Tuesday, May 01, 2018







Feminists Attack Tomi Lahren's Appearance

If there is one thing consistent about modern feminists, it is their blatant hypocrisy. These alleged warriors for gender equality claim it's sexist and wrong to attack a woman's appearance, for example, unless that woman happens to hold some conservative views. ​

Case in point, Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren is being mocked by feminists over at Babe.net for her looks. The feminist site has dug up "embarrassing" old photos of Lahren which they suggest were taken pre-plastic surgery.

"Revealed: We found embarrassing videos of Tomi Lahren before she got plastic surgery," reads a headline run by the site earlier in the month. "An expert told us she probably had a TON of work done," reads the sub-heading.

Babe.net used the "uncovered" photos as an excuse to post nasty comments about Lahren's appearance from social media users and effectively shamed the political firebrand for allegedly getting plastic surgery — which is especially odd since the site has previously praised plastic surgery as "absolutely a feminist statement" (h/t Paul Joseph Watson).

"Last week, as her high school photos resurfaced, people on Twitter pointed out that Lahren looked like a 'garden variety gremlin' and a 'I f*** my cousin lookin ass b****,'" notes the enlightened piece.

Social media users "also pointed out that Lahren looked so different that she must have had plastic surgery at some point between that photo and ranting about Beyoncé and Colin Kaepernick. The photos and videos we found from her time in college would agree," Babe.net continued.

This was the excuse the feminists use to shame Lahren for the alleged surgery. "So we asked two plastic surgeons, both experts in their field, to find out for certain – has Tomi Lahren had surgery?"

The rest of the piece was used to speculate about Lahren's alleged surgery.

Babe.net has previously hit Lahren for her looks. Last month, the site published a piece titled, "Is this what Tomi Lahren looked like before plastic surgery?" The entire post was composed of vile social media comments about Lahren's appearance.

Whatever you think about Lahren, it's indisputable that she's consistently the victim of sexist attacks that are ignored by feminists, if not committed by them. While there are many fair criticisms that can be made about the political commentator, it's curious that "feminists" are obsessed with mocking her looks. It's almost as if modern feminism has nothing to do with gender equality and everything to do with advancing a politically Left agenda wherein conservative female thinkers are given the "Mean Girls" you-can't-sit-with-us treatment.

SOURCE







Why We Marched to Defend Free Speech in the UK

Writers Helen Dale and Shazia Hobbs both attended the ‘Free Dankula’ protests on Monday April 23, Shazia in Airdrie, Scotland and Helen in London, England. Here, they report exclusively for Quillette.

Helen: I’m not sure speaking at a protest was ever on my bucket list but at least I can say I’ve done it now.

In circumstances I still find peculiar — outlined here to American journalist Tim Pool at 17:10 — I finished up speaking at the London ‘Free Dankula’ cum ‘Free Speech’ protest.

Shazia: I arrived at Airdrie Sheriff Court on Monday morning not knowing what sort of turn out to expect.

I was delighted to see lots of people had travelled from England to support Markus Meechan, but I was disappointed to see Scots hadn’t turned out in their thousands. Scottish law is different from English law and Scottish people should have been a more visible presence, since the outcome of the case could curtail their freedom of speech. This man was also at risk of ‘going in the gaol’ as Scots say.

Helen and Shazia: In the end, of course, Markus Meechan — aka ‘Count Dankula’ — didn’t go to gaol for his ‘Nazi pug’ video. That said, the £800 fine he copped probably makes it the most expensive joke in Britain. We have gone through some sort of looking glass, but from what to where is unknown and perhaps unknowable.

A man trains his girlfriend’s pet pug to do Nazi salutes in response to the trigger phrases ‘gas the Jews’ and ‘sieg heil’. At one point in the video he makes of this exercise, the pug — whose name is ‘Buddha’, by the way — is in front of a television screen as a Nazi rally plays. Police see the video on YouTube but are in a jurisdiction where police cannot bring prosecutions on their own motion. So they go looking for complainants — Jews who may be ‘grossly offended’ by what they see. The video is shown, presumably multiple times, to people who have not seen it and do not know of it. Some people are indeed offended and produce complaints, notably a Jewish Rabbi in Glasgow. The complaints are taken to the Procurator Fiscal, Scotland’s equivalent of the CPS or DPP.

It’s like the old joke: ‘Eugh! Look what I nearly stood in!’ [holds up dog shit in bare hand.]

The video joker is duly charged. He becomes famous. Many more people see the Nazi pug video. The video joker is convicted. He becomes still more famous, although in response to the conviction, YouTube ‘demonetises’ his videos, so he can no longer earn income from his fame. He is likely saved from a custodial sentence by the uproar surrounding his case. His story competes for headlines with the latest addition to the Royal Family. In words to chill the blood, during his sentencing statement, the Sheriff tells the joker the reaction by employers in the local area suggests that not only Jewish people found this material highly offensive: you say you lost a number of jobs as a result.

Helen has written elsewhere why she thought this prosecution utterly unworthy, damaging to freedom of speech but also of a type to reduce British law enforcement to a global laughing-stock. This time, it’s not only Americans — protected by the strong shield of their First Amendment — laughing at us. Other people are as well, even in countries with hate speech laws.

However, the law under which the charges were brought — Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 — is not a hate speech law. In some respects, this makes it more dangerous. Hate speech laws — whether one agrees that ‘hate speech’ exists or not — are narrowly drafted. This is so because both common law and Roman law (‘civilian’) systems have long recognised that constraints on speech need to be narrow or civic life becomes impossible.

As originally enacted — in 1935, no less — Section 127 was to stop people harassing others by telephone. During the protest, Helen had to explain to one of the youthful organisers what it was like to be called up in the middle of the night and sworn at, or to have heavy breathing down the telephone. Subsection 2 of the Act is clearly directed to a sibling under the skin of harassing midnight calls: phoning the emergency services and telling them granny is doing the watusi on the living room carpet when in reality granny is alive and well and on holiday in Brighton.

Section 127 of the Communications Act has become one of the principal means by which the Internet is policed in the UK. It has done so with little debate about whether it is appropriately worded to deal with modern technology. It is one thing to protect individuals from ‘grossly offensive’ personal telephone calls. It is quite another to protect groups of people from what are in effect public performances. That it is now being used to regulate YouTube is frankly bonkers.

*   *   *

Helen: When I was invited to speak at the London protest, for a time it seemed I’d be sharing a platform with Tommy Robinson, which I admit gave me pause. Robinson — although he’s cleaned himself up of late — leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, chiefly because he started out in football ‘firm’ culture and the EDL and has quite a rap sheet.

I had anxious friends contact me and suggest appearing on the same side was ‘bad for my reputation’, would ‘lose me my column at [x outlet]’ or even see me answering ‘please explains’ from my Conservative constituency association or the Law Society. There was also a risk his presence would attract Antifa, leading to a riot instead of a protest.

Robinson then went to Scotland to protest outside Airdrie Sheriff Court and my two concerns evaporated. Nonetheless, ideas don’t become wrong because of who believes in them. Guilt by association can get in the bin.

People marching were also not of a type commonly associated with protests. A few were in suits, but others waved American Gadsden flags, or the flag of an invented country, Kekistan. One joker had modified the Gadsden flag so the rattlesnake was transformed into a pug, with its tagline also altered: don’t tread on meme. London’s other main speaker was a man better known as ‘Sargon of Akkad’. Sargon of Akkad’s real name is Carl Benjamin, and he comes from Swindon (home to the Magic Roundabout). He invented the land of ‘shitposters’ known as Kekistan, although perhaps not their flag.

Benjamin’s Kekistanis were overwhelmingly young, wan in the weak spring sun and unfamiliar with the traditions of protest: they chatted amiably to Met officers scattered thereabouts. It took an older man, an obvious Boomer, to point a bullhorn at the police and shout. Later, Benjamin apologised for using a megaphone at the march’s terminus in front of Number 10. He was not, he said, the sort of annoying person who bellowed his amplified thoughts at unwilling listeners.

*   *   *

Shazia: Meechan and his girlfriend Sue — and Buddha the pug’s true owner — arrived at Airdrie Sheriff Court hand in hand. They walked past the press who had gathered, refusing to answer questions. I saw a cameraman from Sky News stick his foot out. It looked like an attempt at making Sue trip and fall.

The two of them waited outside the doors, Meechan smoking a cigarette. Supporters approached him, shaking his hand, wishing him good luck and asking for selfies. I asked him how he was feeling and he said, a little nervous. He kept his back to the paparazzi and camera crews the whole time; he didn’t want to give them a picture.

I spoke to police officers standing around the courthouse, waiting. They agreed the trial was farcical and a waste of police time and resources. They said they’d rather be out catching real criminals and solving real crimes.

SOURCE







University of Texas to treat masculinity as a 'mental health issue'

A new program at the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center will promote "healthy masculinity" through "public events, educational workshops, and other forms of student involvement."

The goal is "to impact campus culture to increase acceptance of gender diversity, promote healthy relationships with an emphasis on consent, and prevent interpersonal violence."

PJ Media:

The program is predicated on a critique of so-called “restrictive masculinity.” Men, the program argues, suffer when they are told to “act like a man” or when they are encouraged to fulfill traditional gender roles, such as being “successful” or “the breadwinner.”

Though you might enjoy “taking care of people” or being “active,” MasculinUTwarns that many of these attributes are actually dangerous, claiming that “traditional ideas of masculinity place men into rigid (or restrictive) boxes [which]... prevent them from developing their emotional maturity.”

“If you are a male student at UT reading this right now, we hope that learning about this helps you not to feel guilty about having participated in these definitions of masculinity, and instead feel empowered to break the cycle!” the program offers.

Please. Make it stop.

The program is currently without leadership, but not for long. The school is in the process of hiring a “healthy masculinities coordinator” to run the program, and a school official tells PJ Media that some hopeful hirees are interviewing for the position later this week.

While many schools now have similar programs, this appears to be the first run directly out of a Counseling and Mental Health Center. Though the school seems to justify this by claiming that masculinity can cause men to lash out at other people and themselves, the school did not respond to a request for comment to clarify.

What is "healthy masculinity? This poster will give you an idea.

"Flowers in their beard or something"? This is "healthy"? Yikes.

Here's the clincher:

There is no evidence that masculinity itself contributes to violence. Universities that run similar programs, such as UNC-Chapel Hill and Northwestern, have admitted that their programming isn’t supported by any evidence.

Yes, but men sure look pretty with flowers in their beards, don't they?

This is just another effort by the left to deny or try to change human nature. It would be funny if it weren't so futile. There are physical, biological, and chemical attributes men have that women don't. No amount of "healthy masculinity" programs will alter that singular fact.

There are men who act like pigs and there are men who are a genuine threat to women. But it's not because of their "masculinity" but rather the male role models they had growing up. There is nothing inherent in being a man that causes them to treat women and others disrespectfully or unkindly.

That an institution of higher learning should ignore that is beyond belief.

SOURCE






Germany: Amid Rising Anti-Semitism, Community Leader Urges German Jews Not To Wear Religious Head Dress

After a recent anti-Semitic assault in Germany, Jewish leaders are telling their community to avoid wearing the kippah religious head dress.

As BBC News reports, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany is urging discretion, especially in urban areas.

“Defiantly showing your colors would in principle be the right way to go [to tackle anti-Semitism],” Josef Schuster said. “Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against showing themselves openly with a kippah in a big-city setting in Germany, and wear a baseball cap or something else to cover their head instead.”

German Justice Minister Katarina Barley expressed her concern this month that anti-Semitism was growing in her country.

“We have to admit that anti-Semitism is becoming socially acceptable again,” Barley told the Funke Media Group.

Schuster has issued warnings in the past. In 2015, he advised Jews to eschew the kippah in Muslim-dominated sections of a city.

The remarks prefaced a “Berlin Wears Kippah” demonstration on Wednesday that encouraged Germans to show their support for Jews after two men were targeted and assaulted last week while wearing their kippahs.

One of the men attacked told Isaraeli media that he was wearing the head gear specifically to demonstrate how Berlin was a safe city for Jews to visit.

According to reports, the attacker hurled anti-Semitic slurs at the two men while assaulting them. The incident has become a defining moment of racial unrest and a grim reminder in a country that was once characterized by the systemic and homicidal anti-Semitism of the Nazi era that ultimately led to the Holocaust.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has encouraged the mass migration of Muslim refugees to Germany, recently suggested that the current wave of anti-Jewish sentiment could be called the “new anti-Semitism” and might be blamed in part on some of those Muslim refugees.

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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