Links - 9th October 2019 (1)

Boris Johnson sparks outrage, saying everyone in Britain should speak English first - "Boris Johnson, a front-runner to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing St., ruffled some feathers on Friday when he said ‘‘there are too often parts of our country . . . where English is not spoken by some people as their first language.’’ ‘‘And that needs to be changed,’’ he said.The most important priority for immigrants should be ‘‘to be and to feel British,’’ he said, ‘‘and to learn English.’’"
He said he wanted immigrants to feel British and to take part in the economy and society. So it seems British multiculturalism discourages ethnic minorities from being employable, feeling British and generally integrating (perhaps so racism can be blamed for that instead)

4 Television Productions That Show How British Media Is “Blackwashing” History
Some of these are historical figures, so the "they're fictional characters so it's okay" argument doesn't fly. Besides which, "whitewashing" is scandalous when done to fictional characters

'Ghost in the Shell' Anime Director Slams Casting Criticism - "Scarlett Johansson was cast as the live-action adaptation’s lead character, a robot named Motoko Kusanagi. Now, Mamoru Oshii, the director of the original anime adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, said that he has no problem with Johansson playing a role many have understood to be an Asian woman. His reasoning? Ghost in the Shell’s main character is a cyborg with no fixed form or race, he explained to IGN, so he doesn’t consider Johansson’s casting as Hollywood whitewashing. “What issue could there possibly be with casting her? The Major is a cyborg and her physical form is an entirely assumed one. The name ‘Motoko Kusanagi’ and her current body are not her original name and body, so there is no basis for saying that an Asian actress must portray her,” he told IGN via email. “Even if her original body (presuming such a thing existed) were a Japanese one, that would still apply.”"

Opinion | The Dominance of the White Male Critic - The New York Times - "culture is a battleground where some narratives win and others lose. Whether we believe someone should be locked in a cage or not is shaped by the stories we absorb about one another, and whether they’re disrupted or not. At a time when inequality and white supremacy are soaring, collective opinion is born at monuments, museums, screens and stages — well before it’s confirmed at the ballot box. Yet those who have for decades been given the biggest platforms to interpret culture are white men. This means that the spaces in media where national mythologies are articulated, debated and affirmed are still largely segregated. The conversation about our collective imagination has the same blind spots as our political discourse.The six most influential art critics in the country, as selected by their peers, are all white... Almost all of them are men who have written for legacy publications for at least 20 years... Old-school white critics ought to step aside and make room for the emerging and the fully emerged writers of color"
If you can't compete, drive out the competition

Islamic extremists are obsessed with gay porn, says expert - "Islamist extremist hackers are “primarily” motivated by using gay porn and sending images of their penises, according to one technology expert... some Islamist extremist hackers were closeted gay or bisexual men, who developed their computer skills so as to bypass censorship technologies used in their homophobic countries. According to Graham, these extremists are often required to post images of their genitalia as part of their initiation process... Graham explained that it was difficult to understand why gay Islamic extremists would engage with terrorist ideology that advocates against the western world and LGBT+ rights... “Their goal is to get married and have children. Sure, they want gay sex and intimate relationships with men, but they also want a subservient wife who manages the household, and the deep family ties that come with spawning progeny.”
???

Nivea Ad That Promises 'Visibly Fairer Skin' Sparks Controversy In West Africa - "skin lightening products are popular. According to a 2002 survey of 450 residents of Lagos, done by the University of Cape Town, an estimated 77 percent use them.
If 77% used skin lightening products, presumably even more think they're not problematic. Cultural imperialism is good when it spreads liberal values

Amazon bans books on gay ‘conversion therapy’. Is the Bible next? - "After all, it is the Bible that condemns same-sex relationships and the Bible that speaks of those who once practiced homosexuality but do so no more (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). These people, today, would be known as “ex-gays.” And it was Dr. Nicolosi’s life work to help people with unwanted same-sex attractions.Why, then, should Amazon ban his books but continue to sell the Bible, which provides the theological underpinnings for Dr. Nicolosi’s scientific work?... there are numerous books on Amazon written by ex-gays, sharing their wonderful stories of transformation. Will their books be banned next?And what about the books that come to different scientific conclusions than the LGBT activists and their allies? And the books that challenge the goals of LGBT activism in society? And the books that reiterate the Scriptural prohibition of same-sex relationships?... What makes this especially frightening is that it appears that one man, Rojo Alan, based in England, was responsible for getting the books removed... Amazon carries thousands of books (perhaps, several hundred thousand books) that many readers find harmful and distasteful. Amazon carries a staggering array of material which offends many buyers or which raises serious concerns among others."
The people who want to force bakers to bake gay cakes are celebrating this, of course, even though the market impact of a near-monopoly is very different from that of a small business (and stocking a product you don't make yourself is very different from compelled speech)

Some People Think Skittles' All-White Pride Candies Are Racist - "the Wrigley-owned brand unveiled an all-white version of the candy in an effort to allow “Pride’s rainbow to take center stage.”... By going all-white, they say, Skittles fail to reflect racial diversity within the queer community... The criticism comes just days after Philadelphia added two new stripes ― black and brown ― to its rainbow flag to acknowledge queer people of color in its 2017 Pride festivities. The stripes, which were added as part of Philly’s More Color More Pride campaign, angered some who felt that drawing attention to race went against the original mission of rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker, who died in March"
When virtue signalling backfires

Segments of Random Thoughts - Posts - "Gay men were biphobic at Pride: this needs to stop. Why is biphobia happening at a Pride event, of all places?"
"Dated a bi girl last year who told me that bisexuals are called "greedy" by many in the LGBTQplusminus community. Part of it has to do with the growing anti-hetero sentiment in the said community. #Tolerance #Diversity #Inclusion"
Addendum: Original article: "One report found that bisexual people face just as much discrimination within the LGBTI community as they do from straight people.The Equality Network found 66% of bisexuals do not feel part of the LGBTI community. Figures that seem to have a knock-on effect. Bisexual adults are also much less likely to join an LGBTII organization or attend an LGBTQ Pride event.Biphobia coming from within the LGBT community is actually so well-documented there is actually a term for it. Researchers came up with the term ‘androcentric desire hypothesis’ to describe the phenomenon that gay and lesbian people perceive bisexuals as being more attracted to men, which is why they treat us with disrespect."
Heterophobia strikes again

Gay Son of a 'Straight Pride' Rally Organizer is Working to Get Event Canceled
Freedom for me, but not for thee

Mike Luso 🖤🇺🇸 on Twitter - "”Straight sex is rape” flyers are being handed out by counter protesters at #StraightPrideParade."
So much for claiming there's no such thing as heterophobia, and straight people have never faced discrimination
Segments of Random Thoughts - Posts - "These absurdities are rooted in feminist theory including intersectionality. Renowned feminist Andrea Dworkin famously wrote, “The normal fvck by a normal man is taken to be an act of invasion and ownership undertaken in a mode of predation." And intersectionality is the framework used by feminists to take down straight white cis men aka THE PATRIARCHY."

Why I’m sick of Pride | Coffee House - "Anyone else sick of the Pride flag? It’s everywhere. It flutters from virtually every building in central London. Town halls across the country are emblazoned with it. Every bank, corporation, supermarket and celebrity Twitter account has had a rainbow makeover. There are Pride-themed sandwiches, beer bottles, cakes. Jon Snow has even worn Pride-coloured socks. You could be forgiven for thinking we’ve been conquered by a foreign army that has proceeded to stick its flag in every nook, cranny and orifice of the nation... The riotous counterculturalists of the Sixties and Seventies demanded freedom. They didn’t give a damn what the ‘moral majority’ thought of them  — they just wanted the moral majority to leave them alone.Fast forward to 2019, and that historic human instinct to be left alone in liberty has been replaced by a needy and therapeutic politics of recognition. Now gay-rights activists don’t demand autonomy — they want validation. Everyone has to wave their flag and celebrate their lifestyle and embrace the strange new idea that trans women are literally women, and if you don’t it’s off to the metaphorical gulag with you... That flag sums up everything that is wrong with our era. Its message is that you should be proud of yourself simply for what you are — for having been ‘born this way’, as Lady Gaga puts it — rather than for what you have achieved. As a symbol, it’s a celebration of the self, of an accident of birth, of something as mundane as who one sleeps with. It’s an invitation to narcissism and, as such, it further corrodes the social solidarity and sense of community so many of us long for today. Pride, the institution, is anti-social.Contrast the chattering class’s reaction to the Pride flag with their reaction to the St George’s flag. Wave that latter flag from your home and they’ll think you’re a racist. Bring it to work and flap it out the window and someone would probably call the police. Get it tattooed on your forearm and the middle-class members of the new moral majority will make an instant judgement about you: ill-educated, hates blacks, loves going mental at the football, probably beats his wife, eats fry-ups too often.But wave the Pride flag and they’ll love you. That’s because pride in oneself is the only pride that is allowed in our identitarian era. National pride is tantamount to a crime, pride in one’s culture or history is suspect. But pride in one’s own identity? Here, have a newspaper column to tell us more!... there are huge numbers of people out there, who we rarely hear from, who feel a strong attachment to the national British or English identity and who even have pangs of national pride. And it isn’t because they’re racist — it’s because they want to feel part of something bigger than themselves. This urge to look beyond oneself to the possibility of national togetherness and solidarity is surely more positive than the new cult of identity politics and its invitation to constant self-gazing and self-celebration... the fact you are gay is the least interesting thing about you. Tell me something else."

Ben Harris-Quinney on Twitter - "#GayPride in UK now runs from Feb to Oct-with June being the focal point 9 months of the year dedicated to a sexual preference of 1-2% of the population. Why would any society make this a cause for a celebration spanning most of the year?"

Ammar Khan on Twitter - "We love Malaysia so much that when my wife and I travel we don't tell people we're Malay or Chinese. We tell them we're Singaporeans so that when we act like a couple of idiots, people will say, "Fucking Singaporeans!" #SayangiMalaysiaku"
"No worries mate, when we go to 3rd world countries for holiday we say we’re from Malaysia too so that we don’t get scammed cos everyone will think we’re broke."

Dating Apps Are Making Marriages Stronger - WSJ - "Online dating has been criticized for lots of things. Some say that it encourages a “meat market” approach to romance, offering too much choice—and too much temptation to constantly look for something better. Others deride it as nothing more than a platform for arranging quick hookups. But there is now evidence that online dating could, in fact, be improving the likelihood of romantic compatibility—and making marriages stronger... Researchers from the University of Chicago found that more than a third of U.S. marriages between 2005 and 2012 started online—and that online couples have longer, happier marriages. The study of more than 19,000 participants, published in 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the “relationship quality” of partners who meet online may be higher—and the rate of separation or divorce lower—than for partners who meet offline. According to the study, the rate of marital breakups for respondents who met their spouse online was 25% lower than for those who met offline. The researchers suggested that a greater pool of potential spouses might give users more options and allow them to be more selective.They also found that more anonymous online communications produced greater self-disclosure—and stronger feelings of affection—than face-to face communications, laying the foundation for more enduring relationships. A 2011 paper published in the journal Communication Research reached a similar conclusion. In a study of 85 participants conducted by researchers at Cornell University, opposite-sex participants were assigned to a face-to-face exchange, an online exchange with the addition of a webcam, or a text-only exchange. Researchers found that the text-only couples made more statements of affection than either of the other groups and were more comfortable sharing intimate information... “Most online daters have a tendency to discuss the reasons their last relationships have failed without even realizing it,” says Mr. Resnick. “This gives savvy singles a chance to peek into the actual mind-sets of potential partners and not just into their favorite food or the last book they read.” “Relationships only last when your goals are aligned,” says Amy Schoen, a life and dating coach based in Washington, D.C.  Online dating reveals those goals “up front and center,” she said. It requires singles to understand and articulate their own values and goals in a way many never have. This is important because, as Ms. Schoen put it, “knowing yourself is the first step in knowing what you need from a good partner, and how to be one yourself.”... “I found that people who dated online were far more likely to commit than their offline counterparts, not in spite of what else was available but because of what else was available,” said Ms. Carbino. “Unlike most offline daters, they could actually visualize the market. They knew what’s out there, and they knew who they’re matching with and who they’re not.”Over time, said Ms. Carbino, people relaxed their preferences and were more likely to give a chance to someone who wasn’t exactly what they thought they were searching for. “This isn’t ‘settling,’” she said. “It’s learning.”"