Quote Of The Day/Year/Century

Why don't people take the identity politics brigade seriously?

So what message does Movember convey to those whose moustaches are more-or-less permanent features? With large numbers of minority-ethnic men—for instance Kurds, Indians, Mexicans—sporting moustaches as a cultural or religious signifier, Movember reinforces the “othering” of “foreigners” by the generally clean-shaven, white majority. Imagine a charity event that required its participants to wear dreadlocks or a sari for one month to raise funds—it would rightly be seen as unforgivably racist. What is the difference here?

You really have to read the whole article to get the full effect of the article.

Unite Against Fascism- Inciting Murder Since....

This is an interesting turn up:

ITV News has uncovered a video showing Woolwich suspect Michael Adebolajo speaking at a demonstration at Harrow Central Mosque in 2009. The event was organised as a counter-rally against a planned protest by the English Defence League. 

We already know that Unite Against Fascism is a front group for the far left rape cult, the Socialist Workers Party, but their links with Adebolajo are new to me.

UAF were endorsed by various mainstream politicians including the prime minister even though their whole method is to illegally and violently stop people they oppose exercising their freedom of speech. They represent lawlessness and taking matters into your own hands. It's hard to be surprised that some of their friends have similar ideas.

Is That A Communist Manifesto In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me.

Disputes among the far left are tedious to outsiders at the best of times so I largely ignored the story about the Socialist Workers Party's infighting over allegations that senior members used their positions to sexually exploit women in the party.

Until I realised that one of the men accused of doing so is Martin Smith, who also leads the Unite Against Fascism front group. So can I just point out this post by myself from 2009 pointing out the uncanny resemblance between Martin Smith and a younger "anti fascist" activist.

I was joking at the time but who knows, maybe I was right.

Speaking Truth To Power.

Nick Griffin has been kicked off of Twitter for publishing the addresses of two men who sued a B&B owner for not allowing them to share a room. There certainly seems to be an implied threat in that action so this is appropriate.

Or at least so I thought, because it turns out that criminally violating other people's rights, is actually the purest form of protest. According to some people anyway.

The home of misunderstanding things, the Guardian, has had a couple of examples of this. Mona Eltahawy's believes that the right to protest means the right to vandalise and deface posters legally put up by people she disagree with. Because as she says she supports free speech, but free speech includes the right to be free of opposing speech.

Or something.

Today Nina Power writes about the twit who disrupted the University Boat Race this year, and who has just been sentenced to six months in prison:

Trenton Oldfield, who disrupted the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race in April this year to protest against inequality, was sentenced to six months in jail for the offence of "public nuisance". Although the race was restarted 25 minutes later, Judge Molyneux made it clear that Trenton had disrupted the smooth running of things, and for that he must go to jail: "Thousands of people had lined the banks of the river to enjoy a sporting competition. Many more were watching at home on live television." The message is blunt: if it's on TV and aristocrats are involved, then the state can deprive you of your liberty for as long as it likes.

 In a period where many people have died following benefit cuts, Oldfield's protest against elitism and inequality is timely and symbolic.

The working class hero who making the protest against elitism is a privately educated Australian called Trenton who used a grant from the Arts Council to buy himself a flat and has as his lawyer the socialist son of privilege Matt Foot* (son of Paul Foot).

Power continues:

Oldfield's sentence is clearly designed to deter others from protesting, and there is evidence that the use of the charge of public nuisance (which carries a maximum sentence of life) was upgraded under government pressure and precisely because of the varied spectacles of 2012. 

Public nuisance is of course what the idiot who threw a coin on the track at the Olympic 100m final was charged with. It seems to be used when someone is being a nuisance, to the general public. I don't recall Guardian editorials in support of the defrocked Irish priest who disrupted the British Grand Prix in 2003 when he was jailed, even though he was also protesting against something or other.

Nina Power continues:

So who, in the end, is the public on behalf of whom Oldfield is being punished? 

In this particular case it is the spectators and viewers who wanted to see the boat race rather than the Trenton Show. And the rowers whose event was disrupted.

Is it the public sector workers who will march in their thousands tomorrow against austerity, or is it the "public" represented by the judge

Er neither, it is the public who wanted to watch an event, this may include people from different political persuasions.

What the likes of Mona Eltahawy and especially Nina Power represent is narcissism- what they believe is so important that the rights of others are simply pale before them. In the case of Power it doesn't even matter if the lesser beings being attacked have only the most tenuous connection to whatever is being protested against, they should still have their apolitical event disrupted for some spoiled brat's gratification.

* Matt Foot specialises in defending people who use aggressive protests to violate others' rights. He defended the idiot who threw the fire extinguisher off the top of Millbank Tower and other idiots who who went to Italy to riot against something or other.

Quote Of The Day

Indeed, a small leftwing publisher, Zero Books, has commissioned Atzmon to write a book on the Jews as part of an otherwise entirely credible series by respected left figures such as Richard Seymour, Nina Power and Laurie Penny.

Stop The Millenium

This post makes no sense if you have not seen the films I am discussing or read the books upon which they are based.

This week I have been watching the "Millenium Trilogy" of films adapted from Stieg Larrson's novels (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire & The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest). The films are very good, well paced and with plots that sit together nicely.

There is one quibble that I have though- the investigative magazine that features throughout the trilogy "Millenium" seems to be the most tedious publication ever committed to print. Obviously it is a fictional magazine that I cannot actually read but just consider the following:

• In the second film the magazine's big story that is going to be the focus of their next issue is that men are using prostitutes. I know this is feminist Sweden but is that really news. There is dramatic talk of them confronting the punters with the kind of bullying prurience that makes them seem like the house organ of Iran's Revolutionary Guard investigating couples for holding hands.
• It is almost always out of date, despite one of the characters being an ace hacker, the Internet is unheard of among magazine staffers. They have to get their rapidly developing story to the printers a week in advance of printing it in order to get it out.
• As you would expect of earnest socialist Swedes, they don't believe in being pithy. As the journalists discuss writing up the big story in the 3rd film, you realise that they are talking about writing 30 to 50 pages each. For a magazine this seems excessive- a Private Eye special might run to 20 pages in total, yet they are talking about 200 pages of prose just on one story.
• Being socialists and Swedes they all come across as being devoid of a sense of humour, so this is 200 pages of an out of date story with no laughs in it whatsoever.

Of course being in a fictional universe, this magazine appears to actually sell to people beyond the friends and family of the staff whereas in reality it would be as widely read as Roundabout Enthusiasts Monthly.

Death Celebrations- A Guide

Wrong: Celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Right: Celebrating (in advance) the death of Margaret Thatcher.

I Post Stuff

As I said earlier in the week my internet connection has been down so I've not been able to post stuff. The problem is now sorted. So things I was going to say but didn't include:

1. The strange behaviour of the US authorities regarding the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden and the disposal of his corpse is potentially damaging as it will fuel conspiracy theories and most conspiracy theorists end up hating America.
2. The AV referendum is today. I voted yes despite my contempt for the pathetic campaign YES2AV have run which has seemed designed to alienate rather than convert centre right voters.
3. The Canadian general election confounded my prediction and delivered a seismic shift that saw 2 of the 4 main parties suffer cataclysmic losses. The tantrums by Canadian left wingers are as hilariously over the top as those by their British counterparts following the London mayoral election in 2008. I'm sure the right does this sort of thing as well but I'm probably blind to it.
4. Let's abolish council houses.
5. I don't get what's so great about Pippa Middleton's arse- which has been one of the most searched for subjects this week.

This Will No Doubt Be Edited Away Soon

The Wikipedia entry for Sunny Hundal.

The Blame Game

The school that suspended teacher Katharine Birbalsingh after she spoke at the Tory conference, is to be closed down due to a drop in applications. Naturally they've responded to this news by reflecting on whether their behaviour towards critics and inept management contributed to this decision blaming Birbalsingh for her speech:

Canon Peter Clark, the chairman of the school’s governors, said that her attack on incapable teachers “blinded by Leftist ideology” had dealt a fatal blow to the school. “The publicity that she generated was very unhelpful, which certainly didn’t help in terms of pupil recruitment,” said Canon Clark.

He added that an inspection of the school held shortly before Christmas had shown that “nothing that she said was right”. 

 Yes, clearly her references to them being "blinded by Leftist ideology" were way off the mark and the school only suspended her because she brought the schools name into a political debate, unlike the head teacher who had previously let her school be used as the venue for the launch of Labour's 2001 General Election campaign.

Quote Of The Day

This quote by Liberal Conspiracy contributer Kate Belgrave, exemplifies the intellectual ri gidity, intolerance, and overwhelming smugness of a considerable chunk of the left:

Companies that support the CSR [Comprehensive Spending Review] are failed corporate citizens

Having a different point of view to the hard left (as most of the country do over the budget) then you aren't considered merely to be mistaken or misguided but a failed citizen in need of re-education.

Women & Minorities Hardest Hit

One of those pompous group letters from all the usual suspects appears in the Guardian today denouncing the government's spending cuts. They appear to play what must be the full house of victimhood poker:

The £11bn welfare cuts, rise in VAT to 20%, and 25% reductions across government departments target the most vulnerable – disabled people, single parents, those on housing benefit, black and other ethnic minority communities, students, migrant workers, LGBT people and pensioners.

What I'm wondering is in what sense the budgets targets LGBT people, if anyone knows please let me know in the comments. Come to that if anyone knows how black and other enthnic minority communities are especially affected then feel free to elaborate.

I Predict A Riot

Whilst I enjoyed Cameron and Clegg's reenactment of Brokeback Mountain yesterday, it seems that some people aren't entirely happy with the new government.

This tantrum is the pick of the bunch:

You can't 'rebuild the family'. The nuclear heterosexual family, that fragile unit of industrial capitalist economy, has been broken for a generation as people realise that they don't have to chain themselves to each other in order to survive. You can't cram that back in its box, no matter how many women you try to persuade that they'll be better off wedded to their sinks, no matter how many children you shame for having divorced parents, no matter how coldly you judge or how hard you slice at people's earnings. Times are hard already. They won't stand for it.
......

You can't stop the cities. You can't stop the internet fracturing everything that was solid and safe about the priggish culture that made you. You can't stop the riot that's brewing as people in Britain realise that they have been cheated, time and time again, by a system stuffed with people who hate them and want to put them into boxes and make them do what they're told.

It's stuff like this that makes the election result so worthwhile.

via Laban

Incidentally I have to say that I'm mystified at the Lib Dem supporters who are outraged at the very prospect of a pact with the Conservatives. If the only acceptable role that the Lib Dems could play was that of allies to Labour then why bother existing as a separate party in the first place? Without the option of dealing with either larger party the Lib Dems would have no purpose.

What Is It With Canada?

In most senses Canada is a model country- healthy economy, high standard of living and decent education standards etc. Which is why it's so depressing when Canadians reject the notion of free speech and try to silence mildly provocative pundits like Mark Steyn or recently Ann Coulter. I say they are provocative but to be honest I can't think of any specific bad thing that someone has been provoked to do by them.

Whilst there is always a totalitarian element on the left, and to be honest on the right as well, in Canada they can become mainstream by playing on that nation's big weakness- an obsession with defining themselves against the United States, so totalitarians can justify their intolerance by presenting at a moderate alternative to the USA's "religion of Free speech".

Take for example this Canadian pundit, Susan G Cole (Susan seems like an odd name for a man) denouncing the concept of free speech:

Angry Left Not The Happy Go Lucky Chaps Previously Assumed.

There is a weird American organisation called "Media Matters For America", supposedly campaigning against right wing bias and inaccuracy in the media (founded by a self confessed fraudster) who spend an inordinate amount of time loudly complaining about any media outlets which don't repeat Democratic party talking points faithfully enough. This makes them fun to mock.



The mockery is fun on it's own but the funniest part of ridiculing people with chips on both shoulders is their reaction. When someone believes they shouldn't be laughed at, it makes them an irresistible target. Which is why the hundred or so enraged comments here are so hilarious who fulminate against being laughed at whilst congratulating themselves on their great sense of humour.

A Rabbitty Version Of His Masterpiece.

As a big fan of Richard Adams's novel 'Watership Down' I was thrilled to discover it had been made into a movie. However as I sat down to watch it I was horrified to discover that the director had seen fit to cram the film adaptation with dozens and dozens of rabbits!

Okay not really. But my complaint makes about as much sense as Johann Hari's shock at finding out that the cinematic version of Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" is "garbled to the point of meaninglessness".

"The Shock Doctrine" has been recognised as dishonest, dumb and deluded by critics not only on the right but also on the sane wing of the left. What the hell do you think is going to be produced when it is based on the works of a woman so stupid that she manages to defeat her own argument before anyone else even has a go? Citizen Kane?

It's vaguely distasteful to see Hari praising an exceptionally dishonest and ignorant hack, it's like watching someone masturbate over a photograph of themselves.

Unite Against Free Speech.

I've just been watching on Newsnight a truly unimpressive spokesman for 'Unite Against Fascism' defend their attack on BNP leader Nick Griffin today. It should be fairly clear that the "No Platform" policy has failed to stop the BNP, it should also be clear that screaming 'fascist' or 'racist' at them isn't sufficient to stop them (partly because similar accusations have been made against people who clearly aren't either of those things).

Most people are not racist or sympathetic towards fascism, but most people also have a sense of fair play, and when they see a party being forcibly silenced by thugs or being subjected to dubious legal proceedings they will recoil.

The BNP should be interviewed by professional media outlets and asked questions and be given an opportunity to reply. What is more likely to harm them- being attacked by a group of badly dressed cliche spouting halfwits like UAF or asking Mr Brons (the BNP's newly elected Yorkshire MEP) questions about his former membership of the overtly pro-Nazi* "National Socialist Movement"?

The 'No Platform' policy was always the sort of immature policy that could only ever have been supported by former student politicians with no concept of free speech.

* Nick Griffin claims that the BNP want to deport people who are "not loyal to Britain" so presumably by sending Mr Brons to Brussels he is keeping his promises.

Guest Post- Sir Liam Donaldson On Passive Masturbation.

First of all thank you to Ross for lending me his blog for the purposes of conducting a campaign against the health hazards facing society.


KEY POINTS

The solitary vice is a deeply ingrained part of our society; each year, the average output per adult male is equivalent to 12 jars of Tartare Sauce.

Success on another big public health killer – tobacco – continues to require multifactorial action, but a key element has been raising awareness about the impact of passive smoking has been factually dubious health campaigns.

There is no similar awareness or concern about ‘passive wanking’ – the consequences of one person’s wanking on another’s well-being. It is not recognised as a concept or a rationale for action. Mostly because I just made it up.

Analysis

There is no stated national consensus that as a country we should substantially reduce overall masturbation, but such a reduction would benefit the health of many who wank – and those affected by passive wanking- the concept I invented a few sentences ago and am now treating as a genuine problem.

In 2006, 180,000 people died from pornographic-related causes. Wanking has a major impact on individual wanker's health: it causes cancers of the liver, bowel, breast, throat, mouth, larynx and oesophagus; it causes blindness, hairy palms, a pale pallor and insanity. Here is an image of a testicle wasted by excessive onanism:


Some point to the potential benefits of self-pleasuring, but these tend to be greatly overstated.
Despite its known harms, one-quarter of the adult population – about 10 million people – now wank above the recommended low-risk levels. I made this figure up but as the Chief Medical Officer I can cite myself because I am in a position of authority.

Here is a graph to illustrate how many people are killed by masturbation. It actually represents something completely different, possibly cat food sales, but I'm guessing that most of you are actually too stupid to actually look at the graph in any detail:



The effects of passive wanking continue into adulthood. Living with somebody who misuses porn can be a horrendous ordeal. Wanking can make a partner’s behaviour unpredictable, withdrawn and surly. Marriages in which one or both partners get themselves off are twice as likely to end in divorce.

Making Masturbation More Expensive

Research has estimated that if a minimum price of £1 per hour of pornography, 50p per sheet of Kleenex and £2.20 per unit of pornographic magazine were imposed then masturbation could be cut by as much as 26%. This would save up to £4 billion a year and 5600 deaths.

It would also save many lives to make these devices compulsory for all males between 11 and 30, to be worn at all times.


Establishing minimum pricing requires government action. Websites are particularly liable to sell porn at low prices. Currently, no single website would increase its prices and risk losing customers to competitors. The free market has failed, the workers need to control the means of production, and distribution of porn. It is not unreasonable to ask that the government over throws the shackles of capitalism that are tying the proletariat down.

A minimum price per unit would overcome this problem caused by the dominant capitalist patriarchal hegemonic discourse that currently sets the paradigm by which running dogs of the neo-colonial oppressors enforce their cultural norms on the masses.

Counter revolutionary forces may argue that the effects of my proposals restrict freedom and are an overreaction to a nonexistant problem. These reactionary bleatings impress no one, freedom is a technology of control imposed by the ruling class on society.

This may seem controversial but I'm the Chief Medical Officer so it is science and not some third rate student leftism.

Quote Of The Day.

From a Guardian editorial, the closest you can get to the official voice of the left:

The EU can ill afford the luxury of amateur voices, let alone of populist, Eurosceptic neoliberals like Mr Klaus.

They don't just think that Vaclav Klaus is mistaken, they think that allowing him to speak is a 'luxery'.

What Credit Crunch?

Noted idiot Naomi Klein has been awarded £50000 of Warwick University's money for her book the Shock Doctrine. Klein's idea (if a brain fart like that can be characterised as such) is that evil neofree marketeteers have exploited catastrophes to advance their evil ideas:

The complexity of Naomi Klein's portrayal of the rise of disaster capitalism, The Shock Doctrine, has won its author the inaugural £50,000 Warwick prize for writing.

....

Chair of judges and author of "weird fiction" China Miéville praised The Shock Doctrine as a "brilliant, provocative, outstandingly written investigation into some of the great outrages of our time"

China Mieville is a former parliamentary candidate for the totalitarian Socialist Workers Party an explicitly Leninist organisation. What was Lenin's famous phrase for the conditions the communists needed to implement change? Oh yeah- "The worse, the better". Sounds a lot like an actual shock doctrine. Is Mieville projecting his views onto the capitalist running dogs?