This document is part of an archive of postings on Tongue Tied, a blog hosted by Blogspot who are in turn owned by Google. The index to the archive is available here or here. Indexes to my other blogs can be located here or here. Archives do accompany my original postings but, given the animus towards conservative writing on Google and other internet institutions, their permanence is uncertain. These alternative archives help ensure a more permanent record of what I have written.
This is a backup copy of the original blog
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press" -- 1st amendment
18 April, 2021
TikTok has permanently banned PragerU from its platform for “multiple violations” of its community guidelines
The tech giant removed PragerU’s account altogether—giving us no way to appeal the decision! We can’t even view the content that was supposedly in violation of TikTok’s policies!
This is blatant censorship.
TikTok is a platform most frequently used by young people, primarily those under the age of 18, to share video content. This is a vital age group being brainwashed by the left that we must reach.
PragerU’s TikTok page simply shared videos about American values using young influencers to convey those ideas. Our page was reaching millions of young people.
For example, one of our videos by Dennis Prager (on the myth of the gender wage gap) reached 3 million views—millions of young people liked and shared this video.
TikTok does not want young people, especially Gen Z, exposed to conservative ideas.
Because PragerU’s page was effectively influencing millions of young people, they banned us. To make matters worse, TikTok gave PragerU zero recourse—no reasons were given and there is no one to contact.
The left has taken over every single vehicle of communication for young people. Americans are facing a serious Freedom of Speech issue. Without our First Amendment, all our other rights will be meaningless.
Via email from Prager U
***********************************
Calls to change the name of fairy bread because it's 'outdated and offensive'
Alexis Chaise, from Melbourne, has launched a petition to replace the name of the party snack for the 'sake of countless marginalised Australians'.
She proposed the name be changed to 'party bread' because the term 'fairy' has been used to 'belittle and oppress others'.
The word 'fairy' has been defined as a derogatory term for a gay male who acts more stereotypically feminine than straight women.
'The fact that Australians in 2021 are still using this word in the name of a children's food is reprehensible', the petition reads.
'I was shocked when I discovered at my cousin's 5th birthday party that the children there were being taught to use the derogatory term of 'fairy' in regards to their party food.'
The campaigner said she was proud to have never consumed fairy bread, and encouraged Australians to boycott the beloved treat.
The week-old campaign has received over 1000 signatures, with many 'supporters' venting their frustration at the petition in the comments.
'Signing is the only way I can let you know how f**king stupid this is', one user commented.
There is some suggestion that this is a spoof
***********************************
My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS -- daily)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
*******************************
15 April, 2021
The Associated Press is being ridiculed online after its style guide eliminated the term ‘mistress’ from the lexicon because the word ‘implies that the woman was solely responsible for the affair.’
Instead, the AP Stylebook, used by journalists and writers as sort of a universal guideline, recommends that the term be replaced by gender-neutral words like ‘companion,’ ‘friend,’ or ‘lover.’
The AP initially recommended the elimination of the term ‘mistress’ last year, but a tweet reminding the public of the change went viral on Wednesday.
‘Don't use the term mistress for a woman who is in a long-term sexual relationship with, and is financially supported by, a man who is married to someone else,’ the AP tweeted.
‘Instead, use an alternative like companion, friend or lover on first reference and provide additional details later.’
In a follow-up tweet, the agency wrote: ‘We understand it's problematic that the alternative terms fall short.
‘But we felt that was better than having one word for a woman and none for the man, and implying that the woman was solely responsible for the affair.’
On Twitter, social media users mocked the AP. Mark Harris of New York City snickered: ‘Yeah, definitely use “friend,” the term the husband uses to explain himself. That’s much less sexist.’
Christian Schneider thinks that a synonym for mistress should be ‘homewrecker.’
Joe Cunningham tweeted: ‘The preferred gender-neutral phrasing is “Sugar Baby”.’
‘The word for the man is "adulterer”,’ wrote one Twitter user.
Another Twitter user suggested ‘mister-ess’ as an alternative.
Matt Comer thinks the AP should just adopt the term ‘paramour,’ which is ‘just waiting to be plucked from the dictionary.’
*************************************
Uproar over Scrabble words that can no longer be used
The Scrabble world is in uproar over moves by the venerable board game’s owners to ban a long list of words now considered slurs.
Three prominent members of the global Scrabble players’ organisation have quit over the removal of words from official game lists.
They have complained that as Scrabble is a game of words, as long as terms are listed in the dictionary they should be able to be played. To do otherwise would be to pretend those words don’t exist.
One of Scrabble’s owners, however, has said there are no other games where players “can win by using a racial epithet”.
But an Australian campaigner has questioned why derogatory terms for Irish people now cannot score points, but derogatory terms for Indigenous Australians can still be played.
The word war erupted when words began to be removed from the game’s official word lists over the past 12 months.
Invented in the US in 1938, Scrabble is now owned by two of the world’s biggest toy makers. Hasbro, makers of Monopoly and My Little Pony, holds the rights to the game in North America while Mattel, which produces Barbie, owns Scrabble elsewhere – including in Australia.
Gradually, both firms have started to restrict certain words from officially being able to score points. The removed words have varied between the two companies.
In total, more than 200 dictionary defined terms have now vanished.
There is no one list of the banned terms, but online Scrabble check websites allow players to type in a word to see if it can be played.
N****r and c**t are no longer playable. Other terms no longer allowed include “Paki,” a slur against people of Pakistani origin and “Fenian,” which is often used to demean Irish republicans.
“Shiksha,” a derogatory term used to refer to a non-Jewish girl, or a Jewish girl who doesn’t live up to traditional Jewish standards is also gone. [It's actually German for "prostitute"]
A number of players against the move have said they have no wish to highlight any offensive words but they should be able to be played.
British author Darryl Francis resigned from the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) because he said Mattel had forced the changes on the game.
***********************************
My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS -- daily)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
*******************************
2 April, 2021
Australia: Veteran Adelaide radio host Jeremy Cordeaux sacked over Brittany Higgins tirade
Must not question St. Brittany
Veteran radio broadcaster Jeremy Cordeaux, who called Brittany Higgins a “silly girl who got drunk” and questioned her story, has been sacked.
The award-winning host was branded a “dinosaur” online over the appalling comments on air on FIVEaa over the weekend about the alleged rape at Parliament House in 2019.
“I just ask myself why the prime minister doesn’t call it out for what it is. A silly little girl who got drunk,” Cordeaux said at 6.26am during his weekend breakfast show.
“If this girl has been raped, why hasn’t the guy who raped her been arrested? Apparently everyone knows his name.”
“Security, you know, should never have let these two into the minister’s office at two o’clock in the morning. Never,” Cordeaux said.
“The defence minister. Can you imagine security taking someone who was obviously drunk, so drunk I think that the young lady, during the week on television, said she couldn’t get her shoes on.
“My advice to the prime minister – as he was sort of monstered by A Current Affair – my advice would be to stop worrying about offending somebody.”
****************************************
Race and Inclusion Editor Fired from USA Today for 'Angry White Man' Shooter Comments
On Friday, Hemal Jhaveri, the Race and Inclusion Editor for USA Today Sports, announced that she had been fired for her now-deleted tweet that said "it’s always an angry white man. Always," with regards to the Monday night shooting in Boulder, Colorado. The suspect ended up being a 21-year old refugee from Syria.
Jhaveri's announcement tweet links to a Medium piece she wrote. In the 1,200-word piece, she only once acknowledges she made "a mistake" further down her piece, in addition to her one apology:
"On Monday night, I sent a tweet responding to the fact that mass shooters are most likely to be white men. It was a dashed off over-generalization, tweeted after pictures of the shooter being taken into custody surfaced online. It was a careless error of judgement, sent at a heated time, that doesn’t represent my commitment to racial equality. I regret sending it. I apologized and deleted the tweet."
We can all still see the tweet, which is inclunded in Jhaveri's own piece. I didn't see "most likely to be" in her tweet. I say "always," twice.
It’s clear that Jhaveri's "commitment to racial equality" doesn't extend to white people when she herself laments that "my previous tweets were flagged not for inaccuracy or for political bias, but for publicly naming whiteness as a defining problem. That is something USA TODAY, and many other newsrooms across the country, can not [sic] tolerate."
So, is she sorry, or is she just sorry that people took notice? It looks like you can make the case for the latter
***********************************
My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS -- daily)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
*******************************
For the notes appearing at the side of the original blog see here
Pictures put up on a blog sometimes do not last long. They stay up only as long as the original host keeps them up. I therefore keep archives of all the pictures that I use. The recent archives are online and are in two parts:
Archive of side pictures here
Most pictures that I use in the body of the blog should stay up throughout the year. But how long they stay up after that is uncertain. At the end of every year therefore I intend to put up a collection of all pictures used on the blog in that year. That should enable missing pictures to be replaced. The archive of last year's pictures on this blog is therefore now up. Note that the filename of the picture is clickable and reflects the date on which the picture was posted. See here
My Home Pages are here (Academic) or here (Personal); My Home page supplement; My Alternative Wikipedia; My Blogroll; Menu of my longer writings; My annual picture page is here; My Recipes;
Email me (John Ray) here.