France Is Debating Whether French Is Sexist – Foreign Policy - "A recent Odoxa/Le Figaro poll revealed that 53 percent of French women say they have been the object of sexual aggression or harassment. The question posed by the Manifesto of 314, however, pivots on the proper response to this flood. In this particular instance, the question becomes whether language is complicit in the persistence of the social inequities and physical aggressions faced by women. Can words make, and unmake, this particular facet of the world we inhabit? The answer, according to the 34 “immortals” presiding over the Académie française, is a definitive “non.” Last week, the immortals — 30 of whom happen to be immortels and only four immortelles — released a statement warning against the “mortal peril” that inclusive writing presents to the French language. It is already difficult enough to learn French, they intoned, even without this proposed “aberration.” Conservatives have been elbowing one another aside in order to echo this warning. Marc Fumaroli, a renowned historian of the French language and member of the Académie, spoke for them by declaring that “the French language, whether practiced by Madame de Sévigné or Dominique Bouhours, by Simone de Beauvoir or Jean-Paul Sartre, is a matter of grammar, not political sociology.” Many conservative critics have focused their ire on the so-called “point médian.” This is the period that partisans of inclusive writing insert in nouns and adjectives in order to include the male and female genders. Thus, les citoyens, or citizens, becomes les citoyen.ne.s, a term that might flop as a call to arms, while even clunkier examples — agriculteurs, or farmers, becomes les agricult.eur.rice.s — would likely drive them off the farms. For the well-known philosopher Raphaël Enthoven, who has published books on semiotics and the absurd, the point médian represents egalitarianism run amuck, a “virtuous form of negationism.” It will, he muttered in a radio interview, “impoverish language as Newspeak did in 1984.” Tellingly, women who identify as feminists have also expressed, in more measured language, doubts over inclusive writing. The minister of culture, Françoise Nyssen — on leave as president of the prestigious publishing house Actes Sud, admitted that she was “not really in favor” of the practice, while Marlène Schiappa, the government official tasked with addressing gender equality, declared that while she encouraged the “feminization” of French — for example, using phrases like “les Françaises et les Français” — she saw no point to the point médian. “Quite honestly, it is not something I support. I think it is complicated to teach at school.”... Raphaël Haddad, author of an inclusive writing textbook for elementary school students, insists that, for women, the “semantic disadvantages” in French inexorably lead to “social disadvantages.” One school of linguists dispute Haddad’s assumption. In The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker summarizes this position: “There is no scientific evidence that languages dramatically shape their speakers’ way of thinking.” Other linguists, however, insist that language inevitably filters and forms our experiences of the world"
Liberalism as leapfrogging loyalties - "the defining aspect of 21st Century liberalism (or leftism or whatever you want to call it) is "leapfrogging loyalties." The default human tendency is toward concentric loyalties. If you look at people in Szechuan or Paraguay or Burkina Faso, you'll notice that they tend to feel the most duties and allegiance toward people whom they consider most like themselves, moderate amounts toward people moderately close to them, and so forth onward and outward. But the Western liberal is noteworthy for feeling loyalty toward his inner circle, however defined, then ostentatiously leapfrogging over a whole bunch of people who are kind of like him but whom he despises, in order to embrace The Other... Meyer is embracing Mohammed Merah, an anti-Semitic mass murderer, as a handy club with which to beat the majority of the French for their insensitivity to Mr. Merah. Granted, even by the standards of anti-Semitic terrorists, Merah seems like nasty, dismal company, but he appeals to Meyer and to the editors of the New York Times because he's The Other. He's not like all those terrible people whom Meyer and the editors strive to be seen as better than, so that makes him useful"
Toronto Pride Wieners : r/toRANTo - "Am I being a prude or walking around on the street with your d1ck fully out a bit too much? I’ve been to pride in other places in the world and haven’t experienced that. Saw about 4 last night. I’m gay myself but can’t understand the need to do that or at least force people to be a part of whatever that is."
"This! Went to Pride in 2022 and it was quite inappropriate and foul. I would always go to Pride in my highschool/uni years (early 2010’s), and the event was actually about Pride, celebration and happiness. Now (or since the 2020’s) it’s completely lost the plot and become a cesspool of degrading behaviour, public nudity + sex acts, and seldom has anything linked to actual pride."
Toronto Pride Wieners : r/toRANTo - "In the Toronto Pride weekend, last year, I worked security at a location on Church St. Three days, 12 hours each day. $18.50 hourly and (1) one, 5-10 minute break once each day. No meal breaks ... I witnessed many that were full of nudity / completely naked, Police walking by seeing it. Men naked with boots on and balloons tied to their soft penises strolling down Church St. I saw some Moms with extremely young sons and daughters walking the streets. I see some large corporations removing sponsorship. I don't know why. Now it seems there are many reports of theft and small crimes becoming more common. I am not planning to witness it this year. It's peaceful considering the size of the crowds. Volume of people. Safer than Caribana. Less emergency sirens. Does outward sexuality mean it's more celebrated? Can acceptance be acknowledged and happy without full nudity? It was permitted last year. I saw Police watching without interrupting it. Is it the message that the demographic wants to promote?"
Internalised homophobia!
Is it me, or do Asians that try to look westernized just look weird to you? : r/aznidentity - "If you live in America anyways, the recent anti-immigration and anti anything non-white by the Trump Admin emboldened the sentiment of so many Westerners to reveal how they truly feel deep down by anyone non-white. When I say westernized, I mean really muscular, beard, white guy haircut, really tanned skin but you're East Asian, etc. No matter how hard you try, you will never fit in or be a Westerner. I ask this because I have noticed when I was growing up, there was a sense of shame and peer pressure to look more "westernized" and not go for the Kpop look because it's too fobby."
"A lot of your topics seem to stem from your personal grievance and trauma (edit: and possibly culture shock from not being able to understand other cultural standards). Seems like you need more of a therapist than consulting with a bunch of Redditors"
Is it me, or do Asians that try to look westernized just look weird to you? : r/aznidentity - "A lot of us are born here / grew up here and consider ourselves Asian American (not Asians from Asia). So why be surprised if we follow American trends."
"What’s next? Will you be telling us that people are products of their environments and not just locked into an ethnicity?! /s"
Fury as Labour council axes funding for morris dancing group in ‘blackface’ row - "A Labour-led council has pulled funding from a morris dancing group following allegations of "blackface" after they wore grey face paint to a local event. Members of Sandbach Town Council in Cheshire voted to remove £6,000 of funding previously allocated to the local Day of Dance after outcry at members of the public donning face paint while competing for the coveted Sandbach stick at the celebratory morris dancing festival. Morris dancers historically wore black soot on their faces, supposedly as a disguise so they could beg for money without being identified"
NDP leadership rules are out — and they limit signatures from cis men - "Prospective federal NDP leadership candidates will have to raise $100,000 and amass 500 signatures from members — most of which cannot come from cisgender men — to be officially in the running, according to rules... The party also requires a minimum of 100 signatures be from “equity-seeking groups” such as racialized members, Indigenous members, members of the LGBTQ+ community and persons living with disabilities. The party did not immediately respond when asked how officials would reasonably verify if members identified as cisgender men or as being part of “equity-seeking groups.” Finally, at least 10 per cent of the signatures must come from young New Democrats... In a recent podcast with former TVO host Steve Paikin, NDP interim leader Don Davies admitted that his party had its “worst result” in its history and hinted the NDP should redirect its focus on working people instead of focusing too much on identity politics."
Surely this will strengthen the party and let it regain official party status! Clearly they are just a workers' party
Adam Pankratz: The NDP is here to rescue us from 'cis' men - "If there were any lingering doubt, the party of the working class is now definitively the party of identity politics and grievance culture. This is the language that broadcasts to Canadians that the message the NDP got from their electoral drubbing is that they must be even more radical. While the NDP’s tone deafness to public sentiment is remarkable, the manner in which it facilitates the exclusion of women is even more staggering. Nowhere, readers of the rules will note, is it specified that 50 per cent of signatories must be female, only not “cis man.” That is to say, a candidate can be approved with a combination of cis men and trans women, all natal males, without the need to seek the approval of a single female. While this scenario is admittedly unlikely, it is staggering that a party so hell bent on “inclusivity” and “equity” is so obviously comfortable with the erasure of women from its inclusion criteria. By refusing to mention the word “woman” anywhere, the NDP have signalled their virtue, all while displaying the electoral communications sophistication of trepanned gnat. This display of lunacy follows hot on the heels of endlessly poor political decisions by Jagmeet Singh to prostrate the party before Justin Trudeau and the Liberals in exchange for a pittance. From 2019 to 2025 when the Liberals had a minority, the NDP didn’t hold the government to account in any tangible way... Even when Liberal polling numbers were in freefall in late 2024, Singh somehow couldn’t bring himself to pull the plug on his support for the Liberals. The descent of the NDP into absurd irrelevancy is sad. Historically the NDP have often been good for Canada even if they have not governed federally. The NDP pushed for universal healthcare, equitable pensions, women’s equality and gay rights. They can be commended for this and their contribution in pushing for a fairer society. The NDP grandees of old should also be respected for this. The current NDP is a frail carcass of grievance, extremism and zealotry which bears no resemblance to its respectable past"
Meme - saira rao @sairasameerarao: "This country is a racist transphobic homophobic xenophobic ableist classist Islamophobic misogynistic dumpster fire. As such, seeing the American flag makes me want to vomit."
Clearly, she just loves the US and holds it to higher standards
We're still told that left wingers don't hate their countries
Meme - "WELCOME TO CHINADA. Where the Liberal media will criticize Trump for using the Coast Guards and the Marines to squash the LA riots but supported Justin Trudeau's use of the RCMP to put a stop to the Freedom Convoy back in 2022.
*No* Peaceful protestors who stood up to their government's abuse of power.
*Yes* Violent protestors who are attacking police officers and setting cars on fire.
There is a good reason why our government spends more than $1.7 Billion subsidizing mainstream media. This is NOT about what's right and what's wrong. It's about control..."
Meme - Sall Grover @salltweets: "It is important that everyone gets over the fear of being (incorrectly) labeled some kind of "phobe". Safeguarding depends upon it."
The Noticer @NoticerNews: "A Melbourne father whose son went to a childcare centre where alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown worked says he found him "weird and creepy" but didn't report his concerns for fear of being labelled "homophobic". "I didn't want to be that guy""
A void of moral courage at the very heart of the Liberal party - "Quebec MP Anthony Housefather and 31 of his Liberal colleagues signed a statement on “the deplorable rise of antisemitism in Canada.”... the Jewish community, representing just one per cent of the Canadian population, is the target of 70 per cent of hate crimes... the deafening silence in response spoke louder than the statement itself. Out of 169 Liberal members of Parliament, only 31 joined Housefather in signing the statement. Of those, at least five are Jewish. In other words, just 26 non-Jewish Liberal MPs supported a document that did not advance a political agenda, but simply condemned hate against Jews... It’s a signal to antisemites that even in the face of violence, even when a Jewish woman is stabbed in public, condemnation is not unanimous, not resolute and not bipartisan... A picture is building of a government failing to rally against antisemitism, while siding with Hamas and declaring it will recognize a Palestinian state, even though such a state currently does not exist by any reasonable definition. Foreign policy is being driven not by logic but by internal demographics, and by an instinct to appease rather than to lead on principle. A system of government that bows to shifting demographics rather than moral clarity will always fail the most vulnerable... If the Liberal party was once based on equity and inclusivity, this exercise has proven otherwise" Left wingers only pretend to care about the Jews when they can use that to shit on white people
Should queer roles only be played by queer actors? Joanna Lumley wades into debate - "Joanna Lumley has said the world will become “boring beyond disbelief” if actors aren’t allowed to play characters with differing sexualities or nationalities to their own. The 79-year-old Absolutely Fabulous star stated in a new interview that casting directors were stripping acting away from the craft “because they’re saying, ‘If you’re going to play a lesbian, you’ve got to be a lesbian’”. When asked if she had been put in a box throughout her 50-year-long career, Lumley replied “sort of”, adding: “They’re not going to put me in as a Scottish Highland woman. Even if I could get the accent right, you wouldn’t go to me first. And also, in today’s climate, they would go to somebody who is a Scot.” Lumley told the i newspaper that she “completely understands” why, highlighting the 1989 film My Left Foot, in which Daniel Day-Lewis plays an Irishman with severe cerebral palsy. “He wouldn’t have been allowed to do it,” said Lumley. “Maybe the film wouldn’t have been allowed to be made. And so you suddenly think, ‘Hang on, where is the line?’ It takes acting away from the whole thing.” Lumley suggested that the entertainment industry should go back to “storytelling”, adding: “We’re entertainers, grasshoppers. If you can’t do that, then the world becomes boring beyond belief. If we can’t act things, what’s the point of actors?”... In 2021, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies declared that gay roles should be reserved for queer actors in a move towards greater authenticity. Several straight actors, including Cate Blanchett, Rachel Weisz, Sean Penn and Suranne Jones, who have played queer characters, have disagreed with the idea. “I will fight to the death for the right to suspend disbelief and play roles beyond my experience,” Blanchett said in 2018, while Penn called the idea “a timid and artless policy toward the human imagination”. However, in 2018, Darren Criss, who won a Golden Globe for his role as Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, vowed to turn down queer roles in the future for fear of being “another straight boy taking a gay man’s role”."
Given how many queer people there are in the entertainment industry, maybe queer people should be banned from playing straight roles
Afghan women die in rubble as male rescuers refuse to touch them - "Afghan women were left to die in the wake of the country’s 6.6 magnitude earthquake because of Taliban rules forbidding unrelated men from having contact with them... The strict rules also ban women from being employed as rescue workers themselves... A Community Health Worker confirmed to The Telegraph that more than three pregnant women died because they were not treated by men. “I believe their number could be too high, in hundreds,” he said. During a major 2023 earthquake in Herat, western Afghanistan, nearly six out of ten of those who lost their lives were women, and nearly two-thirds of those injured were women."
Luckily this happened in Afghanistan. If it'd been in Florida, where women have even fewer rights, who knows what would've happened?!
Manpower is offensive term, Spelthorne council claims - "Spelthorne borough council, in Surrey, has issued an inclusive language guide advising that “staffing” should be used instead as a gender-neutral alternative. It is one of several recommendations issued by the authority to help staff use “inclusive language at work”. The council is run by a Liberal Democrat-led coalition... Similar words and phrases were also discouraged in the guide, including “man hours” – replaced by “work hours” – and “chairman”, which should be “chairperson”. The guide also advises that “spouse or partner” should be used instead of “husband or wife” and that “ladies” should be avoided in favour of “women”. Other recommendations centre on terms relating to physical disabilities, such as “blind spot”, “tone-deaf” and “lame”. It recommended these be replaced by “problem area”, “doesn’t listen at all times” and “not enjoyable” respectively. Elsewhere, the phrase “slaving away” is discouraged in favour of “working hard”. The guide also tells staff to use “different sex” instead of “opposite sex”. Other discouraged words include “blacklist” and “addict”, which the council says should be replaced by “block list” and “substance use disorder”. Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, the director of campaign group Don’t Divide Us, told The Telegraph that the guide was “patronising” and laced with “stupidity”... the Labour-controlled Merton council in south-west London had instructed staff to stop using the words “mother” and “father” to refer to parents. The authority said “caregivers” was more appropriate because it did not make assumptions about a child’s biological parents. In January, the Liberal Democrat-run Sutton borough council in south London said people should not be asked for their “Christian” name. The term should be replaced by “first name, forename or given name”, the authority said. Other examples of inclusive language guides include the European Union, which advised against the use of words such as “tradesman” and “man-made” because they are not inclusive. In March, B&Q said using the phrase “blind drunk” was offensive to disabled people because it associated “impairments with negative things”. In May, the University of Liverpool told students that asking someone for their pronouns was not inclusive because people may feel pressured to “out themselves” as transgender."
Some left wingers claim you must ask people for their pronouns. Others claim you can't. Which ones are the bigots? Maybe both
The victims of Britain’s free speech crackdown - "Julian Foulkes. Detained over post warning of rising anti-Semitism. In November 2023, the 71-year-old retired special constable was arrested and detained over a social media post warning about the threat of anti-Semitism in Britain. Mr Foulkes, from Gillingham, Kent, was handcuffed at his home by six officers from Kent Police – the force he had served for over a decade – after challenging a supporter of pro-Palestinian marches on X. He mocked an account supporting the pro-Palestine protests, saying: “One step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals”. His home was searched, devices seized and he was locked in a police cell for eight hours and interrogated on suspicion of malicious communications. In May 2025, Kent Police admitted the caution was a mistake and deleted it from Mr Foulkes’s record.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce. Investigated for praying outside abortion clinic
The Catholic pro-life campaigner is being investigated by police for the third time for silently praying in a “buffer zone” around an abortion clinic in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham. She was first arrested in November 2022 but was acquitted in February 2023, and then weeks later, rearrested by officers who told her that silent prayer within a buffer zone was an offence. In October last year, a new law was introduced making it an offence to do anything that intentionally or recklessly influences someone’s decision to use abortion services, or harass, disrupt or alarm them. Ms Vaughan-Spruce insists her actions of silent weekly prayer outside the clinic are not a breach of the new law. Earlier this year, she lodged a formal complaint against the force, claiming that she was still being regularly harassed by officers restricting her freedom of expression, but then was advised that the force could not deal with her complaint as she was the subject of another live investigation.
Ahmad Baker. Censured by NHS trust over support for Palestine
The senior NHS nurse said he was ordered to remove a background on his video calls...
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine. Detained for messages shared in parents’ WhatsApp chat
The couple, from Borehamwood, were arrested following a dispute with their daughter’s school, which included messages shared on a parents’ WhatsApp chat...
Allison Pearson. Questioned on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred
Last year, The Telegraph revealed that its columnist Allison Pearson was questioned at home on Remembrance Sunday by two Essex Police officers over an X post following pro-Palestinian protests...
Rose Docherty. Arrested for holding anti-abortion sign
The 75-year-old was arrested after police were called to reports of an anti-abortion protest near the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in February. She had been holding a sign that read: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” Ms Docherty became the first person to be charged under a new law that created buffer zones outside Scottish abortion clinics. In August, she was cleared of her silent protest after the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) stated that it had decided she should face no further action from prosecutors. She described the result as “a victory not just for me, but for everyone in Scotland who believes we should be free to hold a peaceful conversation”...
Caroline Farrow. Detained for using wrong pronoun for trans woman... The complaint had come from Susie Green, the founder of the embattled transgender rights charity, Mermaids, who alleged that Mrs Farrow had misgendered her daughter, Jackie...
Lucy Connolly. Jailed for stirring up racial hatred...
Rob Davies. Ordered by police take down ‘scumbags shoplifting’ sign...
Helen Jones. Visited by police after criticising Labour councillor online...
Robert Moss. Arrested over negative posts about his bosses online...
Rick Prior. Former head of Met Police Federation banned from running for election...
Harry Miller. Visited by police over transphobic tweets"
Telling someone to get an abortion should be an offence, but two tier policing means no one will be arrested for it
Telling people not to be political at work is bad, apparently
Thread by @matt_vanswol on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "I have been struggling to comprehend why leftists are defending radical Muslims. They are essentially antithetical to everything the woke stand for and it made no sense at all. Then... it dawned on me 🧵
When I say "antithetical" I mean truly POLAR OPPOSITES.
a) Woke ideology: gender fluidity, LGBTQ+ affirmation, secularism.
b) Islamist extremism: fixed binaries, compulsory modesty, theocracy.
They are quite literally the FURTHEST each side could get from each other...
I could go on and on...
a) Woke = speech codes to protect feelings.
b) Islamist extremism = blasphemy laws with prison
a) Woke: “all religions oppress,”
b) Islamist extremism: religious supremacy in everything
...so why the strange bedfellows?
Then it dawned on me that two have literally nothing in common... other than a common enemy: The enemy: Western Civilization
I can think of no other explanation than that both sides will tolerate each other's inherent worldview contradictions to gain power and destroy the West.
Why do both sides “hate the West”? I believe the short answer is: the West’s core values. Free speech, freedom of religion, equality under the law, free market choice, etc. All of these are a wall against any movement that wants total moral control... ...which BOTH sides do
In America, no one gets a monopoly on truth or power. We have elections. We have free speech. For the Leftists who want a cultural revolution...or Islamists who want sharia rule...that’s an existential crisis. The West must be destroyed for the movement to survive. They have different scriptures, but essentially the same structure: Both sides treat disagreement as a sin... both have speech codes, taboos, purity tests, and "prophets". Both believe that ends-justify-means in this alliance. But...the alliance is temporary.
I find the irony so rich. Between the two, the Islamists will win.. and the VERY FIRST people outlawed will be the very same liberal activists who defended them. Woke will not win because they have no children... but if they did, they’ll ban Islamists’ speech. Oh the irony. One side wants drag queen story hour for kids... the other side wants the de*th penalty for it. They cannot coexist. They can only band together long enough to weaken the West’s foundations and destroy it together. ...and my concern is the we are letting them
Trump won the popular vote. There is a silent majority. That silent majority assumed the norms and institutions would always hold. But they absolutely won’t. When normal people check out, the zealots check in... Silence is asymmetric. The Leftists and the radical Islamists treat your politeness as PERMISSION TO KEEP GOING. To push harder. The silent majority doesn't want to offend... so the quiet voids sounds a lot like "a consensus" and they rewrite the rules accordingly. It's why so many people, I think, come up to me and say "I agree with all of this... but I cannot say a thing." They whisper it. They know they will be punished. Self-censorship has seemed to metastasize. People are not, and will not, tell the truth in public. A free society can’t survive that. But eventually it won't be just you. This will reach your kids. Curricula, hiring, scholarships, speech codes... rules that decide what they learn and how. Neutral rules NEED US TO DEFEND THEM. They won't defend themselves. The silent majority needs to get loud, or we are going to lose everything. It's now or never."
