Must not Mention Racial Differences -- Unless you're Black

Commentary by ex-Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin on the Dan Patrick ESPN radio show: Irvin, while commenting about current Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, insinuated that his athleticism stems from some black blood in his ancestry:

""Somewhere there are some brothers in that line," Irvin added. "I don't know who saw what, where. His great, great, great, great grandma ran over in the 'hood, or something went down."

Patrick cut in, "That's the only way to be a great athlete?"

"No," Irvin replied, "that's not the only way. But it's certainly one way. Great, great, great, great grandma pulled one of them studs up outta the barn. 'Come here for a second.' You know, they go out and work in the yard. You know, back in the day. Something like that."

Source

All that blatant racism over a week ago on a national radio show and hardly a peep out of the media. If a white conservative had said anything like it he would be out of a job by now and ruined for life.

Britain: Must not Mention Black Crime (Again)

We read:

"British Member of Parliament Bob Spink has said he is not a racist despite telling a constituent black criminals vastly outnumber white criminals....

"I think it's raising political correctness to new heights to claim that simply quoting the facts so that the public are aware of them is racist," Spink said.

"If we don't tackle these difficult questions then we'll leave a vacuum for the nasty extremist parties to fill."

Source

Censorship in Pictures



The picture above is a picture of a cross! It is in the Mojave desert but has been boarded up at the behest of the ACLU. STACLU has the details.

More Censorship by Google News: Now U.S. Central Command News is Invisible

U.S. Central Command in Iraq (Centcom) has an active news service. I get regular press releases from it myself. But you won't find their releases via Google News. One excuse is that Centcom is "self-promoting". The way Reuters and AP promote their anti-military and often false stories is fine, however. No right of reply allowed! Bizzyblog has been doing a detailed investigation of just what is going on there.

The Centcom site has always been painfully slow to load (just another bit of the chronic bungling one gets from any army), however, so I rarely use their stuff. Maybe Google have given them up for a similar reason.

Must not Mention that Rape Occurs During Wars

That rape of women by troops is common during war is well-known but even an account of it by a first-hand observer is not allowed if the rapists are "ethnic" apparently. A book about wartime Korea in 1945 has just been removed from the curriculum by a Massachusetts school because it mentions that Korean troops perpetrated rape. The dear little kiddies of Massachusetts must be shielded from the harsh truths of life.

If the book had mentioned rape by American troops it would have been praised to the skies, of course. Details here.

Must not Criticize Black Students

We read:

"Carson High School pulled this month's school newspaper because of an anonymous article that likened rowdy black students at a nearby Taco Bell to "a pack of monkeys."

The article, titled "Looks like the circus is in town," was on the editorial page of the issue distributed Tuesday, school officials said.

The piece describes raucous and impolite behavior: "The one thing that I hate more than anything is standing in that line with dumb-ass people paying and acting a fool around me."

The writer says most of the crowd is black and variously describes the students as stupid, rude, immature and insensitive, summing up: "When I go to Taco Bell, I want to go to a restaurant, NOT A ZOO! Stop acting like animals . behave and clean up after yourself."

Source

Because at least some of the students criticized were black, that made the criticism "racist", of course.

Christians Bad; Muslims Good

Chris Brand has just done a big lot of posts about the epidemic of attacks on Christianity at British universities. Christian groups are in effect being run off campus. The excuse for it is that Christians disapprove of homosexuality. Muslims however want to stone homosexuals to death and I have yet to hear of any Muslim student group being treated disapprovingly.

CNN Covers up for a Racist Black

Any mention of racial stereotypes is routinely denounced by the Left as "racist", so let us follow that rule here:

On the November 21st morning edition of Newsroom, CNN's Kyra Phillips interviewed Paul Mooney,a popular black comedian and activist, and Roland Martin, a Chicago radio personality, about Michael Richards' ("Kramer's") now notorious racist outburst. During the interview Paul Mooney referred to Kramer's appearance as "Jewish" and was not challenged.

CNN publishes transcripts, but removed this version after two hours and edited the remark out of the original interview when they re-ran it. CNN also removed the link to the original transcript on the official CNN Transcript page. The original transcript remained available through the Google cache, however. So all references to this racist remark by a known black activist and comedian who specializes in racial humor were removed.

Whether or not Richards is in fact Jewish, there is of course a history of bigoted remarks about "Jewish features" and "looking Jewish" (big noses etc.). The Nazis used such ideas frequently.

There was no chastising Mooney for his racist remark and no one seemed horrified, as they would if it were said about "black features." If Mooney were white, by now an intern would be reviewing hours of his old comedy shows to find inappropriate remarks that support the view that he is an anti-Semite. An American Republican or white man would have ended up with his own CNN segment the next day trying to explain what he meant and promising that he really isn't bigoted.

You can read the suppressed segment of the interview here

Incorrect "Fighting Sioux"

The Indian-name obsession rolls on. College sports teams who name themselves after Indian groups are perversely said to be demeaning the Indians concerned when blind Freddy vision-challenged Frederick can see that they use such names to make themselves sound BETTER, not worse.

The University of North Dakota has not yet succumbed to the paranoia and still has a team called the "Fighting Sioux". Opposition to the name is not coming from the home side, however. It is coming from another college that they will be playing -- Dartmouth. The Dartmouth athletic director has APOLOGIZED profusely for arranging a game with such an incorrectly-named team.

Details and discussion here

Dangerous Dissent in Canada

A Quebec psychiatrist dared mention one of the most unmentionable ideas there are:

"During a September 2005 broadcast, Mailloux said that blacks in America are at a "slight intellectual disadvantage" because of slavery.

He now faces five complaints before the College des Medecins du Quebec that could result in the revocation of his medical licence."

Source

Evidence about the truth or falsity of what he said will be irrelevant, of course.

Must not Portray Muslims as Terrorists

If the book had portrayed Christians as terrorists, that would have been great, of course. Reality not allowed:

"A leading children's publisher has dumped a novel because of political sensitivity over Islamic issues. Scholastic Australia pulled the plug on the "Army of the Pure" after booksellers and librarians said they would not stock the adventure thriller for younger readers because the "baddie" was a Muslim terrorist.

A prominent literary agent has slammed the move as "gutless", while the book's author, award-winning novelist John Dale, said the decision was "disturbing because it's the book's content they are censoring".

Source

Young British Criminals are now "Trainees"

We read:

"Teenage muggers and burglars sentenced to jail by the courts will instead attend local schools and live alongside orphans in open children's homes. The hardened criminals would normally be locked in detention centres with specialist classrooms. But it has emerged an overcrowding crisis in the juvenile prison system is forcing the Government to dramatically relax the law. It will allow the criminals to mix with society's most vulnerable youngsters in the relaxed regime of a mainstream children's home for the first time. And some will even be allowed to attend local schools.

The Government has also ruled they should no longer be considered young offenders. Instead, in yet another example of political correctness, the Home Office's new Offender Management Bill refers to the tearaways as 'trainees'.

Source

An "Offensive" Comment that did not Offend

Australia is in the midst of cricket fever at the moment -- with the England team playing Australia right here in my home town of Brisbane. And the English fans (known as the "Barmy Army") are here in large numbers to support their team. And the English and Australian fans do of course mock one-another. An example is described below. The "Captain Cook" referred to is the English discoverer of Australia whose reports led to English settlement in Australia in 1788.

"The one thing you can rely on in a battle between Australia and England is political correctness goes out the window and politeness is definitely not on. It's a bit like families, really. People say and do things to their siblings they would never say or do to anybody outside the gene pool and the same goes for the English and the colonials.

The English have reached lowest so far -- no surprises in that -- coming up with a delightful little Barmy Army T-shirt that came into view across a blurry bar last night. From what our correspondent can recall, the T-shirt in question featured a squatting Captain Cook on the shores of this great land with his pants down and words: Captain Cook only stopped off for a XXXX.

Source

Australians have not yet commenced Jihad against the English and there have been no furious demonstrations in the streets about the matter.

A Good Thanksgiving Thought



A small excerpt from the brilliant Michelle Malkin:

""Give thanks we don't live in Bangladesh, where you can be put on trial for writing columns supporting Israel and condemning Muslim violence. Just ask Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of Blitz, the largest tabloid English-language weekly in Bangladesh. He is currently facing a sedition trial for speaking out about the threats radical Islam poses in Bangladesh. He has been imprisoned, harassed, beaten and condemned. In court last week, his persecutors read these charges against him: "By praising the Jews and Christians, by attempting to travel to Israel and by predicting the so-called rise of Islamist militancy in the country and expressing such through writings inside the country and abroad, you have tried to damage the image and relations of Bangladesh with the outside world." For expressing these dissident opinions, he faces the possibility of execution....

Give thanks we live in America, land of the free, home of the brave, where the media's elite journalists can leak top-secret information with impunity, win Pulitzer Prizes, cash in on lucrative book deals, routinely insult their readership and viewership, broadcast enemy propaganda, turn a blind eye to the victims of jihad, and cast themselves as oppressed victims on six-figure salaries.

God bless the U.S.A.

Source

Koran ringtones labelled un-Islamic

There seems to be no end to Islamic "sensitivity":

"Muslim clerics at a leading seminary in India have asked people to refrain from using verses from the Koran as ringtones for their mobile phones, saying the practice was un-Islamic.

Koran verses "are not meant for entertainment," said Mohammed Asumin Qazmi, an official at the Dar-ul Uloom seminary in the northern Indian town of Deoband. "Anyone who persists in using these should be ostracised from society."

Ringtones with Koran verses or calls to prayers are popular among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state.

Source

Stopping the Flow of Taxpayer Dollars to the ACLU

It appears that there is still a chance of getting the PERA Act passed by the outgoing Senate -- aimed at knocking the ACLU off the gravy train it rides in return for its anti-religion activity. STACLU has the details and urges you to help.

Is "Obese" Correct?

British doctors are having a debate over whether it is OK to call kids "obese". See here. It is felt that the term might "stigmatize" fat kids.

I would think it might have the reverse effect -- by "medicalizing" a normal condition. Kids who already get called "Fatso" and "Fatguts" don't feel bad about it? Tell me another one!

I think fatties might feel that it is a defense to say: "I'm not fat. I'm obese. I can't help it". And they might be right about that.

If the doctors REALLY want to help fat kids not to feel victimized, they might start telling the unpopular truth -- that moderately overweight people live longer than slim people. Even the very overweight live roughly as long as slim people.

Apple "Insults" Islam



We read that a cube-shaped building in NYC is too much like the Kaaba -- the cube-shaped building of pagan origin that is the central shrine in Mecca:

""Islamist site claims that the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue "is meant to provoke Muslims" because it is called the "Apple Mecca" and "is intended to be open 24 hours a day like the Ka'ba, and moreover, contains bars selling alcoholic beverages."

This "new insult to Islam" is a cube-shaped building where customers enjoy test-driving the various lines of Apple computers and peripherals..."

Source

Another Attack on Southern Pride

Murfreesboro, Tennessee:

"Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest should have his name removed from MTSU's ROTC building, according to a Student Government Association vote.

The SGA voted 19-5 recently on a resolution to remove the Forrest name after a student, Amber Perkins, presented a petition with 205 names requesting this action, said Josh McKinzie, SGA vice president. The university administration will next consider the resolution.

Source

The naming celebrates the man because he was an able general, not because he was a racist. Practically everybody was a racist then. Forrest was probably no more racist than Abraham Lincoln himself. Lincoln after all wanted to send the blacks back to Africa.

Is Pornography Hate Speech?

British feminists say it is. "Pornography constitutes a type of hate speech in which explicitly anti-women messages are transmitted, and should not be defensible under freedom of speech".

It is views such as that which appear to behind the latest British legal assault on pornograhy. Possessing child pornography is already deeply criminal in Britain but bondage and sado-masochism are now in the sights of Britain's Leftist government. Most pornographic bondage and sado-masochist scenes are play-acted and harm nobody but that is not going to matter, apparently. Just possessing a portrayal of it will send you to jail. Why? Apparently the feminist reasoning above is behind it.

Details here.

A Small Victory for Christians

Nobody was saying that you MUST use these tags:

"The controversial 'Choose Life' license plates will be available for Tennesseans to put on their vehicles by Dec. 1. The final placement of the license plates comes more than three years since the specialty plate received the initial go-ahead from the state Legislature. Since first passing the state Legislature in 2003, the 'Choose Life' license plate has been embattled in court case after court case. The plates received their final go-ahead in June when the U.S. Supreme Court decided to not take up the case about whether they were constitutional. Now, by Dec. 1, those that have pre-ordered the specialty plates can pick up their tags at their local county clerk's office, according to the state Department of Revenue. Starting Dec. 1, they can be purchased by any properly registered driver."

Source

Must not Quote the Koran

Last year, two Christian pastors in Australia were prosecuted for quoting some of the more discreditable passages in the Koran and it seems that Britain also has such a taboo:

"Something similar happened at this year's Hay-on-Wye festival, sponsored by the Guardian, where a five-person panel discussed "Are there are any limits to free speech?" One of the Muslim panelists said if anyone offended his religion, he would strike him. A lawyer, Anthony Julius, responded that Jews had lived as minorities under two powerful hegemonies, Christian and Muslim, and had been obliged to learn how to deal nonviolently with offense caused to them by the sacred scriptures of both. He started by referring to an anti-Semitic passage in the New Testament — which passed without comment. But when he began to list the passages in the Koran that denigrate Jews, describing them as monkeys and pigs, the panelists went ballistic. One of them, Madeline Bunting of the Guardian, put her hand over the microphone and said words to the effect, "I am not going to sit here and listen to any criticisms of Muslims." She was cheered, and not one of the journalists in the audience from right or left uttered a word about free speech — not hate speech, mind you, but free speech of a moderate nature.

Source

Even a Black Cannot Mention Race Now

A black politician put up an anonymous satirical note on the internet, saying of a white congressional candidate: "Tammy Lee is the best choice to replace Congressman Martin Sabo. After all, she's white -- just like us." The intention appears to have been to say that only white racists would vote for her or that her race was all she had going for her. It's clearly a derogatory statement but "negative" campaign advertisements are hardly new.

When it transpired that it was a black politician who said that, there was a great uproar -- even from some blacks. Clearly, race is the unmentionable elephant in the bedroom. If it were not, nobody would be bothered by mentions of it.

Details here.

Must not Point to Islamic Realities

We read:

"An unknown party posted what many called an anti-Muslim cartoon across Yale's campus Wednesday morning, the third recent instance of anonymous postering on campus. The cartoons on the posters - which were taken down mid-morning by members of the Muslim Students Association - depicted the prophet Muhammad with a sword in one hand and a decapitated head in the other, underneath a speech bubble which included the phrase: "Don't mess with Ahmadinejad's nukes." ...

MSA President Altaf Saadi '08 said she was shocked that the cartoons would be posted on a campus like Yale's and was unhappy that the individuals responsible decided to remain anonymous.... Saadi said the derogatory nature of the cartoon places it in the category of hate speech. "I think discussion about free speech is irrelevant," she said. "This is about something that is blatantly racist and has no place on a campus like Yale."

Source

Apparently, Yale police are investigating.

Boston College: Satire "Should not have been Published"

We read:

"On Monday The Heights published a cartoon titled 'A Superfan tribute to history's geniuses.' This cartoon, which drew a direct and inappropriate comparison between the Holocaust and the cancellation of the GLC dance and insulted the intelligence of both the Jewish and Boston College student community, should not have been published.

Source

At least, I hope it was satire.

"Racist" to Abhor the Bombing and Rocketing of Innocent Civilians?

University of Michigan wisdom:

"American foreign policy in the Middle East is at a crossroads, the Palestinian ambassador to the United States said yesterday in a speech in the Modern Language Building.

The American Culture department held the event in hopes of changing the preconceptions of Arabs and Arab-Americans, said Prof. Nadine Naber, who arranged the event.

She said anti-Arab racism tends to intensify during times of war in the Middle East.

Source

A great way of changing the perceptions of Arabs would be to change what they do.

Rewrite History to Remove the N-word?



An old and popular British comic book has just been reprinted:

"Race watchdogs have launched a probe into a relaunched 1939 Dandy annual after claims it uses racist and inflammatory language.

The children's annual, which has been reprinted for the Christmas market, has been branded racist for using the word 'n*gger.'

In the 1939 comic strip, Smarty Grandpa, the word is used four times by characters during the course of single-page story.

Source

The n-word is probably less offensive in Britain than it is in the USA. The High Court of Australia recently ruled that in Australia it is not offensive at all.

Not Allowed to Criticize Women

Saying that women are in general not as good as men at some things is very risky -- as former Harvard President Larry Summers found out. It seems to be less risky in English football, as the club manager who said the following at least kept his job:

"Newell questioned the competence of assistant referee Amy Rayner - and women officials in general - after a 3-2 loss to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

"This is not park football, so what are women doing here?" Newell said Saturday in his post-game news conference. "It is tokenism for the politically correct idiots.

"I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that," he added. "We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom."

Source

He did have to apologize, however.

Is "Urban" the New Word for "Black"?

As many readers here will already be aware, my favorite American read -- straight from the headquarters of loony country -- is the "Sacramento Bee". I have the idea that I may be looking at America's future when I read it. So a recent headline there amused me: "Urban students do worse than nation in science". "Urban" means "of a city" and I guess that 99% of Americans realize that minorities, particularly blacks, tend to cluster in big city centers. So what the headline really means is: "Black students do worse than nation in science". Must not say that, of course.

Must not Imply that a Faithless Woman is Like a Dog

From Canada:

"The Liberals allege Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay referred to ex-girlfriend and Liberal MP Belinda Stronach as a dog during an exchange Thursday in the House of Commons - a charge he later denied.

During the debate about the Tories' clean air plan, MP Mark Holland said a fellow Liberal jokingly asked MacKay about the impact of pollution on humans and animals: "What about your dog?"

Holland alleges MacKay motioned in response toward Stronach's vacant seat and replied: "You already have her."

Holland lodged a complaint with the Commons Speaker and has demanded MacKay apologize.

Source

After suffering both a personal and a political betrayal by the woman, he had some reason to speak ill of her -- though feminists may not think so. Extended commentary here

There have also been reports of a romantic link between Ms Stronach and the slippery Bill Clinton. If true that would not say much for her character, in my view -- certainly enough to evoke a canine comparison.

Amazing What a Comedian can Safely Say



I have always liked Scottish comedian Billy Connolly. His humor is to a great extent the humor of the Glasgow man-in-the-street -- though a bit earthy for some. But I wonder could he get away with saying the following in America:

"Take, for instance, his opinion on political correctness: "You can't be a coward forever. It's such bollocks, you know, the way politics and the media are behaving today -- you know, smoking's bad and s*domy's good, you know -- f--- that! That's nonsense, and it's so obviously nonsense!"

Source

He appears to have said that in Canada, however, so there is hope for plain talking yet. The "s-word" would automatically produce a charge of "homophobia" in many circles, I gather. Interesting to see what happens on his Canadian tour.

Must not Call Anybody Stupid?

So it seems. A member of the crowd at an Australian cricket match called out to one of the players: "You can't speak English, you stupid Indian".

Those words have been hailed as proof that Australians are "racist". See here.

I think the words show that the player addressed was rightly seen as having Indian ancestry and as expressing the opinion (right or wrong) that the player was stupid. I cannot see that they imply anything more. Or are we not allowed to say that any member of a "minority" is stupid? But what if a particular minority person IS stupid?

And for that matter, since there are about a billion of them, Indians are hardly a "minority". And claiming that the words of one person represent what an entire nation thinks is the sort of hysteria we have come to expect where the claim of "racism" is hurled about.

Skull & Crossbones now Incorrect

Because the Nazis used it:

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is pulling a skull-and-crossbones T-shirt from its shelves after a Maryland blogger complained that the image was identical to a Nazi SS emblem from World War II.

Source

That it was a conventional symbol of piracy (much used in various entertainments) long before the Nazis came along does not matter, apparently. If the image was being used to promote Nazism, the protest might have had some point but in fact only one super-sensitive person was even aware of the similarity to Nazi iconography. But that one person was allowed to make the rules for everybody else.

The Ad Hominem Fallacy is Alive and Well in NC

The ad hominem fallacy occurs when you judge the truth or worth of a statement by the person who uttered it rather than by the evidence for it. Hitler often expressed a love of dogs and children. Does that mean that love of dogs and children is wrong?

"Sensitivity training has been ordered for a high school soccer team that broadcast part of a Nazi speech over the public address system before a game....

The aired segment was taken from a speech by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and contained the team's slogan, "On to victory."

Source

A Good Point

Must not Express Criticism

We read:

"Several country stars are rallying to the defense of Faith Hill, whose on-camera antics during Monday's Country Music Association Awards have created a national stir.

As Carrie Underwood's name was announced as the winner of the female vocalist award, Hill looked at the camera, raised her hands, said, "What?" and then turned away. She issued a statement on Tuesday that said she had been joking.

Source

Free Speech Trumps Social Work Dogma

A complete cave-in by MSU:

"Missouri State University has settled a lawsuit filed by a graduate who claimed her freedoms of speech and religion had been violated. The university agreed to pay Emily Brooker, a May 2006 graduate, $9,000. Officials also said she could attend Missouri State to pursue a master's degree in social work free of charge for two years - equivalent to about $12,000. In addition, Brooker could receive $3,000 per year in living expenses for two years of graduate education. MSU also agreed to clear Brooker's official record of a high-level grievance filed against her by the university's School of Social Work....

The lawsuit alleged that Kauffman demanded that students sign a letter supporting homosexuals being foster parents. Brooker refused to sign the letter, which was written by Kauffman, because she said the issue it supported went against her Christian beliefs. ... After the university's investigation, Kauffman voluntarily gave up his post as director of the master of social work program and was reassigned to nonclassroom duties.

Source

I mentioned this case two days ago.

Logo with Crosses Upheld

We read:

"A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to stop the city of Las Cruces - a name that means "the crosses" in Spanish - from using three Christian crosses on its logo.

Three plaintiffs had contended the city government's use of crosses violated the First Amendment by endorsing and advancing a religion.

Source

Whites Must not Imitate Blacks

There is an old saying that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". But does that apply to blacks?

"A group of first-year law students at the University of Texas at Austin has been chided by the dean for participating in a "Ghetto Fabulous"-themed costume party and posting pictures from it online....

But the photos - in which partygoers carried 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor and wore Afro wigs, necklaces with large medallions and name tags bearing traditionally black and Hispanic names - upset some black law students, said Sophia Lecky, president of the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society.

Source

Ghetto blacks must just not be mentioned, apparently.

Punished for not Supporting Homosexuality

We read:

"The lawsuit Brooker v. The Governors of Missouri State University (MSU) was filed on October 30th on behalf of Emily Brooker. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Christian legal group that advocates religious freedom, accuses tax-funded MSU of retaliating against Brooker because she refused to sign a letter to the Missouri Legislature in support of homosexual adoption. Gay adoption violates Brooker's Christian beliefs.

ADF says the letter violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religion; the subsequent 'punishment' violated her Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.

Source

MSU appears to have violated its own free speech policies but is not talking so far. They are saying that she cannot be a social worker unless she holds Leftist political beliefs.

British Jury Defends Free Speech

Should you be prosecuted for things you say in private that are critical of Islam? The British govcernment twice prosecuted two members of the British National party for just that. What Nick Griffin and Mark Collett said at a private meeting was that Islam is a "wicked, vicious faith" etc. That was claimed to fall foul of Britain's "hate speech" laws. Fortunately, a jury disagreed and the men have just been cleared of all charges. Story here. Note that there seems to have been advocacy of political action only, not advocacy of violence.

Gordon Brown, a senior member of the British government, has however responded by saying that the laws against hate speech must be "tightened". No respect for free speech there.

Should Advocacy of Violence be Punished?

Both Left and Right generally say Yes. Libertarians say No. As a libertarian, I am inclined to say No too. The reasoning: Talk is cheap. It is only violent deeds that should be punished. If you allow the talk, you have a better idea of where to look for the culprits when violence does occur.

But no reasonable person could agree with the situation where Muslims and others have to answer to totally different rules -- so that Muslims are allowed to advocate violence but others cannot even criticize Islam. It looks like we have now seen that double standard beginning to erode.

Amazing: A MUSLIM Convicted of Hate Speech!

Maybe all is not lost in Britain. Advocacy of violence punished:

"A website designer was convicted yesterday of stirring up racial hatred during a protest by Muslims over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

Mizanur Rahman, of Palmers Green, North London, carried placards that called for non-Muslims to be "annihilated" and "beheaded" as he addressed more than 300 protesters outside the Danish Embassy in London on February 3.

Source

Good to see dying the double standard which has so far protected Muslims while penalizing others.

Russia Bans Borat

We read:

"Borat has notched up another box-office record by becoming the first film to be banned from cinemas in Russia since the collapse of communism. The state film authority announced yesterday that it would refuse a cinema licence for Sacha Baron Cohen's movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

It had been due to open in 300 cinemas across Russia on November 30. But Yuri Vasyuchkov, head of film licensing at the Federal Culture and Cinematography Agency, said that the film contravened regulations barring abuse of ethnic and religious groups. "The distributor asked us informally to look at the film and to give our opinion about whether it would be licensed. Our view was that the material could be offensive to various nationalities and religions," he said.

Source

British Writer Falls Victim to American Hysteria

British-born ex-Leftist, Christopher Hitchens, was on American TV discussing how derogatory words lose their force after a while:

"I also mention a famous rude word for black people that begins with 'N' but has been annexed back by its victims. Suddenly, there is a break and the studio fills with grim-faced executives who tell me that I'm cut from the rest of the show. I say I want it in writing. From discussing a non-story to becoming a non-story of my own is a short step.

Source

The TV executives were just protecting themselves from Leftist attacks, of course.

Don't Mention Muslim Follies?

Recently, The Australian newspaper reprinted in full a speech by Australia's Islamic leader that blamed Western women for getting raped. Various Leftists have however argued that the newspaper should not have done that:

"Self-appointed keepers of the national conscience such as Peter Botsman, Mike Carlton and Malcolm Fraser have missed the point when it comes to the outrageous statements of Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali and this newspaper's coverage of the same. Although he may be the worst offender, Mr Botsman is hardly alone in claiming The Australian committed a "media lynching" of the Muslim cleric. In a 25,000-word paper posted on his website, Botsman, chief editor of the online journal Australian Prospect, argues that no matter how reprehensible the mufti's remarks, publishing them was wrong because it reinforced the world's current anxieties and fears.

Source

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!