Tag Archives: Culture Wars
When Anti-Bullies Bully
The video in question:
Beating of Alabama Man Not Being Investigated As Hate Crime
A racially charged beating of a white Alabama man by a throng of African-Americans is not being investigated as a hate crime, despite one witness’ claim that she heard an assailant exclaim: “Now that’s justice for Trayvon.”
Matthew Owens, of Mobile, Ala., was assaulted with baseball bats, paint cans and other weapons at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday after telling a group of children to stop playing basketball in the middle of Delmar Drive, according to Ashley Rains, public information officer for the Mobile Police Department.
(Read more)
Russian Police Make First Arrests Under New Anti-Gay Law
Russian police have detained two people in St. Petersburg for breaching a new law banning homosexual propaganda, the first arrests since the city’s legislature passed the controversial legislation in February.
The two gay rights activists were arrested on April 5 after holding placards reading “It’s normal to be gay.”
A court hearing is scheduled for April 6.
Under the new law, people convicted of promoting homosexuality or pedophilia among minors can be fined up to 5,000 rubles ($172) and organizations can be fined up to 500,000 rubles ($17,200). (Read more)
Painful Skittles
George Zimmerman did not apologize
What the hell is this movie?
Such self-loathing, such depraved, pointless violence. Hard to believe this is serious.
Ramz Paul at his best: “The Talk: Liberal Version”
Here’s the John Derbyshire article he mentioned at the beginging the video.
Sweden’s New Gender-Neutral Pronoun: Hen
In 2010, the World Economic Forum designated Sweden as the most gender-equal country in the world.
But for many Swedes, gender equality is not enough. Many are pushing for the Nordic nation to be not simply gender-equal but gender-neutral. The idea is that the government and society should tolerate no distinctions at all between the sexes. This means on the narrow level that society should show sensitivity to people who don’t identify themselves as either male or female, including allowing any type of couple to marry. But that’s the least radical part of the project. What many gender-neutral activists are after is a society that entirely erases traditional gender roles and stereotypes at even the most mundane levels.
Activists are lobbying for parents to be able to choose any name for their children (there are currently just 170 legally recognized unisex names in Sweden). The idea is that names should not be at all tied to gender, so it would be acceptable for parents to, say, name a girl Jack or a boy Lisa. A Swedish children’s clothes company has removed the “boys” and “girls” sections in its stores, and the idea of dressing children in a gender-neutral manner has been widely discussed on parenting blogs. This Swedish toy catalog recently decided to switch things around, showing a boy in a Spider-Man costume pushing a pink pram, while a girl in denim rides a yellow tractor.
The Swedish Bowling Association has announced plans to merge male and female bowling tournaments in order to make the sport gender-neutral. Social Democrat politicians have proposed installing gender-neutral restrooms so that members of the public will not be compelled to categorize themselves as either ladies or gents. Several preschools have banished references to pupils’ genders, instead referring to children by their first names or as “buddies.” So, a teacher would say “good morning, buddies” or “good morning, Lisa, Tom, and Jack” rather than, “good morning, boys and girls.” They believe this fulfills the national curriculum’s guideline that preschools should “counteract traditional gender patterns and gender roles” and give girls and boys “the same opportunities to test and develop abilities and interests without being limited by stereotypical gender roles.”
Earlier this month, the movement for gender neutrality reached a milestone: Just days after International Women’s Day a new pronoun, hen (pronounced like the bird in English), was added to the online version of the country’s National Encyclopedia. The entry defines hen as a “proposed gender-neutral personal pronoun instead of he [han in Swedish] and she [hon].”The National Encyclopedia announcement came amid a heated debate about gender neutrality that has been raging in Swedish newspaper columns and TV studios and on parenting blogs and feminist websites. (Read more)
A Scientist Visits A Creationist Museum
Most Christians are not Creationists, btw.
I really like my own former teacher’s, Marilynne Robinson’s, take on Darwinism: www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/marilynne-robinson-takes-on-darwinism/.
She also appeared on the Jon Stewart show discussing her perspective.
Feminist Raunch Culture
Youths and Indians
French survey discovers far-right-wing voters have the most sex
The survey, conducted by the respected polling institute Ifop on behalf of the pornographic magazine Hot Video, measured the intensity and variety of the sex lives of various voting blocs using several criteria.
According to the results, voters for Sarkozy’s UMP make love on average 6.7 times a month, slightly less often than supporters of his main challenger, the Socialist Party’s Francois Hollande, on 7.6.
Followers of Marine Le Pen’s far-right anti-immigrant National Front top the frequency league, having sex eight times a month, while those of centrist Francois Bayrou manage only 5.9 trysts in the same period.
Right-wingers also report having had fewer partners over the course of their lives, with seven compared to nine on the left, but once again it was the extreme right on top, with Le Pen supporters claiming 10.
But these extra partners don’t seem to satisfy the far-right, as 31 per cent of them declare themselves unhappy with their sex life, compared to 26 per cent in the population as a whole and 21 per cent among Socialists. (Read more)
Britain’s Orwellian war against “tweetcrime”
If you thought it was only authoritarian states like China or Iran that imprisoned pesky bloggers and tweeters, think again.
This week, Britain became a fully paid-up member of that clique of illiberal intolerant, tweeter-harassing states.
On Tuesday, at Swansea Magistrates Court in Wales, Liam Stacey, a student, was imprisoned for 56 days for writing offensive tweets.
Fifty-six days. Two months. In an actual jail. For tweeting. It needs to be spelt out like that in order to show how shocking it is that in the 21st century, in a nation that gave us such great warriors for freedom as The Levellers and John Stuart Mill, a young man has now been banged up for expressing his thoughts.
Stacey’s thoughts were far from pleasant ones. In fact they were offensive and repugnant.
On March 17, Fabrice Muamba, a 23-year-old black football player for Bolton Wanderers, collapsed with cardiac arrest during a match against Tottenham Hotspurs. Many people were shocked, and before long a #PrayforMuamba hashtag took off on Twitter.
But Stacey, who claimed he was drunk at the time, didn’t fancy praying for Muamba, and so instead he tweeted:
“LOL. F**k Muamba. He’s dead.”
(Muamba did not die, though he remains critically ill in a London hospital.)
When other tweeters complained to Stacey about his off-colour comments, he started to use racist language. He told his detractors to “f**k off”, and hurled pretty much every racial slur under the sun at them.
The Twitterati reported him to the police. And sure enough he got a visit from the cops, was charged with committing a racially aggravated public order offence, and now finds himself in the clink alongside burglars and rapists. (Read more)
Dinosaur is a naughty word
“Words can be so naughty and un-good.”
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War On Words: NYC Dept. Of Education Wants 50 ‘Forbidden’ Words Banned From Standardized Tests