Links - 5th March 2018 (1)

The Cuisine of North India, An Introduction - "North Indian curries usually have thick, moderately spicy and creamy gravies. The use of dried fruits and nuts is fairly common even in everyday foods. Dairy products like milk, cream, cottage cheese, ghee (clarified butter) and yoghurt play an important role in the cooking of both savory and sweet dishes"

Post-modernity and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - "The advent of post-modernity has witnessed an undermining of social stability and coherence and a systematic weakening of those cultural institutions which provide meaning and order for individuals. Following trauma, the development of the characteristic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is currently understood to arise from a breakdown of meaning within the victim's world. I seek to establish an association between PTSD and the culture of post-modernity"

Miranda Devine: The truth Baby Boomer feminists refuse to admit - "WHEN young Sydney mother Maddie asked her closed Facebook group of 26,186 mothers for some tasty alternatives to sandwiches for her husband’s lunches, she wasn’t expecting the backlash... She was nothing but a “slave” and a “1950s housewife”. She was “weird” and no one in their right mind or a “pink fit” would do something so demeaning as make their husband lunch. Let alone snacks... “I was married for twenty years and my favourite packed lunch for my husband was called a Get it Yourself with a side order of I’m not your mother.”... Leader of the attack pack was Polly Dunning, daughter of professional feminist Jane Caro, and mother of a toddler about whom she infamously wrote last year, recounting her horror at finding out she was pregnant with a boy: “I felt sick at the thought of something male growing inside me.”... Amid the cute pics of babies and birthday cakes, a toxic wave of man-hating feminism is seeping into the world of mothers online... Consideration and give and take is the secret to a happy marriage, not treating the father of your children like an agent of the enemy patriarchy. It’s time to end the war of the sexes, even if it means making the odd sandwich"
#notallfeminists #yesallmen #notallnazis

'Victimhood narrative' taught in schools fuels anxiety in young women, academic claims - "The “victimhood narrative” that is being taught at schools and universities is fuelling anxiety in young women, an academic has argued in her new book. Doctrines of “everyday sexism” are “rape culture” are having a “debilitating” effect on girls’ confidence, according to Dr Joanna Williams, a lecturer in higher education at Kent University. Institutions which should be promoting women’s rights - such as schools, universities and feminist campaigners - are now doing more harm than good, she argues... the breed of feminism which is considered “fashionable” nowadays involves telling young women that casual misogyny and sexual harassment are rife. “I do think that there is one particular feminist narrative that seems to dominate in education”... “But it is increasingly out of touch with reality. Girls are doing so much better at school than boys, and yet we are having people like The Everyday Sexism Project are coming into schools sends out a message of: ‘just you wait, there are real difficulties ahead’.” She said that if girls are instilled with a mindset of victimhood at a young age, it can set them back later in life. “When women go out into the world of work and experience obstacles, rather than persevering they think ‘oh these are the insurmountable barriers I was told about'."... “It is very difficult for women to present themselves as powerful, strong and capable if they think they need to be wary and anxious," she said. "So if someone pays you a compliment [you are told] that is outrageous. You are told it is not a joke, it is a sexual attack, it is “everyday sexism” or a micro-aggression.” She went on: "It can also be tragic. I gave a talk at my university and a young woman came up to me at the end and says she doesn’t leave her room after dark"... Writing in Women vs Feminism, she said that today's dominant feminism narrative "clearly espouses one idea above all others: that women are disadvantaged and oppressed; routine victims of everyday sexism, casual misogyny and the workings of patriarchy". She argues that the better women’s lives become, "the harder it seems that a new generation of feminists must try to justify their purpose through uncovering ever more obscure problems"."

Black Group Wants Fewer African Students - "Black Students United takes issue with the fact that there are more African and Caribbean students on campus when compared to black students. The group defines black students as those who come from black families that have lived in America for two or more generations. While the group said it doesn’t mind the university trying to recruit African students, they want the college to pay more attention to black students whose families have been affected by years of white supremacy. “The Black student population at Cornell disproportionately represents international or first-generation African or Caribbean students. While these students have a right to flourish at Cornell, there is a lack of investment in Black students whose families were affected directly by the African Holocaust in America. Cornell must work to actively support students whose families have been impacted for generations by white supremacy and American fascism,” the group wrote."
Weren't Africans affected by years of colonialism?

Cornell’s Black Student Disunion - WSJ - "For years liberal writers have blamed black poverty and undereducation on racism—the experience of being more likely to be pulled over by police, to be looked at suspiciously in department stores, to be discriminated against in schools and the workplace. But it doesn’t seem to be the case, at least not to the same degree, among immigrants. “The more strongly black immigrant students identify with their specific ethnic origins, the better they perform [academically],” Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld observed in their 2014 book, “The Triple Package.”... Why does racism not seem to keep black immigrants down? The answer is obvious: Black immigrant culture tends to value academic achievement and believe it is possible no matter what happened to your ancestors. As one business school graduate born to Nigerian parents tells Ms. Chua and Mr. Rubenfeld: “If you start thinking about or becoming absorbed in the mentality that the whole system is against us then you cannot succeed.” Groups like the Cornell BSU insist that the system is out to get them and they cannot succeed. This makes the presence of high-achieving immigrant black students inconvenient. Between diversity and victimhood as the highest good in today’s academia, it’s hard to know where to place your money"
A victim mentality is self-perpetuating and a self-fulfilling prophecy - which is its genius

Feminists want us to define these ugly sexual encounters as rape. Don’t let them. - The Washington Post - "There was the time when, 19 and naive, I was guilt-tripped into entirely unwanted physical intimacies with a much older married man. And the time, three or four years later, when I went to visit an on-and-off long-distance boyfriend and quickly realized that it was over for me — but he assumed we were still on, and I didn’t have the nerve to say no. And the time I told a man, “Look, I’m not going to sleep with you,” and it was taken as, “Try again in a couple of hours.” He did, and it worked... what happened was not only consensual but wanted; my initial “no” was sincere, but it was mainly an attempt to stop myself from acting on an attraction against my better judgment. Besides, I know that sometimes the roles have been reversed... what happened was not only consensual but wanted; my initial “no” was sincere, but it was mainly an attempt to stop myself from acting on an attraction against my better judgment. Besides, I know that sometimes the roles have been reversed... A bizarre “consent porn” video created as an educational aid shows make-out sessions proceeding to a constant mutual refrain of “Is this okay?”; the apparent idea is to show that “consent is hot,” but the result looks more like a particularly tacky parody. Affirmative-consent proponents often assert that the new rules will make for better sex by encouraging people to talk about what they like in bed. Such arguments have unpleasant overtones of “we decide what’s best for you”; Kend explicitly states that if you cannot have “an adult conversation” about sex, “you shouldn’t be having it.” The meddling turns starkly authoritarian when the “encouragement” involves potential penalties — expulsion from college or even criminal charges if affirmative consent becomes a legal norm. Meanwhile, there is little regard for the preferences of people who like intuitive give-and-take rather than requests and directions. Sensual, playful or raunchy bedroom talk is very different from compulsory questions checking for a clear signal that you’re not crossing a line. Reluctance to engage in frank sexual communication is treated solely as a puritanical hang-up rather than a valid desire to preserve some spontaneity or dignity. And the wrong kind of communication, such as persuading an initially hesitant partner, is equated with sexual assault... Consent advocates already fret that even an explicit “yes” may not be given freely enough... The quest for perfect consent is profoundly utopian. Like all such quests that ignore human realities, it points the way to dystopian nightmare."
"They say you need to ask a woman three times to run for political office. Maybe it's the same thing with dating." (so much for #metoo)
Maybe we need enthusiastic consent when it comes to mentoring women in STEM or the workplace

Marxist Feminism’s Ruined Lives - "During my junior year in high school, the nuns asked about our plans for after we graduated. When I said I was going to attend State University, I noticed their disappointment. I asked my favorite nun, “Why?” She answered, “That means you'll leave four years later a communist and an atheist!" What a giggle we girls had over that. "How ridiculously unsophisticated these nuns are," we thought. Then I went to the university and four years later walked out a communist and an atheist, just as my sister Katie had six years before me... "How can we destroy monogamy?"
Their answer left me dumbstruck, breathless, disbelieving my ears. Was I on planet earth? Who were these people?
"By promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!" they resounded.
They proceeded with a long discussion on how to advance these goals by establishing The National Organization of Women. It was clear they desired nothing less than the utter deconstruction of Western society. The upshot was that the only way to do this was "to invade every American institution. Every one must be permeated with ‘The Revolution’": The media, the educational system, universities, high schools, K-12, school boards, etc.; then, the judiciary, the legislatures, the executive branches and even the library system."

Pakistani Christian 'attacked by Muslims over poppies' - "A Christian of Pakistani origin claims he had his nose broken by a gang of Muslims who attacked him for displaying a cross and poppies on his car. Tajamal Amar, 46, who fled Pakistan to escape violence, also suffered several lacerations to the head and body after being knocked out cold outside a fast food restaurant... Now Mr Amar wants to leave Derby because he no longer feels safe, but he tragically left Pakistan after being shot by Muslims there after refusing to convert to Islam"

Did Family Guy Warn Us About Kevin Spacey in 2005? - "Actor Anthony Rapp (most know him from Dazed and Confused), accused Kevin Spacey of making sexual advances towards him when he was just 14 years old. 14. Spacey responded by saying he was sorry if it happened but it was really long ago, and cynically decided to out himself as a gay man because he figured that was what people would focus on. No seriously, that was his response. And the media did what he thought they’d do!"

A disabled student caused some revolutionary Butthurt after changing his preferred name to ‘Lightning-Kachow-McQ’ - "The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in their attempt to be more progressive, recently rolled out some new policies that allow students to request their preferred names (as opposed to their real names) to be printed on their student identification cards. The policies were supposedly passed to allow “non binary” individuals to effortlessly change their preferred names to any names they would rather be known by. Teachers and professors are expected to refer to students by their new names rather than the names they were born with. Naturally, some trolling had to take place. Tyler Roope, a disabled wheelchair-bound UCLA student and the hero of our story decided to see just how far the school would go to uphold their new policies. He requested that his name be changed to “Lightning-Kachow-McQ” – a reference to a character from the movie “Cars”, named “Lightening Mcqueen” whose favorite catchphrase is “Kachow”. Tyler was basically making a self deprecating joke about his disability... So a disabled person person with a fantastic sense of humor made a joke about himself while (unintentionally) exposing just how ridiculous attempts to appease special snowflakes are. Well this looks like a good enough time for me to make this about myself and get offended"
I'm sure some of the people condemning Kachow think Pastafarianism is a genius idea because it exposes the inconsistencies of religion
Twitter comments: "What pain does it cause anyone? It's literally only impacting him since it's his ID."

Council house 'bribes' for UK terror suspects - "up to 20,000 extremists previously investigated by MI5 will be targeted with what critics last night described as ‘bribes’ aimed at turning them away from extremism... terrorism expert Professor Anthony Glees, of Buckingham University, said: ‘You can’t bribe people not to be terrorists.’... many known terrorists already enjoyed generous benefits or came from comfortable backgrounds, even using state welfare payments to fund their plots."

Politics is being taken over by children with a pipe dream of returning to the socialism I know doesn't work - "Those born after the era of Thatcherism or Rogernomics (its New Zealand counterpart, named after the reformist Roger Douglas under the radical Prime Minister David Lange) have never known what life was like under monopolistic inefficient state utilities and public transport services, with national debt hitting bankruptcy levels, inflation well into double figures and when the unions ran everything."

Liberals Abandoning the First Amendment, Part 4: Banning Books in Virginia - "When I open the Washington Post in the morning and find a headline like, “Banned Books, Chapter 2,” I assume that I will be reading about yet another attempt by certain conservative or religious groups to ban books from local libraries that they find objectionable, unethical, or sacrilegious. How ironic then that the debate over banning books that is currently unfolding in my home county of Fairfax County, Virginia, is being led by liberals"
From 2008

French Resistance 1944 : OldSchoolCool - "18 year old French Résistance fighter, Simone Segouin, during the liberation of Paris. [19 August 1944]"

Street Prostitution Zones and Crime - "This paper studies the effects of legal street prostitution zones on registered and perceived crime. We exploit a unique setting in the Netherlands where these tippelzones were opened in nine cities under different regulation systems. Our difference-in-difference analysis of 25 Dutch cities between 1994-2011 shows that opening a tippelzone decreases registered sexual abuse and rape by about 30-40 percent in the first two years. For cities which enforced licensing in tippelzones, we also find reductions in drug-related crime and long-term effects on sexual assaults"
Another study showing legalising prostitution reduces rape

Prostitution Reduces Rape - "a working paper by Riccardo Ciacci and María Micaela Sviatschi studies prostitution in New York and also finds that prostitution significantly reduces sex crimes such as rape... a wide variety of evidence from different authors, times and places, and experiments shows clearly and credibly that prostitution reduces rape. This finding is of great importance in considering how prostitution should be rationally regulated."
Feminists will just claim prostitution IS rape

Miscounting human trafficking and slavery - "Concluding that there are 29.8 million persons worldwide who are victims of forced labor, human trafficking, and slavery, the report seeks to lend empirical credence to the dubious estimate by the organization Free the Slaves that there are 27 million persons enslaved throughout the world. When the 27 million figure was first proposed, by Free the Slaves founder Kevin Bales, he justified it as simply a ‘guess.’ Given the incredibly unstandardized and fragmented information on which the Global Slavery Index is based, it has no more reliability... many media sources and government agencies (including the US State Department) have embraced these figures. The second report, ‘Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?’, seeks to determine whether countries where prostitution is legal have better or worse trafficking records than countries where prostitution is illegal. Using a report on 161 countries from the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), economists Seo-Young Cho, Axel Dreher, and Eric Neumayer ranked countries and tried to determine if their prostitution laws were related to their alleged prevalence of human trafficking. In doing so, they ignore the UNODC’s caution against using its report as a measure of the number of victims in any given country. UNODC highlighted the absence of a standard definition of trafficking across countries, the lack of transparency in data collection and reporting in many nations, the diverse nature of the sources, and the conflation of smuggling, trafficking, and irregular migration numbers by some countries. Cho and her colleagues acknowledge that their figures do “not reflect actual trafficking flows” and that it is “difficult, perhaps impossible, to find hard evidence” of a relationship between trafficking and anything else. They nevertheless use the UNODC report to draw bold conclusions about the relationship between trafficking and national prostitution laws. Even more problematic, the authors rely on aggregate national human trafficking figures – that combine labor, sex, and other kinds of trafficking – in their attempt to assess whether legal prostitution makes a difference. Thus, there is an embarrassing mismatch between the generic trafficking figures and prostitution law (for which only sex trafficking figures should have been used). By way of analogy, imagine using an analysis that compares national-level drug trafficking prevalence – all illegal drugs, that is – with the legal status of one drug, marijuana possession. This is not the only problem with the Cho study. Its authors examine trafficking at a single time point, which is something that should be tracked over time to include data from before and after the legal institutionalization of prostitution. They furthermore ignore the important question of whether, and how, prostitution laws are actually enforced. Their analysis is confined to ‘law on the books,’ ignoring the ways in which the law is, or is not, implemented on the ground... A ton of money has been spent by governments and the international community on anti-trafficking programs over the past 15 years. Yet, compared to the claimed high magnitude of the problem, few victims have been located and assisted and similarly few traffickers have been prosecuted worldwide."
As Cho et al note in their paper, "Our dependent variable thus does not reflect actual trafficking flows, and needs to be interpreted cautiously"