Become a Card-Carrying Member!

 

A message from Nico Perrino with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression:

In recent years, FIRE has been accused — incorrectly — of being a conservative organization. We’ve defended conservative students from censorship on college campuses, and we reject the idea that “hate speech” is equivalent to violence. So those who don’t understand free speech sometimes lump us in with the right.

But now the pendulum is swinging in the other direction.

Some conservatives now see “woke” as the new boogeyman. In response, some Republican-controlled states, like Florida and Texas, are trying to ban ideas they don’t like. Naturally, a number of conservatives are calling us left-wing because we’re against their censorship.

Here’s what FIRE is actually all about: the defense of free speech for everyone. No exceptions. 

One day we defended pro-life students, whose funding the University of North Carolina threatened to pull. The next day, we fought for pro-choice activists in South Carolina, where the legislature tried to ban speech about abortion.

We don’t care about politics, and that’s something partisans will never understand.

But if both the left and right abandon free speech, what are true free speech defenders supposed to do? 

It’s simple: band together. 

For just $25 annually, you can be a card-carrying member of FIRE. Not only does membership grant you exclusive perks, but your donation will also help us defend our clients’ free speech rights in the court of law, spread the word about why free speech must be protected in the court of public opinion, and put pressure on those trying to silence views they don’t like. 

As a member of FIRE, you’ll be among the principled few who defend free speech without fear or favor, who fight for the rights of everyone — even their political opponents — to express themselves.

Our cause can be a lonely one, but we will never betray our commitment to the First Amendment.

Are you with us?

Bombing the Library

Okay, I confess: that was a baity title. I have not in fact bombed any libraries, nor do I plan to. But I did drop a couple truth bombs into a library censorship debate the other night.

Organized by Braver Angels, it posed, "Resolved: Don’t ban or censor books at schools or public libraries for patrons sixth grade and older." By the time I got my turn to speak, about fifteen minutes before the scheduled conclusion, many people had spoken on either side, yet not one had been willing to question the assumption that young people "can't handle" sexual information to the same degree as adults. I corrected that omission.

After noting that my adolescent experience with a political cult had given me a particular interest in the practice of milieu control, of which I consider library censorship to be a form, I recounted the fact that at the age of ten I had read the Chester Himes sex farce Pinktoes, and that it had done me no harm whatsoever. I observed that this had been over half a century ago, and that if I were going to be traumatized it should have happened by now, so I'm not holding my breath.

I concluded by pointing out that a study of adolescent boys who'd looked at pornography found that the only negative effect they experienced was anxiety about what their parents would think.

Unfortunately, just moments afterward my phone died, so I don't know whether anyone reacted to my remarks. But I believe a video will be made available, probably within the next few weeks.

Standing Together Webinar This Sunday!

The binational Israeli peace and justice organization Standing Together is holding a webinar this Sunday, 12/17/23, to inform supporters about their organizing efforts. As the invitation states:

After over two months of war, death, and destruction, where do we go from here? Join us on Sunday December 17th (1pm EST / 8pm Jerusalem) for a webinar, where you'll meet members of Standing Together to hear about the work we're doing on the ground to build an alternative of peace, equality and justice from within Israeli society. If you have already registered for our webinar, we ask you to register again on the following link to receive a reminder and the event's link automatically from the event's platform.

REGISTER TO OUR WEBINAR HERE

We are entering a new phase, past the immediate emergency reaction to the war, and toward preparing for the day after. When this war ends, another war will begin within Israeli society - a war over what kind of society we will be and what future we are headed towards. Our future depends on what kind of political partnership we can lead as Palestinians and Jews in Israel, and we are building one that is based on solidarity, equality, mutual recognition and justice. Our role moving forward is to strengthen and expand this partnership and model for a future society from the ground up, through developing new leadership across the country, organizing and mobilizing Palestinians and Jews around these ideas, and expanding our support base within Israeli society. This is no easy feat - we are up against powerful extremists who benefit from increasing division and fear in Israeli society.

Social media training session for students in Jerusalem.

We are focusing on increasing our training sessions across the country, where we provide people with tools to organize their communities towards political action, solidarity, and social justice. In addition, we have begun to organize communications and social media training with groups in various cities discussing how best to spread political messages and shift public opinion. As a social movement, we believe that the best way to build a social movement around shared ideas is not to speak down to people from a moral high ground, but rather to meet the public where it’s at and address the common interests of the society. These training sessions answer the growing demand of people searching for more effective ways to communicate ideas and influence public opinion by taking an in-depth look at how to communicate ideas in a way that addresses people’s common interests and increases support - rather than isolating people who may initially disagree.

Screenshots

 

Bush Didn't Want You Even Knowing This Letter Existed

George W. Bush kept the vast majority of Americans -- including me -- from even knowing about Osama bin Laden's 2002 "letter to America." Now, thanks to TikTok, we can all read it. In this video Glenn Greenwald talks about why it was censored and what we can learn from it.

It shouldn't need saying that one doesn't have to subscribe to bin Laden's religious-totalitarian ideology to appreciate the context for 9/11 that this document would have provided but was deliberately withheld from us by our own government.

Another point: Bin Laden exploits our government's propaganda to justify 9/11 by saying that we're a self-proclaimed free people and therefore are responsible for the actions of the government we elect. But a genuinely free choice can only be an informed choice, and the censorship of this letter is only one of countless examples of how our government, with the active collaboration of our media, has prevented our political choices from actually being informed.

https://fstube.net/w/d4NyadGji9wWRxu3zi4K3x

Below is the full text as presented by Newsweek:

 

November 24, 2002

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, 

"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory." [Quran 22:39] 

"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan."[Quran 4:76] 

Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth -- as an explanation and warning -- hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.

While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:

(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?

Q2) What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?


As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.

a) You attacked us in Palestine: 

(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its price, and pay for it heavily.

(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.

When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islam, the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) -- and we make no distinction between them.

(iii) The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.

(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.

(c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;

(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.

(ii) These governments give us a taste of humiliation, and place us in a large prison of fear and subdual.

(iii) These governments steal our Ummah's wealth and sell them to you at a paltry price.

(iv) These governments have surrendered to the Jews, and handed them most of Palestine, acknowledging the existence of their state over the dismembered limbs of their own people.

(v) The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from our fight against you.

(d) You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of your international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.

(e) Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities, to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuity of your pillage of our treasures.

(f) You have starved the Muslims of Iraq, where children die every day. It is a wonder that more than 1.5 million Iraqi children have died as a result of your sanctions, and you did not show concern. Yet when 3000 of your people died, the entire world rises and has not yet sat down.

(g) You have supported the Jews in their idea that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, and agreed to move your embassy there. With your help and under your protection, the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. Under the protection of your weapons, Sharon entered the Al- Aqsa mosque, to pollute it as a preparation to capture and destroy it.

(2) These tragedies and calamities are only a few examples of your oppression and aggression against us. It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then leave her to live in security and peace?!!

(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:

(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

(b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.

(c) Also the American army is part of the American people. It is these very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.

(e) This is why the American people cannot be innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

(f) Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen or wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.

The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:

Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?

If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.

(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them -- peace be upon them all.

It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honor, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their color, sex, or language.

b) It is the religion whose book -- the Quran -- will remain preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it.

(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.

(a) We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honor, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and trading with interest.

We call you to all of this that you may be freed from that which you have become caught up in; that you may be freed from the deceptive lies that you are a great nation, that your leaders spread amongst you to conceal from you the despicable state to which you have reached.

(b) It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:

(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?

(ii) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury. As a result of this, in all its different forms and guises, the Jews have taken control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense; precisely what Benjamin Franklin warned you against.

(iii) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them.

(iv) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality, and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom. You have continued to sink down this abyss from level to level until incest has spread amongst you, in the face of which neither your sense of honour nor your laws object.

Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval Office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake,' after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?

(v) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. The companies practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming active and the criminals becoming rich.

(vi) You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.

(vii) You are a nation that practices the trade of sex in all its forms, directly and indirectly. Giant corporations and establishments are established on this, under the name of art, entertainment, tourism and freedom, and other deceptive names you attribute to it.

(viii) and because of all this, you have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention.

(ix) You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and industries.

(x) Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.

(xi) That which you are singled out for in the history of mankind, is that you have used your force to destroy mankind more than any other nation in history; not to defend principles and values, but to hasten to secure your interests and profits. You who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. How many acts of oppression, tyranny and injustice have you carried out, O callers to freedom?

(xii) Let us not forget one of your major characteristics: your duality in both manners and values; your hypocrisy in manners and principles. All manners, principles and values have two scales: one for you and one for the others.

(a) The freedom and democracy that you call to is for yourselves and for white race only; as for the rest of the world, you impose upon them your monstrous, destructive policies and Governments, which you call the 'American friends.' Yet you prevent them from establishing democracies. When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to practice democracy and they won the election, you unleashed your agents in the Algerian army onto them, and to attack them with tanks and guns, to imprison them and torture them -- a new lesson from the 'American book of democracy'!!!

(b) Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of mass destruction to ensure world peace: it only applies to those countries which you do not permit to possess such weapons. As for the countries you consent to, such as Israel, then they are allowed to keep and use such weapons to defend their security. Anyone else who you suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of weapons, you call them criminals and you take military action against them.

(c) You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and policies of International Law, yet you claim to want to selectively punish anyone else who does the same. Israel has for more than 50 years been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall with the full support of America.

(d) As for the war criminals which you censure and form criminal courts for -- you shamelessly ask that your own are granted immunity!! However, history will not forget the war crimes that you committed against the Muslims and the rest of the world; those you have killed in Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq will remain a shame that you will never be able to escape. It will suffice to remind you of your latest war crimes in Afghanistan, in which densely populated innocent civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on mosques causing the roof of the mosque to come crashing down on the heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing them in Jangi fort, and killing more than 1,000 of your prisoners through suffocation and thirst. Allah alone knows how many people have died by torture at the hands of you and your agents. Your planes remain in the Afghan skies, looking for anyone remotely suspicious.

(e) You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights, and your Ministry of Foreign affairs issues annual reports containing statistics of those countries that violate any Human Rights. However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you, and you then implemented the methods of the same documented governments that you used to curse. In America, you captured thousands of Muslims and Arabs, took them into custody with neither reason, court trial, nor even disclosing their names. You issued newer, harsher laws.

What happens in Guantanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces -- you hypocrites, "What is the value of your signature on any agreement or treaty?"

(3) What we call you to thirdly is to take an honest stance with yourselves -- and I doubt you will do so to discover that you are a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which yourself must adhere to.

(4) We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, and to end your support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government against the Muslims in Southern Philippines.

(5) We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our lands. We desire for your goodness, guidance, and righteousness, so do not force us to send you back as cargo in coffins.

(6) Sixthly, we call upon you to end your support of the corrupt leaders in our countries. Do not interfere in our politics and method of education. Leave us alone, or else expect us in New York and Washington.

(7) We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation, and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you.

If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him. The Nation which is addressed by its Quran with the words: "Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of believing people. And remove the anger of their (believers') hearts. Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." [Quran9:13-1]

The Nation of honor and respect: "But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad -- peace be upon him) and to the believers." [Quran 63:8]

"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers" [Quran 3:139]

The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life:

"Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers." [Quran 3:169-171]

The Nation of victory and success that Allah has promised: "It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it." [Quran 61:9]

"Allah has decreed that "Verily it is I and My Messengers who shall be victorious,

All-Powerful, All-Mighty." [Quran 58:21]

The Islamic Nation that was able to dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself; the Nation that rejects your attacks, wishes to remove your evils, and is prepared to fight you. You are well aware that the Islamic Nation, from the very core of its soul, despises your haughtiness and arrogance.

If the Americans refuse to listen to our advice and the goodness, guidance and righteousness that we call them to, then be aware that you will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great silence and disgrace. If the Americans do not respond, then their fate will be that of the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan to deal with their military defeat, political breakup, ideological downfall, and economic bankruptcy.

This is our message to the Americans, as an answer to theirs. Do they now know why we fight them and over which form of ignorance, by the permission of Allah, we shall be victorious?

Young Voters Stand Up for Open Primaries in Pennsylvania

An announcement from Open Primaries:

---

Americans are rejecting the Democratic and Republican Parties and going independent, and young voters are leading the way. 61% of 18 to 24-year-olds identify as independents – a 50% increase since 1998.

Students for Ballot PA, a group of students from 16 different PA colleges is becoming a powerful voice in the effort to open primaries to all voters. Recently, over 60 students from colleges and universities across PA rallied at the state capitol calling for an end to closed elections.

The open primaries movement has never seen a group of young people organizing with this level of enthusiasm. And the momentum in PA is building. 2 bills were JUST PASSED by the PA House State Government Committee– the first time open primary legislation has gotten through an Assembly committee!

On Thursday November 16th at 3pm ET, we’ll welcome key leaders from Students for Ballot PA for our next Virtual Discussion- Young Voters Stand Up for Open Primaries- with special guests: Students for Ballot PA members: Harry Hou (Swarthmore College), Danika Grieser (Swarthmore College), Andrew Cadwallader (Haverford College), Brenna Wrubel (Carnegie Mellon University), Joshua Summers (University of Pittsburgh) and Jojo Dawaldi (Penn State University).

We’ll discuss the campaign, their perspective on the growing independence of younger voters, and how they’ve been so successful at inspiring their peers to join the cause.

REGISTER FOR THE DISCUSSION HERE.

A Love Story for Halloween

 

It sounds more like a story for Valentine's Day, but it was on this date in 1913 that the influential historians Ariel (1898-1981) and Will Durant (1885-1981) were married. Their remarkable love story began on the first day Ariel (born Chaya Kaufman) walked into his classroom and they were married a year later.

Learn more about their story in the video linked below.

https://fstube.net/w/dVk6LVyxy3ooNKUWLC15xq

Milo's 39th: The Tragedy of a Grifter

Today is the 39th birthday of Milo Yiannopoulos, a social influencer whose trajectory is significant in the recent evolution of US politics. From NewgonWiki: 

"Milo Yiannopoulos (born Milo Hanrahan, 18 October 1984) is a British media influencer (banned Twitter account @Nero) and online alt-lite personality known for his role in #Gamergate, ridiculing of feminism and 'regressive' leftism, and further controversies surrounding his views on pederasty. Prior to the adverse publicity, his career peaked in the lead-up to Donald Trump's election as US President -- with his contributions as editor of Breitbart News being almost entirely limited to American alternative-right politics, prior to the MAGA movement's takeover by social conservatives.

"In February 2017, a social media controversy took place concerning video clips in which Yiannopoulos said that sexual relationships between 13-year-old boys and adult men and women can be 'perfectly consensual' and positive experiences for the boys. Yiannopoulos subsequently resigned from his position at Breitbart, his invitation to speak before the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was revoked, and a contract to publish his autobiography with Simon & Schuster was cancelled.

"Milo's cancelling was a symbolic moment in the neutralization of any remaining cultural libertarianism in the alt-lite and MAGA movement, which has since mainstreamed itself as a new moral majority  -- for example, enabling 'groomer' rhetoric and campaigns against queer literature."

Milo's controversial statements were based on his own experience: "There are certainly people who are capable of giving consent at a younger age, I certainly consider myself to be one of them, people who are sexually active younger."

It's sad that Milo turned out to be a grifter who lacked the integrity even to defend the truth of his own youthful experiences when this started to lose him followers. For me it's poignant since, when I had barely heard of him, it was he who, by writing about its funding crisis due to ideological censorship, resurrected Cassie Jaye's  The Red Pill, an impartial documentary about the men's human rights movement made in the same fly-on-the-wall style as her previous features, Daddy I Do and The Right to Love, which unlike TRP were praised by feminists and progressives generally because they conformed to their ideological expectations.

Sources: https://www.newgon.net/wiki/Milo_Yiannopoulos

https://heavy.com/news/2017/02/milo-yiannopolous-pedophilia-transcript-pederasty-video-full-sex-boys-men-catholic-priest-cpac-quotes/

The Middle East Needs the Fourteenth Amendment: My Message to the White House

At the urging of an email from Dr. Cornel West's Presidential campaign, I left a message on President Biden's website today, as well as those of Senators Casey and Fetterman and Representative Boyle:

I demand that my taxes stop being used to fund the Israeli occupation that has given rise to the current bloodshed. Make clear that the resumption of aid is conditioned on unilateral action to withdraw forces from occupied lands, end the ethnic pass system and all discrimination within their own territory, and start negotiations to found a state for all its people in the entirety of historic Palestine/Israel.

From Dr. West's message:

"I call on world leaders, especially those from Western colonial nations, to be conscious of their rhetoric and actions to not add fuel to a violent fire that has been raging for decades. President Biden’s baleful, one-sided comments to the nation and the world on the terrible violence in Palestine and Israel were the direct antithesis of the requisite leadership to engender an immediate cessation of crimes against humanity and a pathway to lasting peace.

"After ordering a naval battle group into a region already trapped in a cauldron of war and senseless suffering, President Biden upped the ante by committing the United States and the people’s hard-earned money to another war of attrition. Worse yet, Congress, still without a Speaker of the House, is working to pass a resolution that will send even more military aid to Israel for operations that will result in greater bloodshed. And Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary just confirmed that more of your hard-earned money will be sent to increase military operations in Israel and Ukraine.

"The war machine of the deadly duopoly must be stopped, defunded, and deracinated before we find ourselves in a calamitous third world war.

"That’s why, as part of my Pillars for Truth, Justice, and Love, I committed to slashing the U.S. military budget and ceasing military spending in the Eastern European and Middle Eastern theaters. But the truth is, we can’t wait until I become president to stop the duopoly’s bellicose initiatives – we must act now and prevent more slaughter of innocent people, many of them children and elders. “Ordering” one million people living in an open-air prison to simply move somewhere else is unacceptable.

"I urge you to call, write, tweet, and otherwise message President Biden and your elected lawmakers by clicking here and demand they stop paving the road to war and start building bridges to peace.

"This is no time for placing party loyalty over people and the planet. We need independent voices speaking out and coming together for a collective call for immediate and lasting peace. The truth is until we achieve justice for the precious Palestinian people, there will never be peace for precious Jewish people, nor the opportunity for both to live together with love through truth, reconciliation, and deep healing.

"We need fewer weapons, less vindictive rhetoric, and more truth, more love, and more justice. Together, we can send our lawmakers and the world a message that we not only choose peace, we demand it.

"May all those suffering find immediate solace and safety."

Election Endorsement: Vote for Seth!

 

My thinking about electoral politics over the past few years has been focused on searching for strategies for breaking the grip of the orchestrated culture wars that both big capitalist parties have been promoting to keep working-class people in their thrall by getting us polarized along tribal partisan lines rather than uniting on a class-wide basis.

Because of the way we've been induced to demonize each other, the most promising tactics to change this picture are those that "tug sideways" -- those that don't appear to be coming from either the left or the right, and therefore don't provoke a reflexive tugging back from those on the other side. One project along these lines is the Forward Party, which has the slogan, "Not Left. Not Right. Forward," and which prioritizes fighting for political reforms like open primaries and ranked choice voting, as well as government transparency.

So I was very interested to hear the news that Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein had declared himself a supporter of Forward. But not so surprised. Earlier, starting when I was actively involved with the Greens, I had had very positive experiences interacting with both him when he was a Deputy Commissioner, and his boss, then Commissioner Al Schmidt. In the spring of 2020, when only a few days before the primary I still hadn't received the mail ballot I'd applied for, I contacted Schmidt's office and that same weekend he came up to Northeast Philly, where I was living at the time, in a van to hand deliver me an emergency ballot, letting me go fill it out and seal it in a private location before returning to his van to watch as he dropped it in a portable ballot box he'd brought with him. This only reinforced the positive impression I already had of him and his deputy as hard-working public servants dedicated to helping all voters impartially.

Before hearing about Bluestein's announcement, I saw no reason to be interested in the City Commissioners race. In fact it's not competitive this year. No party is allowed more than two nominees, so it's practically guaranteed in this overwhelmingly blue town that the two Democratic incumbents will win. And since the Republicans only have one nominee this time, the contest for the minority party seat is also non-competitive. But casting a vote can perform an expressive function. By voting only for Seth, and not for the two Democrats who are just machine politicians -- especially if your other votes indicate Democratic leanings -- you can signal that you value the spirit of public service over blind partisanship. That's why I'm planning to vote for him, and if you're a Philadelphia voter I encourage you to do so too.

Student Workers Rally at Penn

 

The other day student workers rallied on Penn's central green after voting overwhelmingly to form a union. Above is a group picture taken at its conclusion. I'm in the second row near the extreme left, with a blue baseball cap on.

The Daily Pennsylvanian's story on the rally can be read here, and a video panorama I took of the crowd can be seen here.

Behind the Button

Yesterday, as I was sitting in Mark's Cafe in Van Pelt Library, someone who looked to be a Penn undergrad pointed to one of the buttons on my sweatshirt and said he'd be very interested in learning how I came to be wearing it. So I told him.

A number of years ago, I read in the paper about a city employee who claimed to be intimidated as a Jew by a Palestinian flag that someone had posted on an office bulletin board. I thought: if that person feels intimidated, it's clear they're misinformed about the flag's meaning. I recalled the historic position of the Palestinian movement -- one state for all its people -- and considered that a symbol clearly expressing this idea couldn't be misinterpreted as exclusionary and menacing. And the idea of a flag to symbolize a pluralist state reminded me of post-apartheid South Africa, where this was done by melding the apartheid-era flag with that of the ANC.

So I thought: I can do something analogous for Palestine by melding the Palestinian and Israeli flags. And I did so. (Subsequently I posted stickers of it in various places, and on one occasion gave a copy to someone I met at an event for artists at Underground Arts.) So, when I read a couple weeks ago how the Palestine Writes Literature Festival was under attack, I had the idea of showing my solidarity with it by turning the flag into a badge that I could wear on my clothes.

The young man thanked me for taking the trouble to explain this history to him, and said he thought the button is really cool. I do too!

The other button shows a profile picture of Omega Kitten Hydra, the youth liberation advocate who makes videos about children's rights with whom I'm mutuals.

Ageist Superstition Is Not Okay: Answering Verity Violet

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data."

In a superlong post partially screencapped below, Verity Violet lists numerous age-gap relationships involving famous people, restricting herself in sexist fashion to those between an older male and a younger female although in reality they occur in all combinations of age and sex. Then she asserts that this is "not okay."

Here's what the science shows: "Constantine (1981) showed that reaction depends on perception of willingness and whether the minor had absorbed the moral negatives about the sex. If the minor both saw himself or herself as willing and had not absorbed the moral negatives, then he or she would likely respond positively; otherwise, negatively or neutral. Rind et al. (2001) in footnote 7 showed how non-clinical research since Constantine has confirmed his conclusion. 'Informed consent' is a legal construct that varies widely across nations, from 12 to 18, and in the U.S. is at the high end (16 to 18). In the psychological literature, it has been assumed without any empirical evidence that informed consent relates directly to how persons react to sex. The unexamined assumption is that people under the U.S. age of consent of 16 or 18, by nature, will react negatively to age-gap sex, but those age 18 and above will react well. This is a serious conflation of moral and legal constructs with a scientific construct. Rather than informed consent, the scientific construct of 'simple consent' (whether the minor was willing in the minor's own perception) is the one that has predictive validity with respect to reactions (Rind et al., 2001)." -- Rind, Bruce (2010). "Social Response to Age-Gap Sex Involving Minors: Empirical, Historical, Cross-Cultural, and Cross-Species Considerations," Thymos, Vol 4, Issue 2, p. 113.

What's really not okay is making facile ageist assumptions that aren't supported by a shred of scientific evidence. Such assumptions can result in tragedies like this one:

A middle-aged woman recounts her positive experience at the hands of a loving adult and her negative experience at the hands of the authorities: "Perhaps you cannot imagine this but, when I was 12, I was very much in love with a man of 50 and he with me. I don't know who made the first move now, but we stroked each other and experienced a sexuality together. It relaxed me wonderfully. "One day my parents found out and the police were called in. The examination was terrible, I denied and denied again. Then I gave in. My older friend was arrested. My parents, after my forced confession, made out a formal complaint. Nothing then could be of help anymore. I have never been able to forget this. It wasn't just. It could have been such a beautiful memory. I am married and have four children. I would not object to their having sexual contacts with adults. I regard it as positive." "Pedophilia: psychological consequences for the child." In Child and Sex: New Findings, New Perspectives, L.L. Constantine & F.M. Martinson eds. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1982

 

Why You Shouldn't Tell Someone That Everyone's a Little Autistic

It's not true, and it's extremely annoying to be told this as an autistic person. I wrote about one aspect of how being autistic is a qualitatively different way of experiencing things in this post: https://stripey7.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-new-window-on-myself.html

The video by Amanda (IAmMindBlind) pictured above: https://fstube.net/w/dTcSBWKS45J2k6kHFfMy2t 

Not Swallowing Matt Christman's Black Pill

In a recent conversation with Ben Burgis, Matt Christman argues that third-party presidential efforts are a waste of time. I commented:

This discussion reflects a very narrow and mechanical conception of how political change takes place. Over the long run people's attitudes and behaviors in all areas, including politics, are shaped and reshaped by a variety of kinds of social influence, many of them quite subtle.

If I'm in a polity -- Philadelphia, for instance -- that overwhelmingly supports one of the two capitalist parties, then it's profoundly un-pragmatic to vote for either of them, precisely because there's no chance that it will make a difference to who's elected in this cycle. But if I understand social psychology, then I can appreciate that voting for a third party creates social proof (one of the six "weapons of social influence" identified by Robert Cialdini in his signal work Influence) for supporting a different kind of politics. At any given time under normal historical conditions, most people won't be carefully studying the election results, but those who do will notice an increase in the vote for a third party and will start taking it more seriously. It may lead them to investigate its platform and get involved in some of its issues. Even if they don't get into the weeds of the election returns, the same things might result simply from noticing how many people are wearing a third candidate's campaign buttons. And again, particularly in an election that isn't close, this may result in their also wearing that button and voting for that candidate, which in turn broadcasts social proof to others, etc. You have to be willing to think long-term.

I should add that the non-existence of any (major) vehicle for effecting change outside the red/blue dichotomy doesn't mean you can't work on building them, and there are currently several such projects. One of the most interesting is Vote Pact, a concept that involves finding someone with opposite ideological leanings but a similar frustration with the pressure to vote lesser-evil, and jointly declaring that neither of you will vote for either major party in any election for which you're both eligible. This withdraws two votes from the big capitalist parties without changing the balance between them, but also has the virtue of motivating people to seek out and develop understanding and trust with people who have a different perspective.

See the interview here: https://fstube.net/w/5NG9yC3etQLLgBAweuv7DA 

Quotable from Adam Smith

From The Wealth of Nations:

Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. But after the division of labour has once thoroughly taken place, it is but a very small part of these with which a man's own labour can supply him. The far greater part of them he must derive from the labour of other people, and he must be rich or poor according to the quantity of that labour which he can command, or which he can afford to purchase. The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it enables him to purchase or command. Labour, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.

Penn Administrators Uphold the Value of Free Speech While Recycling Zionist Smears

In response to criticism of the upcoming Palestine Writes Literature Festival on the University of Pennsylvania campus, administrators have issued a statement endorsing the false equation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

I hadn't been too sure I'd make time to attend a general literature event, but in response to these smears against Palestinians I feel obligated to show up in support.

PW's correspondence with Penn: https://palestinewrites.org/2023/09/15/letter-to-the-university-of-pennsylvania/

My sign at the Global Climate Strike today. A fellow marcher made it easier for me to carry by letting me hang a couple of my bags from her handlebars.

A Video of My First Filk Song Is Posted

My first song parody, "Trinity," is based on the Lois McMaster Bujold fantasy novel The Curse of Chalion and set to the tune of "Yesterday." I composed it in 2004 and got a tape recording made a few years later at Philcon, which I subsequently got converted to a sound file. Today I sang it again for a video recording, whose visual part is simply the book standing up on a table.

The lyrics focus on the uncomfortable condition of the protagonist, Cazaril, for much of the story. At the opening he's barely staying alive, wandering the countryside of a feudal society in search of a position. On his last legs, he realizes he's arrived at the estate of a noblewoman he served in his distant youth as a page. Hoping against hope that she might remember him and let him serve as a page again, he drags his weary self to the gate. Once he gets the guard to inquire within, he finds that the noblewoman not only remembers him, but wants him for a significantly more exalted position as secretary and tutor to a young princess in the royal line of succession named Iselle, who is currently under the noblewoman's protection, and her lady in waiting. Over the next weeks they become fast friends, only to receive a mysterious summons to the royal court. Shortly after they arrive, they learn the reason: under the influence of intriguing courtiers, the King has betrothed Iselle to a lout named Dondo. Feeling he owes his life to her, Cazaril resolves to do whatever he can to save Iselle from this fate. He obtains an audience with the King in hopes of changing his mind, but is unable to sway him. Next, he attempts to assassinate Dondo by various means, but they all fail. His last resort is to death magic.

In the universe of this book there are five gods: the Lord of Winter, patron of old men; the Lord of Autumn, patron of young men; the Lady of Summer, patron of mature women; the Lady of Spring, patron of maidens such as Iselle; and finally the Bastard God, patron of all things out of season. Death magic is a ritual whereby one prays to the Bastard God to end someone's life. Two troublesome things about death magic: if it fails because the Bastard God didn't answer your prayer, the attempt is considered to have been blasphemy. On the other hand, if it succeeds you lose your own life in the process, because the death demon that the god sends in answer to your prayer takes the soul of the person for whose death you prayed and then takes your soul too.

For the first reason, Cazaril has to make his attempt in secret. He finds a section of the royal castle that's no longer in use, and since no  one else knows about what he's doing he has to conduct the entire elaborate ritual by himself. When he's finally completed it he collapses in exhaustion, hoping not to wake up since if his prayer is answered he'll be dead soon.

But he does wake up, still alive if oddly bloated. At first he thinks he must have failed, but soon learns that Dondo did in fact die mysteriously at table. He asks around and learns of an old retired wizard who's working in the King's private menagerie, whom he goes to see in hopes he might have an idea why Dondo has died yet Cazaril hasn't. The wizard gets the story from Cazaril, also noting his strangely bloated condition, and figures it out: the Bastard God answered his prayer and the death demon he sent took Dondo's soul, but before it could also take Cazaril's, one of the other gods intervened by encapsulating the demon along with Dondo's soul in Cazaril's gut. Hence the bloating. This implies that whichever god did this has some use for Cazaril, making him by definition a saint. It doesn't take him too long to figure out that the god in question is the Lady of Spring, but most of the remaining book to work out exactly what her purpose for him is. Cazaril's awkward condition is the focus of my song.

Here is a link to the video I made: https://fstube.net/w/hJRNXPjjzuXNsm8ME9Fm7t

A Little Bit Culty?

 

A few years ago I saw an article about groups for explorers of urban spaces and looked into joining one. I noticed that one Meetup group's web page asked that people not rate the Meetups unless they were going to give five stars, on the grounds that the Organizer was going to the effort to make them happen and lead them and people who didn't like them just shouldn't come back. This sounded to me like the request of an insecure narcissist so I decided not to get involved with that group.

"Is your online community a little bit culty? These are the signs"

https://www.cultnews101.com/2023/08/is-your-online-community-little-bit.html

Sabine, Markets =/= Capitalism

 

Quantum physicist Sabine Hossenfelder wades out of her depth in a video titled "Capitalism Is Good." I posted the following comment:

There are two fundamental errors here. One is assuming the consequent: she argues for the benefits of a market in the context of private ownership of the means of production, but that's precisely the condition for the capitalist system's operation, which she doesn't question.

The second error is confusing a free market with capitalism. As Sabine acknowledges, capitalism is a recent historical development, yet markets have existed since ancient times. What distinguishes capitalism as a system is the commodification of labor-power. The existence of labor markets and capital markets, which is unique to the current capitalist era, results in an increasingly uneven distribution of personal income, so that there's growing expenditure on luxuries for a few while the basic needs of many others go unmet. This in turn causes capital to be increasingly invested in producing luxuries and comparatively disinvested from the production of necessities. Obviously this is sub-optimal for the species biologically.

It also misses the point to dismiss the problem of anticipating externalities like the social cost of carbon emissions as "another problem." The problem is precisely that the capitalist setup, in which the means of production are privately owned by wealthy people who can afford to insulate themselves from the social costs of their investment decisions, guarantees that such considerations will by default be an afterthought, and by the time even a robustly democratic government has begun to catch up with them, much damage has been and there's a vested interest with the resources to obstruct any attempt at regulation. Capitalist democracies are constantly closing the barn doors after the horse is gone.

None of this is to deny that a great deal of material progress has been made possible by capitalism, but further progress is increasingly obstructed by the imbalances it creates, and it's been absolutely destructive in the way it forces most people into a much more alienated relation to their work than was typical in premodern times. Instead of one-sidedly pronouncing it "good" as if it represented the end of history, it's necessary to see it as a phase of social evolution that it's time to move beyond. Capitalism has created machine industry and in the process it's also created a working class for whom cooperative labor is second nature. It's time for this class to recognize that it can lead society in replacing the allocation of productive resources by unconscious market mechanisms with the conscious democratic self-direction of society, and to act on this understanding by substituting its own political rule for the present de facto dictatorship of capital.

To deepen your understanding of capitalism not as synonymous with liberalism but as a contradiction immanent within bourgeois society and pointing beyond it through proletarian revolution, I suggest you enroll in The Platypus Affiliated Society's primary Marxist reading group.

Echo Chambers Happen in Science Too: The Case of Obesity Research

 

These days there are many people who tell us we should just "trust the science." They insist anyone who suggests there could be systematic bias on a question within the scientific community is just a paranoid conspiracy theorist, and that conventions like peer review and the desirability of making one's mark with an original insight ensure against excessive conformism. But the reality is that collective delusions can occur in spite of their collective non-functionality among scientists just as easily as in any other group.

A good example is obesity research. As demonstrated in the article I'm linking to below, for half a century or more this field has been totally dominated by an "energy balance" explanation for what causes obesity and what can be done about it. This is in spite of the fact that it's been repeatedly observed in various species that some individuals reliably become obese even when they're starving. Saying weight gain equals energy in minus energy out is much like saying the average price is that at which supply equals demand: it's a mere tautology that doesn't actually predict anything. Yet it's been treated as dogma within this community and obstructed the advancement of knowledge that could actually reverse the trend of ever more overweight people.

"How a ‘fatally, tragically flawed’ paradigm has derailed the science of obesity"

https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/13/how-a-fatally-tragically-flawed-paradigm-has-derailed-the-science-of-obesity/

Review: The Little Red Schoolbook

 

The Little Red Schoolbook was written in 1969 by Danish educators influenced by the youth radicalization and counterculture of the period. It was soon translated into many different languages and published in many countries -- and also banned in many countries, as described by The Children's '68.

Its purpose was to encourage pupils to question authority and learn how to organize and stand up for their rights, just as their older counterparts at colleges and universities were doing. It also aimed to give them information that they wanted and needed which was typically being embargoed from them on topics such as sex and drugs.

Although I learned of its existence a few months ago while researching Beatrice Faust, the Australian civil liberties and women's rights campaigner who contributed to that country's edition of the book, it's an American edition that I recently finished reading.

The book goes into considerable detail describing how schools work and the role of the different actors such as teachers, principals, and school boards. It describes how to engage constructively with these, especially teachers who have power over students but little control of their own situation, as well as how to turn to outside forces such as the press when this is unsuccessful.

It also provides accurate, non-judgmental information about sexuality, including homosexuality, and tells girls how to avoid unwanted pregnancy as well as how to seek an abortion. One section that falls a little short is three paragraphs about "Child molesters or 'dirty old men.'" It begins, "In the old days people used to talk about 'dirty old men.' Children were told they were dangerous. This is very rarely true. They're just men who have nobody to sleep with."

While it's true that they're very rarely dangerous, they're not simply men who have nobody to sleep with. It's now understood that both men and women vary in their sexual age orientation just as they vary in their sexual gender orientation. Although most minor-attracted people don't harass children or youth, those who do do so because these are the people to whom they're attracted. They may well, and often do, have someone adult to sleep with, but that's not what they actually want.

The conclusion of this section is also problematic. It states, "If you see or meet a man like this, don't panic. Go and tell your teachers or your parents about it." This assumes a child wouldn't be interested in sexual activity with an older person, which isn't always the case. It also doesn't make sense, given not only that they're rarely dangerous, but especially in light of the fact, mentioned in the preceding sentence, that in the rare cases they become violent "it's usually because the man has got scared." In that case, it should be obvious that spreading around the advice that follows could only make violence more likely rather than less.

There's also a major section on drugs, with accurate information about a great variety of them with respect to both their affects and their hazards and without regard to whether a particular drug is "illicit" or "licit," such as tobacco or alcohol -- one of the things that made the book controversial.

Although I only learned of this book recently, reading about it in its historical context has prompted me to comment on the article I linked to above, as follows:

I only learned of this book a few months ago and subsequently read it. But the culture of that period had a profound effect on me, even though I only turned seven in 1968, thanks to my having Old Left parents who were friends with hippies. When I was eight years old and starting to form a perspective on the world beyond my immediate experience and what attitude I should take toward it, the adult conversations I sat in on when we had visitors and the "underground" papers and comics that lay around formed me as essentially radical several years before I actually got involved with politics. It was only natural that as I sat in a police station that same year after running away from home, I imagined myself tearing down the "Wanted" poster for Angela Davis -- so the police couldn't use it to help them catch her. And that when the Pledge of Allegiance was introduced in 10th grade, I refused to say it, even though some classmates initially forced me to my feet for it. (Ironically and tellingly, before the end of the semester no one in my home room was saying it, including those students.)