Likelihood of Success

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Archive for the ‘Oppression’ Category

Hate means

Posted by Ron Coleman on November 14, 2007

Stuart Taylor writes:

In academia today, a professor who falsely smears his university’s students as racists is a hot commodity. And hate means never having to say you’re sorry.

(Via I/P.)  Gosh, I am glad I got out of there before it got this bad — though I don’t think it’s this bad at my alma mater, regarding which I do pay some attention to developments.  Even in the early ’80’s, Princeton was certainly across-the-board politically correct.  When I put up signs promoting a campus chapter of a group called, at the time “Peace Through Strength” — I don’t know what became of it, though several groups using that name seem to still exist — they were all, every one of them, pulled down well before the event took place.  Still, that is part of the game.  I was a Resident Advisor my senior year (I wouldn’t have even gotten the gig at Duke or one of the other PC hotbeds) and we had no responsibility for ideological indoctrination, nor was there much of that at all 25 years ago — though you could see its beginnings.

And where is its end?

Posted in Americana, O Mores!, Oppression | Leave a Comment »

Orthomom blogger fights and wins on blogger anonymity

Posted by Ron Coleman on November 13, 2007

The New York Law Journal reports (subscription required; link to blog added):

A former Lawrence school board member’s request for disclosure of the names of anonymous Internet critics has been rebuffed by a state judge, who ruled that the comments were protected speech.In a proceeding for pre-action discovery, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marcy S. Friedman found that Google, the Internet service provider hosting the blog “Orthomom,” did not have to disclose the identities of blogger Orthomom or of the anonymous users who posted allegedly defamatory comments on the site about Pamela Greenbaum.

“The Lawrence school district has been the arena for a highly charged dispute between the public school minority, which Greenbaum represents, and the private school majority, over the extent to which the Lawrence public schools should serve the Orthodox Jewish community,” wrote Justice Friedman in Greenbaum v. Google, Inc., 102063/07. “The relief sought by Greenbaum, on the eve of a school board election, would have a chilling effect on protected political speech.”

The decision is here. I have said this before: The pendulum has swung too far in favor of Internet anonymity and has virtually made libel, if it is done online, a non-existent tort. On the other hand, when the comments and statements in question are themselves not actionable — here they seem to be mere opinion, which can never be the basis for a defamation action — it appears that anonymity should be protected.

That doesn’t mean there is no societal cost to enabling non-actionable slander. An opinion can be harmful, and there is no inherent reason why the victim of slanderous opinions should not know who is uttering them. Short of fear of the Klan or the local drug kingpin, most anonymous commentary is simply a matter of moral cowardice. But it is well established that defamation suits have a way of chilling even meritorious free speech. Until we find a way to make people accountable for what they say that does not hinge on legal sanctions, this unfortunate form of asymmetrical assault will remain with us.

(Cross-posted at LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®.)

Posted in Blogophilia, Lex scripta, Oppression | Leave a Comment »

City of Brass: burn

Posted by Ron Coleman on November 12, 2007

City of Brass:

[I]t behooves us all to remember who kills the most innocent muslim blood in this world. Not secret Jewish cabals, or neocon conspiracies, or colonial designs; none of these bogeymen of the modern ummah are to blame.The Reavers. The Reavers alone are the enemy of the Ummah.

And the dominant organizing principle of a western muslim political movement must not be focused on nonsensically unrelated issues like Israel-Palestine or Iraq withdrawal or Iranian nuclear capabilities. Nor should it chase after “reform” or “moderation” or “dialog”. No; the dominant principle of a Western muslim polity should be to promote foreign policy that destroys them.

Until then, the Ummah will live in fear from within.

Okay, well, I don’t know about this Reaver business, but Aziz seems to absolutely get it.  Did he only get it at this point?  Or did I miss his anger at some point below the 59 innocent Muslim schoolchildren killed in a suicide attack this week?

Or was it the Muslim schoolchildren part I missed?  Well, in any event, here we are.  What will the Ummah do?  (Via Dean’s World.)

Posted in O Mores!, Oppression, Orient | 6 Comments »

Britain’s new Jew hatred

Posted by Ron Coleman on November 5, 2007

Melanie Phillips, via Instapundit:

One of the most conspicuous features of British anti-Semitism is that the British deny its existence. The Parliamentary inquiry received only a muted response. Both Mann and Richard Littlejohn, a journalist whose TV program on the subject aired in July 2007, encountered people who, when discovering their concern about anti-Semitism, said: “Oh, I didn’t know you were Jewish.” But Mann and Littlejohn aren’t Jewish. As Littlejohn noted, the implication was that no non-Jew would ever identify anti-Semitism, and therefore that anti-Semitism was generally a figment of the Jewish imagination. When I proposed to write a book about it, I was turned down by every mainstream publishing house. “No British publisher will touch this,” one editorial director told me. “Claiming there is anti-Semitism in Britain is simply unsayable.” . . .

Britons also tend to suspect that Jews use the charge of anti-Semitism to divert attention from Israel’s crimes. This is why, for so many in Britain, the suggestion that anti-Semitism is enjoying a renaissance seems not only false but sinister. Outraged to be accused of peddling bigotry, they begin to hate those who level that charge—who, they conclude, are part of a conspiracy against truth.

This is a long-time beat for Melanie Phillips, but in fact there is nothing at all controversial in what she is saying (i.e., the facts she cites) except as to her conclusion. Anyone observing what has happened in Western Europe for the last five to ten years knows it, and in the Jewish community it is well known that England and France are simply not hospitable to Jews, at least not conspicuous Jews, any more.

Phillips also notes the coded use of the term “neoconservatives” to refer to the “Jewish conspiracy,” a transparent phenomenon that nonetheless is consistently ignored even by Jews who, like the self-satisfied Britons and Frenchmen who are above bigotry, would rather not admit what is happening.  (UPDATE:  Maybe ignored a little less.)

It’s somewhat scary. Vigilance helps; but only God controls the world, and there are no obvious answers on the natural axis, anyway. It is not an extermination scenario, à la Nazi Germany; that comparison is facile, too. Anyway, it is facile to tell people living in England or France to pick up and move, despite having families, homes, communities and businesses there. And where to? Immigrating to the US is very difficult these days, unless you do it illegally — not an option for intact families with jobs, credentials and bona fides. Israel is not an option for most people; it is very difficult for people from Western civilization to adapt to, and is itself a highly polarized and stressed-out society.

The good news is that Britain and France are democracies with imperfect, but still well established, constitutional traditions. There is no telling what sort of impact a national leader willing to admit to the existence of this phenomenon in these countries, and to face it head on, could accomplish. No such leadership has been forthcoming, despite what one can only posit are the Jewish puppet-masters’ best efforts. But what other hope, in this world, is there?

Posted in Euroids, Oppression, Past is prologue | 21 Comments »

Google / MoveOn intrigue

Posted by Ron Coleman on October 25, 2007

MoveOnBob Cox at the San Francisco Examiner is all over it!:

Internal documents obtained by The Examiner shine new light on MoveOn.org’s “General Betray Us” ad and raise fresh questions about the far-left advocacy group’s misleading statements on the issue and its relationship with Google, a major donor to its political action committee.

The documents show how MoveOn.org used dubious claims of trademark infringement and threats of litigation to silence critics of its recent controversial full-page ad in The New York Times attacking Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, which appeared the day he was testifying before Congress on the war effort. Among those critics was Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is seeking a third term….

After The Examiner exclusively reported Oct. 11 that Google had banned four anti-MoveOn.org ads placed by the Collins campaign, Google and MoveOn.org each sought to portray the ban as unrelated to the Petraeus ad controversy. The documents obtained by The Examiner, however, show a direct link between the two events….

None of the complaints filed by MoveOn.org with Google or CafePress.com asserted that a “third party” was making fraudulent use of MoveOn.org’s name to collect financial contributions….

[But] on Sept. 19, MoveOn.org’s Erik Olson — husband of [Google COO] Carrie Olson — filed a trademark complaint with Google seeking to block any mention of MoveOn.org by any advertiser for any reason, including ads that criticize MoveOn.org by name.

It was this complaint that Google cited as the basis for banning Sen. Collins’ anti-MoveOn.org ads. Google’s complaint form used by MoveOn.org required that the trademark owner make a legal affirmation that the complainant has a “good faith belief” that the use of the trademark is not “permissible under law.”

MoveOn.org, however, did not cite any specific ad, nor did it provide Google with any evidence of trademark infringement. The advocacy group has since said publicly that the Collins ads are permissible under the law.

There’s a lot more. This story has gotten beyond my little opinions about trademark law — but not past Bob Cox. Read the article.

Posted in Nuvo-Techno, Oppression, Politics and Poker | 2 Comments »

Comrade Shock Treatment

Posted by Ron Coleman on October 17, 2007

At Hamline University, they’re using psychiatry the old fashioned way: To enforce groupthink. There’s lots of that retro stuff going on, actually.

politburo.jpg

There may be more to this story.

I sure hope so. (Via IP.)

Posted in Americana, Oppression, Past is prologue | 1 Comment »

I report, you decide

Posted by Ron Coleman on October 14, 2007

Posted in Nuvo-Techno, Oppression, Politics and Poker | 12 Comments »

Guess who’s coming to kiddush

Posted by Ron Coleman on October 9, 2007

Roger Simon writes about “Why They Hate the Neocons” (via Insty) but besides a passing reference to the subject, completely ignores the Jewish issue and the underlying accusation against neoconservatives, at least on one level, of dual loyalty.

But it is not to be ignored. To even fail to address it at least by refutation suggests that perhaps Simon is not being honest… about himself.

UPDATE:  “They all look alike” (same hat tip) but, again, the obvious issue is ignored — even though it’s as plain as the nose on my face.

Posted in Faith and Works, Oppression, Politics and Poker | Leave a Comment »

The perfect Aryan

Posted by Ron Coleman on October 9, 2007

From Germany, with hate:

The tensions in the Middle East seem to have influenced the decision of Iranian-born German international soccer player Ashkan Dejagah’s decision not to travel with the national Under-21 squad for a match in Israel.Dejagah, who plays for Bundesliga club VfB Wolfsburg, asked his national team managers to withdraw him from Germany’s European Championship qualifier against Israel, to be played in Tel Aviv on Friday, citing “personal reasons.”

“He came to us citing personal reasons that seemed very plausible,” DFB spokesman Jens Grittner said in a statement.

Dejagah was quoted by mass-circulation tabloid daily Bild as saying his motive was cultural.

“I have more Iranian than German blood in my veins,” he said in a report published Tuesday. “That should be respected, and besides I’m doing this out of respect. My parents are Iranian.”

Ja, the blood thing — should definitely be “respected.” With prejudice.

Posted in Oppression, Orient | Leave a Comment »

Blogophrenology

Posted by Ron Coleman on October 7, 2007

“Blogger” Cory Doctorow utilizes scare quotes — “scientists” and “predict” — to mock a proposed anti-terrorism strategy:

Computer and behavioral scientists at the University at Buffalo are developing automated systems that track faces, voices, bodies and other biometrics against scientifically tested behavioral indicators to provide a numerical score of the likelihood that an individual may be about to commit a terrorist act. “The goal is to identify the perpetrator in a security setting before he or she has the chance to carry out the attack,” said Venu Govindaraju, Ph.D., professor of computer science and engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Govindaraju is co-principal investigator on the project with Mark G. Frank, Ph.D., associate professor of communication in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

Doctorow “links” to this story, which treats the project very seriously, but he obviously “thinks” it’s a joke, comparing it to the discredited discipline of phrenology. He doesn’t explain why it’s like phrenology, but expects us to “get it” that because they are both based on the observation of physical characteristics which supposedly lead to a prediction of behavior, both must be equally lacking in validity.

This is called a “faulty analogy” or “sloppy journalism,” because, in fact, the story linked to suggests that this nascent science may in fact be very promising. Certainly no one is suggesting that anyone could be arrested or convicted on the basis of the observations, technology and algorithms that would be employed, but considering the cost of letting a person who is just a little better at hiding his intentions than Richard Ried get on a plane and hijack it to 70 Virgins Interplanetary Airport, it sounds like a good idea to try this technology.

Cory Doctorow, however, thinks it is a joke, and offensive to his libertarian instincts; and no explanation is necessary to explain why.

Perhaps the next time some airplane falls out of the sky because Cory Doctorow or the ACLU object to “profiling” and projects such as this are shouted down, Doctorow will “find” someone else to “blame.”

Posted in Futurama, Oppression | 37 Comments »