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Pat Condell: Useful idiots for Palestine
November 4, 2011 — xanthippaOn a related note, Saudi Prince Khaled Bin Talal puts great value on Jewish lives (Jewish soldiers, that is…)
MEMRI TV: American Muslims Demonstrate in Solidarity with Occupy Wall St.
November 4, 2011 — xanthippaRemember the videos from April, the Egyptian crowds shouting “the people want to topple Wall Street”?
Consider it when you warch this video from New York:
When the ‘cure’ is worse than the ‘disease’…
October 25, 2011 — xanthippaWhen one of the most rotten, corrupt, contemptible institutions in the history of humanity – the Vatican – calls for world tax to fund an all-encompassing world government which would over-rule the legitimate governments of nation states….
And when that institution speaks as if this was just a ‘speeding up’ of the inevitable course we are now…
And when this call is said to line up with the #occupy goals…
….we should sit up and pay attention.
H/T: FFF
Ezra Levant speaks up for women
October 22, 2011 — xanthippaBecause a person’s a person, no matter how small!
…or how female…
…or how Muslim…
Thunderf00t: My real name is…
October 9, 2011 — xanthippaThis is disgusting!
Yes, there are some people who abuse anonymity on the internet.
Then there are others who eschew it – they believe that attaching their real-life name to an online communication will add weight and respect to it. This is, to some degree, true: if their real-life name has some earned public credibility, attaching it to their online persona will add credibility to the online persona.
BUT!!!
Name is just a label.
If a person has built up his or her credibility using an online persona – truly built up credibility – by time and time again providing solid, verifiable, quality information, then their real-life name is really quite irrelevant.
To the contrary: it is a very useful shield!
Journalists who publish in traditional media have an organization that stands behind them and offers them at least a modicum of protection should they become threatened by those who wish to silence them.
Online communicators do not have this luxury!!!
But ‘online’ is not the beginning of ‘anonymous protest speech’!
No, nowhere near… Even the most basic bit of research into the history of anonymous protest speech demonstrates brings us to Colonial North America. Printing presses were used to print anonymous pamphlets which were distributed and which informed the public of facts that the government did not want known and which fostered the atmosphere necessary for the fight for independence.
In fact, most of the works by America’s Founding Fathers were originally published as anonymous pamphlets!
So, let’s not go down the role of silly posturing: anonymity is essential for free speech!
(Sorry if I am not particularly coherent in this post – I am so angry as I write this, I can hardly keep myself calm enough to type!)
To hear that Thunderf00t’s real-life name has been ‘outed’ by an Islamist group (which claims to be made up of ‘moderate Muslims’), that his job has been threatened, that his address has been published – and now, that his family members are being threatened with physical violence…THAT IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!
I guess all we can do is spread the word…
…and hope for the best. Because I am at a loss for what else to do to help him.
P.S.: It took me a second viewing to pick up pn it, but it does seem that the online Islamists just may have attracted the attention of ‘Anonymous’. THAT would be interesting, to say the least!
Thunderf00t: ‘Amenakin, Censorin’ for Islam’
October 3, 2011 — xanthippaFor those who are not frequent users of YouTube or are simply unaware of this particular issue, Thunderf00t is one of the most prominent members of the informal YouTube atheist community. As a scientist, he has consistently criticized theocratic dogma, dispelling their claims with science and reason.
Not surprisingly, there has been some friction between him (and other YouTube-active atheists) and theocrats, usually of the monolatric bend. Usually, this friction has been limited to exchanges of videos and comments – which is really quite entertaining, regardless of where one falls opinion-wise: it’s like a fine boxing match, but fought with ideas and words. Ray Comfort, a prominent Christian theist, has even hosted long one-on-one debates with Thunderf00t which both of them then posted on YouTube.
What I am trying to say is that yes, there is an ongoing battling of ideas – and while tempers may rise, both sides are capable of civilized discourse.
Or, rather, most members of both sides…
…because there are people who are using the DMCA to make claims that are intended to force YouTube to shut down channels of people whose views they disagree with. This is a sort of a mini-SLAPP suit…
Which is what this video is about:
Oh my god…
September 27, 2011 — xanthippaWell, well, well…
When, for once, a ‘man of God’ finally runs afoul of the police in Ottawa for a reason other than diddling little children, Toronto steps in to fill the void…
This just goes to show that no adult that claims to represent or carry authority from God should ever, EVER be let near children!
Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We should not act continuously surprised that the people who actually believe they represent the most absolutest power possible (and may be even more absolute, as some believe) are necessarily the most absolutely corrupt human beings!
Will Ontario Conservatives loose a second election on the same issue that lost them the last one?
September 21, 2011 — xanthippaFour years ago, Ontario Conservatives were hopeful: after the inept mismanagement and corruption of the McGuinty regime, it seemed that a Conservative majority was assured.
Until, of course, then Conservative leader John Tory snatched defeat from the jaws of victory! The issue that crashed the Conservatives was Tory’s promise of public funding of religious schools. His assertion then was that funding faith-based schools is the only way to regulate them.
Really.
He actually stood up and said this – and did not see what was wrong with this thinking.
For obvious reasons, this single stance by the Conservatives brought us another 4 years of McGuinty. And, during this 4 year term, Mc.Guinty expanded religion in publicly funded schools; both Catholic and Public (which are ostensibly secular). Now, we see sectarian and gender segregation in tax-payer funded schools in oder for clerics to instruct the students and lead them in prayer.
And no wonder – McGuinty is sleeping with an activist for religious schools! Quite literally – he is married to her…
But, surely, the Ontario Conservatives have learned from this, no?
They have a spanking new leader, Tim Hudak, whose parents are said to be teachers: between that and the Tory disaster last election, surely Hudak will not be so stupid as to run on a platform of taxpayer-funded faith-based education, right?
May be, may be not… According to this interview by Brian Lilley, it is not so certain.
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 