T-shirt Censorship Attempt



A self-righteous Leftist thinks she has a right to dictate to and disrupt a private business:

"When Bernstein passed a vendor selling a T-shirt Wednesday with Confederate flags and the words "Confederately Correct Civil Rights for Southern Whites," her stomach turned....

She asked the vendor to remove the shirt and complained to fair management. When the T-shirt wasn't put away, a friend bought one for Bernstein and she stood outside the fair gates with the T-shirt in hand to ask people coming in what they thought about it....

Charleston County sheriff's deputies asked Bernstein to leave. When she didn't, she was arrested on a trespassing charge and fined $440, and she said she spent about eight hours in the county detention center....

"The reason she was arrested was because she refused to leave the grounds," Boling said. "She was advised she was trespassing. It was an unfortunate thing, but it was her choice."....

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina supports the free speech rights of Bernstein and the vendor, spokeswoman Barbara Joslin said. But private property owners have a right to decide exactly what takes place on their land, she said....

Source

"Monkey" a Particularly Bad Swear Word

We read:

"The fan who allegedly directed a racial slur at Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo was banned for the season Monday by the NBA and Orlando Magic.

Season-ticket holder Hooman Hamzehloui allegedly called Mutombo a "monkey" Thursday at a preseason game between the Rockets and the Magic.

Source

Sports fans regularly call out abuse at members of opposing teams (and sometimes at members of their own teams). You can say that an opponent is a part of the female anatomy (etc.) but you cannot say that they are a popular primate.

Why? If anybody called me a monkey I would think they were calling me clever -- as monkeys sometimes are. So it is only offensive if applied to blacks. Why? Is it because blacks are seen as less evolved?

If so, why forbid popular discussion of that opinion? If you need to censor it you just reinforce the impression that it is right. The old European Communist regimes were great censors and large numbers of their citizens ended up believing nothing they said

Greg Wyshynski has some good comments on the affair, including: "A man who called Dikembe Mutombo a monkey from the lower deck has evidently received a stricter punishment from the NBA than a fan that ran out on the court during a riot and engaged in a physical altercation with a player"

Low IQ Correlates with Poor Health

But you are not supposed to say so:

"The London School of Economics is embroiled in a row over academic freedom after one of its lecturers published a paper alleging that African states were poor and suffered chronic ill-health because their populations were less intelligent than people in richer countries.

Source

In his studies of high IQ Americans, initiated in the 1920s, Terman found that they had some physical as well as mental advantages, including better health. And a recent study by Friedman & Markey has now shown that the same group live a bit longer too.

So the finding causing the uproar should be no surprise to those who know the relevant research. The brain is just one organ of the body so we should not be surprised that there is some tendency for well-functioning brains to be found in bodies that are well-functioning generally.

Reference:
Friedman, H. S. & Markey, C.N. (2003). Paths to longevity in the highly intelligent Terman cohort. In C.E. Finch, J-M. Robine & Y. Christen (eds.), Brain and Longevity (pp. 165-175). NY: Springer.

The Pagan Muslim Headscarf

A prosecution for speaking historical truth has failed in Turkey:

"A court in the Turkish city of Istanbul has acquitted a 92-year-old academic of charges of insulting Muslim women and inciting religious hatred.

Archaeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig was prosecuted over a book in which she linked the wearing of headscarves with ancient Sumerian sexual rites.

Source

I mentioned this matter previously on October 21

Australian Teachers Warned against Criticizing Students



Even school reports that say that the student "Could try harder" are now suspect:

"Teachers are being warned to watch what they write and say about students because of the risk of being sued for defamation. New South Wales schools have also been urged to closely vet student scripts for theatrical performances and postings on school websites, blogs or electronic bulletins....

Parents and Citizens' Association president Di Giblin believes words such as lazy or phrases such as "can try harder" should not be used. "It is very important when referring to young people that their self-esteem is not damaged," Ms Giblin said. "Try harder doesn't tell a parent anything . . . it is better to say 'needs motivating' or 'is finding it difficult to be engaged in work'....

Source

An Attempt to Shut up Wal-Mart

From California, we read:

"A state senator and two Congressional leaders have voiced their dismay over Wal-Mart involving itself in the race for Antioch City Council.

Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch; and U.S. Reps. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, and George Miller, D-Martinez, argued this week that the retail giant is simply trying to buy a vote on the Council and advance its own business agenda.

"It's a bully tactic," Torlakson said. "They're trying to buy the election and bully the process. What they did is legal, but it's an issue the voters of Antioch should look at very carefully when such a huge corporate entity comes in and tries to strong-arm local elections and the democratic process."

The comments come after the national chain spent $50,722.01 on fliers and other materials supporting candidate Manny Soliz.

Source

Spending $50,000 to help a candidate get his message out is trying to "strong-arm local elections and the democratic process"? A very strange view of the democratic process, it would seem.

Or perhaps they meant the "Democrat process", where labor unions are allowed to spend millions but nobody else is supposed to. If Wal-mart is "strong-arming the democratic process" with a $50,000 donation, the unions must be gang-raping it!

Why Can't Atheists have Manners and Respect for Other People's Beliefs?

We read:

"A Burbank college student and atheist has won the right to remove the city's vehicle sticker from her car pending a judge's approval of an out-of-court agreement.

Nichole Schultz, who was raised Catholic, sued Burbank in October because the city's vehicle sticker includes a cross.

Source

I am an atheist and was brought up a Presbyterian but I still address Roman Catholic priests as "Father" and all bishops as "Your Grace". Who does it hurt to observe small courtesies? Atheists who cannot abide the sight of a cross must be very insecure in their own beliefs. I suspect that they are just unhappy souls generally.

Must not Refer to Homosexuals Unless you Clearly Praise them

We read:

"Former NFL receiver Brian Kinchen will not work as an ESPNU commentator this week because of a comment he made during last Saturday's broadcast of the Northern Illinois-Iowa game.

Kinchen was explaining the need for receivers to make catches with their hands because they are "tender" and can "caress" the ball. He then paused and said, "that's kind of gay, but hey ..."

Source

He was actually saying that top sportsmen must behave in a way associated with homosexuals so was he not praising homosexuals? Not clearly enough, apparently.

Sporting Team Changes "Insensitive" logo



We read:

"In response to criticism that their gorilla logo was racist, the Buffalo Silverbacks have changed the team's official symbol to that of a fierce, panther-like creature.

A silverback is an adult male gorilla that serves as the respected leader of his tribe, and the team's logo became a dunking red-skinned gorilla.

After The Buffalo News reported in August on the team's new name and logo, members of Buffalo's black community raised concerns that the new identity was racially insensitive...

But what is the new logo? It appears to be a side view of a snarling panther or hyena, with a silver streak down its back. There is no such thing as a silverback panther, but an Internet search of wild animals did find a silverback jackal.

Source

Jackals tend to be despised because they include carrion in their diet so we may not have heard the last of this. My previous report on this controversy was on August 14.

Flag Burning Issue Surfaces in Britain

We read:

"The American Civil Liberties Union has shouted down various attempts by Congress to make burning or otherwise desecrating the Stars and Stripes a criminal offence, on the basis that it would infringe on freedom of thought and expression - burning a flag is an `expressive act', a form of `political speech', says the ACLU, and the authorities should keep their hands off it.

The British police are looking to go even further than Congress has tried but failed to: they want to criminalise `burning the flag of any country', not just the Union Jack. This is more brazen than anything attempted in other states....

In calling for a ban on any kind of flag-burning, the police show that their main aim is to clamp down on speech and protest. They are concerned not so much with `protecting national integrity' - as those various other laws against national flag-burning dubiously claim to - but rather with outlawing what they see as inflammatory (literally) protest. It's not the flag they're worried about, so much as the fire, the fiery passions of protesters and the public.

Source

Florida School Newspaper Censored

Everybody knows it but mentioning that blacks do poorly at school is "insensitive":

"There are few issues in American education as widely discussed as the achievement gap, the racial divide that separates the academic performance of white and minority students. But not at Hillsborough High School, where the principal pulled an article detailing the school's achievement gap from the student newspaper. Principal William Orr called the content inappropriate, even though it focused on data the federal government publicizes under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Instead of a story and chart, students found a gaping hole Monday in the Red & Black, the school newspaper. "If it's something that has a potential to hurt students' self-esteem, then I have an obligation not to let that happen," he said. "I don't think it's the job of the school newspaper to embarrass the students."

Source

Nazis Killing Jews is Bad; Arabs killing Jews is Amusing



Consummate academic politician and President of the University of Pennslyvania Amy Gutmann recently hosted a Halloween party at which she posed with an Arab student dressed as a suicide bomber. She posed with a big smile on her face. Apparently Arabs blowing up Jews is a great Halloween joke. Given her position, there is no doubt that many other Left-leaning academics would feel likewise. If anyone knows her constituency she does.

Given the constant leftist howls about even the most obscure suggestions of racism in conservatives, how come it is not racist or at least "insensitive" to wink at the blowing up of Jews? Any conservative who expressed the slightest suggestion of antisemitism would never hear the end of it.

What I think it illustrates is the vast moral vacuum that is Leftism. There is no real morality, ethics or concern for others in their thinking at all. They just say whatever sounds good to the audience they are addressing at the time -- and that is also a good working definition of psychopathy.

Swiss to Prioritize Free Speech?

We read:

"Switzerland's justice minister has called on the Swiss government to reverse a law which makes historical revisionism illegal.

Minister Christoph Blocher is on a campaign to change the law, according to the Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper - even if it will impinge upon the sensitivities of minority groups, including the country's Jewish communities.

Blocher claims that freedom of expression is more important than protecting the sensibilities of minority groups, NZZ wrote.

Source

Michigan: Incorrect to Depict the Past Accurately

We read:

"Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been pulled from high school classes after a parent of a black student complained that a teacher had students read portions aloud....

The 1880s novel about a white boy's first-person account of his adventures along the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim has long been controversial because of its use of racial slurs and its representations of blacks and women.

Source

Homosexuals Justified in Committing Murder if they are Criticized

We read:

"Mary Stachowicz was attacked with such ferocity the assailant's hunting knife blade was bent, but a defense attorney for her alleged attacker is painting her with the blame, saying it wasn't a "hate crime" and it happened because her comments about his "gay" lifestyle assaulted the man.

And since it was only a routine murder case, not a "hate crime," the story is getting almost no coverage from mainstream media outlets, several conservative groups have noted.

Source

"Tolerance" and "Diversity" in the Church of England

We read:

"The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, has been banned from one of the oldest cathedrals in Britain after accusations that he has become an "instrument of disunity".

Lord Carey, who has become a champion of orthodoxy in the Anglican Church since stepping down from the top job in 2002, was due to speak at Bangor Cathedral, North Wales, in February. The Dean of Bangor, the Very Rev Alun Hawkins, is understood to have imposed the unprecedented ban because he feels that Lord Carey has become a "divisive force" and has been "disloyal" to his successor, Dr Rowan Williams, who was born in Wales.

Relations have been strained since Lord Carey blocked the appointment of Dr Williams as Bishop of Southwark because he believed that he was too liberal on the gay issue.

Source

The Church of England is tolerant of everything except Bible teachings.

Don't Tell Blacks About This Wisconsin Wackiness

Blacks are of course by far the most frequent users of the most wicked word these days:

"More than 200 people attended a symbolic funeral to lay to rest the offensive term for blacks: the n-word.

"I didn't know it was possible to be happy to go to a funeral," said Milele Chikasa Anana, publisher of Umoja magazine in Madison. "Hallelujah! I am delighted that we are having a funeral!"

Source

That a word can be incomparably wicked when whites use it but fine when blacks use seems clearly racist to me.

Must not Hang Anything if Blacks are Around

We read:

"Johns Hopkins University has suspended the Sigma Chi fraternity because of a "Halloween in the Hood" party that drew protests by black students.

The invitation to the party, posted on the Web site Facebook, encouraged guests to wear "regional clothing from our locale" with jewelry including "bling bling ice ice, grills" and "hoochie hoops."

The party, held Saturday night at the fraternity house, featured a skeleton pirate hanging on a noose.

Source

Apparently the reference to black ideas of personal adornment might have passed muster but a hanging skeleton at the same event was taken as a reference to lynching. The authors of the invitation are now in deep doo doo. The fact that pirates were almost all white seems to have passed unnoticed.

"Speech that Appears Hateful" is not "Hate Speech"?

Abusive and defamatory comments from Leftists were placed on a website run by University of Wisconsin conservative students so the conservative students took the matter up with college authorities:

"Tellier said the harassment did not end there, as people began defaming an online profile by the group commemorating 9/11 with comments like "Where's Osama?" and calling members "douche bags."

Following the recommendations of the university, Tellier said he filed a complaint with the Campus Climate organization on campus, which responded by hosting a town hall meeting.

But at the forum, Tellier said the vandalism was determined to be "speech that appears hateful," not "hate speech."

Source

Only conservatives can utter hate speech, of course. It is something else when Leftists do it.

Jews and Nazis Very Similar

This would be hate speech coming from a conservative but it was said by Christopher Hedges, the New York Times's former Middle East bureau chief and long-time reporter:

"They make it easier to misread the real lesson of the Holocaust, which, as Christopher Browning illustrated in his book 'Ordinary Men,' is that the line between the victim and the victimizer is razor-thin.

Source

Have you read anything in the MSM about this appalling comparison? Of course not. Only conservatives can utter hate speech. A conservative can use a nonsense word like "macaca" and the media will tell you daily that it is racist because it means something bad in French but will you get similar coverage of real racism from an influential Leftist? No way!