA runs through all of them, and in the same way regardless of whether you're a photo-copier salesman in Surry or a bush pilot in Interior BC; everyone's thought the same thing at some point...Could I survive?
^ whut?
This thread is full of whut.
Not totally surprised Mears is taking this tack though.
He stands to profit massively when we're all reduced to foraging for our food a few years post-Brexit.
Not totally surprised Mears is taking this tack though.
He stands to profit massively when we’re all reduced to foraging for our food a few years post-Brexit.
This is just silly.
But an outdoors middle aged white bloke into huntin,shootin,fishin being a bit right wing - that's not a massive leap of imagination.
But he won't be sitting there waiting for armageddon hoping his book sales will see an improvement.
This is just silly.
Thanks, it was supposed to be.
😀
But an outdoors middle aged white bloke into huntin,shootin,fishin being a bit right wing – that’s not a massive leap of imagination.
I think chakaping maaaaay have been joking.
But to answer your point, I guess he never came across as the colonial type adventurer and seemed genuinely interested and empathetic when he went to places to learn about their culture and traditions etc - which seems a polar opposite to Farage and GB News. Their common ground seems to be a contempt for the modern world.
Fitting that Norwegian Wood is published by Hachette.
With all the Brexit shortages, we’ll be forced to forage for food!
Maybe that's why he voted for it to drive up his book sales before money becomes worthless?
Their common ground seems to be a contempt for the modern world.
I've not bothered clicking the link, but does Mears express contempt for the modern world?
Well he has previously claimed Britain is becoming a 'nation of snowflakes' and the only bit of the chat I could stomach was very much about all the things we are now getting wrong as a society and how we used to be better.
I don't necessarily disagree that things like scouts and Sunday school etc have some merit and I definitely think we should be more in touch with nature and resilient/self-sufficient as a society, but I don't think harking back to a supposed ideal past is in itself very helpful, especially not with a nasty piece of work like Farage.
Can't help the feeling that for Farage at least it's harking back to a whiter Britain where things were even more set up for people like them to get ahead, and 'foreigners' and the working classes knew their place.
I think this thread is an interesting example of the zero-sum approach to politics and opinions that has become predominant.
I don’t think the above is at all reflective of peoples objections. For myself, whilst I hold strong left-wing, socialist views, I don’t object to Ray Mears holding different views.
What is fundamentally abhorrent is that he’s chosen to appear on a network that has actively employed presenters - not simply right-wing, but actually dehumanise people on the grounds of their origin and supports action counter to international law.
We cannot keep pretending that people are simply being less-tolerant of political difference. We have a situation, where in many nations the political spectrum has shifted hugely to the right* - even to getting facist policies into the mainstream. I don’t think anyone needs to apologise for objecting strongly and indeed being sickened by those type of policies.
*Largely not mirrored by a swing to the left on the other side of of politics.
I don’t necessarily disagree that things like scouts and Sunday school etc have some merit
On a personal level the dodgiest people my parents ever confided me to were those very two institutions. Interesting that you put the scouts and sunday school in the same sentence. So do Charlie Hebdo:
https://charliehebdo.fr/jeux/quiz/feriez-vous-un-bon-cure-scout-pedophile/
Of course you could point out incidents in football clubs, cycling clubs etc, but the unquestioning discipline that is demanded by both religion and the Scouts makes them very comfortable places for those that like controlling kids to their own ends. The Charlie Hebdo image nicely combines the two. On a more serious note:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/25/uk-ireland-child-sexual-abuse-scout-movement
It's devout Christian Tory family Grylls who champions the scouts though with talk of millions of tax payers money. Google tells me Mears has taken the Mickey out of "boy scout Grylls".