Politically Correct Schoolgirls Cover Up Their Own Sex Attacks At Hands Of Migrants - "Pupils at the Herder school in Kassel, Germany have been subjected to months of sexual assault by “much older” migrant males on their way to and from school, dating back as far as September 2015. The three girls aged between 16 and 18 were repeatedly touched inappropriately and verbally abused, but they refused to report the incidents to the police or their school because the perpetrators were “refugees”. German newspaper the Hessian Niedersächsische Allgemeine reports the girls realised the “social-political” implications of their reporting their crimes, with the significant amount of press attention swirling around migrant sex assault, leading to them becoming what the paper identified as “paralysed by political correctness”... Breitbart London reported on the case of a young female no-borders activist who was gang raped by Sudanese migrants in the shower block of a camp on the French-Italian border in 2015. The other migrants in the camp were having a party and playing music, so her cries were unheard. Subsequently, after persuasion by other activists the woman decided not to report her rape because to do so would set back her dream of a borderless world. After she betrayed the political ideals of the other volunteers at the camp and reported the abuse, some of her fellow activists accused her of doing so out of “spite”."
Teen Male Dominates Girls Track And Field - "Haines senior Nattaphon Wangyot–who self-identifies as a girl–advanced to the state finals in the 100-meter and 200-meter events. He won fifth place in the 100-meter dash and third place in the 200-meter. In both events, he competed against girls as young as ninth grade."
19 Realities That Come With Having Big Boobs - 9GAG
In Defense of Denmark - "To characterize Denmark’s law, and others like it, as “targeting” migrants is misleading. Rather, with these laws, countries simply ask the same thing of newcomers as they do their native-born citizens. Danes are rightly proud of their social welfare system, one of the most generous in the world. “The welfare state is part of our DNA,” Lars Gert Lose, Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, told me in a recent interview. Danes, he said, “love paying their taxes.” But they don’t take kindly to those who abuse the jealously guarded welfare state... To most Danes, then, the asset seizure law is not an act of hostility toward migrants, but rather an extension of the Scandinavian principle of social egalitarianism... Anti-migration sentiments are thus channeled in a healthy way — the parliamentary process — and not onto the streets. In Germany, wrongheaded immigration policies have boosted the far right and fractured a political culture that was once the envy of Europe for its comity... the wages of irresponsibly liberal immigration policies are being seen across the continent in the rise of populist, anti-immigration, and anti-EU political parties that now threaten the political stability of Europe itself. For too long, European leaders ignored their constituents, brushing off concerns about migration and national identity as taboo... In his derisory piece about those overzealously liberal Danes, Eakin referred to the cartoon controversy as “an irresolvable conflict” between European societies and their Muslim populations. If that assertion is true — if a majority or even a plurality of Muslims cannot accept that the freedom of speech includes the right to blaspheme — then it’s an unintended argument in favor of more restrictive migration policies... Yes, Denmark may be “harsh” and “liberal,” but sometimes you have to emphasize the former to protect the latter"
Londoners accidentally pay for free Wi-Fi with a firstborn, because no one reads anymore - "people basically never read the things they agree to online -- because if we did, we'd spend about 76 days a year doing it."
Islam & Gays -- They Remain in Denial about the Threat - "most gay spokespeople continue to think that the political Right is the sole locale from which anti-gay sentiment can come. For many years Pat Robertson was their worst nightmare. But Pat Robertson just wanted to stop gays from marrying. He didn’t call for people to throw us off high buildings. Despite the growing awareness that this was precisely what the Islamists wanted, gay “spokespeople,” publications, and groups went through the 2000s sharing the old leftish delusions. These included the idea that, as a “minority,” gays only had things in common with other “minorities.” So gay people were meant to be the natural political and social bedfellows not just of other gays but of people with disabilities, racial and religious minorities, and even, perhaps, women. Of course it was ridiculous. Gay men don’t have much in common with lesbians. Why — even if they had a unanimous view and voice — would they inevitably share the concerns of “all” people with one leg? Or Sikhs? Or Muslims? For this worldview to make any sense at all, you have to believe that there is a dominant, “patriarchal” voice in society, that this is the only bloc capable of bigotry, and that all these mini-communities ought to unite against this fantasy mainstream... A poll released in Britain in April found that 52 percent of British Muslims want homosexuality to be made illegal in Britain. That’s not just “not on board with gay marriage” or “not entirely hot with civil partnerships.” It’s wanting gays to be locked up. In Britain. In 2016. When it comes to real, as opposed to cake-based, homophobia, we aren’t looking at a Muslim-minority problem. We’re looking at a Muslim-majority problem...
The only thing that is certain is that the frayings in the patchwork quilt of diversity are going to fray more in the years ahead. Not by our pointing them out, but by the inevitable assertion of realities such as those suffered by Orlando this past weekend"
The smart products we are stupid enough to buy - "As I brushed, the screen lit up telling me which bit of my mouth I was working on. This might have been smart, only I knew the answer already. It timed my brushing (a task my own electric toothbrush does efficiently) and while it did so distracted me from the job by telling me (incorrectly) what the weather was like outside, and what was happening in the world. "Impressive!" it said when I was done. Again, this might have been nice, only I'm an adult, and therefore no longer need congratulating on having brushed my teeth."
Banned & blocked: Facebook & Reddit censor users after Orlando massacre - "Thousands of Reddit users were censored this weekend, according to Vocativ, even though many of the posts did not appear to violate the site’s rules on what can be categorized as news. A post appealing for blood donations in the area after the shooting was removed, causing outrage among Reddit users. Outside of the US, the Swedish radio station Sveriges Radios Ekoredaktion censored a press conference by police in Orlando over fears they might reveal the name of the shooter."
Reddit Turns to ‘The Donald’ for News—In Record Numbers - "Claiming “censorship” and citing “PC” culture, a record number of Reddit users unsubscribed from one of the site’s largest communities and joined r/The_Donald instead, the largest subreddit for Donald Trump supporters on the site."
A huge international study of gun control finds strong evidence that it actually works - "Santaella-Tenorio's study (co-authored with Columbia professors Magdalena Cerdá and Sandro Galea, as well as the University of North Carolina's Andrés Villaveces) examined roughly 130 studies that had been conducted in 10 different countries. Each of those 130 studies had looked at some specific change in gun laws and its effect on homicide and/or suicide rates. Most of those 130 studies looked at law changes in the developed world, such as the US, Australia, and Austria. A few looked at gun laws in developing countries, specifically Brazil and South Africa."
Why do we indulge the crimes of the Left? - "Hobsbawm was an unrepentant supporter of a system that killed millions and, as Nick Cohen has pointed out, surely would have killed him. Laden with honours throughout his life by the liberal democratic system, he went to his grave believing that all the murder had been worth it in order to achieve this deluded fantasy of a worker’s paradise. So powerful is ideology that a man can be brilliant in his field, which is after all the study of the human condition, and yet at the same time totally blind to one form of evil. But then he was hardly alone, and many intelligent, well-informed people are still at best ambivalent about the crimes of the Soviet Union, Communist China and the other Marxist states. I hear there may even be one or two in politics today... 'there is the hopeful optimism, which genuinely expects that next time around communism will be different. Next time it will be without a Stalin. Next time – without a Pol Pot. These terrible men were the product of specific times and contingencies, so the argument goes, and it could all work if we behave well. But the Polish philosopher Leszek Kołakowski dismissed the possibility of a democratic communism as ‘contradictory as a fried snowball’... A-level Government and Politics syllabus, which he describes as ‘downright scandalous’. As well as ‘reform is preferable to revolution’ it defined conservatism as ‘fear of diversity’ and support for ‘social and state authoritarianism’. Conservatism views people as ‘limited, dependent and security-seeking creatures’ and supports ‘resurgent nationalism … insularity and xenophobia’. The entry on socialism describes it as defined ‘social stability and cohesion, social justice, happiness and personal development’"
Nonbinary: Army veteran legally not male or female, judge rules - "The lawyer said the standard form provided by the court clerk listed only male or female as options, so Perriguey inserted "nonbinary.""
Elastic band is found growing into the flesh of four-year-old boy's WRIST - "Doctors in China have removed a rubber band from a young boy after it had grown into the flesh of his wrist. The four-year-old child, named Longlong, came close to having his arm amputated at the wrist after doctors in Chengdu, south-west China made the discovery, reports the People's Daily Online. Doctors said that the object was affecting the boy's bone growth and was beginning to restrict movement of his arms."
Star Wars: JJ Abrams finally explains Kylo Ren's creepy table of ashes - "The backstory is, that that table has the ashes of the enemies he’s killed"
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, Murder in Bangladesh - "That largely American phenomenon - the school shooting. But it's not just a modern occurence. There've been gun attacks and deaths in US schools ever since the 1840s, with incidents in every decade since"
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, Death From Above - "[On Hiroshima] The genetic legacy in Hiroshima is not what people think either. Babies born to survivors have shown no statistically significant difference in abnormalities from other Japanese babies. The really dark side of the Hiroshima bombing, my guide tells me, is the social discrimination. Fear of contamination has meant that many survivors are still single. Or they kept it secret that they were here. There are families with grandchildren, he says, who are just discovering today that a grandparent was in Hiroshima when the bomb exploded"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Why is France being targeted with acts of terror? - "'What's the mood among policemen in France?'
'You know in France, policemen are very very tired and bored. But we are obliged to do our duty. In fact you follow, you forget to speak about the migrants in Calais. Every day we have a lot of riots. For example yesterday the riot police used among 200 grenades to spray the migrants'"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Birmingham pub bombings: Victim’s sister confronts ex-IRA boss - "Kieran Conway, former head of IRA intelligence: 'I don't view IRA volunteers as murderers. I view them as people who participated in a just war'"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, After Orlando: The battle against homophobia - "Northern Ireland... was a place that was divided by geography and politics as well as by religion, and more and more we're seeing a country where folks who don't go to church mostly live on the coasts. Folks who go to church a lot live in the South or the Midwest. In my state if you're a Democrat you live in the city and if you're a Republican you live in the rural areas. Those are divisions that we have not seen to the history of this country and I don't think it's a good sign for the Republic"
When you can't live without bananas
Friday, July 29, 2016
Sex rights for the disabled?
"The public discourse surrounding sex and severe disability over the past 40 years has largely focused on protecting vulnerable populations from abuse... far less attention has been devoted to the intimacy needs of the mentally impaired and inhabitants of institutions... As the ideals of competence and consent. came to dominate medical ethics in the 1970s, the sexual desires of persons of limited capacity raised vexing and often unpalatable questions. An easy solution was to view sex as off-limits for those with impaired IQs. However, an English mother's 3-year-long crusade has finally shattered this taboo. Lucy Baxter’s international campaign on behalf of her adopted son, Otto, has also made clear that the sexual needs of the severely disabled require specific exemptions from certain general ethical and legal principles...
Sexual liberty has increasingly come to be regarded as a basic human right. As the organisation Health, Empowerment, Rights and Accountability has written:
... Denying an individual the right to pursue sexual contact or even intercourse with his fellow human beings would not be excusable on the grounds that this individual might achieve comparable pleasure through self- stimulation, because social scientists and sexologists have long recognised that the pleasure achieved through two-party sexual contact is both greater than and distinct from that achieved through masturbation. As moral philosopher Eugene Schlossberger has persuasively written;
Many individuals have physical limitations such as cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries so extreme that self-stimulation is not possible. However, even for individuals who are physically capable of masturbation, the act of physical contact with another human being appears to provide a degree of pleasure and fulfilment entirely distinct from mere masturbation, even when that contact lacks emotional intimacy and is the product of a commercial transaction. Psychologists have long recognised this phenomenon, although they have never adequately explained the causes. What is clear is that millions of individuals do employ the services of prostitutes each year, choosing to spent (sic) limited financial resources on a form of pleasure not available through masturbation. If any right to sexual pleasure does exist—- and this paper is grounded on that premise-—then it must be a right to mutual contact, not merely self-stimulation...
If sexual pleasure is a fundamental right, as this author believes, then jurisdictions that prohibit prostitution should carve out narrow exceptions for individuals whose physical or mental disabilities make sexual relationships with non- compensated adults either impossible or highly unlikely...
A second area in which reform is desperately needed is the ‘no sex‘ policies that exist in American nursing facilities, mental hospitals and group homes. Many such facilities require the doors of patients‘ rooms to be open at all times, making intimacy all but impossible. The assumption underlying these restrictions is that anything short of clearly expressed wishes by a fully competent and rational individual does not fulfil a minimum standard to consent to sexual relations The principle advanced by this approach is that institutionalised individuals require a higher degree of protection than those living outside of institutions. In many matters, this is certainly the case. However, in regard to sexual relations, this ‘higher standard' often serves as an obstacle to meeting both the wishes and interests of individuals who cannot conform to ‘real world' standards of consent
l believe a far more fluid standard is called for in cases of long-term institutionalisation. Sexual relationships between institutionalised individuals ought to be encouraged, as are other forms of social relationships, to the degree that they are mutually rewarding to both partners... For example, a married couple in which one partner has descended into dementia might still take both pleasure and meaning from sexual intercourse. even if one partner cannot overtly consent in the manner that would be expected of a person without dementia...
To err too far on the side of caution, preventing all sexual pleasure and intimacy in the name of protecting the vulnerable, is itself a cruel violation of a patient's basic rights...
If we are going to have a national debate in the USA surrounding the definition of health care, we should seriously consider including sexual surrogacy. For the disabled in the basket of services that we provide. Already, we have made the choice to pay for other purely social and cosmetic services to help unfortunate individuals lead more pleasurable and productive lives—such as breast reconstruction for mastectomy patients and plastic surgery for children born with cleft lips... Sexual pleasure ought not be viewed any differently. Most western healthcare systems acknowledge this, to some degree, paying for medications to treat erectile dysfunction in men and subsidising birth control pills for women. Some American states even fund abortion services and assisted suicide. Any notion of healthcare broad enough to encompass cosmetic surgery ought to be generous enough to include funding for the sexual pleasure of the disabled"
--- Sex rights for the disabled? / Jacob M Appel in J Med Ethics
Sexual liberty has increasingly come to be regarded as a basic human right. As the organisation Health, Empowerment, Rights and Accountability has written:
Sexual rights are a fundamental element of human rights. They encompass the right to experience a pleasurable sexuality, which is essential in and of itself and, at the same time, is a fundamental vehicle of communication and love between people. Sexual rights include the right to liberty and autonomy in the responsible exercise of sexuality
... Denying an individual the right to pursue sexual contact or even intercourse with his fellow human beings would not be excusable on the grounds that this individual might achieve comparable pleasure through self- stimulation, because social scientists and sexologists have long recognised that the pleasure achieved through two-party sexual contact is both greater than and distinct from that achieved through masturbation. As moral philosopher Eugene Schlossberger has persuasively written;
Studies of human sexuality show that manual stimulation of the genitals is generally a more effective method of producing the appropriate physical sensations than is intercourse (since manual stimulation allows for greater control). Thus, were those who desire sex primarily seeking the appropriate physical stimulations, manual stimulation would be preferable to intercourse. Thus the fact that most people prefer intercourse to masturbation shows that most people's sexual desires are value-laden. In short, even those who frequent prostitutes are generally more interested in the psychological aspects of sex than the purely physical ones....
Many individuals have physical limitations such as cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries so extreme that self-stimulation is not possible. However, even for individuals who are physically capable of masturbation, the act of physical contact with another human being appears to provide a degree of pleasure and fulfilment entirely distinct from mere masturbation, even when that contact lacks emotional intimacy and is the product of a commercial transaction. Psychologists have long recognised this phenomenon, although they have never adequately explained the causes. What is clear is that millions of individuals do employ the services of prostitutes each year, choosing to spent (sic) limited financial resources on a form of pleasure not available through masturbation. If any right to sexual pleasure does exist—- and this paper is grounded on that premise-—then it must be a right to mutual contact, not merely self-stimulation...
If sexual pleasure is a fundamental right, as this author believes, then jurisdictions that prohibit prostitution should carve out narrow exceptions for individuals whose physical or mental disabilities make sexual relationships with non- compensated adults either impossible or highly unlikely...
A second area in which reform is desperately needed is the ‘no sex‘ policies that exist in American nursing facilities, mental hospitals and group homes. Many such facilities require the doors of patients‘ rooms to be open at all times, making intimacy all but impossible. The assumption underlying these restrictions is that anything short of clearly expressed wishes by a fully competent and rational individual does not fulfil a minimum standard to consent to sexual relations The principle advanced by this approach is that institutionalised individuals require a higher degree of protection than those living outside of institutions. In many matters, this is certainly the case. However, in regard to sexual relations, this ‘higher standard' often serves as an obstacle to meeting both the wishes and interests of individuals who cannot conform to ‘real world' standards of consent
l believe a far more fluid standard is called for in cases of long-term institutionalisation. Sexual relationships between institutionalised individuals ought to be encouraged, as are other forms of social relationships, to the degree that they are mutually rewarding to both partners... For example, a married couple in which one partner has descended into dementia might still take both pleasure and meaning from sexual intercourse. even if one partner cannot overtly consent in the manner that would be expected of a person without dementia...
To err too far on the side of caution, preventing all sexual pleasure and intimacy in the name of protecting the vulnerable, is itself a cruel violation of a patient's basic rights...
If we are going to have a national debate in the USA surrounding the definition of health care, we should seriously consider including sexual surrogacy. For the disabled in the basket of services that we provide. Already, we have made the choice to pay for other purely social and cosmetic services to help unfortunate individuals lead more pleasurable and productive lives—such as breast reconstruction for mastectomy patients and plastic surgery for children born with cleft lips... Sexual pleasure ought not be viewed any differently. Most western healthcare systems acknowledge this, to some degree, paying for medications to treat erectile dysfunction in men and subsidising birth control pills for women. Some American states even fund abortion services and assisted suicide. Any notion of healthcare broad enough to encompass cosmetic surgery ought to be generous enough to include funding for the sexual pleasure of the disabled"
--- Sex rights for the disabled? / Jacob M Appel in J Med Ethics
Post ID: 7362014433369797889
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Links - 28th July 2016
NUSWhispers - "I would like to call out Arts Camp for their VERY CLEARLY rapey "itai itai yamete" cheer idgi lol just because it's in Japanese and some people might not understand the meaning of it doesn't mean it's ok and please dont bullshit that it means something else in a different context because what other context makes "IT HURTS, IT HURTS, STOP!!!" ok??"
Claiming that "itai itai yamete" promotes rape is like claiming "call me Daddy" promotes incest
Comment by a Japanese girl to the people denouncing it despite being admittedly ignorant of JAV conventions/the diversity of Japanese sexual practices: "I'm Japanese and it is very simple. A bunch a girls yelling itai itai yamete for a cheer does not indicate non-consensual sex. However, it is embarrassing to be used in a cheer. Use a different cheer that actually promotes progress in team building activities and leave the sex talk when in bed. I've said it hurts in bed and meant it in a good way. Just use a cheer that isn't so embarrassing for Japanese people to hear."
Games at NUS camps increasingly sexualised, say students - "A spokesman for the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) labelled such activities "alienating rather than bonding", and criminal lawyers said police reports should have been made"
Censorship is good when it comes to young adults taking part in voluntary orientation camps. Censorship is bad when it comes to gay penguins in the public library
Maybe next year the camps will need to be vetted by the university and these people will be complaining we restrict creativity, treat young adults like kids etc
If these should be restricted because peer pressure will compell people to take part, should be ban the hijab because Muslim women will feel compelled to wear it?
Melissa Chen - Please explain this to me in PLAIN english: "So... - "Please explain this to me in PLAIN english: "So it’s always this logic of how can we understand whiteness better, and that’s never been my politics. I’ve always been about occupying the margins and strengthening the margins and what that means is that, for a long time, whiteness has also occupied the margins. Like, people of color get in circles with no white people in the room and we see that whiteness still operates. So I think it’s kind of a shock for America that whiteness has dominant society already, it also seeps into the margins. What happens the one time when the margins seep into the whiteness and we encroach on their space? It’s like the sky is falling." Let that distill in your head for a moment. What on earth does the phrase "margins seep into the whiteness" mean? This is one consequence of majoring in things like english and sociology - you end up talking like you've been smoking crack or something."
May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way… - "“May the bridges I burn light the way”... Can I use my past failures, mistakes, missteps and fuck ups as guidelines of what not to do for the future, because that sounds like a fantastic idea. It would mean admitting to myself that there are some bridges and relationships that will never be rebuilt. It would mean taking a long, hard look at what I did that lead me to those situations and why I never want to be there again. And that’s not easy work. That is gut wrenching, heart hurting, headache inducing stuff."
5 of the Best Ways to Escape Enemies in Video Games - "Assassin’s Creed as a franchise has left tons of marks on the gaming world, some good, some bad. But for all the functions it pioneers — interactive environments, reactive combat — the one no one has appreciated fully is the coin bomb. Whether you’re using a handful of coins to cause a crowd to move erratically for fun, or filling a narrow alley with people to disguise your escape, or just being generous with the locals, it’s really no different: Make it rain, and they’ll come running."
Blonde Brazilian man Xiahn undergoes surgery to achieve Oriental look - "I put my fingers inside the eye and pulled. That was the way I wanted to have my eyes"
The "strong Independent Woman Aisle"...
Seattle gov bans racist terms like 'citizen' and 'brown bag' - "In the past, Seattle officials have tried to bowdlerize other potentially controversial terms, ranging from “Halloween” to “dinosaurs.”"
Refugee shelter burnt down in Germany after dispute among asylum seekers over Ramadan meals - "Ralf Herrenbrück, a senior public prosecutor in the city, said there had been disputes among Muslims living in the home over how to mark Ramadan before the fire broke out on Tuesday. “There are two groups - one group wants to follow it strictly and so only eat when it's dark while the other group wants to eat at normal times - for example because there are also pregnant women there,” he said."
How Social Justice Warriors Are Creating An Entire Generation Of Fascists - "SJWs – almost all of whom are white, upper-middle-class college students – picture themselves as persecuted, oppressed crusaders for peace and equality. But, upon any level of inspection, this claim immediately falls apart. I have been on the Internet since I was a small child and I have perused some of the most extreme and disturbing corners of the web. I have had personal encounters with every manner of vile cretin – the sorts of people who would make even Charles Manson himself blush. With that said, never have I encountered anyone who was so giddy about their hatred than the people who make up the SJW community. These are people who, on a regular basis, call for violence and genocide against “oppressors”, whether it’s white people, heterosexual people, thin people, or just anyone who even slightly disagrees with them. One favorite tactic that SJWs use to quash all opposition is doxxing – they will publish the personal information (real name, job, phone number, address, and so forth) of anyone that they deem to have committed an act of thoughtcrime, then they will usually encourage people to commit acts of violence against that person in real life and will do their best to have that person fired from wherever they work at... Stormfront is often held up as an example of “online hate”, but it must be noted that the white supremacists on Stormfront do not participate in organized harassment campaigns, do not send gruesome rape and death threats to people, do not regularly call for violence, and do not engage in doxxing. Compared to the people who claim to be on “the right side of history” and crusaders for “social justice”, Stormfront is a bastion of kindness and civility. What does that say about you, SJWs, when you make neo-Nazis look positively civilized by comparison?... These so-called advocates of “social justice” are the best gift that neo-Nazis could have possibly asked for: the most extreme and unpleasant aspects of the far-left amplified for all the world to see. The more absurd and outrageous SJWs become, the more the far-right gains support and sympathy. If SJWs think that they’re “oppressed” right now… well, they had better be prepared for the future that they’re helping to create"
Strange And Hateful Bedfellows: How Neo-Nazis And Social Justice Warriors Feed Off Of Each Other - "Nazis and SJWs both have a designated “oppressor group” that controls and dominates everything. For Nazis, it was the Jews; for SJWs, it’s whites/males/”cishets”/patriarchy. Both have an “oppressed group” that suffers horribly at the hands of this designated “oppressor group” or “privileged group”. For Nazis, it was white Europeans; for SJWs, it’s women, “People of Color” (“PoC”), gays, transsexuals, and other designated victim groups. Both subsist on feelings of hatred, inadequacy, fear, and a desire to be superior. Both have extreme paranoid persecution complexes and are eager to find (and invent) conspiracies everywhere. And, most of all, both firmly believe that all dissent and questioning of their ideologies must be immediately quashed with an iron fist... Ultimately, what unites both neo-Nazis and SJWs – and what this video has fueled in people of all sides – is what unites all of humanity: hate"
Protester dies after inhaling fumes from burning American flag - "Some 10,000 people rallied this week in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, to protest the movie trailer that Muslims say insults Islam, according to the International Herald-Tribune. One participant, identified as Abdullah Ismail, died after being taken to an area hospital. Witnesses said he had complained of feeling sick from the smoke from American flags burnt at the rally. The rally was organized on the city's landmark mall by the Tehreek Hurmat-i-Rasool. Despite a ban on rallies on The Mall, local officials blocked off the road leading to it from noon to 6 p.m., apparently to facilitate the event"
'Calling out' the Holocaust is the logical end point of the Left's perverse victimhood Olympics - "at the annual nut-fest that is the NUS conference, delegates applauded speakers who argued against Holocaust commemoration. In response to a proposal that students’ unions should help organise events for Holocaust Memorial Day every year, one speaker said marking the Holocaust is not “inclusive”. “I am against the NUS ignoring and forgetting other mass genocides and prioritising others," said Darta Kaleja from Chester University. “When during my education was I taught about the genocides in Tibet or Rwanda? It is important to commemorate all of them”... The new discomfort with Jews, or “Zios”, springs partly from the nasty politics of identity, and especially the culture of competitive victimhood that it nurtures. What we saw at the NUS conference was a display of one of the weirdest trends of our time: Holocaust envy."
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, On Board Air Force One - "She had studied rural economics and would be going to Ethiopia to work on an agricultural developed. I thought she was much too sophisticated for such a life and asked her why she chose it. Li quickly informed me that young people in China do not get to choose what they study, or where they go. The choice was made for them, and China has a big interest in Africa"
Meet Mumble: How to Raise Baby Chicks with Special Needs - "When Mumble still didn’t grow well, Rebekah turned to the Disabled Hens Support Network, a Facebook group which formed in May of 2014 after a truck carrying thousands of ex-battery-cage hens crashed, killing and injuring hundreds of birds. The same people who rehabilitated and kept the surviving chickens as pets advised Rebekah to mash boiled egg yolk and to mix chick crumb with Mumble’s water so she would get a little nutrition when she drank."
Postwar Germany and medieval CSI | Podcast | History Extra - "By 1949, they're still saying that Nazism was a good idea, badly carried out. There are surveys at that time showing, I think, half the people in Germany saying that. But at the same time the Allies were bringing in hundreds of people, hundreds of Germans were forced to file past the camps and go inside them"
Johann Georg Elser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "'(the Gestapo) had tried to squeeze information out of him by feeding him very salty herring and exposing him to heat, and then depriving him of liquids'... three doctors had worked on Elser for twenty four hours, injecting him with ‘sizable quantities of Pervitin,’ but he continued to say the same thing. Four hypnotists were summoned. Only one could put Elser into a trance, but the prisoner stuck to the same story. The psychologist wrote in his report that Elser was a 'fanatic' and had a pathological desire for recognition. He concluded by saying pointedly: Elser had the "drive to achieve fame by eliminating Hitler and simultaneously liberating Germany from the ‘evil of Hitler’”... "He [Elser] responded to questioning only with reluctance but opened up when he was praised for his craftsmanship. Then he would comment on his reconstructed model in detail and with great enthusiasm." Elser’s reconstruction of his Bürgerbräukeller bomb was held in such high regard by the Gestapo, they adopted it into their field manuals for training purposes"
London’s Muslim Mayor To Ban Sexualised Images Of Women - "Sadiq Khan argued for the move by appropriating the language of feminism, claiming that alluring images of beautiful women could make them “ashamed of their bodies”. Ironically, the policy is likely to please both the misogynistic Islamist and prudish, third wave feminist, whose ends appear increasingly similar. The announcement comes five years after suspected Islamists began painting over images of bikini clad women in Tower Hamlets in East London, and last year after feminists began similarly defacing images of women in bikinis on London transport. Images of women are banned in public across large parts of the Muslim world, and the phenomenon is now spreading in the Western world. Germany’s ‘progressive’ Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, recently promised to ban ads which “reduce women or men to sexual objects” in an attempt to create a “modern gender image” following the mass sex attacks on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, committed by mostly Muslim migrants... the UK’s advertising watchdog announced an investigation into the “objectification and sexualisation of women in ads” because of an “increasing political and public debate” driven by “offended” feminists on social media."
Why I Quit My Job to Travel the World - "As a citizen of the world, I rarely get lonely. Everywhere I go, I meet such diverse groups of people. In hostels, I’ve shared beers with friendly British and Australian twenty-somethings. In hotels, I’ve sipped wine with friendly British and Australian forty-somethings. We all became lifelong friends, despite the language barriers."
Claiming that "itai itai yamete" promotes rape is like claiming "call me Daddy" promotes incest
Comment by a Japanese girl to the people denouncing it despite being admittedly ignorant of JAV conventions/the diversity of Japanese sexual practices: "I'm Japanese and it is very simple. A bunch a girls yelling itai itai yamete for a cheer does not indicate non-consensual sex. However, it is embarrassing to be used in a cheer. Use a different cheer that actually promotes progress in team building activities and leave the sex talk when in bed. I've said it hurts in bed and meant it in a good way. Just use a cheer that isn't so embarrassing for Japanese people to hear."
Games at NUS camps increasingly sexualised, say students - "A spokesman for the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) labelled such activities "alienating rather than bonding", and criminal lawyers said police reports should have been made"
Censorship is good when it comes to young adults taking part in voluntary orientation camps. Censorship is bad when it comes to gay penguins in the public library
Maybe next year the camps will need to be vetted by the university and these people will be complaining we restrict creativity, treat young adults like kids etc
If these should be restricted because peer pressure will compell people to take part, should be ban the hijab because Muslim women will feel compelled to wear it?
Melissa Chen - Please explain this to me in PLAIN english: "So... - "Please explain this to me in PLAIN english: "So it’s always this logic of how can we understand whiteness better, and that’s never been my politics. I’ve always been about occupying the margins and strengthening the margins and what that means is that, for a long time, whiteness has also occupied the margins. Like, people of color get in circles with no white people in the room and we see that whiteness still operates. So I think it’s kind of a shock for America that whiteness has dominant society already, it also seeps into the margins. What happens the one time when the margins seep into the whiteness and we encroach on their space? It’s like the sky is falling." Let that distill in your head for a moment. What on earth does the phrase "margins seep into the whiteness" mean? This is one consequence of majoring in things like english and sociology - you end up talking like you've been smoking crack or something."
May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way… - "“May the bridges I burn light the way”... Can I use my past failures, mistakes, missteps and fuck ups as guidelines of what not to do for the future, because that sounds like a fantastic idea. It would mean admitting to myself that there are some bridges and relationships that will never be rebuilt. It would mean taking a long, hard look at what I did that lead me to those situations and why I never want to be there again. And that’s not easy work. That is gut wrenching, heart hurting, headache inducing stuff."
5 of the Best Ways to Escape Enemies in Video Games - "Assassin’s Creed as a franchise has left tons of marks on the gaming world, some good, some bad. But for all the functions it pioneers — interactive environments, reactive combat — the one no one has appreciated fully is the coin bomb. Whether you’re using a handful of coins to cause a crowd to move erratically for fun, or filling a narrow alley with people to disguise your escape, or just being generous with the locals, it’s really no different: Make it rain, and they’ll come running."
Blonde Brazilian man Xiahn undergoes surgery to achieve Oriental look - "I put my fingers inside the eye and pulled. That was the way I wanted to have my eyes"
The "strong Independent Woman Aisle"...
Seattle gov bans racist terms like 'citizen' and 'brown bag' - "In the past, Seattle officials have tried to bowdlerize other potentially controversial terms, ranging from “Halloween” to “dinosaurs.”"
Refugee shelter burnt down in Germany after dispute among asylum seekers over Ramadan meals - "Ralf Herrenbrück, a senior public prosecutor in the city, said there had been disputes among Muslims living in the home over how to mark Ramadan before the fire broke out on Tuesday. “There are two groups - one group wants to follow it strictly and so only eat when it's dark while the other group wants to eat at normal times - for example because there are also pregnant women there,” he said."
How Social Justice Warriors Are Creating An Entire Generation Of Fascists - "SJWs – almost all of whom are white, upper-middle-class college students – picture themselves as persecuted, oppressed crusaders for peace and equality. But, upon any level of inspection, this claim immediately falls apart. I have been on the Internet since I was a small child and I have perused some of the most extreme and disturbing corners of the web. I have had personal encounters with every manner of vile cretin – the sorts of people who would make even Charles Manson himself blush. With that said, never have I encountered anyone who was so giddy about their hatred than the people who make up the SJW community. These are people who, on a regular basis, call for violence and genocide against “oppressors”, whether it’s white people, heterosexual people, thin people, or just anyone who even slightly disagrees with them. One favorite tactic that SJWs use to quash all opposition is doxxing – they will publish the personal information (real name, job, phone number, address, and so forth) of anyone that they deem to have committed an act of thoughtcrime, then they will usually encourage people to commit acts of violence against that person in real life and will do their best to have that person fired from wherever they work at... Stormfront is often held up as an example of “online hate”, but it must be noted that the white supremacists on Stormfront do not participate in organized harassment campaigns, do not send gruesome rape and death threats to people, do not regularly call for violence, and do not engage in doxxing. Compared to the people who claim to be on “the right side of history” and crusaders for “social justice”, Stormfront is a bastion of kindness and civility. What does that say about you, SJWs, when you make neo-Nazis look positively civilized by comparison?... These so-called advocates of “social justice” are the best gift that neo-Nazis could have possibly asked for: the most extreme and unpleasant aspects of the far-left amplified for all the world to see. The more absurd and outrageous SJWs become, the more the far-right gains support and sympathy. If SJWs think that they’re “oppressed” right now… well, they had better be prepared for the future that they’re helping to create"
Strange And Hateful Bedfellows: How Neo-Nazis And Social Justice Warriors Feed Off Of Each Other - "Nazis and SJWs both have a designated “oppressor group” that controls and dominates everything. For Nazis, it was the Jews; for SJWs, it’s whites/males/”cishets”/patriarchy. Both have an “oppressed group” that suffers horribly at the hands of this designated “oppressor group” or “privileged group”. For Nazis, it was white Europeans; for SJWs, it’s women, “People of Color” (“PoC”), gays, transsexuals, and other designated victim groups. Both subsist on feelings of hatred, inadequacy, fear, and a desire to be superior. Both have extreme paranoid persecution complexes and are eager to find (and invent) conspiracies everywhere. And, most of all, both firmly believe that all dissent and questioning of their ideologies must be immediately quashed with an iron fist... Ultimately, what unites both neo-Nazis and SJWs – and what this video has fueled in people of all sides – is what unites all of humanity: hate"
Protester dies after inhaling fumes from burning American flag - "Some 10,000 people rallied this week in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, to protest the movie trailer that Muslims say insults Islam, according to the International Herald-Tribune. One participant, identified as Abdullah Ismail, died after being taken to an area hospital. Witnesses said he had complained of feeling sick from the smoke from American flags burnt at the rally. The rally was organized on the city's landmark mall by the Tehreek Hurmat-i-Rasool. Despite a ban on rallies on The Mall, local officials blocked off the road leading to it from noon to 6 p.m., apparently to facilitate the event"
'Calling out' the Holocaust is the logical end point of the Left's perverse victimhood Olympics - "at the annual nut-fest that is the NUS conference, delegates applauded speakers who argued against Holocaust commemoration. In response to a proposal that students’ unions should help organise events for Holocaust Memorial Day every year, one speaker said marking the Holocaust is not “inclusive”. “I am against the NUS ignoring and forgetting other mass genocides and prioritising others," said Darta Kaleja from Chester University. “When during my education was I taught about the genocides in Tibet or Rwanda? It is important to commemorate all of them”... The new discomfort with Jews, or “Zios”, springs partly from the nasty politics of identity, and especially the culture of competitive victimhood that it nurtures. What we saw at the NUS conference was a display of one of the weirdest trends of our time: Holocaust envy."
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, On Board Air Force One - "She had studied rural economics and would be going to Ethiopia to work on an agricultural developed. I thought she was much too sophisticated for such a life and asked her why she chose it. Li quickly informed me that young people in China do not get to choose what they study, or where they go. The choice was made for them, and China has a big interest in Africa"
Meet Mumble: How to Raise Baby Chicks with Special Needs - "When Mumble still didn’t grow well, Rebekah turned to the Disabled Hens Support Network, a Facebook group which formed in May of 2014 after a truck carrying thousands of ex-battery-cage hens crashed, killing and injuring hundreds of birds. The same people who rehabilitated and kept the surviving chickens as pets advised Rebekah to mash boiled egg yolk and to mix chick crumb with Mumble’s water so she would get a little nutrition when she drank."
Postwar Germany and medieval CSI | Podcast | History Extra - "By 1949, they're still saying that Nazism was a good idea, badly carried out. There are surveys at that time showing, I think, half the people in Germany saying that. But at the same time the Allies were bringing in hundreds of people, hundreds of Germans were forced to file past the camps and go inside them"
Johann Georg Elser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "'(the Gestapo) had tried to squeeze information out of him by feeding him very salty herring and exposing him to heat, and then depriving him of liquids'... three doctors had worked on Elser for twenty four hours, injecting him with ‘sizable quantities of Pervitin,’ but he continued to say the same thing. Four hypnotists were summoned. Only one could put Elser into a trance, but the prisoner stuck to the same story. The psychologist wrote in his report that Elser was a 'fanatic' and had a pathological desire for recognition. He concluded by saying pointedly: Elser had the "drive to achieve fame by eliminating Hitler and simultaneously liberating Germany from the ‘evil of Hitler’”... "He [Elser] responded to questioning only with reluctance but opened up when he was praised for his craftsmanship. Then he would comment on his reconstructed model in detail and with great enthusiasm." Elser’s reconstruction of his Bürgerbräukeller bomb was held in such high regard by the Gestapo, they adopted it into their field manuals for training purposes"
London’s Muslim Mayor To Ban Sexualised Images Of Women - "Sadiq Khan argued for the move by appropriating the language of feminism, claiming that alluring images of beautiful women could make them “ashamed of their bodies”. Ironically, the policy is likely to please both the misogynistic Islamist and prudish, third wave feminist, whose ends appear increasingly similar. The announcement comes five years after suspected Islamists began painting over images of bikini clad women in Tower Hamlets in East London, and last year after feminists began similarly defacing images of women in bikinis on London transport. Images of women are banned in public across large parts of the Muslim world, and the phenomenon is now spreading in the Western world. Germany’s ‘progressive’ Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, recently promised to ban ads which “reduce women or men to sexual objects” in an attempt to create a “modern gender image” following the mass sex attacks on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, committed by mostly Muslim migrants... the UK’s advertising watchdog announced an investigation into the “objectification and sexualisation of women in ads” because of an “increasing political and public debate” driven by “offended” feminists on social media."
Why I Quit My Job to Travel the World - "As a citizen of the world, I rarely get lonely. Everywhere I go, I meet such diverse groups of people. In hostels, I’ve shared beers with friendly British and Australian twenty-somethings. In hotels, I’ve sipped wine with friendly British and Australian forty-somethings. We all became lifelong friends, despite the language barriers."
Post ID: 5147789886049890583
The Malay Ideals: Attitudes to Success
"The Chinese for example had had to grapple with difficulty through their historical experience that their customary ideals were very much directed towards industriousness, efficiency, persistence, determination and strenuous efforts. Even their schools recognise the importance of this that their pupils are grounded with schoolwork so much so that a normal pupil of ordinary school would cringe in fear at the thought of it. But this is a necessity in their educational system and it is for the benefit of the pupils in the longer term, it disciplines them to become tough, to possess a resilient work ethic and to be enterprising in life generally.
The Chinese too always expect success. In contrast, to the Malays, success is a luxury. Mediocrity is expected. Therefore when a Malay achieves a certain feat, it shall be; surprise. To the Chinese, this is usual and failure would be a surprise. This expectation of success to the Chinese places positive pressure on their fellow people to strive harder because it is a communal expectation. The Japanese on the other hand place themselves the top of the hierarchy of Asian people. This places positive pressure on the Japanese to surpass others.
Every human being is born with a feeling of self-importance and self-pride. Pride can be productive in stimulating a people with a feeling of superiority that places positive pressure on them to excel. To the Malays however, the feelings of pride and superiority are usually taken to be negative, pride should be abhorred. This is because the Malays have placed humility to be the characteristic nature of their people. Therefore, they have not fully utilised the immense strength of pride which could impel them to greater heights...
Certain Malay values that may be suitable during the times prior to colonialism may have fallen out with the advent of the immigrant communities who were more entrepreneurial and competitive. The values of the Malays ought to also change to accommodate these changes and an adaptation has to take place to achieve a new equilibrium. If this were left to their own devices, the fittest and the most able would extinguish the weak. Peoples and races replace one after another. Languages become extinct as an everyday spoken language such as happened with Latin and Hebrew, only to be artificially revived later in the 19th century in the case of Hebrew. Animals and plants also meet the same fate. Human beings are not free from such dangers either. Bones of extinct ‘human’ races have been dug out by anthropologists. If the Malays are continuously left trailing behind in progress and subjugated, and refuse change, then, they too might become ‘extinct’, even if not literally but metaphorically...
Success is Seldom Valued
Another major reason for the Malays’ lack of academic achievements is the nature of the Malay people themselves and their attitude towards success. The Malay attitude does not contribute favourably towards being a successful student. For instance, the Malays do not usually view the successes of others as something to look up to. Success, to a Malay breeds contempt and jealousy. If a Malay person is successful, other Malays would frequently feel uneasy. They would then focus upon the less positive side of that person's character, in order to find fault.
If there are any Malay students who diligently go to their classes and sit in the front rows of lecture theatres, they are often accused of aspiring lecturers’ attention, seeking favouritism or trying to impress him or her, but not their real intention of wanting to listen clearly and or not to get easily distracted from the noisier back rows. If the diligent Malay students constantly frequent the library and are always found to be at work, he or she would be characterized as being "unfriendly", ”antisocial", trying to emulate the Chinese, being a book worm and taking leave of the Malays. In which case, they would customarily be isolated. To be intelligent, resourceful and hardworking is thought to be "un-Malay"."
--- The Malay Ideals / Asrul Zamani
Bonus: From the back cover:
THE MALAY IDEALS, basically revolves around the Malays, their religion, lifestyle, thoughts and their attitude and it focuses on, what the Malays have been, what they ought to be and what their influence would do to Malaysia, in directing its future development and progress. The actual and current situation of the Malays are seriously reviewed in this book. Some of the topics discussed in the book are on Islam, Judicial system, Malay Value, Education & etc. which could be a ‘food for thought’ for the readers.
The author Dr. Asrul Zamani bin Mohd Ismail, who is a medical practitioner by profession, had conducted an extensive research before expressing his views and opinions in this book.
The Malay Ideals will definitely be an ‘eye-opener’ and would inspire the readers to fulfill the aspirations of our Prime Minister..
Every Malaysian patriot should read this book, irrespective of their standings or political alignment.
The Chinese too always expect success. In contrast, to the Malays, success is a luxury. Mediocrity is expected. Therefore when a Malay achieves a certain feat, it shall be; surprise. To the Chinese, this is usual and failure would be a surprise. This expectation of success to the Chinese places positive pressure on their fellow people to strive harder because it is a communal expectation. The Japanese on the other hand place themselves the top of the hierarchy of Asian people. This places positive pressure on the Japanese to surpass others.
Every human being is born with a feeling of self-importance and self-pride. Pride can be productive in stimulating a people with a feeling of superiority that places positive pressure on them to excel. To the Malays however, the feelings of pride and superiority are usually taken to be negative, pride should be abhorred. This is because the Malays have placed humility to be the characteristic nature of their people. Therefore, they have not fully utilised the immense strength of pride which could impel them to greater heights...
Certain Malay values that may be suitable during the times prior to colonialism may have fallen out with the advent of the immigrant communities who were more entrepreneurial and competitive. The values of the Malays ought to also change to accommodate these changes and an adaptation has to take place to achieve a new equilibrium. If this were left to their own devices, the fittest and the most able would extinguish the weak. Peoples and races replace one after another. Languages become extinct as an everyday spoken language such as happened with Latin and Hebrew, only to be artificially revived later in the 19th century in the case of Hebrew. Animals and plants also meet the same fate. Human beings are not free from such dangers either. Bones of extinct ‘human’ races have been dug out by anthropologists. If the Malays are continuously left trailing behind in progress and subjugated, and refuse change, then, they too might become ‘extinct’, even if not literally but metaphorically...
Success is Seldom Valued
Another major reason for the Malays’ lack of academic achievements is the nature of the Malay people themselves and their attitude towards success. The Malay attitude does not contribute favourably towards being a successful student. For instance, the Malays do not usually view the successes of others as something to look up to. Success, to a Malay breeds contempt and jealousy. If a Malay person is successful, other Malays would frequently feel uneasy. They would then focus upon the less positive side of that person's character, in order to find fault.
If there are any Malay students who diligently go to their classes and sit in the front rows of lecture theatres, they are often accused of aspiring lecturers’ attention, seeking favouritism or trying to impress him or her, but not their real intention of wanting to listen clearly and or not to get easily distracted from the noisier back rows. If the diligent Malay students constantly frequent the library and are always found to be at work, he or she would be characterized as being "unfriendly", ”antisocial", trying to emulate the Chinese, being a book worm and taking leave of the Malays. In which case, they would customarily be isolated. To be intelligent, resourceful and hardworking is thought to be "un-Malay"."
--- The Malay Ideals / Asrul Zamani
Bonus: From the back cover:
THE MALAY IDEALS, basically revolves around the Malays, their religion, lifestyle, thoughts and their attitude and it focuses on, what the Malays have been, what they ought to be and what their influence would do to Malaysia, in directing its future development and progress. The actual and current situation of the Malays are seriously reviewed in this book. Some of the topics discussed in the book are on Islam, Judicial system, Malay Value, Education & etc. which could be a ‘food for thought’ for the readers.
The author Dr. Asrul Zamani bin Mohd Ismail, who is a medical practitioner by profession, had conducted an extensive research before expressing his views and opinions in this book.
The Malay Ideals will definitely be an ‘eye-opener’ and would inspire the readers to fulfill the aspirations of our Prime Minister..
Every Malaysian patriot should read this book, irrespective of their standings or political alignment.
Post ID: 5917668056229964858
Monday, July 25, 2016
Links - 25th July 2016
The Gulen Movement Is Not a Cult -- It's One of the Most Encouraging Faces of Islam Today - "Gulen arguably lacked even the capability to organize a serious coup in an army that, over decades, has rigorously weeded Hizmet followers out — indeed, any officers showing any religious beliefs. Turkish intelligence has also been all over the movement for years, amassing massive dossiers. Why would Gulen choose to attempt a coup that’s contrary to all his views and at a time of maximum weakness vis-a-vis Erdogan?... It beggars the imagination to believe that the now tens of thousands of people purged and arrested — police, army, judges, lawyers, teachers, bankers, journalists — are all terrorist enemies of the state. Clearly Erdogan is seizing the occasion to eliminate any and all opposition to his plans to create a new super-powerful presidency for himself. Erdogan will find many, even within his own party, who are dismayed at his reach for total power — but are cowed into silence. Once objective journalists now watch their words."
Tool to help police spot suspects engaging in extremism being developed - "A tool to help police detect individuals who may be engaged in online violent extremism early on is being developed by the Home Team Behavioural Science Centre (HTBSC), said Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Lee on Wednesday (Jul 13). He said the Online Violent Extremism Screening Tool is being developed so that interventions can be prioritised for these high-risk persons. The Senior Minister of State was speaking at the Asian Conference of Criminal and Operations Psychology (ACCOP) held here."
If you needed proof that Ah Kong is watching everything you do online...
Young women can’t cope with ANY ideas that challenge their 'right-on view of the world' - "I knew many wouldn’t agree with my stance, which was that Evans had completed his sentence and should be able to return to his profession. But during the final Q&A all hell broke loose. I dared suggest (as eminent feminists have before me) that rape wasn’t necessarily the worst thing a woman could experience. I expected robust discussion - not for them all to dissolve into outraged gasps of, ‘You can’t say that!’... It illustrated this generation’s almost belligerent sense of entitlement. They assume their emotional suffering takes precedence. Express a view they disagree with and you must immediately recant and apologise. But as I argue in my new book - I Find That Offensive! - Generation Snowflake believe it’s their right to be protected from anything they might find unpalatable. This mindset is particularly rife in universities. The examples are beyond parody... There’s a constant emphasis on [children's] vulnerability, which is proving toxic... a Leeds primary school banned games of tag as children had been getting upset and having clothes torn. There’s a campaign to stop tackling in school rugby, and to assess the safety of other contact sports such as hockey... the old motto ‘Sticks and stones . . .’ is now forgotten, as we teach children that words can indeed hurt them. Bullying has been redefined to include ordinary playground verbal tussles. I remember my niece telling me, aged 11, that she was being bullied at school. I feared she was being beaten up or viciously taunted. In fact, she was being ‘excluded from her friendship group’. I don’t doubt it was upsetting for her, but falling out with your chums is part of growing up. Through it you learn to handle the difficult interactions you will inevitably face as a grown-up... a look at the ‘evidence’ suggests an expansive definition of what constitutes sexual harassment. Is giving a compliment based on looks really ‘unsafe’ behaviour? If a boy pings a girl’s bra it may be unpleasant and annoying, but is it really assault? An ever-widening definition of abuse can incite a culture of fear and complaint: encouraging teachers and girls to name and shame could mean labelling sexually awkward teenage boys as sex pests... I am particularly concerned we are teaching girls to see themselves as victims. Recent research showing that fewer young people are going to nightclubs is revealing. It’s not because they can’t afford it. Rather, women cite reasons such as the fear of encountering drunken men who may try to take advantage of them. How sad that modern women are frightened enough to associate a night out with sexual assault. Many say they prefer to socialise on the internet. Not only is this retreat from the public sphere damaging - it’s not safe either. The Reclaim The Internet campaign, launched last month by MPs including Maria Miller and Labour’s Yvette Cooper, focuses on the impact sexist trolling has on young women - yet it only fuels stereotypes of them as weak and fragile... We need a younger generation that’s prepared to grow a backbone, go out into the world, take risks and make difficult decisions. Otherwise the future doesn’t bode well for any of us."
Professors, Stop Opining About Trump - NYTimes.com - "I’m not saying that this view of Mr. Trump is incorrect; nor am I saying that it is on target: only that it is a view, like anyone else’s. By dressing up their obviously partisan views as “the lessons of history,” the signatories to the letter present themselves as the impersonal transmitters of a truth that just happens to flow through them. In fact they are merely people with history degrees, which means that they have read certain books, taken and taught certain courses and written scholarly essays, often on topics of interest only to other practitioners in the field... Academic expertise is not a qualification for delivering political wisdom. Nor is it their job, although they seem to think it is: “It is all of our jobs to fill the voids exploited by the Trump campaign.” (I’m not sure that I understand what that grandiose sentence means.) No, it’s their job to teach students how to handle archival materials, how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable evidence, how to build a persuasive account of a disputed event, in short, how to perform as historians, not as seers or political gurus. I would have no problem with individuals, who also happened to be historians, disseminating their political conclusions in an op-ed or letter to the editor; but I do have a problem when a bunch of individuals claim for themselves a corporate identity and more than imply that they speak for the profession of history."
The Problem of “Social Justice Elitism” - "A recent piece by Amer F. Ahmed outlines a phenomenon he calls “social justice elitism.” Ahmed is the associate director of multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He notes a tendency among certain students to “out social-justice” each other by denouncing the subtle prejudices of others... true discussion about social justice is conjunctive rather than disjunctive. That is, it creates connections by promoting an understanding of the experience of the other. By contrast, the rhetoric of social justice elitism divides people by assessing the degree to which they contribute to a system of injustice. Second, while sincere dialogue about social justice requires courage, social justice elitism rarely involves risk. Speaking truth to power is a frightening undertaking. So is talking about social justice in a way that leverages one’s privilege or runs the risk of being misunderstood. The rhetoric of social justice elitism generally occurs through channels in which there is no risk of being challenged: online comment sections, gossip, and seminars full of like-minded people. Ironically, I suspect that we engage in social justice elitism for the same reason an otherwise reasonable man became a Neo-Nazi: out of a desire to construct and perform an identity. While the SJWs really do care about social justice, they are also invested in constructing a heroic self-narrative... At its worst, the move to create villains where none exist can amount to “weaponizing” the values of social justice. I have even seen cases where undergraduates have used the rhetoric of tolerance to punish faculty for giving them low grades... When well-meaning students fear being attacked for their lack of sensitivity, the opportunity for a sincere dialogue or a teachable moment about structural injustice closes. A judgmental classroom environment also lends credence to the canard that higher education claims to promote critical thinking while actually enforcing “liberal brainwashing.” The most ironic consequence of these sorts of attacks is that untenured white male professors (i.e. professors like me) may feel discouraged from discussing those voices and traditions that have historically been neglected by academia"
"Scrutiny Instead of Silence" - "Sensoy and DiAngelo (2014) argue for alternative behavioral guidelines than those currently being used in many social justice courses. Their alternative is to silence or constrain privileged voices so that marginalized voices have ample space to be heard and taken seriously. This raises the concern that silencing any group of persons runs too great a risk of alienating them to the point where their mistrust of the “other” is exacerbated rather than assuaged. This response suggests that, instead of silencing or even constraining privileged voices in the classroom, we may want to move toward developing in students the attitude that all claims and assertions, especially those that society often accepts as true without question, must undergo critical scrutiny"
Press Release: Out with conspicuous consumption, in with virtue signalling, says new report - "Virtue signalling has made widely-held ideas like ‘keeping up with the Joneses' and conspicuous consumption completely outdated, according to a new paper from the Adam Smith Institute. Rather than trying to one-up one another by buying Bentleys, Rolexes and fur coats, the modern social climber is more likely to try and show their ‘authenticity’ with virtue signalling by having the correct opinions on music and politics and making sure their coffee is sourced ethically, the research says... individuals may pick extended study of essentially useless degrees in pursuit of status. This is enabled by an extensive system of subsidies, which actually, since the last reforms, made the terms for those expecting to earn very little—i.e. those pursuing degrees that barely enhanced their career potential—much more generous. Murphy’s analysis suggests these subsidies should be scaled back—we are only encouraging an endless arms race."
‘Unfriending’ Trump supporters is just another example of how we isolate ourselves online - "“Since the 16th century, we’ve figured out ways of going about disagreements that don’t involve killing each other,” said Mark Kingwell, a political philosopher at the University of Toronto. “It’s a basic liberal notion that when people disagree on something, they can’t just go their own way — there has to be a discourse.”In the era of News Feeds and content-blockers, however, avoiding discourse and dissent has never been so easy... On Facebook, the average user agrees with the politics of more than three-fourths of her friends. The social network has found that affinity is more pronounced among liberals than it is among conservatives... “I can imagine people installing these apps to ‘protect’ themselves from contrary opinions: global warming, women’s rights, gun-owner’s rights, vegetarianism, CrossFit, whatever it is that they don’t like,” said Julio Castillo, the (apparently regretful) creator of the Trump-blocking app Trump Trump. “It’s a little like everyone creating their own great firewall of China to censor everything that annoys them.” Castillo imagines religious cults that mandate members block information sources they disagree with, or loyalty programs that reward customers for blocking the competition... “This is basic to the fundamental liberal aspiration: to put yourself in the position of the other,” Kingwell said. “If we don’t do that, we’re not a community. We’re a bunch of micro-communities and … to me that’s quite dystopian”... Kingwell, the philosopher, has spent his career attempting to convince people that civility and discourse are political virtues worth aspiring to; lately, he’s had to make his message a little more doomsday, stressing that — without consensus and moderation — everyone basically stands to lose."
Why We Unfriend - "The ebb and flow of Facebook friendships has become fruitful territory for social scientists in recent years. At least 63 percent of people report having unfriended someone on Facebook, but what prompts these digital rejections can tell us a lot about both the nature of real-life friendship and about how we manage our online personalities. Past research by Christopher Sibona of the University of Colorado Denver found that the four most common reasons for unfriending on Facebook were: “frequent/unimportant posts, polarizing posts (politics and religion), inappropriate posts (sexist, racist remarks), and everyday life posts (child, spouse, eating habits, etc.) and in that order of frequency”... ex-friends were most likely to be a high-school buddy, a work colleague, a “friend of a friend,” or a category Sibona called “Other”: “didn’t know her,” “former student,” or, ominously, “enemy.”"
10 Ridiculous Fears People Had About New Technology - "Many thought staying up after the sun went down would cause everyone to catch colds, creating a serious health crisis. The Catholic Church believed staying up at night was an act of defiance against God, who obviously wanted them to sleep. I mean, don’t even get me started on all those damn Devil-worshipping nocturnal animals… And then there was Pope Gregory XVI, who actually banned gas lighting because he believed visibility at night would encourage rebellion against the church... anti-train propaganda spread warnings that man was not meant to reach incredible speeds like twenty miles an hour. Apparently, it would destroy the environment, cause us to asphyxiate, go insane, and our bodies would disintegrate under the stress... The humble telephone is a huge part of our daily lives, but it wasn’t long ago that it was scaring the bejesus out of us every time it rang. This is because the elderly – who have to be suspicious of anything new; it’s in their contract – thought they’d be electrocuted if they touched one. Husbands feared their wives would be on it all day, gossiping, while preachers believed it was the Devil’s instrument and a conduit for evil spirits."
How Feminism Screwed Up My Love Life - - "I have been angry and defensive for a big chunk of my life, and I’m not even sure why. I’ve worked so hard to be independent, thinking that, as the anti-chick, I would need nothing and no one–and that men would somehow love this. The very last thing on earth I ever wanted to be was a needy, awful girl. I figured if I needed nothing, I’d win. I just didn’t realize the cost of winning. I certainly don’t regret how feminism has served me: I’ve learned to be aggressive, tough, resilient, and have had many successes in my life as a result. I never have let a man get in my way–are you kidding? No one ever stood a chance. But now I’m trying to unlearn some of that–to learn what it means to soften, not weaken, and to expand, not constrict. To have power without the shiny, hard outer shell. This is incredibly fucking hard. The notion that some post-fem fallout is to blame, well, that makes sense to me. I swung really hard in one direction and am gradually finding my way back to a more balanced state. My understanding of feminism has evolved, too–in that you don’t have to hate men or beat them in order to be a powerful woman... my tendency to fight and compete and fear losing to men has made it incredibly hard for me to love the way I know I could. Even though marriage has never been a goal for me, how silly to think that you can–or should–get through life without loving, as often and as intensely as you can."
Tool to help police spot suspects engaging in extremism being developed - "A tool to help police detect individuals who may be engaged in online violent extremism early on is being developed by the Home Team Behavioural Science Centre (HTBSC), said Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Lee on Wednesday (Jul 13). He said the Online Violent Extremism Screening Tool is being developed so that interventions can be prioritised for these high-risk persons. The Senior Minister of State was speaking at the Asian Conference of Criminal and Operations Psychology (ACCOP) held here."
If you needed proof that Ah Kong is watching everything you do online...
Young women can’t cope with ANY ideas that challenge their 'right-on view of the world' - "I knew many wouldn’t agree with my stance, which was that Evans had completed his sentence and should be able to return to his profession. But during the final Q&A all hell broke loose. I dared suggest (as eminent feminists have before me) that rape wasn’t necessarily the worst thing a woman could experience. I expected robust discussion - not for them all to dissolve into outraged gasps of, ‘You can’t say that!’... It illustrated this generation’s almost belligerent sense of entitlement. They assume their emotional suffering takes precedence. Express a view they disagree with and you must immediately recant and apologise. But as I argue in my new book - I Find That Offensive! - Generation Snowflake believe it’s their right to be protected from anything they might find unpalatable. This mindset is particularly rife in universities. The examples are beyond parody... There’s a constant emphasis on [children's] vulnerability, which is proving toxic... a Leeds primary school banned games of tag as children had been getting upset and having clothes torn. There’s a campaign to stop tackling in school rugby, and to assess the safety of other contact sports such as hockey... the old motto ‘Sticks and stones . . .’ is now forgotten, as we teach children that words can indeed hurt them. Bullying has been redefined to include ordinary playground verbal tussles. I remember my niece telling me, aged 11, that she was being bullied at school. I feared she was being beaten up or viciously taunted. In fact, she was being ‘excluded from her friendship group’. I don’t doubt it was upsetting for her, but falling out with your chums is part of growing up. Through it you learn to handle the difficult interactions you will inevitably face as a grown-up... a look at the ‘evidence’ suggests an expansive definition of what constitutes sexual harassment. Is giving a compliment based on looks really ‘unsafe’ behaviour? If a boy pings a girl’s bra it may be unpleasant and annoying, but is it really assault? An ever-widening definition of abuse can incite a culture of fear and complaint: encouraging teachers and girls to name and shame could mean labelling sexually awkward teenage boys as sex pests... I am particularly concerned we are teaching girls to see themselves as victims. Recent research showing that fewer young people are going to nightclubs is revealing. It’s not because they can’t afford it. Rather, women cite reasons such as the fear of encountering drunken men who may try to take advantage of them. How sad that modern women are frightened enough to associate a night out with sexual assault. Many say they prefer to socialise on the internet. Not only is this retreat from the public sphere damaging - it’s not safe either. The Reclaim The Internet campaign, launched last month by MPs including Maria Miller and Labour’s Yvette Cooper, focuses on the impact sexist trolling has on young women - yet it only fuels stereotypes of them as weak and fragile... We need a younger generation that’s prepared to grow a backbone, go out into the world, take risks and make difficult decisions. Otherwise the future doesn’t bode well for any of us."
Professors, Stop Opining About Trump - NYTimes.com - "I’m not saying that this view of Mr. Trump is incorrect; nor am I saying that it is on target: only that it is a view, like anyone else’s. By dressing up their obviously partisan views as “the lessons of history,” the signatories to the letter present themselves as the impersonal transmitters of a truth that just happens to flow through them. In fact they are merely people with history degrees, which means that they have read certain books, taken and taught certain courses and written scholarly essays, often on topics of interest only to other practitioners in the field... Academic expertise is not a qualification for delivering political wisdom. Nor is it their job, although they seem to think it is: “It is all of our jobs to fill the voids exploited by the Trump campaign.” (I’m not sure that I understand what that grandiose sentence means.) No, it’s their job to teach students how to handle archival materials, how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable evidence, how to build a persuasive account of a disputed event, in short, how to perform as historians, not as seers or political gurus. I would have no problem with individuals, who also happened to be historians, disseminating their political conclusions in an op-ed or letter to the editor; but I do have a problem when a bunch of individuals claim for themselves a corporate identity and more than imply that they speak for the profession of history."
The Problem of “Social Justice Elitism” - "A recent piece by Amer F. Ahmed outlines a phenomenon he calls “social justice elitism.” Ahmed is the associate director of multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He notes a tendency among certain students to “out social-justice” each other by denouncing the subtle prejudices of others... true discussion about social justice is conjunctive rather than disjunctive. That is, it creates connections by promoting an understanding of the experience of the other. By contrast, the rhetoric of social justice elitism divides people by assessing the degree to which they contribute to a system of injustice. Second, while sincere dialogue about social justice requires courage, social justice elitism rarely involves risk. Speaking truth to power is a frightening undertaking. So is talking about social justice in a way that leverages one’s privilege or runs the risk of being misunderstood. The rhetoric of social justice elitism generally occurs through channels in which there is no risk of being challenged: online comment sections, gossip, and seminars full of like-minded people. Ironically, I suspect that we engage in social justice elitism for the same reason an otherwise reasonable man became a Neo-Nazi: out of a desire to construct and perform an identity. While the SJWs really do care about social justice, they are also invested in constructing a heroic self-narrative... At its worst, the move to create villains where none exist can amount to “weaponizing” the values of social justice. I have even seen cases where undergraduates have used the rhetoric of tolerance to punish faculty for giving them low grades... When well-meaning students fear being attacked for their lack of sensitivity, the opportunity for a sincere dialogue or a teachable moment about structural injustice closes. A judgmental classroom environment also lends credence to the canard that higher education claims to promote critical thinking while actually enforcing “liberal brainwashing.” The most ironic consequence of these sorts of attacks is that untenured white male professors (i.e. professors like me) may feel discouraged from discussing those voices and traditions that have historically been neglected by academia"
"Scrutiny Instead of Silence" - "Sensoy and DiAngelo (2014) argue for alternative behavioral guidelines than those currently being used in many social justice courses. Their alternative is to silence or constrain privileged voices so that marginalized voices have ample space to be heard and taken seriously. This raises the concern that silencing any group of persons runs too great a risk of alienating them to the point where their mistrust of the “other” is exacerbated rather than assuaged. This response suggests that, instead of silencing or even constraining privileged voices in the classroom, we may want to move toward developing in students the attitude that all claims and assertions, especially those that society often accepts as true without question, must undergo critical scrutiny"
Press Release: Out with conspicuous consumption, in with virtue signalling, says new report - "Virtue signalling has made widely-held ideas like ‘keeping up with the Joneses' and conspicuous consumption completely outdated, according to a new paper from the Adam Smith Institute. Rather than trying to one-up one another by buying Bentleys, Rolexes and fur coats, the modern social climber is more likely to try and show their ‘authenticity’ with virtue signalling by having the correct opinions on music and politics and making sure their coffee is sourced ethically, the research says... individuals may pick extended study of essentially useless degrees in pursuit of status. This is enabled by an extensive system of subsidies, which actually, since the last reforms, made the terms for those expecting to earn very little—i.e. those pursuing degrees that barely enhanced their career potential—much more generous. Murphy’s analysis suggests these subsidies should be scaled back—we are only encouraging an endless arms race."
‘Unfriending’ Trump supporters is just another example of how we isolate ourselves online - "“Since the 16th century, we’ve figured out ways of going about disagreements that don’t involve killing each other,” said Mark Kingwell, a political philosopher at the University of Toronto. “It’s a basic liberal notion that when people disagree on something, they can’t just go their own way — there has to be a discourse.”In the era of News Feeds and content-blockers, however, avoiding discourse and dissent has never been so easy... On Facebook, the average user agrees with the politics of more than three-fourths of her friends. The social network has found that affinity is more pronounced among liberals than it is among conservatives... “I can imagine people installing these apps to ‘protect’ themselves from contrary opinions: global warming, women’s rights, gun-owner’s rights, vegetarianism, CrossFit, whatever it is that they don’t like,” said Julio Castillo, the (apparently regretful) creator of the Trump-blocking app Trump Trump. “It’s a little like everyone creating their own great firewall of China to censor everything that annoys them.” Castillo imagines religious cults that mandate members block information sources they disagree with, or loyalty programs that reward customers for blocking the competition... “This is basic to the fundamental liberal aspiration: to put yourself in the position of the other,” Kingwell said. “If we don’t do that, we’re not a community. We’re a bunch of micro-communities and … to me that’s quite dystopian”... Kingwell, the philosopher, has spent his career attempting to convince people that civility and discourse are political virtues worth aspiring to; lately, he’s had to make his message a little more doomsday, stressing that — without consensus and moderation — everyone basically stands to lose."
Why We Unfriend - "The ebb and flow of Facebook friendships has become fruitful territory for social scientists in recent years. At least 63 percent of people report having unfriended someone on Facebook, but what prompts these digital rejections can tell us a lot about both the nature of real-life friendship and about how we manage our online personalities. Past research by Christopher Sibona of the University of Colorado Denver found that the four most common reasons for unfriending on Facebook were: “frequent/unimportant posts, polarizing posts (politics and religion), inappropriate posts (sexist, racist remarks), and everyday life posts (child, spouse, eating habits, etc.) and in that order of frequency”... ex-friends were most likely to be a high-school buddy, a work colleague, a “friend of a friend,” or a category Sibona called “Other”: “didn’t know her,” “former student,” or, ominously, “enemy.”"
10 Ridiculous Fears People Had About New Technology - "Many thought staying up after the sun went down would cause everyone to catch colds, creating a serious health crisis. The Catholic Church believed staying up at night was an act of defiance against God, who obviously wanted them to sleep. I mean, don’t even get me started on all those damn Devil-worshipping nocturnal animals… And then there was Pope Gregory XVI, who actually banned gas lighting because he believed visibility at night would encourage rebellion against the church... anti-train propaganda spread warnings that man was not meant to reach incredible speeds like twenty miles an hour. Apparently, it would destroy the environment, cause us to asphyxiate, go insane, and our bodies would disintegrate under the stress... The humble telephone is a huge part of our daily lives, but it wasn’t long ago that it was scaring the bejesus out of us every time it rang. This is because the elderly – who have to be suspicious of anything new; it’s in their contract – thought they’d be electrocuted if they touched one. Husbands feared their wives would be on it all day, gossiping, while preachers believed it was the Devil’s instrument and a conduit for evil spirits."
How Feminism Screwed Up My Love Life - - "I have been angry and defensive for a big chunk of my life, and I’m not even sure why. I’ve worked so hard to be independent, thinking that, as the anti-chick, I would need nothing and no one–and that men would somehow love this. The very last thing on earth I ever wanted to be was a needy, awful girl. I figured if I needed nothing, I’d win. I just didn’t realize the cost of winning. I certainly don’t regret how feminism has served me: I’ve learned to be aggressive, tough, resilient, and have had many successes in my life as a result. I never have let a man get in my way–are you kidding? No one ever stood a chance. But now I’m trying to unlearn some of that–to learn what it means to soften, not weaken, and to expand, not constrict. To have power without the shiny, hard outer shell. This is incredibly fucking hard. The notion that some post-fem fallout is to blame, well, that makes sense to me. I swung really hard in one direction and am gradually finding my way back to a more balanced state. My understanding of feminism has evolved, too–in that you don’t have to hate men or beat them in order to be a powerful woman... my tendency to fight and compete and fear losing to men has made it incredibly hard for me to love the way I know I could. Even though marriage has never been a goal for me, how silly to think that you can–or should–get through life without loving, as often and as intensely as you can."
Post ID: 330265246982394602
Hatred and Mass Movements
"Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents. It pulls and whirls the individual away from his own self, makes him oblivious of his weal and future, frees him of jealousies and self-seeking. He becomes an anonymous particle quivering with a craving to fuse and coalesce with his like into one flaming mass. Heine suggests that what Christian love cannot do is effected by a common hatred.
Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil. Usually the strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vividness and tangibility of its devil. When Hitler was asked whether he thought the Jew must be destroyed, he answered: “No…. We should have then to invent him. It is essential to have a tangible enemy, not merely an abstract one.” F. A. Voigt tells of a Japanese mission that arrived in Berlin in 1932 to study the National Socialist movement. Voigt asked a member of the mission what he thought of the movement. He replied: “It is magnificent. I wish we could have something like it in Japan, only we can’t, because we haven’t got any Jews.” It is perhaps true that the insight and shrewdness of the men who know how to set a mass movement in motion, or how to keep one going, manifest themselves as much in knowing how to pick a worthy enemy as in knowing what doctrine to embrace and what program to adopt. The theoreticians of the Kremlin hardly waited for the guns of the Second World War to cool before they picked the democratic West, and particularly America, as the chosen enemy...
Common hatred unites the most heterogeneous elements. To share a common hatred, with an enemy even, is to infect him with a feeling of kinship, and thus sap his powers of resistance. Hitler used anti-Semitism not only to unify his Germans but also to sap the resoluteness of Jew-hating Poland, Rumania, Hungary, and finally even France. He made a similar use of anti-communism.
It seems that, like the ideal deity, the ideal devil is one. We have it from Hitler—the foremost authority on devils—that the genius of a great leader consists in concentrating all hatred on a single foe, making “even adversaries far removed from one another seem to belong to a single category.” When Hitler picked the Jew as his devil, he peopled practically the whole world outside Germany with Jews or those who worked for them. “Behind England stands Israel, and behind France, and behind the United States.” Stalin, too, adheres to the monotheistic principle when picking a devil. Formerly this devil was a fascist; now he is an American plutocrat.
Again, like an ideal deity, the ideal devil is omnipotent and omnipresent. When Hitler was asked whether he was not attributing rather too much importance to the Jews, he exclaimed:
“No, no, no! … It is impossible to exaggerate the formidable quality of the Jew as an enemy.” Every difficulty and failure within the movement is the work of the devil, and every success is a triumph over his evil plotting.
We do not usually look for allies when we love. Indeed, we often look on those who love with us as rivals and trespassers. But we always look for allies when we hate.
It is understandable that we should look for others to side with us when we have a just grievance and crave to retaliate against those who wronged us. The puzzling thing is that when our hatred does not spring from a visible grievance and does not seem justified, the desire for allies becomes more pressing. It is chiefly the unreasonable hatreds that drive us to merge with those who hate as we do, and it is this kind of hatred that serves as one of the most effective cementing agents...
Even in the case of a just grievance, our hatred comes less from a wrong done to us than from the consciousness of our helplessness, inadequacy and cowardice—in other words from self-contempt. When we feel superior to our tormentors, we are likely to despise them, even pity them, but not hate them. That the relation between grievance and hatred is not simple and direct is also seen from the fact that the released hatred is not always directed against those who wronged us. Often, when we are wronged by one person, we turn our hatred on a wholly unrelated person or group. Russians, bullied by Stalin’s secret police, are easily inflamed against “capitalist warmongers;” Germans, aggrieved by the Versailles treaty, avenged themselves by exterminating Jews; Zulus, oppressed by Boers, butcher Hindus; white trash, exploited by Dixiecrats, lynch Blacks.
Self-contempt produces in man “the most unjust and criminal passions imaginable, for he conceives a mortal hatred against that truth which blames him and convinces him of his faults”...
Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
Whether it is true or not as Pascal says that “all men by nature hate each other,” and that love and charity are only “a feint and a false image, for at bottom they are but hate,” one cannot escape the impression that hatred is an all-pervading ingredient in the compounds and combinations of our inner life. All our enthusiasms, devotions, passions and hopes, when they decompose, release hatred."
--- The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements / Eric Hoffer
Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil. Usually the strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vividness and tangibility of its devil. When Hitler was asked whether he thought the Jew must be destroyed, he answered: “No…. We should have then to invent him. It is essential to have a tangible enemy, not merely an abstract one.” F. A. Voigt tells of a Japanese mission that arrived in Berlin in 1932 to study the National Socialist movement. Voigt asked a member of the mission what he thought of the movement. He replied: “It is magnificent. I wish we could have something like it in Japan, only we can’t, because we haven’t got any Jews.” It is perhaps true that the insight and shrewdness of the men who know how to set a mass movement in motion, or how to keep one going, manifest themselves as much in knowing how to pick a worthy enemy as in knowing what doctrine to embrace and what program to adopt. The theoreticians of the Kremlin hardly waited for the guns of the Second World War to cool before they picked the democratic West, and particularly America, as the chosen enemy...
Common hatred unites the most heterogeneous elements. To share a common hatred, with an enemy even, is to infect him with a feeling of kinship, and thus sap his powers of resistance. Hitler used anti-Semitism not only to unify his Germans but also to sap the resoluteness of Jew-hating Poland, Rumania, Hungary, and finally even France. He made a similar use of anti-communism.
It seems that, like the ideal deity, the ideal devil is one. We have it from Hitler—the foremost authority on devils—that the genius of a great leader consists in concentrating all hatred on a single foe, making “even adversaries far removed from one another seem to belong to a single category.” When Hitler picked the Jew as his devil, he peopled practically the whole world outside Germany with Jews or those who worked for them. “Behind England stands Israel, and behind France, and behind the United States.” Stalin, too, adheres to the monotheistic principle when picking a devil. Formerly this devil was a fascist; now he is an American plutocrat.
Again, like an ideal deity, the ideal devil is omnipotent and omnipresent. When Hitler was asked whether he was not attributing rather too much importance to the Jews, he exclaimed:
“No, no, no! … It is impossible to exaggerate the formidable quality of the Jew as an enemy.” Every difficulty and failure within the movement is the work of the devil, and every success is a triumph over his evil plotting.
We do not usually look for allies when we love. Indeed, we often look on those who love with us as rivals and trespassers. But we always look for allies when we hate.
It is understandable that we should look for others to side with us when we have a just grievance and crave to retaliate against those who wronged us. The puzzling thing is that when our hatred does not spring from a visible grievance and does not seem justified, the desire for allies becomes more pressing. It is chiefly the unreasonable hatreds that drive us to merge with those who hate as we do, and it is this kind of hatred that serves as one of the most effective cementing agents...
Even in the case of a just grievance, our hatred comes less from a wrong done to us than from the consciousness of our helplessness, inadequacy and cowardice—in other words from self-contempt. When we feel superior to our tormentors, we are likely to despise them, even pity them, but not hate them. That the relation between grievance and hatred is not simple and direct is also seen from the fact that the released hatred is not always directed against those who wronged us. Often, when we are wronged by one person, we turn our hatred on a wholly unrelated person or group. Russians, bullied by Stalin’s secret police, are easily inflamed against “capitalist warmongers;” Germans, aggrieved by the Versailles treaty, avenged themselves by exterminating Jews; Zulus, oppressed by Boers, butcher Hindus; white trash, exploited by Dixiecrats, lynch Blacks.
Self-contempt produces in man “the most unjust and criminal passions imaginable, for he conceives a mortal hatred against that truth which blames him and convinces him of his faults”...
Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
Whether it is true or not as Pascal says that “all men by nature hate each other,” and that love and charity are only “a feint and a false image, for at bottom they are but hate,” one cannot escape the impression that hatred is an all-pervading ingredient in the compounds and combinations of our inner life. All our enthusiasms, devotions, passions and hopes, when they decompose, release hatred."
--- The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements / Eric Hoffer
Post ID: 4951641907672269974
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