Must not imitate black entertainers

Amy Schumer is brushing off critics who say her parody of Beyonce's "Formation" video is racially insensitive.

The video features a sweaty Schumer dancing to the song alongside Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack. Some Twitter users are slamming the video on charges of cultural appropriation.

Beyonce's version of the clip showed the singer sitting atop a New Orleans police car sinking in floodwaters. It also includes images of a hooded black child facing police and graffiti scrawled on a wall that reads "Stop Shooting Us."

Schumer's YouTube video has three times as many negative votes as positive recommendations.

One commenter wrote on the video, "Racist... culturally appropriating other people's creations... you steal a song specifically representing empowerment of marginalized black women & mock the song? You are literally what's wrong with society. You should be ashamed of yourself. So disgusting."

Another added, "wow. just wow. racist much?"

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Sometimes you can't win

When a school took account of an Aboriginal girl's culture, that was "racist".  When they did NOT treat her differently that was also racist

Australia: The mother of an Aboriginal girl has taken racial discrimination action against her 10-year-old daughter's private school.

The mother, who is also a teacher, lodged a complaint against a teacher and staff member from Ipswich Girls Grammar School with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

She said her daughter was embarrassed when she was told by her teacher to sit outside during a history class because of a YouTube video that showed a dead Aboriginal man,The Courier Mail reported.

The teacher said she was trying to be accommodating of the girl's culture of not naming the dead and gave her the choice to watch the video.

'We, her parents, had never given the school any indication that (our daughter) is unable to participate in any academic or school activities for cultural reasons,' the mother said in a statement.  

The teacher also refuted any claims she bullied the student by submitting a card she gave her that read: 'thank you for a great year in your class.'

Ipswich Girls Grammar School denies any claims of racial and cultural discrimination at the school and by the teacher.

However, the parents claim their daughter has been subject to racial discrimination and a culturally insensitive curriculum for the past six years.

In another incident, the mother said her daughter was teased when she did not dress 'like a colonial' for a history class excursion.

The girl's father said the colonial era represented 'massacres, displacement and genocide' of the Aboriginal people.

'Asking an Aboriginal student to dress like a colonial was offensive, racist and discriminatory,' the mother said.

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Royal Marines at war over 'Genderbread man' in green beret: Poster aiming to promote awareness of gender issues in Commando units is slammed by troops



A poster featuring a so-called ‘Genderbread’ person wearing a green beret has triggered anger and bemusement among Royal Marines.

The mocked-up image, intended to promote awareness of gender issues in Commando units, was attacked last night as disrespectful and a waste of money.

Some elite troops claimed the poster mocks their legendary green berets – which are only awarded after a brutally tough selection process.

A serving Sergeant Major told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I have no issues with anyone’s sexuality. But depicting a member of the Corps as a ‘‘Genderbread’’ person, and the wearing of a green beret, is deeply offensive. It looks as if the Marines are being mocked.’

An MOD spokesperson said: ‘We want the best possible people in the Armed Forces regardless of background – that’s why we are implementing a range of measures designed to encourage a diverse and inclusive workforce.’

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Intolerant language found spray-painted under East Campus Bridge at Duke U

Almost certainly a Leftist provocation, as usual

A racial slur targeting black people and threats against homosexuals and Jewish people were discovered Sunday, spray-painted under the East Campus Bridge. Members of the Duke University Chapter of the NAACP and their advisor, Alec Greenwald, found the slurs upon arriving to the scene just before 1:00 p.m.

“When we arrived to begin painting for our event, we noticed the hate speech and chose that area to paint over,” wrote Duke NAACP President Guilbert Francois over email.

After the discovery, who had arrived at the tunnel with his children to support the Duke Chapter of the NAACP, Greenwald captured the slurs before the decision was made to paint over those areas and proceed with the event. Collaborating groups included the Asian Student Alliance and Mi Gente.

In an email, Greenwald explained the sight he and his children encountered: “As we were waiting for the other student groups to trickle in, my kids wanted to read some of the messages that were on the tunnel. As we walked through the tunnel, we arrived at 3 derogatory messages targeting various identity groups. After having a conversation with my kids about the messages, I suggested to the student groups that we focus on that portion of the wall to paint over.”

The Duke University Police Department was not notified before the slurs, targeting members of the black, queer and Jewish communities, were painted over. The identity of the offender remains unknown, as does their affiliation to the university.

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UK: Must not mention differences between the sexes

A mother has claimed that a supermarket cashier 'gender shamed' her three-year-old son when he picked up a 'girls' Frozen Kinder Surprise egg instead of a blue Marvel superheroes one.

Charlotte Houghton told her son Mason to chose a Kinder Surprise egg at the Sainsbury's checkout as a treat for doing well in his potty training.

But, when he picked a pink egg one with a Frozen character inside - rather than the blue Marvels egg - the cashier allegedly told him: 'You've got a girl's one.'

Outraged Ms Houghton said: 'I've heard of comments being made to parents before but this was the first time I've personally experienced gender shaming. 'I was really taken aback by it.'

The mother-of-two, from Hull, said she then explained to the woman that her son always picks the Frozen one and that he likes the figures.

She added: 'I'm sure she meant no harm by her comments but I can't understand this divide of boys and girls toys.

'Personally I think we should encourage our children to play with any toys that they want, as long as they're safe.

Ferrero, the Italian company which produces the Kinder eggs, said they were not meant to be gender specific.

A spokeswoman said: 'The Frozen Kinder Surprise egg is part of the Pink and Blue range, that offers different branded toy ranges in pink or blue coloured eggs.

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Israeli wedding guests who were filmed celebrating the death of a Palestinian toddler and his parents in a firebombing at their West Bank home are charged with inciting terror

Given what Israelis have suffered in attacks by Arabs, this can surely be forgiven.  Besides, when is a celebration an incitement?  It is looking back, not looking forward

Prosecutors have charged a groom and 12 Israeli wedding guests, including the groom, with inciting violence after they were caught on camera celebrating the murder of a Palestinian toddler and his parents, who died after their home was firebombed by Jewish settlers.

Ali Saad Dawabsha, who was 18 months old, died when his home in the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank, was attacked in July 2015.

Ali's parents died later from severe burns. His badly burned brother Ahmed, aged five, was the sole survivor.

In December last year the suspects - eight men and five teenage boys - were filmed waving guns and stabbing a photograph of the dead child at a wedding.

A Star of David and the words 'revenge' and 'long live the Messiah' were spray-painted on a wall near the Dawabshas' small house.

A Jewish settler, Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, was charged in January with murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a hate crime.

The Times of Israel said Ben-Uliel claimed to have carried out the firebombing in retaliation for the murder of another Jewish settler, Malachy Rosenfeld, by a Palestinian gunman.

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Austrian newspaper editor faces HATE crime charges over column calling migrants 'testosterone driven Syrians'

They are certainly prolific sexual offenders

An Austrian newspaper editor is facing hate crime charges for a controversial column he wrote about the migrant crisis last year.

Chief editor of the Styrian edition of national paper Kronen Zeitung, Christoph Biro, labelled migrants 'testosterone driven Syrians' in his opinion piece on October 25 last year.

He also accused migrants of 'extremely aggressive sexual assault' and reported that Afghans had slashed train seats and refused to sit near Christians.

Police and the Austrian train company ÖBB denied that Afghans had destroyed the seats.

Fritz Grundnig of the National Police Directorate in Styria called the remarks 'absolute nonsense'.

The article prompted 37 complaints to the Press Council and Mr Biro took four weeks leave from his job, reportedly saying he had 'lost sense of proportion'.

Mr Biro said he had been a journalist for 39 years and had made a 'particularly unfortunate' error, the website Nachrichten reports.

He described how he had previously given Syrians German lessons with his wife and noted that among the refugees there can be 'black sheep' and bad incidents.

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Why an Australian ambulance officer described Dreamworld victims as having suffered ‘injuries incompatible with life’

AMID the unfolding tragedy of four deaths on a ride at Dreamworld on Tuesday, an ambulance officer’s seemingly heartless description of the victims’ injuries had social media in uproar.

It caused a social media maelstrom, with many attacking the Gold Coast's acting supervising officer — and the media for reporting it — for a seemingly cold description so soon after four deaths.

But the clearly shaken, senior officer, facing a live national television cross fresh from leaving the grisly scene, was using a clinical term commonly used by medical professionals, police and other emergency services.

Unknown to many was that the term gave a sad insight into the extent of the injuries the victims suffered.

When injuries are deemed by paramedics to be so severe that they are “incompatible with life”, CPR is deemed a futile exercise.

The Queensland Ambulance Service official clinical practice guidelines for resuscitation outline a number of instances in which CPR should not be attempted.

They include where the patient has sustained injuries that are “totally incompatible with life”.

Many social media users rushed to defend Mr Fuller’s use of the term on live television.

A 32-year-old woman and her 35-year-old brother were killed in Tuesday afternoon’s tragedy, which happened on the Thunder River Rapids Ride. The man’s 38-year-old male partner also died. All three were from Canberra. The woman’s 12-year-old daughter was thrown clear of the ride and watched in horror as her mother and uncles perished. Another unrelated woman, 42, from Sydney was also killed. Her 10-year-old son was also thrown free from the raft and watched his mother die.

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Oxford English Dictionary REFUSES to remove 'offensive' term 'Essex girl' despite 3,000 signature petition

The Oxford English Dictionary publisher insisted today that it will not remove the term 'Essex girl' after a campaign that has attracted 3,000 signatures.

The petition was started by two mothers who claim the term 'pigeonholes' women into an 'appalling stereotype', and they have organised a meeting with the publisher.

Natasha Sawkins, 34, and Juliet Thomas, 32, reacted after the term became recognised in the dictionary to describe 'unintelligent and materialistic' women.

But Oxford University Press, which publishes the OED, said it cannot make changes as a result of a petition, 'as this would go against our descriptive editorial policy and undermine the evidence-based approach that our dictionaries are built on'.

The two former Bloomberg executives claim the phrase is not reflective of Essex women and that those living in the county should 'reclaim' the term.

The mothers, who both live in Essex, hope their campaign will help redefine 'Essex Girl' by celebrating their achievements and true character.

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Student Sues Over Iowa State’s ‘Speech Code’

A 34-year-old student at Iowa State University is suing the school over what he calls an “unconstitutional speech code.”

The student, Robert Dunn, says the university is forcing him to compromise his First Amendment rights by complying with “overly broad and vague” anti-discrimination and harassment policies. Failing to agree to abide by the policies, he added, could result in the school placing a “hold” on his diploma and a “review” by the dean of students.

The “speech code” Dunn is referring to is a university policy titled, “Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Assault, and Sexual Harassment Involving Students.” In August, prior to the fall 2016 semester, Dunn said he received an email announcing the new training program on “the university’s nondiscrimination policies and procedures” to be completed online.

Specifically, Dunn’s lawyers argue in the lawsuit, the policy “states that ‘gossip’ about a male student’s ‘feminine dress’ could be harassment, failing to even acknowledge that students also possess First Amendment rights that might be implicated.”

“The harassment doesn’t even have to be directly at the person,” Dunn told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “So I didn’t feel comfortable saying that I was going to sign over my First Amendment right in order to comply with campus policy.”

Dunn is a resident of Ames, Iowa. He is a conservative, member of Young Americans for Freedom, and the founder and president of Iowa State’s Young Americans for Freedom organization. He is a senior at Iowa State, where he is majoring in accounting in order to pursue a new career path.

Dunn is being represented by lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative nonprofit law firm that advocates for the right of people to live out their faith.

Casey Mattox, an attorney representing Dunn, said the policy at Iowa State is “one of the worst policies that we have seen in recent years.” “We handle a lot of university free speech cases,” Mattox said, adding:

The fact that it would affirmatively state that First Amendment protected speech can still be deemed harassment by the university and then just give administrators the authority to decide what those circumstances are, when free speech equals harassment, it basically eliminates any kind of protection for free speech. You can’t be put in a position as a student where you have to fear that whatever you say could be deemed harassment if someone else thinks the circumstances are such.

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Must not say a deformed baby is ugly

One day the parents might have to accept reality

Parents have expressed outrage following comments made by Nova radio hosts Kate, Tim and Marty about a child with a rare genetic disorder.

The trio aired a segment on October 14 titled ‘What have you got that’s big?’, following media coverage of a 16-month old US baby with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome, which can cause overgrowth of various parts of the body.

Little Paisley Morrison-Johnson was forced to undergo two rounds of life-saving tongue reduction surgery, just to be able to eat, breathe and smile uninhibited.

However, according to the mother of a child in Paisley’s BWS support group, the South Dakota girl became the butt of “cruel and horrible” jokes made by the radio hosts, who reportedly compared her appearance to “a comedy act”.

As well as suffering similar problems with her tongue, the Melbourne woman’s daughter was also born with her bowel on the outside because it was simply too large to fit inside her tiny body.

“My daughter along with Paisley that you giggle about, has overcome more adversity and shown more courage in her life than all three of you put together,” she wrote.

“I am disgusted to think that this unempathic [sic], insulting, uninformed chatter seems to count for entertainment. This is a very low blow.”

The episode podcast has been deleted and re-uploaded minus the offending segment, but it’s been reported the trio also used phrases including, “If you thought your kid was ugly jump on Instagram and look at this” and “the tongue is a put-off” when discussing Paisley’s condition.

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Labour fury at 'highly offensive' joke poster mocking child refugees



Britain has recently accepted various Muslim refugees who claim to be children -- even though blind Freddy could tell they are grown men.  But apparently the British Left think it is offensive to mention that.  All refugees are good, apparently

A poster mocking the age of child migrants coming to Britain has caused fury after being put up in a kitchen for MPs in Parliament.

Labour's shadow minister for Industrial Strategy, Chi Onwurah, tweeted the image with the text: 'Just £3 from you could clothe and feed his 12yr old Syrian child for a week'.

But instead of showing a Syrian child, the poster contains an elderly man in a headscarf.

Ms Onwurah, who represents Newcastle Central, said that someone had put it up deliberately in a kitchen serving 12 MPs and their staff.

It came as the row over whether all the migrants entering the UK from Calais are all under 18 after one was found to be an adult.

Explaining what happened the MP said: 'It was spotted sellotaped above a sink so it was not by accident. I thought it was really upsetting. It shouldn't have a place in Parliament'.

The kitchen serves MPs from Labour, the SNP and the Tories.

Ms Onwurah told Huffington Post: 'There's been an increasing xenophobic commentary in politics and the Tory Party Conference had numerous examples of that and so by condoning that kind of hostility you're making this more likely to happen'.

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Only governments are allowed to condemn FAT

Jamelia has reportedly been axed from the Loose Women panel following her controversial comments about plus-size women earlier this year.

According to The Sun, the Superstar singer, 35, is said to have rubbed ITV bosses up the wrong way after saying that obese women 'should feel uncomfortable' about their unhealthy size, and that high street stores should not be catering for them.

'Jamelia really annoyed bosses with her comments on high street shops selling bigger clothes', a source told the paper.

'The show is often close to the bone but those comments were the final straw.

'Loose Women’s viewers come in all shapes and sizes and the producers don’t want them to be offended,' the source explained

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Dallas Elotes Cart Says They Won't Shut Down After Allegations of Racism and Cultural Appropriation

Elotes is a simple dish — but it's not proving so simple for Corn Connection, a Dallas elotes cart that's been accused of racism and insensitive cultural appropriation.

A Facebook post by community organizer Luz Hernandez calling for a boycott of Corn Connection, an elotes stand in Dallas, spread like wildfire once Hernandez made the post public, and it set off a viral avalanche when Hernandez was verbally attacked on the internet by one of the business’ former workers.

Hernandez originally posted a picture of the Corn Connection cart and employees, and she captioned it, “Please don’t support this Columbusing ass company, the Corn Connection, in Dallas. YT ppl [white people] selling elotes – SMMFH.”

Aside from borrowing its logo, interlocking Cs from Chanel, the business also borrowed its product, elotes: a Mexican dish of corn, mayonnaise, hot sauce and cheese that's found its way onto an increasing number of American menus in recent years.

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A Dictionary for Victims

Woke, intervention, safe-space, micro-aggression. Everyday on social media we see these words and phrases, and many others besides. They have become the mainstay of the regressive left’s vocabulary. Most were borrowed or adopted from the US, where so many of our populist repertoires originate, but they are generally not well defined. Let’s see what we can do about that.

Here follows a guide for the perplexed:

Safe-space: A virtual prison, guarded in similar fashion.  You can't leave and you need permission to visit. Ostensibly designed to protect, it is in reality a Panopticon. Inside, each inmate acts as both enforcer and victim, policing their colleagues and mobilising sentiment against the outside world, presumably for a breakout at some point. However, while prisons have rehabilitation and reintegration at their heart, safe-spaces serve to regress and alienate. It is a safe enough place, for everything other than free speech. It is a total institution (see: hegemony).

Intervention: Threatened by more traditional words like "argument" or "criticism", using "intervention" serves to avoid any objective description as to the nature of a comment or insight. Thus, it is the phrase of choice for those wishing to avoid the hurt and pain that inevitably accompanies critical opinion. If every sentiment is merely an "intervention", all sentiments are equal, nonthreatening and neutral. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was an intervention; so was your protestation on receiving the wrong change at the corner cafe.

Woke: A person who is woke is aware of injustice and prejudice, and embracing of the burden that accompanies being a social justice warrior (see: social justice warrior). It is an admission of failure; for before the revelation there was presumably just ignorance. And, like a religious conversion, it is worn as a badge of honour. Once pinned to your Facebook page, it is an all-encompassing truth. You cannot be woke and wrong. Only woke and misunderstood. From that point, all moralising flows. In order not to lapse back into ignorance, one must stay woke. It is a constant battle.

Intersectional: Something is labelled intersectional (in the real world we use the word complex) in order to negate specificity. If everything is multidimensional, nothing is as it appears and no one point can stand on its own. Every point has a context and no point is true in and of itself. Many of these contexts are unseen (unless you are woke) and to make a point without reference to this complexity is to lose any argument from first principles. On our roads, intersections are regulated and traffic flows in one direction or another. In the language of victimhood all lanes are always open.

Bodies: Bodies are metaphors. They are not physical but metaphysical. Thus, always they are accompanied by an adjective, usually racial in nature, giving them their true and final form. It is the language of otherness, to take something universal and redefine it as particular. It is one of the many rhetorical tools used to enforce difference. They are used negatively, as flash points for suffering. We all have bodies but to have, say, a "white body", is to possess something entirely different.

History: History, as practised in academia, is the study of days gone by and the attempt to understand and draw from it both truth and wisdom. History in the language of victimhood is what happened five minutes ago. And so 1976 and October 2016 can be effortlessly merged into a single stream of conscience. Everything turns on yesterday and there is no tomorrow. No perspective or wisdom either. Of course, the problem with labelling anything historic is that the exercise is redundant. Everything is historic in some sense or another. A better word would be "important". However, then you run the risk of exposing your own judgment; far more convenient to feign clairvoyance and, of course, place your humble self at the centre of history's grand narrative.

Violence: Violence, in the true sense of the word, is ubiquitous in SA; horrific in the depth and breadth of its depravity too. Rape, murder, assault; thousands, if not millions, suffer at its hands everyday. But, in an arrogant act of egomaniacal proportions, the language of victimhood has adopted the word to mean one’s feelings are hurt when offence is caused. Ideas and arguments, the word suggests, are the real cause of violence, belittling the very real experience of those who actually bleed and die. Soon, no doubt, other words will follow suit, as the language of victimhood seeks to elevate its own concerns above all others. Argue too strongly and, in the near future, it could be deemed a genocidal act.

Social Justice Warrior: Hashtags and posters are their weapons; sometimes human excrement too. They hunt down inequality and destroy it; often with the emphasis on the destroying. Enlightened in a way others are not, they can see through the fog of injustice. They can see the path and the light. But they cannot see too far down the path. So, often, it is their own future they damage in an act of self-harm. But their fires burn brightly, enough to light the path just a little bit more. And so they march on. Fire by fire.

Micro-aggression: A micro-aggression is a minor slight, one that causes violence (see: violence) to a particular body (see: bodies). It is met in turn by a macro-aggression, a phrase that, curiously, does not enjoy the same standing. A micro-aggression, its identification and countenance, is typically conveyed with passive-aggressive intent. Only that response is described as an intervention (see: intervention). In defence, to deny any intent other than human frailty or, indeed, the truth of the matter, is to reveal you are not woke (see: woke).

Myths: Myths are legends. Tall tales of magic and superstition. Like equality, that is a myth. And justice; that too is a fable. In dispelling these myths, the world of principles and ideals is conveniently conflated with the real world, with all its ambiguity and unfairness. Most people understand the difference but if you are woke (see: woke), this understanding has arrived as something of an epiphany. Lo and behold, the world is not fair or just. Once that point is agreed to, it is then appropriate to again differentiate the two worlds and to ask, what now? But first the dispelling of the myths.

The Economy: There is no definition for this word in the language of victimhood — no understanding of how it works either, nor its effects or its central importance to improving the quality of life, an appreciation for human rights or the creation of a better society. Certainly no policy or programme to address  it. Thus, it is never mentioned.

Hegemony: Used as an ironic reference to some powerful idea or practice, usually problematic in nature (patriarchy for example), with no appreciation for the fact that the language of victimhood, with all its demagogic undertones, is somewhat hegemonic itself in turn, which has many completely captured in its web. "Totalising" is another word often used in conjunction with this idea. Western ideas are totalising, we are told. The very fact that so much national discussion would seem to revolve around denigrating and maligning them, is evidence not of that the fact they are not totalising, but of the very kind of hegemonic thinking against which we are told to fight.

Disrupt: One must disrupt conventional thought, we are told, but in a particular way. Declaring, for example, Africa to be the biggest continent is not the kind of disruption we are after. That is worthy of ridicule. But saying science should be scrapped, that is acceptable; worthy of consideration and reflection. Importantly, one should never disrupt a disrupter, although one can intervene (see: intervention). To suggest some or other moronic disruption as just that, is to commit violence (see: violence), possibly on a particular body (see: bodies).

Western and African: No idea is an idea in and of itself. Democracy, for example, cannot exist as an ideal. It has to be differentiated. Western democracy or African democracy. Everything can be divided into these two camps. And each of these two camps is totalising (see: hegemony).

So, there is no North Africa, just as there is no Asia. At a push, Western can be subdivided into European and American but the word "imperialist" suitably represents both. The distinction breaks down the more specific you get. So, for example, no one takes an African selfie on their Western iphone.

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Students told term ‘be a man’ represents toxic masculinity

More feminist hatred

Gettysburg College freshman James Goodman began his first moments of higher education by being lectured by campus leaders about “toxic masculinity,” he tells The College Fix in an interview.

Students who “identify as male” were shown a docudrama film about masculinity. The film, titled “The Mask You Live In,” was part of the lessons warning students that the notion of masculinity comes with harmful side effects, he said.

According to the trailer of the film, it teaches that the “three most destructive words” a boy can hear growing up is “be a man.” Experts quoted therein also suggest that violent outbursts are prompted by masculinity pressures because “respect is linked to violence.”

“They really buy into a culture that doesn’t value what we feminize,” says scholar Dr. Niobe Way in the trailer, continuing that people of both genders will “go crazy” under that construct.

Psychiatrist Dr. James Gilligan added “whether it’s homicidal violence or suicidal violence, people resort to such desperate behavior only when they are feeling shame or humiliated, or feel they would be if they didn’t prove that they were real men.”

As he makes the comments, headlines reporting on suicides and murder-suicides flashed on screen.

Others headlines that peppered the trailer apparently link shooting massacres to masculinity; images included stories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and six staff members, and the shooting in Aurora, Colo., in which James Holmes killed 12 people inside a movie theater.

“The entire movie and lesson made it seem like masculinity was an unacceptable human trait. That it’s something males should avoid. It was completely pointless. It did nothing to help anyone. I got absolutely nothing out of the experience, other than a headache,” Goodman said to The College Fix.

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University Threatens to ‘Silence’ Professor Protesting Genderless Pronouns

A psychology professor at the University of Toronto who is protesting a law that would force him to use certain pronouns for transgender and other gender nonconforming individuals says the school is trying to “silence” him.

“The university, yesterday, basically told me to silence myself,” Jordan Peterson told The Daily Signal. “That’s the second warning letter.”

Peterson has been a vocal opponent of a measure before Canada’s Parliament known as C-16, which would amend the nation’s human rights and criminal codes to make it illegal to discriminate based on gender identity and gender expression.

If passed, failure to refer to a person by the preferred pronoun or refusing to hire someone based on gender identity could qualify as discrimination and be punishable by law.

In a phone interview with The Daily Signal, Peterson said he has no problem with addressing people “as whatever gender they appear to be presenting themselves as.”

Peterson, a clinical psychologist, is a tenured professor.

“If Caitlyn Jenner wants to be called ‘she,’ I don’t give a damn,” he said. “If someone’s going through a fair bit of work to manifest themselves as a female or manifest themselves as a male, I’m not going to make an issue of it.”

What Peterson takes issue with, however, is the Canadian government potentially forcing him to speak in a manner that reflects a particular ideology, such as using the genderless pronouns “zie” or “hir.”

“The law should be very careful when it mandates what people have to say,” Peterson said, adding:

That’s the fundamental issue here. The mistake of this legislation is, it’s an attempt to force people to utter certain words that are not of their choosing. There’s a big difference between being required to not say something, and being required to say something. It’s a different category of law. One is closing your mouth. The other one is putting a hand inside you and forcing you to be a puppet.

Some students and other members of the University of Toronto community took immediate offense to Peterson’s remarks, telling school leaders they found his comments “unacceptable, emotionally disturbing, and painful.”

The university first warned Peterson to stop making “discriminatory” remarks in an Oct. 3 letter from Susanne Ferber, chairwoman of the Department of Psychology

The letter signed by Cameron and Nelson, dated Oct. 18, informs Peterson:

The impact of your behavior runs the risk of undermining your ability to conduct essential components of your job as a faculty member and we urge you to consider your obligations as a faculty member to act in a manner that is consistent with the law and with university policy.

Peterson’s tenure status provides “some protection” from being fired, he said, “but the limits of that can always be tested.”

The university officials object to what they call Peterson’s “discriminatory intentions”—that, as a matter of principle, he has said he’d refuse to comply with rules or laws dictating pronoun usage.

Peterson said he doesn’t intend to stop speaking out on the issue, and warned that political correctness is spiraling out of control, particularly in the U.S.

I think the university will send me a third warning letter, because I think they’re getting the documentation in order, and then I think there’s a reasonable probability that they’ll take action against me. And I think there’s a nontrivial possibility that I’ll be held up in front of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. I’m obviously prognosticating with regards to something I can’t predict, but the university did yesterday tell me to silence myself, and I didn’t expect them to do that.

SOURCE

NOTE:  My normal posting time has come, only to find me  under the influence of both health and cable problems.  The cable problems seem by now to have been banished but too late for me to read much. There is a fair chance that I might be back in normal action by this time tomorrow.

My health problem is a post operative infection in the wound site -- most probably golden staph.  I am on 300 mg of clindamycin 6 hourly so that should help. I can control the pain with di-gesic pretty well but I have to be cautious about sepsis so my next recourse may have to be a vancomycin drip.

Either the infection or the remedies seem to be making me very drowsy so I sleep for long periods, which is probably a good thing on the whole.

More Leftist hate speech

A BBC news presenter has been suspended for allegedly calling the Tory government 'the new Nazis' in an online social media rant.

BBC Look North's Danny Carpenter reportedly accused the government of being 'cynical, vicious, racist and xenophobic' in a Facebook rant and has now been suspended by the corporation as they carry out an investigation.

Mr Carpenter is also said to have called for the Brexit to be 'voted out' by Parliament because of a 'combination of dishonest fear-mongering and lies about the economy'.

He wrote earlier this month: 'Now let's see the Labour Party grow some proper balls and unite in the lobbies to vote out every cynical, vicious, racist and xenophobic piece of legislation these new Nazis propose.

'Let's start by demanding a commons debate on Brexit and voting out this utterly undemocratic and non-legally binding referendum result which was achieved by a combination of dishonest fear-mongering and lies about the economy.'

Tory MP Nigel Adams told The Sun: 'I was gobsmacked to read the BBC journalist comments.

'Neutrality is so important but when you read such anti-Tory rhetoric from a well known local reporter, it does nothing to heal the preconceptions about BBC bias that many in politics have.'

A BBC spokesman said: 'The impartiality of our journalism is of the utmost importance to us. We have clear social media guidelines for staff, which we take very seriously. 'We have spoken to the member of staff and we are continuing to investigate.'

SOURCE

Supermarket is accused of 'cultural appropriation' for selling a Halloween Day of the Dead costume inspired by the Mexican festival

Asda was today accused of ‘cultural appropriation’ for selling a Halloween costume which has been labelled as disrespectful to Mexicans.

The supermarket has been criticised by shoppers for its ‘Halloween Day of the Dead skeleton costume’ inspired by the annual Dia de Muertos festival in Mexico.

Critics argue that Halloween and Day of the Dead are two separate events with different origins, and say it is culturally disrespectful to sell these outfits.

Dia de Muertos is a holiday to honour the dead, with participants decorating altars with flowers, candles, food and pictures in memory of loved ones.

The celebration originated as a ritual in South America as long as 3,000 years ago - and was merged with Catholicism following the Spanish Conquest.

Halloween is on All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before the Christian festival All Saints Day, and began 2,000 years ago as the Celts marked the end of summer.

People at that time believed the barrier between our world and that of ghosts and spirits became thin at this point, so had a huge party to scare them away.

Irish immigrants to the US raised the popularity of Halloween in the 19th century, before it became more commercialised and spread further in recent decades.

Asda’s ‘Halloween Day of the Dead’ costumes are available in both male and female styles and adult and children’s sizes, costing £16 and £11 respectively.

The store is also offering ‘Sugar Skull’ themed items, including masks, based on the traditional calavera skulls, which are used in Day of the Dead celebrations.

However some critics have tweeted their disappointment at the collection. Christina Bradley said: ‘The sugar skull range/the advert with sugar skull makeup for Halloween is awks. Learn what they’re about before you appropriate them?’

SOURCE